by Marie Hall
Even the girlie pink towel he’d wrapped around his waist could not detract from the sheer male beauty of him. Something thick and halfcocked bulged from behind it and her stomach flopped.
“Cherie ?” he questioned again and she jerked, realizing she’d been gawking like an awkward teen. His eyes glimmered with a knowing light and when he bit his bottom lip, she knew he knew what she’d been peeking at. “Say the word, love, and the towel comes off.”
Her cheeks flamed.
“Oh gods,” the bell like voice dripped disgust, “you are a fine piece of work, Gerard. Does that ever work?”
His body tensed and he shoved off the wall. “Fee, you damn...”
The fairy circled in front of Betty and wagged her finger. “Uh, uh. Mind your words, monami.”
His mouth snapped shut, but his eyes narrowed into twin slits. That’s when Betty knew she wasn’t nuts. Either they were having a shared hallucination or this fairy was real.
Betty’s smile faltered when the fairy turned toward her.
“Well, what do you think?” she pointed at Betty while talking to Gerard, “beautiful like you like them. She can string a sentence together, and best of all she knows nothing of your colorful past.”
“Fee,” Gerard snarled, cutting her off. He sauntered into the middle of Betty’s living room, one hand gripping the edges of the towel together, the other flexing like he wanted to strike something.
The dichotomous image of a hulking man wrapped in fluffy pink made Betty want to laugh, even while she also wanted to drag him to her bedroom and scratch the itch he’d started the moment she’d spotted his cocky self lounging in her library.
“Wait,” Betty pinched the bridge of her nose, “what’s going on here? Who’s that?” She pointed to the flying fairy and jeez... that sounded weird just thinking it.
“That’s Danika--” Gerard said.
“Fairy Godmother Extraordinaire,” the fairy said with a snap of her head.
“I’ll be honest,” Betty chuckled, “this is so not what I expected when I brought you home with me. I’d swear you laced my brownies with weed, except we didn’t have any and could somebody please explain what the heck’s going on here!” Betty did always tend to talk too much when she got nervous, and right now she was about as nervous as she’d ever been.
Danika took a deep breath, her friendly smile growing even wider, which was just creepy as hell. In theory coming face to face with a doll sized fairy seemed cool, in reality... not so much. Betty had no desire to go through pink electroshock 2.0, thank you very much, once had been more than enough. The thing might be small, but she packed a punch.
“My dear,” the fairy’s voice filtered through the room like a choir of bells, “I promise to answer all your questions, but first I must needs speak with Gerard. If you could give us some privacy please?”
Betty’s eyes bugged. Was she freaking kidding? A stranger-- fairy or no-- coming into her house and asking her to leave? Yeah-freaking-right. She crossed her arms.
Gerard shook his head. “Her house, she can stay.” His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of nerves Betty had never heard from him before. For reasons unknown, her stomach sank with a horrible sense that all was not well.
“So?” he asked, his knuckles blanched white.
Danika looked down at the carpet, and Betty rocked on her heels as anxiety riddled her gut. It was obvious she was intruding on something personal. But the compulsion to know over rode any desire to give them privacy. She tip-toed closer.
“Stay,” Gerard commanded, obviously thinking she meant to leave. He didn’t turn to look at her, his unswerving gaze stayed put on the fairy.
“I’ve been given a brief reprieve to meet with you first. Galeta the Blue herself comes to hand down verdict, Gerard.”
He scrubbed his face, and his silence was deafening. Betty’s heart beat so hard she was sure they heard it.
“They did not believe me then?” he asked in a flat tone of voice.
Danika didn’t answer, but apparently she didn’t need to, because Gerard nodded. The little fairy glanced over at Betty. “My dear, I’m truly sorry for what is about to transpire. I do what I must, but always know it is for the good. Trust that. Please.”
Betty didn’t even have a moment to ask what, or contemplate the cryptic statement before a loud whooshing sound poured through the stillness. A dazzling blue light seared Betty’s retinas, and she blinked against the sudden onslaught of tears.
Another fairy hovered beside Danika when the light finally faded. Her shoulders were rigid, and though her skin still held the firmness of youth, there was an ancientness to her presence that Betty felt in every nerve of her body.
The fairy could only be Galeta the Blue, and it was obvious from one glance why she’d been named that. Her eyes were the blue of an arctic ice tunnel, clear and mesmerizing. The dress she wore sparkled like ice refracted in sunlight, and on her head was a large golden crown dripping with sapphires. But it was the blue ringlets of hair framing her head in a wild halo that really drew Betty’s eye.
“Gerard,” Galeta intoned, his name rolled from her tongue with the steely reverberations of a bottomless echo. “I’ve come to pass judgment.”
Beside her Danika trembled, and Betty would bet anything it wasn’t with fear. The tiny woman literally had steam rolling from her ears.
For a fact, Betty had never seen anything more bizarre in her life. A whole new world of weird was opening up before her eyes and all she could do was stare like a mindless drone, hypnotized like one watching a car wreck unfold.
“The tribunal convened,” that deeply feminine voice thundered, “and you’ve been found guilty.”
Gerard, who’d been silent, now growled. “You know it’s not true. Glean my memory if you must, fairy,” he pleaded, but the tiny blue woman gave him a wicked smile, made all the more sinister coming from the china doll beauty.
Betty swallowed when Gerard grabbed her hand, squeezing hard and making her wince.
Her heart stuttered, what was going on here? Who was this demon fairy and what did they want with him?
Then those glacial blue eyes turned to her, and the smirk became a full-fledged grin dripping with malice and spite. “Is this the mate you spoke of, Danika?”
Mate?
“Yes,” Danika squeaked.
Betty jerked as if slapped. “What? Whoa.” She took a step back, holding up her free hand. “What’s going on here?”
Galeta flew toward Betty, stopping inches from her face, forcing Betty to take another step back just so that she could see her without being forced to cross her eyes.
“Ugly creature you are,” Galeta spat by her foot.
“Hey!” Betty cried.
Gerard squeezed her hand again, and stepped part ways in front of her. As if to shield her.
“Galeta, the verdict, if you please,” Danika spoke up, her voice projecting a calm Betty most definitely did not feel.
Right now Betty kept imagining plucking Galeta the freak’s massive electric blue butterfly wings off her back and permanently grounding her. Ugly! She’d give that fairy ugly.
“Veritas, Gerard Caron, that is your sentence.”
He stiffened, his entire body went so still Betty feared he’d had a heart attack. Danika closed her eyes.
“Bound you will be for one month. Slave to her whims...” While Galeta spoke, she twirled her wand, a blue spray of light coalesced into a tight ball. Rolling like a wave on top of itself, faster and faster.
Betty planted herself square in front of Gerard. A split second impulse she immediately regretted when Galeta’s hard glacial stare turned on her. Galeta’s smile revealed baby fangs, and Betty’s knees knocked so hard she thought she might pass out.
“Indeed she must be your mate to throw herself in front of you like that,” Galeta sneered.
“Not... no,” Betty gulped, unable to even finish the thought.
The light faded, and a floating si
lver necklace with a black heart shaped pendant dangled before her eyes. Galeta snatched it, the pendant was twice the size of her head-- but the fairy hefted it as it weighed no more than a feather. She buzzed around Betty.
Betty twisted as the fairy slammed the pendant against Gerard’s naked chest. He hadn’t moved. But his jaw flexed, and the muscle in his cheek ticked as his dark blue eyes burned holy fury.
“Bound,” Galeta continued.
As she spoke, the black pendant swirled with bands of thick crimson and swirls of liquid gold. A blue light pulsed from around Gerard’s chest where the pendant rested. His teeth clenched, the spasms of his muscles traveled through Betty’s palm. Beads of sweat popped out on his brows. But he didn’t mutter a sound of protest.
Betty hugged his arm to her chest wanting to ease his obvious pain.
“So mote it be.” When Galeta recited those words, Betty’s skin tingled and all the fine hairs on her body stood up.
Gerard dropped her hand. Betty wanted to ask him what had just happened. She’d seen it, but she’d understood nothing. But he was like a live wire. Anger spit off him like exploding bits of hot shrapnel, and Betty winced, not wanting to draw his ire in her direction. His eyes were flat, hard, and almost black, burning into Galeta with murderous intentions.
For her part, the fairy seemed completely oblivious. Or uncaring, which was more likely the case. She turned and held the necklace out to Betty. “It’s yours. Enjoy it.” As she made to pass it to Betty’s outstretched hand, she snapped her wand out and pointed directly at Gerard’s manhood. “Mortuus!” she boomed, and a bright burst of blue engulfed the lower half of his body like flames.
“Gerard,” Betty cried when he fell to his knees with a loud grunt.
“Galeta, by the goddess,” Danika screamed, “what have you done?”
Gerard’s back bowed so hard Betty thought his spine might crack. His bellow of pain shook the frame of her house.
Then the light died and Galeta smirked. “Vengeance is sweet.” She turned glowing eyes on Betty and tossed the pendant at her. Betty jumped out of the way, fearing the thing might burn her. Instead she wrapped her arms around Gerard’s back, he heaved, and like someone experiencing electroshock therapy, his every muscle twitched. Betty grabbed his face. A grayish pallor tinted the lines around his mouth.
“Look at me,” she cooed, trying to get him to focus on something other than the pain, “ssh, that’s good. That’s good.” She petted him in a soothing up and down motion on his back. Finally lucidity stared back at her instead of pain.
He gripped her wrist.
“Pathetic,” Galeta whispered one final word of hate before vanishing in a puff of blue smoke.
“I’m fine,” he said, jaw tight and working back and forth. “Fine.” He stood, leaning heavily on Betty’s shoulder, and Danika hovered in front of them.
“What just happened?” Betty snapped her frustration. Danika winced.
“The petite chienne neutered me,” he spat and then coughed.
“What the hell? Neutered?” Betty looked at Danika, heart trapped like moth’s wings in her throat.
Danika squeezed her eyes shut. “I feared she’d do something like this. I feared and yet she still took me by surprise.” She shook her head and looked hard at Betty.
“What does that mean exactly?”
“Means I’m done having sex,” Gerard growled. He stepped away from Betty and without looking back at either of them marched back down the hallway.
Betty gazed at the empty door for a second before turning back to Danika.
Danika gripped her finger. “Betty Hart, there is a way. There is a way to undo this curse, but you are the key. Hear me, girl, and hear me well. Galeta has sought to put Gerard down for ages. There’s a vendetta between them, old but deep. I don’t know what it is, but I feared when I discovered who’d head his hearing, she’d find a way to exact revenge.”
Comprehension at this point was nil. Betty had zero idea what the fairy rambled on about, in fact she could barely understand what’d just happened. She shook the little fairy off. As far as she was concerned, this one could be just as bad as the nasty piece of work that’d just left. There wasn’t a single reason to believe a word of what Danika said.
The necklace hung in the air as if suspended on wires, Betty eyed it like one would a snake ready to strike.
“Oh, dear me,” Danika sighed, grabbing her chest, “what a fine mess. Oh, my dear, truly I’m so sorry.”
Had any of that been real? And yet she only had to look at the glowing red pendant to see proof positive that she’d not totally lost her mind. Not to mention the bruise she was sure she’d have on her shoulder tomorrow morning, the muscle still throbbed where his fingers had dug in. And then of course there was the matter of fairy dressed in tree bark and covered in dew, yeah, all pretty convincing examples she’d not gone nutters.
“Who are you, what is that, and who is he?” Betty turned, glaring at the tiny fairy whose smile wobbled.
“Sit,” Danika gestured to the couch, “this might take a while.”
After an hour, many questions, and lots of groans, Betty was beginning to understand the sheer magnitude of her situation.
“Please tell me,” she eyed the necklace she had no intention of wearing, “that is not what I think it is.”
Danika started swishing her wand, probably from a case of nerves, but Betty had seen how powerful that thing was, and didn’t want it swishing anywhere near her.
“Please don’t.” She pointed to the wand and Danika blinked as if she hadn’t realized what she’d been doing.
She tucked it into her pocket and threw her hands up with a dramatic sigh. “You must understand, it was the only way. I had to tell them you two were mated in order to spare his life. In Kingdom we’re not allowed to kill those who’ve truly bonded. Too cruel.”
Betty laughed. “Oh and neutering a grown man like he was a dog, isn’t?”
Danika wrinkled her nose. “That should never have happened.”
“Then why didn’t you stop it?” Betty glared.
Danika sucked in a sharp breath, her jaw trembled, and it was obvious the tiny thing was close to tears. Betty’s heart softened against her will, not that she really knew a thing about Gerard, but seeing him suffer like that… for some personal vendetta-- and she could only guess it had something to do with being jilted (no woman ever went that crazy unless it involved a matter of the heart)-- it was wrong. Danika was a fairy too, she should have stopped it.
“Short answer is, I cannot.” Danika shook her head, sending her fat curls bouncing. “She is the Head Mistress of Fairy Inc. and we cannot raise a hand against her. But besides that, my power is no match for hers. I cannot undo what she has wrought.”
“Then tell someone who can!” Betty shouted.
Danika’s look was sad. “Would that I could, lass, truly. But that is not the way of it in fairy, Galeta wouldn’t let me close to anyone powerful enough to tell.” Her small frame shook. Danika took a moment to gather herself, and with a deep breath, gave Betty a calm smile. “But this is where you come in. You can fix this, Betty Hart.” Danika grabbed the necklace that still floated and traced the glass pendant with a soft sigh. “This is the pendant of Veritas.”
“Truth.” Betty nodded, recognizing the Latin word immediately. “What truth?”
“Yours.” Danika pressed her lips together. “In essence he’s bound to you for a month. The pendant is a recording, not of what happens in a physical sense, but rather a recording of the heart. At the end of the month he will stand trial one final time, the pendant will either glow for him or not.”
“What does that mean exactly?” Betty bounced her leg up and down.
“I told them you were his mate, but obviously they did not believe me.” She held up the locket. “However, if the pendant glows then he’ll be set free.”
“Oh,” her eyebrows shot up, and then quickly turned into a frown. “Oh. And if he doesn
’t pass the test,” she waved her hand, “he has another test or something?”
“No, not exactly, dear.”
“Then I don’t understand.”
Danika’s wings fluttered a nervous rhythm. “If the necklace fails to glow, he’ll be killed. That was their verdict. To be freed you must fall in love with him, that is the condition.”
She sucked in a breath. That was impossible. That big, virile man, in danger of losing his life if she didn’t fall in love with him. “That’s… that’s barbaric.”
Danika shrugged. “All things considered, he’s lucky.”
