Guardian (11 page)

“I never dreamed of any place like this ever being…everything is just beautiful,” she babbled a little then recognition crossed her face.  She was recanting her dreams.   

“We…like pretty things.”  Lame.  Necessary.  Desperate!  My eyes steadied on her purposeful and deliberately meaning to be taken figuratively.  Her eyes twitched and blinked wildly as the realization hit her of what I meant.  I knew my desire grew giving a small indication of how I felt about her.  Nothing small about it. 

She patted her hair and moved to check what she had on suddenly aware of how I looked to her.  Still in a half skirt with her tight ass jeans underneath, I ripped off the skirt to just leave the t-shirt and jeans.  Her eyes brightened and warmed to mine. Man I loved it.

I smiled down at her trying to fix herself up for me, “You’ll always be my Grace.”  She was perfect in sweats and a t-shirt.  At least then no one could see what should belong to me.  Or soon! 

She caught that I’d answered her thoughts again.  I might as well drop some hints. It was the right thing to do!

I watched her face change and spark at seeing everything.  When she saw the rose vines she turned on me, “The roses!  They
were
you!”  Her eyes danced.  Sure, she looked mad, but I knew her fake mad.  She would do that just to gain my attention.  And I so willingly gave it to her.

She walked a whole three feet from me and my body grew cold.  I’d touched her.  I’d felt her warmth.  It made me whole and feeling it leave me was like having the first hundred years of my life start all over again.  When she turned back to me seeing how far she’d walked, she had the same pained look in her eyes that I felt.  That did something inside me. 

  “I dreamed about this place. Did you know that too?” She wanted to know how the dreams were alike.  If they were real? 

I didn’t respond.  Of course I did. Now wasn’t the time to act like a child, though.   “Could you see them?” she asked again moving back towards me.

I pulled a green rose from behind my back and gave it to her.  “No, I couldn’t see your dreams all the time.” 

“Guess I knew deep down inside somewhere.  All this time!  All the magic!  It was real.  Things just appeared and disappeared.  And you…you were always there.  Why were you always there?” 

I had eluded her once more.  I frantically pulled her into a garden off the main courtyard-like area gesturing for her to sit down.  Safe at last.  Alone wasn’t alone here with our kind hidden all over the shadows right now.

No Pike.  No Kinsler. 

“This is the Seelie court’s domain.”

She offered, “You mean like Seelie and Unseelie?”  She watched everything so carefully and not me. 

“You know more than I thought?” I told her surprised.

“I can read, Ian,” she said sarcastically rolling her eyes and lifting one side of her cheek into a smirk. “Aren’t the Unseelie known for their nastiness?  Thank goodness you’re Seelie.  Aren’t you?” 

“Seelie!  Seelie!  We see you!” the tiny spite Fey were swimming about with excitement to see Grace.  Everyone watched her with interest.

“Water sprites!”

Oh! her mouth said.   It made her mouth very inviting.  That voice of hers when she was caught off guard like I’d given her a little gift of new knowledge.  It was the voice that kept me readjusting the temperature in my body and holding it off from her. 

I just watched her, a lot.  I could do that now.   “Yes, I am. Seelie.”  Another pause.  “The Seelie court guides the summer and spring, the Unseelie oversee the winter and autumn.  The Unseelie are mostly foul and loathsome creatures.  And tend to invite other undesirable creatures near them.   They are anything but nice, but not all of them are as ferocious as they paint themselves to be.”   I turned my face around at the thought, “But yes, the Seelie are known for their more desirable code of conduct.  Death before dishonor.  Love conquers all. And never forget a debt.  The Unseelie are the opposite of all that.”  My far off look lingered on the trees and then shot back to her.  She looked at the trees thinking I saw something.

She bit her lip for some reason or another and I was undone.  Hopeless.  The girl could order me to cut off my left pinky and I’d do it without hesitation.  Her smile...it was my air.  Without it, I couldn’t breathe.  

  Sometimes I couldn’t read her exact thoughts when emotions were stronger, but her emotions were coming in loud and clear.  I felt the heat rise in my neck and moved to stretch out the taut muscles.  The stiffness settled all over. 

When I cornered a smile for her, she watched my lips once again and then pinched her eyes shut.  Raising my eyebrows to wait for her brazen emerald green eyes to open, I didn’t foresee the hotness of her breath and how close we’d leaned into each other.  She tossed her hair and looked away as I searched for control. 

It wasn’t the right time.  Best friend for years seldom apart.  And besides, we were being watched.

Another green rose escaped my fingers to distract her landing on her lap.  She saw that my skin glowed. 

“You know, you can do it too,” I told her.  And Pike.  Damn him.

“Do what, magic kind of things or glow like you are now?” 

“Try this,” I covered the rose.  “Anything of the earth.  You can think about it, want it, and it will be there where you need it.”

She closed her eyes.  When she opened them, I was smiling ear to ear with the yellow rose between my teeth.  She laughed.

I accomplished another smile out of her. 

“Come on!  You’ve got to be ready for tonight.  They’ll get you ready,” I gestured to two giggling Fey girls who were there to prepare Grace.  I realized they’d laughed at my human attire and said to Grace, “I’ll not look like your Ian tonight, but it’s still me.  I promise,” assuring her with a smile. 

...Ian
. 
Mine? 
She didn’t hide the brightness of her smile.

Nor did I.  The way she said my name even in her mind just then was different than any other time she’d ever said it.  She’d just fulfilled a long awaited fantasy of mine.  Now I wanted it on her lips and then I wanted her lips.

“Why, because you didn’t really wear a costume tonight?  Did you?”

“No!  Not completely.”  She was suddenly more observant.  Did she guess more also?

“Just remember, you’re not in Kansas anymore,” I tried to relax her. “You’ll be presented to our court’s queen tonight.  She will expect some oddities from a human life, but still she will expect you to bow, speak only when spoken to, and acknowledge her and her …family members. They’ll be the ones with the giant egos on top of their heads. And smile!  Remember all of that and you’ll be fine.  If she asks you about your eyes, just remind her that the ceremony changes them.”

“What?  Why are my eyes changing?  I thought I was here for safety.  What don’t I know, Ian?”

“Nothing
scary!
  You’ll see the queen’s eyes.  We assume your eyes will take on their own likeness.  You’re half human, so we are not sure what will happen to them exactly.”  She looked alarmingly beautiful when she was provoked.

She gritted her teeth, “What do you mean change?  Will I not look like me?  Do I have a choice?  This sounds more like I’m…” 
A freak show.
 

I cringed at her thoughts. 

She’d been more accepting than I ever dreamed, for sure. Her implacable ability to drone on made me crazy with the little time I had left.   “Grace, I believe it’s just your eye color that will change, but I don’t know.   But nothing else will change in your appearance.  You couldn’t be more beautiful than you already are.  I should have told you that earlier.  I’m sorry!”

I loved that she didn’t think it possible to be mad at me, but pigs could fly one day.  I could think of many times she was as fierce as the kittenish lioness she was at my stubbornness.  When I turned to let the women ready her for the ceremony she said, “Don’t leave me!” 

What could I do with that?  She pulled my arm a little closer and although it scared her to do it, she bravely watched every detail of my face like I might possibly be upset by it.  Knowing she’d never done that to anyone thrilled me.  Knowing her bravery was because of some factor involving me spiked the thrill higher.   Her face was just inches away from mine letting out a breath too fast with her hands still up in front of me.  She did the breathing in thing again, blushed, and looked upward.  “I’m sorry,” she told me.

I searched her eyes.  They were halfway between a soft mint green and the color of a four leaf clover, ever changing with her mood.  My mouth quivered with longing.  When I took her hand and kissed it gently she went all jelly like and leaned back.  “Don’t be!” 

I hid around the corner not wanting to look like the love struck idiot I was and not ready to admit.  I already had to take flack from Pike enough as it was.  And being back at court meant getting reacquainted with recruits and old friends.  I adored that Grace was finally with me, but less than happy with who else I might have to share her with.

Around the corner my mother dear asked about her eyes and made her feel sorely uncomfortable, as was her nature.  I couldn’t stop her from doing or saying anything to her, so I didn’t try.

Once out of the garden I headed off to ready Grace’s guards.  She needed protection and my mind would not rest till I knew she would be safe.  At all times.  Tonight had to be perfect.  When she finally came out the door I had double guarded and completely surrounded the area, I jumped in my own skin. 

She first looked up and found the millions of lights above her.  They were so bright against her skin, she glowed.  Her eyes circled the garden decorated summer court known for its beauty.  She surpassed it. 

When her eyes landed on me...a fire lit me up in all ways under the sun. 

While she noted what I wore in great detail, I nearly lost my manhood waiting for her.  I wanted to go to her.  Hold her.  Take her.

She feared tripping on her feet.  I couldn’t help the smile it brought to think I could race over and catch her midair allowing me to put my hands on her.  Guide her. 

She was absolutely stunning and focused so much on me.  I couldn’t believe all this was actually happening. 

She bowed in the right places.

Do you know the age when a child has an enlightening experience that lets them become aware that all things in the world are not as they seem?  In that moment, I felt like a child.  She was most enlightening creature to ever enter my world and I would never be the same. 

She stopped in front of my mother and bowed her head on one knee.

“Queen La.zyr.a!” 

Mother silenced the room and said in her monotone, all powerful way, “Today, we bring forth the fulfillment of the prophecy made eighteen human years ago.  You have chosen, Grace Aren Starmen, of the Firebearer Ginera, of the Firebearer Leven, of the Firebearer Laren, to lead our people.  Do you know what awaits you?”

Grace looked at me, her eyes begging for answers I couldn’t give her.  The queen deemed I tell her.  I couldn’t.  I didn’t want her to leave me.  And when all else fails, ask for forgiveness after the fact and hope she found forgiveness in her heart. 

“No, should I?” The crowd’s murmuring could be heard. 

“Silence!” the queen said just as sharp as her pointy nails.   The crowd feared her.  “Speak, child.  For do you know why you are here?”

“Ian told me that my grandfather was the Firebearer of the Seelie court and I am part of the Fey.  He died trying to save me and Ian brought me here for safety.”

Grace turned to me making the queen, her evilness, splenetic and ready to lash out.

“Dear child, I’m afraid it is much more than that.  You…are to be queen.”

Grace stumbled standing still.  “I’m what?” she asked blinking only once.

She looked to me again for help and I knew without a doubt I had an earful coming.                “Your birthday moon is in two days time.”  My not so subtle mother was getting to the point.  Most likely, she was bored.

“Yes!” Grace whispered.

“On that day, you will be crowned the new queen of the Seelie Court.” 

Rescue would be good here.
  I jerked upward at hearing her speak directly to me.  Did she know she did that?

Mother faced my direction forcing me to bow, for which I hated every time.  I hated anyone thinking I was her underdog.  However, this time it was a dismissal.  Grace was being given to me as she saw it.  Mother and her terms.  Prophecies deciphered.  It all gave me fuel to burn, but it meant I had Grace.

“It will be an honor, if she will have me.” 

Bending before Grace, my nefarious mother announced, “She already has, she just won’t admit it aloud.”

I had to save her now.  I bent close to her ear and prayed she found me appealing still and not revoltingly mistrusting.  “Grace, I wanted to tell you for so long in so many ways but I really didn’t know how.  I was so afraid of what you might say or do.  I’m sorry I left you in the dark, but I never left you.  I was there, everyday.  Always.  I couldn’t tell you.  They wouldn’t let me.  I can possibly rescue you still if you need saving.  Just say the word.”  So fast I said this, she gasped at each little sentence end trying to figure me out.     

I took her hand, “Grace, you have always been more than just my best friend.  You amaze me in so many ways.  Even when you finally saw the real me, you still amazed me.”  I shouldn’t have but I enjoyed her beauty as a whole making her blush, “You don’t see how beautiful you are.  Everything about you. ”

Raking my eyes once more over her entire body didn’t help my self-control, but the watching crowd did.  She remembered the many pairs of eyes at that time too.

“Who cares if they’re listening?”

She knew I read not just her body language, but her thoughts.  It scared her still.  I told her the truth.  “Yes, but I am careful to respect your privacy unless you are in danger.  I had to protect you.  I can block out your thoughts as well as I can read them.”

...little comforting...quite the gentleman. 
She blushed at her own thoughts and not liking one bit that I could read them. 

“If I could have told you many human years ago, I would have.  Now, will you stand beside me?” My hand held out to her waiting for her choice.  She took it, and for a second my heart stilled.

“Wait!” she squealed and dropped my hand.  Crap.  She changed her mind.

She darted her eyes back and forth from Lazyra to me then to all in the room.  Then to the steps where we stood, still as birds in a trap. 

“If I’m to be this queen,
what
are you?” she said through gritted teeth keeping her lips tethered together. 

The truth be told.  My body rigid, I bowed. Her trusting heart shattered.  I couldn’t believe how blind she was to the obvious sometimes. 

Mother, the queen, stepped too close to my girl and announced yet another hard fact to make her heart stop. “Dear Grace, I give you, my son, Prince Ian.”

What did she do?  

What did I do?

I caught her as she fell. 

When she woke Rion and Caymin were fanning her with giant feather fans.  I held her and waited for her to gain focus. 

Backless dress, definite bonus!
 

Well!  Well!  Well!  She liked me touching her.

It really did happen.  It wasn’t a dream.  This is…

Her mind didn’t really stop...thinking...ever.

“You’re a
what
?  You never told me! Ian, didn’t you think it would be the slightest bit important to say, “
Oh by the way, I’m a prince where I come from and you’re going far, far away with me to be my fairy queen
.”  After the words were out, she held a frozen smile and then burst out in laughter. No human believed it even when our kind told them and then had to erase their memory for the simple fact that rumors turn into investigations.  And hiding with glamour can be exhausting if done for long periods of time.   

“Can I wake up now?  This is so…so…so…not normal.”  She wiggled out of my arms.   “No, I guess that wouldn’t have fared well.  Point taken!” 

I wasn’t sure what to say to her.  Like always, she talked herself into things without me ever saying a word.  Sometimes, I liked to just watch her reason things out.  This was one I wanted her solving and me included in the equation.

She laughed.  “It’s just, a lot to take in.”

I wasn’t sure what she might do next, so I quickly put out my hand and asked, “Would you dance with me, in honor of you?” 

I didn’t want to give her a chance to walk away, though she probably should.  And…I should have let her long before now.

“Here?” she gelled up.  I had every intention of being the first to ever dance with her as well as many other firsts.

“Here!” I said.

“No!” 

Hell.  She didn’t want me.  She was about to turn away from me.  I’m about to lose her.  I watched her throat get caught and ask herself silently,
Am I doing the right thing?  

“Not for me, but I will for us!” she said opposite of how she felt inside.  She wasn’t sure still, but she knew somehow inside how I felt about her and that was enough.  I didn’t deserve her.