Sophie Oak: Beauty

“She’s alive,” Lach insisted. “And we’re going to get her out of there before the war begins.”

Beck nodded. “Yes. We have to put our plans aside. We have to save our sister, your sister.”

Dante’s mouth firmed. “No. Absolutely not.”

Beck turned on his cousin, but Julian Lodge stood at Dante’s side. “I agree with Dellacourt. You’re not seeing the big picture.”

“Our sister already survived one war. She shouldn’t have to do it again,” Beck insisted.

“We can’t leave her there.” Cian stared at the vampires.

The vampire mercenary stepped forward. “You won’t get another shot at this, Your Highnesses. If you allow the vampires to enter a full alliance with Torin, he’ll have access to all their technology. Think about it. Do you want to go up against a guard armed with sonic weapons when you have a band of peasants at your back? Even waiting a few days could be dangerous.”

“She’s our sister,” the kings said in one voice.

“And she’s a princess of the realm. You can’t have it both ways,” Dante said, his face harsh. “You have to choose, cos. Choose now. You can be kings or you can be quiet family men who put their sister first.”

Beck went red, whether with rage or shame, Lach couldn’t tell. “You know I can’t do that. Torin won’t allow it.”

Dante jumped on the words. “Then your choice was already made. Damn it, Beck, it was made the moment you were born. You are not an ordinary man. I know it’s unfair that you’re not able to think of your family first, but you have a kingdom relying on you.”

“More than a kingdom,” Julian said quietly. “All of the planes are at risk. You didn’t ask for this, Your Highness, but it is your burden to bear. The question is will you bear it or should we find another to take your place? I know I, for one, will not allow the planes to fall because your heart is too tender for the task.”

A loud clap of thunder shook the walls of the palace. A storm was gathering outside, and it sounded brutal. Even the floor seemed to shake a bit. Lightning lit the windows, electrifying the sky. Rain began to beat on the roof though moments before there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky. It seemed the rumors were true, and the Warrior King could call the storms to his aid.

“Now who’s overreacting?” Cian said with a hint of a smile. “You know they’re right, brother. We can love Bron all we want, but we’re killing her if we don’t take our throne. We’ll get our crown back or we will die. There are no other options. The time has come, and I welcome it. I want it to be over with so we can settle with our Meggie.”

“Or we’ll settle her into a grave,” Beck said, his voice tight. The rain softened, lessening to a gentle pattering on the roof.

“This life or another, we’ll be with her,” Cian said on a sigh. The Kings of the Seelie Fae stood together for a long moment, their brotherhood apparent.

Beck nodded. He brought his deep gray eyes up to catch Lach’s. “You’ll go then. I don’t really have to ask you, do I? You’ll do it because she’s your bondmate.”

His father stood, a hand on his forehead. “I cannot let my heirs go. I love my daughter. The whole idea that my Gilly is alive fills me with joy, but I can’t sacrifice my heirs. I will send others.”

Julian put a hand on his uncle’s shoulder. “Then Lach and Shim will find another way, and they will be alone.”

Julian knew them well. Lach’s mind was already working. Now that they knew where she was, there would be no holding them back. Shim would follow him. They would get on that plane one way or another. “We’re going to find her, father. You can’t stop us.”

“We will have her,” Shim said, his voice a little deeper. His fangs had come out, and for once his brother looked savage.

If the evidence of their vampire half bothered the Seelies, they didn’t show it.

“Save our sister,” Cian requested.

A wild thrill went through Lach. Yes, the time had come. For the Seelies to face their fate and for him to meet his mate.

Night fell, creeping across the fields like a mouse edging away from a predator. The shadows grew across the wheat until all was darkness, with the silvery moonlight to illuminate the swaying crops.

Bron sat in her tower, overlooking what was left of her kingdom.

“We’ve been in tougher spots, you know.” Gillian walked into the room, a fresh quilt in her hands. The days were still hot, the sun branding everything in its path, but the nights were beginning to cool.

Bron would be so warm between her Dark Ones. They would never allow the cold to seep into her bones. She stared at her bed, almost time to sink into sleep and a world where she was loved.

“I know.” Bron answered Gillian, not wanting the older woman to understand her impatience to be abed.

Gillian placed the quilt down and stared for a moment as though assessing the situation. “Do you want to run now?”

It was a kindness to even offer. Bron forced her attention to the here and now. She owed Gillian much more than her life. “We have to have coin. I know that. I can handle Micha. He’s a nasty old man, but I can manipulate him.”

Gillian sat on the edge of the bed, her hands in her lap. “I tried to turn his eye to me so you wouldn’t have to.”

Bron rushed to her side. “Gilly, don’t. I can handle him.”

Gillian was so still, Bron thought she wouldn’t say another word. “He didn’t even look at me. Not that I wanted him to, but still. I know I’m not a youngling any more, but I thought I still had some charm.”

Too, too often Bron sank into her own grief and forgot just what Gillian had given up for her. Gillian had lost her own kingdom. She’d been cut off from it as surely as if someone had taken it. All doors had closed because Gillian hadn’t left her behind. She’d given up her youth. What would have happened if she’d been safe on the Unseelie plane when Torin had started his nasty game? Would she be married by now? Have a child?

Bron let her hand drift over Gillian’s, feeling the calluses and scars that hadn’t existed before she’d saved a dead, young princess. Her voice choked with emotion. “Gilly, I think you’re the most beautiful woman in all the planes.”

Unshed tears made Gillian’s dark eyes shine. “You haven’t seen much, little one.”

Bron shook her head. “I’ve seen enough to know I love you very much.”

Gillian hugged her, a tight embrace. “And I love you. You understand that whatever I did, whatever reason I did it, I have come to love you, Bronwyn. I would place you first now.”

“Why did you do it?”

Gillian sat back, taking a long breath. “I thought if I saved you, you could bring the kingdoms together. I intended to talk to my father and marry you off to my brothers.”

A part of Bron was offended, but it was the childish bit that clung to shadowy vestiges of her former life. She was more practical now. “I was only fourteen at the time. I’m not sure I would have made a decent wife.”

“You would have been brought up to be an Unseelie princess. I would have seen to it, and your brothers would have been welcomed. They would have had a place until such time as an army was ready. We weren’t always two tribes, you know.”

It was radical what Gillian proposed. “That was thousands of years ago.”

“I know. I wasn’t trying to unite the crowns, merely to have a closer relationship. We fight far too often. In the end, it will make us vulnerable. I’ve studied this plane called Earth. They are a little like the vampires, though they’ve been closed off for so long, they don’t understand the way the planes work anymore. They do understand what it means to conquer. Think about vampires without any ties to other planes. When the humans discover our secrets, I doubt they’ll be content to leave us be. We will need each other. Whether it’s tomorrow or a thousand years from now, we will need to stand together if we’re to survive.”