To Love a King (Court of Annwyn) (7 page)

Ash slid into the seat opposite her. “Well?”

Jacqui snapped her gaze from Felan’s back and the way his red waistcoat swung about his knees as he walked away. He always looked good no matter what he wore. However he’d never worn fairy clothing around her before; yet today and yesterday, he had. He wasn’t bothering to change into human clothing the way he once had—although she was sure that he was using a glamour, so that everyone else saw what they expected. For the first time she was seeing him as the Prince.

Her fairy Prince had kissed her. She pressed her lips together, still feeling the heat of his mouth and the taste of his lips. Damn him. He’d done that deliberately. But as much as she’d like to blame him, she’d been the one who’d turned her head and met his lips, revealing how much she still felt for him.

She shrugged, not sure what to say or even how to describe it to Ash. She wanted him, the same way she always had, but she didn’t want the baggage that he came with. She didn’t want to live in Annwyn, and she didn’t want to be Queen. She just wanted a nice, normal life, without fairies or Greys or anything.

“Are you getting back with him? You know getting back with the ex is never good. There was a reason you broke up.” Ash rested her elbows on the table. There was more than a touch of attitude in her tone.

Jacqui sighed. “Our breakup wasn’t simple—it was almost accidental.” If she hadn’t had the ectopic pregnancy and it had all gone well, would they still be together? She’d have a six-year-old child…and be living in Annwyn, according to Felan. Would she be Queen? Or just his wife, waiting for the old King to die? Was that even what happened?

“An accidental breakup?”

She nodded. “We were both young and made mistakes.”

“Someone cheated?” Ash leaned forward as if expecting juicy gossip.

“No. Never that.” She’d had a boyfriend or three since, but nothing that had lasted, and she’d been almost paranoid about getting pregnant again. The idea still terrified her. However, there had always been something missing with the other guy—a snap or sparkle, a longing that pulled when they were apart. With other boyfriends, she wasn’t upset when they went away and had hardly noticed their return. Was that what Felan had meant, that he hadn’t realized how big their love was until it was gone? She drew in a breath. That was what had been missing from her other relationships—love. He still had her heart, and he was keeping it in Annwyn. “I think I still like him.”

She wasn’t going to admit to loving him—she wasn’t sure she still did, but she knew she had, and she thought if she gave him half a chance she would love him again. And if she loved him, she might agree to go to Annwyn. The idea of giving up everything and going to live in a place most people didn’t even know existed made her blood run cold. It was one thing to move across the country, but another to leave the only world she knew behind.

Ash leaned back and pulled her hair out of the bun. Long blond hair fell over her shoulders and she looked even younger. “He still likes you.”

“I know. He said as much.” That made it even harder. The attraction hadn’t died; it had laid dormant, waiting for a chance for the warm coals to catch again and relight the fire. If she kissed him again, it would be like adding tinder. Every touch was like a light breeze, fanning the sparks. And then what?

How were they ever going to make it work when he couldn’t live here and she refused to live there? Maybe they could live between both worlds. He could commute—weekends with her, weekdays in Annwyn. She bit back a smile at the idea and knew it would never work. They were never going to work. No matter how much she liked the idea of being with Felan again, he wanted more than she was prepared to give.

***

He tried not to think of the kiss as he walked to the cemetery to cross back to Annwyn, but his body wouldn’t let it go. No one since Jacqui had heated his blood and made him hungry like she did. It had taken all of his strength not to cup her face and kiss her again, deeper. He wanted to taste her lips, feel her embrace, and revel in desire. Instead, he’d walked away, half hoping she’d call him back. She hadn’t.

However, she hadn’t told him not to come back tomorrow.

At this rate, it would be time for the Yule festival before they got back together. Not fast enough. He had twelve days until his mother was executed. If the veil was in trouble now, that would tear it to shreds. Without a King and Queen, Annwyn would fall, and death would race unchecked across the mortal world. Perhaps it would stabilize after a time and the humans and fairies would take a new direction with their respective civilizations, but he didn’t want it to get that far.

As soon as he stepped through the doorway into Annwyn, he turned around, thought of a different location, and went back to the mortal world to check the rips. The desert sky was hot, and the air sucked the moisture from his skin even though it was early morning. Here he didn’t bother using magic to allow himself to be seen. He just wanted to do his job and leave.

While he couldn’t fix the veil any more without new tears opening up, he was monitoring and contemplating a temporary fix—if it could be called that. The only problem was that the fix meant sacrificing one area to save the rest of the world. How could he choose which country to let die of disease? Which continent should face such devastation? Maybe it was better all countries suffered a little.

Felan walked from the tombs cut into the hill and down to the river Nile. There was no one about, but it was still early. However, in the few days since he’d last checked it, the rip had worsened. The smell made him gag before he even got close. In front of him was dead vegetation clotted with rotting fish. His stomach heaved and he almost threw up. It took several slow breaths to get his stomach to obey. The rip was obviously bad for there to be this much death.

He closed his eyes and reached out, feeling the magic and the death pouring out of the river in Annwyn and into the Nile—all the poison bleeding out and spreading. It was like a festering wound. Even if he bandaged it, without treatment, the patient would die. Both worlds would die. The reeds whispered in the warm breeze that spread the sickly scent of death. He opened his eyes. He needed to check other rivers, determine which ones were worst hit, and maybe see if he could redirect damage there to save somewhere else. That would at least keep him occupied until he saw Jacqui again.

He didn’t know if he was gaining ground with her or wasting time he didn’t have…and yet he wasn’t prepared to walk away. He should have come back sooner. He hoped the mistake wouldn’t cost him the throne—or her heart.

The sun beat down on him. He shrugged out of his waistcoat and slung it over his arm. He stopped and turned his head. The wind caught in the reeds and made them rattle like dry bones. They had never been that loud before. Then he realized that was the only sound he could hear. He turned around and looked at the river again. There were no boats on it. It wasn’t just the dead fish or the birds lying on the ground. There was no sound of life at all. There should be bustling around the river, boats, and people yelling and singing.

Nothing.

The silence of death echoed around him. The music of the reeds was hollow and mocking.

If this was happening in Egypt, what were the other countries like?

***

Usually Jacqui didn’t watch the news, as it was too depressing. There was never any good news—summer wildfires, war, violence. But tonight she sat and watched, simply to see if what Felan was saying was true. Was the magic failing, and if so, why?

Not that the news would tell her that. She was pretty sure they wouldn’t mention magic or Annwyn. Yet he’d asked that she watch and see what was happening. She could do that; she wanted to do that to understand his world better.

Ash had decided to go out; she’d wanted Jacqui to go, and usually Jacqui would’ve but not tonight. The news started and death tallies ran across the bottom of the screen. The reporter talked about outbreaks of disease, not just in one country but all over the world—smallpox in Eastern Europe, bubonic plague in India, Ebola in Africa, SARS in China, and measles in America.

Jacqui blinked, hoping she was dreaming.

She’d known there was something happening, but she hadn’t paid much attention—there were always disease scares. Some scientist thought something was going to mutate and cause grief, but it had never happened. Until now.

And it was everywhere. It was like the world was suddenly breaking free and all the diseases humans had thought safely contained or eradicated with medicine were back. How was that possible? Panic danced along her nerves, and she wiped her palms on her pants. This couldn’t all be caused by Annwyn, could it? Why now? Why not ten years ago or a hundred years ago?

She watched on even though she’d rather have turned it off. Some countries in Europe had closed their borders because they didn’t want to be infected. Some speculated it was too late and that, with air travel, the viruses were already worldwide. Already there were cases of smallpox in the United States—but the reporter assured the viewers that quarantine rules in the U.S. were strict and that it had all been contained.

The words
so
far
were unspoken.

But Jacqui heard them. This is what Felan had been talking about.
The
magic
is
failing
and
damaging
both
worlds.

If disease was creating havoc in the mortal world, what was happening in Annwyn? Were fairies dying? The reporter kept talking as if this were the only story. Maybe it was. She picked up the remote and turned off the TV, completely numb.

Her world was falling apart and there was nothing anyone could do. Quarantine and modern medicine couldn’t combat fairy magic—not totally. She’d have to find out what was happing and why.

And how she fit into Felan’s plans.

She couldn’t do anything to stop this. She wasn’t a doctor; she wasn’t anything at the moment except a café worker. She couldn’t be Queen. She didn’t know the first thing about being a Queen. And aside from what Felan had told her and what she’d researched in New Age shops, which hadn’t been very useful, she knew next to nothing about fairies.

No, he needed a woman who knew what it was like to rule and to lead. Someone who wasn’t afraid and who was willing to take on the responsibility. Someone who would relish the chance to leave this world and go on the adventure of a lifetime.

That wasn’t her. She liked her life the way it was. Normal. Without fairies.

Without Felan.

She wished he’d never walked back into her life. Now she was involved in his problem, and she knew he was expecting her to be the solution.

This time Felan made an effort to look human. He had put on mortal clothes, jeans, and a white shirt that he left untucked and casual—a look that was always in fashion—instead of using a glamour that wouldn’t work on Jacqui anyway. He wanted Jacqui to see him the way he had been, and maybe she’d remember why they were good together. He’d also brought her a gift—one he’d prepared for her and had planned to give her the day they had, instead, broken up.

He knocked on her front door and waited. The sunlight was sliding away and staining the sky pink. The mortal world could be beautiful, but lately all he saw was death. Everywhere. Death had its place—even fairies eventually wasted away to nothing—but at the moment it was out of control. It was one thing to see the towns where bodies had been left to rot, rivers clogged with the bodies of animals and people, but another to pick up a newspaper and see the cold numbers.

The blue front door swung open to reveal Ash. She stepped back, startled, while he smiled and wondered why she was here.

“Jacqui in?”

“Yeah.” She stepped aside to let him in, her gaze raking over him as if she didn’t think he was worthy of entering.

“You’re early,” Jacqui called down the corridor.

“Only by five minutes.” He walked down the corridor toward her. It was better to be early than late. He’d been late too many times.

She came out of a bedroom and closed the door before he could peek inside. Dressed in a knee-length denim skirt, a red top, and sandals, she looked relaxed, almost happy to be going out with him.

“You look great,” he said. Which was true except for the iron crescent hanging against her collarbone. It was a reminder that even though he was dressed as a human, he wasn’t one.

Jacqui smiled. There was glimmer in her blue eyes that gave him a flicker of concern. He pushed it aside. What could go wrong on a simple date that wasn’t a date?

“Where are we going?” He hadn’t made plans. With Jacqui he was happy to go along with what she wanted.

“Dinner, but the location is a surprise.”

Okay, he generally didn’t like surprises, but he smiled anyway. He’d do anything to win back her heart.

“I brought you something.” He didn’t mention how long he’d had the gift. Instead, he just held out the wooden box. Carved in a floral design, it was very beautiful itself, but the true gift was inside.

“You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to. I thought you might appreciate it.”

She raised one eyebrow, then opened the box. On a bed of green velvet was a small round mirror on a length of silver chain. She lifted it up and watched it spin for a moment.

“A mirror?”

He nodded. “It’s trained on me, so when I’m away, you will be able to see what I’m doing. You’ll be able to glimpse Annwyn, the people I talk to…anything really.” He was trusting her with a very important fairy-made object. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, Sulia or any other enemy would be able to follow his every move.

She looked at it. “I think it’s broken. I only see me.”

“That’s because I’m standing right here. I have to be away from you. Would you like me to put it on for you?”

She glanced at him and then the mirror. For a heartbeat he thought she was going to say no and hand the gift back. “You told me once not to accept gifts from fairies.”

“I didn’t mean from me. This will do you no harm, and if you want to negate all implications or assumption of a debt owed, simply give me something in return.”

“Like what? I have nothing to give you.” She frowned as if thinking.

“It is the act of giving, not the value of the gift.” Humans had created the legal profession because they had kept getting bound in deals with fairies, though those origins had long been lost.

“Right. Um. Just a moment.” She turned and went back into her bedroom, leaving the door open so he could see in. Her bed was made, and there was nothing on the floor. She’d never been neat when he’d known her. Back then, her clothes were often on the floor and her bed had never been made. When she came back, she was holding something in her hand. “This is for you.”

She placed a silver earring in his palm. It was a small fleur-de-lis that glittered with tiny diamond chips. “It was my favorite set, but I lost one and couldn’t bear to throw the other one out.”

“It’s very pretty, thank you.” He took the back off and pinned the earring to the pocket flap on his shirt. “We are square.”

Jacqui handed him the mirror and turned around. He put it around her neck and did up the clasp. When she turned around, the iron crescent was above the silver mirror he’d given her. The mortal and fairy worlds were meeting. He much preferred her in fairy silver to mortal iron, but he wouldn’t ask her to take it off. Not yet.

Her fingers brushed the surface of the mirror as she glanced down to look at it. “Thank you.” She looked up. “You aren’t worried I’ll catch you in the nude?”

Felan laughed. “No. You’ve seen it all before.” And he wouldn’t be doing anything he would be ashamed of her seeing anyway.

“True.” She grinned as if remembering. A car honked out the front. “That’ll be the cab. Shall we go?”

He agreed and they left—no doubt Ash was scowling somewhere in the house. “So you and Ash live together?”

“Plus another girl. It makes the rent affordable.”

They got into the cab and Jacqui gave directions. Neither of them spoke for the ride, but his gaze would drift to her, and a few times he caught her looking. When the cab stopped, they were at the waterfront. A cold worry grew in his gut as he paid the driver.

Once the cab had pulled away, Jacqui spoke. “You used real money.”

There had been times when he’d taken her out and he’d tricked the human with leaves instead of notes. He’d shown her the trick after telling her he was fairy, and she had taken him to the bank. “I still have the account I set up when I was dating you. It’s actually quite useful.”

“I thought you’d have just paid with leaves.”

“Sometimes. It depends on what I’m doing and where I am. When I’m with you, I want to fit in.” He knew she didn’t like him ripping people off by using glamours on them. Most people fell for it—except in Ireland. They had kept fairy law alive. It was hard to get away with anything there.

They walked down the road toward the pier and the unease in his gut swelled. On the pier was a sign advertising a boat cruise. A dinner boat cruise. On the water. He stopped before his feet hit the pier. “We aren’t eating dinner on the boat.”

“Yes we are. I thought it would be nice.” That glint was back in her eye. She was enjoying this.

“There’s water.” He really didn’t want to sit in a boat on the ocean. He could think of many things he’d rather do.

She took his hand. “There usually is with boats.”

Her palm was warm against his skin, and when she gave it a gentle tug, he followed. If he wanted to see her, it was going to be on her terms. She’d grown up and gotten tougher. He kind of liked this sharper Jacqui, even if he didn’t like where she was leading him.

Beneath the wooden pier, water sloshed and slapped against the supports, and the cold swelled and flooded his blood. He had to concentrate to take each step and not turn and run to get off the pier. He could do this. He was the Crown of Prince of Death, Guardian of the Veil, and soon-to-be King of Annwyn. He wouldn’t let a little water freak him out. It wasn’t like it was touching him. He’d be floating in a boat. It would be fine.

“The boat won’t sink?”

“No.” She stopped and faced him. “Do you not want to have dinner with me?”

She was expecting him to change his mind and walk away. He met her gaze and held it. “I would have dinner with you on the shores of the river of the damned if that’s what you wished.”

Other couples passed them, making their way to the boat at the end of the pier. The boat where Jacqui was expecting him to go.

Jacqui stared at him, her lips slightly parted. “You are trying to get back together with me.”

“Is that a bad thing?” She was still holding his hand. He stepped closer so their bodies almost touched. “Tell me that you haven’t dreamed of me, that the love is dead and buried, and I’ll walk away.” More like crawl away and spend the next millennia slowly dying because he’d lost the one woman he truly loved.

For several heartbeats she was silent. “Let’s just have dinner, okay?”

***

While she’d seen the boat in the evenings, and always thought it would be romantic, being here with Felan, it was almost like no time had passed. But she couldn’t forget about the past seven years or that Annwyn always came first for Felan—not that he’d ever made her feel like she was second best when she was with him; it was only when he left.

They boarded the boat, walking past other diners already perusing their menus, and went to their table. As the boat rocked on a gentle swell, Felan looked as comfortable as a cat about to be given a bath. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost. Except that he hadn’t told her the whole truth about what was going on. She’d wait until they’d cast off before she started asking the hard questions.

“It’ll be fine.” She touched his hand, not sure if she was reassuring him or just fulfilling her need to touch him. She’d forgotten how magnetic he was, and now he was in her blood again. “Just read your menu.”

A few minutes later, the boat was under way. Felan gripped the table and drew in a sharp breath as if he were about to be thrown into the ocean. “I can’t swim.”

“Now you know how I feel when you talk about me being Queen of Annwyn.” Then she lifted her menu and purposefully ignored him while she tried to pick what to eat. It was an act; her heart was pounding and her palms were getting sweaty. She was as nervous as if it was their first date.

The boat motored out into deeper water. Other patrons were taking photos of the lit-up shore and talking animatedly while she and Felan were sitting in silence. Had she pushed him too far? She peeked over the top of her menu. He was reading, his fingers pressed too hard against the cover of the menu. But he wasn’t complaining; he was going through with her dinner date on a boat. What else would he do to get her back?

The waiter made his way around. Felan ordered mushroom risotto—he always ordered risotto; it was as if he’d found a human food he enjoyed and was sticking with it—and she had prawn curry. She also ordered a bottle of white wine. Neither of them were driving, and she knew Felan would pay. He always did. In those small things, he was predictable. She was actually surprised he’d gotten on the boat. She’d expected more of a fight.

She leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. “I watched the news.”

That got his attention. “Then you know how bad things are.”

She nodded. “But how does it relate to you and…” She glanced around then lowered her voice. “Annwyn.”

He joined her in leaning on the table. To anyone else, it looked they were having an intimate conversation—not a semi-argument. “You want to have this conversation here? Now?”

“I wanted to make sure you were going to answer my questions and not take off when it got hard.” They were trapped on the boat for the duration of the cruise. It had seemed like a really good idea at the time. Now she wasn’t so sure. If he couldn’t escape, neither could she.

Felan looked offended. “Have I ever done that?”

“Not technically, but you have a knack for half-truths.”

He grimaced but nodded. “That is more habit than deliberate. What do you want to know?”

“How do the plagues relate? Why do you only have twelve…eleven days?”

“I told you, the magic is failing.”

She looked at him blankly. This was going to be like pulling teeth, her own teeth. “You’re going to have to give me a bit more detail. I need to understand.”

He glanced at his hands and didn’t look up. “It’s not simple to explain. The King and Queen keep the magic alive, but my parents have been fighting for centuries. All those little outbreaks that happen here are the result of them bickering. In eleven days, my mother is going to be executed for treason.”

She gasped, and her hand covered her heart. “I’m sorry. That’s awful.” While she hadn’t spoken to either of her parents in over a year because they hadn’t wanted her to move away, she wouldn’t wish them ill.

Felan gave a one-shouldered shrug that was supposed to mean he didn’t care, but she saw through the act. “If you knew my mother, you’d be surprised it had taken this long for her to be caught.”

The waiter brought the bottle of wine over and poured two glasses. Felan immediately took a drink, then turned the stem of the glass in his fingers, as if dwelling on a giant problem.

“She’s still your mother.”

“I know, but there is nothing I can do for her, and she would do nothing for me if the situation were reversed. She lost her humanity a long time ago.” She saw a flicker of sadness before it was carefully masked. He was trying to be unaffected, but whatever was going on ran deep.

“Why, what happened to her?” And if she’d lost her humanity, had she once been human?

“My parents married because of necessity, not love. She was a human princess and she loved the power of being Queen. The more she got, the more she wanted. That is why I have to be so careful about whom I choose.” He lifted his gaze and he looked tired—not his face so much, but it was something in his eyes. Almost as if he just wanted all this business over so he could get on with his life again.

“I still don’t get why you need a wife so fast. Can’t your father rule?”

The corner of his lips curved in the slightest smile. “There has to be a King and Queen, and it is my turn to step up. Besides, my father is old. He has the wasting but is hiding it well.”

“Wasting?”

“Come on, Jacqui, think about it. You know I don’t age and yet fairies have to die somehow.”

There was the reminder he was a Prince and not a servant to answer her every question. If fairies didn’t age, then maybe it was as simple as they wasted away and died. She took a sip of wine before she spoke again, gathering her thoughts and rephrasing so it wouldn’t be a question he needed to answer.

“No King and Queen, and all hell breaks loose here.” That was why he wanted her to be Queen. He needed someone beside him, and she was safe and familiar.