by Terry Spear
Eleron, the mage, was around her age, blond-haired and blue-eyed, very handsome, and he liked to show her magic tricks, though her brother frowned on his doing so just to show off and delight her. He was supposed to be doing mage-worthy tasks and that didn't include entertaining the king's sister.
Ritasia was polite, but reserved, studying her before she truly befriended her. Maybe it was a queen thing. Or maybe she thought Esmeralda had the hawk fae royal gene that made them killers of their own family to ascend to the throne. She noted everyone watched her. Curious because she was a suddenly discovered royal of the house of the hawk fae kingdom? Or something else?
The maid assigned to her—Tress, seemed cowed around her most of the time. No matter how Esmeralda tried to make friends with her, she couldn't make any headway with the woman. She'd tried to see the griffin fae captain, but he was being kept under lock and key—in the castle at least, not in the dungeon, but she had wanted to thank him at the very least for all he had done for her. Her brother had not allowed her to speak with him even for a moment.
Her brother had brought her parents, not her real parents as they were long dead, but the ones who had risked their lives raising her, into the keep and she'd enjoyed visiting them. Even they had seemed wary of her now.
She was glad to see the dragon shifters return to the hawk fae kingdom, all alive and well, a couple of casualties of their staff that were deeply mourned—which made her realize how close the dragon shifter fae were to their loyal dragon fae staffs. She was most glad to see Alton return.
She was confused about him though. He often acted as though he was thrilled she would notice him, but reluctant to get too involved. She wondered then if he thought King Tiernan would object to her marrying a dragon shifter fae. As if she was really thinking along those lines. But then she'd seen the way he and some other dragon shifters were all trying to get Ena's attention, and Esmeralda assumed then that Alton was one of her suitors. Ena didn't have long silky tresses like all the other women Esmeralda knew, but Ena had a warrior's wit and courage on the battlefield, and she didn't need coils of shiny hair to make her beautiful. She was beautiful inside and out just the way she was.
Esmeralda realized then, too, that she envied the warrior woman who had so many doting suitors when no one looked Esmeralda's way, and she was a princess! Not that she cared anything about that. She had been happy to dig in the dirt back home, to plow gardens, and pick ripe fruit from the orchards in the village where she had been growing up before she was torn away from there. But she had an important royal title and no one seemed to care anything about her.
Still, Ena looked so sad sometimes that Esmeralda couldn't understand what she had to be sad about. So after Ena had participated in a function that King Tiernan and his wife had put on, Esmeralda had privately asked her, "You seem… forlorn. Are you not happy here?"
Ena gave her a lackluster smile. "Of course I'm happy. Your brother has given us a home and been very generous indeed. We will repay him by helping him wherever we can."
"It is not that," Esmeralda said. "Something else that bothers you. Is there anything you want or need? I can't tell you how much I admire you and wish I could be more like you."
Ena smiled a little at her then, and there was a hint of warmth in her expression this time. "Not everyone would feel that way."
"Oh, they are crazy then. You have so many suitors, when I would kill to have just one. And your staff, they adore you. I see the way that the other dragon shifter staff are. They are loyal to the dragon shifters. But your people—I believe if you never paid them again, they would stay with you until the end of time."
"You are a princess," Ena said, as if that meant Esmeralda would have her way in all things.
"You are a duchess, part of the royals now, too. You are smart and witty, charming, loyal, and protective—"
Ena looked away.
"Ena, I've seen how you take care of your people. I know they love you and you them."
"I lost one of them. I gave him up to pay a phantom fae's toll. I'm not worthy of your praise."
Ena turned away and began to leave, but Esmeralda grabbed her arm, thinking after the fact that bodily manhandling a battle-trained dragon wasn't probably one of the smartest moves she'd ever made. "I understand."
"Do you?" Ena's eyes glistened with tears.
Esmeralda felt terrible and knew that this went deeper with the dragon shifter. "Yes. The griffin fae captain saved my life numerous times. I would not be alive today if it had not been for him. But my brother will not let me see him. He was supposed to just free him, but he's ransoming him as if he was a prisoner."
"He is a prisoner. His people imprisoned you for nine years. And he had every intention of returning you to his king. If he'd made it to the beach with you on his own, he would have signaled to one of his ships to pick the two of you up on the beach and taken you right back to that prison."
"This is a prison," Esmeralda said.
Ena frowned at her.
"It is. No one talks to me. No one confides in me. I feel isolated. People stop talking when I draw near. No one paid any attention to me in the griffin fae kingdom. Here, everyone does, but not in a warm and endearing way."
Ena studied her for a moment, then said, "They think you are a spy."
Esmeralda stared at her, not believing such a thing. Then she frowned. "I'm not. I am who I say I am."
"Yes, but you lived with them for so long, you were treated like royalty, wore wondrous gowns and jewels. You're not trained for fighting or surviving, yet you managed to escape a well-fortified island." Ena shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but if I were them, I'd certainly consider the possibility that the griffin fae king allowed you to escape, then sent his fleet of small sailing ships to 'rescue' you to prove that you couldn't survive out there on your own."
Esmeralda couldn't believe it. Then again, she could understand her brother and his people's concern.
"If you were him, what would you do?" Esmeralda asked.
"Marry you off. Get you out of the kingdom. Forge a new alliance."
"Like the griffin fae king would have done." Esmeralda suddenly felt desolate. Nowhere had been home but her village. Her fostering parents had treated her like she was one of them, to protect her from anyone learning she was not. Now she was just as much a pawn as she had been when she was living with the griffin fae?
Ena let out her breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. Your brother probably isn't thinking along those lines at all."
"No, thank you for being honest. You might very well be right. The king respects you and your kind and I wonder…" Esmeralda chewed on her bottom lip. "Could you help me to see the captain? Just once?"
"This is not a good way to start a relationship with the king—for either of us."
"Just for a moment?"
Ena sighed. "All right. But it could go badly for the both of us. Come on."
The two headed for the captain's bedchamber on the other side of the castle and when they reached it, they found two stern-faced guards standing on either side of the closed door.
"We wish a word with the prisoner," Ena said, and Esmeralda loved how she sounded so commanding.
One of the men said, "Only certain people are allowed to see him—by the king's orders."
"Listen to anything we have to say and relay it back to the king, if you wish. She only wants to thank the captain for saving her life. She is the king's sister," Ena said.
Esmeralda admired the way that Ena spoke, imposing great authority even though she had none here.
"We can't."
"Do it," Ena said.
The men glanced at each other, and Esmeralda got the impression they were afraid of her, or afraid of what might happen if they injured her when the king wanted her services. Not only that, all the dragon shifters respected her, and if the guards hurt her, Esmeralda could see them rising up in anger against the king.
She realized then how much power th
e girl wielded. Not in title or dragon form, but just because of the friendships she had made. Esmeralda dearly wished she could forge such a friendship with Ena.
"The king will learn of this," the man said, and opened the door. "You will stand in the doorway. The captain will remain inside the room."
The captain was writing in a journal and turned to see what was going on. Esmeralda belatedly realized he could have been doing something else that could have been much more private and would have embarrassed both her and him. Ena, too? She wasn't sure if the dragon shifter could even be embarrassed.
"I want to thank you with all my heart for saving me," Esmeralda said. "I owe you my life. I'm… I'm sorry my brother is ransoming you to return you to your people. I had asked him just to hand you over to them."
The captain was frowning so hard at her, she thought he was angry that she had come to see him and was the one who was responsible for his being detained and now ransomed. "My king will not pay the ransom."
Esmeralda realized her mouth was hanging agape and quickly shut it. "Is it too… exorbitant?"
"I failed to return you home. I got myself into this mess, I will have to get myself out of it. Good day to you, princess."
Was he planning to escape? They'd kill him. He wasn't like she had been, a valuable bargaining tool. If his king wouldn't pay a ransom for him, her brother wouldn't have any use for him.
The guard shut the door and resumed his post.
Ena took Esmeralda's arm this time and walked with her down the hall.
"What will he do with him?" Esmeralda whispered.
"If he can be trusted, your brother might put him on one of his ships—as part of the crew."
"He wouldn't trust him," Esmeralda said, morosely.
"I doubt it. The captain might lie low for a couple of years, but then try to take over the ship and sail home."
"I will speak to my brother about lowering the ransom."
Romero suddenly spoke up behind them, nearly giving Esmeralda a heart attack. He was such a strange boy, or at least looked like he was a boy. "The king has not ransomed the captain."
"What?" Esmeralda said.
"Your brother offered to set him on the beach and allow one of the griffin fae ships to pick him up as you had wished. Their king refuses and calls the captain a coward and a weakling for not only losing you to us but falling into our hands as well. King Tiernan wanted to spare the captain the sordid details. It is enough that he is a prisoner here, but to believe he is unworthy when he has proven over the years to his own king that he is, that would be a greater blow to his self-esteem."
"Why are you telling me this?" Esmeralda asked.
"I think you will cause trouble if you do not know the truth. Not truly meaning to in a bad way, but because you feel some loyalty to the captain," Romero said.
"You must tell him the truth. I promised the captain I would plead for his safe return."
Ena folded her arms. "If it was me, and my king didn't wish my return, I would wish to know this."
"He will not believe us," Romero said.
"Then set him free. Let him sit on the beach, awaiting one of his ships. Let him signal to them that he needs to return home."
"They may very well kill him."
Esmeralda didn't wish that. "Then we have some of our dragon shifter friends watch from the rocky cliffs and he could wait on the beach there."
"What if he believes the dragons only wish to destroy the griffin ship and its crew?" Romero asked.
"We all take chances in this life," Esmeralda said.
"I would help out anyway I can," Ena said. "And I can ask my friends."
"I will speak to the king," Romero said. Before Esmeralda could say anything further, he added, "Trust me in this, princess. He does listen to me."
She bowed her head a little to him. She still didn’t understand why her brother and this half fae-half human were so close, but she trusted him—only because he had finally told her the truth about this matter. As to her brother, she ground her teeth, not sure how she was going to prove to him she was worthy of his trust and his people's. If he thought to marry her off to some other royal from some other kingdom to get rid of her to protect himself, he had another thing coming.
Romero smiled wickedly at her, bowed low to her, and stalked off.
Ena was frowning and Esmeralda worried she sensed something was wrong. When Romero disappeared from their sight, Esmeralda asked, "What is it, Ena?"
"There is something off about him."
"I thought so, too. What do you think? I wondered if he was of the fae who could sense if someone was lying or not. I haven't ever met one before like that."
"I don't think so. But he seems to know more than he should about things."
"Like?"
"Like I was wondering if I should ask the queen if it would be all right to pay one of her gardeners to teach my new gardeners a thing or two. And Romero said that she would be delighted. Just ask her."
Esmeralda frowned at her. "I don't understand."
"I hadn't spoken a word to anyone about it. I was only thinking these thoughts. I kept trying to recall if I'd mentioned it to anyone, but I hadn't. I had just only come up with the idea when I was walking in the queen's hedge maze and admiring it. Suddenly, there was Romero, asking if I was lost, and then telling me the queen would be delighted to loan out one of her gardeners to help train my new gardeners."
"He can read minds," Esmeralda said, her cheeks growing hot.
Ena smiled at her. "What have you been thinking about while you've been around the king's most faithful page, dear princess?"
***
Brett had worked for a week on the skills in the various books in his grandfather's journals. Not only his, but generations back. He wondered why his father hadn't been a mage. Unless there could be only one and his father had died before his grandfather could pass the knowledge onto him.
He took a break and stared at his face in the mirror, the tattoos reminding him he truly wasn't human any longer. Though he still couldn't transport anywhere. He'd accidentally cut himself with a laser wand, but that had healed quickly so he knew he had the healing ability down pat. No matter how much he tried to concentrate on his work though, he continued to worry about Ena. And Bryan and Mark. And Ryker, Jacob, the ladies. Were they all safe? What of Alton? Was he still making the moves on her?
Brett shouldn't allow himself to think on it. Yet, he couldn't get her out of his mind. He loved her defiance, the way she had stood up to her brother, and to Alton. In the end, what did it matter? She would wed a dragon shifter fae. Why would she be interested in anything else, when they had so much in common?
He had to focus on first things first. Learn the magic. Survive the trials. Escape and rejoin Ena and his friends. Not to date Ena, or anything. But he was a prisoner here. And he had every intention of leaving as soon as he could.
Maracose was a mystery to him. He seemed to be someone important to the queen. All he had to do was give someone a hard look and the person averted his eyes and bowed his head to him and did his bidding. Maracose seemed genuinely concerned with Brett's mage skills and surviving the first of the tests put before him tomorrow morning. He also seemed worried about the girl, Freya. He wouldn't speak of her, but Brett noted the way he looked at her when he chanced to see her on the very brief occasions when she was suddenly there, but then again, gone. He acted… almost fatherly.
Despite his circumstances, Brett was grateful every day that he was alive. He had food, clothing, and shelter. He had much to keep him busy, learning all he could in the brief time he could, hoping it would be enough to keep him alive. He thought again of Freya.
No matter how many times Brett had tried to catch up to the elusive shadow girl, he'd never managed. But whenever he'd visited the grave to talk with his grandfather, the raven appeared.
He was beginning to think the raven wasn't a raven at all.
###
Acknowledgement
<
br /> Thanks so much to beta readers: Marg Breece, Bonnie Gill, Donna Fournier, and Kimmi Wakefield, for taking the time to drop into the World of Fae and see how the fae were doing! Really appreciate you! And thanks to Loretta Melvin for always cheering me on!
About the Author:
Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars, and having fun with her young adult novels. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear. And on Wordpress at:
Terry Spear's Shifters
http://terryspear.wordpress.com/
Author’s Note:
The fae world will continue with Phantom Fae—this will be more of Ena, Alicia, Brett, Esmeralda, and Freya's story and the troubles soon to come.
***
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Available 2014, here is an excerpt from:
Phantom Fae
The World of Fae, Book 6
