Before I can debate or respond to the tremor of rejection and fear snaking through me, I spot a giant standing at the foot of a gate, which is nearly three stories high and lashed with timbers and thick cords from the ivy that threads through the underbrush.
“Elgrim.” Tricia squirms from my hold and begins her descent.
“So we’re not talking about this?” I trot after her.
“Not now. Later.”
I shake away the stun, catching up to Tricia quickly, and pull her around. “You can’t just charge ahead. We have no idea if the book isn’t something your grandmother set up.” I wave my men forward until they surround us with their V formation.
“If I can’t survive in my own realm as Queen of Faery, if my own people distrust me to the point they’d rather see me dead, then what good am I as their queen?”
I check Elgrim, making sure he stays put. “I don’t care about them. I care about you. You need to do the same. This place is thick with magic. I can smell it, taste it, breathe it, and it gnaws at my skin.”
“Mine too, which is why the time is of the essence to enter Cornwall via Elgrim.”
I lift her arm, pale flesh, unlike mine that’s on the verge of turning hot and pink.
She pulls her arm away, and it’s then that I sense her hunger.
“You’re thirsting for the darkness, just like you did in the Senate. Tricia, this kind of power isn’t one to lean on. It’s a power that will coax you and devour you. I don’t want you to end up like your grandmother.”
“It’s my family magic. The sooner we meet with the Piskey queen, the sooner we can leave this place. The sooner we can be a family. You still want that don’t you?” She lifts her hand, placing it on my cheek.
Our link insures me we’re still one, when I thought for a moment she wanted to separate.
“I love you, Riley. You were my first crush, my first and only love. You’ll be my last. Don’t ever forget that, but this place is my home too. These are my people. I have to do my job, like you do. I can’t do that if you’re hovering over me waiting for me to shatter. I’m pregnant. I’m not glass.”
I swallow against the budding lump in my throat. “You’re right. Lead on, my queen.”
Tricia sidles up to the leading man, Peter, as he’s the strongest of the fae men.
I trail close behind. I can see that I’ve been crowding her these past few months, fussing, crowding, concerned that I won’t be a good father when I’ve already charged myself with being a mate who’s spread too thin. But I have to consider if she has a point. Have I been overbearing, selfishly culling her at every opportunity. She’s not one to take a back seat. She’s a powerful queen in her own right.
When Tricia pauses at the base of the knoll, I size up the ogre. Elgrim reminds me of Paul Bunyan with the ax swinging at his side, minus the big blue ox. But it’s Tricia I’m noticing. She dressed in leather, from her knee-high boots to her jacket collar. She may be a powerful fae, her skin glowing neon from the energy radiating off her, but she’s brought with her the gun I bought her for Christmas. A blade lays sheathed against her thigh. “If you weren’t already pregnant with my child, I’d offer to father your children.”
“And I’d let you.” She keeps her head forward, facing Elgrim. “I’m sorry about earlier. This forest speaks to my darkness. I’m not sure how long I can fight it. I’m still apprehensive about you and your involvement. If something happens to me where I’m alive but incapacitated, but not the baby, I can’t risk her losing you too.”
“Nothing will happen to any of us that we can’t rise above.” I promise. “But I don’t think either of us will tower Elgrim. He’s nearly ten feet tall.”
She examines the ogre, fists as large as a human skull. “You’re the most muscular and tallest vampire I know because of my royal blood. Between you and our men, we’ll prove to the Piskey queen our intentions are pure. She’ll have no reason but to release her spell.”
I come to stand beside her. “Once we get past Elgrim, who just happens to be glaring at us.”
“We don’t want to approach everything we do with force. Otherwise, we may prove that the fae legends of vampires invading Faery and slaughtering thousands for sport are true.” She digs inside her pocket, retrieving a purple stone.
I slip my hand under hers, lifting to inspect the amethyst. “Where did you get that?”
“The woman from the market.”
My adrenaline spikes, souring my stomach. “You brought an object out of the book?”
“I have four.” She digs deeper, retrieving a bundle of herbs wrapped in gauze, a vial of amber liquid, and a thick oval bar with a Triskele imprinted on the top.
“She gave you soap, herbs, and elixir?” Even in my head, my voice sparks with concern.
“I suppose we’ll need to bathe, if we can find water, before we meet with the queen. The other items have medicinal purposes I hope we never need.” She waves us all forward.
Gear clatters as we make our way to the Cornwall Forest gates.
Elgrim shifts his stance, but I don’t think he’s bothered by our presence any more than if we were ants. He’s twice my height. The girth of one of his legs is the width of my body. Bushy hair shadows his copper-colored eyes, and a strong beard forms a conical shape to mid-chest.
Tricia approaches, her head barely reaching his knee. “Elgrim, I’m Queen of Faery, Tricia McIntyre. My life, that of my unborn child, my mate, Master Vampire Riley Sweetwater and his coven, as well as the earthly world, are doomed if we don’t speak to the Piskey queen.”
“Queen Titania closed the forest a thousand years ago. I’ve stood as her guard. These warded gates keep your kind from entering.”
I shove down the effects of his insult. I’m mated to a fae queen. I have an arsenal of information at my fingertips. After the long hours today searching through each page of every fae book, I’m not unarmed. “Which is why your kind remains on this side of the gate. If I recall, your kind fell under a curse that stole away your mate, child, as well as your kin, who remain captive behind these walls. If you cross into the lands, then all shall perish.”
“It’s our history, but I haven’t seen a giant like myself in a thousand years...at least that. I’m the only one left to guard these gates.”
Tricia nestles her fists at her hips. “I’ve come to convince Queen Titania to lift the curse that threatens to destroy us.”
He pivots, taking up his ax and cradling the business end in his rugged palm. “No one gets through. Especially vampires.”
I take up a submissive post, unwilling to anger the ogre. “I agree that the previous master threatened Faery, but I’m not like him.”
A single step shakes the ground as Elgrim challenges me. “I know who you are. You’re the son of Kane, who decimated our kind with his vampires tunneling. Kane used our size and strength for his own nefarious purposes. He chose who remained outside the gates until all who exist of my kind stand before you.”
Tricia skirts around me. She holds up her hands. “Elgrim, we have to speak with Titania. She’s our only hope of survival. You understand how it feels to lose your entire family and species. That’s what I’m up against. But now I’m asking you to help. It’s up to you this time to make a choice that can save us. If you don’t allow us to pass, you may as well have sentenced us to death, and Faery as we know it.”