New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) (38 page)

I sighed.
 
Why does this have to be so difficult?
 
“What I mean is, I don’t like you in
that
way.
 
I like you as a friend ... just a friend.”

Spike frowned.
 
“Are you ... breaking up with me?”

“I don’t know.
 
Is it possible to break up with someone you never actually dated?”

He half-smiled, humorlessly.
 
“I don’t know.
 
Probably not.
 
So you’re telling me ... that you don’t want to hang out with me anymore?”

“No, stupid.
 
I’m saying, go be with the twins.
 
Suck their energy or whatever.
 
Roll around naked in the woods or whatever it is you guys do for fun.
 
I’m not going to be jealous or even care.
  
In fact, it would make me happy.”

His eyebrows raised up an inch, a happy look starting to bloom across his face.
 
“How so?”

I frowned at him and smacked him on the chest.
 
“Don’t go getting all kinky on me.
 
I’m just saying they’re nice girls and they both like you, and I’m ... spoken for.
 
At least I think I am. So go ahead and hook them up with a little Spike action, would you?
 
I think we’re all in a little bit of danger here with them not having a boyfriend.”
 
I stepped closer and looked him in the eyes, all serious now.
 
“But be careful.
 
They’re powerful.
 
Don’t get ... hurt.”

Spike grabbed me in a bear hug, groaning in what I hoped was happiness.
 
“Jayne, you are an amazing person, you know that?”

I rolled my eyes, my arms pinned to my side in Spike’s enthusiastic thank you.
 
“So I’ve been told.
 
Can we go now?”

Spike released me and stepped back.
 
“Of course, yeah.
 
Sorry.
 
So ... ,” he rubbed his hands together, “ ... off to the assembly?”
 
His voice trailed off as he stared down the hall, following the receding forms of his future new girlfriends.

“Go.
 
Do your super speedy-quick thing.
 
Introduce yourself.
 
Tell them I gave you my blessing.”

He leaned in and gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek and then saluted, smiling his trademark sexy smile at me.
 
“Yes, Ma’am!”
 
And then he was gone in a blur, leaving me to follow at normal speed.

I admit to dragging my feet a little bit, in no big hurry to join the throngs of fae who would be whispering about me before I even got there.
 
Tim waited for me outside the door, determined to be with me as I entered the room.
 
He began coaching me as soon as he saw me walk up.
 
I ignored the stares of the fae who were going into the hall in front of me, some of them being so blatant as to walk backwards as they stared at me, talking to their friends.

“Okay, now when you go in there, hold your head up.
 
Don’t take any crap from anyone, Jayne.
 
You are the woman.
 
You are a beast.
 
You are a dragon slaying, demon killing ... ”

I cut him off.
 
“Thanks, Tim, but I’m not so sure that’s going to help.”

Tim put his finger to his mouth as I paused in the doorway.
 
“Hmmmm ... well, what can I say then?
 
How about – go in there and zap ‘em if they piss you off.
 
That’s what I’d do.
 
Is that better?”
 
He flew over to land on my shoulder, using his wings to stay upright instead of grabbing my hair, which was a welcome change.
 
It was much less irritating to hear an occasional buzzing than to have to suffer a thousand small hair pulls in a day.

“Okay, yeah, that works.
 
Check
.
 
I have your permission to zap anyone who pisses me off.
 
I should last about ... oh ... ten seconds, max.”
 
I walked into the room, taking the side aisle to get to the front of the room.
 
I tried to be all sneaky about it, but as soon as I started moving, the cloak started swirling its colors all around, making it impossible for me to fly under the radar. I was so visually noisy, I was like a circus clown.
 
I couldn’t have been more obvious if I had been wearing polka dots, big floppy shoes, and a giant red nose.

The casual conversations around me switched to furiously whispered commentary, none of which I was able to catch on my way to the front.
 
I decided to follow Tim’s first round of advice and started chanting to myself in my head,
I am the woman.
 
I am a beast.
 
I am a dragon slayer.
 
I wished Tim were in my head so he could hear me.
 

No sooner had I thought that when I heard him saying, “You are the beast master, Jayne!
 
Dragon slaying, bad ass Blackthorn, baby!
 
Zap ‘em!”

I smiled.
 
I couldn’t help it.
 
I didn’t care what these fae thought of me.
 
I was in the damn cloak and it was now an official part of my wardrobe.
 
I just hoped I didn’t have to wear it all the time.
 
It was going to get in the way of my moves the way it swirled around all the time.
 

I caught Dardennes’ eye as I mounted the three stairs to reach the dais where the head table rested.
 
There was an open seat now in between Céline and the crusty man-witch who had never seemed to like me much.
 
The old dude didn’t smile at me as I approached, but he didn’t scowl either, so I took that as a plus.
 

I walked up to Dardennes, who looked down at me smiling.
 
“Jayne.
 
So happy to see you here.
 
And wearing our gift.”

“Well, jury’s out on whether I feel the same way.
 
But I’m here, so ... what?
 
Is there like a secret handshake I have to do?”

Dardennes chuckled.
 
“No.
 
Just please, have a seat next to Céline and Red.”

“Red?” I asked, glancing over at the old man.
 
“Oh yeah.
 
I forgot that’s the witch’s name.
 
What’s that short for, anyway?”

“You’ll have to ask him,” said Dardennes, mysteriously.

I scowled at the thought.
 
“No thanks.
 
Red it is.”
 
I went over to sit between the two council members.

“Welcome, Jayne.
 
I’m so happy to see you here,” said Céline, warmly.

“Thanks.
 
Uh ... glad to be here.
 
Kind of.
 
Not really.”

The old witch coughed out a loud bark of something, making me jump in my seat.
 
I looked at Céline in a questioning way, but she just looked out in space, her eyes a little wider than normal.
 
I leaned in close to her and whispered, “Did he just laugh?
 
Or cough up a lung?”

She whispered back, “I really have no idea.
 
I’ve never heard him laugh before.”

I giggled.
 
“I think it was a lung.”

She smiled, even though I could tell she didn’t want to.

I turned my attention to the crowd, now full of fae clumsily trying to find their seats while also unabashedly staring at me. I saw a few of them actually trip, unable to see where they were going because they were too busy gawking.
 
I busied myself with finding my friends.

Spike had settled into the back row with his two beauties, Felicia and Theresa, one on either side of him.
 
They were all smiling like crazy, the two girls busy chatting back and forth in front of a very happy Spike who didn’t seem to mind that they weren’t even looking at him.
 
His head swiveled back and forth as he tried to keep up with their conversation.

Finn was with his green elf buddies; he nodded at me as he caught my eye.
 
I also noticed Robin looking at me and smiled as he gave me his fist-to-chest salute.
 
Several of the other green elves noticed me looking and joined their leader in showing me their respect.
 
All the attention made my face go warm, and I willed myself to look away, for fear that their admiration was going to make me too nervous.
 
I was already feeling the edges of panic building up around the boundaries of my conscious mind.
 
I couldn’t go into full freak-out mode now that I was on the council.
 
None of them ever freaked out.
 
I could feel my palms starting to sweat.

Tony was sitting with the gray elves, all of them completely ignoring me and the council, too intent on discussing whatever the emerging strategy of the day happened to be.
 
I could see him listening attentively and then joining in the discussion while the others gave him their respectful consideration.
 
I was so proud of Tony, watching him be this important, intelligent, rational fae guy.
 
My mind flashed back to the day in class when he had finally agreed to meet me after school, his proud straight back in front of me.
 
I realized now how that one moment had been a turning point for me, and I hadn’t even come close to understanding how much of an impact it would have on the rest of my life.
 
Something told me that putting on this pretty cloak was going to have a similar effect.
 
It’s weird how something that seems so innocuous can end up being one the thing that somehow defines you later.
 

Dardennes’ voice rose up above the noise of the crowd.
 
“Everyone, please, take your seats – the meeting is about to begin.”

In less than a minute, the fae had followed his directions and only a few sounds of last minute whispers and shuffling could be heard.

“Thank you,” he began.
 
“First, a round of applause to welcome our newest council member who was selected after nomination by council member, Red.
 
Everyone, please join me in welcoming Jayne Sparks Blackthorn to the Light Fae council.”

The applause began immediately, rising rapidly to a crescendo that I could actually feel reverberating in my chest.
 

I don’t know which stunned me more – the obvious enthusiastic response, or the fact that it was Red who had been the one to nominate me.
 
I looked from Red to the crowd and then back to Red again.
 

“Did I just hear that right?
 
Or do I have too much wax buildup?”

Red didn’t even look at me.
 
He just snorted.

“You know ... if you’re not careful, someone’s going to think there’s a nice guy hiding under all that mean.”

He turned to look at me and said without any expression on his face, “I don’t think there’s much chance of that.”

I smiled.
 
“No.
 
Probably not.”

He turned to the crowd, back to ignoring me.

I turned to face the crowd, smiling and nodding my thanks.

“Perhaps, Jayne, you can stand and say a few words,” suggested Dardennes, evidently at a loss over this response and how to manage it.

I stood nervously while Tim chanted in my ear, “You are the woman!
 
You are a beast!
 
Give ‘em hell, Jayne!
 
Take no prisoners!”

I cleared my throat, surprised for a second by how well my voice was being amplified out into the audience.
 
It was as if I had a microphone in front of me, but I didn’t.
 
There was nothing on the table there but some water glasses and a pitcher with clear, icy liquid inside.

“Hello,” my voice echoed across the room.

The crowd quieted down.

“Uh ... thanks.”

A few cheers rang out, one of which I recognized as the signature redneck hoot of Finn.

“I just wanted to say that I ... appreciate the council’s vote of confidence in me ... even if I’m afraid I don’t share that confidence ... ” that got me a few laughs, which encouraged me to continue, “ ... but I want you to know that I’m going to do whatever I can to earn this ... uh cloak and the spot at the table here.
 
And I will try really hard not to put any of you into a coma.”

The crowd starting laughing again and I sat down, apparently giving them the go ahead to start clapping again – only this time the clapping included a standing ovation joined with some hollering too.
 
The happy kind.

My face flamed up and I kept my eyes on the table.
 
I was embarrassed beyond belief.