The Rebel Queen (Outlaw 1)

Surprise jolted through me. “What? You can’t possibly think that we meant to give you to Faery.”

I felt him shrug behind me. “It’s what my uncle told me. He told me one day I would go with him to Faery and I would like the prince I am there. I believe he thought I would find it comforting, but I had nightmares about it.”

“I will kick your uncle’s ass, and this time I won’t leave his balls on his body, I swear.”

There was a long sigh from my son. “In some ways it made sense. What would I do here on the Earth plane?”

“What you’re doing now. Lead the earthly Fae. They were left behind by the more powerful, and the oldest among them choose a solitary life.” Like my godparents. Ingrid should have been a queen but she’d never wanted to rule. “The Fae seat on the Council was held by your uncle, and he placed no importance on the earthly Fae. They’ve been left behind, truly caught in between worlds, and Frelsi proves they can thrive with a good leader. You can help them. That’s your place if you choose it.”

“I never thought of it that way. I was just helping out.”

I had watched him for days, and I’d seen how the Fae came to him with their problems. They liked Lee, but they deferred to Rhys. “Sometimes it starts that way, but you can’t deny that they look to you. They come to you with their questions and to settle their differences. You could do that on the Council. You could represent them and help them find ways to make their lives better. You could be a real voice for the Fae here, not merely a figurehead who only cares for the Fae in their safe sitheins. The Fae here need a king.”

“What would you know about what the Fae need?” There was suddenly a tall, elegant sidhe standing in front of me. She had long blonde hair and a fierce frown. She stared down at me.

“Like I told you before, I’ve been the goddess of the High Priest of the Fae for years.” The cold was starting to get to me. It wasn’t truly dangerous because I had Daniel’s blood, but it made me uncomfortable.

“The Seelie and Unseelie of the Fae planes mean nothing to us,” she replied. “They left us long ago.”

“My son was born on the Earth plane, and he never plans to live in Faery. He values the Fae here. He helped found a whole city of Fae,” I announced like he’d come home with an excellent report card.

“He doesn’t leave it often. You know there are more of us here,” she said.

“It’s dangerous for him to leave. I don’t know if you’ve heard but there’s a war on this plane.” I had no idea how much the Hidden Folk kept up with Earth plane events.

“What good is a leader if he’s in hiding?” That deep voice had not come from the female. I really hated not being able to see. “You call yourself a Green Man, but it’s a boy I see in front of me. He can’t even protect his family.”

“Well, I rather thought I was being politic,” Rhys said, and I could hear the tension in his voice. “I was trying to honor your traditions.”

“One of our traditions is strength, boy,” the male returned with a derisive snort. “You have none, Green Man. I’ve listened to you whine to your mother. She’s got more fire than you. And if you thought for a second we were leaving you here as some inconvenience, let me assure you no one insults me without consequences.”

“Magnus, perhaps we should rethink. I have heard of this female, and she does have power.” The female had turned her frown to the man who was standing behind me. “You know we could use a true Green Man. His father is one. He’s been gone for over a decade.”

“Then his father should have trained him better. Ah, there’s justice coming,” the masculine voice said.

I felt the earth rumble under me.

“What was that?” I asked.

The Hidden Folk were gone, vanishing like a shadow in the gloom.

Rhys shushed me and then his voice went low. “Be quiet and maybe it will pass us by.”

“What will pass us by?” I whispered the question.

“Mom, we’re in a place covered in Fae, and they set us under a bridge. What do you think is coming?”

I heard a rattling sound, and then a low growl filled the air around me.

“Sweet meats. Someone has left me some delicious treats.”

“What is it? We should turn around so I can see.” Whatever was coming for us was coming from the wrong side. Although, might I point out that I didn’t need to actually see it to know it was going to be bad. In the supernatural world, when one gets called a delicious treat by anyone who you’re not in a relationship with, the best advice is to run. Because it probably is going to eat you in a non-erotic fashion. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to run because of the freaking invisible rope that bound me to Rhys.