My Warrior (Bewitched and Bewildered #12) - Alanea Alder Page 0,5
First in Lycaonia then in Noctem Falls."
Thane winced. "I hate that that is normal for you."
"Go on," Kendrick encouraged.
"Well, them trying to get into Éire Danu makes sense." She looked over at Oron. "What I don't get is, if his family murdered Darian's family like thousands of years ago, how come they aren't drooling insane ferals? Aren't the necklaces kinda a new thing?"
Ari felt his heart constrict. How had no one caught that?
Meryn continued. "The queen said they should have faded honorably, which means they weren't a typical feral back then, right?" She eyed her aunt. "I woulda killed every single one, but that's just me."
The queen grimaced. "They were all mated, Meryn. I would have been sentencing innocent women to insanity or death. The men were bound by magic to be docile, so they could be handled by their mates. Over time, the women's lights would dim, meaning they would have had time to fade honorably, taking their mates with them."
"Obviously that didn't happen. How did Oron's dad regain and keep his mind intact?"
The queen sighed and collapsed against the back of her chair. "I have no idea; it should have been impossible."
Meryn gave her a wry look. "Y'all really need to work on redefining your sense of impossible, because that shit is happening all over the damn place."
Ain't that the damn truth, Ari thought as the whole room nodded in agreement.
Chapter Two
"I want to apologize to you, Ari," the queen said, with a pained expression.
"For what, Your Majesty?" he asked, bewildered.
"You've been doing so much to protect the city. It must not have been easy."
Ari pointed to Aiden. "Your nephew is the one you should be thanking. He made arrangements to get unit warriors from Lycaonia here to train us on how to fight invisible ferals." Ari decided he'd take this opportunity to get the queen caught up, especially if she was in a forgiving mood. "Kendrick and Thane have also been teaching our unit witches how to use sweeps to combat the enemy in large open spaces, as well as creating distant early warning spells all along the Border City perimeter."
The queen blinked. "You've all been busy."
Brennus coughed into his fist, looking somewhat contrite. "All for you, my love."
Meryn looked at the queen. "So, back to the other major shit storm. Are the non-feral fae a reaper thing? Or do we have some new mystic mojo going on that we don't know about?"
The queen turned to Meryn. "As far as I know, there should not be a way for them to be whole. If they did not fade honorably, they should be feral."
"Great! Just what we need, new shit we don't know." Meryn sat back in her chair, looking disgruntled.
Ari didn't know which aspect horrified him more—that there was a way for these murderous fae to avoid turning feral after killing or that it had been going on thousands of years and no one knew. He looked over at Aiden. The unit commander was pinching the bridge of his nose. Ari had a feeling most of them would have headaches for the rest of the day.
Meryn sat forward, shaking her head. "Until we know more, there's nothing we can do about it." She looked over at her aunt. "I think you should make an announcement. Maybe something directly from you. That would go a long way in making everyone feel better." The queen rose and walked over to the table that held her summoning crystal. She tapped it lightly and then began to pace the room, her arms wrapped around her body. She turned to look at her consort. "How could any of this happen?"
Brennus stood quickly and strode over to his mate, taking her into his arms. "It happened because someone in the shadows is working very hard to orchestrate these nefarious deeds." He tucked the queen's head under his chin. "We are not the only ones affected, my love. Lycaonia and Noctem Falls have had similar attacks."
There was a knock at the door, and Kincaid went over to open it. Portia walked in and frowned when she saw her queen. "Your Majesty, is all well?"
The queen rubbed her forehead. "No, all is not well. Portia, I would like to arrange an announcement from me to the entire city."
Portia's eyes widened. "I think that would be best. Everyone desperately needs to hear your voice."
The queen gave her wan smile. "I know, and I'm sorry for taking so long to do my duty."