Sophie Oak - Beauty

Beck leapt down and walked to Shim. “We aren’t more than an hour from our sweet sister. I told you. We will ride the winds.”

An eddy wind would be the fastest way to travel, but first Beck would have to find one and catch it, and finding one big enough would be a huge challenge. This army was at least a thousand men and women. They would need more than one eddy cloud. “King Beckett, shouldn’t we begin the march and try to find eddy clouds along the way?”

Beck grinned broadly. “I don’t have to find an eddy cloud, my brother. I will simply make one. I am the master of storms and I can bring a cloud to carry us all.”

Beck opened his arms and the sky clouded over, the largest eddy cloud Shim had ever seen coalescing right above them.

“Show-off,” Queen Meg said. She grimaced. “I’ve only tried this once before and it was worse than anything Six Flags had to offer.”

Kaja was brimming with excitement. “I enjoy it. Except that my mate tends to get a bit ill.”

Dellacourt held up a small bag. “I have barf bags for everyone!”

Beck looked at his brother, a long moment passing between them. “Let us go and see our sister once more.”

Cian nodded, his hand on his heart.

Cian and Meg disappeared, pulled up by the eddy cloud, and all around him the warriors of their ragtag army were pulled up by the cloud and the will of the Storm Lord.

“Let’s go and claim our wife,” Shim said, reaching a hand to his brother.

Lach took it, their wills as one now.

The cloud scooped them up and they were ready for battle.

* * * *

Torin watched out over the balcony, a sinking feeling in his gut. His kingdom. When Seamus was king and their father before them, Tir na nÓg was a place of stunning beauty, a calm pastoral paradise.

He could see the fires from far-off villages and masses of peasants coming for his head.

One single day. ’Twas all it had taken. A day and a meeting on the road with vagrant monsters. That gang of trolls and goblins had taught him everything he needed to know about the world. It didn’t matter whether a man was a prince or a pauper, death and violence and brokenness came for everyone unless a man took power.

Why couldn’t his people see he was trying to save them? He was smarter than them all. It was why he was king. He hadn’t simply been born to the part. He was ruthless enough to fight and kill for the crown.

“And it’s mine. It will remain mine.” He said the words out loud even as his guard formed a phalanx around the palace.

“My sons will win this day.”

Damn him. The last thing he wanted was to see his brother. His sluagh brother. When this day was over and he remained king, he would force the hags to rid him of all sluagh, all monsters. He would slaughter them all, everyone. Their blood would make the Seelie fields fertile, and then he would dispose of the vampires and the Unseelie and he would rule over all the planes.

Seamus shook his non-corporeal head. “You always were ambitious. It’s too bad I didn’t see how far you would go.”

“You read minds now, brother?” Torin forced his attention to the battlefield. It was a waiting game now. He wasn’t sure if they would march in today or the day after, but he had word that his nephews were on the plane, and that meant they would attack.

“It’s almost a sure thing what you were thinking.” Seamus floated around the room, the act almost a mirror image of the pacing his brother used to do while thinking through a problem. “Why don’t you let Bronwyn go? Can’t you see the hags lied about her?”

The fact that Bronwyn Finn was here in his palace and still breathing made him sick to death. She was here, the one woman who could kill him. Her throat should have been slit the moment the hags found her, but his wife had pleaded their case. “The hags think they can pull power from the girl’s soul. Enough power to defeat the true triad.”

“Which one?” Seamus asked, his voice nonchalant as though he was politely asking about the weather.

Torin turned to his brother. “What do you mean? It’s only a rumor that those idiot boys of yours managed to find a bondmate and create a true triad. I think it’s just a story the villagers tell to give them hope.”

Seamus sighed. “Do you even hear yourself speak? The fact that your own people would even be forced to make up tales to bring themselves hope that one day your reign will end should tell you everything you need to know.”

“They are stupid. I’m protecting them.”

“You are a fool, Torin. You’re justifying your own immorality, but it doesn’t matter, because it isn’t a story. Beck and Cian have come into their powers, but they aren’t the only true triad. My Bron has formed one with the Unseelies. So I ask again, which true triad do they seek to kill, and why didn’t your own hags tell you of this news? I assure you, they knew.”

And yet they had only mentioned that the idiot Unseelie had some small magic. They had not mentioned the triad. Why had they not mentioned the triad?

“Who are you talking to?” Maris asked, walking into the room. If she was upset about the battle about to take place, she didn’t show it, but then his wife was a block of ice that nothing seemed to penetrate.

But he didn’t need anyone to know he saw his brother’s ghost. “I was just musing about why my hags might keep something from me.” He felt his eyes narrow on his lovely bride. So beautiful. So fucking vapid. Could she be in league with the hags? Was it possible?

She huffed a little and crossed to the mirror, smoothing back her already perfect hair. “Well, they are hags, darling. You have to think that at some point in time they will turn on you. I thought you had a plan to take them out when we no longer need those nasty bitches. If you like, you can start it now.”

He was mollified a bit. Seamus huddled in the corner, exactly where he should be, hidden and unseen. “I thought you wanted to keep the Finn girl alive because the hags needed her.”

She sighed, a long-suffering sound. “Well, Torin, there’s a reason you’re the king. I don’t know anything about this. I have no idea why I would say such a thing. Why would I sincerely wish to keep your niece alive? I hate that whole family.” She put a hand to her head. “I actually don’t remember very much about the last few days. Ever since that Finn girl was brought here, my mind has been a bit cloudy. Do you think it’s something I ate? I shall have a long talk with cook just before I have him strung up. So sad to have to find another cook. Good help is so hard to find these days, but there’s nothing for it. I should probably execute the entire kitchen staff.”

She really was an empty, dull vessel, her only contents being pure malice. And she was stupid. “It wasn’t the food. It was the hags.”

Maris’s face twisted a bit. “Why ever should the hags be preparing food? I thought they spent all their time with the Finn girl. One of my maids walked by the room they had her in. She thought she heard some ritual of pulling power.”

“Yes, they said they needed to pull the power in case my nephews have formed a true triad.” The power would be necessary to block whatever they had ascended into.

“See, this is why you’re smarter. I heard that and wondered if we really should allow it. After all when they’re more powerful than all of our armies, what is to stop them from taking the crown?” Maris smiled brightly. “But, of course, it’s surely the very helpful thing you were talking about. You’re never wrong, after all.”

Oh, he wanted to slap the bitch, but she was right. He hadn’t seen. He’d been too arrogant thinking he had power over them. Long ago they had made a deal, bonded and signed by a Planeswalker demon. They would help him ascend and he would hold them at his right hand. The deal was only struck down by death and neither party could kill the other, but if the hags simply allowed him to die, they could take over his kingdom. If the hags used his niece and her power, they could rule with no retribution.