Just Believe (34 page)

She looked around. There was only one
person she needed to see. She caught her breath as she spied Erin
sitting beside a tall throne-like chair.

"Gaelen, there she is."

"Shhh, I saw her. Where is
Lucas?"

She scanned the room. "I don't see
him."

"Neither do I." Gaelen frowned as his
eyes ran over the room, seeking his brother's face. "Looks like the
show is about to start."

Annabelle followed his nod to a doorway
hidden in the wall, open now, through which an older man passed,
followed by twelve others all garbed in splendid purple and
gold.

"Finnvarra and the Council of Elders,"
Gaelen explained to her in a whisper.

Annabelle's attention went back to her
sister. Erin sat quietly, strangely not like Erin at all. She wore
a gown of silver, and one of those pointy hats fairy princesses
wore. She was so beautiful, and yet, somehow, she wasn't
Erin.

The Council of Elders finished their
entrance and took their seats at the high table on the dais where
King Finnvarra sat on his throne, Erin at his side. He smiled down
at her and stroked her hair, as one would a pet cat. Erin's smile
in return was wan, not the thousand-kilowatt beamer her sister
usually wore.

"What's he done to her?"

"She's been enchanted. Probably to make
her easier to handle," Gaelen explained.

"How do we fix her?"

"I don't know, yet." Gaelen glanced
around. "When you get the chance, take the bag and try to get
closer to her. I'll keep the crowd busy."

"Okay." She frowned. "Why can't I just
walk over to her? They can't see me."

"They can see the bag,
sweets."

"Oh," she said, feeling extremely
stupid. But heck, being invisible was a new experience.

"Not to mention we don't know if Erin
can see you or not. I'd guess not as long as she's enchanted, but I
can't be sure."

Annabelle nodded invisibly.

"Bring in the defendant."

Annabelle looked up at the voice. It
was one of the Council. He sat nearest the king's throne. The door
in the wall opened again.

Lucas was led out between two brawny
fairies. His hands were bound behind him. He bore bruises on his
face and one eye was swollen shut.

Gaelen swore softly. Annabelle dittoed
the feeling.

"Have you an advocate, Lucas
Riley?"

"No."

"Yes!"

The crowd turned toward them as
Gaelen's voice rumbled through the cavernous chamber. Gaelen began
to push his way through the crowd, wings spread wide. Annabelle
followed in his wake.

"State your name and your business
before this Council."

"I am Gaelen Riley. The defendant is my
brother. I claim the right to speak on his behalf."

"Granted."

Gaelen and Annabelle went to Lucas's
side. Annabelle took the bag from Gaelen's hand. He winked good
luck in her general direction and turned back to Lucas. She slipped
behind the tapestry covering the rock wall, swallowing a shriek at
the cold against her bare backside. Not daring to breathe lest she
attract attention to herself, she hugged the frigid wall, wishing
herself able to squoosh as Gaelen did.

She waited for something to happen to
distract the crowd from any movement she might make. She was so
close to Erin, she couldn't make a mistake now.

Chapter Twenty Four

"What say you, Lucas Riley, to the
charge of revealing your nature to a mortal woman?"

"Guilty." Gaelen spoke up for his
client.

A rumble of comment greeted this
plea.

"Thanks, big brother," Lucas
muttered.

"I know what I'm doing." Gaelen stood,
watching the tapestry ripple as Annabelle made her way over to the
side of the room where Finnvarra--the ancient lecher--had Erin
seated at his feet like a poodle.

"You see, he admits it!"

Gaelen wasn't in the least surprised to
see Lucas's accuser was none other than Linette Duncan.

"Since when do we allow," he threw her
a dismissive glance, "pixies to speak in the Council?"

Linette fairly bubbled with indignant
rage, but kept her mouth shut.

"This is true," one of the minor
councilors said. "Is there no fairy to speak on this
matter?"

Gaelen waited. No one spoke to accuse
his brother. Maybe it would just pass, and they could party.
Fairies love a good party. He could sure use a stiff
drink.

"I will."

The voice was the mercenary who'd been
in Linette's pay. Gaelen turned to meet her self-satisfied
smirk.

"The lad did reveal himself to the
lovely little girl."

"Are you a witness to this
event?"

"Yes, Councilor."

"He's a liar!" Lucas sprung from his
seat, his seaweed-tied hands still bound behind him, Gaelen noted
with a grimace.

"Sit down, Lucas," Gaelen said, setting
his hand on Lucas's shoulder and pressing him down. "My Lord High
Councilor, could we dispense with the rather smelly handcuffs? I
believe the stuff is beginning to rot."

"Certainly." The High Councilor
motioned to the guards, who came behind Lucas with a large bone
knife. They sawed through the seaweed and Lucas's arms fell to his
sides.

"Sweet Bridget," he moaned, gingerly
rolling his shoulders.

Gaelen got up and stood behind Lucas,
rubbing feeling back into his arms and leaning down to whisper in
his brother's ear, "Now keep your mouth shut."

Lucas threw him a blazing glare, which
Gaelen ignored. He walked back in front of the bench where they'd
been seated.

"My Lord High Councilor, Councilors,
Your Majesty," he bowed to Finnvarra. "My brother has indeed broken
the law against revealing our natures to mortal folk. But I believe
I can convince you of two things tonight. First, that such an error
was not intentional on Lucas's part. And second, that the law
itself has not served Faerie as it should have, and it is time for
its repeal."

"Indeed, Gaelen." The High Councilor
motioned for him to proceed.

"My Lord," Linette spoke up, "there can
be no explanation--"

"Pixie!" the High Councilor thundered,
"you have been warned. Speak once more in this assembly and you
will be punished."

Linette snapped her mouth shut and
scowled.

Gaelen grinned. He simply couldn't help
it, but he did manage to hide it from the High Councilor, a
leprechaun who, true to his nature, was not in the best of moods at
the best of times.

"My Lord, my brother was indeed
involved with this lovely young woman." Gaelen strolled over to
where Erin sat. She smiled up at him, clearly not recognizing him.
Worse than he'd thought. "He had not told her of his nature,
realizing the penalty of the law would fall most grievously on the
woman he loved."

"Yet he didn't break off with
her."

"No, my Lord, he didn't. And what man
among us can look upon this sweet woman and not understand his
plight? How many times in our history has one of our number been
taken by the beauty or sweetness or generosity of a
mortal?"

Heads nodded. The crowd was with
him.

"Remember the story of Neve of the
Golden Hair, who loved Oisin, the son of Finn? Or of Midir, seeking
the reborn Etain, a mortal woman, and the battle he had to fight
with her mortal husband to keep her?"

Oops. Bad example. Better keep moving
forward.

"Lucas's only crime here is love. Love,
my Lord, which we celebrate in song and poem. He loved greatly and
with his whole heart, even to disaster."

Gaelen strode to the front of the hall.
"And yet, is disaster a necessary end? Especially when the crime
is," he sighed, "love?"

"My Lord." It was Frank, Linette's pet
mercenary. "This man is not a fit advocate for his brother. He is
guilty of the same crime. He has revealed himself to a mortal
woman. The sister of this woman, in fact."

"This is true, my Lord," Gaelen was
quick to cut in, "and so I am pleading not only for brother, but
for myself, and for all of our kind who have made lives in the
mortal realm, and who find our heart's mate there."

The women in the crowd sighed. Back on
track.

"In fact, my Lord, let me speak of
myself now."

"Why don't you, Gaelen?" the High
Councilor suggested.

"Sir, my brother can testify that I had
forgotten my roots. I despised Faerie and the gifts of being a
fairy. I buried myself in mundane work, not caring for beauty or
nature." He set one foot on the bottom step of the dais and leaned
forward. "My Lord, I was dying. My soul was dust. Then a woman came
into my life who showed me the beauties I'd separated myself from
for the sake of leading my mundane life. She showed me wonder and
reminded me of what I am. I love her. And I will be with her.
Either in the mortal world or in the Land of Youth." He turned back
to the crowd. They were fairies all, hanging on his words, tears in
their eyes. "What do we fairies do the best? We feel. We feel with
a depth mortals cannot bear. Our greatest feat has been to grasp
for love whatever the cost."

The crowd burst forth in applause. The
Council of Elders rose with them. Linette looked fit to spit fire.
Her pet mercenaries stood behind her, applauding and weeping with
the rest until she skewered them with a glare.

When he could be heard above the crowd,
the High Councilor spoke.

"Very well, Gaelen. You have made your
case for your brother. Perhaps we should allow the girl to decide."
He turned to Finnvarra. "Your Majesty, please remove the
enchantment on the girl."

Finnvarra did not appear pleased by
this development. "Very well, my Lord." He sprinkled magic dust on
Erin's head and she shivered, then stretched as though just waking
up.

"My child," the High Councilor asked
her, "have you heard the testimony?"

"No, sir." Erin glanced around the hall
and down at her clothes, appearing confused.

"Would you like to leave
here?"

"Oh, no!"

Finnvarra gave Gaelen a
smirk.

Just then, the tapestry rippled behind
Finnvarra's head.

"Oh, no," Gaelen muttered.

A box of salt appeared over Erin's head
and a wild sprinkle had Finnvarra leaping over the arm of his
throne to get out of the way. Gaelen could see the spell being
broken, as Erin's eyes cleared and she jumped up, curious and
stunned.

He might have known Finnvarra would
cheat.

"Lucas! Where are we?" Erin looked
around at the assembly and the hall. "Wow." But her whisper of
admiration turned to a yelp as her arm jerked to the side and she
was forced to follow it. Her eyes widened in shock. "Annabelle!
You're naked!"

"What?" Lucas stood,
staring.

"Time to go, little brother." Gaelen
grabbed Lucas's arm and plowed through the crowd, now on their feet
watching Erin being dragged by an invisible force from the
hall.

That's my girl, Annabelle, he thought,
approving her haste. Almost out the door, just a few more steps,
and they'd be ahead of everybody and home free as long as the knife
was still in the doorpost.

In slow motion almost, he could see
Linette dashing after Annabelle, a bucket in her hand.

"No! Annabelle, look out!"

Did his words of warning even leave his
throat?

Linette pitched the contents of her
bucket at Annabelle's head. Gaelen watched in horror as the
bucketful of spring dew washed away enough of the magic of the
ointment that Annabelle's shadowy outline became clear.

There was her head, her face, her sweet
neck, her perfect shoulders…

Gaelen grimaced as he waited for the
rest. He'd promised her she wouldn't be seen. He dashed for her and
grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the safety of the
outside.

Two spots of light dashed ahead of
them, materializing as Frank and Sean, those traitorous mercenaries
from Cork. Gaelen pushed Annabelle behind him and faced the
two.

"Good speech back there, laddie. But
you see we have our orders."

"Come ahead, then, lads," Gaelen
said.

Lucas stood beside him and they faced
the two mercs.

The crowd from the hall pressed behind
them. Linette hung back and made Gaelen more nervous than these two
brawny lads, with all their rippling muscles.

"This is going to be brutal," Lucas
whispered.

"Nonsense, there's only two of them.
And they're from Cork. How bad can it be?"

"See my eye?" Lucas asked.

Annabelle's shadowy head and shoulders
dashed around him, her saltbox held high in an invisible hand. The
mercs stood back, giving her a wide berth; Erin followed
her.