Beauty (A Faery Story 3)

Bron had to take a deep breath. This was what Niall had wanted of her, but he’d wanted a china doll to put on banners and keep protected. That wasn’t who Bronwyn Finn was anymore. Goddess, she wasn’t Bronwyn Finn. She was Bronwyn McIver.

A small crowd had gathered, lending aid to Litha and her husband. Bron heard them talking about her. Calling her princess and wishing her luck. Promising to follow her.

“Do not worry,” Litha said to the crowd. “Our princess will save us as she has saved me. Gather what weapons you have. We will follow Princess Bronwyn and her shanimal!”

Kaja growled before changing.

Bronwyn got the message. It was time to join this fight for real.

Chapter Fourteen

Shim pounded on the door, cursing the fucking sunlight that was keeping him inside.

What in all the planes had happened? He felt stronger than he could ever remember feeling, and yet something as completely and utterly harmless as fucking beams of light were keeping him out of the fight.

And damn it all, he really wanted to fight.

“Where did Gilly go?” Duffy asked, his small body struggling under the weight of that sword.

“Upstairs, though if she’s become like her charge, she’s probably tied the sheets together and run.” None of the women in his life seemed to want to allow him to protect them. And he couldn’t blame them since he was stuck in this damn house.

There was a loud boom. The sound of a sonic weapon being discharged.

Shim could feel his brother’s adrenaline. It pumped through his own veins.

“They’re fighting. I thought they were doing a recon.” Duffy rushed to the door and out into the street. “Can’t see anything.”

Of course he couldn’t. Duffy was barely four feet tall. Shim was six and a half, but he couldn’t see a damn thing since he was blinded by sunlight now.

Gillian hurried down the stairs, holding her skirt in one hand. She rushed into the room and toward a small closet.

“Gilly, you told Roan you would stay here.” The thought of his sister out in the battle while he was stuck here rankled.

Gillian looked up, her dark eyes narrowed. “I’ll lie to Roan all I like. As it happens, I think I’m likely best served here.” Her arm disappeared into the closet and when it came back, Gillian was holding a bow and quiver of arrows. “Reymon likes to hunt. He’s quite good, and he’s been teaching both me and Bron. The upstairs window has a very good view. If anyone tries to sneak up the back street, I can take them out.” She stopped in front of him. “Don’t take it too badly, Shim. You’re half vampire. I’m not even a true heir.”

Gillian was a bastard by royal terms. She couldn’t inherit since her mother hadn’t been married to King Fergus and had died in childbirth.

“Our mother loved you.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she looked over at Duffy as she nodded. “Queen Constance had a heart big enough for everyone. The Unseelie were blessed with her reign. Do you know how many queens would have thrown me out? How many queens would have taken in Duffy?”

Not many, but then his mother had been an extraordinary woman. “It didn’t matter you weren’t her blood.”

“And it doesn’t matter that Bron isn’t mine. I know what I said. I meant it. You needed to make sure your claim to Bron was unassailable, but I love that child. Child. She’s a woman, but she’s also my daughter. Not by blood or birth but by sacrifice. I seek to honor my true mother, Queen Constance, in all ways, and she would never have sat idly by while others suffered. When I spoke of taking over the Tir na nÓg, it is because I love these people. I would defend them with my life. Please tell Bron that. Please don’t let her hate me.”

“No one can hate you, Gilly.” Duffy looked awkward standing there, looking up at the woman none of them had seen in thirteen years. Shim remembered how Duffy would blush every time the princess would say hello to him.

Gillian got to one knee, placing her at eye level with the gnome. “Thank you, sweet Duffy. I did not say it earlier, but it is so good to see you again.”

Duffy’s face flushed and his eyes turned down. “It is good to be able to place me eyes on you once more, Your Highness.”

Gillian laughed. “None of that, brother.”

She stood, the bow in her hand. “I will watch our backs. Duffy, please shout up if anyone is coming for the front of the store.” She winked down at the gnome and fled up the stairs.

“I am not your brother.” Duffy said it so quietly Shim almost missed it.

Poor Duffy. So in love with a woman he couldn’t have. “Duffy, are you all right?”