by D. D. Miers
“Fine. But I’m telling my father.”
I took the compact out of my purse and connected with the viewing pool in the ‘tween and asked for the king.
"Princess, why do you contact the king from our pool and not his own glass?" Nineve shimmered into view in the tiny mirror.
“I am to be handfasted to my mate and wish to receive my father’s blessing. Are you well, has your pool remained unmolested?”
She trilled in pleasure and smiled at me, showing her sharp teeth. “Thank you for your concern, Princess. There are many who have forgotten to respect the naiads and dryads of Arcadia.”
“Never, Nineve. In fact, I made sure to bring all the elements with me tonight and will not be handfasted unless it is over the Arcadian flame.”
The purpose of the Arcadian flame was to strengthen the bond between mates, combining all the elements in a fire ignited by magic. If the binding was good, the elements would be consumed, then returned to their natural state. If the binding was not good, the elements, in this case, I'd chosen angelica, ocean water, a vial of wind I'd raised for the pack run, sand from the beach, and I would call the fire on my own when the time came.
“If you had told us, we would have blessed water for your union.”
“If I had known when I was there, I absolutely would have. This is a little spur of the moment.”
She giggled and reached out as if to feel me through the mirror. “You are not with child.”
“Gods no. We’re just tired of other offers that keep coming in.”
“Mmmm. The goblins want a princess of their own, as does the Unseelie King. You would not rather a Fae mate?”
“I like the man I have, actually. If I were a naiad, I would drown him and keep him forever.”
She nodded as though I’d given sage advice. “Then tie him to you, as the land-bound do. It is not as poetic as drowning, but your father will not punish you.”
That remained to be seen, but I didn’t voice the opinion to Nineve, afraid that she might try to drag even more noblemen down out of loyalty to me. Suddenly, she disappeared in a splash that made me blink and flinch back as though it would come through and soak me.
“Daughter, why are you calling from the naiad pool?” My father filled my view, his face too large for the compact mirror, before the image magically resized itself. “Why can you not speak to me inside the palace?”
“I wanted to speak to you without your entourage. Gray and I are handfasting. I wished for you to know, in case you were going to start negotiations for my hand with another. I will no longer be available.”
“That is the only reason you summoned me? To tell me I can’t sell you to the highest bidder?”
I sighed. “I don’t know how disappointed this will make you. I know I don’t do much that pleases the Fae, but I’ve lived alone too long to make my decisions based on Fae politics. I’m sorry if this means I can’t come back.”
“If Fairy accepts you and your shifter, why would I not? I am…saddened that I cannot attend, but we will celebrate your joining at the feast. He is coming with his wolves, is he not?”
“Wolves, panthers, bears, a Leo, there’s a lovely diversity to the pack.”
“A handfasting is wise. Bound, but without the permanence of a marriage rite.”
That would have to come later. It took time to get a marriage certificate, and the city offices had been closed by the time we decided to take the plunge. There would be no honeymoon, no celebration with our friends, just a ritual to protect us and our love from the ambitions of others.
"You are quiet. Usually, you argue with me." There was a patience in his voice I'd begun to notice when he dealt with me.
"I was thinking that it would have been nice just to marry the man I love and have a party to celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together. Instead, I can't even have a wedding. Just a hurried handfasting in the dark, while the pack protects us from my aunt's people."
“It may be for the best, if the pack does not accept you, or if your Grayson must make a shifter heir. If you were properly wed, his dalliance with a member of his pack would be a death sentence from the Fae.”
It sounded terribly logical in what should be a romantic event, but my father managed to make me feel better…almost. “While I don’t love the idea of Gray sleeping with other women, you’re right, and it’s something we’ve discussed in the past. Thank you for being pragmatic, Father, it turns out that was exactly what I needed.”
He smiled at me, gave his blessing, and closed the connection between us. I had the blessing of the king of Fairy to marry whoever the hell I wanted, and the blessing of one of the few remaining wild Fae. No doubt if she’d heard my father, she would’ve wanted to rescind hers out of spite, but that could wait, and Nineve has a long memory.
Niall reported back to Gray that Portia had arrived, and suddenly everything picked up speed. We ran to meet her, my pace matching Gray’s more easily than it used to, my stamina still not nearly that of a shifter, but step for step I stretched my stride to meet his longer legs. Normally, it would be exhilarating. Running to meet my aunt opposed all my survival instincts.
“Good grief don’t you people have cars?” she asked as we slowed to a stop outside the pretty picket fence that bordered the cottage.
“As a matter of fact, I do, but I like it, and I’m tired of being vandalized by your flock, so I do my best to avoid being seen in it by witches.”
She blinked slowly, but if she was angry, she hid it and went to work unraveling the spell she'd done to bind the Jord Bjorn onto her property, and the ones she'd hidden in it to prevent others from going in.
Fifteen
I pulled Gray aside where I could watch my aunt work, but she couldn’t hear me speak. “I texted Pen, she and Julian agreed to witness. My father applauds you, by the way, for not fully binding yourself to me, in case you want to fuck other shifters.”
“My God. Morgan, I’m so sorry. Why would he ruin a happy event like that?”
“He wasn’t trying to, he was simply pointing out that I can’t provide you with a shifter heir. He’s mentioned it before. That bearing a shifter would be too hard on my mortal body because I can’t shift for the unborn child, that my own power is too strong and would kill the baby to protect me, I can’t take that risk.”
“Let’s just take it one step at a time, Mo. I’m not worried about kids right now.”
“Neither was he, really. He was just concerned that if we do bind ourselves completely, the Fae will demand monogamy from you and kill you if that scenario becomes necessary.”
“Just don’t think about it. That’s why we’re here, right? To have the Jord Bjorn herself handfast us and declare you pack. If it comes all the way from her, no one will dare challenge it.”
“She has dementia, Gray, why wouldn’t they?”
"Because they don't know. That's why she's behind a hundred layers of spells that make you feel like you're going to puke if you so much as touch the gate latch." He hugged me and started to lead me back to Portia. "I'm sorry that this all sucks so much. None of it would matter if you had an animal to call. You'd be pack, and you'd be an alpha. Hell, you can't shapeshift, and you're already an alpha."
Portia stepped back from the gate and waved me over irritably. "I need your hands for this. It's a two-woman job, and I assumed you wouldn't want me bringing the coven with me."
"Thank you, Aunt Portia. That was very considerate. Of course, I'll help you."
She pressed her fingers to mine as lightly as she could while still being in contact with my skin. As she chanted, I called my power and shared it with her. When she didn’t pull away, I drew from my Fae power instead, calling creepers and morning glory out of the earth to climb her leg and gently wrap around her arm to the wrist, until they could reach out for mine.
With a jerk, she realized we’d been bound together, and she hissed a curse at me. “How dare you, you obscenity.”
“Stop str
uggling and let the magic flow through you, Portia,” Gray directed.
She glowered at him, her mouth pressed in a thin, line.
I didn’t push, just kept her anger from killing my plants that pulsed with life around our wrists. When I felt her relax, I slammed magic through our connection into her, rocking her back on her heels. The tender vine shoots that connected us snapped and the plants fell away and disappeared back into the grass as Portia gaped at the narrow band of flowers tattooed around her wrist.
I showed her its twin on my own arm, and she lunged at me. “How could you. How could you mark me like that?” Her voice was a ragged, thin scream, almost silent with despair, yet it pierced the night air and brought the pack running.
“I did magic. That’s what we do. And now Annabelle has a tattoo on her wrist, because she is my blood, and she is your blood. If ever she needs us,” I held up my arm. “These will glow. If she’s in mortal danger, they will burn.”
“Why would you bind yourself to her like that?”
“Because you’re stubborn when you feel betrayed, and I’m the one who can open a portal. If she needs you, I will get you to her faster than you ever would, not because you can’t, but because you’re too ashamed of the part of you that made this,” I shook her arm in front of her face, “made this possible.”
Portia’s blood was almost as pure as the coven believed. I was the stain on the family, but I wasn’t the first hybrid, not by a long shot. “You had no right.”
"I know, that's why I didn't ask for permission." If she'd pressed me for a why I wouldn't have had an answer. I wasn't sure it was going to work when I decided to try. But the Goddess had blessed me, marked me, and when she had, I'd felt the magic she used, and knew it was in me, somewhere. "I have the power to mark those who belong to me, just as the Goddess marked me as hers." I pulled up my pant leg. "I can't hate you, Aunt. I want to, I should, but I can't. So instead, no matter how much you hate me, I will be here for you when our mark tells me I must."
I watched her jaw work, clenching and unclenching like it did when she was trying to stop herself from beating me too hard. “I will free myself from this bondage.”
"No, you won't. I didn't bind you to me, aunt. I simply marked the DNA that we share. There's no magic that can change that. You are mine because I am stronger than you and I protect those that are weaker than me. I learned that from the good people who found me after I left you."
With that, I turned on my heel and opened the gate in the slightly worn white picket fence. It creaked a little, it needed oil on its hinges, and the normalcy of a creaky gate in a spell-bound fence that needed two witches to keep it from killing us made me smile.
Am I the creaky hinged gate in the middle of a deadly clusterfuck of magical beings, or am I part of the clusterfuck, and I haven’t found the absurdly normal thing in the middle of us all yet?
Grayson handed Portia over to a couple of wolves to babysit her, so she didn’t go for reinforcements.
I was almost to the door when my aunt called me back. “Morgana come back. Please.” She no longer looked angry, just defeated. “This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Just let me say my piece.”
Gray glanced at his watch, then leaned against one of the wooden posts on the porch. “I know I’m curious, just don’t let your guard down for a second.”
I jogged back to her and waited.
“You must release me so I can close the wards behind you. If she kills you all, she mustn’t be let free to roam the city.”
“And you think she’ll kill us.”
“I know you’re powerful, Morgan, definitely more powerful than me. But I promised her that when her illness progressed, I’d protect people from her. I don’t know what you’re going to find in there, but I keep my promises.”
I nodded at Niall, and he told the guards to let her go. I turned to Gregor, a wolf I'd spent some time with and knew better than the other. "Wait for Penelope and Julian, please. They're our witnesses tonight." I glanced at Niall. You ready for this?"
His grin nearly split his face as he offered me his arm. “I’ve been ready for this as long as I’ve known you, Love.” He winked, and I felt the blush creeping into my face, heating it in the cool evening.
“I love you, Niall.” I took his arm and tried to still my racing pulse as I realized we’d run out of ways to stall.
"One more thing, niece." I released a controlled breath and faced my aunt.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to stop this from happening.”
She swallowed and pursed her lips. “I am not. But, as I said, I keep my promises, and I promised your mother I would give you this on your wedding day.” She drew a chain out of her pocket, a charm bracelet strung with amethyst and quartz, some dangling from it and others slipped over the chain like beads.
“That’s beautiful. My mother made this for me?”
"For luck and love. It will never break or lose its stones unless your love for Mr. Xenos dies." She handed me the bracelet and tucked her arm back into her sleeve to hide the one I'd given her. "I will close the wards behind us, but I'm coming with you."
“You won’t be able to hurt us, Portia. In fact, if the Mother Bear decides to eat us, it will be more dangerous for you.”
She scoffed at me. “You just let a child in there.”
“That child is almost an adult and is already more powerful than other shifters in his pack. Worry about yourself, Aunt. You’ve made it clear you don’t want my protection.”
“I need to see you do this, Morgan.”
The bracelet felt warm in my hand, full of magic, and promise and I would have sworn it held the love of my mother for the unborn daughter she'd already accepted she wouldn't raise to see married.
"Come on, Aunt. You can stand with Niall, but don't let him charm you too much. He's a terrible flirt, and worse at calling after he gets a lady's attention." To Niall, I gave a look to tell him to watch her like a hawk.
She gaped at me and her eyes shifted between us as Niall threw his head back and guffawed. "You are a lovely woman, Ms. MacSolais, but I think I'll let tonight be about Gray and Morgan since it's the only time they get to enjoy it."
My aunt and I shared a look. If the Jord Bjorn was as insane as Portia feared, there wouldn’t be much to enjoy when we finally walked through that door. The bracelet slid neatly over my hand and tightened to my wrist, not to handcuff it, just enough to be comfortable and not too loose.
I was proud that my mother’s spell had lasted so long but couldn’t shake the niggling doubt that my aunt was telling me the truth. Was she trying to overcome her hatred of me? Or was I playing into her hands again by believing her, when everything she did was intended to drive me away or harm me?
Sixteen
Since Portia had been visiting the Jord Bjorn, (who Niall had finally reminded everyone preferred to be called Eloise in person), it was decided that she and Niall would bring the elderly were-bear to her sanctuary, and Gray, Prescot and I would set up for the ritual, and Penelope and Julian would stand guard between, in case Eloise was agitated and attacked.
“It’s weird that we’re about to be bound together by a shifter who might try to eat us, thinking she’s a real bear, right? That’s not a thing usually.”
Gray shook the water from his freshly washed hands and kissed me. “It’s fucking weird as hell, Mo. But what about us has ever passed for normal?”
I glanced up to see Prescot studying the carvings above the altar intently. “Don’t worry, Pres. The moment has passed. All PDA suspended unless directed otherwise by Eloise.”
“That’s me,” a voice called out, as small and creaky as the front gate. “I’m Eloise. Do I know you?”
I told her we hadn’t and reached out for her hand, but Portia batted it away and gave a quick, subtle shake of her head in the negative. Right. Stay out of arm’s reach until we know how crazy the crazy, super strong lady is.
“I’m here with Gra
yson Xenos, do you remember him?”
"Oh, Grayson, what a handsome boy. So much trouble though always has to do things his own way."
I stifled a grin and shot Gray a glance. “Not much has changed, Nana Eloise,” Portia replied. “He’s here tonight to marry his girl. Would you like to see him?”
Eloise straightened up and looked right into my eyes. “You’re his girl, then? I should’ve known a regular old shifter wouldn’t be good enough for our Gray.”
“You can tell I’m not a shifter, even with all the magic swirling around this place?”
She crooked a finger, and I leaned in toward her. "I'm old, and I'm sick, but mostly, I just like watching the witches piss themselves because they think I might spontaneously morph into a bear and eat them alive."
“Not gonna lie, I might pay to see that, some days.”
Behind Eloise, Portia made an offended noise. “We come here to help you, Eloise, not to be bullied.”
“Then leave more books, because I’m bored, and you’re an easy target.” She took my arm and led me toward the sanctuary but paused just outside the door. “Did you remember to raise the walls behind you?”
“Shit.” Portia dropped to her knees and slammed both palms against the floor, and I drew my athame and sliced across my palm, more painful than the pad of my thumb where I usually cut, but a lot more blood, and faster.
I pushed my palm flat against the nearest wall and felt for two things, the inert wards Portia had lowered for us, and the magic she was using to raise them back up. I pushed my raw power into her design and felt the wards snap into place like a sudden drop in elevation, making my ears pop.
“Well, that was exciting.” Eloise sighed. “I wish we could have warned the wolves outside the barrier though.”
I ran to a window and peered into the night. No wolves were in sight, the street was empty, lit only by a few streetlamps and the occasional porch light someone had forgotten to turn off. Every window in every house was dark, like every household on the block had decided to turn in early, or they’d all gone out of town.
