The Unseelie King (The Kings Book 6) (3 page)

The wounds were what the fae would term iron-borne, and it would take great strength to heal them. Even then, they would scar.

Caliban dropped his hand and approached his plane.

But despite his confident step and unreadable expression, hope bled out of him along with every fresh drop of blood his iron-borne wounds gave up. In that desperate, pain-filled moment, Caliban experienced very real doubt. There was no way he was going to win Minerva as his queen. Not on this chess board.

No way in hell.

Chapter Two

Lalura Chantelle turned the bag over, allowing the apples within it to topple into the waiting basket upon her table. Then she stilled.

The centuries-old Cimaruta pendant beneath her blouse pulsed warmly with warning. She placed her hand to it for a moment, her gaze re-focusing upon the apples in the basket. A moment later, she reached into the basket, bypassing the apples on top for one in the middle. She pulled it out and turned it over in her hands.

It was a seemingly perfect apple, round and crisp looking, red-orange and unmarred. Lalura turned in her kitchen and made her way to the chopping block on the island at its center. There, she placed the apple upon the wood, grabbed a large knife, and slammed the blade home with practiced precision and a strength unlikely for her apparently frail form.

The knife sliced clean through the apple’s center, and the two halves tipped away from the metal onto their sides, revealing the apple’s interior. Lalura deftly placed the knife to the side – and narrowed her gaze.

The apple that had been perfect on the outside, for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from the others, was in fact quite different where it mattered. Marring the otherwise pristine glistening white of its inner fruit was a large black hole. As Lalura watched, a small black worm wiggled from this grimy hole, extending itself as it to sniff the air for the source of its home’s intrusion.

Lalura picked up the bad apple and turned it slowly in her hand. There was a part of her, no matter how old or wizened, that could not believe what she was seeing, that did not wish to accept the truth of this revelation. Not here – not
them
. Not amongst the Thirteen.

But she
had
lived a long time and learned a great many lessons. Not the least of those lessons was that things were not always as they seemed, no matter how much you may wish to believe otherwise. And, very unfortunately, fruit was not the only thing that could rot from the inside out.

Lalura moved through the kitchen to the back door, where she opened it and tossed out the rotten apple that would have spoiled the bunch had she not revealed it for what it was and separated it from the others. Then, very softly, she sighed. “There is a traitor among us.”

*****

“I know you’re worried,” he said softly, leaning across the table to capture her gaze well and firmly within his. “If I could turn back time….” He shook his head, taking a deep breath and expelling it with resignation. “But only the Time King can do that.” He blinked. “Or, could have at one point…..”

He frowned and closed his eyes for a moment, as if forcing himself to return to the subject at hand. “But you must believe me when I tell you that your sister is with Cal right now, and the best thing we can do for her is to
not
go looking for her.”

Selene stared into those piercing, bi-colored eyes, the eyes of a king, and she knew he was right. The murder of their parents had sent Minerva into some sort of… supernatural meltdown. She’d wreaked a kind of havoc before the Unseelie King, Avery’s brother, had apparently zeroed in on her and whisked her away from the mortal realm.

Selene wondered what further damage she would have done if Caliban hadn’t come. Minerva had always had so much anger inside. She’d hidden it behind soft tones and shy glances, but she’d sung it between the soulful, beautiful notes of her songs, and Selene was her twin sister. She’d always known.

There was an intensity to Minerva that almost no one seemed to have any longer. The world had grown larger and more shallow, like an ocean spread out over a vast desert, its depths destroyed so it could water the thirsty sand of a fruitless earth.

Minerva felt
everything
. Selene understood this. To some degree, Selene was the same way, and always had been. But with Minnie, it was different. It was painful to an unfair degree. No one should ever have to feel the pain of others to that extent.

It was no wonder to Selene that her sister had once tried to kill herself. Eventually, even the strongest of souls deserved to stop suffering.

Selene wanted to be with her now, to comfort her and hold her. But Minnie wasn’t safe in this world. Or, rather, the world wasn’t safe right now with her in it. Not now that her Wisher powers had been set free. She had to deal with this elsewhere, in some realm where she could only do so much damage before she came to grips with the enormity of this situation.

If there was anyone in the many worlds who could keep her safe, it was one of the Thirteen Kings. And if there was any one of the kings who would
wish
to keep her safe, it would be her destined mate. And there were so many forces out there who would do anything to get their hands on her before she took her place on her throne… no doubt, they were just waiting for Selene to do something foolish – like finally break down and attempt to find Minerva
for
them.

Selene nodded at Avery, and pulled her gaze from his. Every time she did that, she could feel the hiccup in Avery’s power. He wasn’t used to people being able to break eye contact with him when he didn’t want them to. He wasn’t used to
anyone
being able to do
anything
he didn’t want them to. And every time she reminded him that she could do just that, it was like a poke in his well-muscled side. It was a reminder that she was the queen in this little chess game. And the queen had all the power on the board.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” she said, changing the subject in yet another attempt to get her mind off her sister. She concentrated on pulling a chunk of bread from one of the leftover breadsticks at the center of the table. “How many times are fae sighted by humans? I mean… you have portals and stuff, and you have for centuries. All those tales of sea monsters and Changelings and what not. How many are real?”

“Well, first of all,
we
have portals and ‘stuff,’” he corrected her softly, smiling around his words. “You’re the queen, if you’ll recall. The Seelie Realm is just as much yours as it is mine, if not more so.” He gave her just a second to let that sink in, and Selene felt herself blush. “As to your question, to be honest, humans see us all the time. Our kind have become exponentially lax in hiding ourselves in the last few decades. We’ve been filmed and photographed countless times.”

“You mean, like those films on
YouTube
?” She and her sister shared a fascination with the supernatural, with “sightings” of strange things, with unsolved mysteries. They always had. Now, of course, Selene understood why.

Avery nodded, stealing the other end of her breadstick and popping it into his mouth. Clearly, he’d gotten over her little show of power very quickly. In fact, Selene sort of got the feeling that he was not only totally okay with her power, but a little turned on by it. Those purple-flecked green eyes of his were sparkling.

“How many of them are real?”

“It used to be a lot more; probably around eighty to ninety percent of them,” he said, just before waving the waiter over for the check. They’d been finished eating for at least an hour, but the restaurant was a fancy one, and waiters didn’t like to bother the clientele until the clientele decided it was time. “But human technology’s made it possible to create convincing images.”

“Tell me about it.” Selene had always had a fascination with the supernatural, and she’d perused more than her fair share of online pics by people who claimed to have captured the real deal.

Avery smiled, and his brightly hued eyes flashed secrets. “People are desperate for something to believe in.” The waiter came, presenting the check. Avery signed a receipt; apparently he had a card on file. Then he left money on the table, pushed out his chair, and stood.

Selene stood with him. “So now, the video market is flooded with a lot more fabricated productions?” she wagered, following his line of reasoning.

He nodded once, placing his hand at her back to lead her out. “And the number of bona fide sightings has gone down to slightly more than half.”

Selene stopped in her tracks on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant’s door. “More than
half
?” She turned to face the fae king. “You mean to tell me more than
fifty percent
of what I find on
YouTube
is
factual
?” She shook her head, “No way.” She thought of all those video sightings of mermaids and sea monsters and UFO’s – hundreds of them – splattered across
YouTube
, and then compared them to what CGI creators could make happen on the big screen in movies from Harry Potter to Maleficent. They could do
anything
.

Avery chuckled. “What?” he asked softly. “You don’t believe in mermaids?”

Selene blinked. “How did you know I was thinking about mermaids?”

“You look like a girl who really wants to believe in mermaids.” 

Selene’s gaze narrowed. “All you have to do is read the comments, and you’re reminded of how easy it is to fake this stuff. How do
you
know it’s the real thing? You can’t be everywhere at once.”

“Can’t we?” His smile broadened, and Selene had that unsettling feeling that the shadows were watching her… and the walls and streets and rocks and trees.

“Think about it,” he continued, wrapping his arm around her shoulder to lead her down the street and into the parking garage where they’d left her car. He normally chose to ride a motorcycle, but Selene was rather fond of her Mini, so she’d insisted they be mortals tonight and take it. “What would anyone intelligent do if they needed to keep something like this relatively secret?” he asked.

Selene considered that. “There
is
no way to keep your secrets any longer.” Cell phone cameras were everywhere, and humans had gotten really fast at pressing those buttons. In fact, when anything dangerous or deadly happened any longer, people were more likely to pull out their phones in order to
film
rather than to call 9-1-1.

“Nope,” Avery agreed. They reached the top level, and Selene fished out her keys. “There isn’t. So we do the next best thing. We’ve enlisted trolls – some of them
actual
trolls – around the world to leave comments on these sites, making certain human doubt stays right where we need it to. Nice and high.” He stopped at the car and waited for her to unlock it. Then he popped her door open for her, gesturing for her to get inside.

His phone beeped, and Selene stepped back as he pulled the cell from his back pocket and glanced down at the screen.

Hers beeped a moment later, and a dark feeling moved through Selene. She made eye contact with her mate, and unspoken messages passed between them. She popped open her handbag, pulled out her iPhone, and glanced at the screen.

It was a text message from Evelynne D’Angelo, Roman D’Angelo’s wife and queen of the vampire nation.

“Meeting is being called,” she mumbled.

“And Lalura and Roman want the queens in attendance as well,” finished Avery.

Selene processed that. There was so much to learn about the other kings and queens who made up the famous – and
infamous
– “Thirteen.” For instance, the afore-mentioned “Time King.” Oh, the questions she had….

Every once in a while, the reality of what she was and what was expected of her struck her in the face like a flat-handed slap, and she felt stunned. Like right now.

It would all take some getting used to. But she was a quick study, and a strong woman, and the fates knew, she’d never, ever backed down from a challenge.

Avery placed his phone back into his back pocket and looked around. She knew he was taking in how many people were in the parking lot and whether or not they would be seen stepping through a portal. The lot was on the top level of a multi-tiered parking garage, where few ever chose to park if they could help it, because people were generally lazy and because no one wished to expose their vehicles to the elements if it could be helped. Supernatural beings who could open portals often chose to park at the top levels for exactly such a reason; it provided necessary privacy in the event such a portal would be needed.

“We’re all clear,” Selene said.

Avery turned and raised his hand toward an empty space in the lot. The air began to spin, to glow, and to separate. When the portal was large enough for them to move through, Avery lowered his arm, grabbed her hand, and the two stepped through.

The car behind them beeped twice, its headlights flashing as Selene re-locked it just before the portal closed, shutting them off in their journey to another place and time.