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ASHA WOKE WITH A SMILE that widened when she saw her husband slumbering beside her. Dacrith’s hand was on her breast, claiming her even in his sleep. His silver-gold hair was tousled, hiding his handsome face. Shifting the locks aside, she marveled that he was hers. Somehow, death had fallen in love with her and she with him.
Hearing a pitiful whine coming from outside the door, her smile faded. The storm was still raging, even if it was in fits and starts now. Hexam had stood guard all night, but he was reminding her that she still had a job to do. She just wished she knew what they needed to do to restore the balance.
Waking when Asha slipped away from him, Dacrith frowned when thunder rumbled hard enough to shake the bed. “It appears becoming bonded hasn’t restored calm,” he observed, eyeing the naked dryad appreciatively. She was small, but lithe and toned.
“We have to do more,” she replied. “Olsa, can you please find me some clothes?” Almost before she’d finished speaking, she was wearing a gown. Like usual, it was in shades that matched her eyes.
“I might as well get dressed, too,” Dacrith said dourly. He threw the bedcovers back and before his feet hit the ground, he was wearing a tunic and pants. He was amused to see they were silver and gold rather than his usual black. It appeared the brownies had taken it upon themselves to update his wardrobe.
“Do you have any idea how we’re going to fix the realm?” Asha asked, crossing the room to hug him.
He held her tight, then bent to kiss her brow. “I have no clue,” he replied truthfully. “Maybe we’ll have an idea during breakfast.”
She gave him a skeptical look, then they headed to one of the rooms where the morning meals were usually served.
Passing a doorway, she glanced inside to see her former ladies-in-waiting gossiping. “The storms have become erratic,” Fronda noted in a hopeful tone.
“Is it because Asha and Dacrith bonded last night?” Wesnor queried.
“Maybe the dryad’s loins are magical,” Camlim said dourly.
“I can attest to that,” Dacrith said. Their heads whipped around and their mouths gaped open, but he’d already tugged his wife into motion.
Asha clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a mortified giggle. They found a room that was unoccupied and sat down at the table. Bindel, Olsa and Unwin appeared on the table moments later. “Will you eat with us?” Asha asked when they conjured up plates for them both.
Bindel looked astounded at the invitation. “Unseelie royals don’t dine with servants,” she said in a scandalized tone.
“I’d rather call you my friends than servants,” Asha said. “This will probably be the last meal you’ll have to provide for us. I’d like to share it with you as equals.”
The trio looked at Dacrith and he nodded in agreement. “If it was within my power, I’d conjure up a meal for you.” They couldn’t have been more shocked by that statement. “We owe you for all you’ve done for us and for everything that was done to you and your kin,” he added. “We don’t have the right to demand your services. You’re free now and you can leave whenever you like.”
Amazed when they realized the truth of his words, they conjured up small plates for themselves, then shared their breakfast with the soon-to-be crowned king and queen. Everything was going to change now. They just hoped it would be enough to right the wrongs and to restore calm.
After their meal, they headed for the throne room where the coronation was due to take place. The courtiers had already gathered and waited in an expectant hush. Again, Lord Nicolaia officiated. Bindel gave him the book that held the official ceremony. The dryad princess and fairy prince held hands as he recited the law that gave them the power to rule the Unseelie realm.
Reading the final lines, Nicolaia gestured at Lord Vanse and Lady Mildra to step forward. Both held crowns resting on bright red cushions. Dacrith and Asha patiently waited for the delicate gold crowns encrusted with gems to be placed on their heads. Then Lord Nicolaia turned to address the Court. “Members of the Unseelie Court, I give you your new King and Queen!”
Everyone waited in an expectant hush, but the storm didn’t magically fade away. “It didn’t work!” someone shouted and frightened murmurs swept through the courtiers.
“I guess her loins aren’t that magical after all,” Camlim said in catty triumph.
Dacrith spoke before fear could overwhelm the courtiers. “There will be changes now that Asha and I are your rulers.” Silence fell again and it was an uneasy one. “Firstly, the goblin dungeon will be shut down. No one will be sent there for punishment or for your entertainment ever again.”
King Lod spluttered in outrage, but Asha glowered at him, daring him to protest. “That’s not all,” she said ominously. “Dacrith and I rescued the brownies. They are all free to leave this realm, which means we’re all going to have to fend for ourselves now.”
“You can’t do this!” an anonymous voice shouted in anger. “They’re our servants! How are we supposed to cook and clean for ourselves?”
“I might have a solution,” Unwin said as he and his wife appeared on Asha’s shoulders. Bindel arrived as well and perched on Dacrith’s shoulder.
“Go ahead,” Dacrith said, hoping it could stop an uprising from happening.
“They can pay us for our services,” the brownie suggested.
“What?” someone asked indignantly. “Your kind always serve your masters and mistresses out of devotion, not for money.”
“You lot don’t deserve our devotion,” Olsa said hotly. “We’ve been imprisoned and oppressed and taken for granted for eons. If any of us choose to stay, we’ll do so only if our demands are met.”
“That sounds fair to me,” Asha said with a grin. It was the perfect solution, actually. The fairies would continue to have everything done for them and the brownies would be fairly compensated for their work.
“You’re trying to turn us into Seelie fairies,” someone protested. “What right do you have to force us to change anything?”
Zeroing in on the unfortunate courtier, Asha’s temper flared. Her eyes turned silver, her skin turned gray and her arms became long vines, but she retained the rest of her dryad appearance. The crowd let out startled gasps when she began to glow. The faint outline of pixie wings appeared behind her.
Focusing on the courtier, Asha’s vines shot towards him and closed around his arms and legs. He let out an unmanly shriek of terror when she dragged him through the crowd. “Are you even aware that this realm is dying?” she snarled, dragging him to his knees so she could glare down at him through glowing eyes. “Due to the greed, spite and evil that emanates from you all, this land has become rotten to the core. We have to change, or all will be lost.”
“My Queen speaks the truth,” Dacrith said, placing a hand on her shoulder in solidarity. “We’re not asking you to become good. We’re not asking you to change your selfish ways. We simply expect you to treat the brownies who choose to remain with civility, if it’s even possible for you to muster up a pretense of it.”
Letting the courtier go, Asha wrapped her vines around Dacrith as the fairy scrambled to his feet and slunk back into the crowd. Her husband didn’t flinch away from her, but looked down at her with love in his gray and gold eyes as he put his arm around her waist. “You don’t have to change,” she said, addressing them all. “I’m the trinity; good, bad and neutral. I’ll shoulder the burden of keeping the balance as was intended long before my birth.”
“You won’t shoulder it alone,” Dacrith told her. “I’ll share the burden with you.”
“Do you accept us as your rulers?” Asha turned to ask the Unseelie Court. “Can you abide by our decisions and treat the brownies and other fae beings with a semblance of respect rather than with contempt and abuse?”
Seeing the thick gold bands that bound the pair together, Lord Nicolaia knew they were bonded in love as well as by duty. He wasn’t happy about the bargain they’d made with the trolls, but this was their only shot at fixing what was broken. “We accept,” he said with a pointed look at the other advisors. They weren’t happy about it, but they echoed him.
Dacrith spread his wings out, revealing that they’d changed with his coronation and the vow he’d just made to his queen. The black edges had grown from six to eight inches, but they were threaded with gold. He would never be a full Seelie fairy, but he was no longer pure evil.
“We accept your rule,” Kurtus said, then went down to one knee. Awed into compliance, the rest of the Court murmured their acceptance and bent their heads and knelt as well.
In response to their show of fealty, there was an apocalyptic crash of thunder that rattled their bones, then the storm finally ceased. A ray of sunshine speared through the windows to illuminate the new Unseelie monarchs.
Instead of spending the rest of her life feeling bitter and alone as Asha had feared, she would have the love that Jake had foreseen. The man she loved stood at her side and against all odds, death loved her in return. She should never had doubted the half-fae hunter. Jake’s fairy intuition was always right. By becoming bonded and being willing to take up the burden of restoring balance to the Unseelie realm, they’d achieved their destinies.
Cheers rang out, but Asha’s ring turned cold to warn her that the courtiers’ happiness was fabricated. While she knew their reign wasn’t going to be easy, she was confident that everything would work out in the end.
