how fond of the faery my mother had been. It was good that she hadn’t been forced to choose. “She is happy?”
“For the most part,” Marcus replied. “It’s impossible for her to be completely happy since she misses her first child.”
“Tell me how you made the Gwragedd Annwn let you go.” I didn’t want to get emotional. I wanted to gather intelligence. I also found I didn’t want to stop talking to him. I needed to figure out who this man was. He wasn’t in the memories of my mother, but it was obvious—if he wasn’t lying—that he knew her well. “Vampires aren’t immune to her. Many a vampire has been dragged beneath these waters.”
“As you meant for me to be.”
I felt myself flush. “I changed my mind at the end. It’s why I told you to step back.”
He seemed to accept my answer. “Do vampires here have mental abilities?”
I shook my head. “They’re more like humans in that fashion, though they live off the blood of animals mostly. They’re high tech, as they would say. The vampires of royal blood tend to take a consort. You would call them companions.”
“You are a companion. Do you have a master, Summer?”
I was the one baring my fangs now, though I had none to speak of. “I call no man master.”
His hands came up as though I might attack him. “It’s merely a term used in formal circles where I come from.”
“Is it? I’ve studied and asked questions. You are not the first earthbound vampire to make it to the outer planes.”
“We’re trying to remake the relationship,” he explained. “When your father took the crown, he made it clear that the days of enslaved companions were over. No companion on the Earth plane can be taken without consent.”
Good for my father. I wished he was king here, too. “We don’t have the same protections here. At least not on some of the outer planes. Consorts can be purchased, and that means they can be stolen and sold.”
His shoulders seemed broader than they’d been before. “I will not allow that to happen. You will be in no danger if you come with me. I will take you back to your parents and you will see that the Earth plane is your home. The vampires there are under King Daniel’s control, princess. Your family is very informal, but that is what you are. You are Princess Summer Donovan.” He sighed. “Donovan-Quinn. As you can already tell, Devinshea will be claiming you as his own.”
It was traditional in Fae society. When there was a ménage, the parents all shared the children no matter who the biological parent was.
What would any of them think if they knew what I’d done? Apparently my parents had become royals, had taken over the supernatural world on the Earth plane. Would they welcome the Destroyer?
I didn’t have a chance to ponder that further because I heard a great whooshing sound come from the surface of the lake and then a massive white horse was charging at me. I saw his eyes, deep as night and three times as angry. He whinnied and his mouth came open baring strong white teeth.
I screamed. I was very mortal and as the kelpie caught my arm in his teeth, I knew I was about to prove it.
Chapter Ten
Zoey
I stared down at the pixie currently resting on my hand. “You know what to do?”
Arwyna made that squeaking sound that always let me know she was on board with my plots. Arwyna was the queen of the pixie kaleidoscope who made their home here at the Council headquarters. They served their Green Man and his goddess, who happened to be me. The butterfly-like creatures often clung to me at all hours of the day. I was never surprised to glance in a mirror and see them on my hair.
Lee stood at my side. He’d been raised around the pixies and they seemed to like him every bit as much as his brother, the baby Green Man. The fact that the pixies had never rejected my human son made me love them all the more. And I trusted them. Arwyna seemed to understand that even her good priest could make mistakes.
Her wings fluttered and I raised my hand. She took off, her ruby-red wings whisking her away along with her three most trusted lieutenants. I’m sure she had some other name for them, but I viewed them as my tiny army. The non-Fae creatures of our world