Phantom Fae (12 page)

He realized the housekeepers weren't in the chamber, but they
soon returned with bandages and they gave them to Cook who went to work bandaging him again.

"Ena," Brett said, his voice only a whisper.

"She is busy. When she returns, we'll tell her what you've gone and done." Ryker shook his head. Then he ordered the two housekeepers, "Clean up the blood and the remnants of the vase and dispose of them. I'll tell her when she returns."

"When," Brett gritted out. Oh, the agony. His whole body roared with pain and his insides burned.

"Get the healer," he told Ena's lady's maid.

"Aye." She hurried off.

"Jacob, you've got guard duty first. Make sure he doesn't leave the chamber."

"Aye."

Ryker glanced up at Freya. "Will you keep him company?"

She cawed.

"She will," Brett managed to whisper.

Ryker frowned. "You can understand her?"

Brett closed his eyes.

"All animals, or just her?"

Brett heard the question, but he was already soaring off into the night, searching for Ena. At least in his dreams.

Chapter 11

Ena was trying to concentrate on the conversation between the dragon shifters who had come to fight Prince Grotto. She and her brother, and the others had fought a terrible battle to regain Halloran's castle.

Why the dragon fae thought Prince Grotto's word was rule, when she and her dragon shifter kind came back to claim what was rightly theirs, was beyond her comprehension. They should have known that even a handful of dragons could oust them.

Despite talking about their next strategy, and how important that was, she couldn't stop worrying about Brett.

"Ena?" Halloran asked.

All her suitors looked at her as they sat at his dining table. She realized she really hadn't heard what they were planning.

She waited for him to repeat the question.

"Princess Alicia is pinned down with her force at Warblers Creek. Prince Deveron is pursuing some of Prince Grotto's elite guard force up to the North. Even his mother is leading a force against the royal castle where Prince Grotto had his grandfather murdered."

Ena hoped her brother had not already said all of that while she was zoned out, concerned about Brett. "Right."

"But Princess Alicia is most concerned about her mother's welfare. Last we heard, Princess Viviana is still in the dungeon there, but if Prince Grotto feels he's losing the battle, he might have her put to death. He has been using her as leverage so far, but he's unpredictable."

"So we are to go in and free her."

"No. Brett and Freya will. They're supposed to be on Prince Grotto's side, the phantom fae pledging their loyalty to him. They'll be less suspicious if they try to gain entrance."

Ena knew her brother and the others there could hear her rapid heartbeat. No way did she want Brett, in his current condition, for one thing, to try to enter the castle by
any
means. "Prince Grotto knows who Brett is. He knows I saved his life. He knows I had taken him in as a member of my staff."

"But the word has gone out that you betrayed Brett by giving him up to the phantom fae so you could obtain safe passage through their lands," Halloran reminded her.

He didn't do it in a way to make her feel bad, but she still did. She would always regret that moment, yet Brett had gone freely to help protect her and her staff. No matter what, he was always doing that.

"He can't do anything yet. He's too weak from his injuries," she argued.

"Which gives Brett the perfect excuse. He's seeking refuge until he can fight the dark fae who injured him so badly," her brother said.

Ena didn't believe Brett could even manage to walk there on his own. If he did, he would be too weak to even fight. "If any of this is possible, what exactly are we to do while he's risking his neck? Freya is unable to retain her fae form for long. Prince Grotto will only want them there if he feels they can prove useful. What if he believes Brett cares something for me? Then he could use him as a hostage."

"You proved you didn't care anything for Brett's welfare when you gave him up to the phantom fae," her brother reminded her. "Brett only needs to get in and cause some kind of diversion for us. Maybe he can use his magic to help us gain entrance."

"He isn't very good at it. What if he turns into a dragon at the wrong time? They will think he's really one of us and finish him off. He's already half-dead."

"It's the plan we all agreed to."

She looked at all the other men there. No one said anything. Her brother had to know she wouldn't agree with this. Too many things could go wrong. "Brett and Freya would have to agree."

"They will."

"Only if Brett is well enough. I'm not handing him over so that he can be thrown in the dungeon and die there."

"If he agrees, it's up to him, Ena," Halloran said, using his sterner, older voice.

"If he's even capable of making such a decision in his condition. When do you propose to do this?" Ena asked.

"Before first light. We don't want to wait because word of our taking back our castles will most likely reach Prince Grotto's ears before long. We fear Princess Alicia's mother will be more at risk, the longer she is there. The faster we free her and take down the prince, the faster the bloodshed ends."

"And if Brett isn't healed enough to carry out your plan?"

"We'll worry about that then."

"All right. I'll check on him and send word of his condition in an hour."

Feeling reluctant to go along with Halloran's plan, when Ena arrived home, she smelled blood—Brett's blood, in the entryway. Where her ancient vase had stood, now a tall shelf filled the spot.

"What…" She vanished and reappeared next to Brett's chamber. Jacob was now sitting outside his door, in guard mode.

"What has happened?" she demanded.

"My lady, Brett turned into a dragon and injured himself further. Cook gave him something to aid his sleep."

"My vase?"

His eyes downcast, Jacob looked miserable. "I'm sorry to say that he flew into it as if he had suddenly lost control, hit a wall, and then he collapsed. Ryker and I had to carry him back to bed. He was bleeding again, but Muriel stopped the bleeding."

"Why in the world would he do such a thing? Shift and fly around the castle?"

"We think he was sleep flying."

"Oh,
just
great."

"What is the plan your brother is devising?"

"It concerns Brett and Freya and the dragons. Not you or any of the rest of my staff. You must make sure none of Prince Grotto's loyal men try to retake my castle."

"Aye Agreed. Whatever plans Halloran has for Brett, unless the mage recovers quickly overnight, it better be that he's pretending to be nearly dead. I believe that's that only role he's going to be able to play. When is this to happen?"

"In a couple of hours. I'm afraid he'll end up in the dungeon or worse—that Prince Grotto will have him killed outright."

Jacob shook his head. "Brett is sleeping now. But if you are going too, you must get your rest."

Ena wasn't used to her staff telling her what she should do for her own health and welfare."I'll just check in on him first."

She opened the door and saw him sleeping soundly. She walked into the room and when she reached the bed, she put her hand on his forehead. No fever, thank the goddess.

Brett stirred.

She quickly drew her hand back.

His eyes opened, then widened. "Ena," he whispered.

"I hear you are flying through my keep while you are supposed to be recovering."

He managed an elusive smile.

"And broke an ancient vase."

His barely-there smile faded. "I'm sorry."

She waved a hand of dismissal. "You can pay it back. It will take several lifetimes, but you know the human store policy."

"You break it, you pay for it."

"Right."

"Does this mean you're keeping me for good?"

She couldn't help but smile at his words. "As hard as you will have to work in the garden, you might decide you wish you had made other choices."

"I intend to become a master mage and take care of it with a sweep of my hand."

Which brought to mind this business with him turning into a dragon. "Brett, you must get your sleep and I must, too, but my brother has proposed a plan where you and Freya will enter the castle grounds and pledge your loyalty to Prince Grotto."

"He will want me dead. Before you took me in, he wanted the king to eliminate me."

"I…I gave you up to the phantom fae. You're one of them, so you say. I…betrayed you."

"No, it was my decision. It was the only choice we had at the time. You don't truly feel that I would believe you sacrificed me to them, do you?"

She didn't say anything, and she tried hard to conceal that she did.

"I have to admit I was afraid of what they would do to me, but we did what was right. I would have done nothing differently. As it was, it turned out fine. I met my grandfather before he died, and he gifted me with his magic."

"That you still don't know how to control or use."

"Yes, but learning something new always takes practice."

"Elorian said that he knows of no mage who can do what you can do—turn into a dragon or any other non-fae form. How did you do it?"

"I wished it. I don't know how I did it. And then I wished I was human after that."

"Human." She snorted.

He gave her a whisper of a smile. "Fae, then."

"Can you control your shifting, if you can even get to your feet and go to the royal castle? Or are you too weak? My brother thinks if you say you're suffering from wounds we gave you, and the fact Prince Grotto knows I gave you up to the phantom fae, and that you're with one, Freya, another phantom fae, that should put you in good stead with them."

"And then?"

"You've heard of the Trojan Horse? You'll find a way to let our forces in. But I still worry that they'll want to put you in the dungeon. Or worse."

"I will do it."

"
Only
because you wish it," Ena insisted. "Not for any other reason."

"To do it for you? For your brother? For your kind? Princess Alicia? Her mother? I do it for all these reasons and more. Princess Alicia told you not to terminate me when you had asked her if you should. She had been like me—living in the human world, believing she was only a fae seer, not knowing she was one of the fae. And she worried that I might be the same." Brett suddenly switched topics. "Speaking of fae seers, what of my friends? Where are they?"

"I don't know. They were at my keep, supposed to be doing your gardening work. But when I returned from burning the wagons, all my staff was gone. All of them were here, except for your friends. We don't know what became of them. When we can see King Tiernan, the hawk fae may have taken them with his forces. I didn't see Freya when I came in. I'll have to ask her if my brother's plan is agreeable to her. But I must get some rest if I'm going to be able to do anything myself tomorrow."

Then she said good night, hating how bad Brett still looked, and left the room. After she closed the door, she asked Jacob, still sitting guard duty, "Any word on Brett's friends?"

He shook his head. "They disappeared the morning you left and when we took off for here, we never saw any sign of them."

"All right. Wake me in two hours." Ena looked for Freya and found her in a guestroom sleeping. Ena hated to wake her, but told her what they hoped she would do.

"I will go with Brett. If he's agreeable, I'll stay with him. I'll try to hold my fae form and when I'm out of sight of Prince Grotto's people I will let you know what's going on inside the castle."

"That sounds like an excellent plan. Thank you, Freya." Ena was grateful to her because she was going against her own queen's wishes. But Ena suspected since the queen had ruled that Freya be turned into a raven for most of the time, she held a deep animosity for the queen's rulings. "We'll leave in two hours."

Then they said good night and Ena sent Muriel to tell her brother his plan was a go. Then Ena went to bed, wondering again what had happened to Brett's friends. She hoped they had not gotten themselves into dire circumstances and they'd have to save them. They hadn't shown any fae tendencies so she thought they might still be human fae seers and nothing more.

Ena had barely gone to sleep when Muriel said at her door, "My lady, your brother is here. He said the mission is a go. Brett is well enough to go to the castle. Cook has prepared breakfast."

"I'll be right there." Ena was already out of bed and getting dressed in a black leather padded corset, fit for maximum movement and protection, thigh-high boots and leather pants She armed herself with her sword, two daggers, and several throwing stars. Though she figured for most of the time, she'd be a fire-breathing dragon. But if she had to shift into her fae form and storm the castle inside, to go after Princess Alicia's mother or Brett, or Freya, she'd be ready.

She ran a brush quickly through her hair, which was why she loved that it was short and very manageable. Then she applied her makeup, the only thing she allowed herself to do that was in the least bit girly—she loved long black lashes enhanced with the mascara wand and olive green eye shadow that matched her eyes and her dragon's scales when she shifted. Did the shadow disappear with her shift like her clothes and weapons? She'd never seen herself in a mirror when she shifted. Just her form as she'd cross over a reflective body of water. But nothing where she could see her dragon's face up close. She imagined the shadow would vanish along with the rest of her fae appearance.

She applied a bit of lipstick, and then hurried into the dining hall where a feast fit for a king and his courtiers had been prepared. All her suitors were there, waiting for her arrival before they chowed down. Brett, looking worse for wear—despite saying he was fine—was seated near her usual chair, the same one she had made him sit in when he had first arrived as her prisoner. Except for the tenuous situation he was putting himself into, the morning seemed like any other, the sky still dark, clouds hiding any stars or hint of the full moon.