"I hardly recognize you," Tiernan whispered; his eyes trailing down to my shameful display of cleavage."I hardly recognize myself... or these fairies," I whispered back as I hid my smile. Maybe Mairte was right; if you got it, flaunt it. "There are so many combinations that it's hard for me to figure out who is what.""There are a few who are purely twilight; their parents' blood combined in a way that produced a new race with unique features." Tiernan waved a hand over to a woman with large, slanted, chartreuse eyes and thick, ebony hair. "The cat-sidhe were born in that manner and so were the bargests and the buguls." He indicated the large shaggy dog I'd seen earlier and then an ugly little man who I knew from my lessons to be a very kind-hearted fairy. "The rest, though, are blends which have left clear markings of both parents." He nodded to a man with golden hair like spun metal and super pale skin. The fairy smiled and nodded back as Tiernan explained, "Seelie hair and unseel
"Princess Seren," a sidhe man slid between me and my escape route. He was tall and thin, very prim looking, with his long corn husk hair pulled back in a braid. I tried to smile at him but my face was getting tired of smiling and my gaze drifted past him to the safety of the high table.As soon as the dancing had begun, the offers of partners had started arriving. Man after man had approached the high table and asked to dance with me with varying degrees of poetic pleasantry. The first few had been flattering but after the twentieth, it had simply become exhausting and this newest prospect didn't even look as if he was worth the weariness."I've already claimed the next dance with the Princess," a gruff voice interrupted before the sidhe could finish his sonnet-like spiel."Conri, I didn't see you ask," the sidhe stiffened."Oh, but I did, didn't I, Your Highness?" This new voice rolled over me like mist at midnight—a thick, mysterious heaviness—and it fit the man perfectly.Conri
I was having sex with Tiernan when it all went wrong.It started out wonderful. Tiernan did all the right things; going slow at first, touching gently and then with more force. It was so good that I rushed him a little, and he was soon rising up above me, his smooth, sculpted chest under my hands and his heartbeat thudding wildly against my fingers.The sable ends of his hair were sweeping forward faster and faster; teasing me with brief glimpses of his face. Then that inky darkness started seeping up the strands; devouring the light around him until his hair was completely black. It grew longer, pooling around us, until it blocked my view of him completely. I reached up to brush the hair away from his face.Staring down at me were the eyes of a stranger. Even the body laying between my thighs had changed. This man was thinner than Tiernan, physically fit but not with the warrior's bulk that I preferred. His skin was paler too—pure white like Iain's—and amid all that black hair, he
It was the morning of my coronation but instead of preparing for the event, I was sitting at the long table in my bedroom with Keir, Tiernan, and four of Keir's most trusted soldiers; including Torquil, the knight who had escorted us to the castle the day before. Cat was seated on the floor beside my chair and her presence was more comforting than I'd ever thought it could be.A healer had tended the bite on my arm. Her name was Maggidh and she was demurely soft-spoken but had proudly informed me that she was the first born of the twilight healers. Healing was a rare gift among the Fey and both the Seelie and Unseelie courts had very few healers, but the Twilight Court had been blessed with several. Most of whom were descended from Maggidh. She believed it was due to the neutral nature of our court; that healing magic naturally gravitated toward peaceful conditions. Whatever the reason was, I was glad for her help. The dog bite had taken mere moments for her to heal; leaving no scar a
I felt ridiculous, but I guess that was getting to be the norm for me. My coronation gown was not about showing off my assets, it was about showing off my lineage and so the neckline went all the way up to my throat. Then it flowed out in sleeves which got wider as they went until they belled around my wrists as if they'd forgotten they were sleeves entirely and believed themselves to be skirts. The real skirt was even more full, with a train so long that I had no idea how I'd get down the stairs without catching it on something.The gown was made of layers upon layers of silky gauze in colors deepening from pale lavender to black. The black fabric was laid closest to my skin, so although the gown gave the illusion that it was transparent, with all its shifting sheer layers, it was completely modest. The top layer was dusted with diamonds, sparkling like stars across the celestial sphere of my dress. Beneath the hem, the toes of my black silk shoes poked out, revealing yet more diamon
"Now that I'm safe," I said slowly to Keir, "I'd like to go back to San Francisco and make sure my Dad is all right."It was late at night; my coronal celebration had finally wound down and Keir had escorted me to my bedroom. He followed me in; helping me gather my long train before he shut the door behind us. Cat went straight to the bed and did her usual three circles before she curled into a fur-ball and went to sleep. Keir frowned and waved us over to the couches before the fireplace. He glanced pointedly at the piled logs and then over at me. I lit them with a thought, and he smiled delightedly as he took a seat. I sat beside him; my elaborate dress foaming around us and over the side of the couch. I punched my arms down into my lap; flattening the puffiness like risen dough."I can send someone to check on Ewan," Keir said reasonably. "There's no call for you to risk the trip.""I thought you said that I was safe now," I shot back."As safe as I can make you," he amended. "That d
What my fairy father forgot to mention was that he would still be sending an army with me. Okay, maybe not an army; ten knights, not including Tiernan and Torquil, but still, I hadn't been expecting so many. They were going to wait in Fairy, outside the entrance to the Human Realm, until I returned. This way they could guard me on my journey through Fairy; to the fairy mound and back. Torquil and Tiernan would be my guards for the rest of my trip.Neither man was happy with the other's attendance and their ire was almost comical. Except that Torquil was such a stuck-up, hard ass that he irritated me nearly as much as he did Tiernan. If Torquil had gotten his way, I would have been traveling inside a carriage instead of riding in the open air on Cat's back. He had pointed out over and over that I'd be safer inside a carriage, and I'd pointed out that a carriage was nothing but a moving cage and traveling in one was like gift wrapping myself for my enemies. I'd won that argument in the e
We made camp for the night in a little clearing. A massive purple and silver tent was erected for me to sleep in, despite my protests. A fairy princess doesn't sleep on a mat alongside her knights. It seemed like a waste of time and effort to me, but they actually got it up pretty quickly and mine wasn't the only tent they pitched. There was also a communal tent for the knights. I guess being closely attuned to nature didn't equate to wanting to sleep in her loving arms.It was around dusk when a shivering coolness coasted over me and had me running from my tent. I had just changed into a new set of leather pants, which I'd chosen to wear along with short tunics for the journey. Thankfully, no one expected me to parade around in fancy dresses through the forest like some kind of Tolkien elf. The belt I'd been fastening over my tunic fell away as I rushed to the middle of our camp.My skin was prickling and there were fluttering sensations at the edge of my consciousness; as if someth