Sovereign Stone (35 page)

“Hello, Chloe, I’m honored to meet you,” Alexander said solemnly.

“Alexander, you must go with Chloe. Isabel, you will come with me. We must prepare,” Ilona said. “The assistance of Master Alabrand would be welcome.”

Lucky looked a little surprised but stood nonetheless. “It would be my privilege to help in whatever way I can.”

Alexander’s friends had been quiet in the presence of the Fairy Queen. Mostly they seemed awed by the magic of the place and by her presence. Alexander shared a look with each of them. He saw sympathy in their eyes where only an hour before they had been nothing but happy for the two of them.

Alexander hugged Isabel fiercely and kissed her tenderly. “I love you. I will always love you, no matter what happens,” he whispered to her.

She forced a smile and nodded. “I know. I love you, too, Alexander.”

Chloe led him off into the forest of huge oak trees. She flew next to him, keeping pace with his long strides. The valley was such an enchanting place yet Alexander wasn’t in the mood to marvel at the natural beauty all around him. He was worried for Isabel. She was hurting and he was the cause of her pain. Chloe brought him out of his dark mood.

“Your love for her is bigger than this. For my part, I have no desire to bring you pain. In time, you will come to see that our bond will only strengthen your love for Isabel.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I have seen it many times in the past. Fairies will only bond with one who has committed his heart to another. It is the most basic test of a potential mate. If a mortal does not have the capacity to love another mortal, then no fairy would risk bonding with him. In most cases the love between the mortals only grows stronger because the love given by the fairy is so innocent and so pure that they learn how to love more freely and give that love to their mortal mate. You will see.”

“I hope you’re right. I can’t stand the thought of hurting Isabel.”

Chloe smiled warmly. “That is why I have chosen you.”

She led him to a little meadow near the edge of the valley. A stone shelf protruded from the cliff face a few feet above the meadow. The entire surface of the shelf was covered with an iridescent white powder. When he looked closer, he saw the remnants of fairy wings mixed in with the powder.

“This is where we come to shed our wings. They dry out and turn into fairy dust. You may take some for your friend. Master Alabrand has it within him to make potent magic with fairy dust.”

Alexander smiled. “I’m sure Lucky will appreciate that.” He emptied the coins from his coin purse into his pocket, then scooped up a handful of the magical dust and carefully poured it into the purse.

“Alexander, you must take a pinch of fairy dust and place it under your tongue. It will dissolve and then your essence will be able to pass into the aether where the bonding will take place.”

He nodded and did as she instructed. The fairy dust was sweet and dissolved almost immediately. Only moments passed before he felt a surge of magic course through his body. His perspective on the world subtly shifted. He could see beyond the realm of time and substance and into the aether. As he peered through the veil, he saw dozens of fairies flitting about the forest. In the light of day, they were only visible if they wanted to be but they were always visible within the aether.

“Now come and sit with me,” Chloe said. “Close your eyes and allow me to take your essence into the aether. There is no danger. You will feel pressure build in the front of your forehead, then you will hear a buzzing noise like the sound of bees that will grow louder and louder. Allow these things to happen. Finally, you will hear a popping noise and you will be free of your body.”

Alexander sat cross-legged in the thick grass and closed his eyes. He used the meditation techniques he’d learned in Glen Morillian to calm his mind and relax his body. As his tension faded, the pressure in his head started to build. It wasn’t unpleasant or painful, just unusual. Then the buzzing started. It rose and fell as it increased in intensity. Alexander let it flow through him until he felt it more than heard it. When it filled him completely, he heard a loud pop and he was suddenly floating over his meditating body.

It was different than his clairvoyance because he wasn’t in the world of time and substance anymore. The quality of the aether was altogether different. It was a timeless place that overlapped and coexisted with material reality. It was a place where the soul existed and where spirits went before they transitioned into the realm of light or into the netherworld.

Alexander realized he was floating in the form of a brightly glowing orb of light not more than a few inches in diameter. With that thought, he looked at himself again and found that he was now a silvery image of his own body.

Chloe appeared before him as a human woman. She smiled and he heard her thoughts. “Within the aether you can take any form you wish, but your true form is the sphere of light you first manifest as.”

Alexander looked around in wonder. He felt like he could go anywhere and be there instantly, very much like the firmament, except there was no ocean of potential, just a ghostly reflection of the material world.

“I’m going to move closer to you now,” Chloe said. “Don’t be frightened, I won’t hurt you.” She transformed into a simple orb of beautiful glowing light and drifted toward him. He transformed as well and then she was within his soul and he was within hers.

It was a shocking sensation as he realized just how ancient she really was. He could feel her passion for life and her boundless love flow into him, given freely and without reservation or hesitation. He resisted briefly, thinking of Isabel and his experience with her in the netherworld. This was similar, except without fear and danger all around.

After a moment, he opened himself to Chloe and bared his soul to her. She flowed into him gently and offered him her pure and unconditional love. It was a profound experience. Alexander loved Isabel but he suddenly realized that he had always kept a part of himself safely away from her without even knowing it. He thought he’d given himself over to her totally but his mortal fear was subconsciously holding back a part of himself. Chloe showed him what unflinching love really was with the innocent clarity of ancient wisdom.

Love was the source of life. It was the underlying power that flowed into the world from the realm of light. Chloe had lived long enough to learn how to love without condition or fear. She gave freely and completely without expectation. Alexander was humbled by her willingness to open herself to him and expose her vulnerability. The level of trust she gave him was daunting. He couldn’t help but feel love in response.

For what seemed like a long time, they simply shared existence with one another and became accustomed to the nature of the other’s essence. Alexander let his resistance go when he realized that love freely given could not be wrong and should never be feared. He discovered that his love for Isabel was not a limitation or an impediment to his love for Chloe but a complementary force. And that his newly formed bond with Chloe would only serve to help him love Isabel more freely and completely. His fear evaporated and his confidence in the underlying benevolent design of the world solidified. When he felt that limitless faith in the nature of the world take root in his being, Chloe separated from him and he gently drifted back into his body.

Everything he thought he understood about the world changed. The bond with Chloe was complete and his view of the world took on a much longer and larger perspective. Her ancient wisdom tempered his very shortsighted perspective and gave him a depth of understanding that he couldn’t put into words.

She was floating a few feet in front of him, smiling gently. He heard her speak within his mind. “How are you feeling, My Love?”

He answered her without words but rather through the bond they now shared. “More grounded. I believe I have a greater understanding of what is truly important in life. Thank you, Chloe. I had no idea how small my view of the world was until you showed me. How are you feeling?”

“I’m in love,” she answered simply, then flew up and kissed him on the cheek.

He looked around and realized it was early evening. The bonding had taken the better part of the day.

“Come,” Chloe said in his mind, “Isabel awaits us.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will,” Chloe responded, then darted off, beckoning him to follow. She led him to the cottage where he and Isabel had spent their wedding night. The windows were glowing softly in the early dusk. When he opened the door, he saw Isabel and Ilona talking softly. Isabel looked up and searched his eyes for a change.

He smiled and went to her. “I love you, Isabel—that will never change.” Her look of relief lightened his worry for her.

“I’ve been talking with Ilona. She’s helped me to understand what must happen,” Isabel said in a small voice. “Chloe will make love with you through my body. She will merge her essence with me for the night and through us a fairy child will be born.”

Alexander was speechless. He hadn’t given much thought to what had to happen for him to sire a fairy child. He was more preoccupied with the process of bonding and was still a bit unsteady from the profound nature of the experience. Now that he understood, he was both relieved that he wouldn’t have to physically betray his wife and a little worried about the consequences to Isabel of sharing her body with Chloe.

“I would never hurt her, My Love,” Chloe said to reassure him. “I feel your love for her through our bond.”

Alexander smiled his understanding to her before turning to Isabel. “Are you sure about this?”

She nodded. With that, Ilona spun into an orb of light and vanished, leaving Alexander and Isabel alone with Chloe. Isabel gave Alexander one last look before sitting down in front of a crystal chalice filled with syrupy-looking, slightly pink liquid. She turned to Chloe and said, “I’m ready.”

Chloe darted up to her and kissed her on the cheek. “You honor me, Queen Isabel.”

She flew to the chalice and shed a single tear into the liquid. The contents of the cup changed from slightly pink to perfectly clear with a slight glow of pure white light. Isabel took the chalice and drank the contents all at once. Chloe spun into a bright white ball of scintillating light and disappeared. A moment later, Isabel opened her eyes.

“Hello, My Love.”

“Chloe?”

“Yes, My Love. Isabel is here as well.”

When Alexander woke the next morning with Isabel in his arms, she was still sleeping. Chloe was curled up on the pillow next to him. What he remembered most from the night was the moment when he looked into Isabel’s eyes and saw the pure white radiance of the realm of light glowing behind her piercing green eyes. It was as if, through her, he could see past the veil and into the source of creation to look on the face of the Maker of the world.

She woke and smiled gently at him.

“Isabel?”

She nodded. Chloe came awake and flew in a circle over them, then darted in and kissed them each on the cheek in turn. She smiled proudly as another fairy spun into existence next to her. She looked much younger than Chloe even though she was a fully-grown, three-inch-tall fairy. She had piercing green eyes the color of Isabel’s and golden- blond hair.

“I’d like you to meet our daughter, Sara.”

Sara smiled and kissed them both on the cheek. “Thank you for giving me life,” she said simply. Alexander and Isabel were both speechless.

Chloe smiled brightly. “I must take our daughter to meet the rest of her family. They are most anxious.” With that, both of the fairies spun into brightly glowing orbs of light and disappeared.

“Are you all right?” Alexander asked Isabel.

She smiled and nuzzled in closer to him.

“I don’t remember much about last night except a feeling of profound love and a brilliantly pure light that seemed to fill me completely. I’m sorry I was jealous. I didn’t understand. Now that I do, I’m grateful for the experience. I feel a deeper connection to the world than I ever did before and a deeper connection to you, too.”

Alexander smiled and kissed his wife.

Chapter 30

When they wandered into the banquet hall, they found their friends all there talking quietly with Marla and Clarissa. Everyone stopped and looked at them. They just smiled their greeting and sat down at the table.

“I trust all is well,” Lucky said.

“All is well,” Isabel said with a smile.

Jack started playing a soft little tune on his whistle. It was similar, though much less complex than the song the fairies had sung at their wedding. Several fairies spun into existence inside the room and flitted about adding their voices to his music. Then Chloe arrived with Sara.

Isabel stood up. “I’d like to introduce our daughter, Sara.” Her face flushed even as she smiled brightly. Sara flitted up to each of Alexander’s friends and introduced herself.

Everyone at the table was surprised, except for Clarissa. She smiled knowingly and welcomed Sara into the world with genuine affection.