Melissa Marr - Faery Tales & Nightmares

“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?”