They stood naked, chests heaving from exertion, a few feet from Jimmy and waited. “Position!” Jimmy barked. They fell to their knees, eyes to the ground and hands clasped firmly together behind their backs. Jimmy planted his foot in Rene’s chest and shoved hard. “You! You accepted an easy task and this is how you perform it?” Jimmy yelled, then backhanded the second man in the head hard, knocking him to the ground as well. They scrambled to return to their previous positions. “What have you got to say for yourselves?” Jimmy demanded.
“Please, sir, we meant no disrespect. Please don’t tell Master,” the second man pleaded quickly.
“No, sir, no disrespect intended, sir,” Rene repeated, looking up at Jimmy with bleary eyes. “It was just harmless sex, sir. I didn’t break any rules and you were turning the car in. Please don’t tell Master Laine, sir, please!”
“No disrespect? Now you’re insulting me,” Jimmy said, shaking his head and glaring down at the pair. “If it was ‘just harmless sex’ you would have been in the other car. Was it thrilling to be in your Master’s guests’ car, fucking like rabid dogs while they dined with him? Surely that was the excess excitement we sensed as we came up, Rene. I can’t even think of doing that to my Lord and Master, but we are very different people, you and I.
“Trelaine would be highly embarrassed if I told him about your distasteful behavior,” Jimmy declared. “I will not dishonor my Master that way, nor will I embarrass someone I personally like for trash like you. You will continue on your task without further delays and return to your Master, where you will confess your transgressions in full, including getting caught, and take your punishment in whatever form he decides it’s to take. You will relay this message to your Master. Tell him, ‘The First knows that this task was undertaken without his knowledge, that he need not be embarrassed by the actions of morons too stupid to control their hormones, and that we consider that matter closed at his discretion.’ Now, repeat it back to me.”
What made Jimmy’s tirade impressive wasn’t the language or the show of respect for me, but the compulsion he placed on them at the same time. I didn’t even know he could do that yet. I wasn’t sure he knew he did it. They repeated his message to Trelaine, separately and in unison, trembling in fear, tinged in excitement for what lay ahead of them.
“Now clean up that car and get out of here! You disgust me,” Jimmy said truthfully, scowling at them. I tossed a disassociative spell at the car to remove any sense of our presence and released the spotlight on the car as Jimmy walked into the shadows to me. “That’s just freaky,” Jimmy said quietly, shivering from head to toe.
I snickered as I wrapped us in portals and moved us across continents to New York City, into the lobby of the hotel where Mitch was staying with the Grimes kids. “Just remember that gays didn’t create or even perfect those… weirdnesses.”
“That’s not the word you wanted to use,” he said, grinning, heading for the elevators. He made subtle shifts to the crowd mentally, arranging an empty elevator car as we arrived, then tricked the concierge-level lock to allow us up without a keycard.
“Just trying to leave my own morality out of other people’s lives,” I murmured. “And pain and pleasure are intimately related, after all. Besides, you certainly seemed to know how to handle the situation.” My grin was huge at the indictment. Jimmy chose to ignore my taunting.
After the doors closed, Jimmy asked, “When do you want to introduce them to the brownies? If they’re coming over by Thursday…”
“I hadn’t considered it, really,” I admitted. “I suppose we can bring a few over tonight just to meet them, or is that too soon?”
“I have no idea,” Jimmy said as the elevator doors opened. A Guard stood casually in the middle of the elevator bay as if waiting for a car himself.
“Mr. McClure, Mr. Morgan, right this way, please,” the Guard said smiling. He turned and headed into the hotel proper. I could feel the lines of communication in the geas running at full strength as the entire Garrison was informed of our location. Two more Guards approached the concierge from the hall ahead us.
“Liz, dear, could you help us find this address?” one Guard asked as they stepped in front of us and obscured our approach from her. “We have to take the children to a grief counselor tomorrow and we can’t find the address on the map.” We slipped past her unnoticed as they continued to manipulate the map and their positions around her desk to maximize confusion.
“Nicely done, corporal,” Jimmy murmured when the Guard knocked on the door.
“Thank you, sir,” he answered, grinning, and walked back down the hall.
“Good evening, sir,” Mitch said, answering the door within seconds and standing back to let us in.
“Good evening, Mitch,” I said, smiling at him and looking him over carefully. “You look… harried.” He smiled weakly as he shut the door behind Jimmy.
“Kids can be hard to take when you’re not used to them, sir,” he said mildly. “Please, come into the living room. Maggie is dressing them for bed after their baths.”
Mitch darted ahead of us and started clearing away empty bags, toys, and clothes from the couch to give us a place to sit. Two more Guards appeared from another room and helped clear the room quickly of trash then began folding and stacking the clothing. Mitch still frantically moved around the room, trying to make everything perfect.
“Mitchel Dawes, sit down and relax before you give me a headache,” I called after him with mock severity, eyebrows raised and the corners of my mouth turned in a small smile. Jimmy snickered at the parental tone, which helped to defer Dawes’ spiking fear as he turned sharply, thinking he was in trouble.
“We’ve been telling him that all day, sir,” Cpl. Wilson said as he walked by with a stack of clothes for Donny in his arms. Marine PFC Montgomery followed him with Ana’s a moment later. Mitch finally sat down opposite us, breathing out slowly as he did.
“The first part of your day seemed to go well,” I said to him. “Why are you so frantic now?”
“Things did go well early on,” Mitch agreed. “After nap-time, though, they both were grumpy. Neither of them slept very well or very long, but we didn’t expect Donny to anyway. It started downhill from there.”
“I’d love to offer something instantly helpful here, but all my ‘children’ were fully grown when I got them,” I said grinning and pushing my presence out into the suite and further out to Guards in the halls. It both heightened my awareness of the area and strengthened their bonds with me. “Their problems were much different than simple grumpiness. And sometimes the only thing you can do is keep them alive. Their happiness can take a back seat to their well-being at times. That’s what I’ve had the hardest time with, personally. You can work on happiness.”
“That’s comforting, Lord,” Mitch said, relaxing some under my influence. “They are both alive, after all.”
“No! No! No!” Donny yelled from the bedroom, quickly followed by the pitter-patter of large feet as Wilson and Montgomery scampered out of the door, fighting to control their snickering. Donny refused to wear pajamas to bed and Cpt. Pierce tried to force the issue. The Guards agreed with Donny but didn’t want to go against their mother figure.
“I’ll take this one,” I said, standing. “Jimmy, why don’t you see if any of the Serons are willing to come over and meet their houseguests? You have the right idea there, I think.”
“Do you want for me to wait for you to call?” Jimmy asked, standing.
“Nah, whenever you’re ready,” I said and tapped on the bedroom door, sticking my head in through the gap. “May I come in?”
“Seth!” the children cried in unison. “We thought you’d forgotten about us,” Donny said, near to tears over the pajamas. Ana was scrambling out of bed, holding tightly onto a small purple teddy bear with little red hearts running down its chest. Cpt. Pierce wasn’t too far from tears herself. I sat on the bed to make it easier on Ana.
“No, I didn’t forget y
ou,” I said, changing my intonation to the Sesame Street crowd. “But I am very busy and you won’t see much of me. I’ll do what I can, though, I promise.”
Ana stood on my leg, hugging me. “I like you, Seth.”
“I like you, too, Ana,” I whispered in her ear, hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Now, Donny, what’s all the yelling about? Why don’t you want to wear pajamas?”
“Mommy and Daddy said big boys don’t have to wear pee-jays!” Donny said, crossing his skinny arms across his scrawny chest, wearing nothing but tighty-whiteys and a glare.
“I see. And Maggie, dear, why are you insisting on it?” I asked her as she sat on the opposite side of the bed.
“There are a number of considerations, Seth,” Maggie said. “Mainly, there is the issue of a possible ‘Bug Out.’ If that were to happen in the middle of the night, it would be better if Donny was wearing something more protective than his underwear. Pajamas are really the only reasonable choice. And certainly, he can’t be allowed to run around the Palace in his underwear. They’ll both have to be taught how to act as diplomat’s children while they’re there, just in case, especially since we don’t know how long they’ll be there or exactly where their new home will be.”
“Does that sound reasonable to you, Donny?” I asked the boy.
“No!” he said, sticking out his bottom lip petulantly.
“Well, unfortunately, it is reasonable,” I said as calmly as possible. “And it will make more sense in a few years, trust me, but what it comes down to there are a lot more people around you now than there were with your parents. You’ll have more privacy later and you can go back to sleeping in just your undershorts, but for now, you really need to wear some pajamas.”
“Not those,” he said, pointing at the cotton-poly prints arrayed on the dresser for him to choose from. The prints were probably clashing with his sensibilities. Small for his age, they were geared toward a much younger mindset than a nine-year-old boy’s.
“Oh, dear,” I said lightly, chuckling, seeing the several pairs of cute boy’s pajamas arrayed on the dresser for him to choose from. I understood immediately what his problem with them was—they were all cute. “Well, I think we can do something about that tomorrow. But I think we can forgive Maggie, don’t you? After all—” I leaned over and in a stage whisper, said, “She’s a girl!”
“What’s wrong with them?” Pierce asked, distressed. “I think they’re adorable!”
“Maggie!” I said in a mock chastising tone. “Donny is nine. He can’t be adorable. That’s for little girls.” I squeezed Ana, making her giggle and squirm in my lap. Pierce’s eyes shut for a second as comprehension dawned on her. “But, unfortunately, Donny, there’re some people here I want you to meet so I’m going to have to ask you to swallow your pride and pick the least objectionable pair to wear, just for tonight. I promise they won’t think any less of you for it and, actually, they’ll be able to help you with it. These are the housekeepers of the apartment you’ll be staying in at the Palace and they’ll be delighted to make you several pairs of pajamas in as many colors as you want. They can even put designs on it for you. They’re quite handy with a needle and thread.”
“Aw, Seth! Do I have to?” Donny whined.
“Tell ya what,” I said, trying to hurry this along, “I’ll make my clothes match whichever pair you pick out. Nobody out there would dare laugh at me and if you look like me…”
“You can do that?” he asked, wide-eyed.
“Yeah, I can do that,” I said, grinning. “I’m not a Faery King for nothing, you know. Just pick one and put it on and I’ll show you.” Pierce held up a pajama top with cutesy circus animals, but Donny grinned and darted to the dresser for one with dancing crayons on it, his unadmitted favorite. Smiling at his sudden eagerness to be cute and try to embarrass me, I cooed softly at Ana, asking her about her Teddy Bear while we waited.
“Ready,” Donny cried out, whirling around the bed to me, hands on hips. “Your turn!”
“All right, Maggie, would you take Ana, please?” I asked, kneeling across the bed and holding her out to Pierce. When I stood up, Donny was watching intently for subterfuge. I looked at the dancing crayons skeptically. “You sure you don’t want the lions?” Crossing his arms on his chest, his glare returned at full force. “Just asking.” A second later, he was wide-eyed in disbelief as the glamour took form over my clothes, the pattern matching perfectly to my size except for one small detail—my crayons actually danced. It was a simple, slowly undulating pattern but it made him laugh and enchanted all three of them immensely.
They all wanted to touch the cloth and Ana wanted back in my arms again anyway. “All right now, it’s getting late and you’ve got to go to bed soon. You remember the Deas Brothers from this morning?”
“Yes, the fairies,” Donny said grinning. “Are we going to meet more?”
“Please? We want to see more fairies!” Ana said excitedly.
“Well, yes, but these are a different kind of faery,” I explained as I led them to the door. “These are the Serons, a clan of brownies. A brownie is a kind of faery and a clan is a group of different families. They’ll be living with you, taking care of you and the apartment you’ll be staying in while you’re there. Now brownies are normally very shy people, but those in the Palace are more used to people. They’re really nice and naturally very playful, but if you startle one, they’ll disappear in a flash like they turned invisible. They’re quite good at it and they’re stronger than they look so do not sneak up on them and grab them unexpectedly. On top of not being nice, it’s not a safe thing to do to any faery, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Donny said seriously.
“Okay, let’s go meet some brownies, then,” I said opening the door to half a dozen tiny faces in the doorway. Scattering instantly, the brownie children giggled at extremely high pitches, barely registering in human ranges. Donny clamped onto my waist immediately, startled by their presence and sudden disappearance. They’d barely come up to his knees. Ana hadn’t even seen them. “It’s all right, Donny. Some of the children were just very curious about you and were trying to peek through the crack in the door. Nothing to worry about.” Scruffing his hair, I continued hobbling into the living room with him attached to my waist and carrying Ana. Pierce was close behind us, curious as hell about the next faery she’d see.
Your crayons are dancing, Jimmy sent across the geas with a hint of humor to it. I ignored him and continued into living room.
“Donny, what have you talked Lord Daybreak into?” Mitch asked rhetorically, smiling and standing from the couch. He walked up and effortlessly picked the boy up, detaching him from my waist. “Ooh, cool! His crayons are dancing. He can do some neat stuff, can’t he?”
“Yep! He’s got magic! Just like you!” Donny said smiling.
“Yeah, the few things that I do come from him, though. That’s why he’s my Lord,” Mitch said, still smiling at his son. It made me recall that I had more of an effect on those under the geas than giggling and glowing blue uniforms. Sitting down on the couch with Ana, I glanced around the room and saw at least thirty brown halos moving around.
“A few?” I asked skeptically, grinning.
“You said volunteers,” Jimmy said defensively. “They volunteered.” He waved Pierce over and patted the couch near him. That encouraged everyone to sit, thankfully.
“Ana, you remember First?” I asked her, pointing to Jimmy..
“That’s a funny name,” she said softly.
“I can see how you’d think that,” I said, keeping the smile on my face. “With the faery, names have a different meaning than normal people. It describes them as well as identifies them. He is very unique among my faery, the only of his kind. He is Sidhe and he is a man at the same time. So he is First. See?”
She giggled and smiled. “How can he be a he and ‘she’ at the same time?”
“Oh, silly me, these are foreign words that only sound similar,” I explained. �
��The word I’m saying is spelled ‘s-i-d-h-e’ and to most faery has a slightly different sound to it than the human pronunciation. I’m sorry, that must have been confusing for you. I’m saying that he is both faery and human at the same time and he is the first of his kind. He is different even from the Guard because he is Sidhe, a specific kind of faery. Does that make more sense?” She shook her head no. I patted her arm gently. “That’s all right. There’s plenty of time for that and its confusing nature is what makes him so fascinating. But we’re here to meet the Serons.
“Let’s start with the head of the clan, Brusa Seron,” I said, nodding at the coffee table between the two couches. Mitch pointed to get Donny’s attention and Jimmy directed Cpt. Pierce. Brusa appeared, fairly rapidly from my experience at the Arena, facing me and standing in the center of the table. He wore a rust-colored silk shirt, mustard slacks, and matching reddish-brown vest, sash, and boot combination. It was a surprisingly pleasant look on the chubby-cheeked little brownie, barely as tall as Ana.
“Good evening, Lord Daybreak,” Brusa trilled, smiling sweetly and bowing to the waist. “Good evening, Ana and Donny Grimes.” He turned to Pierce and, bowing his head, said, “Good evening, Cpt. Maggie Pierce.”
“Hi, Brusa,” I said, then looked down at Ana expectantly. She clung to my arm, staring at him in wonder. I whispered down to her, “Say ‘hi,’ Ana. He’s very nice.”
“Hi,” she said, barely above a whisper. Brusa giggled again and waved at her, bending a little.
“Brusa, I don’t think even the adults will remember everyone’s names tonight,” I said to the brownie. “So let’s go ahead and bring out the entire clan, please.”
“Yes, Lord,” Brusa trilled happily. “May I present my family, clan Seron.” Thirty-one brownies faded into view all across the room, all of various sizes and dress, and scattered around. Brusa whistled once, sharply, gaining everyone’s attention.
“Good evening, Lord Daybreak,” the brownies called out collectively.
Sons (Book 2) Page 89
