8 February

 

The Good:

J’adore the producers of “The War of the Wooden Spoons” cookery program.

(Yes, entertainment types like me sprinkle French words and phrases into our language because we’re just that cool).

They wandered around the Witches Dozen oo’ing and ah’ing and “Oh, this camera angle is perfect,” and “Oh, right here, great lighting, no filter,” and “Dark! (Lucy) Light! (Me) These two will be a dream on film in this locale!”

Now we just need to convince our cookbook editor that Americans will steam sponge (gluh).

 

The Bad:

Although it felt great to be with my coven again, great to be in England again, great to eat Junior Poon’s Peking duck and decent Indian again, seriously great to go to my sacred tree (where I got my wand) and say hi, give its bark a pat and commune again, I was jittery.

I’d left my Spellbounds behind.

There were the protection spells and Fay was there, not to mention Octavia, Beatrice and Pandora had all left England and gone to Denver to cover for me, looking after Josie and Rory, but I was still nervous.

It was more dangerous for them in England than it was in Denver.

But still.

 

The More Bad:

I was going to see Aidan soon.

He knew I was in the UK.

And I knew this because I was still avoiding his calls.

 

The Worst:

I was back at The Gables, and although it also felt great being back at The Gables, Ash was with me and he was back down in The Dungeons.

I didn’t go to The Dungeons (yes, I was prophesied Savior of World, but The Dungeons scared the bejeezus out of me).

So far, he hadn’t come up to the Tower Room.

In fact, after the whole Tinker with My Heart Discussion, he’d barely spoken to me.

Even though I felt I had every right to (continue to) be mad.

This bummed me out.

Totally.

I missed him, all right?

Ugh.

 

11 February

 

Well, I’d done it.

I was lying on the chaise lounge in my Magic Room at The Gables, feeling all sorry for myself because that room was no longer alive and filled with all the precious junk I bought to be an awesome witch and save the world.

Instead it was all empty (save the furniture) and desolate and uncared for.

In fact, the whole of The Gables felt wrong because no one was in it except me, and far, far away from me, Ash.

And I was remembering the last year. How a lot of it had been unfun (electrocution, getting shot at, losing Althea, almost losing Ash, etcetera, etcetera).

But most of it had been awesome.

I was a witch.

I was powerful.

I met Lucy and Josie and Rory and had the best coven in the world.

I fell in love (twice).

I had a dad.

I had a brother.

And the year had also been filled with food and fun and movie nights and girlie chats and magical lessons and comings and goings and excitement and sisterhood and now…

There I was…

Alone.

In the shell of what once was one of the many hubs of my busy existence, and although I had demanded to be treated like an adult, with respect, and be given my due…

I was acting like a child.

Because what was in all of that above?

A lot of I’s.

In other words, I was being totally self-involved.

In two days, we’d be heading down to the Faerie Realm. Some very real shit was going to go down for BecBec. I was going to see Aidan. Aidan was going to see me (and me with Ash, even though we were barely talking).

And I had not allowed myself to process what had gone before so I could step forward with any true purpose into what was coming.

I was clinging to my anger at Aidan rather than realizing I had lost what he might have been in my life, he had lost it too, and I wasn’t moving on from that, for him and for me.

I was clinging to my denial about what happened that night rather than processing that Althea had lost her life so I could do the work I needed to do. She’d done it of her own free will, she’d lived her life knowing that would be her end, she felt it was an honor.

But it was mega upsetting.

Bottom line, I was alone when I didn’t want to be and I didn’t have to be.

On this thought, I straightened from the lounge, went to my bedroom, changed for bed, lay down in the dark with the covers up to my neck and then I did it.

I thought about my black dragon.

Ash’s mind-meld call sign.

I did it just once.

I’d extend the branch (okay, weakly, but I was doing it).

He had to grab hold.

No way I was going to beg (or at least, I wasn’t going to start with begging).

I lay in the dark, with my back to the door, and the time ticked by.

All righty then.

He was pissed and now he was going to hold a grudge.

My stomach started hurting right before I felt him enter the room.

I waited for him to say something.

He didn’t say something.

He didn’t do anything either.

Until he did.

The covers shifted. The bed shifted.

And he fitted himself to my back.

Okay, so somehow after years of picking dickheads, I got a guy who hung up his towel, took a bullet for me, knew when I needed him to be there and then he was there.

And that wasn’t (totally) about our mind-meld.

When he slid his arm around my waist, I asked, “What’s the queen like?”

“She has kind eyes.”

I totally knew it.

Everyone thought she was distant and uppity, but all she looked like to me was a sweet, jolly Granny.

“I haven’t processed Hallowe’en,” I admitted.

“No.”

“I should probably do that.”

“Yes.”

“Althea was kind of annoying, but she was the best wardrobe advisor I ever had and I’m uncertain about all my selections for the Faerie Realm. I could use her about now.”

He had no response. He just tucked me tighter to his body.

Okay, time for the tough stuff.

Or at least the stuff I thought would be tough for Ash.

Ack!

“I miss Aidan,” I whispered.

Ash shoved his face in the back of my hair.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Don’t be.”

“I, uh, kinda remember what I did at the hospital after you died.”

“Mm?”

OhGoddessOhGoddessOhGoddess.

Okay, well.

Whatever.

I had to say it.

So I did.

“It was always, um…you.”

He turned me then, and I thought (hoped) he’d kiss me, but he didn’t.

He dug his other arm under me and wrapped both around me so tight, my head tucked under his chin, I was having difficulty breathing.

Weird.

That was so better than a kiss.

Still…

“Ash,” I wheezed.

He released some pressure.

“I…uh, well, Aidan, er…saw that and…”

“Knows it was always me.”

I shoved my face hard into his throat.

“He understands.” (Ash, whispering in my hair—right, then: hangs towels, throws himself in front of bullets, and whispers sweetly in my hair, how did I get this lucky?)

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“I’m scared for BecBec.”

“You should be. There are grave punishments for doing what’s Forbidden.”

Oh boy.

I tipped my head back to look at his shadowed face.

“Like what?”

“You’re vulnerable right now, Matty.”

“Like what?”

“And you’re stubborn all the time.” (Ash muttering)

“Like what?” (Me proving him right)

“She could lose her charge, you, which would be a big loss as you are who you are, and it was a grave honor bestowed on her to be assigned to you.”

I had to admit, I really didn’t know anything about this faerie assignment business, but I didn’t ask after that right then because, well, what Ash was saying would suck and I would miss her (more) if I couldn’t be around her.

I mean, we’d never truly spoken words to each other because I didn’t understand a thing she said.

But I knew two things:

She was mine. And I was hers.

You didn’t need language for that.

Okay, I knew three things:

The last and most important, she’d saved Ash.

So Ash was alive, and if we weren’t talking elfin capital punishment (which was impossible, as they were immortal), at least I could live with that and hopefully BecBec could too.

“Or they could clip her wings.”

I shot straight up in bed and shouted, “Say what?”

Ash sat up too. “Matty—”

“That…that’s heinous.”

“Mathilda—”

“We can’t allow that.”

“If that’s the sentence, we’ll have no choice.”

Oh yes we would.

If they didn’t let her off and they laid that sentence down on her, we were totally breaking her out.

“You know, I can actually feel you scheming,” Ash noted.

“I’m not scheming,” I lied.

“And I can get in your head so I know when you’re lying.”

I said nothing.

Ash pulled me back down in his arms, dragged the covers high to my shoulder and settled us in a way he’d never settled us before.

Him on his back.

Me tucked tight to his side.

It wasn’t The Spoon.

But it was all kinds of awesome.

See?

He was a Master Cuddler.

“Go to sleep.” (Ash being bossy)

“Okay, now that we’ve come to an understanding, we need to come to another understanding. That being you understanding you can’t boss me.” (Me being me)

“We’ve come to an understanding?”

Uh…

Was he missing how mature I was being?

I gave him a squeeze as my answer.

“We have a long way to go, Mathilda.”

I pushed up to look down at him. “What’s that mean?”

“The fact you have to ask that means we have longer to go than I thought.”

“Okay then, what’s that mean?”

“Go to sleep.”

“Don’t wanna.”

Okay, all maturity was gone. Now I sounded like Rory.

“Right, then. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

“Ash—”

“Goodnight, Mathilda.”

“Ash!”

He rolled into me, which meant onto me, and I shut up.

He was asleep in approximately five seconds.

Fucking Ash.

 

13 February

 

Seriously, every time I thought my life couldn’t get more bizarre…

It does.

 

I’ll take it from the top.

In the summons from the Imperial Order, we were instructed to meet Prunella, the Hag of the British Witches Council (and although she fought on the side of the Modernists in the Battle of The Tor, I had no idea where she truly stood) at a Faerie Mound in the Forest of Dean.

I was a) wary because I didn’t know if Prunella was friend or foe and b) nervous to see Aidan again.

One good thing, Ash seemed chipper (for Ash, which meant his eyes got lazy when he saw it, “it” being me wearing his bracelet).

But me = Basket Case.

Ash and I were first to the Faerie Mound and I could tell right off the bat when Prunella arrived that she and I were of like mind as to what to make of each other.

This didn’t start off great when she looked right at Ash when she showed and demanded, “She knows to behave with the utmost respect in the Realm, I trust.”

To which I pointed out the very obvious, “I have ears, Prunella. You can talk directly to me.”

She also had obvious stuff to share. “You also have a mouth.”

“BecBec did the right thing.”

“The Fae don’t see it that way.”

“Well, they’d be wrong.”

As an aside, while Ash was sleeping and I was semi-fuming, semi-enjoying being tucked under his warm, hard body, I’d figured this out.

I totally had her defense down pat.

But that would come later.

“So in other words,” Prunella said to Ash, “she is not aware she behaves with the utmost respect in the Realm.”

“Take a chill pill, Pru,” I said. “I can disagree and be respectful.”

“You will understand I have my doubts about your ability to do that after you advise me to take a chill pill.”

She sounded so grossed out at having to say these words, I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into laughter.

Though I managed that feat when I felt him.

I turned and watched through the moonlight sifting through the trees as Aidan approached.

Although in the ensuing time between me coming to an understanding with Ash, Ash not doing the same with me (huh), and I’d come up with a defense for BecBec, I had not figured out what I would do to apologize for being so uncool with Aidan after he left.

Though, it turned out, I didn’t have to decide.

When he got close, I took off running and body slammed him with a hug.

Without hesitation, his arms curled around me.

That hurt like hell.

And felt great.

“I’ve been a child.” (Me)

“It wasn’t a good situation for anybody.” (Aidan)

“Seymour.” (Ash, right there, up close—of course, he’d won but it was impossible for him not to piss on his patch)

“Wilding.”

Having made his point, Ash moved away.

I pulled my face out of Aidan’s neck and looked up at him.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Do you think we can be friends?”

He looked sad.

But he still smiled.

“Absolutely.”

We broke apart and Aidan held my hand as he walked us back to the Faerie Mound.

When he stopped us, he let me go.

(Wretched)

When he let me go, Ash claimed me by wrapping an arm around my waist.

(Nice)

(Yes, it appeared my conflicting feelings hadn’t evaporated with the resolution to the two-boyfriends issue, and I was beginning to understand what Ash meant about having a long way to go.)

It was then Aidan asked, “I thought we were only going to be in the Realm for a few days.”

“That’s what we were told,” Ash replied.

“Then why do you have four suitcases?”

I bit my lip.

Aidan shot a genuinely amused grin at me.

All of a sudden, I felt tons better.

There’s a lot to get into about opening a Faerie Mound to be escorted to the Realm, and I can dig you might be interested in how one would go about doing that, but for the sake of time, I’ll just go through the basics.

One, Prunella and me had to shroud that area of the forest because when the Mound is open, a shaft of light will come out that’s so intense, it would be seen from space, governments would freak out, soldiers would probably be deployed, and explanations would have to be made.

And I didn’t have a real great batting average with governments of any persuasion so far.

So we were certain to perform the ritual that sealed that area tight.

And as said light was so intense, Ash made me stand still while he stuck two, thick, black pads to my eyes that were taped to my skin (please hold up Urban Decay All Nighter, please hold up) and then tied a thick scarf around my eyes and then set some googles over all that.

I know, overkill.

But also, I kinda liked my sight so I was down with triple protection in order not to have my retinas burned to a cinder by Faerie Light.

I suspected in the time nothing happened between that and Prunella and I calling to the Guardians of the Realm to open the Mound, Ash and Aidan were taking the same safeguards, because suddenly Ash grunted and that was when I heard Prunella say, “It’s time.”

We chanted the elfin chant she’d emailed and told me to memorize.

And it happened.

I had pads, scarf, goggles and my eyes were closed and still…

After a loud rumble that not only assaulted my ears, but shook my entire body, I had to turn away because the light still burned my eyes.

Yikes!

 

The illumination muted and I heard the Mound close behind us, then a deep, silken, authoritative voice stated, “You can remove those.”

I was a little confused as faeries were wee things with wings that zing, zang, zoomed around and talked in high-pitched, mile-a-minute voices.

So it goes without saying that I was flipped right the fuck out when I pulled off my goggles, the scarf and the eye patches to see the two most beautiful creatures I’d ever laid eyes on in my life.

And that’s saying something because Sir Sebastian Quincy Wilding was my boyfriend.

And Dr. Aidan Knightly Seymour was my kind of ex-boyfriend.

They were both six-five if they were an inch.

Their bodies—and I could see almost all of them as they were on display—were pure, brutal, compacted muscle.

Their hair was long, golden, thick and flowing.

Their ears had points at the top backs, though these points were not pronounced. They were just awesome.

One had eyes the color of glowing amethysts.

One had eyes the color of radiant citrine.

They each had large, beautifully formed wings that were not feathered, they were translucent, but they were beautifully shaded (in yellows, greens and blues—elf with amethyst eyes; oranges, reds and yellows—elf with citrine eyes).

They each also had bands of tattoos that looked like studies in runes around their beefy biceps (amethyst elf had tattoos in black, citrine had them in henna).

They were wearing kinda loincloths with longish fronts that had a slant that left one sinewy thigh mostly exposed, came down to the point at the other knee and the material was pearlescent. And on their feet were sandals with thin gold straps that crisscrossed all the way up almost to their groins.

And although their skin was a golden tan, their bodies looked like they’d been smacked with gigantic powder puffs dredged in varying nuances (gold, rose gold, pearl—elf with amethyst eyes; champagne, gilt, geode—elf with citrine eyes) of the shimmer dust women used to highlight their cleavage and cheekbones.

And they were such they could totally pull off shimmers and those loincloths.

Yowza!

“Your female is very beautiful. We have heard this about The Mathilda in our Realm. You will need to guard her,” Amethyst Hottie said to Ash and Aidan.

Wow.

He thought I was beautiful.

I felt Ash’s fingers curl into the back waistband of my cords, and he used them to pull me his way.

“I’m just with him.” I jerked my thumb at Ash. “But we’re like, really, super close friends.” I jerked my thumb at Aidan.

“Super close friends who engage in coitus?” Citrine Hottie asked.

Nosy!

“Um, no,” I answered.

Citrine Hottie looked to Ash.

“I request the honor of engaging in coitus with your female.”

Holy crap!

“Me, as well,” Amethyst Hottie added.

Oh my Goddess!

“Fucking hell,” Ash muttered.

“If you have concerns we will steal her heart with our superb lovemaking skills, you can watch, we will do it together, and if you wish, you can participate.”

Holy Threesome/Possible Foursome, Batman!

I made a strangled sound.

“With respect, no,” Ash said (super low).

They both nodded immediately, apparently no harm, no foul.

Well!

Aidan chuckled.

I shot him a look.

He didn’t stop chuckling.

“Can I see BecBec?” I asked the elves.

They both tipped their heads to the side in confusion.

“You know, my friend. The one on trial,” I explained.

“Bellabeccabec?” Amethyst Hottie asked.

Was that her full name?

Wow, that was a mouthful.

And very pretty.

“Yeah, her.”

“We will show you to your quarters and then we will make this request for you, attractive human female.”

“I’m Mathilda.”

“I know. You are also an attractive human female.”

I couldn’t help it.

I dipped my chin, looked under my lashes at him and smiled.

He smiled back.

I felt my breasts swell.

Ash pulled me closer to his body.

Hmm.

“We’re ready to be shown our quarters now,” Ash stated.

Both elves looked to him, nodded and then they turned and faced the wall.

Really, their wings were amazing.

It was then I noticed that we were in a small room in a cave that was lit by no apparent light source and the dark walls that closely surrounded us had a kind of glitter to them. Prunella wasn’t with us (she was only there for added power and to make this visit official).

And that was it.

We were standing there and then…

It happened.

The glitter turned to streaks and the room was no longer a room.

It was a tunnel and we were moving through it but doing so without seeming to actually move.

“This…is…so…cool,” I breathed.

Citrine Hottie turned to look over his broad shoulder at me.

“We have much in the Realm that will delight you, beautiful human female.”

“I already know you’re right,” I agreed.

He smiled at me…huge.

I smiled back.

Aidan got closer and muttered to Ash, “I take it you didn’t warn her of the seductive powers of elves.”

“I didn’t think I had to,” Ash grunted.

Aidan chuckled again.

Citrine Hottie started to stare at my chest.

Ash reached around me, grabbed my forearm and lifted it up in front of me, around about the area of my breasticles.

“She’s bonded,” he growled, showing Citrine Hottie my diamond bracelet.

Citrine Hottie looked disgruntled and turned forward.

Ash left his hand where it was even as he curled my arm around my belly and his mouth came to my ear.

“Focus. BecBec,” he ordered.

“Right,” I mumbled.

And we speeded to the Realm.

So, I flipped through my last Book o’ Shadows and saw that I was remiss in explaining some things and just plain old didn’t know other things.

I’ll rectify that now.

Faeries and elves are the same thing.

The way they can be the same thing is that, on earth, not in it, as in, in the Realm, they’re faeries.

Think Tinkerbell.

The instant they hit the Realm, they come into their true form.

The form of the elf.

This being what met us just inside the Faerie Mound.

They could, of course, take their true forms on earth, but only if they wanted to be put in Elf Gaol as that was also a Forbidden.

Mostly because this was known to cause havoc amongst the humans because, well…they were just that gorgeous.

But also, “coitus,” with whoever they wanted to engage in it, was not Forbidden, but impregnating a human female was, or getting impregnated by a human male was, as there were severe strictures on race mixing.

This was not about superiority/inferiority or anything icky and bigoted like that.

It was because it was very rare (to almost nonexistent) a human female would survive giving birth to a hybrid human/elf. Further, the child (in the unlikely event it survived) would be deformed and have a significantly limited, but most important, seriously painful lifespan.

Ditto with a female elf having a human male’s baby. Although she survived childbirth, it was uncommon for the child to do it, and if it did, it tended to be sickly or diseased and did not survive very long.

In other words, heartbreak all around that was best avoided.

So it was unlawful.

Furthering all this, elves were immortal, humans weren’t (the reason why progeny was impossible to achieve), so there’d been some rather dramatic episodes à la the movie Highlander, because loving an immortal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Witches lived long.

Vampires lived long.

There was magic that would extend a human lifespan.

But immortal was just plain immortal.

And when you lived, like, a million years, finding the love of your life who lived, at best, two, maybe three hundred of them seriously blew.

I had not been let in the know about how coitus could happen with elves and humans (they were allowed to take their normal shapes? magical condoms?) to ward against pregnancy because, when I quizzed Ash on all this, he only said, “There is utterly no reason you need to know.”

Ahem.

I would find in short order I didn’t have to worry about my wardrobe.

The Elfin King and Queen had provided one for me.

They provided Ash one too.

He just refused to wear it.

I could see this as it was a variety of different shades of pearlescent loincloths.

I still was disappointed.

General observations about the Realm:

It was impossible to describe the Realm.

Once our cave-tunnel stopped, we were on a ledge that had what seemed like hundreds of glittery-stone steps hanging in midair that led down into an impossibly deep, humongous glittery-stone cavern out of which homes and entire buildings were carved, unusual, insanely colorful, ridiculously beautiful and amazingly bountiful flora sprouted, and ridiculously beautiful elves flew about, and essentially it was a feast for the eyes.

I had no idea why an elf would go to the human world and zing around when this was their home.

At first sight of it, I honestly wondered if I’d ever want to leave.

Unexpected boon caused by the Realm (or more likely, hottie elves who wanted to have coitus with me):

We were not granted access to BecBec after being shown our quarters (which were essentially one huge room with a huge (round!) bed covered in a snowy iridescent coverlet (think sleeping under a sheet of liquid snow crystals that was actually solid), big, circular windows with glorious views of the Realm, a bevy of funky furniture (all made of circles or curves, there weren’t a lot of corners in the Realm, even on the buildings) and a luxurious attached bathroom that seemed the entirety of it was carved out of one, gigantic opal).

We were to dine with the King and Queen.

It was late earth time but…

Seriously?

Awesome!

I had just donned one of my gifts from the Big Kahunas (think sorta ballerina tutu, in ivory, strapless, gathered vertically from bodice to three-layered short skirt, with a thin, silken cord binding the midriff and platinum sandals that crisscross laced up to my thighs).

Obviously, I’d left on the bracelet.

(Didn’t want to give any of the males any ideas.)

I was coming out of the bathroom to see Ash wearing what he wore there, sans his peacoat seeing as it wasn’t deathly cold with a double hit of moisture which made it ghastly cold like it was outside the Mound in February in England. It was quite warm and pleasant.

He was wearing a pair of attractive, dark wash jeans, a black cashmere sweater and boots (it was no loincloth, but I wasn’t complaining, he wore clothes well).

And I was worried for BecBec, I was nervous about giving testimony.

But I was excited as all hell about meeting the King and Queen of the Elves, seeing their palace and, of course, more elves.

“We should go,” I said to Ash.

“Come here,” Ash, standing at the foot of the bed, said to me.

I stopped at the (round) door.

“We need to go.”

“Come here, Mathilda.”

This was my guy and it wasn’t like I didn’t know him.

So I blew out a breath and went there.

I barely got there before I was on my back on the bed and my little elfin panties were being scraped down my legs.

“Uh…” I said to the sparkly ceiling.

Ash’s face appeared above mine.

“We’re about to understand each other better, darling,” he purred.

Someone was staking his claim.

Yippee!

His face disappeared from my vision, but it went somewhere else, and I was never going to experience firsthand the true depths of the seductive powers of elves.

But I didn’t need to.

My knight in cashmere and denim gave phenomenal head.

And by the time he was done with me, I understood that completely.

I walked between Aidan and Ash into the massive palace dining room (Aidan was dressed like Ash, except his jeans weren’t as dark a wash and his sweater was blue).

Aidan was not in a good mood and I had a feeling this was because I couldn’t quite hide the fact that I was a girl who just got me some, and got it good.

I wanted to touch his hand or say something to make it better, but I didn’t want to hurt him more, and I didn’t think there was anything I could say to make it better.

And anyway, two mega-gorgeous female elves were leading our way to a podium (leading the way, I should share, by flying in front of us, I mean, how cool was that?).

There were elves off to the sides, quite a number of them, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the two beings sitting their thrones.

The Queen of the Elves (Ash had shared her name, Queen Maithieliel—pronounced May-thee-elle-ee-elle) had a mane of white-blond hair, eyes that shone of pearl (that might seem weird, but she worked it) and a St. Tropez tan.

The King of the Elves (King Cystiennien—pronounced Siss-tee-en-ee-en) was the only being I’d seen in all the Realm who had dark hair, as in black as ebony (and it gleamed) and his eyes shone oddly, but attractively, of the bluish-green muddled with red of a bloodstone.

Their thrones were carved of stark white marble (as was the entire room, it was nearly as blinding as the Mound opening) and the table before them was created by a dazzlingly stunning mosaic of the same.

“The Mathilda and her Protectors,” the king boomed magnanimously as he stood. “An honor indeed!”

The Queen sat serenely.

Our elfin escorts flew off to the sides and hovered in the air.

I dropped into a deep curtsy, because I’d likely never meet Liz, so I wasn’t going to let this brush with royalty go to waste.

“And she bows to the elves!” the king shouted jubilantly.

I rose and looked between them. “It’s our honor to be invited to your beautiful Realm.”

“It is under grave and terrible circumstances you stand before us,” the queen rained on my parade.

I focused on her.

“My dear,” the king murmured, resuming his seat.

“Do you know the last time the Lament was sung?” she asked me.

“Well…”

I drew that out because I wasn’t sure my answer of “a super long time ago” was what she wanted to hear.

“You stand before me, the blush of climax still on your cheeks, given to you by the mouth of a man whose feet should not stride earth or Realm or any land.”

Now, hang on a second.

First, I might not be a prude, but I wasn’t big on someone announcing to all and sundry that my boyfriend had just gone down on me, and second, Aidan didn’t need to know how I got me some, and third, Ash could stride anywhere he wanted as was his destiny.

Both Ash and Aidan closed in on my sides.

“Do you have, like, cameras in our quarters or something?” I asked.

“He does not have the stain of climax on his cheeks,” she explained.

Good Goddess and all things stony and thorny.

“Your Majesty—” I started.

“We eat!” the king announced.

And boom!

I jumped as behind us, three gilt chairs with alabaster velvet cushions appeared and another mosaic marble table popped up in front of us.

Before we even rested our asses on velvet, gold chalices formed on the table with gold chargers and snowy linens topped with gilded silverware sprung up on the table in front of each of our seats.

“Sit, sit,” the king bid.

We sat, sat, and sat.

A bacchanalia in the form of food and wine suddenly covered the table.

I mean, I hadn’t even reached for anything and half a dozen of the most scrumptious, juicy, thickly coated chocolate-covered strawberries I’d ever seen rolled off the edge of the table along with a tumble of what appeared to be de-shelled lobster tails.

I was a girl who liked her food, so I was all up for this kind of orgy.

But sadly, Maithieliel wasn’t done with me.

“It was without our permission that the Fae charged to your side at the Battle of The Tor,” she announced, drifting an elegant Barbie hand toward Cystiennien as an explanation of “our.” “The fate of those bound to earth holds no interest to us. In future, we will not continue to be involved.”

“Mai,” the king bit.

I looked at her as it occurred to me that I had a war to win, Aidan was being forced to sit with Ash and me, I’d left my Spellbounds in good hands, but they weren’t my hands, and it was coming clear nothing Ash, Aidan or I said was going to alleviate BecBec’s plight.

Suddenly, the Realm didn’t seem all it was cracked up to be.

“As three of those bound to the earth—” I started.

“Mathilda,” Ash said low.

“—with respect, I’m sensing you care very little, and I understand that, in this glorious, opulent Realm—”

“Matty,” Aidan growled.

“—but these two men at my sides mean something to me. One has recently had his heart broken, by me, a happenstance I could not avoid. One shared something incredibly intimate, for the first time ever, with me, and you announced it to everyone in this room. They may have figured it out, but it was special, and you made an ugly point of it that wasn’t nice. Now, if our being here is not going to help BecBec, I ask only an audience with her so I can share my profound gratitude that she gave me a gift as precious as the one she gave me. And my profound sorrow that she’ll have to pay dearly for this selfless act. And then we three have things to do.”

Maithieliel glared at me.

I took it.

She kept glaring at me.

I kept taking it.

“BecBec?” she spat.

“Bellabeccabec,” I said.

She said not a word

Then abruptly, she zoomed up in the air and flew out an open window.

Cystiennien sighed.

“She had a human lover,” he said. “She was smitten but forbidden to sing the Lament when he was at his end.”

Apparently, open marriage was practiced amongst the elves.

I could see that.

A million years with one dude might get a bit trying.

Not to mention, being married to Maithieliel didn’t seem like it was all rainbows and moonbeams.

“That sucks, but I’m assuming he was not destined consort to a witch who would save the world?”

Cystiennien’s lips twitched before he said, “You assume correctly.”

“Well then,” I said smartly.

He smiled.

Then he gestured with a big hand. “Eat, eat.”

I reached for a lobster tail even though I’d sworn off lobster (repeatedly) like I’d sworn off bacon and pork chops (repeatedly) because their road to my belly wasn’t a fun one.

But, you know, willpower wasn’t my strong suit.

I was commandeering a ramekin of drawn butter when I felt Ash’s lips at my ear.

“I’m your consort?”

I turned to look into his dancing eyes. “Quiet, or you’ll never have the stain of climax on your cheeks.”

“An effective threat,” he muttered, sitting back in his chair, his lips curved, his eyes still dancing.

Fucking Ash.

I turned to Aidan. “I’m sorry. This is—”

“Matty?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll live.”

I studied him closely, found he spoke truth, and smiled.

 

14 February

 

Today is the day for BecBec and I am fah-ree-king out.

Wait, Ash is waking up.

Okay, um…

Whoa.

Ash was now in the shower.

I was in our liquid snow bed with the blush of climax on my cheeks.

Ash had the stain of the same on his.

I knew this and I couldn’t see him because I also had a delicate fall of diamond earrings in my ears seeing as it was Valentine’s Day, I was a “Wilding Woman” and that was his present.

Ash had a band of gold made of Celtic knots on his left ring finger that I’d found between us coming to a semi-understanding a few days ago and us very, very recently coming to a firmer understanding seeing as I shared that it was a promise ring, but mostly he was just too hot to be walking around without my mark on him somewhere.

Ash liked this understanding a lot and intended to communicate how much with his mouth, though not using it to form words.

I liked his intention, but had my own, so in the midst of him giving me his, I introduced myself to a part of Ash that had been withheld from me for far too long.

In short order, I found it was as impressive (if not more) as the rest of him.

I went about getting intimately acquainted with it and my favorite number used to be three.

Now it’s totally 69.

Nice.

Happy Valentine’s Day to me!

Much later:

Things are dire.

Way more dire than I thought they would be.

The first day of the trial was over.

BecBec looked like hell.

She wasn’t glowing with health and vitality.

She wasn’t shimmering and glittery.

Her hair that was light-brown in my world, but had a butterscotch sheen here, seemed lank, her wings of pink and yellow and coral seemed dull.

And she hadn’t been blasted with shimmer dust like everyone else in the room (save Ash, Aidan and me).

Even gray and shadowed and clearly sinking into herself mentally as well as physically, in her true elfin form, she was amazing.

But she was losing hope.

I could see it.

And she had reason.

They were going to clip her beautiful wings.

So something had to be done.

And I was sensing the someone who had to do something was going to be me.

 

15 February

 

Ash, Aidan and myself testified today.

An elfin trial, maybe not surprisingly, was not like a human one.

There was no jury, for one.

Just three male elves who sat in a triangle at the front of the room and watched the proceedings, looking kinda bored.

I recognized one of them. He’d come to the Gathering I’d been summoned to all those months ago.

This was, by the by, officially the “Imperial Order.”

The collective of the race of the elves was known as The Imperial Order like Americans were known as Americans. But these three males were like a super abbreviated version of Congress.

The King and Queen were the Big Kahunas.

The Imperial Order were their mouthpieces and made most of the minor and some of the major decisions based on their interactions with their people, unless, of course, the King and/or Queen vetoed it as they had the final decision in everything.

Both the King and Queen were there, but they didn’t say anything.

In fact, the only person who spoke was the prosecutor-type elf (BecBec had no defense attorney, no one spoke for her at all, not even herself).

And this male could pontificate at length, which he did.

I mean, I did not know you could say so much about performing the Forbidden and how wrong it was, and how long it had been since someone had done it, and the ramifications to the human and Fae world when it was done.

I was pretty sure his intent was to bore the triumvirate into a guilty verdict.

So even though I normally had the attention span of a gnat, I also had bruises all over my thighs under my ecru and sparkle-sequined tutu where I pinched myself so I wouldn’t lose concentration.

Ash (of course) noted what I was doing and tried to take my hand.

But I sent him a look and he quit doing that.

Aidan testified first and I think he said about five words, all of them interrupted, before he was dismissed from the stand.

He looked infuriated as he resumed his seat beside me.

Ash didn’t fare much better.

So he looked enraged when he took his seat at my side.

In other words…

This was a waste of time.

And a total farce!

I was last.

And I was ready.

I let the prosecutor male interrupt me and I sat and listened as he preached and preened and pointed balefully at a visibly terrified and alternately hopeless-looking BecBec while I sat the stand and he didn’t ask any questions of me at all.

And then when I was dismissed, I stood.

But I did not go back to take my seat.

I turned to the triumvirate.

“The human Mathilda, you are dismissed from your testimony,” the prosecutor-type male announced behind me.

“This is your world and this is how things are done,” I said to the triumvirate, feeling the keen attention of them, and the King and Queen.

“The human Mathilda! You are dismissed!” the prosecutor-type male’s voice was rising.

“And please, I beg you, do not take this as disrespect that I speak directly to you.”

“The human Mathilda! You are dismissed!”

“Rules are important. Laws more so. I get that.”

“Remove her to her seat!”

“Touch her and every Faerie Mound will be destroyed,” I heard Ash growl.

There were gasps.

I ignored all this.

“And everything this gentle Fae has said about how important it is not to break them is true. But Sebastian Wilding is my destiny and Bellabeccabec played her part. Your world is so beautiful, my world must seem insignificant. But it isn’t to me. And I’m fated to save the woman who will make great and amazing and important change in my world. And he is fated not only to keep me safe in doing that but also make me happy. Bellabeccabec played her part. Maybe it wasn’t right, but it was her destiny. So please, please, please, do not clip her beautiful wings for simply meeting her destiny.”

With that, I walked from the witness stand (which was just a chair on the floor in the center of the round room) and moved back to my seat.

Though, I was pretty proud of myself that I didn’t flip the bird at the prosecutor as I went.

“You will disregard that disrespect!” the prosecutor demanded pompously of the triumvirate.

“You make a meal of this, Golinienien,” the king sighed. “Move on.”

After I sat between Ash and Aidan, I glanced up at BecBec in her box situated ten feet up on the wall and saw her staring blankly at nothing.

“We totally have to break her out,” I muttered as Golinienien resumed holding forth.

Aidan made a noise like a grunt.

“Hush,” Ash shushed me.

I ground my teeth.

The torture of that day (for Ash, Aidan and me, not BecBec) ended about half an hour later with the announcement the prosecution rests, and the verdict would be shared in the morning.

The boys and me trudged back to our quarters and had a very lifeless dinner of delicious food that tasted like sawdust (at least to me).

None of us was looking forward to tomorrow.

The writing was on the wall.

By the way, Faerie Mounds were important not only as they gave the elves entry into my world, but because that gave them entry into alternate dimensions, the only gates to which could be found on my world.

Wrap your mind around that.

Alternate dimensions!

And Ash’s threat was a big one because, if these immortal beings were stuck in their Realm without various other worlds to explore, they’d wish they could die because they’d perpetually be dying of boredom.

They needed those Mounds, and more, they needed the witches and Le Société, who guarded them.

So…there.

 

20 February

 

Right, so, well, not a surprise.

I was in big trouble.

Because my pleas fell on deaf ears and BecBec was sentenced to having her wings clipped.

I had a strong suspicion Maithieliel was behind that because, when the verdict came down, Cystiennien looked fit to be tied.

Which meant BecBec would not only be flightless as they severed then cauterized the muscle that moved the wings, they also mutilated the wings so those glorious appendages would be reduced to little stubs on her back.

A great shame to any elf.

One to be borne for eternity.

And obviously, I couldn’t let that happen.

And Sarionion (pronounced Sar-ee-oh-nee-on, or Amethyst Hottie) and Traeneanean (pronounced Trey-nee-ah-nee-an, or Citrine Hottie) wanted to bed me.

And apparently elves were super horny, and even though they’d seemed cool that Ash had laid down the law that wasn’t going to happen, they tended to get fixed on things they wanted.

They were also Guardians of the Realm so they pretty much had carte blanche to go anywhere they wanted and thus had access to everywhere I needed.

Ash had shared all of this with me not really thinking I’d take things so far.

I knew him.

But I guess he was still learning about me.

One thing he knew about me, but didn’t know I would use it, was that I had serious magic.

And I had my wand with me.

So…um…

Gaolbreak!

Eek!