Bee Stung

by Theolyn Boese

  He met Shiloh’s eyes, and the Green Man slowly shook his head. There could be no mercy for what Clover had done.

  Foster closed his eyes against the pain for a moment. When he opened them, he nodded. More than Clover was at fault here. Rose had toyed with the man until he finally broke under the strain, that much was clear. He found himself hating the dead woman as he realized just how much damage she had caused, was still causing long after her death.

  Apple could have easily been killed. Clover could have attacked Rienne instead of the small fey. And unlike Apple, Rienne probably wouldn’t have survived.

  “Take the girls to Rienne, Bramble. We will go to Rose and see to it she has a proper memorial. Thorn, would you gather the rest of the small fey?” Shiloh stood back and waited while the men followed his orders.

  Both men nodded and left the room.

  Foster took the curtain tie someone handed him and bound Clover’s wrists tightly behind his back, folding the man’s wings under his arms so he couldn’t fly away. A light touch of magic ensured he would not be able to change forms and escape.

  He watched sharply as Dandy approached the bound man.

  “I am so sorry, Clover. I would not have ever hurt you by touching Rose. Please forgive my harsh words,” Dandy whispered. He wrapped his slender arms around Clover and held him.

  Clover’s shoulders began to shake. He pressed his face into Dandy’s shoulder. “She made it too easy to believe, Dandy. When she came home that day, swanning around like a queen, she was. May the Gods forgive me, for I know I can never forgive myself.” Clover pulled back and met Dandy’s eyes. “You have been a true friend and I spit upon it. I am sorry.”

  Dandy nodded sadly and stepped away.

  Foster took Clover’s bound wrists and ushered him out the front door. The watching crowd moved back in a wave and turned their faces away, shunning the condemned man.

  Rienne’s family stayed back, tactfully giving the residents privacy to deal with the situation without outside interference. Foster made a note to thank them quietly later.

  Shiloh fell into step beside him while the small fey spread out behind them. Several others followed. The dryads faded into the woods, slipping silently from tree to tree and keening a song of mourning.

  It was solemn procession as they made their way to the small glade where Rose had tended her wild roses. While the small fey concentrated on bees, several also took care of the flowers in their spare time. Rose had begun the garden when she could barely fly, and Foster remembered it being the one place the woman seemed truly at peace.

  Clover stopped at the base of a rose with pink-and-yellow-striped flowers. It was the exact colors of Rose’s hair.

  Foster remembered Clover spent three years growing the rose to offer it to her as a mating gift. It pained him to see such a loving man brought so low. Clover had made Rose his entire world, and woman had repaid his devotion by playing vicious games.

  The small fey fell to his knees and raised his tear-streaked face to the sky.

  The other small fey gathered in a semicircle behind him.

  Clover sighed just once. “Please forgive me,” he whispered and dissolved in a shower of sparkling motes. All that remained was the cord that had bound his wrists.

  A new wave of mournful song rose after the man faded into death.

  They bowed their heads as the rosebush burst into a frenzy of new blooms. The strong scent of the blossoms filled the air until they could taste it on their tongues.

  Chapter Nine

  Rienne looked up from her sewing as the subdued group of men came into the house. The whole small fey clan was there, obviously needing the comfort of being close to each other. They huddled together in small groups. Those who had not moved into the boarding house looked nervous about the welcome they would receive.

  Hours had passed since they had left with Clover. The party had died after the altercation, leaving Rienne alone with her family. Her family’s reaction to the magical beings that made up the island had been tart, mostly because Rienne and Cass had not warned them. Helja had ranted for half an hour before Cass had told her to shut up and that their whole family knew the importance of keeping a secret.

  Surprisingly, it had quieted them down considerably.

  She didn’t tell them about the pregnancy. It was so new, so unexpected she needed a little more time before she shared the news with her family. Also, a small part of her quailed a little over what their reaction would be.

  Uncle Hiram had quietly taken control of the cleanup and herded her family back into the trucks after the discussion. After kissing her forehead gently, he had taken them off to the cabins, stating they would see her in the morning. The family patriarch was serenely undisturbed by the drama playing out around him.

  Cass had wanted to stay, while Dar wanted to go home. Her husband’s face had been lined with grief, so she had given in gracefully.

  Her lovers quietly gathered around Rienne. Tears still streaked their faces, and poor Dandy looked sick to his stomach. She hugged and kissed them all, gently pressing them to sit down. Then she poured each man a glass of wine and urged them to drink. She performed the same task for the rest of the men, silently making it clear they were welcome. A few took her hand and gave her grateful smiles.

  Violet, Apple, and the children came out and cuddled close to the men, offering what comfort they could. Moss slept in a jewelry box on the side table next to Foster, blissfully unaware of the day’s turmoil. There were a few subdued welcomes from the men who hadn’t met the new family yet.

  Apple seemed quite taken with Mint, shyly smiling up at the older man. Violet was more reserved and merely watched everyone carefully, staying close to Mullein or Dandy. Rienne had a feeling it would take time to heal the damage Clover had done to the girl’s budding trust.

  Foster finished his wine and rubbed his hand tiredly over his eyes. “We have had a day filled with highs and lows, gentlemen. But, let’s not forget the joy in our grief.” He held his hand out to Rienne. “Come here, sweet.”

  She stiffened a bit as she let him pull her onto his lap. The men who hadn’t heard the news watched with weary curiosity.

  “Relax, my dear. I’m just going to offer a touch of magic to help the babies stay strong.” He placed his hand over her womb, and she gasped softly as she felt a comforting heat penetrate her skin.

  Her lovers smiled, burgeoning happiness easing the strain on their drawn features as they were reminded of her pregnancy. The others began to grin as they realized Rienne was pregnant.

  She relaxed and leaned against Foster, resting her head on his shoulder.

  “Shall we see who the daddies are?” he whispered in her ear.

  She looked up in surprise. “You can do that?”

  He nodded. “For the first few months, the infants will carry their fathers’ magical signature. After that they develop their own.”

  “That’s why most fey women have at least two lovers at the start of their pregnancy,” Apple piped up from her place on Mint’s shoulder.

  Mullein looked at the small woman in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  Apple frowned. “The men share their magic with the babe through their semen. Didn’t you know this? With so little magic available, it takes more than one man to keep the baby alive.” She hid in Mint’s hair, obviously uncomfortable with the way all the men turned to stare at her.

  “No,” Current said slowly. “We didn’t know this.”

  “Touch helps too,” Violet added from her perch on Dandy’s shoulder. “Not as much as sex. But, every time one of us touches Rienne, we share a little of our magic. When Mama was pregnant with Moss, everyone in the community would hug her or touch her all the time. We had three fathers,” she finished sadly.

  “So same-sex pairing weren’t frowned on in your community?” Thorn asked carefully.

  “Oh no, of course not,” Apple replied. “Love creates magic faster than a Mystic. Why would we stop love?
It’s so pure and doesn’t grow smaller the more it’s shared.” She grinned impishly at Rienne. “And, it’s obvious Rienne is well loved, otherwise she couldn’t have five babies in her womb.”

  Rienne blushed and laughed.

  “But all of us will have to help. She doesn’t have enough magic on her own,” Slipper said in a painfully sweet voice. They were the first words she had spoken.

  Oak and Plum flew clumsily to Rienne and hugged her neck.

  “We’ll help,” Plum whispered so softly Rienne barely heard the girl.

  “Thank you,” she whispered back. They left her to cuddle against Mullein again. It was obvious they had claimed the older fey.

  “It must have been a large community,” Mint ventured a guess.

  Apple nodded. “Yes, eighteen family groups and even more children and adolescents. And then one day everyone was gone, like the Earth has swallowed them up. Rienne thinks the stink was from chemicals the humans sprayed on the plants to kill bugs. Maybe it killed our families too.” She shivered and huddled closer to Mint’s neck.

  Foster hugged her tighter. “Well, that explains a few things, doesn’t it? So, let’s see…”

  “Wait, five?” Elderberry exclaimed. “How will they all fit?”

  “Everything fits just fine,” Shiloh drawled. A few snickers were heard as Rienne felt her cheeks flame again.

  She held her breath as Foster moved his hand around her abdomen.

  “Shiloh, one is yours. Oh, there’s Foxglove’s and Thistle’s.” Foster closed his eyes as the men hugged and congratulated each other. After a moment his eyes popped back open, and he looked at her in surprise. “One is Dandy’s. And the last is Bramble’s.”

  Rienne froze. She looked slowly at Bramble only to find him staring at her in shock.

  Thorn was glaring at his lover accusingly.

  “My, my, you were busy the last few nights,” Foster chuckled.

  “Oh no no no, you must be wrong, Foster,” Bramble stuttered out. He looked at his lover imploringly. “You were there, Thorn. I didn’t have sex with her.”

  Thorn’s eyes narrowed in jealousy. His face could have been carved from granite.

  Thistle cleared his throat. “Um, sex yes, intercourse no.” He squirmed uncomfortably. “I believe I was the one having intercourse with her when you shot your wad all over her belly. It was sliding all over the place. I remember because it made me really hot.”

  Rienne groaned as she felt heat course through her cheeks yet again. “Shut up, Thistle.” She glanced meaningfully at the children.

  Foster cackled gleefully when Thistle’s face turned a dark red.

  She glanced around the room and wasn’t surprised to find everyone staring at her. The speculation on the faces of the men she hadn’t slept with made her blush as hard as Thistle. “Don’t even think about it,” she huffed out. “There is no way in hell I could keep up with all of you, even if I wanted to! Thirteen? You have got to be kidding me!”

  Everyone chuckled.

  “Don’t worry, Rienne,” Shiloh said serenely, wrapping his arm around Foxglove. “I’m sure we can keep you up to date on your magic injections without outside help.”

  Dandy snickered until Thistle hit him with a pillow.

  Foster tucked her out of the way and dived into the ensuing pillow fight.

  The children came and sat on her lap as the men piled on top of each other. Shiloh tried to escape but was pulled back in. And, if the laughter had a faintly hysterical edge to it, Rienne didn’t mind. It was a release of some of the stress and grief the men carried.

  A FEW HOURS later Rienne caught up with Bramble and Thorn. The men were exiting one of the apartments. None of the small fey wanted to go back to the clan home, so they had scrambled to ready extra beds and get them settled. She had a feeling several of them would trickle back out after the shock of Clover’s revelation eased. For now they had an obvious need to stay close and make sure their family was always within reach.

  “Can I talk to you guys for a few minutes?” she asked quietly. Shiloh, Foxglove, Dandy, and Thistle had disappeared a little while ago after talking to Rienne a bit about how they wanted to handle Bramble being one of the fathers. She was a little peeved they had deserted her for what might prove to be a very uncomfortable conversation.

  They nodded and silently followed her up to her rooms.

  She curled up on a recliner while they sat close together on a loveseat in their human-sized form. “I know this is as big a shock to you two as it is to me,” she began, nervously clasping her hands in her lap. How did I get myself in this situation, she wondered a little wildly.

  Bramble shook his head. “It’s a miracle, Rienne.” He cast a yearning look at her stomach.

  She smiled. It faltered a little when she met Thorn’s grave stare. His expressionless face gave nothing away. “I, um, I just want you to know I’d love to have you both involved with the baby. All the babies, actually. I kind of consider both of you family now. Well, there is no kind of. We’re having a baby together, so we are a family.” She stopped for a moment and took several deep breaths, aware she was starting to babble.

  “The guys and I talked about it, and we’re okay if you want to, um, touch me, er, you know, during the pregnancy.” She cringed a little as she finished, sure she sounded like a complete slut. Thorn already seemed pissed as hell Bramble was one of the fathers, and here she was, offering sex. Granted it would help the baby, but that didn’t make her feel any less like a story from a porn magazine. All she needed to complete the look was a cheerleader uniform and a shag-carpeted love bus, since she already had enough men to ride a train on her.

  Bramble sagged in obvious relief while Thorn’s dour expression transformed into a glowing smile.

  “What did you think I was going to say?” she asked, a little confused by their sudden change in mood.

  Thorn eased off the loveseat and slinked toward her on hands and knees. She found herself a little fascinated by his inherent sexuality. It was a side of him she hadn’t seen before the night in the hot spring. He nuzzled his face against her belly. His hands released the button on her jeans and eased the zipper down so he could press a kiss against her skin. “We thought you were going to brush us off and make us beg. We want to be part of the baby’s life; to be able to put our hands on you and feel the life growing in your womb.”

  “I wouldn’t do that to you,” she said softly.

  Bramble joined him, pressing his cheek next to Thorn’s. The men kissed each other with sweet gentleness. It made her realize there was too much love for any sexual contact to be dirty. All her men loved sex and saw nothing shameful in sharing it. She would have to emulate their attitude.

  She ran her fingers through their hair, letting them hold her as long as they liked. It was a moment of perfect peace. Wonder filled her. After so much time where any surprise in her life was just one more thing that hurt her, it was stunning to realize her pregnancy was being met with joy. It left her feeling off-balance but hopeful.

  “We never thought we would have children,” Bramble finally said, his musical voice low and filled with emotion. “All of the women were mated, and we loved each other too much to give each other up, even if there was someone one of us wanted.” His hand rubbed her shin through her jeans. “So, we let go of the dream.”

  “This is the most precious gift we have ever received,” Thorn said in a choked voice. He looked up at her, tears in his eyes. “We will be fathers. Not uncles, fathers. Our own baby. You may think it was an accident, but for us it is an answer to a prayer we had forgotten.”

  She wiped away his tears as they fell, then bent and kissed him softly.

  His lips clung to hers for a moment before he pulled back and rested against her stomach again.

  “Foster says he will have to send the babies into sleep so Shiloh’s baby has enough time in the womb.” She trembled a little as she recalled the conversation.

  “What do you mean?” Bra
mble asked, looking up at her and sliding his hand comfortingly up and down her arm.

  “He says that Shiloh’s race has long pregnancies, about three months longer than a small fey, which is about a month longer than a human pregnancy. So, to prevent me from going into labor before all the babies are ready, he will put all of them into sleep.” The thought scared her. It was frightening enough to become the mother to five children all at once without the additional strain of a thirteen-month pregnancy. Add to it that she wouldn’t feel her babies move for the last three months, and she was feeling nearly paralyzed.

  The men must have sensed this since Thorn stood and carried her to the loveseat where he and Bramble cradled her between them, their hands resting together over her womb.

  “Sleep won’t harm the babies, Rienne,” Bramble said softly. “It may actually make them healthier. They will be in a warm, safe place longer, and unlike when we go to sleep as an adult, they will continue to draw nourishment from you.”

  She nodded against Thorn’s shoulder. “That’s what Foster said, but it’s still scary. Besides, nine months is hard enough. Thirteen months of being as big as a house and waddling around like a duck is going to be misery.”

  They chuckled softly.

  “Well, if you get tired of waddling, we can carry you,” Bramble offered gallantly. “Maybe make you a litter fit for a princess, and we can haul you around while you wave graciously at the peasantry.”

  She giggled at the image this conjured and relaxed between them. They might never be her lovers as the other men were but it was wonderful to know they would be her friends. Another dollop of the tension she had felt since Foster had announced she was pregnant faded.

  After a bit Foxglove came up. He smiled gently, his grass-green eyes velvety soft with pleasure as he saw them. She felt a surge of love at the mere sight of him and suddenly yearned for his arms around her. She wanted to share the wonder and burgeoning happiness she felt with him.

  Thorn and Bramble stirred. They stood and hugged Foxglove tightly before going downstairs. “She’s a blessing, Foxglove,” she heard Bramble whisper.