Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter
Twenty-One
Cian
I come to on the bed in the cottage I built so many
years before. It takes me a moment to focus. Nothing surprising about that. It
seems to be morning, or maybe afternoon. I study the shadows on the wall and
decide it’s definitely afternoon.
What is surprising? Now that the initial fog is gone, I feel
magnificent.
My head is clear. How long have I been like that? I was
living in a nightmare of chaos. The clarity in my brain is bliss after the long
pandemonium that was my world for so long.
I sit straight up in bed, remembering what should have been
the first thing on my mind. Meg. Meg bonded with me. It’s difficult to sort
through everything that happened in the last few years. I’m certain now it has
been years since I began the long slide into chaos. I won’t ever get those
years back, but I remember Meg. Meg is the clearest thought in my head.
She is my wife.
I feel a moment of pure panic when I see her lying so still
on the bed. Her legs are underneath her at an odd angle. For a moment, I’m sure
I killed her, and I know my life is over, just as I sit back. Then her chests
rises slightly, and I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s alive. She survived the
onslaught that bonding with me will have caused.
Gently, I open the bond between us. It’s new, but there is
such strength to it. Her mind is tired but functioning. She’s in a deep,
dreamless sleep. Her brain needs respite.
I feel such…everything for this woman. She is brave and kind
and…wounded.
I intend to heal her.
I lean down and pull her legs into a more comfortable
position. She sighs and rolls toward my warmth, as though she knows I’ll
protect her. I feel a grin cross my face as she cuddles closer.
If I hadn’t just put her through hell, I would consummate
our marriage in the physical sense. Had she been conscious, I would roll her
onto her back and get between those pretty thighs of hers. I would ride her
until we both pass out from the exertion. She’s mine. I’ve seen down to her
soul. I know she’s perfect for us.
During our bonding she went through many of the important
events of my life. And I went through hers. I kiss the top of her head and
inhale her sweet smell. So many people have disappointed her. How can they not
see how wonderful she is? Sure she’s quiet, but her mind is quick, and she has
the most delicious sense of humor. She’s sassy and independent. Her sensuality
is completely untapped and unappreciated by the men in her life.
I won’t make the same mistake. I’m considered to be the
smartest man of my generation. I have no intentions of proving dumb when it
comes to my wife. She is an amazing gift.
My hands clench as I think about the last little scene I saw
when I was in Meggie’s head. I’m going to kick my brother’s ass when he
returns. He’s an idiot, that other half of me. Beck made Meg feel worse than
that worthless ex-husband of hers.
She’s exhausted. Her entire body relaxes as she sleeps so
trustingly in my arms. I’m going to make her see how beautiful she is. I have
to be careful, though. My brother has dug a deep hole. Beck took her body but
refused to share his soul with her. It’s selfish, and I intend to have a long
talk with him about it. She’s our responsibility. We have to fulfill all of her
needs, and Beck has to see that her needs are different than the women we grew
up with. Meg doesn’t want to be a perfect princess on a shiny throne. She needs
to work. She needs to contribute. She needs to be valued for all the things
that make her unique.
“T à mo chroì istigh ionat,” I whisper. My
heart is within you…
I’m about to kiss my sleeping princess on the forehead when
I hear a knock at the door. Curious, I gently roll away from my wife. I reach
for a shirt and walk to the front of the house.
A small brown female is gingerly opening the door. She’s
dressed simply in a dark, threadbare skirt and linen shirt, with a colorful
shawl around her thin shoulders. Her big feet are bare. Her head is a mass of
scraggly, wiry hair and her own thick skin. Her eyes are huge in her small face
and black as a moonless night. She is beautiful. Flanna is a brownie. The
brownies were domestic help on my home plane.
Here they are nothing short of family.
“Beckett.” She squints, turning her elderly eyes up at me. I
immediately go to one knee so she can inspect me. She was my nanny throughout
childhood. It hadn’t taken long to get taller than the brownie who took care of
me, but I always show her proper respect. My throat closes up at the thought
that I haven’t really seen her for years. She walks up to me with a smile that
shows her gaping teeth. “I am glad you changed your mind, son. It’s a mistake
to leave your wife alone right now.”
“She isn’t alone, Flanna,” I say, emotion welling in my
heart. “She has me.”
Flanna’s jaw drops, and she looks at me with wonder. “Cian?”
“Yes, little mother,” I say. “I assure you, it’s me. How
long was I gone?”
Huge tears well in her black eyes. “Years, Cian,” she
confirms as she draws me into her motherly embrace. “I thought you would die
soon.”
“I did, too.” I hug her gently, taking great care with her
fragile body. “I am so sorry, little mother. I got lost.”
Tears course over her cheeks. “Where is she? Where is the
queen?”
Cian smiles broadly and wonders if anyone has even mentioned
that part to Meg yet. I doubt she knows she is now the true Queen of the Seelie
Fae. “She’s asleep. The bonding was hard on her. From what I can tell,
everything’s been hard on my Meg, including Beck. You should know I intend to
thrash him soundly when he returns.”
Her foot starts tapping. “That will be the day. I think
you’ve forgotten which twin you are if you think to fight your brother.”
I send her a slightly shady grin. “Well, I didn’t intend to
inform him of my plans to beat him. I assure you, I can have him unconscious
and tied up in no time at all. He always underestimates me.”
Flanna gives me “the stare.” It’s the one that lets me know
I’m in trouble. “Now is not the time to be feuding with your brother.”
I frown. “You don’t know how he treated her. He’s been
selfish and rude. He formed a bond with her, but from what I can tell, he
didn’t actually offer himself. He surely didn’t open to her. She was shocked by
the full bond. She hadn’t felt it before.”
I get to my feet, a new purpose humming through my brain. I
hid something, and now I hope it has survived the years.
Flanna follows me into the kitchen. “Don’t be so quick to
judge your brother. He’s only done what he had to do to survive. Your father
was very hard on him.”
“And he has a lot of responsibility, blah, blah, blah,” I
say with a frown. I study the drawers in the hutch. I built it with my own
hands, and I put a hidey-hole in it. “You think I haven’t heard this all my
life? Allowances must be made for the warrior king. All I had to do
was think and learn, but Beck had to fight. Father was particularly hard on
Beck, so we should let him be a cold bastard? I won’t let him ruin my
relationship with our wife. She’s everything I could want in a woman. If he’s
too stupid to see that, then he’s welcome to keep to the Liadans of this
plane.”
There’s something about Liadan. There’s something about the
blonde woman my brother took as his mistress that nags at the back of my brain.
I can’t quite grasp it. It doesn’t matter. I need to worry about Meg now. I
pull the left drawer out and carefully push my hand inside, feeling for the
trap door at the back. It springs free, and there is my treasure.
“You can’t kick your brother out of your marital bed,”
Flanna is insisting. “You know that the three of you will never form a triad if
you don’t open yourselves to each other.”
I pull my hand free and open the small bag I retrieved. “The
triad is a myth. I’m not going to develop mystical powers from sleeping with my
wife. I feel wonderful, I do, and I’m definitely looking forward to
consummating my marriage. I promise I’ll work my hardest to ensure you have
some babies to take care of next year, but I won’t become a Green Man, and Beck
won’t be a Storm Lord.”
“Just because you don’t have faith doesn’t mean others
don’t,” Flanna says with a superior look in her eyes. “Tell me something, Your
Highness, what does this mean for the rest of us?”
I pull out a small gold ring. There’s a sun on the signet,
the symbol of the queen. Bronwyn pressed it into my hand as she lay dying. My
sister died trying to retrieve the ring from our mother’s rooms. It’s all I
have left of our mother, and now it belongs to the rightful queen, my wife. “It
means we have some decisions to make. I’m sure even now our aunt is trying to
convince her daughter to start funneling money our way. We’ll need it if we’re
going to bribe the Unseelie to back us.”
I don’t want to talk politics. I have more important things
to do. I turn the bag over. The rest of the contents tumble to the table,
making a delightful clinking sound. I do a quick count and am well-pleased.
Flanna reaches out and slaps my hand.
“You’ve been keeping money from your brother,” she accuses.
I shrug. There’s no point in denying it. “He would have
spent it on something boring, like food. This was my drinking stash. Now, it’s
my get-my-wife-dressed-properly stash. Do you think you can come up with
something nice for this?”
Flanna seems placated that I’m using the cash on Meg instead
of at the tavern. “I happen to know that the dressmaker in the village is
almost done with a beautiful gown for Liadan. I believe she was planning on
wearing it to Beltain. It would have to be shortened from what I understand,
but I’m sure she would alter it for her queen.”
The thought makes me smile. If it pisses off Liadan, then so
much the better. “Excellent. I’ll take it. Tell the seamstress to let out the
bodice as well. My Meg’s got a lovely set of breasts on her. And Flanna, we
should prepare the village for the influx of Fae coming to pay their respects
to my queen.”
“Beckett told me to keep her presence here quiet.”
I understand what my brother is trying to do, but it won’t
work. “Beck won’t be able to contain the rumors. He either bought her or he
fought for her.”
“It was an open tourney,” Flanna confirms.
“Then the vampires know about it, too. They’ll think there’s
something wrong with her. They’ll think that the king is ashamed he had to take
a human wife if he doesn’t demand proper respect be paid.”
“That isn’t why he’s keeping it quiet,” Flanna corrects him.
“Beck is worried about your uncle’s agents. The pretender closed Tír na nòg
because he’s worried Beck will steal onto the plane and assassinate him. He’s
been waiting for the two of you to fade. After you’re gone, he’ll be able to
open the homelands and reestablish trade and contact. You can’t think Torin
wants the borders closed. He’ll be furious when he discovers you’ve married.
The queen is now a target.”
I shake my head. “She’ll be a target no matter what. I’m
sure Torin knows about her even now. I have no illusions on that. He has his
spies as we have ours. It doesn’t change the fact that she will have a hard
time being taken seriously if we don’t treat her that way. The people will
accept my queen, or I’ll cease being their king. Well, I’ll cease being half
their king, anyway.”
Flanna pats his hand, seemingly giving up the fight. “I will
go and get things started. The village will feast tonight, my son.”
“Yes.” I look at my mother’s ring with satisfaction. “We
will feast and dance and drink.” And then I will set about seducing my lovely,
brave bride.