Faery Tales & Nightmares

UNEXPECTED FAMILY

“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING.” SETH tossed the letter onto the table and paced the confines of his tiny train-house. He’d been so caught up in faery politics, his ever-changing role in the faery world, trips to Faerie, and his recently much improved relationship with Aislinn that he hadn’t thought about the stack of mail that had accumulated at his postbox.

He snatched the letter up and skimmed it again. Words jumped out at him, words he would much rather ignore: campground … no mail service … wait here for you. He crumpled it and wished that the calm he felt in Faerie was within reach right now.

“Why?” He closed his eyes and took several calming breaths.

One … two … three… How in the hell am I to get there? He tossed the letter onto the table with the less frustrating envelopes and back issues of magazines that had accumulated in his box the past few months.

In the last year, he hadn’t often had to think much on his mortal life’s limitations—like the lack of a car. He had money saved, so he could fly: his weird fey status meant that he wasn’t sickened by iron like most faeries. He’d never really liked the idea of planes, though. He snorted at the lie he tried to tell himself. Not liked them? He was terrified of flying. It seemed unnatural to strap himself into a giant—heavy—metal tube and assume it wouldn’t fall out of the sky.

When he’d been fourteen, he discovered that flight was a lot less stressful if he got mellow, but he’d stopped smoking awhile ago. He’d made a point to get rid of his bong and every rolling paper in the train; he wasn’t going to go back.

Flying is out.

That left a bus trip, a train, or a car. None of those options seemed immediately appealing. Seth shook his head. Even from a distance, his parents rarely made anything easy.

He caught sight of the clock and realized that he was already running late.

Late and bearing bad news.

“Fabulous,” he muttered to himself as he went down the short hallway to the bathroom to grab a shower.

Thirty minutes later, Seth snatched the crumpled letter, shoved it into his jeans pocket, and headed across Huntsdale toward the first of two places he’d need to go before he could leave town. As he walked, he realized that he wasn’t sure which of the stops would be more stressful. For someone who’d spent the past few years learning to keep his impulses in check, he’d certainly not given his loyalty to faeries who shared that trait. The Summer Queen was volatile, more so now that she was carrying the full of Summer inside of her. It had only been a week since Aislinn had become the sole monarch of the Summer Court and only a couple of weeks since Winter, Dark, and Summer had worked together to defeat Bananach, but already, Aislinn seemed to be more truly fit to her sole regency than he expected. She was still trying to get a grip on having her court’s full strength, but their relationship was everything he’d hoped it could be.

Perfect.

The other faery I need to see… Seth shook his head. That was far less resolved. The Dark King was steadfastly avoiding him.

One mercurial regent at a time.

Seth walked up the stairs to the Summer Queen’s loft. Just inside the door, he stopped for a moment, watching her as she laughed with her advisors. Aislinn’s every movement seemed to send little bits of sunlight into the air around her. Looking at her when she was happy made Seth think of photographs of the solar system: she was the sun, and the rest of her court thrived now because she was so vibrant. Looking at her made him want to do anything in his power to make that sunlight turn to him, but he understood the difference between love and enthrallment. Being her subject would’ve destroyed us. Being equals made relationships possible.

Of course, that didn’t mean that he was immune to her. As she laughed at something one of the faeries near her said, the sunlight flared in the room, rippling out with her mood, and Seth drew in a sharp breath.

She turned.

In the space of that one breath, Aislinn was across the room and in his arms. Instead of speaking, she greeted him with a kiss that would’ve injured him if he weren’t fey. Sunlight flared around them, rolled over his skin in a wash of pleasure, and made him grateful that he wasn’t shy in public. Aislinn wasn’t an exhibitionist, but hers was a court based on pleasure. Any sense of restraint she’d once had was discarded.

As was my shirt, he realized as he felt her hands slide over his bare chest.

“Whoa,” Seth whispered as he pulled back.

“Sorry.” She smiled a little sheepishly. “I’m still trying to get used to the full Summer, and it’s spring and—”

He kissed her and then stepped away, keeping one arm around her. “I get it.” He reached down and grabbed his singed and steaming shirt from the floor. The benefits of wearing black T-shirts. He pulled his shirt back on. “Can we talk for a minute?”

Aislinn’s panic made the heat in the room flare uncomfortably. Faeries around her stopped dancing; couples paused in their kissing; and even the rustling of the almost rain forest–thick plants stilled. Her mood made her faeries react; she was their center. It was like that with all regents.

Hurriedly, Seth said, “Everything is fine with us. I just wanted to talk to you without everyone around.”

“Oh,” she breathed. Her smile returned, and at her joy, the activities throughout the loft, and presumably throughout the whole Summer Court, resumed.

The Summer Queen took his hand and led him through the increasingly plant-filled loft and past a stream—when did that appear?—that now trickled down a hallway. It seemed as if the division between the outside and inside had vanished in the past week.

He looked at the stream in wonder and then at her with the same swell of awe. Sometimes, it seemed hard to remember what life before Aislinn had been like. He’d fallen in love with her months before she even realized he had stopped hooking up with girls. Instead of going on to art school, he’d stayed here—and ended up going to Faerie and being remade. They were all choices he was sure were right, and not quite a week ago, exactly how right had become clear.

Now I just need my mortal life in order.

He wasn’t truly a mortal anymore. When he was in Faerie, he became mortal, but in the mortal world he was fey. Since his trip to Faerie, he’d spent less and less time around the mortals in his life. He could slip in and out of a glamour with the same ease as breathing, so his new state hadn’t meant giving up the Crow’s Nest, but on the other hand, he only went to the bar with faeries, so he hadn’t been tasked with trying to have a whole lot of normal conversations, either.

Seeing his parents meant facing things he wasn’t sure he was ready to face.

Just inside Aislinn’s room, Seth stopped and looked up. The bed was gone. In its place was a flowering vine that wrapped around what looked look a vat of flower petals atop a tree. “Ash?”

She bit her lip and blushed.

“I was dreaming, and when I woke”—she shrugged—“it was like this. I can’t quite figure out how to get rid of all of the petals.”

“Where’s your bed? Your mattress?”

“That is my bed. It was wood, and I guess I sort of made it start growing. My mattress”—Aislinn floated upward, seemingly mindless of the fact that she now treated the air the same as most faeries treated the ground—“is right here. It just has petals all over it.” She sent a small breeze toward the bed, and as flower petals rained around him, she patted the mattress. “See?”

“I do.” He smiled. This was the world he lived in, had fought for, and wanted to stay in. There were things he still needed to sort out—chiefly the whole balancing the Dark King and being the faery willing to stand for the rights of any solitary faery thing. Those he would need to figure out, but he’d already been thinking about them. His mortal life, on the other hand, he’d pretty much set aside. He’d like to continue doing that, to ignore the letter that he’d shoved into his pocket, but he couldn’t.

“I need to go away for a few days, Ash. Not”—he held up a hand as she opened her mouth to interrupt—“to see my mother … not Sorcha. My human parents sent a letter. They’re in trouble and need me to come to help.”

Aislinn frowned. “How? Where?”

“I have lat and long coordinates. They’re at a campsite in the mountains … which means I need to get to California, hike out to where they are, and… I don’t know. They said it was urgent that I come, and the letter was written at least two weeks ago. I need to go now.” Seth couldn’t entirely keep the bitterness out of his voice, but he tried.

Unlike Aislinn, he had no real desire to stay a part of the mortal world. The one big exception was his parents. They were flaky sometimes, but they were his. Since they’d left two years ago, they’d kept in touch with sporadic calls and letters, and on one unexpected Tuesday, a visit. They’d called it a “mission” when they left, but whatever church or cult they’d been with had been another passing interest for his mother. Instead of coming back to Huntsdale, they’d followed one random impulse after another, and Seth wasn’t sure if he envied them or admired them.

Aislinn sat on her bed, still frowning. “I can’t go with you. I’m not sure I’m ready to be out in the world without my court yet. I just need a little time to adjust to having all of Summer inside me.”

“I know.” Seth climbed the vine to sit beside her. “I didn’t expect you to.”

“I want to,” she started.

“Ash?” Seth pulled her closer. “You just used sunlight to get up here. You turned your bed into a tree or shrub or whatever this is while you slept.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, and she leaned into him just as the plants throughout the loft leaned toward her as she passed them.

“I could send Tavish or a few of the Summer Girls to protect you.” Her words faded. “I mean, some of them are guards now.”

A soft rain fell in the room as she became nervous. She didn’t bring up his recent conflict with Niall or her fear that the Dark King would decide that he didn’t want to be kind to the faery who now balanced him. Seth had no option but to bring it up.

Seth caught her chin in his hand and made her look at him. “I’ll be fine. Promise.” He paused before admitting, “I’m going to ask Niall to come with me.”

Aislinn scooted backward. “I don’t trust him.”

Seth took advantage of the speed and strength that being fey gave him. He caught her and rolled her under him. “He is my friend. I trust him.”

“You shouldn’t. He’s the Dark King, Seth. He can’t be trusted, especially now that Discord lives in his house with him. If I asked you not to spend so much time w—”

“No. Niall is my friend, my brother, and Irial is … well, not necessarily good, but right now he’s so caught up in making sure Niall is happy, I doubt that he even has time to start trouble.”

“I still don’t like it,” she said petulantly. “At least take some of my guards.”

“No.” Braced on his arms, he looked down at her. “Don’t start trying to leash me, Ash. I love you, but I am not your subject. I’m not a part of the Summer Court.”

“You’re not a part of his court, either. It was different when you trained there. I didn’t like it, but now…” She stared up at him, tiny oceans glimmering in her eyes. “You’re to be his opposition now, the faery that keeps Niall in line, you know. I’m afraid.”

Seth kissed her words away.

Several minutes later, he pulled back and whispered, “You’re being overprotective, Ash.” He kissed her throat. “You’re worried and looking for problems.” His breathed his words against her ear. “I’m not a fragile mortal anymore. I’ve changed.”

“Me too.” The Summer Queen looked up at him. “Sometimes, I guess that means I’m a little crazy.”

“I know.” He grinned. “I’m not, though. It works out.”

Evening had only just fallen, and the Dark King was in a foul mood. He tossed the phone at the wall, where it shattered into a satisfying number of pieces.

“Bad news?” The voice was unmistakable even in the darkness. Until a couple of weeks ago, Seth’s presence would’ve been a welcome distraction, but the whole Niall-almost-killing-him-and-scarring-his-face thing put a bit of awkwardness between them.

“No,” Niall said. “No news whatsoever. She hasn’t called us.”

“Since?”

“Yesterday,” Niall admitted. “She’s going to spend weekends with us and the weekdays at college, but I thought she’d call more often.”

The laugh that escaped Seth’s lips was quickly turned into a cough as Niall glared at him, but the humor in Seth’s expression was unaltered. In that brief moment, it almost felt like before, when things weren’t tense between them.

“You could call her and tell her you’re going out of town for a couple of days,” Seth suggested. “I need to take a trip. I thought you might keep me company.”

“Why?”

Seth shrugged. “I hate flying. I don’t have a car.” He stepped out of the shadows. “And I thought you’d be less able to avoid me if we were trapped in a car together. We need to talk.”

Warily, Niall watched Seth as he walked across the recently bleached floor of the warehouse. He didn’t try to say he hadn’t been avoiding Seth.

“Being your opposition doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being your brother. If that is what it means, maybe I should pass it on,” Seth said quietly as he stood in front of Niall’s throne.

When Niall didn’t reply, Seth added, “You can sit here and miss Leslie, go raise a little hell, or come with me.”

“But Irial—”

“Thinks it’s a grand idea,” the former Dark King interrupted as he parted the curtains behind Niall’s throne and stepped onto the dais. “I’ll mind the children while you are away. You’ve had a rough few weeks, love. Go take a holiday with”—he waved casually at Seth—“Order Junior.”

Seth made a crude gesture.

“My plate’s pretty full, boy, but I’ll keep it in mind if I need a way to stir a little trouble with your beloved Summer Queen.” Irial leaned down and put a possessive hand on Niall’s shoulder.

Niall looked up at him.

“Your anger and your gloom are perfectly fine for the court, but the court isn’t my top priority.” Irial grinned. “The court will be my only priority while you’re away because it’ll serve my goals.”

“Which are?” Niall knew the answer, maybe he always had, but he still liked hearing it.

The laugh that spilled from Irial’s lips was pure Dark Court. “I have all sorts of goals, but in this case, it’s your happiness. Go with the boy. I’ll take care of the court as if I were their king because that is what you and Leslie would want.”

“Wait outside,” Niall told Seth, and without tearing his gaze from Irial to see if Seth obeyed or not, Niall grabbed Irial’s wrist.

Irial acted as if he didn’t notice that he was being held in place. “I know everything you’re feeling, all of the time. You’re afraid he’s going to be your enemy now that he balances you, but things don’t have to be antagonistic between you. You’re afraid that he’ll get surly over that scar on his face, but”—Irial reached up and traced the scar on Niall’s face—“most sensible faeries find scars appealing.”

Love and lust tangled into a delicious cocktail, and Niall closed his eyes as Irial’s emotions filled him. He didn’t keep them closed as Irial gave him a kiss that made Niall feel like an idiot for wasting the past hour alone in the dark.

Seth will wait.

Minutes passed, and eventually, footsteps interrupted them. Neither Niall nor Irial paid any mind until Seth laughingly asked, “Did you find a cure for your mood, Brother?”

Irial looked over his shoulder at Seth. “Voyeur.”

“Not really possible to avoid in Ash’s court … or this one.” Seth looked straight at Niall as he spoke. “And there’s nothing wrong with it, so why would I care? I want Niall to be happy.”

At that, Irial laughed. “If I didn’t know better, boy, I’d think you said the right things just to curry favor.” He kissed Niall again and then shoved him away. “Go on or send the boy away for a few hours.”

“Sorry, but I need to try to catch a bus if you’re not joining me.” Seth’s emotions were a web of worry and frustration and sorrow, but Niall had no idea which of those were a result of the present conversation and which were ones Seth had felt because of whatever trip he needed to take.

“Go on,” Irial suggested. He sat on the Dark King’s throne. “Maybe we’ll have a party while you’re away.”

“Good.” After a lingering look at the faery who shared his home again after too many centuries apart, Niall turned to Seth. “Where are we going?”

“To see my parents … the mortal ones.” Seth’s worry and anger flared again. “Can you scare up a car or something?”

Niall nodded. “Let’s go.”

The steed they had belonged to one of the Hounds who was killed during the recent war. It took the form of a Mustang and acted as if it were truly a car—aside from the fact that it required no fuel and steadfastly refused to allow them to play any music it disliked. Radio stations changed randomly, and an attempt to play a disallowed song caused one of Niall’s CDs to be spat out in pieces. Who still uses CDs? Seth wisely kept that question to himself—and opted not to try plugging his MP3 player in. Just in case.

At first, Niall was silent in the driver’s seat. He had no comment on the music, the shattered CD, or the traffic, but Seth had been friends with the Dark King long enough that the quiet wasn’t unpleasant. In truth, it was comforting in its familiarity.

Who would’ve thought that faeries would become familiar?

They were an hour outside Huntsdale when Niall finally said, “So about the eye thing…”

“You mean the ‘eye thing’ where you were going to shove a hot poker into my eye? Or something else?” Seth asked. This, more than anything, was why he’d asked Niall to come: they needed to talk.

No more secrets.

“The poker.” Niall released the wheel, apparently confident that the steed would drive steadily on its own. He reached into his inside jacket pocket, pulled out his cigarettes, and extracted one. “I’m glad I didn’t.”

Seth half laughed. “Me too.”

“The scar… I’m sorry.” Niall glanced at him. “If I could change it, I like to think I would.”

For the space of several heartbeats, Seth said nothing. Conversations about wrongs done and apologies needed would be a lot easier if they could lie, even a little. The faery inability to lie made for a bluntness that was sometimes uncomfortable.

Niall had lit his cigarette and sat silently smoking. He had one hand back on the wheel, but Seth was pretty sure the steed still controlled their destination. Traveling this way was easier and faster than taking a true car, but it was hard sometimes to remember that the vehicle was a living creature. Maybe in a few centuries that would change, but being fey was still new enough that Seth had the urge to remind Niall to watch the road.

Their friendship was too important to both of them for Seth to let their recent conflicts fester and eat away at their bond. He had become fey primarily because of Aislinn, but Niall had still been a factor. He’d also knowingly gone to Niall when the Dark King was unwell—despite the probability that it could result in his death and the reality that it had resulted in injury. Likewise, Niall had stood against the former Summer King for Seth, offering his protection when Seth was still a mortal. All of which meant that they had too valuable a bond to let it be destroyed.

“You remember telling me you could taste emotions?” Seth asked.

Niall nodded.

“Do I forgive you?”

“Don’t know.” Niall took a drag off the cigarette. “You’re conflicted about something. For the King of Order—”

“Not a king.” Seth winced. He didn’t want to be in charge of anyone, and he didn’t want to be the one who’d have to stand against Niall ever again either. He’d agreed to it so as to help Niall in the middle of a war, but the past week, the reality of what it could mean weighed on him.

Niall turned and looked at him. “Whatever you call it, Seth. The faery who balances me … you’re not too orderly. Anger, worry, doubt, fear, and”—Niall inhaled—“hope.”

“Seems about right.” Seth bit his lip ring, weighing his words.

“Can you keep us invisible?” Niall asked the Mustang. When the steed made a growling noise that echoed through the car, Niall pushed the seat back and gave up the pretense of driving. “Peace between the courts would be better. My court is stronger now that I have a balance … and now that I have the embodiment of Discord living in the house.”

“Leslie’s refusals help too,” Seth pointed out. “You are all three better by being together but sometimes at a distance.”

Niall scowled. “Is that opinion or future seeing?”

“Yes,” Seth said.

After that, they drove in silence, broken only by the music that the steed allowed and the sounds of the world outside rushing by. They stopped for fuel or other necessities. At the first stop they switched spots, more for variety than anything, and on the second stop, they switched back because—as Niall put it—Seth didn’t relax well in the driver’s seat. The illusion of the steed as a car made Seth uneasy.

They had resumed invisibility and were darting in and out of traffic at a pace that was dizzying when Seth finally said, “So to be clear, if I found a way to pass off this whole balancing-the-Dark-King bit—”

“Are you thinking about it?” Niall asked.

“I don’t want to be your enemy.”

The steed shifted to an SUV with extra-wide seats as they spoke. Seth climbed into the backseat, figuring that the steed was offering a makeshift bed and a little sleep wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“Opposites aren’t enemies,” Niall said after another quiet moment. “I don’t want to have anger between us either.”

“No more trying to burn my eyes out or anything else,” Seth cautioned. “Your word, Niall. Whether I stay this or I find a way to get rid of it, I want your word that you won’t imprison me or attack me again. I don’t care how angry you get or how the Dark Court does things traditionally: families aren’t to torture each other. Got it?”

“My word.” Niall cleared his throat before adding, “And if you see Leslie’s or Irial’s death, you’ll tell me. Promise me that.”

“Promise.”

At that, Niall reached back and clasped Seth’s hand. “Then we shall have a faery bargain, brother. Breaking it will mean the oathbreaker suffers that which he caused—the death of the loved one or the torture.”

“Lovely,” Seth muttered. “I see where the optimistic streak comes from.”

The Dark King laughed then, and Seth smiled at the sound.

Daylight arrived, and the conversations of the past night were not revisited. Niall hadn’t expected the discussion to go so gracefully, and he was forced to admit to himself that while Seth was his balance, the former mortal didn’t seem to share the faery aversion to truthful discourse. If I’d been able to have such conversations with Irial or Keenan, would we have had so much conflict? Maybe it was as simple as the fact that Seth was a fit balance for Niall. Or his mortality is recent enough that he’s not yet learned to play games.

They didn’t revisit the question of Seth’s willingness to remain the balance to the Dark Court, but short of tearing down the barrier to Faerie, Niall didn’t see any way it could change. Of course, there were a lot of things he didn’t see about the future, whereas Seth had the ability to look at future threads. Maybe he sees something. Most likely, though, it was fear that influenced Seth. He’d had a lot of major changes in such a short time. It was a wonder he hadn’t run screaming away from the courts. Many mortals had over the centuries, yet Seth fought to stay in their world. It was part of why Niall admired him. None of which is going to be the sort of topic that will ease our tensions. Niall concentrated on things they had first discussed: music, books, stories of past adventures.

The next few days passed uneventfully, so when they arrived at the end of the drivable road to the campground, they were laughing and talking. Niall figured they had time enough to deal with faery matters after they saw to whatever trouble Seth’s mortal parents had found.

The steed stopped. Niall and Seth got their gear.

Seth looked at the trail in front of them. “Race?”

They spent the next two hours running up the trail in the sort of unbridled speed that faeries were capable of. They leaped over fallen trees and startled a few deer, who decided to run crosswise to them. As they ran, more and more faeries seemed to be watching from tree boughs and from the ground. A lot of them. It wasn’t troubling yet, and Niall had no doubt that he and Seth could handle any conflicts that might arise. Perhaps the summons from Seth’s parents isn’t because of a mortal matter.

As they neared the campsite, Seth felt the jumble of excitement at seeing his parents and anxiety over what they needed. They didn’t look much different. Despite their surroundings, his father still had hair so short that it was almost regulation. The alert posture at their approach bespoke years of caution, and the assessing gaze Master Gunnery Sergeant James Morgan leveled at Niall would intimidate most people. With an unexpected flare of pride, Seth realized that his father wouldn’t be daunted by the Dark Court—and that he should never be exposed to them. Confidence was all well and good, but even in their prime, the strongest, best-trained mortals were no match for faeries.

“Baby!” Linda jumped up and hugged Seth with the sort of exuberance that had made it hard to stay upset with her for most of his life. She wasn’t traditionally maternal, but she was so alive and so passionate that being around her made it difficult to do anything but get swept up in her energy.

She pulled back, studied him, and then squeezed him again. “Jamie! Look!”

“I see him, Linda.” He stood. “Seth.”

“Dad.” Seth kept an arm around his mother and extended the other to clasp his father’s hand. “Good to see you.”

James nodded, and Linda seemed to finally notice that there was another person present. She tensed.

“So, Linda, Dad, this is Niall.” Seth gestured at the Dark King. “He’s a friend from home. Niall, James and Linda, my parents.”

“Nice to meet you,” Niall said evenly. His attention, however, was on the faeries who were edging closer to the campsite.

James Morgan stepped forward and extended his hand.

Niall lifted both arms; one hand held a cigarette and the other a packed tent. He couldn’t say that he wanted to keep his hand free in case the nearby faeries approached, but Seth saw the tense way that Niall kept surveying the woods.

Linda arched her brow at Niall’s refusal; James was less circumspect. “You could drop the tent.”

“Good idea.” Niall shot Seth a warning look. “I’ll pitch the tent, Seth. Why don’t you all talk while I do that?”

Without waiting for a reply, Niall walked toward a level bit of ground and began assembling a tent with the sort of precision that comes from having done the task regularly. Seth considered going after him, but figured that this wasn’t something to discuss in front of his parents.

One problem at a time.

“Your letter said there was trouble,” Seth started.

His parents exchanged a look, but neither of them said anything.

Seth sat down on a log that was off to the side of the fire pit. “What sort of trouble?”

“Well, you see … there was a protest.” Linda smiled. “I was very reasonable at first. It wasn’t quite a sit-in, like we used to have, but we were peaceful. A few placards, some mild yelling, and walking.”

The supportive look on his father’s face didn’t waver, but he didn’t speak, either.

“And then?”

“Well, I may have lost my temper a bit.” Linda reached out and tucked his hair back as she had when he was a child. “You know how it goes. I chained myself to some of their machinery. Very calmly, though!”

“And?”

“Well, there’s a fine.” Linda smiled. “We don’t really have the funds since everything went to you.”

“You had me come all the way out because you needed money?” Seth rubbed his forehead. “Seriously?”

“No… you see … afterward, there was a bit of a problem with a few locals too.”

Seth looked from his mother to his father. “What kind of problem?”

Linda folded her arms. “I don’t think they’re bad, and I’m not… I’m not sure why we thought you should come. It just suddenly seemed urgent. It doesn’t make sense.”

His parents exchanged an odd look, and Seth felt his unease grow. Calmly, he started, “Okay. Tell me everything without me dragging it out of you. I’ve spent—days… getting here, and I’ve had a bit of a rough few … weeks.”

“Doing what?” his father asked. “You’re unemployed, not in school, and have no dependents. What could possibly be so rough about that?”

Seth closed his eyes, counting silently to ten, and then smiled. “Mom just admitted she got arrested, so I’m not sure this is the best time to lecture.”

“Don’t take that tone,” Linda snapped.

At that, Niall gave Seth a questioning look; Seth shook his head—which his father saw.

“What kind of friend is Niall?”

“One willing to drive your son to see you,” Niall said loudly enough to carry across the distance.

The warning look Seth shot Niall was greeted with a grin. The Dark King looked around. “I think I’ll check out the perimeter.”

“The perimeter?” James repeated.

“Of the camp.” Niall gestured. “If you’re having trouble…”

At that, Linda blurted, “They didn’t seem to think we should, um, leave the campsite. Every time we try, we get escorted back here. They haven’t hurt us, but they’ve been very firm. Do you really think that’s a good idea to disobey?”

“Oh, I definitely do,” Niall murmured as his gaze drifted around the woods surrounding the campsite.

“You will stay here,” Niall ordered.

Seth winced again. The Dark King wasn’t used to being around mortals. “Broth—” Seth stopped himself, flushed guiltily, and walked over to Niall. Seth clasped Niall’s arm and said in a low whisper, “I could go. They’re my parents, not your responsibility.”

The look Niall gave him was a shade away from incredulous. “You are still my responsibility.”

“I’m not—”

“Stay. I’ll be right back,” Niall ordered.

And even though Seth didn’t need to obey, he wasn’t an idiot. A few months of training with the Hunt was nothing compared to the centuries of experience Niall had with conflict—and with faeries. Are they why we’re here? The faeries were now watching them attentively, albeit from farther away now that the Dark King had looked their way. Is it normal for there to be so many faeries in the woods? They weren’t fey Seth could identify, and the reality of how much Seth didn’t know about the world outside the courts struck him. Are they friendly? Dangerous? He assumed they were solitary faeries, those who existed outside of any regent’s influence, but beyond that he had no idea. All he truly knew was that he was very grateful to have Niall by his side.

“Stay here,” Niall repeated.

“Right,” Seth acquiesced. “Maybe I’ll wait here with my parents while you go for a walk.”

Niall grinned. “Brilliant idea, brother.”

Expectantly, Niall rolled his shoulders as he walked into the shadows of the woods. Seth was right: this was far more satisfying than sitting in the dark sulking. Once, centuries ago, Niall had enjoyed roaming. The mortal world was filled with solitary faeries, willing mortals, and amazing sights. Who wouldn’t want to roam? He stalked toward a clustered group of solitary fey who watched him.

One, a faery with distinctly ursine traits, stepped forward. “Don’t have any business with the Dark.”

“You glamoured yourself and caused trouble for those mortals?” Niall asked.

Faeries spread out in a semicircle, leaving him the option of retreating. One bird-thin faery started to walk behind him.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea.” Niall glanced over his shoulder. “Striking the Dark King isn’t usually a choice that ends well for anyone.”

“Says you.”

Another faery darted out and grabbed the birdlike one’s arm. Stumbling over each other, they moved back to the clutch of faeries who stayed together. The ursine fey watched all of it with an unreadable expression.

Niall frowned. He couldn’t taste any strong emotion—no anger, no fear, nothing.

“What did you hope to gain by trapping them?” Niall asked.

A halfling stepped up beside the ursine faery. She was feral in a way that made Niall suspect that her lineage was his court. Shocking violet eyes were even more arresting because of their total lack of lashes. “We want to talk to him.” She nodded toward the campsite. “Their cub.”

“Son,” Niall corrected.

“Whatever,” the girl said.

“He’s mine to protect. The Dark Court would not look kindly on any who harmed Seth.” Niall shook his head. “Actually, he’s under the care of a lot of regents: the Summer Queen, the High Queen, and the Shadow King are all fond enough of him that troubling him would be unwise.”

Another faery laughed. “Don’t want to hurt him. We hear he’s made himself our champion. Thought we’d meet him.”

“You can’t harm his parents.” Niall shook his head. “You ought to protect them. If he’s your champion…”

The faeries shifted and exchanged looks. The ursine nodded once, and they all started donning mortal glamours. One after another they became as mortal-looking as they could. In a few moments, they all looked a lot like the mortals who camped in these mountains, clad in sturdy hiking boots, layered shirts, and worn trousers.

The ursine faery gestured toward the campsite. “We will meet him now. We … influenced them to summon him. Now we will greet him.”

“I’m not sure—”

“Gave you the courtesy of conversation first because we don’t want trouble with the Dark. Now, we will meet him, unless you think yourself able to stand against all of us,” the ursine continued.

The Dark King grinned. “You think I can’t?”

For a moment, no one moved, and then the woods seemed to come to life. Several hundred faeries had waited in the shadows. They dropped from trees, stood from within shrubs, and seemingly rose up from the pine needles on the ground.

The ursine smiled. “I think you are one faery, king or not, and you are not so foolish to take on this throng alone—especially as we mean no ill.”

Niall’s eyes widened as he took in the still-growing number of solitaries who came forward. “I’m not sure this many fey should go to—”

“You are not our champion, Dark King,” the feral halfling interrupted.

En masse they started to walk toward the campsite, and Niall had the unusual sensation of being surrounded by alien beings. These were not the sort of fey he’d spent much time with in many centuries, and even forever ago when he was solitary too, he hadn’t known any packs to be this vast.

“This is going to be interesting,” he muttered. Then he turned and strode through the crowd toward the campsite.

“I don’t understand. Why did you feel like you had to contact me? Did someone say something? Or did someone threa—” Seth broke off as he suddenly felt like innumerable threads were weaving themselves to him.

“Seth?” His mother reached out and touched his cheek. “What’s…” Her words faded as she noticed what he was looking at.

Seth stared at the horde of faeries, wearing mortal guises, swarming toward them.

“Jamie!” Linda yelled.

His father poked his head out of the tent, vanished, and came back out with two guns. He held one out between Seth and Linda. “Don’t know which of you—”

“I’m good,” Seth murmured. He pulled out a short bone knife he’d had strapped to his ankle. “Stay behind me.”

He stepped in front of his parents, despite his mother grabbing his sleeve and trying to pull him behind her. Without faery strength, he would’ve swayed. Linda wasn’t going to win any best mother awards, but he was still her son, and her reaction was straight-up mother-bear instinct.

Not that it would help against the actual bear approaching us.

Seth swallowed the fear that started to rise. Freaking out wasn’t going to help matters.

“That’s the guy who was here before,” Linda whispered.

“He has a lot more friends this time,” Seth’s father said in a rough voice. “I don’t know what they want … or how three of us—”

“Four,” Seth corrected as he saw Niall in the crowd. “There are four of us.”

“Still lousy odds, son.”

Without looking at his parents, Seth said, “Let me handle this if I can, okay?”

“But what—”

“Dad!” Seth glanced back. “Seriously. Trust me enough to let me try first. You wanted me here. I’m here. Now, give me a minute.”

Tersely, James nodded.

“Stay right here,” Seth told them. “Do not follow me over there.”

At that moment, Niall walked up to stand beside him. “I’ll stay with your parents.” He motioned at an ATV that sat alongside the trail. The steed had obviously wandered up to join them.

“You get them out of here if you need to,” Seth demanded.

When Niall nodded, Seth walked toward the faeries, who were watching him with the sort of fixed attention that made him briefly wish that he had the same sort of skills here that his faery mother had in her world. He looked over his shoulder at his loved ones.

A fence would be nice right about now.

As he thought it, the fence he’d imagined shimmered into existence. Rusted iron spikes surrounded his parents and Niall.

“Seth?” both of his parents said. Their eyes were wide and their expressions confused.

“Door, please, brother.” Niall’s voice was dry, but the glint in his eyes was assessing.

“Right.” Seth pictured a door in the tall fence.

Linda grabbed the bars, testing them to see if they were illusory.

Niall opened the gate, stepped outside the iron enclosure, and closed the gate. With a casual mien that hid his surprise, the Dark King strolled over to stand beside Seth. “I suppose your parents are safe enough that I can join you.”

Absently, Seth nodded.

How did that happen?

The faeries waited attentively, and Seth looked back at them. “Why are you hassling my parents?”

“We wanted to meet you,” a violet-eyed half-fey girl said.

Another faery tilted his head in an unmistakable posture of challenge. “Didn’t think you’d want us to come to that place. Were we wrong?”

Softly, Niall told Seth, “There are several courts in our city.”

Seth nodded. “Right. Well, I live there, and where I am, you are welcome. If any of the regents”—he looked at Niall briefly—“have an issue with it, they can take it up with me.” Seth paused and let his gaze drift over the ragtag horde in front of him. “Unless you start trouble with them or theirs,” he added sternly. “I stand as balance to the…”

For a moment, Seth couldn’t say the words. There were a lot of times he’d thought about telling his parents about his change the past few months, but he hadn’t been sure. He envisioned a sofa behind them, so they could sit.

His mother sank onto the sofa and stared at him, and his father eyed the group with suspicion.

Seth dropped his mortal glamour and watched his parents. He still looked like their child, but his skin radiated light now and his eyes were silvered. His alteration in appearance wasn’t as drastic as with many faeries, but it was enough to make clear that he had changed. James stepped back, and Linda reached out for James’ hand. Their attention was fixed solely on Seth.

“Seth?” Linda whispered.

“As the balance to the Dark King, I am his equal.” Seth took a deep breath and added, “Those faeries who are mine to protect are free to enter Huntsdale, but not to start trouble of any sort with the fey of the courts … or with mortals.”

The horde of faeries shuffled for a tense moment, and then the bearlike faery spoke up. “And if they start trouble?”

“You finish it,” Seth assured them. “I don’t ask you to be weak, or to be subjects, but if you want my protection, you don’t start shit that complicates my life. You also don’t take any bullshit.”

The solitaries smiled. A majority of them bowed, curtsied, or knelt. Awkwardly, Seth nodded his head at them.

What is the right move here?

Niall reached out and clasped Seth’s arm. “Well done, little brother. You’re turning into a decent king.”

“Not a king,” Seth muttered.

“Right…” Niall laughed. “So tell your subjects to stay or go.”

Heart hammering loudly enough that he suspected most every faery there heard it, he walked over to his parents, who were sitting on a purple and white fauxcowhide-covered sofa his mother had once liked.

I made an ugly sofa.

His mother and father sat close together, staring silently at him, hands clasped tightly.

“So… those rough weeks? Well… I’ve changed a bit.” Seth touched the fence, and it vanished. “I can explain all of it.”

His father released his mother’s hand and stood. His eyes were wide, but his spine was straight. “You made a sofa and fence appear out of thin air.”

“I did.”

His mother motioned toward the faeries. “They’re not”—Linda’s voice dropped—“human, are they?”

“They aren’t.”

“And you?” his father asked in an emotionless voice.

“No, not now,” Seth said evenly.

“Well.” Linda stood. She laughed uneasily. “That’s … new. They’re … new.”

“Actually, they’ve always been around,” Seth said cautiously, “but most mortals can’t see them. I can make it so you always can see them … if you want.”

His father wrapped an arm around his mother. After a tense moment, he nodded. “That seems like a good idea.”

The fears Seth had when he’d considered telling them came rushing back to him. This was exactly what I didn’t want. They were awkward, staring at him and unmoving.

His mother stepped away from his father. She took both of Seth’s hands in hers. “Are you happy?”

“I am.”

“Safe?” his father asked in a rough voice.

“Yes.” Seth glanced at the faeries. “Very.”

His parents exchanged a look, and then his father nodded. “Okay then … are they staying or going … wherever they go?”

Startled, Seth looked at his father. “Staying?”

“I only have a few beers, but maybe you can do that thing you just did”—James gestured at the sofa—“and magic up some more refreshments.”

At that, Seth laughed. That sounded like the father he remembered, understated and adaptable.

“Can we see what they really look like? Like you did when you looked different?” Linda asked quietly. Her eyes were wide, not in fear but in the same childlike excitement that sent her off on hobby after hobby, fancy after fancy.

“Only if they want,” Seth told her. Then he turned to the assembled faeries and said, “Glamours are optional around my parents.”

They started dropping their glamours, and Seth watched the awe on his parents’ faces as they saw the strange wonder of the less human-looking faeries for the first time. Tears slid down Linda’s cheeks. “They’re beautiful”—she glanced at one very inhuman faery with feline features—“and, well, a little terrifying.”

“Yes.” Seth pulled his mother into a hug and whispered, “Just remember that they are my, um, subjects. From here on, they’ll be around, keeping an eye on you, making sure you’re safe.”

Somewhere in the crowd, faeries had started singing, and a few drums were produced. The campfire was joined by several other fires. Seth envisioned drinks and snacks, and his solitary brethren rejoiced together.

His parents danced and laughed, and Seth shook his head. It hadn’t taken them long to get past the initial shock.

“Not bad,” Niall said from behind him.

Seth turned. “What?”

“Your first revelry.” Niall gestured at the faeries who were cavorting in the woods all around them. “Later, though, we probably ought to talk about that little surprise trick of yours. No faery can create reality from nothing … at least none who live outside of Faerie.”

“I didn’t know I could do that,” Seth protested. “Honest.”

The Dark King shook his head, and they stood silently for a few moments. “You’re not going to try to give the role of Dark Court balance to someone else.”

A squeal of laughter made Seth look at the horde. My horde. He looked at his parents and then at Niall. My family. Seth had more family than he knew what to do with now.

“No,” Seth promised. “This is who I am, what I am. They’re mine to protect.” He looked at the faery who had injured him last week, who’d protected him last year, who was everything Seth was to keep in check. “I don’t abandon those who are mine. You, of all people, ought to know that.”

“Just making sure you remembered it too.” Niall pulled shadows into a chair behind him. “Go celebrate, brother.”

“You could—”

“It’s their first revel with their king-protector,” Niall pointed out gently. “I am not to be out there. Not now.” He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a long drag, and then grinned. “Anyhow, with this much emotion, I think I’ll just sit here and enjoy.”

“Son?” His mother waved. “The bear over by the fire says you ought to call for more music.”

Smiling, Seth joined his faeries and his mortal parents in the crush. “Another song!”