24Luc knelt at Amy's side, struck for the first time by her mortality. He had never noticed her human weakness, overshadowed as it was by her many strengths. Her shining, powerful soul was never petty or changeable. In the short time he had known her she was generous and forgiving, loyal to a fault. Lust at first sight grew into the most intense feeling he ever experienced. It was new. The pain of it both hurt and healed every part of him. He thought about the way she looked at him and wondered why he had never spoken his feelings when they practiced magic or touched each other in the meadow. Luc was in love, and there wasn't a chance in the deep that he would let her die before hearing the truth from his lips. He drew the long knife from its sheath and banished his armor. Dressed the same as the first day they met, Luc ran his gloved hand down her pale cheek. She was cold, but still alive. Amy whimpered and flinched away from his hand without waking. In a movement made silent by the absence of his mail shirt, Luc pulled back his arm, turned his head, and plunged the knife deep into Geoffrie's leg.
"Now, Sean!" he shouted, but Longtooth's loud curses had already signaled Sean to begin. "I'll distract him." Geoffrie staggered back and drew his sword. Luc's knife lodged in his calf right behind the armor plated greave, where he had no chance of removing it. He swayed on one leg, with his face set in hard lines of pain.
Luc called his armor to him, but he reached for his own, newer set at home instead of making another copy of his old set. The mistake might have cost him his life, the way he lounged toward his uncle unarmed and bare-chested, but a slender rapier appeared in his outstretched hand. Luc was uninjured, well rested, fully charged by Diamanta's magic, outfitted in the best scale armor a fae prince might wish for, and furious with blood lust. Hardly a moment passed before they traded blows, Geoffrie's weakening defense barely keeping pace with Luc's flickering blade. Every block and parry saved his skin, but the cloth of his shirt fluttered in tatters around his arms.
Geoffrie's sword flew at last from his hand after blocking a killing blow to his heart that would have pierced through his armor. The sight of Longtooth unarmed and dazed stayed Luc's hand long enough for the younger fae to change the direction of his attack. He shifted his grip on his sword. Luc spun, exposing his back briefly to his opponent to gain momentum. The basket guard on his rapier crashed into Geoffrie's face so hard that his head snapped back and his eyes rolled.
Luc stunned his uncle with an elementary spell, the kind of curse that children used on each other as a joke, just to be sure. Bleeding and insensible, his uncle fell to the sand. Luc banished his old knife rather than try to pull it out and backed away, amazed. He only struck once with this blade, where it lodged in a bone and made further knife attacks impossible. He watched as a dozen wounds opened on their own, bleeding freely from all over Geoffrie's arms and body. Rips appeared on his clothes where Geoffrie's temporary repairs failed, and half his black hair was burnt away. Bruises blossomed across his slack face. Longtooth had clearly been having a bad night. Something, or several things, had done their best to weaken or kill his dark uncle before he arrived. Luc's stomached turned uneasily as he wondered what he owed for the life of his beloved. There were few things powerful enough to lay Geoffrie this low. Luc thoroughly scanned the dunes, searching for signs of a presence he might have missed, some large and deadly monster capable of dealing such damage. He found nothing. Silence answered him from the trees, and gentle rippling sounded from the water.
Sean finished his spell. A cloud of smoke boiled out of the crystal toward the unconscious fae and settled around his body. The smoke then retreated into the trap, taking Longtooth with it. The clear crystal took on a black cast, with a solid dark center of rolling clouds. Luc froze the trap in time, so the clouds looked like obsidian glass surrounded by dark quartz. He could not die now, but neither could he heal, the frozen time locked him in a permanent moment of agony. Luc made sure of it, because he banished the stunning curse before freezing the trap. Ashamed of his petty revenge, Luc looked down at the blood on his hands. Fae blood of his own family, drawn by his own knife. At least he struck to injure, not to kill. When he summoned the knife again it would be clean, the blood vanished somewhere into nothingness between here and there. He sent the knife and armor, sword and soiled gloves back where they came from. Luc's own guilt would never vanish. It was impossible to know what punishment he might face for choosing a mortal Soul Vessel over his own bloodline.
Sean stumbled down the sandy hill, weak from his magic use, and checked Amy's pulse. "Do you think she'll be alright? We need to get her to a doctor." He took off his coat and moved to cover Amy with it, but Luc shook his head. A word was enough to change her plain human gear for a warm woolen gown and cloak from Diamanta's closet in the castle.
"She'll be fine. My father has the best healers. We are very close to a portal that opens to the undine realm. It won't take long at all. One thing, Sean, that trap of yours needs work. You can't expect me to stab every fae you need to trap and fight him for five minutes while you chant yourself silly." Luc sounded more confident than he felt. He should be happy that he had regained his ability to summon real objects from his home and back. The curse that bound his magic was gone, most likely removed by his father. That meant the king wanted him to return and gave him the power to do so. "Sean, no matter what happens, you are my witness. Longtooth lied. I know what Amy thought on the pier. I read it in the wood. She loves me. No matter what he said, she did not betray me."
Luc ran a hand through his unruly hair, checked his clothes for bloodstains and damage, and replaced his gloves. Returning to the seat of his father's court looking ruffled or mussed was a mistake he would not make again. He only hoped Amy forgave him for wasting precious moments. Luc folded Amy carefully in his arms and walked into the soothing water. Being held by an undine protected her from the water no matter now deep he swam. She breathed normally, if a bit shallow, and stayed warm. Luc's time freezing spell made certain her condition was stable while his tail propelled them through the half salt, half fresh water intrusion the Siuslaw River made into the Pacific Ocean.
She woke slowly, her senses taking in the genuine pleasure of sun dried sheets. Song birds chirped sweetly, doves cooed, and her body was warm from toe to fingertip from the hot little generator spooning her from behind. It was a nice change. A hand, somebody else's hand, rested on her hip. It was petite and soft. Obviously female. She heard the deep, even breaths from her bedmate and the delicate tapping of clawed feet on a marble floor signaling the presence of many birds.
Amy nuzzled the satin pillow with her cheek, and spoke without opening her eyes. "Am I dead?" She felt heavenly, wrapped in comfort and not a single pain disturbing her body. She opened her eyes and blinked several times at the bright sunlight filling the bedroom. "This is a dream." Amy wasn't sure who designed and decorated this room, but she did know it wasn't a mortal woman. Nobody who ever had to wash sheets and dust drapery would have matched white sheets with a white canopy over the bed. The duvet simply had to have a fine white linen cover stuffed with the most comfortable down in the universe. White lace and gauze curtains floated in the wide open windows that looked out onto a jungle of flowering trees. She saw birds everywhere. Pigeons danced and cooed across the floor. She saw doves on the windowsills, nightingales on the headboard, and lovebirds on perches that protruded from the wall between the windows. The only possible way to keep this place so spotless was by magic. A large macaw rested on the foot of the bed, blinking sleepily. He purred to himself and then nodded twice.
"It is a needful dream," the macaw recited his lines with a slightly bored air, grooming his toes between sentences. "Your body is experiencing a lot of pain, and may die from its injuries. Once again I, Queen Lucinda, am keeping you alive. I brought your mind here so that we could talk." The bird looked directly at the queen and shook his head, but she motioned for him to continue. He squawked in protest before speaking. "Your watery friend has finished what I started. He defeated the dark one, and has plans to take you to the undine palace for healing."
Amy rolled over in the pixie queen's arms so she could see her face. Watching her in full human size allowed her to follow the eloquent changes in expression as the bird spoke, for the queen possessed no human voice. Her wide, serious eyes contained every mood of the sky. Her skin was kissed by the sun to a lovely shade of golden tan, and she smelled exactly like roses. Two fat tears welled up from those gorgeous eyes and down her tan cheeks.
"I'm so sorry, Amaryllis. I wanted to keep you safe. If you had come to me sooner, that monster never would have touched you," she sniffed softly. "He has no right to hurt you on my land."
Amy held the queen awkwardly and tried to wipe away more tears with the corner of a sheet. "Shush, it's all right. You did your best. You protected me the best you could. It's not your fault I never ate your candy."
"You aren't mad at me?" Amy thought that it was absolutely unfair that Lucinda could cry without looking red and puffy.
"No, I'm sort of flattered, even though I don't feel the same way." She looked down at the filmy white nightdress the queen had dressed her in. It was the type of dress seen on the cover of a romance novel loosely covering the heroine of that novel. Amy didn't feel very much like saving the day, though. She felt like someone who wanted to use that dress and the amazing bed for sleeping. The clouds cleared, and her eyes looked just like rainbows.
"You're mine now, fair as daylight," the bird said in a small voice. "You gave yourself to me, hungry little bird. Ate all the fae berries you wanted, didn't you? I can make you feel any way I want. I can keep you forever." The macaw preened a yellow feather on his chest, pretending to be fixated on the position of every feather on his front.
She touched her soft lips to Amy's, pressing her body closely to the startled human. This was no quick kiss hello. This kiss teased at the edges of her mouth. The pixie's venom caused her mouth to prickle with heat, as though she'd eaten hot peppers and needed a glass of cold water. Amy broke away when her tongue started sweating.
"Lucinda, Your Majesty," she stammered, trying to sound stern. Her body and mind were feeling far too many things to be sorted out while in bed with a very turned on pixie, so she shoved at least half of them away to be looked at when her life and sanity weren't on the line. "Really, you're wonderful, and I owe you for saving me. I love Luc, and now I know he loves me, and I don't want to be a pixie."
Her eyes changed like the weather, from rainbows to thunderheads that sparked and crackled. Her wings thrummed enough to blow back Amy's hair. "I love you. I know you feel something for me. You could be very happy in my flock. The wings looked precious on you, didn't they?"
Amy shook her head, determined not to survive so many dangers and lose everything by not knowing what to say. She ticked off facts in her head, searching for answers, but of all the fae the pixies were the most sighted and the least understood. They liked shiny objects, of course, and gathered jewels and pearls to surround themselves with beauty. Very territorial. They eat berries, and possess a venomous bite. They bathe daily but preferred shallow water free of fish and snakes. Finally, she felt the flash of understanding that would actually help her get out of this mess. Many birds mate for life, so if she proved how much Luc meant to her there was a chance Lucinda really would let her go. "You can't have me. I've given myself to Luc. I'm not going to change my mind just because you saved my life. He saved me first, last, and always." Amy tried to strike a balance between defiant and polite but decided it just wasn't possible. "We share a soul." The macaw screeched loudly once, twice, and did not speak again until Lucinda calmed down.
"It is strange the way the children of water learn love. A pixie's heart feels what it feels." She shrugged carelessly, so the white silk of her short nightdress rippled over her chest. "That's why I've decided to let you go."
Amy stopped the flood of relief almost before it started. The bird had a sly look in its eyes, and Lucinda did not play innocent very well. She had to expect that the fae either had another trick up her sleeveless nightie or was angling for another kiss. Her eyes glinted oddly, the left in full sun and the right in snow cloud black.
"In exchange for what, Your Majesty?" Amy asked cautiously, running her hand over the down filled mattress.
"The water fae owe me a debt. Your lover knows all about it. I was going to accept you as payment once I took you from them, but I will allow Luc to swear fealty to me so you can remain together." She nodded seriously, as if encouraging Amy to accept such a nice offer.
"No, Your Majesty. We will serve you for one month and then he and I can leave debt free, permanently." Amy realized her words sounded too harsh, and backpedaled when the pixie's left eye began to cloud over. Making the queen angry was a bad move. Debts to the fae must be paid in kind, and in full. Eating the berries was a legally binding property agreement with no loopholes outside of bargaining the exact duration of the ownership, so Amy hurried to change her tune. "But I do want us to be friends."
The queen clapped her hands. "How delightful, a negotiation on friendly terms. One decade each. I get to enjoy the power in your lovely dreams, and afterwards you and I will be good friends. You will visit often." Lucinda held out her hand to shake on the deal, as if it were too good to pass up. Amy shook her head.
"Twenty years? No way. Make it one year each served at the same time, where you get my dreams whenever you want. Afterwards we really will be good friends and I'd love to visit. Willingly." Amy quickly thought to cover anything she might have forgotten. "I keep my own voice and no pixie wings."
"Does Luc know you are this ruthless?" she laughed. "So wonderful, and I don't even get to keep you forever. It's a deal. But first, what shall we do until your dear Luc finishes begging his father for your life?" The macaw purred and hiccupped to itself while preening another feather. "You cost me a great deal of magic today, my dear. Let's have a down payment." The queen threw her arms tightly around Amy's shoulders and leaned in for another burning kiss.
"Yes, but what about the rules?" Amy yelped, cursing every modern edited book on fae lore for leaving out vital details about how to deal with horny pixies. Her heart was racing, not just with fear, when she tasted the queen on her lips. "Luc will kill me!"
Lucinda giggled and wrapped her hands in Amy's hair. "What Luc doesn't know can't hurt him, little bird."
The macaw leaned forward on his perch, bouncing up and down in a silly little dance. He turned his face one way, then the other, then twisted his long skull upside down, taking in the scene before him at every possible angle. His shook his long feathered wings out and squawked at another bird that landed too close, jealous of the view.
Luc found the portal opened, like it always had, directly on the boundary of the undine realm. To prevent uninvited attackers, any who used the portal arrived outside the bubble shaped shield. Only one with fae blood could sense the curtain of power, and only members of the royal family were allowed to pass through it at will. Well, members and their guests. He made certain that Amy was sleeping comfortably in his arms. The clusters of fae homes and businesses around the palace were bustling with citizens going about their daily chores. They wore their own natural tails and shells mostly, with polished scales and gold or silver chainmail belts dripping with titanium bells and crystal beads. While inside the palace, the fae under the waves dressed with great care and style. Outside the walls was a more casual dress code. He saw a group young undine boys racing from the barrier to the palace as fast as they could swim, trying to trip each other up the whole way. Several girls perched on a coral bench were busy decorating their long hair with shells and gems, their slender tails swishing the water when he passed. He thought at first they were too young to recognize him, but one of the young ladies pulled her hair out of her face for a better look and widened her eyes.
"Your Highness Luc! BabyI haven't seen you in decades!" She simpered at him. "Are you back for good or back in secret, like on a secret mission? I mean, daytime isn't the best for secret but we won't tell anyone you are here if you don't want us to." She threw herself from the bench, trailing a string of beads that had not been firmly attached yet and swam alongside. Her generous breasts bounced in her breathtaking top, a bra made of woven links of gold wire and amethyst drops. Luc looked away and thanked the waves that the buoyancy of salt water kept the soft gold from giving way in the face of overwhelming odds.
"I'm here to see my father, Violet. Does he still hold informal court the hour before midday?" Luc noticed Violet struggling to keep up but did not slow down for his former lover.
"You're in an awful hurry to get yelled at by His Majesty," she grumbled. "You won't miss the informal if you keep that speed up." Violet couldn't contain her curiosity for a moment longer, and Luc was not stopping to chat, so she fired a secret spilling spell at him and gasped at the sudden realization that hit her. "Luc, this is terrible. And wonderful. Amazing. I'm speechless, look at me! Completely struck dumb. Dagon's teeth, but this is the best day to attend court ever. Good luck, Luc." Violet's voice softened when she saw Amy's face. "Oh, and if I forget later, congratulations. I hope you proposed before knocking her unconscious, you unromantic jerk." She swam back to her group of friends to share the gossip that prince Luc was ensouled, in love, and off the market.
Thanks to Violet's secret network, Luc hurried directly to the palace without meeting any more ex-lovers. All the girls, women, and otherwise rushed to dress for informal court like a stampede of rumor hungry piranha. Most of them wanted to watch the reunion between father and son because there had always been tension between the two. An argument would fuel conversations for years to come. Luc didn't know whether to thank Violet for clearing the way, to never speak to her again, or both. He nodded to the guards standing at attention just inside the air dome, who waived him through without turning their heads. They choked back laughter when he stumbled over the sudden transformation from tail to legs. Undines who spend much time at court learned to sweep gracefully onto the walkway and straight into the throne room without missing a step, but Luc took a minute to find the family entrance hidden behind velvet curtains to the left.
From the sound of things, half the city was flooding the public entrances to bursting. Their eager chatter was just loud enough to cover his frantic heartbeats and sweating palms. Luc took a deep breath, checked his appearance in the mirror polish of the marble floor, and pushed the curtain aside. Make way, he thought, public humiliation coming through. Luc only had eyes for the throne. On it, King Moreau Laurentius, looking old but still strong, snapped his gaze to rest on his youngest son. He looked wilder than before, as if the sea was reclaiming him one piece at a time. The call of the deep was on him. Arranged around the throne, on padded benches, sat a small portion of his family. Luc saw sisters and brothers, most notably the crown prince and Diamanta. Luc saw his own mother sitting next to Melusine. His mother looked happy, in the general way of all Light Court undines, but his grandmother looked radiant. Tears streamed down her smiling face. She swept forward and threw out her arms to embrace Luc. Melusine looked at the nearest courtiers and they swiftly abandoned their seats so that Luc could lay Amy down. She spared them a gracious nod and sat next to the girl's head. The rules of court, no matter how informal, caused him to hold his tongue. Luc could speak to no one until after the king greeted him. He might be burning to talk to Melusine, but he remained silent. The outcome of this meeting depended on his obedience to the rules he had once hated.
Luc bowed at the waist, eyes to the floor, in the pose of submission to the throne. Time did not pass any more quickly in the fae realms, it merely had less meaning. Luc held his bow until his neck ached, until he wondered if the king was not going to acknowledge him and but would instead send him away in shame. At last, the seneschal spoke.
"The throne recognizes his highness, Luc Laurentius. You may rise."
"You may speak," the king's voice rumbled as he weighed his words. He looked as if he had more to say, enough to fill an entire day with lectures, but didn't know where to begin. In the end it was all too much to bother with, when a young prince who had never listened in the first place wouldn't even understand the parts he actually did hear. Luc cleared his throat and began with something unexpected.
"I came to beg pardon of the throne for my errors. I willfully delayed swearing fealty to the Light Court, thinking that it was unimportant. Now, nothing could be more important. I learned so much, above. If you will permit me, I will pay my debt by swearing as soon as Amy is healed." His eyes darted to Diamanta's wry grin.
"A father should be your deity, just as Dagon is father to us all. The father and mother give life. They come first, but I see that I am still second place to your petty needs and wants," the king sighed. "The girl will be healed. It is our nature to preserve such a wonderful creature. Even in her unconscious state, you can see the whole realm bending toward her like shadows around a fire, picking up sparks from her spectacular glow. My son, the debt you speak of is between you and me. Your next words will determine whether you finish your 300 year sentence here or alone in a meadow."
Luc sank to his knees and looked down on the warm stone floor while the soul that burned next to his heart told him exactly what to say. "I, Luc Laurentius, humbly beg permission to swear fealty to the king of the Light Court. I throw myself upon his mercy, believing that he has always and will always bear my best interests in mind. I place myself in your power, Father, with no conditions. I will go where you want me to go and do what you want me to do. Your judgment is supreme." The sound of a crowd in utter shock is a gasp of air into the lungs then moment of silence followed by a gust blowing out. Almost perfectly synchronized, like a trained choir, they dissolved into muttered exclamations and unfinished sentences that droned on like the flapping of sails in the wind.
His father's sword, passed down through more fae kings than he cared to remember, touched one shoulder before touching the other. The gathered court erupted in applause that made Luc miss the ritual words accepting his vow. "Rise, Sir Luc, and join your sister. She's been like a bowl full of sea urchins for the past month over you." King Moreau gripped Luc's shoulder before he could turn away, and pulled him into a tight embrace. "My Lord Seneschal, I think today's court has had enough excitement. Dismiss the assembled guests."
Luc slipped away from his father and tried to catch a glimpse of Amy. He bit back his frustration when his half brothers and sisters wanted to welcome him home. Of all of them, very few realized he was in no mood to talk to them with the question of Amy's health still on his mind. He searched every bench, but she wasn't in the throne room. Melusine probably took her to the healer in residence, an ancient Scottish selkie whose pelt was as large and white as a polar bear skin. The old man kept it hidden in a casket made of solid brass, but Luc had lain upon it once when he was very ill. Selkie pelts were proof against iron poisoning, so this healer saved the lives of many foolish fae children who swam in polluted sunken ship graveyards searching for mortal treasure. The amount of cold iron in a brace of cannon rusting on the sea floor could kill a little boy who went exploring without his shield charms and gloves. While his cousins tried to congratulate him for surviving so long above in one piece, Luc felt the absence of Amy's magic feeding his soul. How wonderful it must be, they said, to see home again. How could they know he didn't return in one piece? Half of him was swept away forever, so it was a ghost of the old Luc that answered them with a hollow mutter as he brushed past them to the door.
Why had he delayed swearing fealty to his own father? All the other princes earned their titles by joining the court officially as soon as they could ride an elf steed. He remembered the day of his trial vividly. His father was livid with rage over the death of a minor foreign noble who had joined his court from a smaller court in Ireland. Duke Keanan and King Moreau weren't the best of friends, but the king insisted on maximum punishment for Luc's crime of killing another fae in a duel of swords. Dueling and killing was not actually a crime. Fae, no matter light or dark, high or low, loved a good fight. However, dueling in fae armor on an island owned by humans, then killing your opponent without permission from the crown, was. He said that Luc's behavior was unforgivable, that even begging would not shorten the term of his confinement by a single day. The king didn't look angry anymore, even though Luc had escaped his prison term by half. He looked satisfied and proud. Luc also noticed how quickly he dismissed court, whether tired of the formalities or eager to embrace his son like a father should, Luc wasn't sure. The king's eyes looked farther out to sea, beyond the trivia of running a kingdom, like an old man looking forward to a long vacation. He would not be resisting the call of the Deep Ones for much longer.
Grandmother was another matter. She was a hopeless romantic and loved plotting in the lives of her family. She ran away to get a soul at the tender age of sixteen, during the early 15th century. She bore Luc's mother, Coralie, and ten sons while playing the part of a human lady. When Coralie was only 18, practically a child, Melusine played matchmaker for her to a German duke who owned a small castle on the Rhine. Half human though she was, she wanted nothing to do with waking the soul that Sir Raymond of Poitou seeded within her. She never allowed her new husband to touch her. When he became unfaithful, Coralie cursed his fleet of merchant boats and threw herself happily into the river to free herself of the beer soaked wretch. She embraced her undine side and never looked back. Coralie never talked about her time above, but a good scandal lasts forever. The story goes that she caught Moreau's eye the moment she crossed the barrier into his lands and became his queen within days. The twins were born within the year. Melusine loved them, spoiled their dinner with treats, brought them toys, taught them naughty magic tricks and was the first to forgive every prank they pulled or poor report they earned from their tutors, so her cold eyes scared him more than his father's anger.
Her face was blank and distant because she was flipping the years ahead so quickly she might not have realized how many she passed or how far she looked when she whispered Luc's sentence to the king. Was it a cruel kindness, to save him from the wild hunt by hiding him away, or through an arranged marriage meant to settle him down with a family, or both? The more he thought about it, the more obvious it became. Luc had lived with Melusine all his life. He knew she experienced visions, most often of the end or beginnings of life in her direct family line. For her face to be blank and smooth, eyes drinking in the future horrors like a black hole devours light, allowing no secrets to spill out from her own pained heart, the alternative must have been too terrifying for her to allow. So the serpent arranged Luc's punishment to save his life. He could not simply put a smile on his face and believe it was for his own good, that fifteen long decades of solitary confinement was the only future that kept her stock of grandchildren full. Luc punched a solid marble pillar before he felt the rage inside him propelling his hand into the stone.
His angry howl was immediately answered by the crack of bones in his hand and pain lacing its way up his nerves. Did it matter to her that Luc lost his mind a little near the end, not caring if the butterflies drank nectar from the flowers or liquid from the corners of his eyes? His hand dripped a faint trail of blood down the hall to the healer's room. Of course, she knew. Why else would she be waiting for him outside the selkie's door, her brow creased with worry?
"My darling, don't take this out on Amaryllis. You cannot go to her like this." She looked at his hand and clicked her tongue against her teeth. "Let me mend your hand, son." Luc jerked his hand away from her healing fingers, not ready to forgive the pain that ran deeper than a broken knuckle or two. Feelings of love and betrayal, both like fresh wounds, spilled in unfamiliar contradictions across his borrowed soul. He might study the patterns later, when they seemed less like the scattered blood collecting on the rug and instead became the great masterpiece of life, softened by time into less painful memories. Luc shook his head and refused to meet her eyes. If they spoke now he knew he would soon regret his words. He didn't want to explode at his grandmother before he saw that Amy was restored to health. His soul decided to end the confusion by decreeing that hurt and love were not permitted to occupy the same space at the same time. Luc's bitterness vanished like dew on the beach under the sun of Amy's presence. The thought of her waiting for him warmed his heart. He stepped around Melusine with his lover on his mind. She let him go, certain that he would come back to her in his own time.
While Luc was delayed at court, the selkie worked an amazingly fast cure on the girl. After she woke, as if from a refreshing nap with not a mark on her, the shy selkie grabbed his pelt and ran to hide it from the healthy human. Diamanta took over, introduced herself, and summoned a small feast of finger sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and petit fours, the tiny pastel cakes that the chef saved for the queen's tea later in the day. Amy blushed when her stomach growled. Diamanta cared for Luc deeply, so it was obvious that she was trying to bind Amy to the world below. The fae woman didn't know she had already broken the rules set down for humans centuries ago to avoid fairy food or forfeit the mortal world forever. Amy helped herself to a few watercress and cucumber sandwiches. She hadn't eaten any real food the whole day before the gallery show because of nerves, and the only thing she had eaten for dinner was pixie berries. They sat on the healer's most comfortable leather couch, filling Amy's empty stomach with gourmet treats and tea that tasted worthy of a Chinese emperor. When Amy set her cup down and sighed, Diamanta gestured at her dress.
"Luc has no idea how to dress a woman to suit her figure. Horrible taste. This blue wool isn't going to bring him to his knees. I have a better silk dress that matches your hair."
"I don't need Luc on his knees," Amy protested weakly. She had just faced down the woman's crazed uncle and didn't feel like starting another argument.
"Nonsense. Every man needs to spend time learning to sit up and beg. It is good for them, and you would be betraying women everywhere if you aren't wearing something that tears the heart from him the moment he walks through that door." Diamanta shook a small drop of flavoring into Amy's tea from a crystal vial and changed her dress with a snap of her fingers. "Haven't I been taking care of you? We will be sisters. Trust me."
"I guess if it is good for him, go right ahead." Amy sipped her tea while Diamanta fussed over her. A sleeveless dress of caramel colored silk, a perfect match for her hair in the subdued golden lighting, clung to her body from her bust to her hips, where it flared all the way to the floor just enough to allow her to walk. She draped a net of topaz gems linked with gold chains around Amy's neck, and wove another string like a crown around the top of her head, just catching her hair away from her face. As a final touch, she applied makeup and glitter to hide the subtle glow under her skin, a side effect from drinking the potion spiked tea.
Luc paused to be certain the healer had finished with Amy. He knew the girls had been chatting quietly, but they stopped talking the moment the door opened. Luc thought he saw the guilty look of girls sharing secrets in their eyes. He wondered exactly how his sister was involved in the plot. Standing in the doorway, Luc's gaze fixed on Amy dressed in jewels and silk, his pagan goddess. All he saw was the soft smile that captured his heart. Was it really that long ago? He had to trust, had to believe that she loved him in return, or all was lost. Only a very small doubt remained in his mind, but his heart whispered reassurances to him. The magic he felt from her in the sand dunes may have called fire down on Geoffrie, but the words that drove the fire spoke of a passion that was awesome in its strength.
Her lips moved silently, forming words that she held back as her heart fluttered in her chest like a frightened bird. She lunged for her cup, swallowing the emotions that spun out of control with her thoughts, drowning her unspoken words in a hasty gulp of tea. She could not, would not be the first to speak. Diamanta was clear on that point. Luc had kept his own counsel for so long, it was his turn to confess. He was free to act on his own now. The chain of wishes that bound them together had been shattered by the king Moreau. Amy felt the difference. Luc certainly did, because he stood before her in his father's kingdom surrounded by power and wealth beyond her imagination. This was the realm in which Prince Luc Laurentius belonged. The freedom frightened her. His next words were going to be very important for them both. She hoped they would be deeply honest and would breathe life into the love between them. He fell to his knees by her side and never felt the spell Diamanta cast to repair his hand before she ran from the room.
"Amy," he breathed her name uncertainly. "I suppose we should call you Amaryllis now. You look...," he paused again, scattering his thoughts. She looked fae, softly glowing with the familiar taste of human magic and a hint of fairy dust spun sugar-flavored with fiery cinnamon, hot and sweet and blatantly alive. "When we shared that chocolate cake together and you kissed me…that was the first time I had ever felt anything. I didn't know what to call it or how to say it. I had no words. I didn't even know what it was at first, but I knew it was more real than anything I'd experienced in the first 200 years of my existence. I've made some mistakes over the last month, but there is one mistake that I will never make again. You gave me half of your warm, tender, loving, human soul. Amy, I love you."
He took her small hand in his, and looked seriously into her face. He saw tears swimming in her glistening eyes. "I only hope you love me enough to forgive me for not telling you sooner. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"