by Holley Trent
“Why?”
“Because they’re afraid of Nicholas.” Eldora said it blithely as if it were the most natural assumption, but that was the kind of rhetoric Gillian had never been good at parsing. “They may also deny passage through their lands or shut down.”
“The usual political crap.”
“More or less.”
Gillian snapped her fingers, remembering one of Eldora’s previous comments. “Wait, you said the king and queen give audience.”
Eldora’s smile was soft, but the glint of her eyes was unmistakably conniving. “I usually sat it out when it was my husband’s turn.”
“What kind of trouble are you trying to get me into?”
A waiter approached with a plate of little tarts and champagne flutes.
Eldora took two glasses, sipped from one, and seemed to be holding the other in reserve. “Nothing Nick doesn’t deserve.”
“But do I deserve it?” Gillian took two flutes, too.
The nymph’s pupils were visible and dilated to two different diameters and cheeks were deeply ruddy. She hiccupped and giggled.
“Oh, hell. How much have you been drinking tonight?”
“Not nearly enough, child.”
“You hate this shit, don’t you? That’s why you’re throwing me to the wolves.”
“I’m throwing you to the wolves because you’re a match for them. I’m not.”
“Are you counting your son as part of that wolf pack?”
Eldora just sipped and shrugged.
“Okay,” Gillian said. “I get ya. You want me to play queen? I’ll play queen. Let me prove to you this ain’t the job for me.”
She made her around the edge of the room, past a cluster of potted plants behind which was a giggling young woman with green-tinged hair in an ivory lace dress necking with some sandy-haired boy elf.
Gillian cleared her throat loudly and kept walking. She could deal with them later, but didn’t want them to think she hadn’t seen them.
She climbed up the few side steps to the throne and all the noise at the front of the room dissipated. All eyes were on her. She spread on her most beguiling smile and put a little tramp sway in her walk. Taking the throne beside Nick’s, she crossed her legs and passed a champagne flute to Nick.
He leaned across his armrest and glowered at her. “Are you here to make all the boys jealous of my magnificent bounty or to raise hell? If the latter—I can manage that all alone.”
“Neither. I’m here to be your queen.”
He took the flute with one hand and then grasped her free hand in his empty one. With all eyes still on him, he gave it a kiss, and then placed it on the armrest between them. “Not necessary.”
“Oh, I think so.” She had an idea, and she thought it was a good one. She figured if made a good enough mess, he wouldn’t be able to wait to get rid of her. Instant divorce, and she could go home with her head held high instead of her tail between her legs.
She leaned in a little closer to him, locking her gaze on his pale one, and whispered, “Or am I just a pretty face and warm cunt?”
He worked his jaw side-to-side and sat up straighter as the next elf in line moved up to the dais.
The first few requests from elves and other magicfolk were small things. One elf was having difficulty concealing his ears with magic. He worked amongst humans and was afraid to blow his cover. Another had experienced three crop failures in a row. Nick had them make arrangements with Agnes for a future appointment. The third came with a request that Nick, and Gillian by extension, take custody of his teenaged daughter until it was time for her to marry. He’d already rescued her from abduction once.
The girl cowered there with him, hiding beneath his arm. Her hair was lightly tinted lavender in the same way Kori’s was green.
Nick beckoned his valet forward. “Fetch my niece please. Discreetly.”
“Yes, sir.”
Moments later, the green-haired waif appeared on the dais, pressing wrinkles out of her dress with her hands and blushing from her hairline down to her collar. She performed a wobbly curtsey. “Yes, Uncle?”
Nick motioned the elf man and his daughter forward. “Kori, we have a new charge. What’s your name, sweetheart?”
The timid girl lifted her face to us warily. “Lea.”
“Well, Lea, of course you may stay until you wish to leave. We’ll have a room set up for you shortly.” Nick gave his valet an almost imperceptible head nod and the man glided away to make arrangements.
Lea nearly fainted with relief and if it weren’t for her father holding her up, her face would have smacked the floor.
“Thank you, your highness,” her father said. “You have no idea what this means for us. She’s my only child.” He guided Lea out of the way with Kori’s assistance and plopped her onto a chair out of the way of the dancing.
Gillian leaned in close to Nick and whispered, “If you keep it up, you may have to put them all into a separate wing. What’s that, eight?”
“Seven. Kori doesn’t count, really. She’s royal and your lady-in-waiting. Mother is working on setting up a boarding house on the property for them. I’ll need to find them a house matron. Someone trustworthy, which is obviously hard to come by in this realm.”
“In mine, too, Nicky. That’s why I keep to myself, mostly.”
He gave her an inscrutable look.
“What?”
“Do you trust me?”
She didn’t answer. She did trust the elfin mobster, and she didn’t know what that said about her.
Holly, Hortense, and Honoria walked next up the carpeted queue and paused at the bottom of the stairs.
Eldora slunk over in her long dress and positioned herself behind the thrones. Gillian looked up and back to see the nymph narrowing her silver eyes and giving her daughters a warning look.
“Mother, it’s more trouble than it’s worth,” Nick said.
“What is?” Gillian asked.
“Oh, nothing, Gillian. I’m just prepared to do what needs to be done if they don’t toe the line. I’m sick of all the disrespect. I’m a laughingstock.”
“Mother, your reputation—”
“Screw my reputation.” Eldora hiccupped. “What good does it do me being so good and pious all the time, anyway, if everyone is mocking me behind my back?”
Gillian furrowed her brow. “No one’s mocking you.”
“Oh, trust me, Gillian. You may not catch wind of it. They wouldn’t dare do it in your presence, but I get around enough to know what they all think of me.”
Holly cleared her throat impatiently.
Nick beckoned them forward closer, growling with impatience.
“How may I aid my dear sisters?” he asked flatly. He was leaning the side of his head against his fist and looking rather bored.
“We come, like so many of your subjects, to request land of our own to develop as we see fit,” Holly said. One side of her ruby lips mouth turned up into a smirk.
Nick yawned and patted his open mouth.
“There are plenty of parcels still available at the North Pole,” Eldora said to Nick in a hoarse stage whisper.
“We want something fertile,” Honoria said.
Nick tilted his head toward Eldora and tapped his chin introspectively. “Did we ever unload that property in Nebraska?”
Eldora pursed her lips and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. The elf that originally asked for it thought it was too rural.”
“Fertile, though.”
“Yes. Massive corn yields.”
Horty stamped her foot. “You know what we want!” she shrieked.
The ballroom went quiet again. Even the orchestra stopped playing, leaving dancers twirling without accompaniment for a few beats. Nick gestured at them to resume their music and they picked up the melody once again.
“The forest goes with the throne,” he said.
Ah. Gillian thought she was starting to get the gist of the confrontation. They wer
e asking him in public for what they’d be long denied. Nick would seem like an ogre if he didn’t concede to what most folks would have thought was a trifling request. They’d think they had another petty king on the throne.
“Sod off,” Horty spat. “You don’t even want it. Father didn’t want it, either. You’re just holding onto it for spite.”
Gillian whistled low.
Nick was unbothered, as always. “It’s tradition.”
“Just like it’s become a tradition for us to keep begging for scraps?”
“Mark my words, big brother,” Holly said, pointing one knife-tipped finger at Nick but squinting at all three of the people on the dais. “You won’t do us this boon? You will never have an heir. We’ll see to it, won’t we girls?”
Gillian couldn’t help but to be offended, and when she was offended, she acted. She’d hoped the Ho’s had learned that lesson by then, but she was more than willing to give them a refresher course if necessary. If not for her sake, for Eldora’s. The lady didn’t deserve the venom.
“We certainly will,” Horty said.
“Hardly a problem,” Hortense agreed.
Eldora streaked past Gillian and Nick in a blur, and was almost down the stairs when Nick grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.
He dropped her ass-down onto his throne and sat on her lap. “Let me deal with it, Mother.”
Kori returned to Gillian’s side and knelt. “Oh, boy. You better fix this, Gillian.”
Gillian leaned over, and keeping one eye on the scowling triplets, whispered, “What exactly does Eldora plan to do?”
“Well, one of the ways parents put wild children in check is to drain their power. It’s a temporary kind of thing. Lasts a couple of years at the most, but most people think it’s sort of barbaric. If Grandmother did it…”
“The disrespect would be even worse.” They’d think the gentle nymph was out of control, even if she were in her rights to be. Gillian didn’t want her humiliated like that. She didn’t deserve it. “Thanks, Kori.”
Kori nodded and slunk back to the potted trees, using the adults’ distraction to her advantage, probably.
I’ll deal with you later, kid, whether I’m queen or not.
First, the matter at hand. Gillian crossed her legs in the other direction and motioned a server forward for another glass of champagne. “What exactly is so alluring about the Black Forest?” she asked the Ho’s.
Their faces suddenly went serene. “It’s beautiful!” Honoria said. “The most magical place on Earth.”
“We could live in peace there. We’re tree nymphs, Gillian.”
“And, what, being around trees makes you nicer?” Gillian couldn’t help herself. They were like those girls in high school who were only nice when other people were miserable.
Horty flipped her heavy sheath of hair from one shoulder to the other. “No.”
“Okay. You have to make this worth my while, ladies.” Tapping her fingers against her thigh, the sparkle of the ruby on Gillian’s right hand gave her an idea. Nick wouldn’t wheel and deal with them, but she would.
Gnawing her lip, she glanced at him, and he returned that same neutral stare. She knew better. His face read, “Gilly, don’t.”
She was so going to.
Fixing her gaze on the Ho’s, she asked, “What kind of war spoils are you girls holding onto?”
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Nick hissed.
The Ho’s obviously didn’t hear him, as Holly started counting off on her fingers. “We’ve got a mirror portal, the Redcap queen’s garnet crown, some exquisite stallions, the former Brownie prince’s entire library, a mermaid call, an entire suite of Gnome-built furniture, and a birth control ring.”
Gillian’s eyebrows shot up at that last thing. That was a use for magic she hadn’t even begun to conceive of. Maybe there were some perks to living amongst the supernatural. With all that time on their hands, they probably had plenty of creative sparks.
“Deliver the mirror and furniture to the palace,” Gillian said, tapping her index finger to her chin. “Give the ring to Kori.”
A green-tinted head popped up behind the plants.
“For the future, you understand me Kori?”
“Yes, Aunt Gillian,” Kori muttered.
“Return the crown to the Redcaps and the books to the Brownies. You can keep the rest. When I have confirmation you’ve delivered those items as well as your resignations from the Santa Inc. board of directors, the Black Forest land is yours.”
The Ho’s huddled.
“Gillian,” Nick growled.
“Hmm?” She looked up at him on his mother’s lap, and smiled serenely as if they were just about to depart for their honeymoon. She was only doing the job she didn’t want. “Yes, Nicky?” she asked sweetly.
“What are you doing?”
“Playing queen.”
“You’re out of line.”
“No. I’m not. That’s what you get with me as queen. I’m not the kind of lady who’s gonna sit idly by and watch shit unfold in front of me when I can be doing something. I’m no one’s toy or pretty bauble. I didn’t go to school to be some dick’s arm candy. I put myself through college and work my ass off because that was what my grandmother expected of me, so if you think I’m going to sit around and watch this bullshit escalate for no reason, you’ve got the wrong lady. If you don’t want that from your queen, perhaps you should get rid of her.” She knew her grin was downright predatory, and she didn’t care.
Finally, his expression cracked. No more neutral blankness, but pure hostility. She’d gone and gotten Santa pissed, and for some reason, she didn’t feel as joyous about it as she’d hoped.
“It’s a deal!” Horty said, joining hands with her sisters and they all danced around in a circle like schoolchildren.
Gillian stood and grabbed her champagne glass. “You can thank me later. Preferably from an entire realm away.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gillian figured she was on the downslope of elf matrimony when Nick didn’t fetch her to discuss gift deliveries on the morning of the twenty-fourth. She figured he was calling on a shaman or someone who could undo the bonds of their marriage. Until he got around to fetching her, though, she’d tie off loose ends. Squaring away the nymph girls was the biggest loose end of all. She hated abandoning those girls, but they had to understand she didn’t belong there. She was just human. She did know, however, of one human who might actually be suited for the place.
Gillian teleported to North Carolina and knocked on the door of Terry’s mother’s trailer.
Gillian waited on the concrete block steps, flapping her arms at the blustery wind and wishing she’d grabbed a cloak on the way out. She had a lovely warm red one back at the palace that she skulked around in. Technically, it was Nick’s and had probably been very expensive considering the ermine trim, but she was feeling extremely finders’ keepers lately.
And maybe she just liked the way it smelled. Like Drakkar Noir and Christmas spirit or something. She choked down a sob, and cursed the Fates for tossing her into the mess in the first place.
Why can’t I let myself have this?
Maybe because it didn’t feel real. It was too much for a girl like her who wasn’t used to having anything.
Terry pulled back the seventies-era floral print curtain over the door’s window and then yanked the door open. “Ooh, girl! Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes?” She pulled Gillian into one of her usual overenthusiastic hugs and rocked her side to side.
Mood lifted, Gillian chuckled as soon as Terry gave her enough air to do so.
Terry was wearing one of the Vampires are Real! T-shirts Gillian always teased her about, and suddenly, the idea wasn’t so crazy.
“Come on in!” Terry said. “It’s cold out there. Did you get your check, too?”
“My check?”
“Your paycheck.” Terry shut the door and walked over to the large console television set tha
t played a soap opera Gillian thought had been cancelled.
“I found it shoved in the mailbox in an envelope addressed to me. Didn’t have postage on it. Just showed up out of the blue.”
“Oh.” Thank fuck for Agnes and her administrative efficiency. That lady was quick. “Um, yes. I got paid.”
“Girl, I was so glad to see it. Oh! I saw Kurt. Weirdest thing. He found Gina wandering around in his office and trying to find her way out.”
Gillian gulped. “Oh yeah?”
“Yup. Got his rent money off her, I hear. Oh, and he said you had a whole bunch of gifts for him to hand out to the kids. That was real sweet. Took him a while to track ’em all down, but he said they just raved on and on about them.”
“That’s nice to hear. I miss those kids.” Gillian cleared the pile of laundry off the plastic-covered sofa and sank into the corduroy monstrosity.
“So, what you been doing since the school closed? Ain’t seen a lick of you.”
Gillian flinched. “This and that. I…got married, but we’ll probably get an annulment. Wasn’t meant to be.” She swatted a long white-blond hair off the leg of her black pants. Apparently, Santa’s way of being everywhere at once was inadvertently leaving little pieces of himself behind.
“Hold up, married?” Terry’s voice took on a stratospheric pitch. “That don’t sound like you.”
“I had a moment of weakness.”
“Anybody I know?”
“No, he’s from out of town.” Gillian sniffled. “Way out of town.”
“Well, I’d like to meet him before you dump him.” Terry swatted at her and giggled. “Say, you want a drink?”
“I can’t stay long. I actually came out here to see if you had a new job lined up.”
Terry shook her head. “Nope, not a thing. Plus everything is so slow this time of year. Probably won’t get called in for anything until after New Year’s Day.”
“That’s true.” Gillian twiddled her thumbs for a moment, thinking how best to make the proposition. If she played her cards right, the girls would have a house matron. If she did it wrong, Terry would be picking up her phone and dialing for an ambulance and straitjacket for Gillian.
“T, I know how you feel about our, uh, blood-sucking cousins.”
