Niall gave his cousin a half smile, almost apologetic as if Serena was some poor excuse for a bride!
“If Queen Irenis hasn’t informed you yet, you’re to marry Princess Serena of the Mabara kingdom,” Niall said.
“A winged fae?” Micala responded indignantly, his brows pinched together in a dark scowl.
“Well,” Serena said in a huff, “not that I want to marry one of your kind either, dark fae.”
Niall cleared his throat. “Maybe we could have this discussion in…private.” He motioned to Cassie, who was staring wide–eyed at Micala.
“What did you say, Micala?” Cassie asked.
“Winged fae, is what he said, in a totally obnoxious way, I might add,” Serena growled.
Red–faced, Micala, probably figuring the difficulty he was in with having to talk to invisible fae in front of a human girlfriend, said to Cassie, “I just remembered I have a very important meeting I have to attend. I’ll escort you back to the swimming pool at your hotel and see you in about an hour for dinner?”
“No dinner, no escort. Didn’t you hear what I said, Count?” Serena asked, hands on hips again, wings outstretched, flapping slightly, showing her irritation. The gold ring around her eyes was reflecting off Micala’s dark brown eyes, not blue like Niall’s she noted. She imagined that it was only a matter of time before the gold ring appeared around his.
Giving her one last dark look, he spun around and hauled Cassie toward a hotel. “Sorry, Cassie. I don’t know what made me forget that appointment. Well, I do. Whenever I’m with you, I forget everything.”
She smiled adoringly up at him.
Serena stomped in the sand beside her. “Oh, please, spare me the human dramatics.”
Niall walked beside Serena and cleared his throat.
She glared at him. “What?”
“Maybe we could go to an ice cream parlor and get some ice cream or something cold to drink while we wait for Micala to join us.”
“With her wings on full display?” Micala said incredulously.
“What?” Cassie asked so sweetly, Serena wanted to puke.
Micala’s face reddened again. “Sorry. Just thinking aloud.”
Serena smiled, loving that he was making a fool of himself in front of the human.
“All right, Micala?” Niall asked.
He nodded and before Serena knew what Niall was about to do, he transported her inside an ice cream shop. If she hadn’t been so angry, she would have loved the decorum. A mural of the sand and surf and puffs of white clouds drifting aimlessly across the sky over the bright blue sea covered the four walls. Wisps of white birds floated on the breeze and white sand crabs nearly blended in with the off–white sand. Palm trees were scattered about, framing the mural at the corners of the walls. The painting looked like something she might have created.
Small white wrought iron tables and chairs were situated about the place, the chair seats covered in blue and white striped fabric, encased by plastic to keep them dry in case of water–logged beach customers like Niall and Serena. The shop was devoid of customers, while a guy working behind the ice cream counter dressed in a blue and green floral shirt and blue jeans, stacked disposable bowls on a shelf.
The shop was cold, had to be because of the ice cream sitting in huge tubs behind a glass counter, and she shivered when she appeared visible, her clothes and hair still wet from the swim in the Gulf. The place smelled sweet, and she took in a deep breath and smiled when she spied the chocolate ice cream, sprinkles, and chunks of chocolate. Not that she was any less annoyed with Niall. She turned to glower at him.
Niall eyed the clerk, making sure he was still oblivious to their being in the shop due to the fact they hadn’t entered through the door, which would have initiated the ringing of a bell. He quickly made himself visible before Serena spoke to Niall as agitated as she looked and cause further trouble. His hair and pants were still damp, and the rest of his clothes were still lying on the beach, but this was a beach resort and thankfully the shop didn’t require shoes and shirt for service.
Serena wet hair dripped over her shoulders, her clothes clinging to her curves, and he tried not to look too much. Although when she gave a little shiver, he wished he’d had a towel to give her.
She worried about him gawking at human girls in bikinis? By the gods, he couldn’t quit looking at Serena. He couldn’t even imagine how beautiful she’d be in a bikini with her wings displayed behind her.
“I didn’t appreciate your interference,” she snapped at him. “I had every right to speak my mind to Micala, my betrothed.”
Niall smiled, which seemed to surprise her as her eyes widened a bit. Did she think he’d be upset with her for not treating his cousin better? He didn’t blame her in the least and if the roles had been reversed, he probably would have tripped Cassie in the sand. Although he knew the girl and liked her well enough. He only would have considered tripping her if he had been Serena.
“What would you like to eat?” Niall asked Serena.
Her attention shifted to the canisters of ice cream. “Ice cream? Really?”
“Sure.”
“Hot fudge sundae with nuts and whipped cream and a cherry on top. But chocolate ice cream. Not vanilla. And chocolate sprinkles.”
He grinned at her and bought her a double dip of a hot fudge sundae, then bought another, but this one had mint chocolate chip ice cream instead.
“Hmm,” she said, eying his sundae. “Is it as good as it looks?”
He offered her a spoonful. She slipped the spoon in her mouth and swirled the mint and chocolate in her mouth. “That’s really good.” Then she frowned at him again, and pointed her spoon at him before she scooped up a bite of her own sundae. “I’m not done being mad at you.”
But as soon as Micala stalked into the shop, scowling, she looked like she was about to throw her ice cream at him.
Niall quickly offered her a seat, though she didn’t sit.
“What is this all about?” Micala asked Niall, as if the winged fae didn’t exist.
Which piqued her fury even further. Her cheeks flamed red and she glowered at him with gold rings ever widening around her eyes.
“Pay the man for our ice creams,” Niall said. “We came here so quickly, my pouch of coins is on the beach still.”
Micala cursed under his breath, giving Niall a dark look.
“I’ll pay you back later.”
“He’s the one who forced us to come here,” Serena said, taking another spoonful of her ice cream. “You shouldn’t have to pay him back.”
Micala eyed her for a moment, shook his head, then stalked over to the counter and handed the man the required payment. When he returned to the table, Niall said, “It’s true. Our aunt signed the betrothal agreement.”
Micala folded his arms. “I won’t marry her.”
“Why? Because you’re stuck on a human?” Serena asked, the rim of her eyes glowing an even brighter gold—Niall had never seen anyone’s glow that brightly—and her wings lightly fluttered, which more than intrigued him.
Micala glanced back at the store clerk, who was watching them curiously, but then he said to Serena, chiding her, “You’re a little early for trick–or–treating, aren’t you? And getting a little too old for it, too.”
“You’re never too old to have fun,” Serena said. “Adults have Halloween parties all the time. Isn’t that right?” she asked the clerk.
He grinned, looking at her wings spread wide and nodded.
“They might have Halloween parties, but that’s months away. Not now. Besides, what does he know? He’s human,” Micala muttered.
“Yeah, just like that girlfriend of yours. And you better ditch her or else.”
“Or else, what?” Micala asked hotly.
She cast him her most threatening glower. “Ask Niall.”
Micala glanced at his cousin.
Niall shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”
Chapter 12
r /> Micala turned his full glower from Serena to Micala. “What did you bring her to South Padre for anyway? Did Queen Irenis send you?”
Niall didn’t have a chance to answer. Serena slammed her unfinished cup of ice cream on the table. “You know what? I’m not marrying the likes of you. No matter what my mother and your aunt decreed. I’ll take my chances with the dragon fae.”
“A dragon fae?” Micala snarled, his eyes narrowing.
Before she could vanish, Niall seized her wrist and shoved his hot fudge sundae at Micala, who barely grabbed hold of it when Niall yanked Serena out of the shop.
“No fae transporting in front of humans, Serena,” Niall scolded, heading back to the beach where they had left the rest of his clothes and her sandals.
“I don’t come to the human world all that often,” she sniffled.
He noticed then she was fighting back tears. “You can’t see Sir Reginald,” he said angrily.
She didn’t say anything, just went along with his marching her through the sand, her wings wilted, her shoulders stooped, her expression one of dejection.
But he was still frustrated with her over her continued proposal that she marry the dragon fae knight.
“I mean it. He’s not the one for you.”
“Where will we go then?” she asked in a beseeching manner. “The fair won’t open again until Saturday. We have a whole week before the tourney, and you can joust against the Black Knight then.”
“Home. I must take you home. You’ll tell your mother you will attend the joust and—”
“She will not allow it!”
“What do you suggest?”
As they walked along the beach, she smiled up at him with a gleam in her eye like a mischievous fae would. “The sleeping potion no longer affects you. If you return me, I’ll likely be confined to the tower for safe keeping again. And you can rescue me at weeks–end.”
He shook his head. “Next time they’d be on the look–out for my return and incarcerate me for sure.”
“All right then. Where do we go that’s neutral territory? Somewhere that no one will give us a second thought and leave us be?”
“No place is totally neutral. Even though the sphinx fae are supposed to be. If it suits them to let your mother know where you are, they will.”
“Well, where else then? Someplace in the human world?”
He frowned at that.
“We cannot go there because of my wings,” she said sourly, flapping them lightly.
“No, it’s not that. I cannot be with you for a whole week without your being chaperoned. It just isn’t done.”
“Surely there is someplace we can go.”
“Maybe,” he said finally, reaching his clothes piled up on the beach, “we could stay with a distant cousin of mine.”
“A dark fae.”
“Aye,” Niall said dryly, not liking Serena’s tone of voice. “She happens to be an assassin, so you would have to mind your tongue around her.”
To his surprise, Serena’s expression brightened. “Does she use poisons in her line of business?”
Niall groaned. He could just see the two women getting along fine, and he would have to watch what he said instead.
He crouched to help Serena put on her sandals, and she smiled down at him. “Hurry, Niall. I want to meet this distant cousin of yours.”
“I have to warn you Lady Sessily’s father haunts Castle Armonjas.”
“Really? How fascinating!”
“And she’s taken an interest in a cobra fae.”
Serena’s eyes rounded.
“She might be entertaining him and not like the intrusion.”
Serena smiled again and helped Niall with his tunic. “Nonsense. We can share secrets about our potions.”
Her comment surprised him because no fae from another kingdom would do such a thing unless she planned to marry into the family. Serena had to be aware of such a thing.
“Let’s go,” Serena said, taking his hand and waiting for him to transport them.
“I don’t want you to take up her occupation,” Niall warned, not moving from the sandy beach. Then he spied Micala headed their way, his face grim.
Why was Niall ready to shove Serena behind his back in protective mode, when she was betrothed to Micala, not him?
“Where are you taking her?” Micala asked, sounding perturbed.
“What do you care, dark fae?” Serena asked, tightening her hold on Niall’s hand.
Micala ignored her. “If I’m truly to be betrothed to the wench, I have to know,” he said to Niall.
“We’re going somewhere fun,” Serena said. “You have your little human friend. Do run along.” Then she looked up at Niall and smiled. “Hurry, Niall. I’m ready to go.”
Micala reached out his hand to Serena as if to grab her wrist and stop her. “You aren’t going anywhere until I know your destination.”
“As if it’s any of your business since you have no interest in me,” Serena snapped.
“It is my business if you’re to be my bride.”
“I’ll keep her safe, Micala,” Niall assured his cousin, but he knew if he told him where he was taking Serena, Micala would have the royal guard dispatched, and they’d return her to her own kingdom. Most likely she would be incarcerated once again in the tower.
He wouldn’t permit it.
Micala opened his mouth to object, but Niall transported Serena first to the turtle fae kingdom where he briefly saw Lady Minxsta, their busybody distant cousin in the kitchen herbal gardens. She waved to speak to Niall, her eyes bright as she saw him holding hands with the winged fae. The word would soon spread he had been spotted again with the pixie–like fae. First, word of the kiss went all over the place, now this.
Quickly, he transported Serena to a thickly forested area a few miles from Lady Sessily’s castle in an attempt to allow Serena the opportunity to sufficiently sweep away their fae trail long before they reached his cousin’s estate.
“Who was that dark–haired woman we saw on the grounds of the turtle fae castle? She looked dangerous.”
“Aye, that she is,” Niall agreed. “She will have word sent at once to the Denkar.” He took a deep breath. “You will have to do your trail scattering while we make the long hike to Sessily’s place. Can you manage the journey? Your sandals are not as sturdy as my boots for walking through this rough terrain.”
She slipped her arm around his waist. “I will manage fine, as long as I don’t have to return to the tower.”
But it wasn’t long before Niall was carrying her through the woods.
“I can walk,” she insisted.
“You already twisted your right ankle. And next it will be your left. As dark as the night already is…” He didn’t say anything more, figuring she got his point.
But then he heard horses walking through the woods. Instantly, he tensed and crouched down. It could be Lady Sessily or her staff, or any of the Denkar living in the sparsely settled area. Or it could be thieves, or worse, the same men who had tried to take Lady Sessily and the cobra fae Prince Creshion hostage on the outskirts of the cobra fae kingdom.
Duke Tully and his band of hostage takers were dragon fae, and they would not stop at taking high–borns hostage no matter which kingdom the royal fae resided in, despite that the Denkar royal guard had tried to take the men prisoner several times in the past. But if they learned one of their own knights intended to marry Serena, they’d whisk her away to the dragon fae’s royal seat of power at Castle Crislis, Niall was fairly certain.
Serena patted her pockets and whispered in Niall’s ear, “I have my weapons if they are our enemy.”
“Your sleeping powder? And deadly poison?” he asked, surprised.
“Aye. I put them in my pockets when you were sleeping in my herbal cottage.”
“Yours? Not the old lady’s?” he asked, recalling that he had never asked about Magdana once he’d fallen asleep in the cottage.
“What?” S
erena asked, her voice confused, her brow furrowed.
“I know I heard footfall in that direction, just east of us, my lord,” a man said.
Friend or foe? Without being able to see the men clearly, Niall didn’t have a clue. And he and Serena were still about three miles south of Sessily’s estate. But he wasn’t going to chance having anyone take Serena hostage.
“We have to hazard fae transport,” Niall said. “Even though it’ll make it more difficult to eliminate our fae trail near the castle, I can’t risk having these men find us if they are trouble.”
“All right.”
“There they are!” a man shouted.
Horses galloped toward them in the thick underbrush, but the men reacted too late. Niall transported Serena to the front gate of Sessily’s castle, torches lighting the entryway to the grounds where Welford, one of three guards Lady Sessily employed, appeared to be getting ready to lower the portcullis for the night.
He was wearing a navy blue uniform trimmed in gold that bespoke of the wealth Sessily had amassed while working as an assassin. Although the guards didn’t often wear their best uniforms except for show, normally. Since Niall was only Sessily’s distant cousin, which meant just family, and she didn’t even know he was coming, he wondered why the guard was dressed in his finery.
The guard shoved back his blond hair, frazzled by the wind, his sharp blue eyes taking in Serena, but only with a quick perusal, not a lengthy one that would have been insulting when she was obviously with Niall. Of course when considering a potential enemy, Welford would have studied her much more carefully.
Two other guards were watching them from the wall walk above, making certain that Welford wasn’t about to have any trouble from the new visitors and most likely curious why Niall would be carrying a winged fae here in the first place.
She waved her hand behind Niall, doing her best to sweep away their fae dust trail with a high wind so that no one could follow.
The guard stared at her actions for a moment, his gaze on the wind that quickly left the area, then he smiled, and beckoned them to enter.
“My lord,” he said, then glanced at the osprey fae again as Niall carried her into the inner bailey. Welford added with utmost reverence, “And, my lady.” Not that he knew who the lady was, from the expression on Welford’s face. It was more a look of surprise to see a winged fae in the dark fae’s realm and perhaps awe because, if he knew anything about the Mabara, he would know she was of the royal household.