Birthright

by E.J. Stevens

  Plus, fatigue was the least of my worries.

  “No,” I said, unable to fully stifle a full-body shudder. “Thank you. It’s just…the glowing…will I change again?”

  His eyes widened, understanding smoothing the lines of concern.

  “Ah, our people have long awaited your return,” he said, waving a hand. “Many will want to see their princess, and they would gladly lend you their power, much as the ones in the bog did before, but I took the liberty of sending word ahead that they are to look only. I assumed that you would require rest after your journey, and that you would prefer to wait before attempting to use your powers again.”

  “Yes, thank you, uncle,” I said.

  “Please, call me Kade,” he said, leaning forward.

  “Lord Kade,” Ceff said, stepping between us. “Perhaps we can impose on your hospitality and be provided accommodations for the night. Ivy is obviously quite tired.”

  My uncle blinked, and took a step back, putting him further down the stairs. Ceff towered over him, bristling with rage.

  “Of course, this way,” Kade said, turning and continuing down the stairs. “I can point out a few things on the way to your quarters, though it would honor me, Ivy, if I could give you a more thorough tour when you are well rested.”

  “Sure,” I mumbled.

  I looked back and forth between Ceff and Kade, but I couldn’t divine much from watching them from behind. Something had gotten under Ceff’s skin, I could tell that much from the rigid way he held his neck and shoulders, but I was too tired to make a guess at what was troubling him. Maybe he’d be willing to share once we were safely inside our room.

  Either Torn or Skilly muttered something about horses in heat, but when I spun around to glare at them, they both batted their eyes innocently. The two of them continued to keep quiet until my uncle stopped to point at a nearby alcove.

  “That is where we keep the stone, once said to be the heart of our people,” Kade said.

  We poked our heads inside the large, ornate room, and Torn let out a low whistle.

  “Now that be a worthy hearth,” Skillywidden said.

  “Who the Hell is looking at the hearth?” Torn asked, walking past us to get a closer look at the glowing stone in the center of the room. “Is that an adder stone?”

  “Yes, a piece of the Glain Neidr of Tír na nÓg,” Kade said, puffing up his chest, and shifting his weight onto his heels. “They are very rare…”

  “And very valuable,” Torn said, licking his lips. “I’m surprised you don’t keep it locked up.”

  “As I said before, the stone represents the heart of our people, and this…” he said, gesturing at the room lined with shelves of books and jars. “This room is a repository of history, a treasure trove of knowledge, open to all of our people.”

  “It would be a crime to lock such a room away,” Ceff said with a grudging nod.

  Five seconds in that room and, I was already salivating at the thought of searching those shelves for knowledge of my father, reading through those books, and perhaps finding some of his personal possessions. This room truly did contain treasure, but not the glowing stone or ornate hearth that Torn and Skillywidden coveted.

  I would have stood there for hours, slack-jawed with my boots rooted to the floor, but a yawn broke the spell. This room might contain the answers that I’d come here for, but I was in no shape for research. I could barely stand up without listing to the side.

  “Come,” Kade said. “We have kept Ivy waiting long enough.”

  He spun on his heel, and led us back out into the corridor. After more twists and turns than I could keep track of, he stopped in front of a door decorated with delicate flowers that seemed to grow straight out of the smooth wooden surface. There were no windows or skylights, and I knew that we were far below the earth, so the flowers were either magic or extremely realistic fakes. I was guessing magic.

  That was confirmed when the flowers rustled and danced until they spelled out my name. My uncle must have sent more than one wisp ahead to prepare for our arrival. Kade licked his lips, and held out a hand.

  “My dear, I have waited long for this day,” he said, hand shaking slightly as he opened the door. “I hope your room is to your liking.”

  I stepped inside, and gasped. The room was fit for a queen. The high ceiling was a deep indigo and decorated with fey lanterns that were arranged to mimic constellations. A huge bed was positioned in the center of the room, beneath the starry sky. It was piled high with pillows, and the sides were draped with swaths of sheer fabric that gave the illusion of privacy, and hung from posts made of ornately carved quartz that rose from the floor to arch over the bed. The overall effect was like a bed within a palatial gazebo of ice that rested beneath the stars.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said. “But I’m fine with sharing a room with my friends. I don’t need something this fancy.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Kade said. “This room has never been slept in. With your sensitivity to touch, I would think this the perfect place for you to stay.”

  I bit my lip, trying to decide if the reduced risk of visions was worth splitting up. I didn’t like the thought of staying somewhere separate from Ceff and the others. Obviously, Ceff had the same concerns.

  “I will stay and stand guard while she sleeps,” Ceff said.

  “You have already invoked the rules of hospitality,” Kade said, hands fisting at his sides. “Do you intend to insult my ability to keep the princess safe from harm?”

  “Good going, Fish Breath,” Torn muttered. “Nothing like pissing off our host.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

  I didn’t want to interrupt Ceff and Kade’s pissing contest, but I was pretty sure I was missing something, and I was too tired to try to smooth things over. Diplomacy wasn’t one of my strengths, even when I was at my best.

  “It sounds like when Ceff got pushy earlier about wanting to get a move on and find you a room, Kade took that as Ceff invoking the rules of hospitality,” Torn whispered back. “Fae take the rules of hospitality very seriously, and your uncle is no exception. Think of it as requesting asylum, which is how the rules came about in the first place. Allies, no matter how much they may despise each other, could invoke hospitality and the host would be required to protect the guest from outside harm.”

  “So, Ceff insulted my uncle when he implied that the wisps couldn’t keep me safe,” I said, a tendril of cold twisting my gut. “What about internal threats?”

  “The bargain doesn’t provide protection from the inside, but to say you need a guard implies that either Kade and his people can’t defend you, or that we perceive them as a threat,” Torn said.

  So by offering to stay and guard me in my room, Ceff had managed to doubly offend my uncle. That was just great. As much as I wanted to talk to Ceff about the day’s events, we couldn’t risk going to war with my uncle. I needed to patch things up. Oh goody.

  “We don’t doubt your skill at arms,” I said, stepping forward and facing my uncle. “I’m sure my friends will be comfortable in whatever guest quarters you’ve prepared for them.”

  “So you do like the room?” Kade asked, blinking slowly and pulling his gaze from Ceff’s icy glare.

  Up close, I was surprised to see that my uncle’s otherwise flawless skin was marred by dark circles around his eyes. Who knew what kind of hardships he’d faced since my father had fled Faerie. He’d obviously taken on the daunting task of keeping the wisp court running. That must have been difficult without his brother’s help, difficult and lonely.

  “It’s perfect,” I said, trying to force enthusiasm and managing to yawn.

  “I am so glad,” he said. He held open the door, and fixed Ceff with a cold stare. “Now let us leave the princess. She requires sleep, and I need to return soon to my court. If you would follow me, I can show you to your rooms along the way.”

  “Do ye have an empty hearth?” Skillywidden asked
. “Perhaps the one in the treasury?”

  “Not that one…not yet,” Kade said, hesitating. “But there is a hearth in the kitchen, if you would prefer a hearth over a guest room. If you do well with the kitchen hearth, there’s a chance of a promotion to the treasury in the future.”

  Skilly rubbed his hands together and smiled, but Ceff stood rigid.

  “I do not like this,” he said.

  “Go on,” I said. “I’ll be fine. These are my people.”

  I turned my hand, allowing him to see the blade in my palm as if to say, “And I’m not unarmed. I can defend myself if needed.” He frowned, but nodded and handed me one of the satchels he wore slung across his back.

  I didn’t like this turn of events either. There was so much I needed to discuss with Ceff. Today, I’d grown wings, amongst other things, and I still hadn’t had a moment alone with Ceff to talk about it. I wanted to know how he felt about my transformation, and what it meant to our relationship.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said again, but I wondered who I was trying to convince.

  Chapter 30

  “I thought you said that Ceff and Torn were on their way,” I said around a mouthful of pancakes.

  Actually, I wasn’t sure if the pastries were technically pancakes, but the less I scrutinized the food, the better. My fae blood meant that I could ignore the prohibition for humans to eat and drink while visiting Faerie—a fact I’d badgered Kaye about for weeks leading up to this excursion—but that didn’t mean I was cool with eating worms or butterfly wings. So far, I’d stuck with the food that didn’t move.

  “I sent some of my staff to let them know that breakfast was ready in the Great Hall,” he said. The Great Hall was apparently what they called the cavern. It also doubled as the throne room, but for now, they’d set a banquet table beside the pool of water at the center of the cavern floor. It was like being on an extravagant picnic. “But as I said before, your transformation yesterday is likely to make you ravenous. There is no reason to suffer while you wait for your friends to arrive.”

  “Yes, hunger is not an attractive quality in a princess,” Flavio said.

  I rolled my eyes, and growled around another bite of pancake. Flavio was the captain of the guard, and one of only three human sized wisps that I’d seen since arriving here in Tearlach, aside from my uncle. He was also more prickly than a porcupine.

  “Flavio, why don’t you go check on our guests,” Kade said. “Tell them that the princess requires their presence.”

  “I didn’t mean…” I said.

  “Let the guard fetch them,” Skillywidden said, putting something that wriggled on his plate, and licking his lips. “It wouldna do to let this feast go to waste.”

  While I wasn’t as enthusiastic about some of the food on the table, it was true that we shouldn’t let the food go to waste. The wisps must have been up all night working in the kitchens, not that I was sure anymore what was night and what was day. What I did know was that missing breakfast would be rude.

  Ceff was a king whose job required diplomacy. He knew better than to turn down an invitation to breakfast. And while Torn may not care as much for what my uncle thought of his actions, I’d never known the cat sidhe lord to miss a free meal. Where the heck were they?

  I was working through my third pancake, which I’d smothered in what I hoped were elderberries, when I got my answer.

  Flavio strode into the room, making a beeline for my uncle. I kept my eyes on Flavio and Kade, as I shoveled food into my mouth. It probably wasn’t behavior befitting a princess, but my uncle was right—I was starving. I’d also give anything for a cup of coffee. My body had expended a huge amount of energy yesterday that even a solid night of sleep hadn’t replenished.

  Kade frowned, and his eyes flicked to mine before sharing a look with his guard captain. With a stiff nod, Flavio took a step back to resume his guard position behind my uncle’s chair—a smaller version of the throne that sat on the dias at his back. As if responding to an unknown signal, the wisps that had been flitting about the banquet table shot into the surrounding cattails and tufts of marsh grass.

  My uncle cleared his throat, fixing me with a stare void of emotion. I recognized that look. It was the same one I gave clients when I had to tell them bad news. I slowly set down my fork, a quiver in my stomach replacing the hunger that had overwhelmed me only seconds before.

  “I have regrettable news,” he said, a frown beginning to mar the otherwise impenetrable mask. “Your friends appear to be…missing.”

  “Missing?” I asked.

  “When they repeatedly did not answer our summons, Flavio forced their doors open,” he said. “He was…understandably concerned.”

  I flicked my eyes to Flavio, and my breath caught in my throat. His nostrils flared as he watched me with a fevered stare, a vein on his temple throbbing in time with my rapidly beating heart. The look of devotion that he’d shown my uncle was now replaced by raw hatred.

  “Beware that one,” Skillywidden whispered.

  I didn’t need the hearth brownie’s warning. I had a nagging suspicion that Flavio had been more concerned with his job position than with my friends’ welfare. I narrowed my eyes at Flavio before turning back to my uncle.

  “What did he find?” I asked.

  “Their rooms were empty,” Kade said. “Your friends and their belongings were gone. The beds had not been slept in.”

  That meant that Ceff and Torn had been missing for well over six hours. My uncle had told me that I’d slept for nearly eight hours. If this was a kidnapping, their attackers could be long gone by now.

  “Was there any sign of a struggle?” I asked.

  I tamped down my emotions, locking them deep inside so that I could focus on the facts of the case. There would be plenty of time for tears and raging later, but right now, I had to focus. I’d worked missing person cases. The first twenty four hours were crucial.

  I held onto the rules of the job, the familiar steps in solving a case. We’d handle this carefully, methodically. I’d brought home people who’d been missing longer than twenty four hours. Then again we were in Faerie. When even the local plant life was more than happy to unburden you of your blood, you had to make every second count.

  “There was no sign of struggle,” Flavio said.

  “Forced entry?” I asked.

  “No,” he said.

  “I need to see their rooms,” I said, my chair scraping the floor as I pushed away from the table.

  “The rooms have been examined,” he said, face flushing red.

  “No offense, but I’d like to see for myself,” I said.

  Flavio started to growl low in this throat, but Kade raised a hand, cutting off Flavio’s protest.

  “Come, I am sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this,” he said.

  Kade started to sooth Flavio’s ego by bragging about how reliable his guards were, and how he was sure that his captain had conducted a thorough search. He was about to start on me, but his words and placating gestures were cut off as another guard came running into the Great Hall.

  “Lord Kade!” the guard shouted. I think his name was Marcus, and he, like Flavio, was human size. And at the moment, his eyes were wide, and he held a sword in a white knuckled grip. “The adder stone…”

  He gulped in air, gasping for breath.

  “Yes?” Kade asked, eyebrow raised.

  “The adder stone, my lord, it’s gone.”

  Chapter 31

  I didn’t need my P.I. training to recognize the implications of Ceff and Torn’s mysterious departure and the missing adder stone. Things didn’t look good, not good at all.

  Flavio took a threatening step toward me, hand on his sword, and my throwing knives hit my palms.

  “Halt!” Kade ordered.

  Flavio stopped, but his lips remained pulled back in a sneer. Kade might have his guard captain on a short leash for now, but I didn’t doubt that Flavio would strike down anyone he perce
ived as a threat to my uncle. Ceff and Torn were likely on that list, with me and Skilly firmly in the maybe column. I needed to diffuse the situation, but to do that, I needed facts.

  At least I had an idea on how I could buy us some time.

  “Ceff invoked the rules of hospitality, and you accepted your role as our host,” I said, keeping my voice slow and a steady, and my eyes locked on Kade. “You swore to keep us safe, and now my friends are missing.”

  My uncle had taken over leadership of the wisps when my father fled Faerie. He was the one I had to convince of Ceff and Torn’s innocence, not Flavio. We just had to stay alive long enough to prove our case. If invoking our rights as guests gave us temporary amnesty, I’d take it, even if my words did make my uncle look like he’d bitten into a sour lemon.

  “My Lord, they came within our walls with a show of false friendship,” Flavio said. “I do not trust them. We should imprison these two and continue our search for the others.”

  So much for amnesty.

  “Flavio, there is no need to be hasty,” Kade said. “The princess does have a point. We agreed to the rules of hospitality, therefore we must investigate further before assuming the worst. If an outside force has moved against our guests, I want to know how it happened.”

  “No one can breach the tunnels,” Flavio said.

  “Then you will not mind if I make inquiries about last night’s security,” Kade said.

  “No, of course not, My Lord,” he said, lowering his eyes.

  “I wish to speak with the sentinels,” Kade said.

  A buzzing filled the cavern, and I had to grab the table to remain standing. Wisps came flying in from every direction, like glowing bullets shot from the dark tunnels above our heads.

  Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I took a steadying breath. Now would be a really bad time to pass out. Flavio would probably take the opportunity to bundle me off to some sick room with bars conveniently placed at the doors.