He watched her shift off to dine with the first of many male Fae who would want her. He was certain this was her father’s doing, and who could blame him. He was her father and wanted the best for her.
The heart he knew he did not have began to crack. How could he keep it in tact? He had no heart, there was nothing to keep together, and yet, something inside of him was breaking in two.
Chapter Four
FRANKIE LOOKED FLEETINGLY down the length of the dining table and put on a fixed smile. Boring? No, boring would mean they were talking about things that had no interest for her. This was worse so much worse than that.
As she gazed around, she thought of some of the adult dinner parties that Jazz and Trevor had thrown for the parents of her American friends. They were anything but boring.
And the background music?
The Daoine were Fae of nature, and their music reflected this. It was soft, lilting and of course very pretty, but for a young woman who enjoyed rocking it whether it was country, pop or good ‘ole rock n’ roll, the background music was unimaginative and totally insipid.
Frankie’s experience with the Seelie Fae had always been very different than her times with the Daoine Fae.
When they dined with Ete and Breslyn, it was all about fun. No one put on airs and everyone just laughed and joked and danced. Their five year old son, Bray was always sneaking in to become the life of the party, so much like his father.
She sighed.
Here she was. How her father could find these Fae interesting, she didn’t know. He had become a beloved member of what she always thought of as their own little clan—the team that had formed six years ago. They met at least once a month in Tir, and even Aaibhe, the queen and her consort, Morgan LeBlanc often dropped in on their parties. She looked around the table and offered a smile and received cool stares in return.
The handsome blonde prince at her side never stopped talking about his accomplishments and his status in Daoine. Ugh.
Something else about him disturbed her. It was as though he was putting on a show and that something far more devious was behind everything he said. She dismissed such a notion. She was being fanciful because she was bored.
The prince finally took a breath and dared to put a finger to her chin. She was for a moment speechless as he lifted her face and looked into her eyes to whisper, “Frankie is an odd name. I should like to call you something else, something as ethereal as you might appear when you take flight.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were ye,” Frankie answered and showed him teeth as she gave him a wide cold smile.
Prince Worley’s fine blonde brows rose, “And why not? If you are to become a princess, you should have a name befitting your status.”
“Already am a princess wherever it counts,” Frankie answered and turned away from him.
Frankie saw her father who twitched and made a movement in the prince’s direction. She frowned darkly at her father, but as the prince continued to talk to her profile, she had no choice but to look at him once more.
Worley frowned, at her, “Do you not wish to have your status at Daoine raised? You are worthy.”
“No, don’t really care about status,” Frankie smiled.
The prince tried again, “Indeed, but only consider this. If you were not Daoine Sluagh, your human heritage would preclude you from becoming a real princess. I do assure you, there are many vying for that position.” He waved this off with his hand. “However, I find your beauty makes me forget about your human mother.”
Frankie controlled the fist that nearly landed him one in the nose. “Oh, but I must warn ye, I would never let ye forget m’human mother. She was both human and Fios and proud of it I am. I think ye would do well to remember just where I do come from. I am as proud of m’mother’s blood as I am of m’father’s.” She shook her head and started to push away from the table when she saw that her father was enjoying himself immensely with an old crony of his and again and stopped herself. She couldn’t ruin this night for him.
“Yes, indeed, as a Fios, your mother was slightly more than the usual human…wasn’t she?” he pursued like a fool.
She regained control of her temper and her voice. She spoke softly and tried to keep the threat out of her words. “Ye don’t know who m’mother was, and I’ll thank ye not to speak of her. Ye don’t really know who I am, but I will tell ye one thing ye do need to know right now. I am not for ye.” She gave him her back and began conversing about a rock n’ roll song with the older woman on her left who hadn’t a clue what Frankie was talking about, but who listened politely.
She knew she shouldn’t blame the prince. He was Daoine, and they were as beings of nature, appalled by humans. They saw the destruction the humans were causing to their own planet and were filled with disgust for a mentality that disregarded the e
arth they lived and breathed in.
However, something else about Worley disturbed her, and it wasn’t his superior attitude. It was something far more sinister. Was she just attaching this to him because she intensely disliked him?
No, there was a scent that floated around him. She couldn’t pin-point what it was, but it was Otherworldly, not quite dark and yet…?
No one else seemed to notice, but she did. She couldn’t put her finger on it but was determined now to find out more about him. After all, it appeared as though Queen Mab was forever in his company, or so, her father had once said.
Frankie hated politics, and rarely listened to the gossip, but even so, she had heard some things about the Worley’s family. These Royals were especially aligned with a faction that believed humans would destroy their planet. She wondered why her father had not bothered to concern himself about such a group of Daoine and what the implications of their views could mean. She made up her mind to ask him about it later.