by Leslie Chase
The two elves fell in beside her as she stepped out of the world of humans and into the world of the fae. It was as easy as walking any other path, now that she could see the way, but her mind ached at the thought of giving directions. No wonder the elves seemed to come and go so easily.
The storm clouds overhead deepened as she walked, and the wind blew up to a howling gale. None of the three of them seemed to be bothered by that, though, as they turned aside into the elf-lands that lived next to the world of humans, and for the first time Fiona came face to face with the palace of her father.
It took her breath away. The building was huge, unimaginably so, imposing black stone rising before her. The building seemed to touch the storm clouds above, and it was wrapped around with flowering vines. Strange blooms that she had only seen in dreams, dreams of this place which now seemed more real than the life she was leaving behind.
"Welcome, Princess, to the Palace of Wind and Rain," Erion said with great pride in his voice. And she could see why. The building was a magnificent sight, imposing and terrifying. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to live there.
Or, worse still, rule it. How could she possibly cope? But it was too late now to try to turn back, and she had made up her mind in any case. Letting Erion and his companion lead her into the palace, she followed, too awestruck to take in much. There were great gardens of strange plants, statues which seemed almost alive, and other wonders too many for her mind to hold.
They walked through a door into a great hall, vast and cold. Improbably, there were clouds hanging above them, obscuring the ceiling from view, and on the far end of the hall, Fiona saw the throne of the King of Storms. Empty and imposing, the great black stone chair rose above the dais on which it stood, and what looked like a frozen bolt of lightning connected it to the black clouds overhead. Shivering to look at it, the first thought to pop into her head was how uncomfortable sitting on it would be.
"This is where I'm going to live?" she knew she sounded stupid as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Erion laughed, and his companion scowled at him briefly before answering the question.
"Yes, this will be your home. Your palace and your fortress," she said with a friendly smile. It was, Fiona thought, almost possible to forget that they had been trying to kidnap her. "Once you are settled into your chambers and properly dressed, we shall bring you to your father."
Erion nodded, taking her gently by the arm and guiding her out of the hall. The corridors they walked were a little less intimidating in their scale, but it was still like walking through some magnificent museum or film set rather than a house she could imagine living in. There were other fae in the corridors, but not many, and the few they passed fell silent as they approached. No one greeted Fiona or even acknowledged her as she walked by, but she had the feeling that everyone was judging her.
I wish I had dressed for this, she thought, feeling more self-conscious than ever. There was no way she could have matched the magnificent fashions the fae wore here, though, not even if she'd had all the money in the world to shop with. The outfits looked like they could only exist through magic.
At last Erion brought her to a door that opened into a suite of rooms.
"This will be yours temporarily, Princess," he said, gesturing her inside. "Please make yourself comfortable. I will inform the Court that you've arrived."
Before she could say anything in response, he bowed and turned, his long legs carrying him away swiftly. The female elf looked at her sympathetically and led her inside. It was, as Fiona had expected, filled with luxurious furniture so pretty and old looking that she was afraid to touch anything. Everything here looked like it was worth a fortune.
"I'm sorry, " she said to the elf. "But I didn't catch your name?"
The girl smiled broadly, and that at least made Fiona feel a little bit at ease. If I can get through this without offending her, maybe I'll have someone I can sort of trust here? Fiona knew she needed someone to talk to or she'd go mad, and she didn't trust Erion at all.
"I'm Skye, my Lady," she said, curtsying again. "No need to apologize, this must all be very strange to you. Perhaps you'd like me to help you change into something more suitable? You'll feel more comfortable if you're dressed for your station, I'll bet."
"I, um, I don't have anything like that to wear," Fiona said, feeling foolish. Skye laughed and shook her head.
"You're a princess of the fae courts," she said. "Almost all of us dress with glamours rather than real clothes, and that's an easy trick. Let me show you."
Fiona looked dubious, but Skye had been able to show her how to see fae magic earlier. And she did have to trust someone. "Okay, let's see."
Skye's smile widened into an impish grin, and she nodded quickly. Telling Fiona to undress, she wove her hands in a pattern around her, and Fiona could see trails of energy following as Skye hummed something under her breath. The trails thickened in seconds, drawing together and forming structure around Fiona's body until, seconds later, she was wearing a deep blue dress. Fiona gasped, looking at herself in a mirror — it was stunning, fitted exactly to her, showing off her curves. Perfectly tailored like the kind of clothes she'd never be able to afford to have made, it was amazing.
She turned around, admiring her reflection as Skye beamed at her. For a moment, she wondered what Cole would think of the dress, and then had to ruthlessly crush that thought before it ruined her sudden good mood.
"Am I going to be able to do that?" she asked Skye, trying to focus on the positives of her new situation and ignore the pain she felt in her heart at what she'd left behind.
"Probably, Princess," Skye said with a laugh. "It's not a difficult glamour, and you're royalty. But not everyone can manage it, so I can't promise you will either. And I should warn you, just in case; in the lands of mortals, such glamours fade quickly. Even here, it will likely last less than a day."
"Oh." A little crestfallen. Fiona looked at herself again. It would be a shame to lose the beautiful dress so soon. But then again, if it was this easy to get a new one, was that really such a high price to pay?
"So, now what?"
Skye looked unsure of how to answer that. Glancing at the door almost nervously, she put an arm around Fiona's shoulders and guided her to a seat. "Perhaps I should teach you some of the etiquette of the court, Princess? Before you meet Lord Meallan again, I mean. It might make you more comfortable?"
"Only if you call me Fiona. I'm not going to get used to everyone calling me Princess all the time," Fiona said with a smile, wondering what Skye was so nervous about. I'm here aren't I? I thought that was the end of the problem, from their point of view.
Skye looked shocked at her suggestion, and then looked away. "I can't do that in public, Princess! It would be disrespectful."
"We're not in public right now, are we?" Fiona pressed.
"No, I suppose we aren't. Very well, Fiona," Skye said, hesitating before using her name and then grinning.
The etiquette lesson that followed was just a quick overview, Skye made that clear. But it was still enough information that Fiona knew she'd need weeks to take it all in. There were so many rules. The right way to address a Duke, the proper way to acknowledge a guest, how to politely ignore an embarrassment and a hundred more things that Skye said were vital to know. How the fae even managed to remember all this was beyond Fiona.
Fortunately, she had the best excuse for getting it wrong. Being a Princess meant that she would have to be forgiven any minor lapses, Skye assured her, though where the line of 'minor' offense lay was hard to pin down. Fiona just hoped that it would be enough to stop her making a complete fool of herself until she could learn the rest of the rules.
After what seemed like hours — it was hard to tell how much time had passed with no clock in the room — there came a knock at the door. Fiona started at the sudden interruption, her head buzzing with the information that Skye had tried to drum into her, and Skye waved her back to her seat.
"A Princess doesn't answer her own door," she said, wagging a finger. If nothing else, the time they'd spent together had made her a lot more comfortable being informal with Fiona. Which was, Fiona thought, more important than the lessons themselves. She needed a friend, or she'd go crazy.
Skye stood and swept over to the doors, opening them wide and stepping aside. Without a word to either of them, Lord Meallan strode into the room, followed by Erion and two more elves that Fiona didn't recognize. The temperature of the room seemed to drop as the fae lords marched in, looking down at her. Fiona wondered if she should stand, and tried to remember the rules Skye had taught her, but she couldn't seem to remember anything in the face of Meallan's cold smile.
"Much more presentable," he said in an aside to Erion. "Good. She will do nicely."
Talking about me as though I'm not here is definitely rude, though. Fiona didn't need to remember any lessons to know that. She summoned up her courage and spoke up.
"You have Skye here to thank for that, Lord Meallan," she said. "Erion didn't do anything."
Meallan laughed. "Ah, I see you have some spirit. That's good, you will be much more interesting to play with than I imagined."
Fiona glared at him, feeling a prickly fear creeping over her. This certainly wasn't how a lord ought to speak to a Princess. But neither he nor any of his companions seemed to care at all.
Even Skye, though she looked shocked by his attitude, didn't object. She simply stared from the doorway, fright in her eyes. That left only Fiona to speak up for herself.
"Lord Meallan, that is no way to speak to your Princess," she said, standing and drawing herself up to her full height. He still towered over her effortlessly, and the cruel smirk on his lips showed how seriously he took her anger.
"Oh, Princess Fiona," he said. "You seem to have mistaken your place here. You are a Princess, yes, and will be Queen, but if you think that I will bow to a half-human girl like you, then you are stupider than you look. Don't worry, once we're married you will have every luxury your petty mind can imagine and I'll take up the burden of rulership on your behalf."
"Married?!" Fiona stepped backward, confused and afraid as Meallan's companions laughed. "I'm not marrying you."
The slap came so fast that she didn't even see it coming. Meallan's hand cracked across her cheek, snapping her head to the side and leaving a burning red mark. The humor evaporated instantly from his eyes and his smile looked more like a predator's snarl than anything else.
"You will never contradict me again, Fiona. I am going to overlook that one outburst, but you have already made me work too hard for this. I won't let you humiliate me further. And don't ever think that you have a choice in what I do here. Your bear isn't here to protect you this time."
Fiona raised a hand to her stinging face and stared at him in shock. His eyes flashed with anger and then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it faded. She stood still, trembling but not wanting to move or speak and risk another outburst.
A moment later, he laughed again, his courtiers joining in. Skye was the only elf not laughing, and she had her hands clapped to her mouth as though afraid that if she spoke the others might remember she was in the room.
"Normally I'd expect the marriage to take a little while to prepare, but this time I think that we can forgo the formalities in favor of speed, don't you, Erion?" Meallan said, his eyes still on Fiona.
"Of course, my Lord," Erion answered. "Better to have all this dealt with. I will see to it at once."
"Good man," Meallan said. He reached out to Fiona, brushing her hair out of her face, and Fiona had to struggle not to flinch away. "After that, I shall rule and we can live happily ever after. Won't that be nice?"
Fiona didn't move, and his eyes hardened. She forced herself to nod rather than provoking him further, and he smiled again. "See? You can learn."
With that he turned and swept out of the room, his followers trailing after him, leaving Fiona and Skye alone again. Fiona collapsed into a chair, staring at the door in horror as Skye rushed to her side.
What have I walked into? Oh God, why did I leave Cole for this? Fiona felt the tears on her cheeks as she hugged herself, wishing that she could feel Cole's strong protective arms around her instead.
Argent Falls was well behind him when the phone rang for the first time. Cole ignored it, not wanting to do anything but put more distance between him and the place his heart had been torn in two.
No, that wasn't quite true. He wanted to punch someone, break something, roar and tear and smash. He wanted to let his bear out on a worthy target and hope that he could pass the pain he felt onto someone else. What he didn't want was to speak to Eric and be told that he'd done a good job, or that he'd done what was necessary. That would just make him want to hurt someone more, and he knew that he was already on the ragged edge of his self-control.
In his rearview mirror he watched the storm clouds over Argent Falls fade into the distance. Hopefully, they'd soon fade away for good as the elemental powers of the Court of Storms came under Fiona's control. Cole snarled and looked away, at the clear blue skies ahead.
The phone rang again and he silenced it without looking. Whatever the Agency wanted from him could wait. Possibly forever. He had to take some time out after this one.
The third time the phone rang, he considered tossing it out of the window. But it wasn't the phone he was angry with, and that wouldn't make him feel any better. Maybe shouting at Eric would, and at least it would get Eric to stop bothering him. Pulling over, he fumbled it out of his pocket and answered it with a growl.
"What do you fucking want, Eric?" he said, not bothering to hide his anger.
"Who's Eric?" a woman's voice answered. "Never mind. More importantly, what the hell did you do, Cole? Where are you?"
It took a moment for Cole to place the voice, and then he recognized Janet. Confusion warred with his anger, and he tried to moderate his tone. Fiona's friend didn't deserve his rage.
"I had to leave," he said. "Don't worry, you'll be paid for the full booking."
"You think I care about the money, idiot? It's Fi I'm worried about. You bailed on her and now she's run off with that asshole you were beating up for her. I may not understand what's going on, but I know that isn't right."
"I can't tell you—" Cole started, but Janet spoke over him.
"You don't have to tell me anything," she said. "I saw how she looked at you, and I know how you feel about her. You're being an idiot if you run out on her like this."
"I didn't have a choice," Cole said angrily.
"You always have a choice," Janet said with a sigh. "Look, I don't know what's going on but I know it's something weird. That's okay, as long as she's happy I don't care how weird things get for her, but she isn't now. She was crying her eyes out when she left this morning, and I know she isn't going to be happy without you around. So what do you think you're doing leaving town?"
Cole growled, trying to build an argument that wouldn't tell her too much. He couldn't tell her the truth, obviously, but what else made any sense at all? I could just hang up, he thought. Nothing was forcing him to talk to Janet. But no, he couldn't do that to Fiona's friend.
"Look, I tried to talk her into leaving with me, but she thought she had a good reason to go with Erion instead," he said finally. "I couldn't exactly force her to go with me. And my bosses were very clear that they'd stop her leaving with me."
"She was wrong, then. And you, Mr. Secret Agent, should have stayed around until she realized that. Not just run away as soon as you could, like a… a coward."
That stung. Cole felt his bones creak as his anger stirred the bear inside him and his body fought to shift. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and struggled for control of himself.
The worst thing was that Janet wasn't wrong. He could have stayed a little longer, he'd only wanted to leave to get away from the pain he'd been in. And that meant that he had been selfish, put his feelings ahead of Fiona's.
Ahead of his mate's.
"It would have been harder on her if I'd stayed around," he said finally. It didn't sound very convincing even to him. "Once she made up her mind, I wanted to give her the space she needed."
"Sure," Janet said. "But you want to look after Fi? She's just gone off with the people who were trying to kidnap her. Don't you think it would at least be a good idea to check if that's worked out? It's not like Fi has a great record with guys treating her well."
Cole couldn't help remembering the way both Erion and Meallan had spoken to her. No, they hadn't sounded friendly or even respectful to their princess. I can at least check up on her and see if she's okay, he thought. He had a sick feeling in his heart that something had already gone wrong, a feeling he'd been ignoring along with the pain of leaving Fiona behind.
The Agency wants her with the Court of Storms, he reminded himself. I'm not supposed to interfere with that. And we can't go on the run, or the Agency will hunt us down.
Cole growled, narrowing his eyes. Fuck the Agency, then. We'll find a way to make things work, somehow. Or she can tell me to leave again if she's happy where she is.
"You're right," he said to Janet. "Thank you."
"Thank me later, idiot," Janet told him. "Right now, get back here and find your girl."
Cole hung up and dropped the phone, turning back towards the town. As soon as he was heading towards Fiona, a weight lifted from him. Whatever happened, going to his mate's side was the right thing to do, and Eric would just have to find a way to explain that to the Agency and the Council.
The feeling that something was wrong only got stronger, though. Fiona was in danger, and it was his fault for letting her walk into it. Putting his foot down he raced closer, trying to think how he could find them. The fae courts were hidden to the side of the world of mortals, and he knew that there were tricks to finding them. The trouble was, he didn't know any of the tricks himself, and there wasn't much time.
Okay, what do I know? They were out in the woods near the mines, but I have no idea where they came from there. Or... Meallan disappeared at the mall. That must be a secret path. It's worth trying at least.
