by Kimbra Swain
“Well, looks like a tea party,” I said.
“Actually, it’s a milk party, but it’s like a tea party, but with milk,” she explained.
“I see. It’s time for bed,” I replied.
“Can we finish our milk?” Bramble requested.
“Of course, drink up though,” I said.
The trio drank their milk, and Winnie hopped into the bed. Briar and Bramble rested on the footboard of the bed while I read a story. I kissed my girl good night, leaving her with the two little fairies.
The guys had finished their games. Levi was half-asleep on the couch, and Dylan had moved to the bedroom. I sat down next to Levi, taking his hand in mine. Instead of enjoying the tingly touch between us, it now felt like stabbing pin-pricks of accusation. A reproach for being an idiot and not realizing what Levi was to begin with and how easily his heart became entangled with me.
“How drunk are you?” I asked.
“Not as drunk as I’d like to be.”
“She is staying in Shady Grove. If you go to her, it’s by your own choice. You do as you wish. You know she doesn’t love you, but the two of you have had a good time together. She will never get back what she lost. Despite my hatred for how she lied to you, she made a good point about me.”
“What point?”
“That I’m no better than she is, especially if I continue on as we have. Levi, I swear that I will do whatever it takes to free your heart. I want you to be happy.”
“I don’t want that. Leave it alone.”
“You deserve to love someone, Levi. I know your soul. It’s strong and beautiful. You should be allowed to share it with someone.”
“Grace, I…”
“Don’t break your oath to Dylan. We don’t have to speak about something we both already know. That oath will be the one thing I can use to make this better.”
He climbed up off the couch, shoving me out of the way. His nostrils flared as tears formed in his turbulent eyes. “Leave it alone, Grace. That’s what I want.”
The door to his room slammed shaking the whole trailer. I looked back to the bedroom door, feeling Dylan’s eyes on me.
“That didn’t go well,” he said.
“Get your drunk ass in bed,” I scolded him.
“I’m fine,” he said waving his hand. He almost lost his balance but braced himself on the door frame. “Come to bed, my Queen.”
He stood at the door as I approached him, but instead of going in the room, I buried my head into his chest. He stood with his back against the door for support.
“This is a mess,” I cried.
“When have our lives not been a mess? We will figure it out,” he said.
I had to help him walk to the bed. As we laid next to each other, I stroked his face. The warmth of his body warmed my fingertips. “Why did you get drunk?”
“Because I know that I was supposed to leave and that both of you would have been fine without me here,” he muttered.
“Bullshit. I was lost without you. You saw me from your perch. When I thought you were dead, I started down a dark path. If you hadn’t come back, I would have killed Amanda. There’s no coming back from that,” I said.
“It’s what Jeremiah and your father wanted you to do,” he said.
“It’s not who I am,” I countered.
“I know,” he said. “I couldn’t let you go.” He pulled me closer to him, but it wasn’t long before he started to snore. As he slept, I cried silent tears.
Dylan’s hangover groans woke me up the next morning. He tossed in the bed as he rubbed his head.
“Please tell me you don’t have to work today,” I said.
“No. Will you bring me something for my head?” he whined.
“Yeah, sure,” I climbed out of the bed. When I entered the kitchen, I started the coffee pot. I figured we would go through several rounds of it this morning. I heard Levi stirring in the front. At least he wasn’t groaning like Dylan.
I filled a glass of water from the fridge and grabbed a bottle of pills for Dylan. When I went back into the bedroom, I heard Levi’s door open on the other side of the house. Then I heard the front door open.
“Levi?”
“I’m okay. I’ll be back,” he said.
I let him go. Nudging Dylan with my elbow, I waited for him to take the pills and water from me.
“Oh, thank you, Gracie,” he said. I kissed him on the forehead and pulled the curtains closed. I watched him curl back up to sleep as I shut the bedroom door.
Standing at the window, I saw the far away silhouette of my bard riding off on his Harley. Riding toward her house. I had to let it go. I had to let him go.
“Momma?” Winnie pulled me from my gaze.
“Morning, sweetheart,” I said. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Cereal, please,” she replied sweetly. She took the remote for the television turning it on cartoons. I looked at the calendar. It was Saturday. No school. I settled into my regular routine of fixing breakfast, drinking coffee, and starting laundry
“Winnie, keep the television down low. Daddy had a rough night. He’s still sleeping,” I said. It wasn’t the best idea that both of them decided to drink their problems away. The fact that both of them rarely drank one beer at a time should have made me feel better, but looking at Winnie, my anger simmered. That couldn’t happen again. I’d scold both of them as soon as I could.
I sat back on the couch daydreaming. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Levi leave. For all of her swearing, I wondered if it weren’t a lie. Bounding off the couch, I ran to Levi’s room. I searched it up and down, but the book was gone.
“Dylan!” I screamed. I heard him rushing through the house with a groan.
“What?!” he said when he found me in Levi’s room.
“The book is gone. He is gone. She does have him,” I panicked. Suddenly Dylan sobered.
“Get Winnie to Nestor’s. I’ll be there in a minute. See if you can talk to him,” he said.
I reached out, but nothing came back. Pain shot through me as I tried harder. I clutched at my chest as my heart pounded.
“Momma, are you okay?” Winnie asked.
“Yeah. I’m just worried about Uncle Levi. Get your things. You will go stay with Grandpa for a little while. Okay?”
“Yippie,” she exclaimed. She loved staying with Nestor in the apartment above the bar.
We gathered a few toys and a change of clothes before heading out to the truck. I strapped her into her booster seat, and we headed to Hot Tin.
As I arrived, Dylan swooped down from above landing behind the truck. In his Thunderbird form, he didn’t need a set of clothes. It was weird how he transformed. It was more of a morph than an actual shift. In Phoenix form, however, you could forget the clothes.
I hurried Winnie inside, and up the stairs to the apartment.
“What’s wrong?” Nestor asked as I opened the door.
“It’s Levi. I’ve got to go get him. Riley has him and the book,” I said.
“The songbook!” Nestor replied.
“Yes, why didn’t you tell me what was in that thing!” I growled.
“I don’t know what’s in it. I just knew it was important,” he replied.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Just go. I’ve got her,” he said.
I rushed back down to the truck. Dylan was in the driver’s seat. He turned out of the bar spinning the tires.
As we headed to Riley’s house, I continued to try to contact Levi. I could feel him, but he did not respond.
“What are you going to do?” Dylan asked.
“She swore on her life last night that he was mine,” I said. “It’s time to claim that debt.”
Dylan’s eyes widened. “Grace, he may be yours. It may not be a lie, but she could be manipulating him.”
“We will know soon enough,” I seethed. I looked down at my tattoo. I hadn’t felt the transformation. It was so subtle that it felt natural. The
gemstone painted in ink on my arm twinkled a vibrant blue surrounded by silvery tendrils that snaked up my arm and across my chest.
“You should have kissed him,” Dylan said.
“Really? Did you just say that?” I said.
“Yes! Damn it! Did you want him to go back to her? You could have stopped all of this,” he said.
“I did it for you!” I replied. “You, who knew how he felt. You, who hid it from me.”
“You already knew, Grace! You just ignored it,” he said. “I know you did it for me. So, thank you, but I’m a big boy. I know you love me. I know you aren’t going to run off with Levi. It’s time we all were truthful about all of this.”
My leg shook as I fought back tears. There was no crying in fairy wars. His hand rested on my leg. The warmth flowed through me. Not enough to push back the ice queen, but enough to make my leg stop shaking.
As we pulled into Riley’s drive, Levi’s Harley sat next to the porch. I barreled out of the truck, running to the door. I pounded on it.
“Riley! Open this door!” I screamed. Dylan hung back, staying out of my way.
No answer. I touched the doorknob and felt a ward tingle through my fingers. Fuck.
“Riley MacKenzie. Open this door!” I sent the command out with force. The house rattled shaking the windows.
I heard footsteps coming to the door. She opened it up completely naked and flushed.
“I’m kind of busy at the moment, Grace,” she purred.
“Let me in,” I said. I could feel the pulse of a tiny ward at the threshold.
“Oh, that ward is a tiny one. Can’t you get past it?” she asked.
“I assure you that I can, but you won’t like the consequences,” I replied. I’d take down the house if I had to remove the threshold.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Levi and the book,” I said. “You lied. I expect you to leave this town and not come back.”
“Levi is still yours, but maybe just a tiny bit under my influence,” she giggled. She looked over my shoulder to Dylan. She winked at him. “Hi, Officer Riggs, would you like to come in?” She ran her hand down over her breast and pinched her nipple.
“I think you better let her in before she takes the whole house down,” Dylan replied.
“What’s it like to be a cuckold?” she asked him.
“Enough. Don’t make me do this,” I interrupted her implications.
“Riley! Are you coming back?” Levi asked from up the stairs.
“In a minute,” she said. “I really should go satisfy him since you can’t.” She shut the door in my face.
“Levi Rearden. Come here,” I commanded. I heard him groan from inside the house, but he did not respond.
Closing my eyes, I stretched out my hands. The house began to shake. “Levi Rearden, Royal Bard, servant to the Queen of Exiles, I exercise my owner’s rights and command you to come to me. Right fucking now!”
The house continued to shake. Wood vibrated, and the windows rattled.
“You are going to bring it down on top of them,” Dylan warned.
“No, he’s coming,” I said. I could feel him approaching me. I could hear her begging him to stop. I released my hold on the house, and it settled into silence.
“Grace?” he whimpered.
“I said, come to me,” I coaxed. “Levi, you are mine.”
“I am yours,” he replied, as he opened the door. He was just as naked as she was, but his arousal was much more pronounced than hers. It occurred to me at that moment that I’d never seen Levi completely naked. It also occurred to me that it was a shame that it took this long.
“Grace,” Dylan prompted.
I cleared my throat. “Take my hand,” I said offering it to him. He didn’t move. I finally took the moment to look at his face, instead of other places and realized he was wearing a collar.
Riley giggled, “He likes it.”
“No, I don’t,” he replied through gritted teeth.
“Release him or I will kill you,” I said, raising my hand.
“You pulled that last night. We both know you don’t have it in you,” she laughed.
“Where is the book?” I asked.
“It’s upstairs in a vault,” Levi replied.
“You own him, but I have him. I tell you what, Grace. You can have your bard, but I keep the book. Deal?” she smiled.
“No deal. Both belong to me,” I replied as I heard a siren approaching.
“I called the cops since you seemed hell-bent on breaking in my house,” Riley said.
Troy and Amanda climbed out of the vehicle that had pulled up into the drive. I could feel both of them. Dylan took several steps back from me.
“What’s going on Grace?” Troy asked.
“Damn, Levi, you look good,” Amanda said. Levi flushed from the tips of his toes to the end of his, ahem.
“Mandy,” Troy growled.
“Sorry,” she replied. “Grace, what’s the matter?”
“She’s collared him like a dog. No offense,” I replied.
Troy and Amanda approached. “I’ll be damned. She sure did. Levi, did you want that collar?” Amanda asked.
“No, ma’am,” he replied without a look at her.
The shame in his face and the slumping of his body told me we needed to end this quickly. He hurt, so I hurt.
“Then let him go, Riley. It’s against the law to collar a being,” Amanda said.
“What law?” Riley asked.
“Well, the fairy council made up quite a few laws pertaining to fairy relations, and by request of the shifter faction, we asked that it be against the law to collar a being without permission. Levi has said he didn’t want it, so now you have to let him go,” Amanda explained.
I had forgotten about the law. I remember Mr. Santiago bringing it up. Everyone agreed to it. One of the few unanimous votes we had.
“Or what?” Riley questioned.
“Or I’ll tell you right now, that ward won’t keep us out,” Amanda replied. “Best you let him go.”
“I want the book, too,” I replied.
“What book?” Troy asked.
“The songbook that my father gave Levi,” I replied.
“He gave the book to me as a gift,” Riley protested.
Levi’s face contorted in pain. “This collar,” he grunted.
“I know,” I assured him.
“Grace, I can’t help you with the book,” Troy said.
“She made him do it with the collar,” I protested. “We have to have the book.”
Levi shook his head as if we didn’t need the book. Riley laughed at me, then shoved Levi out of the door slamming it behind him. He dropped to his knees on the porch.
“Dylan,” I said, but he was already running back to the truck to pull out his extra set of clothes. He handed them to Levi, who quickly slipped on the shorts. I grabbed the shirt to help him, but he took it from me.
“Get this thing off,” he pleaded.
“Okay. It’s okay. Let me just see what all magic is involved,” I said looking through my fairy sight at the object. I determined my ownership of him would allow me to remove the collar without hurting either one of us. The color swirled with a green and yellow aura like a Seelie fairy. She had employed a witch to do this. I didn’t know of any witches in town, but it was definitely magically imbued using power from the warm side of the Otherworld.
“Let’s move away from the house,” Dylan said. “Do it in the truck.”
“Yes,” Levi said. He was ready to lose the audience of the wolves. “I memorized the book, Grace. I can rewrite it except for the fairy language parts, and we both know what they said.”
“Okay. Let’s go,” I said, leaving the book behind.
I got into the back of the truck, allowing Dylan to drive. He thanked Troy and Amanda for coming out. I heard Troy apologizing about the book, but Dylan told him it would all work out.
“Did you get it off?” Dylan as
ked as he got in the truck. He looked back at us.
“Not yet. Get us home,” I replied.
“You can take it off right?” Dylan asked.
“Yes,” I said, not wanting to explain further. I knew Levi wanted to be as far away from her as possible at the moment.
Once Dylan hit the main road heading back to town, I crawled across the back seat to Levi. “Hold still. It will be cold,” I said.
He nodded as I ran my hands around the collar. With my touch, ice crystals formed along the leather and steel. I looked as the tendrils of green and yellow were replaced with blue and silver. I unthreaded the strap through the loop, then back through the buckle. As it released, Levi sighed and leaned into me. I threw it on the floor, then wrapped my arms around him in a hug. I allowed the tingle to pass through both of us. Dylan never looked behind him, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Is it off?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. I felt Levi’s tears soaking through my shirt.
“Then finish it,” he said.
“No,” Levi muttered.
“He said no,” I repeated.
“You idiot. We talked about this,” Dylan replied. “If it came to this, you agreed.”
“Agreed to what? I hate both of you at the moment,” I said with my arms betraying me as I continued to hug Levi. Neither one of the answered me. Dylan grumbled in the front until we got home. Levi pulled away from me to get out of the truck. I started to get out, but Dylan didn’t move.
“Go in there and bind him to you,” he said.
“I will not go against what he wants. Why are you pushing this?” I asked.
“Because if something ever happens to me, I know that he will protect you and Winnie until his dying breath,” he said. “I’m willing to give him one kiss to ensure that you are safe after I am gone. If you wait any longer, Riley or something worse will get hooks into him.”
“You aren’t going anywhere. You are the Phoenix. No one could kill you if they tried,” I protested.
“It can be done. Go in there and remind him that he promised me,” Dylan said.
“So, the oath he gave to you wasn’t about him loving me and not touching me. It was that he promised to stick around in case something happens to you,” I said.
“Right,” Dylan responded. “I’m going to get Winnie. Go do it.”
