by Amy Sumida
“We can scry for him when get back to my house,” Chad assured me. “I doubt anyone would have notified your father yet. Without a body, they can't prove anything.”
“They have Iku's body,” I noted.
“That's a good point,” Chad frowned. “They might use it to their advantage and blame the Court of the Dragon Kings anyway. The corpse of Iku-Turso would be some solid proof that their court was trying to protect you when you were taken by the other dragons.”
“Great, now I've been abducted,” I sighed.
“You've been abducted?” A woman stood beside the table, looking me over speculatively. “You seem to be here of your own free will.”
She was way too chic for the setting, dressed in a cream cashmere coat and tan slacks. She carried a purse that looked like it cost more than all of our outfits combined and a pair of shoes to match. Her strawberry-blonde hair was curled perfectly over one shoulder and her creamy skin was sprinkled with tawny freckles. Watery blue eyes, the color of a sun-lightened sea, strayed from me to Raza. And stayed there.
“Nessie!” Chad stood up and hugged the woman.
She pulled her fascinated stare away from Raza to hug Chad back.
“Choo-choo,” she purred.
“Choo-choo?” I asked Raza and he pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
“Lady Nessa Buinne,” Chad waved his hand to me. “This is Her Royal Highness Seren Firethorn and,” he waved a hand to Raza, “Lord Raza Tnyn.”
“Your Highness,” she nodded to me and then looked back to Raza. “Lord Raza.”
“Lady Nessa,” he nodded back.
“It's nice to meet you,” I said as I stared back and forth between Nessa and Raza. “Hey, Raza,” I leaned in and grinned mischievously. “I don't think she's human.”
“Pardon me?” Nessa blinked in surprise.
“It's an earlier discussion,” Chad waved her concern away, “about human women.”
“Oh,” she frowned. “No, I'm not,” she looked around warily, as if she might be overheard. “I'm water-sidhe.”
“Water and fire don't mix,” Raza smirked at me. “Trying to foist me off, Princess?”
“Oh, are you two together?” Nessa took a step back as if she might literally be stepping on my toes.
I appreciated that she'd be so considerate and it made me like her instantly.
“No, we're not together,” I told her gleefully, earning a glare from Raza. I transferred my smile to him and added, “Tiernan told me all elements work together.”
“Yet,” Raza smirked at me and then looked back to Nessa. “We aren't together yet. The Princess is... what is it you called it, Chad?”
Chad flushed bright pink and shot me an apologetic look before answering in a rueful tone, “Playing hard to get.”
“Ah yes,” Raza smirked. “She's playing hard to get.”
“And she's not the only one,” Nessa smirked back at Raza and then winked at me. “I can work with that.”
“Nessie is one of my oldest friends,” Chad cleared his throat. “She lives just down the road in Thane.”
“Chad called and said you needed some assistance,” she went serious.
“We do,” I agreed. “Thank you for coming, Nessa.”
“Please, call me Nessie.”
“I don't know if I can,” I made a pained expression.
“Why ever not?” She cocked her head.
“A water sidhe named Nessie,” I grimaced and shook my head. “I fear it's too much temptation for me to say something inappropriate.”
“Oh yes, the monster,” she held up her hands and gave a mock growl. “It's not at all inappropriate to connect me to that Nessie. Where do you think my nickname came from?”
“I can't imagine you lurking in lochs and scaring the locals,” I laughed.
“Because you don't know her yet,” Chad said dryly. “She's definitely a loch-lurker.”
Nessa smacked him in the stomach and Chad chuckled.
“It's alright,” Raza purred. “We're all monsters here.”
He smiled sensuously at Nessa and she smiled back. Suddenly it wasn't funny anymore and I got a terrible ache in my chest. I looked down into the remnants of my bisque as a horrible realization hit me. I may not have been jealous before but now I was. After I'd gone and encouraged this flirtation. After I'd thought Nessa had been a godsend, er... goddessend, her arrival perfectly timed to help alleviate the tension between me and Raza. After I had started to like her.
Now I get jealous?
“What the hell?” I whispered under my breath.
But no one with sense in their head, had ever accused the heart of having any.
“Well, it looks as if this monster missed dinner,” Nessa noted our empty plates.
“I'd be happy to purchase a meal for you,” Raza stood and that feeling in my chest got worse. I couldn't breathe for a second.
“No, no, I'm fine,” she hurried to wave off the offer. “I was just wondering if that meant you all might be ready to leave,” she looked around again.
“Nessa isn't comfortable out in the open,” Chad explained and gave her a gentle pat on the back.
“At least not on land,” she sighed. “It's harder for me to sense other fey.”
“Nessa, like a lot of my friends from these parts, has divorced herself from both the Court of the Nine Sons and the Unseelie Court.”
“I don't worry too much about the unseelie,” she added, “but the dragons can be vindictive.”
“I thought fairies could come and go freely from any of the Courts?” I asked.
“Usually, yes,” Chad gave Nessa a sympathetic look.
“I had an affair with one of the kings,” Nessa admitted. “And I made the mistake of ending it.”
“Ouch,” I grimaced. “Which one, if you don't mind my asking?”
“Yazi,” she grimaced back at me when I groaned. “I see you've met him.”
“He was...” I cleared my throat, “aggressive.”
“That's putting it mildly,” she gave a little laugh. “Yazi is a possessive, violent, maniac.”
“So why did you become intimate with him?” Raza asked gently.
“Because he's also a persistent admirer, deliciously barbaric, and a beast in bed,” she smiled as if reliving the memories.
“Valid,” I said into the silence.
“He's the reason I left Court,” Nessa's eyes skittered toward the sea. “And he hasn't stopped chasing me since.”
“Why do you remain so close to the rath?” I followed her gaze. “Why not move inland?”
“This is as far as I want to be from my home,” she sighed. “I don't think I could survive inland. As long as I'm careful, I'll be alright. I just try not to stay out in public too long.”
“Of course,” Raza said gallantly and then turned to me. “Princess, are you ready to head back?”
Goddess damn his sexy face. He was all wicked smiles and glittering eyes. I didn't want that kind of guy. Raza was too slick, too in-your-face-attractive. The type of man who women fight each other for and then continue fighting to hold onto. I did enough fighting as it was. I didn't want any in my relationship.
So I decided that my original instinct had been best. Nessa was just what I needed to keep Raza at bay. Plus, she might be good for him and she'd already proven that she could handle sex with a dragon.
“Yeah, I'm good,” I answered Raza as I gathered up our trash but Chad took the plates from me quickly and disposed of them.
“Allow me,” Raza helped me extricate myself from the picnic table (why are those things so hard to get out of?) and then slipped my hand around his bicep. He kept his hand pressed over mine as we headed for the car.
I caught a hint of disappointment in Nessa's eyes but what really concerned me was the giddy fluttering filling my chest.
Chapter Seventeen
“Dad,” I said in relief when my father's face appeared inside Chad's crystal ball.
&nbs
p; The fey used crystal balls like human's use Skype. Any enchanted ball could contact someone near another such ball. Basically, the closest crystal would chime when you had an incoming scry. King Keir had been near one such crystal so contacting him didn't take very long.
“Seren,” he frowned. “Where are you?” His face filled the crystal as he leaned closer and peered around me. “That doesn't look like the underwater court.”
“I'm in Alaska,” I sighed. “It's a long story.”
“Well you had better start telling it.”
So I told him all about Uisdean, the dragons, and Raza rescuing me. I told him how my Star's Guard was even now headed back to the Básmhor Sea to find me and how I had to intercept them and then go save my stupid uncle. By the time I finished, Dad was scowling and muttering beneath his breath.
“That imbecile!” He finally shouted. “Trusting water dragons! Stealing resources! How could I be cursed with such a stubbornly malicious sibling?”
“Dad?”
“I should let him rot down there,” he went on. “Let the dragons eat him! Pick their teeth with his bones!”
“Dad, we can't do that.”
“He deserves it,” Keir grumbled.
“Perhaps, but you know you don't want your brother to get eaten by dragons.”
“Honestly, Seren,” he set his amethyst stare on me. “I think it would be poetic justice.”
I swallowed hard, remembering how Uisdean was responsible for my mother's murder by a pack of pukas. She'd been torn apart and consumed. Uisdean being eaten alive would indeed be poetic. But then I thought of my human father; Ewan Sloane, who'd let vengeance and hatred consume him. My mother's death had driven Ewan nearly insane with his need to kill every fairy in existence. Ironically, the thing which brought him back to sanity was the knowledge of Mom's adultery. He'd transferred his hatred from the fey to Catriona. And for awhile there, me.
I didn't want that for Keir. So far, he'd dealt with Mom's death in a healthy way. He didn't let it embitter him or drive him into senseless violence. He knew he had to do what was best for his kingdom and for me. Instead of clinging to hatred, Keir had chosen love and clung to me. I didn't want to lose that.
“Do you truly want that for Uisdean?” I asked my father softly.
“Well I don't want my only child going back into dragon territory to rescue him,” he growled. “You stay put, Seren. I will send my own-”
“You're breaking up, Dad,” I frowned at the ball. “Pshhhzzzzchhhh... chhh... chhh... chhh,” I made the typical bad signal sound.
“Seren, don't you-”
“I don't know what's wrong with this thing,” I tapped the side of the ball. “I'll try to scry you later, Dad. Love you! Bye!” I waved and then rubbed his image away.
His shout echoed through the room even after his image faded. I stood up with a grim smile and the ball immediately started to chime. I flinched and then rushed out of the room.
“What did you do?” Raza was standing right outside the door.
I gave a terrified screech and pulled up short.
“Don't do that,” I yelled as he laughed. “Damn sneaky dragons.”
“What happened with your father, Seren?” He tried again.
“He agreed that his brother needs to be rescued... sort of.”
“And?”
“And he may have insinuated that he didn't want me to do the rescuing,” I admitted.
“I think he's right,” Raza nodded. “You should remain on land with me.”
“I have to go,” I swept by him. “I'm not sending Chad and his friends down there while I wait safe on shore.”
“Why not?” He grimaced. “I have to.”
“Yes, you have to but I don't,” I smirked. “Besides, I want to see the look on Uisdean's face when I rescue him.”
“It'll probably look like this,” he made his expression into one of bored scorn.
I burst into laughter. Who knew Raza could be funny?
“More of my friends have arrived,” Chad came into the hallway.
“Wonderful,” Raza was in his natural form again, so his wings were pressed tight to his back in the narrow hallway.
He tried to offer me his arm before he realized that he wouldn't be able to escort me properly through the small passage. I chuckled and edged ahead of him but as I passed by, he leaned in slightly, pressing his arm into my belly as if by accident. The touch sent shivers racing along my skin and my whole body jerked.
“Raza,” I growled in warning.
“What?” He blinked innocently at me while he slid his hand to the small of my back and gently eased me forward. “Let's not keep Chad's guests waiting.”
“This is exactly what I don't want you to do around Tiernan,” I hissed over my shoulder.
“I'll take that as encouragement to touch you when Lord Tiernan is not around.”
“No you won't,” I snapped, then put a smile on my face and entered the living room.
Chad's home was done in rustic woodsman meets Asian nomad. There were rough furniture pieces set amid elegant Chinese chairs, silk brocades woven with dragons draped beside thick wool with Native American designs, and Tibetan masks hanging next to giant slabs of carved ivory. But this fascinating juxtaposition faded into the background when I saw the fairies filling the room.
Nessa was there of course, serenely drinking a cup of tea at the breakfast bar while looking perfectly polished in her cream, flouncy, silk blouse. Her normal appearance only made the other fey seem more alien and my gaze barely stayed on her a second before moving down to the women before her.
Skin the color of pistachio ice cream, pupil-less inky eyes like a shark, and wicked black nails which curved down from their fingertips. The ladies looked like they'd bathed in algae. There were bits of slime in their wild, dark hair and dried patches of salt on their clothes. They sat together on the couch, murmuring conspiratorially and surreptitiously watching the grindylows on the floor in front of them.
The grindylows were gathered in a heap of chittering, giggling tentacles, fins, and large black eyes. They were like a cross between a squid and a goblin. Their skin was grayish-green, nearly translucent, and their lower halves were a combination of barb-tipped tentacles and narrow flippers. From the waist up, they looked like goblins; little, craggy people with lots of sharp teeth and very little hair. Despite their goblin resemblance, I saw immediately how they'd been able to lure children into the sea. They had child-like features; rounded cheeks, chubby arms, and shining eyes. Just the type of disguise to trick toddlers.
When the grindylows saw me, they gave an excited cheer, then wetly smacked and suction-cupped their way across the wood floor to me. Their high pitched voices were a little hard to understand at first. I had to crouch down and focus to hear them. But as soon as I knelt, they swarmed over me like rambunctious puppies.
It was hard to hold onto my aversion under their affectionate assault.
“Hey now,” Chad chided them. “Let's not overwhelm the Princess.”
“I'm fine, Chad,” I held up a tentacle wrapped hand. “I believe they're just saying hello.”
“Princess! Princess!” One of the grindylows near me squeaked excitedly. “We be waitin' to meet ye.”
“I like your hair,” another one reached out a slippery hand and stroked my lavender streak.
“And pretty eyes,” a third placed his little hands on my cheeks and lifted himself up on the tips of his tentacles so he could peer directly into my eyes. “Starry eyes! Yes, yes! She's the one!”
They all cheered.
“The one for what?” I asked warily.
“The one Danu told us would come,” another grindylow jumped up into the air and then landed on her friends. “She said lavender line and starry eyes.”
Her friends carried her to the back of the group like a crowd surfer at a concert.
“Did she now?” I lifted a brow. “And yet she was painfully absent when I needed her in the Court of the Nine S
ons.”
I hadn't realized just how bitter I was over Danu not making some kind of gesture in front of the dragons or even offering me counsel. A sign that I was being an idiot would have been nice. A big flashing Stupid in neon letters would have even been acceptable. But perhaps I'd grown too dependent on the Goddess. Did I now feel entitled to her help?
“Was she?” One of the grindylows laughed. The others started giggling and took up the chant, “Was she? Was she? Was she?”
“Yes, she was,” I frowned.
“Sent you a fire dragon, she did,” another grindylow piped up.
“Into the water he went,” added another.
I glanced back at Raza and he looked away.
“Raza?” I growled.
“Do they always speak like Yoda?” Raza mused.
“Raza!” I snapped and hid my surprise over his Star Wars reference.
“I don't know what they're carrying on about,” Raza shrugged.
“Is that what a dragon looks like when he lies?” One of the green women asked another.
Raza hissed at them and they hissed back.
“Okay, that's enough of that!” I stood and went towards the women, dragging some clinging grindylows with me. “Hello, ladies, I'm Seren,” I held out my hand to the first one.
She stared at my hand a moment in shock and then slid her cold fingers around mine. Her shiny claws were even longer than Raza's and curled almost completely around my hand.
“I am Effie,” she said.
I nearly choked as an image of the Wicked Witch of the West flashed through my head. Wasn't that Glinda's nickname for Elphaba in Wicked? But I managed to put on a serious smile and shake the hands of the rest of the wicked witches... I mean green fairies.
The others were named Aluki, Luava, and Koko. They were qalupaliks. I recognized them after speaking with them for a few moments. I should have known immediately, being in Alaska as we were. Qalupaliks preferred the colder waters. It was a funny sounding Inuit name, pronounced ka-loo-pah-look, but there was nothing funny about these women. They were known to steal children and then use the child's energy to keep themselves young. Of course that was against the truce now and if they were ever caught with a human child, one of my coworkers would come and extinguish them. Still, they all looked rather well-preserved.
