New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) (49 page)

“Define ‘properly amplified’, Tim.”

“Um.
 
That would mean, ‘so it plays in every room of the Light Fae compound’.”
 
He grinned at me sheepishly.

“So what you’re saying is ... everyone who knows me, and who I know, was a direct witness to my freak-out and retreat.”

“Yeah.
 
Pretty much.”

“Fuck
balls
, Tim!
 
Why’d you do that?”

“How was I supposed to know you were going to be sent to the gallows with Ben?
 
And how was I supposed to know you were going to run away like a deranged chicken?
 
I don’t see why I should be blamed for your bad choices.”

Maggie’s voice came from behind the door.
 
“Get out of here you two!
 
I’m trying to sleep!”

Tim and I looked at each other, now more worried about pissing Maggie off than fighting with each other.
 
I turned to start walking back to the compound, grumbling as I went.
 
“This fucking sucks, Tim, you know that, don’t you?
 
I’m being forced into ... a ... I don’t know ... a marriage or something.
 
This is like one of those messed up arranged marriages where you don’t even know the person you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with.”

“Come on, Jayne.
 
It’s not that bad.
 
You know him, at least.”

“Yes, it is that bad!” I argued.
 
“No, wait!
 
You’re right ... it’s not bad, it’s worse!
 
I’m being forced into a shotgun marriage, only my marriage isn’t going to last for a mere forty or fifty years.
 
No!
 
It’s going to last for
thousands
.
 
Thousands of years,
Tim.
 
Do you feel my pain yet?”

Tim flew ahead of me.
 
“Okay, so it does kind of suck a little.
 
But it could be worse.
 
You could be matched with someone really ugly.
 
Or someone really cruel.”

“Ben’s not ugly, okay, I’ll admit that.
 
But he
is
cruel.
 
He let Leck torture me.”

“Well, I think he’s sorry about that.
 
I think he’s sorry about a lot of things.”

“How would you know?”

Tim turned and flew backwards, a smile on his face.
 
“Because the amplification spell worked on him too.
 
He had plenty to say after you left.”
 
He looked at me a little sheepishly.
 
“Oh, and I talked to Abby who had plenty of inside information to share.”

“No!” I said, picking up my pace.
 
“What?
 
Tell me.”
 
My heart raced a little at the idea of Ben talking about me.
 
Stupid traitor heart.
 
And I couldn’t believe Tim actually talked to She-Who-Wasn’t-Supposed-To-Be-Named.

“Oh, Ben was saying stuff like you’d never have him, that he did terrible things to you and didn’t deserve your forgiveness, that he’d ruined every chance the fae had at surviving this apocalypse, he didn’t want you to feel forced into being with him, yadda, yadda, yadda.
 
It was all very romantic.
 
Except for the part where you weren’t there because you were too afraid to deal with everything and had totally rejected him.
 
Gotta give the guy credit though – he didn’t have anything but lovely things to say about you, even though you jilted him, leaving him at the altar and all.”

“Shut up.”
 
I could feel my face getting red.
 
I hated that Ben had more courage than I did and I hated that he was being a nicer fae than me right now.

“Tell me about Abby.”

Tim looked embarrassed.
 
“Well, uh, apparently, she’s kind of a pixie saint or something.”

“What?”
 
Now I was just confused.

“Apparently she got pregnant with Maggie’s help, thinking it would be the best way to solidify our relationship – crazy she-pixie thinking there.
 
And then she mentioned something about maybe wanting a baby to me and I had no idea she’d already gone and done something about it – so I told her it was a terrible idea because baby pixies have to live on colonies for years and years until they’re controllable – with the pixying stuff – blah, blah, blah ... and, so, she kind of freaked out and went to the Dark Fae healers who made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask.
 
What offer?”

“In exchange for helping them with their pixilation research, they would provide a home for her and our son, and not at a colony.”

“So, what ... ?
 
She’s like, a lab rat?”
 
I didn’t see how this qualified her as a saint.
 
More like a sucker in my book.

“No, she’s on their research team.
 
Yes, they use her blood, but she’s right there with them, coming up with the antidotes like the one used on Chase.”
 
Tim buzzed right up in front of my face.
 
“She did it for our son.
 
For us.
 
As soon as he was ready, she was going to come find me.
 
With these antidotes all of us, all pixiekind, could live with regular fae without being discriminated against.
 
She’s a revolutionary.”

I looked at him mystified.
 
“But why didn’t she tell you sooner?”

Tim’s face turned red and he flew in three tight circles before coming back to answer me.
 
“She tried.
 
I refused to listen.”

“Oh, shit, Tim.”
 
I felt terrible for him.
 
All this time he’d thought his wife didn’t love him.
 
And he had a
son.

“What about your boy?”

Tim burst out in a huge smile.
 
“I met him!
 
He’s incredibly handsome.”

I smiled.
 
“Of course he is.
 
How could he not be?”

“I know, right?
 
His name is William.
 
She calls him Willy.”

I started giggling.
 
“As in Wee Willy
Winkie
?”

Tim frowned at me.
 
“You’re not mocking my baby, are you Jayne?”

I put on a straight face.
 
“Nooo.
 
Me?
 
Never.
 
So when do I get to meet these lovely pixies?”

“After your ... uh ... bonding ceremony.”

The gloom descended back down onto my head and I frowned.

“Listen.
 
Just because you’re married or bonded or whatever to the guy, doesn’t mean you have to live with him, right?
 
I didn’t live with my wife for a long time.”

“Something tells me for this whole grand scheme to work, I’m going to have to be around him, at least some of the time.
 
I think the whole idea is to get our people together – not continue to live apart.”

“Yeah, I know.
 
The council members on both sides have been hammering out those details.
 
They’re going to un-spell all the corridors and unblock the tunnels that connect our compounds.
 
Chase has scared the ever-living crud out of them.
 
Now there’s just going to be one big, giant living space for all of us.
 
And they’re going to mix us up –like Dark, Light, Dark, Light – all of the rooms are going to be staggered, the eating halls, mixed.
 
Total desegregation.
 
It’s going to be wild.”

“But what about the fae like Maléna who hate us?”

“They’re just going to have to put aside their personal feelings for the greater good.”

I snorted at that.

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.
 
Believe me, you’re not the only one.
 
But enough of the council are on board with this, that they’re going to make it happen.
 
Chase has done a good job convincing them that you and Ben are our only hope.
 
It was like a visitation from the rage of angels back there.
 
I nearly peed myself twice.”

I felt angry tears rise up in my eyes and I swiped at them in frustration as I trudged through the woods, heedless of the fallen branches that usually tripped me up.
 
“Do you have any idea how pissed off and powerless this makes me feel?”

Tim flew in front of me and stopped in midair, forcing me to stop or suffer a pixie penis to the face.
 
“What?!” I yelled, backing up a step.

“Yes, Jayne, I do.
 
I know how scared and mad and confused and all those other terrible emotions you are right now.
 
I get it, completely.
 
You always rebel against doing what other people try to force you to do.
 
If they had asked me, I would have told them there was a better way to handle this.
 
But they didn’t ask me.
 
So now you have to deal with their inelegant and disrespectful approach in a way that works for you.
 
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
 
It’s too pretty for that.”

Tim acting all fatherly on me like this was a new one.
 
But it was probably the one time I didn’t mind and actually appreciated hearing it.
 

“So you think I should do this?”

“Yeah.
 
But on your own terms.
 
Talk to Ben.
 
See what he has to say.
 
Then make your decision.
 
I have confidence that you will decide to go through with it.
 
I know how important this family is to you.”

“And what if, after I talk to Ben, I decide not to do it?
 
Not to ... bond with him?”

“Well,” he said, coming over to rest on my shoulder, “we’ll just go down swinging, then won’t we?
 
You, me, and the rest of that motley changeling crew of yours.”

 
“I think I can live with those two choices.”
 
I smiled, already feeling a little better, knowing this small pixie had my back, regardless of what I decided to do.
 
“You know, you’re going to be an awesome dad, Tim.”

“Of course I am,” he said, yanking on my hair, “now giddy-up, donkey, we have a date with destiny.”

I followed the path to the Infinity Meadow, noticing immediately that we were no longer going to be in the company of just the council members.
 
The entire meadow was filled with fae, both Light and Dark.
 
There were hundreds of them there, all centered around the tree resting over my mother’s grave.
 
I even saw Leck loitering on the fringes.
 
My friends were all standing in a group, near the tree, where Samantha had joined them.
 

I saw her looking at me, for the first time without pure hatred on her face, and Maggie’s recent words came back to haunt me.
 
Was it possible that
Samantha
was the one she had been talking about?
 
That she and I were
related
somehow?
  
I shook my head to stop my mind from going down that road.
 
It was too crazy to consider right now ... way down on my list of shit to deal with.
 

I looked back at the tree and noticed that Gus was standing near Chase, who had put his wings away and looked once again like my daemon.
 
Only now I knew he’d never been a daemon.
 
And I knew he had never been mine.
 
I ignored the squeezing in my chest that felt like a very painful heart cramp.

Ben looked up as soon as he saw me emerge from the path, and took a step towards me.
 
Chase put his arm out to stop him.
 
Ben looked down at the arm across his chest and halted in his tracks, his eyes going to Chase for an explanation.

Chase dropped his arm and came forward, meeting up with me before I reached the edge of the crowd.

“Tim, I’d like to speak with Jayne alone for a moment.”

Tim flew away without saying anything, but I saw him look at me and nod his head as he disappeared into the throng of fae in front of me.

Chase took me by the elbow and led me back down the path a bit, away from the prying eyes of the others.

“Put us in a bubble of green energy, Jayne.
 
I want to talk to you without them hearing and without the listening spell picking it up.”

“You knew about that, huh?”
 
I drew the connection to me, envisioning a bubble surrounding us.
 
The green glow grew until it encircled us completely.