Phantom Fae (3 page)

She cawed in annoyance. The healer smiled. "You should be fine by tomorrow. Just stay out of Zane's way. You know he would like nothing better than to eliminate you if he thought it would put him in good stead with the queen."

Freya flew onto the healer's shoulder and rubbed her head affectionately against her cheek, the only way she could thank her for her kindness while she was a raven, though she had helped the healer in her garden in the past, eager to learn about her special healing skills.

By trade, Freya was a weaver, but to her frustration, she could no longer even do that.

Freya flew off then to the castle, hopeful she might catch sight of Brett outside. She couldn't go inside in her bird form, and she had only a limited amount of time to be in fae form, so she didn't want to waste her…"gift." It really made her appreciate what she'd had, and made her want her old life back even more.

Especially now that Brett was here. But would he pay any attention to her if she was always around, and not so mysteriously slipping in and out of his life?

And what about the dragon fae, Ena? He had to mean something to her, based on the gifts she had bestowed upon him.

***

As soon as the dragon fae Princess Alicia returned to the Denkar realm of the dark fae with her husband, Deveron, the crown prince of the dark fae, from their honeymoon that she would cherish forever, she knew something was horribly wrong. Her good friend Countess Saliness quickly met with her in the entryway, her eyes red from crying.

The dark fae queen had sent a messenger to summon both Alicia and Deveron to her chambers immediately also.

"What is wrong?" Alicia took hold of Countess Saliness's hand to offer comfort. After the countess had helped Alicia escape a fae dungeon last year, which seemed like centuries ago, she'd become a good friend.

"Your grandfather, King Tibero, was murdered. Prince Grotto has proclaimed himself king, imprisoned your mother, saying she had murdered your father to install you as queen, and stated that you are behind all of it. It all began with Ena leaving the dragon fae realm to escape a marriage to Prince Grotto. And then all of the dragon fae took their gold and household staffs and left."

Alicia stared at the duchess in disbelief.

Queen Irenis didn't wait for Alicia to come to her chambers and suddenly appeared in front of her in the fae way, dressed in a red gown that meant she was livid with anger. "I'm so sorry for all that has happened in your kingdom, Alicia. Are you ready to go to war?"

Chapter 3

As soon as the dragon shifter, Ena, was summoned to meet with King Tiernan of the hawk fae, and Queen Ritasia, his wife and a dark fae, Ena was certain one of her dragon shifter friends had done something wrong. Even though she wasn't responsible for them, per se, the king and queen had made her accountable for them since she had brought them here. So whenever there was trouble, they spoke with her and she relayed the message to them.

"We have word from my brother," Ritasia said, her look grim. "Deveron sent news that Prince Grotto has killed his and Princess Alicia's grandfather, King Tibero. The prince has taken over the kingdom. He has imprisoned Princess Alicia's mother, Viviana. We assume it's a trap. He's waiting for Alicia to come to rescue her mother, and he will kill her and her mother to end their family line that would have ruled first before Prince Grotto had the chance."

Ena never felt feint, but right now, the blood had thoroughly rushed from her head and a guard quickly grabbed her arm. She hadn't even realized she was feeling like she might pass out until he touched her.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Ena felt awful about the whole situation. No way would she have married that despicable toad of a prince. He'd had it in for her from the beginning. King Tobias had not been her friend either, but she felt a strong sympathy for Alicia. And Ena had always admired Alicia's mother for falling in love with a fae of another kingdom and following her heart.

"No, it's not your fault," Ritasia said sternly. "Prince Grotto has been trying to come up with a plan to eliminate Alicia's ability to take over the throne, once he learned she lived."

"What is she going to do?" Ena asked.

"My mother has declared war on Prince Grotto of the dragon fae kingdom of Morcalon, since Alicia is her daughter-in-law. She understands that not all of Alicia's people are siding with the prince and my mother only wishes to eliminate those who follow him."

"And you?"

Ritasia glanced at King Tiernan. He took her hand and squeezed it. Ritasia said, "We will go to war against the dragon fae. Alicia is my dearest friend and my sister-in-law, who is like a sister. Where do you stand on this issue?"

Since Ena was a dragon fae, she should have been against fighting her own people. But Prince Grotto, now self-proclaimed king, was a tyrant, she had every intention of aiding Alicia to right the wrong. "Princess Alicia would make a fine queen while presiding over the dragon fae. She has always been good to my dragon shifter kind. With Prince Deveron at her side, they will rule well. Her cousin, however, is ruthless and dangerous. I will fight for her. I cannot guarantee that the other dragon shifters will. But I will ask them."

"Good. King Tiernan will lead his forces. Will you lead the dragon shifters into battle if any agree to go with you?"

"Of course." Not that she believed they would agree to that. But she liked to think they would.

"I must warn you. Prince Grotto is no fool."

Ena snorted.

Ritasia smiled a little. "He suspected we might ally with the dark fae and fight against him. He has enlisted the griffin fae who live on the island off our coast. And he has asked the phantom fae to fight with him also, since both fae kingdoms have been at odds with the hawk fae kingdom before."

Immediately, Ena thought of Brett, the human she had saved from Alicia's grandfather's wrath. She had been forced to give him to the phantom fae kingdom in order to pass safely through their land and wished she could free him from them. But what if he was happy there? What if he was forced to fight alongside the dragon fae? What if she was forced to fight him?

She wouldn't think of that. All she could do was focus her attention on asking her shifter friends if they'd help her to battle Prince Grotto. Since one of them was her brother, and some of them her suitors, she assumed some might go with her.

She bowed her head a little in acknowledgment. "I pledge my loyalty to the hawk fae kingdom, since you so graciously took us in and that could have led to a war with the dragon fae. When do we go?"

"Tomorrow morning. We are taking the earliest flight out from Edinburgh, Scotland, and will arrive at the dark fae kingdom by late afternoon. From there, we'll rest and make final preparations with the dark fae for the assault."

The guard released her arm, and she bowed her head to him a little, thanking him for his service, though she hated how embarrassed she'd been to have nearly feinted.

"I will speak to my people then." She bid the king and queen adieu, and headed out of the keep to call a meeting with the dragon shifters.

Instead of running around from castle to castle, she used a gong to spread the word that she was calling a meeting. She only used it when she had to share something really important with them, which meant if she used it, they didn't hesitate to come.

In their dragon form, they flew into the inner bailey of the castle she now managed.

Thankfully, no one had objected to the fact that out of all the dragon shifters, she was the only one to have a readymade castle. The others were still building their own.

Before she could speak, her brother said, "Prince Grotto is waging war against the hawk fae kingdom for taking us in?"

She shook her head. "He has killed King Tibero and taken over the dragon fae kingdom."

There, her shifter kind had been second-class citizens, at least in the king's and Prince Grotto's eyes. Even so, she and her shifter kind had friends among the dragon fae who were not shifters. Alicia had treated her and her kind as though they were just as important as anyone else in the kingdom. And many of the merchants the dragons did business with knew just how important the shifters were in keeping their kingdom safe and taking on other tasks better suited to them. But the shifters were also generous with their hordes of gold when paying for goods and services and were treated with respect by the merchants and tradesmen. So she thought her friends would want to help rescue them from Prince Grotto's tyranny.

"Are you going to fight him?" her brother asked.

"Yes. I told King Tiernan I will and that I would ask if any of you wished to fight on their behalf."

The shifters exchanged glances.

One said, "I wouldn’t want to kill the dragon fae. They are our brethren."

"If they take up arms against us—" Ena said.

Her brother said, "He is right. They will all fight against a common enemy—the dark fae. It's in their nature. Our nature."

"The dark fae and hawk fae kingdoms won't fight any who will back us in freeing Princess Alicia's mother and putting an end to Prince Grotto's rule. He is the reason we left our own home. If he is eliminated, Alicia can rule. Or her mother will. And if we wish it, we can return home."

Several of the dragon shifters looked to her brother for his counsel.

"How many of the dragon fae stood up against King Tibero and his ancestors when they slaughtered our parents, fearful that the shifters would become too powerful? I will not fight their war, nor will I kill them as they are still our brethren. Let them overthrow the prince if they do not wish his rule. We are here. And we are content to be here," her brother said.

Halloran was four years older than her, and nearly the oldest one of the dragon shifters after so many of their families were murdered. So, though she had led the dragon shifters here, and they had listened to her with regard to King Tiernan's rulings—since he treated her as the one in charge—the shifters still looked to her brother in a matter like this.

"I will be leaving tomorrow then with the hawk fae king and his soldiers. If someone would look in on my people while I'm away, I'd be grateful." Ena understood her brother's feelings and sympathized with him. But she was determined to fight Prince Grotto on this and help free Princess Alicia's mother.

"You know I will," her brother said.

Her suitors looked uneasy, as if they wished to go with her, maybe just because they loved a good fight, hated Prince Grotto for seizing their castles and what he had planned to do to them, or wanted to protect her, but still, no one stood up to her brother. They probably were more concerned about the business with killing their own kind while serving on the dark fae's side. They'd had grievances with them forever, though Princess Alicia, dragon fae heir to the throne, had married Prince Deveron, heir to the dark fae throne.

When the men disbursed, she headed into the keep to tell her staff what was going on, but they'd all been listening in on the discussion.

Ryker, her butler, and anything else she wanted him to be—though he had strict rules about what a butler did—was first to speak, as befit his position. "We want to go with you."

"Absolutely not."

"We can blend in. Be spies. Help you in many ways," he insisted.

"No. You stay here and take care of things." She tilted her chin down, giving every one of her staff members
I-am-the-boss
looks. It used to work. Then she'd brought her human prisoner, Brett, home, and he had turned everything upside down. Which again made her wonder how he was faring.

"What about Brett?" Ryker ventured.

She scowled at Ryker.

He should have looked sheepish for mentioning Brett's situation, but he didn't. She'd heard the hushed conversations between members of her staff—how much they wanted to sneak off and rescue him from the phantom fae. If the travel hadn't been so dangerous through No Man's Land, they might have done it. Although, they would never have managed to sneak him out either, she didn't believe. The phantom fae could be dangerous and she and her people had enough fighting just to make it safely here. Her staff, who were not trained warriors, could not manage against a hoard of phantom fae also.

"I just believe he should be with you," Ryker said.

"He is…is with the phantom fae. Which means he very well may fight on their side, if they take him along with them."

Ryker's countenance brightened. "Then you can rescue him."

Ena shook her head. "He may be one of them. What if I had to fight him?"

The women on her staff all gasped. Addie and Kerry were her cleaning maids, and while Brett had been gone, they had kept a chamber cleaned and ready for him just in case they rescued him and brought him home. Ena had never seen them clean so much in her life. At least, in Brett's chamber. If she gave the rest of the keep a white-glove treatment, she was certain she would find a ton of dust. Not that keeping a castle clean was easy, especially for as small as her staff was.

"It's possible. We don't know where his loyalties will lie," Ena said.

"He wouldn't take up arms against you," Lila, the cook said. Middle-aged, she acted as though she were Brett's mother. She didn't dare act like she was Ena's. "Not when you spared his life. He's loyal to you."

"If he's one of the phantom fae, that can change things in a heartbeat. He'll learn their ways and…well, we can't rely on the notion that he will be on our side."

"I can't believe that none of the dragon shifters would go with you," Jacob, the wheelsmith said, though he had joined her staff to help her move to the hawk fae lands so that he could earn enough money to set aside and start a family. But he hadn't seemed to want to leave anytime soon. "I would go with you, if you would allow me."

She shook her head. "You've been a great help to us. I'd be happy to keep you on my staff for as long as you wish, but like the others, your avocation isn't fighting. And I don't want to see you get yourself killed over this."