Betrayal (31 page)

All four of us are linked in this cataclysmic tangled web of destiny and it was high time we all came to terms with it.  That’s why I feel drawn to all of them.  King Sane said something that caught my attention and now resurfaced for discussion.  I get the feeling there was a puzzle piece hidden inside his psyche.  Somewhere on the edges of my brain I see the piece fitting together like a separate piece altogether.  Like…like another prophecy.  THAT’s IT! I never heard the other prophecy. Did it matter, no, but it would hang in the air if left unseen.

Altheon said once when I claimed Ian as my king that the first of a prophecy had come to pass.  Now that many other events have taken place I realized that the ultimate goal was still missing.  The combining of the courts.

Kin.  I needed to see Kin.

I talked to Ian about my idea to see him.  He was, of course, against it.  Grave danger…blah, blah, blah!  I really think he should trust me on this, but the worry that Kin’s territorial lines are still being drawn with the Nyms made me err on the side of caution by siding with Ian.  I’ll never say it aloud and he can’t hear me at the moment because of my new amazing blocking abilities.  Ha!

As I sat down in sighed relief relishing in the life events and the way it’s turned for me I heard a knock on my new bedroom door.  I looked up to see Tren standing in my doorway.  Tren had no way of knowing that each time I saw her I saw Danella’s face in my mind’s eye. 

She had something in their hands.  A large something.

“A gift from the Unseelie King, my lady.”

I thought of how that might unsettle me, but decided I’d better see it through.  I stood and walked over to her realizing that the large something was covered with a velvety deep blue cloth and flat.

I knew.  I just knew what it was.   I walked faster now aching to see it.  I pulled the soft cloth over the painting before Tren could relinquish hold of it.  I turned it towards me knowing well what it would show me.  It was meant as a reminder, and as a token to remember him by. The one not chosen, but always there. 

A miniature version of the painting I loved was in a small locket attached to my charm bracelet that was now in my beautiful jewelry box my mom and dad gave me at my wedding.  My Robert Frost.  My fingers grazed the front of the painting remembering the writing on it near the bottom and so I read it.  The note attached said much the same. 

“In hopes that you chose the one less traveled by.”  And this painting I’d learned was originally purchased by Kin in the hope of what he’d hoped I’d choose one day.  The road less traveled by ended up being the same choice I’d made long ago.  The Ian roadway.

It would have to be somewhere that Kin would see it.  I knew just where!

***

At Kin’s court we were greeted with uneasy, but open arms.  When Kin’s smile eased their tension, I relaxed.

At Kin’s side was Catrin, the ring on her finger not escaping my attention.  I was happy for him though his thoughts said he was otherwise.  I hoped he could put aside his affections to other things for this girl.  She was so lovely, loyal, and tolerable of everything Kin represented.  Yes, she was lethal which, coincidentally, was remarkably just like Kin.  She could turn a blind eye to suffering if the creature in question was a foe of the court.  I'd seen it once, but never told a soul.  Kin had certain “qualities” that would never change and therefore made him the very essence of an Unseelie winter court king leaving me well suited for the summer court I was destined too.

Dinner was jovial and fun.  After the dessert, Kin asked Ian’s permission to speak with me alone and afterward, I could share my findings.  Ian questioned him silently though I could easily read what they said.

In the room he called his new office, he handed me an all too familiar piece of wood that resembled the many other prophecies that our libraries at both courts held for records sake.  Over the year I’ve read the majority of all the prophecies found by the seers through time.

This one though, was from the winter court, but that’s not the breath stopper.  It was made over a thousand years ago.

Cold

Warm

the fire burns on

unite the two

before it’s due

and the courts shall

be made anew.

Across the desk I read it couple of times before I asked, “But how do you know this is about us if it was made over a thousand years ago? It’s too simple.”  I could tell he was ready to tell me this like he’d held it in for a while. A long while!

“I know it to be us.  I have researched this for the last nineteen years searching through every set of nonhuman and human records known to find and some even stolen with the right tools.  Grace, I have no proof but I know it’s true.”

“And that reassures me how?” I asked folding my arms over twice and sitting back in the chair across from him at the front of his store bought desk.  He was still a pompous brat sometimes.

“Because,” he narrowed his eyes at me to be sure I was zeroed in his face, “we are the only two Firebearers ever known to be born in the same time from separate courts.”
              That said it all.  “Okay, so this is great.  We are making history.”  I didn’t see his reason for being so mysterious about it.  When he sat still and didn’t move to leave I was forced to ask, “And this makes your face look distressed for what reason?”  I didn’t want a damper on my day.  It was a good day.  A new day for our courts.

“Because if you read it again maybe you’d see what I see?”   He was too careful with the words he chose.

I turned my eyes down to read, but kept the wordy wooden life changer up enough I could see him.  I had to see it through his eyes.  I read the first part easily enough.

Cold and warm were the predictors for each of us to know the other is near.  The fire was the fact that we were both Firebearers.

Ahhh! 
Unite the two
.  It means the courts, but I’m betting he initially interpreted it to mean us.  To unite us.  If he’d been able to “see” the future or get at least some information out of the winter court seer, he might have known that the last part made known that the courts would join and be made new.  The due date must have been my becoming of age or something close to it. 

“You thought it meant for us to be together?”

He nodded and thought,
I still do.

“And you were only acting as you would all those years because of your father and your own selfish assumption that you would have me regardless. It's why your father wanted it hidden from the Seelie court.  To reveal it at the right moment.”  Regardless also of the fact that my powers have grown and yet I can’t block Kin out no matter how I try and he knows this.  And so does Ian.  Being marked hadn't changed that.   Firebearer status, maybe.

“Your intelligence confounds me sometimes.” 
              I grinned.  “And you finally decided you were wrong about it, when?” I asked needing to know.  Two Firebearers, two courts.  That made better sense to me.

He took a breath readying for a story to tell.  “In freshman year when I tried to take you but failed,” he watched my face to see me finally hear him admit it aloud, “I couldn’t take it anymore.  I just snapped.  I had to have you and Ian and Pike were standing in the way of destiny.  So, I took you.  They intervened and stopped the biggest mistake of my life.  I was wrong Grace, but greed takes over a man.”  As if it is a good excuse.

“It is the past and we know the truth.  All three of you somehow made the future stay on course, so let’s just move on.”

He didn’t want make heed to “move on” yet, but I could see it in his eyes that he meant to.  He stood and leaned on the wall further away, “Pike stopped me that day.  I can’t tell you how in his debt I am for that deed.”

“Debts have a way of getting paid in the least likely of circumstances,” I said meaning more than I should.  His sideways glance didn’t get the answers he wanted.  It would have to wait.  I know what unknowingly hidden gifts he gave and doesn't take credit for.

Kin ended the secluded meeting and took me back to Ian.  But we did surmise that we were doing the right thing with combining the courts with alliances they'd not seen before in the history of the Fey. It was announced that we had two Firebearers and assured all that we would work in unison.

The Nyms were satisfied also.  They had their land and officially owned it. 

And last with our visit, I told the winter king to come visit the summer court so that we could continue to have “good tidings” within the courts and perhaps convene some negotiations towards a long awaited peace.

The ultimate gift came a month after the wedding, my parents were moved back to court.  My mother was happier than I’d ever seen her going on about her baking and cooking all the new “human” taste tests edible enough to make you moan.  My father was asked to work in the bookkeeping department of the records room.  How did they manage all that?  My father was told a secret.  A secret he had to keep to stay there.  That the humans only thought the world was exclusive to just them.  A whole other world existed and he was going to be allowed to join it if he could keep it a secret.  My mother gained power from coming to the Fey court.  At least, that's what my father thought.  She was after all, an Unseelie court queen in her own right.

And how did my mother manage this?  She of course had to live with him believing a lie, but to have him safe and back in the world he really belonged in, she did just that.  The things we do for the pains of the heart.  Love can be pain, but life without that perfect love isn’t worth living.  

Ian really was a changed man.  I could see in his mind that he just didn’t harbor any ill will towards anyone anymore.  I asked him once, weeks ago.  He said it didn’t matter what might happen, he had me.  That is a tall order to live up to, but he read my thoughts as well and reassured my doubts with, “Not everyone finds the very air they breathe wrapped in a beautiful package called Grace.”  And I said he wasn’t good with words!

Another wonderful aspect of my new husband and his many facets of awesomeness included what he did for my two guards.  Rion and Caymin were owed a debt.  And since the Seelie were big believers in that one always repays a debt, Ian made good on the one he owed my two guards for saving my life. 

Ian offered them freedom.  They turned it down of course.  They decided to remain by my side and serve as my personal body guards.  I told them I would be honored only if they would take turns having time off once a week.  Rion spent his weeding my garden.  Caymin spent every hour at the range. So much for time off.

Pike returned a debt to Kin.  Under Kin’s nose, his own mother was within the same slave quarters as my father and Pike’s mother had been.  She’d apparently been shielded from Kin with glamour all these years with his father’s powerful magic.  At Sane’s death, the magic was lifted and Pike recognized her easily enough.  Her memory had been stolen also, but now she was safe and living out her ridiculous long life in the court she knew well.  Just not the way she should.  We all decided that she had been through enough at just being Sane's wife at one time.

I also had a project.  A secret project.  One morning when I’d finally finished, I asked Ian to meet me at the trampoline dressed and with a full arsenal and no questions asked.  He balked with kisses and married life petting in places I’d prefer to keep in the privacy of our room, but we are married!  PDA has taken on a whole new meaning when it’s legal!

I snuck away to find Pike and told him to dress the same.  He complied with a wary eye, but went to get ready.  I asked him to go ahead and I’d meet him at his specific destination.  He questioned my intentions and I assured him Ian would approve.

I’d already sent a secret message to Kin through Tren and Rion yesterday.  My plan was in action.

Walking with Ian now, he grabbed me in strategic places and planted kisses along my jaw and neckline every ten steps.  I told him he’d have to let up in about thirty more steps so that our company would not be offended, but he just laughed the devil may care kind and eyed me knowing by now where I was taking him.

Stepping into the clearing by the lair, Pike and Kin stood looking as puzzled as a now Ian was just waiting for the explanation.

Thankfully, neither of the two early arrivals had stepped into the revamped Unseelie lair yet. I’d taken a chance doing this without Kin’s permission, but I didn’t think he’d pull rank on me even when he saw it finished.

I asked all three of them to follow me in.  As they did, all three instantly banded together into a man vs. the girl pose.  Kin’s eyes didn’t miss the already altered look of the two storage boxes on the front porch area.  I worried again Kin would be mad, but I had hoped his loyal attentive nature towards me would lessen his unfavorable regard for my renovations.  He hadn’t freaked
yet
!

After the initial shock of seeing a complete inside range and weapons room set up for the three of them complete with, dummies, wooden walled targets, bulls-eyes in every direction, and added weapons, they took a few steps into the center of the room.

“I have two more rooms to show you.”  I led the way while they followed in silence.  I knew they were exchanging words without me knowing and no amount of blocking would hide that from me.

The first room we came to was the room I’d never seen, until now.  Made into dressing rooms, it was fancier than any galleria I’d ever seen.  The second room was the bedroom.  The one I’d dressed in when it was Kin’s. 

Ian, I think, knew this since he popped his neck side to side upon entering it, but refrained from commenting.  However, he did grip my hip a little tighter and kept me close enough to his body to prove claim over me.  I wasn’t born yesterday.

The room was a training room for self defense complete with “ the other-worldly” human tools.  Included, in what I assumed would be their favorite room, were mats, rubber matted kick pads, and punching paddles.  Targets, sparring gear, and practice swords adorned the walls.  It was a man cave paradise.

I walked out leaving them alone to survey and finger their new toys.  I walked into the kitchen that I refused to change since it was about the most awesome of kitchens in the book.  I had Tren and Sarah make a human store run to stock the fridge with water bottles and sport drinks. Protein bars and Ian’s recent favorite, beef jerky.

Shivering from the frigid air that hit me as I checked that all was there, two arms folded around my middle and pressed against the back of me.  I knew the arms so well it occurred to me that I’d come to rely on the instant on warmth that it sent through me.  Like a warm blanket moving up slowly and then the second it hits my neck I’m paralyzed with the feeling like I should never move again.

His cool lips peppered my neck from the back making me shiver all over again.  Would I ever get enough of this, no, not ever.

You are the most amazing woman I have ever known. 
He waited quietly, his green glowing eyes dancing at me when I turned.

You’re biased.

Hardly.  I only just officially have you
.  His mind pictured what he wanted me to see.

I blushed, of course.  Heat coursed through the already there warm tingles that hadn’t got over the last set of mental imaging.

I can think of better ways to get my excess energy taken care of.

Heck, this married Ian was very,
very
forward.  Pent up from years of silence.

And I have on good word that you have yet to pay up on the load of debts to me and will forever be in my service. Lots of debts.  I haven’t forgotten either the name calling you placed on me by calling me an “idiot” when you were jonesing me as that Ben dude tried to move in on my girl for a second try.

Geez.
  He remembered all that like it just happened.  And worse, he seems to remember every bad deed I might have done that deserves a punishment. 
Bring it on!

Someone cleared their throat, but when we turned they were gone.  We finished our mini make out session and moved back to the main weapons room.

“Well, do you like it?” I asked the small motley crew.  Each of them answered in their own unique nonverbal way.  Ian was still attached to my side, so a squeeze to the hip told me he was pleased.  Pike raised his one eyebrow and brought his top lip up with that bedroom eyes look that I knew Ian hated him doing even now.  And Kin dropped his eyes in that sexy, but deadly look he always gave to any female that asked something obvious in his eyes.  I laughed at myself for knowing all this.  They all three truly were important to me in their own way.

You are simply amazing
.  Ian and Pike said simultaneously.  Ouch, in stereo where available. 

They glared at each other for the unintended deed.

“Grace, you’ve outdone yourself.  Of course, it’s lost its ambiance of the once—“

“Kin, it is the road now taken.  Please enjoy it.”  He seemed to get my meaning with a simple nod, although he looked away from me for a second into the distance.  I waited for him to come back and his smile told me he was out of the zone.  “I want you three to have back what you once had.  I know that together you’ve been through hell and back, but the past only makes you stronger and wiser.  Since we are past all that, I think it’s time you move on.”

No one moved.

“Do we get to fight you in the ring, my queen?” Pike had to add.

Not now!
I sent him a reprimand.  Switching my thoughts and listening all at the same time should seem confusing, but it all just happened naturally.  I loved it.

Ian stepped towards Pike, but his hand stopped him cold with the thin space keeping them apart.

“Pike, behave.  Save it for the sparring room.”  He smiled deviously at me and headed back to the kitchen. 

Sorry!
It seemed right to apologize for Pike since he wouldn’t himself.

I kissed Ian on the neck in my favorite just barely unshaven spot that was warm with his scent. 
Meet me at home when you’re energy level needs to reenergize. 
He growled in my ear though the words were silent to anyone who would hear.  When he followed me, I assured him I wouldn’t return alone.  I waved at Kin and left.  Rion was there, as promised, to escort me back.

I knew now what it was to be whole because before being married to him, I was half a person.  With Ian and our bonding in so many ways in so short a time, I was absolutely certain I knew what it felt to be complete.  Ian was the fraction of my life I’d been missing and didn’t give it proper credit.  But what person could until they found that one puzzle piece that fit so with yourself that you feel the warmth inside at every part of your being.  Waiting for that person was worth the adventures it took to get there.