She's No Faerie Princess (11 page)

Walker blinked, startled into silence. He and Grahamlooked at each other, then looked at Rafael and saw theirown surprise mirrored in his expression.

"What do you mean?" Rafael demanded, frowning in confusion. "Not only did the Fae send a delegate, but he has taken quite an active role in setting the boundaries of the agreement we've been working toward."

Fiona shook her head. "That's impossible. I'm telling you,my aunt didn't send anyone. What's this guy's name?"

"Dionnu."

Fiona's jaw dropped to the floor and bounced twice.

"Dionnu? He's here? In Manhattan? Are you serious?"

"Perfectly." Rafael frowned. "You were not aware?"

"Hell no! And I can tell you for sure that Mab isn't." Closing her eyes, Fiona rubbed her hands over her face and sank back down to the edge of the sofa. "Goddess, this is so not good."

Concerned by her reaction, Walker stepped closer andhovered over her. His intention was more macho thanthat, but he was getting used to his intentions going up insmoke around this woman. "What's the matter? If Mabdoesn't know you or Dionnu is here, it's not like she canblame you for any of his actions."

"That's so not it. You don't get it. It doesn't matter what Mab knows. It doesn't matter what I know. Mab is in Faerie and Dionnu is here and I am stuck right smackdab in the middle."

"How do you figure that?"

Fiona raised her head and looked glumly up at Walker.

"You know Queen Mab is my aunt, right?"

That sinking feeling returned to Walker's stomach.

"Riiiiight… ?"

"Right. Well, the thing is… Dionnu? He's not a

representative of the queen. In fact, he's the last Fae in

the world she would trust to speak for her. I keep forgetting how far out of the Fae loop you mortals are. Dionnu and Mab were married, briefly and stormily, about three hundred years ago. Half of it was because they were infatuated with each other, but half of it was because neither could resist the idea of uniting the kingdoms. The idea of controlling all of Faerie seduced them both, but it didn't last. They're too much alike. Neither one of them is willing to bow to someone else's whim. They separated a century and a half ago, and as part of the settlement between them, Dionnu took back his title as King of the Unseelie Court. Needless to say, relations between the courts have been something less than cordial for the past few decades."

"What does that have to do with you?"

She sighed. "Well, you see… Dionnu's not just the Winter

King and Mab's archenemy. He's also my uncle."

CHAPTER 9

The silence lasted approximately twenty-six millennia by

Fiona's calculations. All three men stared at her as if

she'd just grown a seventh head and begun devouring small children and little baby bunnies for breakfast. Fiona slumped back onto the sofa and crossed her arms defensively, waiting for the other shoe not just to drop but to plummet from the stratosphere and obliterate the

pavement on impact.

Walker, of course, was the first to get around to yelling ather. "Your uncle? As in, the brother of one of yourparents? He's that kind of uncle?"

She just looked at him, unamused.

Rafael and Graham each sank into chairs and rubbedtheir hands over their faces in identical gestures ofweariness.

Walker didn't bother to find a chair. He just put his backagainst the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, proppinghis elbows on his knees and shaking his head wearily.

"Would it have killed you?" he asked, sounding almost dazed. "Would it really have been so difficult for you to mention that not only are you the niece of the Queen of the Seelie Court, but you also happen to be the niece of the King of the Unseelie Court? Was it too much to ask for you to let me know that you're potentially in line for the succession of both the Summer
 
and
 
Winter Thrones of Faerie?"

Fiona pursed her lips. "You didn't ask."

"We're asking now," Rafael said. "I believe it would be helpful if you would do us the favor of clearly explaining your place at the courts of Faerie."

Ugh. Wasn't that just her favorite topic?

She shrugged. "Honestly, I try to have as small a placeas possible. But if you're asking for the family tree, mymother was Annan, Dionnu's youngest sister. She diedwhen I was a child."

Graham laughed, but Fiona didn't mistake the noise for asign of amusement. "Perfect. And your father?"

"His name was Malcolm. He was Mab's eldest brother,

but he's been gone since I was a little girl, too."

Rafael leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs outbefore him, his fingertips rapping a restless beat on theupholstery. Fiona got the idea that if he'd been in Felixform, his tail would have been twitching instead. "I don'tever recall hearing that either the king or the queen everhad children. Did they have any while they weremarried?"

"No. But all of their siblings had kids. I'm one of twentytwo nieces and nephews."

"However, before their deaths, your mother and father were each in line to inherit their siblings' thrones, am I correct? Which would make you fairly prominent in line at both courts, would it not?"

"No. Well, sort of." Goddess, the last thing she needed was for someone to encourage either of her relatives to speculate on Fiona's position in that particular queue.

She hoped like hell that Fate hadn't overheard. "Mab hasn't named anyone heir, and I doubt she plans to release the throne for another few centuries at least. There's plenty of time to deal with that later. As of right now, I'm just one more in a long line of princes and princesses who may or may not ever move up the ranks."

Rafael sighed. "Your parentage crosses the bounds ofthe Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Where do you fall in thenumber of Dionnu's heirs?"

Fiona stared at him, completely taken aback by thequestion. "Are you kidding me? Dionnu is as likely toname an heir as I am to renounce magic in favor of acareer in the hospitality industry. Someone is going tohave to pry the Winter Throne out of his cold, deadhands."

"But you have as much right to the title as anyone in his

court."

"I suppose. If you want to look at it that way."

Which she didn't.

Behind her, she could hear Walker cursing with a gooddeal of creativity and not a little bit of heat. She tried toignore him, but considering they probably heard him in Liechtenstein, it posed a challenge.

"I want to look at it realistically," Rafael said. "I need to

know where you stand in the courts in order to

understand what's going on here." He held her gaze

levelly until she gave a reluctant nod. "So, you didn't

know that your uncle was taking part in the negotiations?"

"I didn't even know there were negotiations. And I'm

pretty sure my aunt doesn't, either."

"I believe this could be classified as less than good."

"Yeah, Aunt Mab is gonna be pissed." Fiona blew out a breath. "Most of it will be directed at Dionnu, though. Unless you just neglected to inform her of the summit when you told him. Then she'll be pissed
 
and
 
offended."

Rafael scowled. "Of course not. None of us are suicidal,nor particularly brain-dead. We sent an emissary with

instructions to visit both courts and to pass on the information that the people of Faerie were invited to join together and provide a delegate of their choosing. When Dionnu presented himself at the first meeting of the summit, that is how he introduced himself—as the Fae delegate. We were a bit surprised to find the king acting in such a capacity, but I thought it was encouraging for our collective bargaining power."

"And you weren't the least little bit suspicious?" Fiona rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you've obviously never met my uncle. And this is the perfect proof of why this policy of isolationism is ridiculous. If our borders weren't so damned closed, you would have known not to trust Dionnu when he said he spoke for both courts, and my aunt would have known the negotiations were happening at the outset so she could put her two cents in. All this could have been avoided. The confusion, the unintentional insult. Possibly even the royal temper tantrum that I'm sure I don't have to tell you, you are not going to enjoy."

"No. You don't have to tell us that."

"Exactly." Walker gestured to the sofa where Fiona sat. "Which means we have to find a way to get her to safety. I mean… to get her back home."

"I'm afraid that what to do with Fiona is now not our biggest problem," Rafael said, his mouth twisted into a grimace. "The greater concern is to discover Dionnu's motivations and hopefully to avert a war with Mab before she discovers them herself."

"Well, there is good news on that end," Fiona broke in.

"Since the Faerie gate isn't working, it's a pretty safe bet

that no messengers are going to get through to fill her in on what's going on here. That at least buys us some time to figure out a strategy before everything goes all the way into FUBAR."

Walker stared down at her, then shook his head. "Iswear, you use more slang than most fifteen-year-olds Iknow. It's mind-boggling."

She stared back and raised a taunting eyebrow. "What? Just because I'm not from here means I can't learn thelingo? Guess what, stewardess? I speak jive."

She also had an abiding love for movies and DVDplayers. Humans had some of the neatest ideas forovercoming their lack of magic sometimes.

"I hope you're right," Graham growled from his armchair beside Rafael. "Because if I suddenly have to muster up the force to repel an invading Fae army, it's going to ruin my day."

Rafael shook his head. "I believe we're safe frominvasion. At least for the moment. But if we want tocontinue to fend it off, we're going to have to deal with Dionnu."

He, Graham, and Jake all turned their heads to her andraised their brows expectantly. Seriously. Even the kid. Itwas eerie.

"I take it this is a cue for me?"

"No." Walker crossed his arms over his chest and glowered down at them all. "You don't need to worry about it. I can take care of Dionnu. I'll find out what he's doing here, why he cut Mab out of the action. Maybe he

can even offer suggestions for another way to send the

princess home."

Fiona could feel the tension pouring off him, like steambillowing from his ears. In fact, she thought she might seea puff coming from the left one. Or maybe that was acobweb. Whatever. She didn't need any help tounderstand that he disliked the idea of her… well, doinganything, actually, but luckily, the other men in the roomseemed more inclined to realize she could take care ofherself.

She looked from Walker to the united front opposite himand back again with exaggerated motions. "Sorry, Hoss,but I think you're outnumbered on this one."

The three stooges nodded in unison.

"She's right."

"Completely."

"She's got you on this one, Uncle."

"I am, but you have
 
got
 
to stop doing that." She glared at the three of them. "It's just creepy." She looked back at Walker and tried a charming grin. "Look at it this way: if they draft me into dealing with Uncle Dionnu, I won't be in your hair anymore. You won't have to guard your zipper with your life."

The three heads snapped back to her, eyes widening.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Go, Uncle Tobe!"

He actually blushed. Swear to Goddess, right there as Fiona watched, a rush of color crept up the sides of Walker's neck and stained his cheeks faintly pink behindthe light tan of his skin. His clear embarrassment wasunexpected and utterly charming. Fiona couldn't havekept the grin off her face if she had tried.

She suspected Walker felt the same about his scowl.

"I'm more concerned with guarding my sanity around you." He scowled, and the muscles in his jaw jumped with tension.

"I'm sure it will get easier with practice," Rafael interrupted, breaking the group mentality among him, Graham, and Jake. "I hear most things do."

Walker's head started to shake before the Felix hadfinished speaking, but Graham didn't give him a chanceto voice his protest. "He's right. First of all, we can't havea princess wandering around on her own, not in thecurrent political climate, and you know it. And more thanthat, you know exactly what we'd do if Fiona were hereon an authorized visit. She'd be appointed a bodyguard,the same way Dionnu was."

"That doesn't mean it has to be me."

"Actually, it does." Graham pushed to his feet and leveled his gaze at Walker. Neither man moved closer, but the message came through loud and clear. Clearly enough that even Fiona understood it. If Walker continued to argue, the alpha of the Silverback Clan would quite happily turn his suggestion into a direct order. She suspected neither Lupine wanted it to come to that. "You know her, you know the situation, and you're the best