by Sumida, Amy
“May blood flow and fire burn,” the rest repeated solemnly.
Arach smile indulgently and gestured for me to sit as he also took his throne.
“The first court of King Arach and Queen Vervain has begun,” Isleen looked to her book. “Fey of Fire, present yourselves to your new Queen to swear fealty.”
A line of fey appeared before our thrones and the fire fey edged up the steps, one by one, to bow before me and recite an oath of allegiance. I nodded and smiled to each one, hoping I was doing it right, until hours later, it was finally over.
Then Isleen announced. “We welcome our new Queen, Vervain of the House of Fire! Hail Queen Vervain!”
“Hail Queen Vervain!” Everyone repeated.
Then Isleen consulted her book again. “Diarmat, goblin knight of the House of Fire, come forward and state your grievance.”
A tall goblin, by this I mean he was nearly four feet, waddled forward to stand in the space before the thrones. He was greenish gray, his skin bubbled, his hands and feet too large for his body, with yellowish nails that were in desperate need of a manicure. I looked down at my own nails. Manicure?
He had red eyes and dark green hair, his brows growing together to join in the center, emphasizing his Cro-magnon forehead. He grinned, revealing stained teeth full of his last meal, which looked as if it had still been screaming when he ate it.
“My King, my Queen,” he started in the sing-song voice all the goblins used. I'd learned that the rhyming was an aid to keep their attention focused on what they were saying. “Long the night, dim my sight. It took me until daylight, to make my sword come out right. It was right, so light to fight! Then Felan he come,” he pointed back at another goblin who was chuckling behind him. “he pound his drum, and make me run, run, run! I mad at sound, it hurt me round. I hit the wall and then rebound. My sword it break, he make mistake, and he should make, make, make! Make him make me new sword to take!”
“Felan?” Arach raised a brow at the giggling goblin and the mirth immediately stopped as he came forward. “Did you startle Diarmat and cause him to break his new sword?”
“My King,” Felan was more gray than green, with odd spots of yellow all over. He had a huge, hooked nose which dropped so far down his face, I wondered how he ate. He bumbled a bow and his rolls of fat were still jiggling when he stood up. “Yes I pound. I sing and bound all around. It only fun, it must be done, I never hurt anyone,” he shrugged his saggy shoulders and tried hard to look innocent.
“You admit to the crime, Felan,” Arach shook his head. “You know it's Fire law, break bones not steel. You may play fun with your fellow goblins, cut and maim till your heart's content but no breaking weaponry. You must replace the sword.”
My eyes had grown round as I listened and they stayed that way through the rest of the proceedings. It looked as if Arach would have that silent Queen after all. I had nothing to say to the strange complaints my new subjects brought against each other. Then again, I didn't know the laws like Arach did. Maybe after a few years I'd be more familiar with them and able to make my own judgments.
After the rulings, tables were brought out, one placed directly before us on the dais, and we were served a feast. Leanan-sidhe sat together on our right, beautiful and deadly. On our left there were more sidhe, the fire-sidhe, a collection of faeries whose magic ran hot. Some has fiery hair, some glowed with the heat beneath their skin, and some looked perfectly normal except for their burning eyes. Their appearances varied as much as the goblins.
At the tables beyond were the goblins, the red caps included in their number, even though they were so much larger than the others. They were a rowdy bunch, pushing at each other and occasionally stabbing one another with eating implements good-naturedly. The sidhe looked down at them with lifted noses but slight smiles. They wouldn't neglect any form of entertainment.
Finally there were the phookas, black dogs with fiery eyes. They danced around tables, nudging in between the diners to take whatever food caught their fancy. They seemed to not only be tolerated but encouraged. The goblins especially, loved them, tossing them tidbits that the phookas couldn't reach on their own. Even the sidhe shifted aside for the beasts, slim hands running through the dark pelts before they pulled away.
I felt a tug at the hem of my dress and looked down. There was a little phooka sitting on his haunches, looking up at me with big, burning eyes. How he managed to give me puppy dog eyes while they were on fire is beyond me but he did. So well in fact, that I couldn't resist picking him up and putting him on my lap. He leaped up on my chest, licking my face affectionately with hot breath, and I laughed.
The room got very quiet.
I looked up to find Arach staring at me with a raised brow. He swung his gaze out and I followed it to find the phooka who had attacked me, standing at the edge of the dais with her other children around her. Oh shit, was I not supposed to play with the puppies?
She crept up the steps, casting wary glances toward Arach, and came around to my seat. The pup in my arms yipped and she huffed back, taking a seat beside me and laying her head briefly in my lap, to sniff at her babe and then nod in approval. The other pups came bumbling up the steps and threw themselves to the floor in various states of puppiness, around their mother.
I breathed a sigh of relief and the room went back to its normal state, maybe there were a few notes of surprise in the circling conversations but otherwise it was normal. The puppy settled in my lap and went to sleep, his mother watching in between glances at her other children. Arach chuckled and tossed her a piece of meat, which she caught deftly and then gave him a grateful yip.
“Looks like you have a champion,” Arach leaned in and gave me a quick kiss.
“Champion?” I looked down at the phooka mom and she regarded me intensely.
“She likes you,” Arach nodded. “Give her some meat and you'll have her loyalty for life.”
I raised a brow and cut a piece of meat from the slab on my plate. I held it out to her and she took it super fast, making my heart race a little. The teeth in her mouth were much sharper than a normal dog's.
“Why do all your subjects have pointed teeth?” I eyed the mother phooka.
“Our subjects,” he slid lazy-lidded eyes toward me. “They need teeth to hunt, it's nature.”
“I don't have sharp teeth.”
“Don't you?” He reached over and slid the tip of his finger along my lip, just barely flicking it against one of my canines. I tasted the tang of blood right before he withdrew it and held it up for my inspection. There was a beautiful drop of red on the tip of his elegant finger.
Something inside me shivered, my lips parting as I focused on that shimmering drop. I snatched his hand, pulled it quickly to my chest and sucked his finger back into my mouth. He leaned towards me, half out of his chair, and nestled his cheek against mine. Images shot through me, of us together in various ways, and then his emotions hit, pleasure, happiness, the long awaited love that seemed to be shifting into new versions of itself daily, and then underlying it all, a horrible guilt. I let his finger slide away and narrowed my eyes on him.
He was still so close, his breath moving the loose strands of my hair. I leaned in close and breathed deep, his scent held traces of this guilt as well, a sour note beneath his usual confident musk. I growled, a warning sound to force him back. He went quickly, looking me over with interest.
“A thaisce?” He cocked his head.
“Why do you smell guilty?” I whispered. “Why do you taste like betrayal?”
“I know not,” he looked away, his skin flushing red almost dark enough to match the scales at his temples.
“What have you done?”
“Nothing,” he looked back at me, his cheekbones gone into sharp relief and his eyes beginning to slant. Then his eyes shifted, a little twitch around their edges, and he sighed deeply. “Alas, you've found me out. We were invited to visit the other three Kingdoms after our wedding, a sort of goodwill gestu
re, to introduce you to the other fey lands. I refused the invitations without asking you.”
“Why would you do that?” I started to lose my steam.
“I didn't want to share you just yet,” he gave me a guilty grin. “You're mine at last and I want you here, with our people, learning our ways. You can learn about the other Houses later.”
“Oh,” I bit at my lip, “that's not too horrible, I guess. I can forgive that, just let me in on any decisions involving myself in the future. In fact, I'd like to be party to all decisions about the kingdom, if I'm going to help you rule it.”
“I agree,” he waved a consoling hand. “Of course you're absolutely right.”
I stared at him awhile, sensing something off about it all, but he just stared calmly back. So I let it go and the scent of guilt dissipated. When we finally turned in for the night, it was completely gone and I was more focused on the scent of his arousal. Time to do our duty to ensure the continuation of the species. I smiled to myself as I looked over the breadth of Arach's muscled torso, shining scales starting to spread down it. A Queen had responsibilities after all.
Chapter Fifty-Four
I believed I could fly. At least my body did. It really wanted me to. I spent every night dreaming of flying, heat rising from the Fire lands beneath me and cool wind on my skin. I was a dragon-sidhe, I should be able to at least sprout some wings. I knew Arach could so why couldn't I?
I concentrated on the form I wanted, that of a lithe dragoness, and willed my body to take the shape. My forehead creased, my muscles tensed, and sweat broke out on my brow. I felt like I'd changed shape before. If I just pressed a little harder, concentrated more, I knew I could do it. I needed to.
The heat rose within me, licking at my skin from the inside, and as my frustration built, I felt the heat grow. Just wings then, I pleaded with myself. Just give me the ability to fly. Please, oh please, I want to soar, I want to see the kingdom from above. The pressure built and burst through, flames igniting over my skin and setting my gown on fire. I screamed in rage, holding my hands in front of me and glaring at the claws that had replaced my fingers. Why couldn't I go just a little further? Tears of frustration poured down my cheeks but they just sizzled and evaporated.
“A Thaisce,” Arach entered the room, staring at me with wide eyes. “What is it?”
“I want to fly,” I cried as my gown turned to ash and drifted down around my nude body. “I want wings but I can't seem to make them take form.”
“Oh,” he sighed and walked over to run a sympathetic hand over my cheek. “Don't cry, love, just take some deep breaths and let go of the fire for now.”
“Okay,” I whispered and breathed in. By the time I exhaled, the flames were dying down.
“Come here,” he pulled me over to the bed and sat me down. “Remember how I told you of your other magics?”
“My other magics?” When had he told me about that?
“Oh dear, you've forgotten again,” he bit his lip. “You're a full dragon-sidhe but only in spirit. You have a human body which is host to love and lion magic. You asked me to help you control your dragon because we were unsure as to what would happen to your other magic if we let the dragon free. Remember how you blessed the Hidden Ones with Love?”
“Yes,” suddenly the memory returned, the butterflies rising up to help remind me. I could feel the connection if I concentrated hard enough.
“So I brought you into your power,” Arach continued. “But I placed a block on your ability to transform, so that your dragon would not fully take over and possibly destroy your other magics. You can shift partially but not into a full dragon, not even wings. Our children will be able to fly but I'm so sorry, Vervain, you will not.”
“I won't?” I frowned and searched inside myself.
Other magics? He had said I had more than one, love and... lions. I looked inside and finally felt a small stirring, almost as if it had been in hibernation. The love magic fluttered down to where a huffing warmth waited, looking at me with bright eyes. I had changed before! I could shift into a lioness, I knew it absolutely, remembered the feeling of it and suddenly I was it.
I fell off the bed as I shifted and Arach stood up in shock. I lifted my head and roared, the satisfaction of the shift filling me with exhilaration. I may not ever fly but I could roar and I could run. I felt strong like I never had before and my claws sprang out, scraping over the stone floor. It was like I'd finally found myself, remembered myself. This was me.
“Lovely,” Arach smiled and knelt in front of me. “You're so beautiful. Maybe this will content you?”
I huffed on him, rubbing my face against his happily. This would content me because it was what my body had been needing, a full shift. My magic soul didn't seem to care that the form chosen was earth-bound, it was strong and that seemed more important than wings.
“I may have a solution,” Arach stroked my face and I laid down in front of him, “if you still wanted to fly, but you'd have to change back to a human.”
“What solution?” I had shifted back with a thought and now laid sprawled in his lap.
“Well,” Arach smiled and kissed my forehead, “go put on some warm clothes and I'll show you. How about we go visit those hot springs I told you about? See some of our kingdom?”
“Okay,” I jumped up to get dressed.
“Well maybe we could tarry here a little longer,” he grinned at me and nudged me back into bed.
Two hours later, I was flying over the Fire Kingdom on the back of a red dragon. Well technically I was straddling Arach's neck, holding tight to one of the horns that crested his head and flowed down his back. He was dry and his scales were glassy smooth, so I had to wrap my legs around his neck and hook my feet together to stay in place.
Below us was our kingdom and it was magnificent.
I don't know what I expected from the Fire Kingdom, maybe lakes of lava, but it wasn't this hazy, dreamy wonderland. It was lush, like tropical rainforest lush, with moss covered trees and wide-leafed plants dripping with moisture. Forests interspersed with lakes, verdant valleys, and rolling hills. There was the occasional crevice leading down to magma, but the flow was far below the surface and the crevices were ringed with plant life.
Among it all were homes. I hadn't expected that. Silly really, but I'd thought all of the fire fey lived in the castle. Well here was proof that they didn't and that the House of Fire was much larger than I'd originally thought. In fact, the kingdom itself was much larger than I 'd thought. I guess when Arach had told me about its borders, I'd envisioned it as being the size of a human city. In truth, it was more along the lines of a continent.
There must be thousands of fey living within the borders of Fire. This was why most of the fey never ventured out of their kingdoms, there really was no need to. The land was vast enough and diverse enough to provide sustenance in many forms. Some of the fey came out of their homes and waved up at us. I waved back, thoroughly enchanted.
“This is amazing,” I screamed over the wind, holding my arms out to the sides and having the strangest urge to shout that I was King of the world.
“The Weeping Woods,” he nosed the direction of the largest rainforest. “The steam collects on the leaves and drips off them, making it look as if the trees are crying.”
“They're beautiful,” the dark green treetops were shrouded in mist, the cries of birds and other animals echoing through it hollowly.
“There are caves below, most filled with molten rock, which heat the entire kingdom,” he continued, blinking huge dragon eyes at me languidly. He barely had to beat his wings, just glided on the rising hot air. “You saw one of the flows when you met the Hidden Ones but there are also underground rivers that create steam when they collide with the magma. They flow continuously, in and then out of our kingdom. The main one comes in from the kingdom of water and flows directly beneath the castle to supply us with hot water.”
“How perfect,” I laughed and leaned forward s
o my cheek rested along his neck.
“They also fill the kingdom with mist,” he angled his head to the side. “There's one of the chasms that releases steam.”
I looked over and saw a crevice just like one I'd seen earlier, except this one was belching huge amounts of steam into the air. Just past it, there were large bodies of water, bubbling and steaming as well. They were surrounded by mossy banks and low hanging mist. Animals were drinking from a few of them, they raised their heads as we circled above and most took off running. A few stayed though, and I got to see my first sight of fire animals.
There was a four-legged creature with black horns and a long, wide face, covered in pebbled gray skin. Behind his horns and flowing back over his shoulders, was a thick mane of dark gray fur. It disappeared into his back where the gray skin returned but around his hooves were tufts of the fur as well. Its long tail also had a tuft of fur at the end of it, which swished as it lifted its head and made a honking cry, before loping away.
The other animal that was brave enough to stay a bit longer, was winged. I couldn't really call it a bird, it was too muscular and scaly for that, but it did have a bright yellow beak and taloned feet, so maybe it was some type of avian. The wings that spread out behind it weren't feathered, they were more like Arach's wings, leathery. They were yellow like its beak and the rest of its body was a bright orange, bright like venomous snakes are. It cawed, the sound echoing a warning around us, and a red tongue shimmied out of its beak.
“Best to stay away from that one,” Arach said as he started to land.
“Will do,” I watched as it took to the sky and flew in the direction of the mountains ringing us in.
“Here now,” he rolled to the side so I could dismount easier, “be careful.”
“I'm fine,” I jumped down and backed away so he could change back to his man form.
He changed in a shimmer very like a heat wave and extended his hand to me. I took it and he led me over to the closest pond. There was a rather stunted tree next to it but it had lovely, flowering vines hanging from its branches, out over the water. A sweet scent emanated from the purple blossoms, probably enhanced by the heat. I stripped and left my clothes on the bank, Arach was already nude, and we slid into the bubbling water together.
