Crimson Dawn (36 page)

"OK, I deserve that," I muttered and took another hesitant step closer. "I deserve that and so much more.” I took another step and reached out to take her hand, but she slipped out of my grasp. "Please, Ire, you heard everything we talked about. Now I'm not using that as an excuse, but please cut me some slack."

I reached out for her hand again and held my breath, waiting to see if she'd take it. Ordinarily I was the last person you'd catch begging for something, but if she didn't come to me, I'd be more than willing to drop to my knees.

I was seconds from doing just that, when she reached out and took my hand, and in a move reminiscent of my mother, she reached out, quicker than I could follow, and slapped me on the back of the head. "If you ever in your lifetime refer to me as a 'ball and chain' again, you'll get more than the silent treatment for a few minutes."

I smiled and pulled her into my arms. "Whatever you say, baby," I said, right before I leaned forward and planted one on her. I intended to give her a thorough, but brief kiss, but it didn't work out that way. She bit my bottom lip when I tried to pull away, and drew me right back to her. Her tongue ran across my lips then pushed through to stroke my tongue.

I moaned into her mouth and ran my hands under her shirt to loosen her bra when I heard a nagging buzz going off in my ear. I swatted at the noise and pulled Irulan closer, only to have the buzzing return. Except this time, the buzzing sounded an awful lot like Kether, an angry Kether.

I pulled away from Irulan and turned around to find him inches from my nose. "This is unacceptable," he snapped, as he turned a deep shade of red. "You are both Princesses of Faerie. To behave in such a manner outside of the confines of a secure bedchamber is totally unacceptable."

I looked back at Irulan, and it took all of two seconds for both of us to burst out laughing. Kether's head looked as if it were going to explode at any minute. I stifled another giggle and took a huge step away from Irulan with both hands in the air. Kether harrumphed and zipped over to each of us and gave us both one of those electric punches.

I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing again. Kether pointed at me with an accusing finger, "From you, this is no surprise.” He shook his finger in Irulan’s direction. "But from you..." he shook his head in one final condemnation and promptly flew out of the tent.

I turned back to Irulan and shrugged my shoulders, "I have to say, my time in the FaeLands has been anything but boring."

Irulan laughed so hard I thought she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen. "I know," she managed to say in between laughs. "Where else are you going to get reprimanded by a two inch Pixie for making out with your wife?"

I could feel the smile creep up the edges of my face and lock in place. I was grinning so damn hard I must have looked like the Joker's kid sister. I couldn't help it. Hell, I didn't want to. It felt good to hear her call herself my wife. I hoisted her up by the waist and spun her around in a fast circle. Irulan grabbed me around the neck and squealed. "Say it again.” I managed to get in, in between her fits of laughter. I eased her to her feet and ran my hands into her soft mane. "Say it again, Ire."

Irulan kissed me and pulled away to giggle again. "What in the world are you talking about, Val?"

I laid three quick kisses on her and let my hands fall to her waist. "Wife," I said softer than a whisper. "Call yourself my wife again."

Irulan's mood turned somber like the flip of a switch. "It sounds too good to be true, Valeria. This...us. We happened so fast."

"Don't do this.” I didn't want to hear her worries and uncertainties. I had enough of my own, but no matter what doubts I had, I was sure of us. Of what we already were to each other, and of what we would grow into. "It's too late to be getting cold feet, Ire. The wedding's over."

I dropped my shields and felt the sum of Irulan's growing anxieties. The mounting tightness that was growing in her chest as each minute passed. "You're worried about what your family will think when they find out we're mated."

Irulan nodded and pulled away from me. "I know I act like it doesn't bother me what they think but..."

"Fazion and Francesca," I said, and she smiled even as she locked her mind down tight.

"My cousins are the brother and sister of my heart.” She placed a hand over her heart, and her eyes got a faraway look in them as she talked. "I may not agree with the direction Fazion has taken the monarchy, but there's no one in the FaeLands I'm closer to."

"If they love you as half as much as you love them, then they'll only care about whether or not you're happy.” I took her hand in mine and led her out of the tent. Frost and Blaze were waiting outside. They looked at me with an eagerness to get going in their eyes. "Come on." I nudged her with my shoulder and pointed to the tent, as I waved my hands through the air. "Do your hocus pocus and let’s get this show on the road, baby. We might as well get this over with, so you can see you didn't have anything to worry about."

Just two days ago, Irulan said almost the same thing to me as I spazed over what my parents would think about our relationship. Looks as if we'd come full circle. It's funny, Irulan had been comfortable in her skin for so long that I never thought she'd be the one to have insecurities about us as a couple.

"It's not the fact that you're a woman that has me worried.” She packed the tent roll into Frost's saddlebag and thumped me on the nose. "It's the fact that you're Fomori. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Irulan had become such an integral part of me over the last few weeks, that my natural instinct to shield was becoming lax. Her shields didn't have to be down to read me. I was projecting like a damn movie. I went on lockdown as I walked over to Blaze.

"I'm a Trumaine first," I said, echoing my father parting words. "That's the part of me they need to worry about.” As we mounted our horses, I looked at her and frowned. Tristan aside, our little excursion to the Tuatha court had the potential to go very badly. If anyone caused Irulan to shed so much as one tear, I didn’t think I would be able to control my reaction. As if I needed any more worries. "If they hurt you, I can’t make any promises, Irulan. Please don't hold it against me if I end up slapping them around a little."

"Yeah, OK, Val," she said sarcastically with the touch of a grin on her face. With my shields firmly in place, Irulan had no idea that I was dead serious. I didn't say a thing to make her believe otherwise. It was best that way.

A shrill whistle from Irulan and we were off. As we rode, Irulan did her quick-change mojo. She transformed her jeans and shirt into a crimson silk, wide-legged pants suit. Complete with an ankle length duster that trailed behind her in the wind, like a regal cape. "So, when are you gonna teach me that trick?" I called out.

Irulan tsked and urged Frost to run faster. "This is Fae magic, Valeria, accomplished by manipulating the ether surrounding Faerie. A huge step up from the abilities we're born with. You've got to walk before you can fly, baby. Right now, you've just managed to crawl."

So much for a vote of confidence. We rode through the forest until I could see a paved road between the trees. I was about to lead Blaze out into the open when Irulan called for me to stop. "Wait," she said and waved a hand in front of me. "You're royalty. You need to look the part."

I was almost too scared to look down. If she had me decked out in some frilly froufrou dress and tiara, I was going to flip my lid. "It's OK, Val, you're gonna like it.” I took a deep breath and looked down at my clothes. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part, she didn't stray far from what I like to wear when I'm on a hunt. I was in black leather - a motocross-type suit that had a thick, golden band with a purple one inside it crisscrossing my stomach to break-up the black of the jacket. The same band ran down either pants leg.

I held up both hands to admire the leather gloves. On the back of each glove was the same family crest that had been enough proof to give FaeVar a reason to save my life.

"There's also a scabbard for Bas that bears the same crest,” Irulan said, with just a note of smugness.

I pulled Bas from the holster in the saddle and smiled. As I reached back and slid one grandfather's sword into the scabbard bearing the mark of another grandfather, I saw the significance of the act. The two were a perfect fit, just like the joining of my two distinct natures. We were ready.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The ride into Storm's Keep wasn't what I was expecting. To start with, the houses we passed were nothing like the houses in the smaller villages I'd seen since arriving. These houses looked like any cottage I'd find on my side of the divide. "What gives?" I asked Irulan as we passed more and more of the updated houses.

Irulan looked around with a dissatisfied frown and urged Frost to pick up his pace. "My cousin's doing.” She said it as if the words put a bad taste in her mouth. "When Fazion took the throne, he decided he wanted Storm’s Keep to become a model of the future for the Fae. But instead of forging a path of our own, he looked at Tir Nam Beo and decided that we needed to follow in their footsteps."

We rode past the grouping of cottages and found ourselves on a street lined with shops and what I thought must be apartment buildings. "Are you shitting me?” I asked as I looked over at a shop that appeared to be the Fae version of Starbucks. I focused my eyes through the window and saw a familiar coffee house setup. I smiled to myself until I noticed the shopkeeper frowning at me from behind the counter.

She looked at me with pure disdain and hurried to the front of the shop to lower a curtain to block my view. "Well I'll be damned.” I turned to look at a nearby bookstore and received the same treatment. In shop after shop, business after business it was the same, first dirty looks, then curtains were drawn. . Some people even went so far as to lock their doors and place 'closed' signs in the windows.

Irulan sighed and patted Frost on the side of his neck. The negative vibes the townies were throwing in our direction visibly agitated the horse. "I told you what to expect, Val. Being the Light Court doesn't make these high and mighty Tuathas better that your grandfather's Fomori. It just makes them hypocrites."

We rode out of the shopping district of Storm’s Keep and into what appeared to be an upscale, suburban neighborhood. I looked at some of the immense houses and saw that a few of them reminded me of my own parents’ house minus the acreage. "Nice houses, but I don't think I'd want all that house five feet up someone else's ass."

Irulan looked over at me and smiled. "The homes are just a façade Val. Most of the living quarters are underneath in Faerie mounds. Believe me, they've got plenty of space."

We rode through the sub-division and came to a fork in the road. In one direction, there was a wide, two-lane road. In the other, a narrow, overgrown path that was no better than a walkway. "Please tell me we don't have to go traipsing through these weeds and thorns."

Irulan shrugged her shoulders. "Fine," she said as she directed Frost onto the footpath. "I won’t tell you. Just make sure you stay directly behind me."

I pulled Blaze's reins, and he headed into the brush behind Irulan and Frost. It was slow going through the vegetation, but after fifteen minutes, Irulan brought her horse to a stop.

Thick, gnarled, thorny vines covered the ground. The wicked looking vines were so dense that I couldn't see the ground beneath. "Do you think maybe you could have stopped us somewhere a little more foot friendly?”

Irulan shot me a look of total annoyance as she moved to dismount her steed. I started to follow her, but she held up a hand to stop me. "Don't. Stay on Blaze until I tell you it's OK."

I took another look at the vines and saw that they were actually moving as if they were more than just plants. The vines twisted and undulated, as they seemed to stretch towards Irulan.

"Exactly what are these things, Irulan?" I asked as I drew my legs up farther away from the ground. For the moment, they didn't seem interested in me, but I didn't want to take any chances.

"It's Witches' Weed, Valeria."

"That's a name. It doesn't tell me what it is."

"What does it look like, smart ass? It's a vine, a very deadly vine. You wouldn't live over a day if one of those thorns pierced your skin."

My unease spiked, and I leaned forward in the saddle looking at Irulan as if she'd lost her mind. "If it's so damn deadly then why are you standing in the middle of it like you don't have a care in the world?"

"Witches’ Weed is deadly to everyone but the person that cultivated it. You see, witches used it in olden days as a security system of sorts. If a witch wanted something protected, they'd hide it and cover the entrance with Witches’ Weed."