Page 13 of The White Stag
“Just the truth. She has a healthy fear of Alastair because of how easily he took her and manipulated her. Alastair fears you, so I think she does too, a little. We need to tell her more about you.”
“Men like Alastair fear nothing, even though they should. He had no problem walking into my court and asking my husband to sell him our daughter. Make no mistake. My daughter would have grown up in my house if Alastair had been afraid of me. He wouldn’t have kept trying to get his pasty palms on her after they banished him. Is there a status update on the cockroach?”
I told Estrella what Reagan did to his manservant and that he’d probably not done anything significant because he was trying to fix that little bastard’s brain quicker than letting the tea wear off. Estrella threw back her head and laughed.
“That’s my girl.”
“Finnan was the one whispering in his ear once he was out, so there’s no telling what the man is doing or saying now. However, it wouldn’t shock me if he thinks he’s a chicken laying eggs and is shitting all over Alastair’s mansion.”
“I love his big, beautiful hobgoblin brain. His idea was probably just as good if he didn't do that. I’m sending you a file. Please show it to Reagan.”
“Her eyes only?”
“No. You were all there for this. It’s her baby photos before she went to the mortal realm. Some of them are intimate photos with Fox and me, and others were from when we threw that party to show her to the kingdom. I have a few from the ceremony when the three of you were bonded to her as her guardians. I had hoped to show her these myself, but I want you to do it to make her comfortable to meet me.”
“We can do that without taking that moment from you.”
“I already lost so many of her moments because of Alastair. This is his fault. Do it. We’ll make more memories when she’s back with us. Monitor Alastair. He’s stupid enough to involve human authorities in Fae business.”
“Oh, to be sure. He knows she can’t cross the border until those pills wear off, and he thinks she took them with her. Alastair isn’t going to figure out Finnan poisoned his food until he’s been neutered of his magic. The Seelie won’t help him, so he’s going tohaveto get help from the humans. Considering we’re in a safe house at the border in an entirely different country, he’s going to hit a wall getting help from authorities here. What’s happening with the ambassador you sent to the Seelie Court?”
“That uppity prick is well aware my daughter was missing, and his stupid son was the prime suspect. He’s also well aware that if I sent a Hydra to meet with him, she’s been found, and he will have to find a more permanent solution for his spawn unless he wants another war. So he’s put Nova up in his best room and has his people spoiling her and trying to distract her so he can avoid her. He’s always been a coward.”
“Well, yeah. Even I’m fucking scared of Nova. She bit that Ifrit’s finger off when he got handsy with her at the pub.”
“He had it coming. She knows better than to bite off a body part of Seelie royalty, even iftheyhave it coming too. I needed a firm hand to deliver this message, and she’s the best.”
I heard Finnan hollering to me they were going outside. Estrella heard it too. We both knew Alastair could guess the general direction we had gone in, but not where this cabin was. She still needed all three of us out there, just in case. Especially since I knew where they were taking her to swim. It was a hike from our cabin.
“Go,” Estrella said. “Don’t keep her prisoner like Alastair did. Let her go as she pleases, but ensure she’s protected.”
“She’s always loved swimming. I know she’s a fire sign like you, but she takes to the water like a Kelpie. There’s a lovely lake nearby with a gorgeous waterfall. So we’re taking her out there.”
“Good. I didn’t just pick the three of you because you’re strong. You’re also good men. You can keep her safeanddo it in a way that she enjoys. Go take her swimming.”
Spoiling Reagan and taking her swimming was the least we could do after Alastair got his hands on her on our watch.
Finnan
Iwas well on the road to undoing all the limited portions that numpty gave Reagan, but we needed to do something about how pale she was from hardly ever being allowed outside. That had to be miserable for her. I wasn’t saying she would end up a Nemean lioness like her mother, but she sure enjoyed sunning herself like one. So it was cruel of Alastair to barely let her outside.
She wasn’t going to come out like the water signs, but she loved the water like she was. Reagan had always been a strong swimmer who never wanted to get out once she got in. Since the border naturally repelled mortals, this place was untouched and unpolluted by humans. Reagan could have either been feeling the effects of those pills wearing off or being too close to the border with that poison in her system.
Cyrus finally joined us. He was sort of our unofficial leader and did a lot of check-ins with Estrella without us. There wasn’t one scheduled today, but I’m sure whatever he had to say was vital if he called her without Reagan. Estrella was expecting a video call with her. I wasn’t about to bother her for anything unless I had Reagan with me.
We stepped outside, and our little fire sign turned her face to the sun and sighed. We all just stood there grinning while she soaked in the sun’s rays and fresh air.
“Where are we?” she asked. “I know we’re at the border, but where is that?”
“The Unseelie Court is in Scotland. The Seelie Court is in Ireland. They sent you to America because we all thought it would be harder for Alastair to find you there. Our courts differ completely from the mortal realm. We aren’t actuallyhere,technically. When you can cross, we will walk through the barrier into another realm. The courts are massive, with different countries inside. We all came from different areas of the kingdom,” Oisin said.
“So, that’s why you all have different accents, then?” she asked.
“Mine is superior,” I pointed out.
“Check out our garden. We have Unseelie plants and herbs growing here. We grew the Laceflower we needed to wake you up from that tea here. We also have fruits and vegetables planted, so we don’t constantly have to cross over to eat. We get things we can’t grow, and sometimes, we’ll hit up the human markets to save time,” Cyrus said.
Cyrus had put a lot of time into what grew here. It wasn’t just for Reagan either. He preferred Unseelie food to what was available in the mortal realm. Never tell him I said this, but a Happy Meal at McDonald’s could be a happy place if you weren’t a total snob. Chicken shouldn’t even remotely be shaped like a nugget, but there was some kind of human magic that went on when they took a chicken and made it nugget shaped.
