Enchanted Ever After (Mystic Circle) (31 page)

Kiri snatched glances at the royals, did not meet their eyes. Even though she was Lightfolk now, they might be able to glamour her. The Earth King looked old and stern, his wife grumpier and lumpier of feature than Mrs. Daurfin at Eight Corp. She knew the Air King, and his queen was so exquisite that Kiri caught her breath.

Time to curtsy. She touched the sides of her ruana, bent her head and did a deep dip, hoping she looked all right.

“Let’s see her pattern.” The words came sharp as teeth from the large merman in two-legged form, handsome in a sensual way, with green-blond hair. His gaze fastened on Lathyr, glittering with animosity.

Lathyr stepped behind her and drew off her ruana as if revealing a prize, draping it over his arm and bowing. “As you can see, Kiri’s pattern is angular with significant power.”

She glanced down at herself and saw straight-lined ridges, a couple of diamond shapes. They
had
changed color, gleaming deep emerald against her green skin.

The Water Queen leaned forward, her gown of water droplets on threads of fresh seaweed moving with her. She hummed in approval and smiled at Kiri. “Our new merfem could possibly become royal.”

“Unexpected,” rumbled the Earth King as people in the room gasped. He turned dark eyes that looked as gentle as granite on Lathyr. “Tell me, Sir Tricurrent, is this usual, that a human might be transformed into one who might be as powerful as we?”

“No, Your Highness,” Lathyr said. “Kiri is quite unusual, and the person with the most powerful potential to become Lightfolk that I have sensed.”

A sigh rippled through the room.

“We’ll see if she can become royal,” the Water King murmured. He lifted a hand and shot a bolt of glowing lightning to hit Kiri in the chest. “I hereby accept you as a prospective royal and send you on the test of the great Pearl. You are subject to this geas.”

She rocked, but managed to stay upright. Lathyr hadn’t reached out to help her, and she’d known that would have been bad. Just as she knew that the king had no belief that Kiri could manage the quest, more like he expected her to fail, maybe even die.

The Water Queen made a quiet sound of disbelief, hurt in her eyes, and she looked at Kiri with pity, as if Kiri were a kitten about to be drowned.

Kiri wanted to rub the stinging on her chest to relieve it. Instead she bowed, smoothly straight down and up, keeping her stare on the Water King. “I thank you for this opportunity, Your Highness, and your belief in the Transformation project.”

“I will go with her,” Lathyr said.

“Of course you will, Tricurrent fry.” The Water King grinned in triumph and smashed a power stream of energy at Lathyr. “I hereby accept you as a prospective royal and send you on the test of the great Pearl. You are subject to this geas.”

Lathyr had hunkered down into his balance and the magic coruscated along the pattern on his entire body, sizzling and leaving a smell of burning fish and human. He spasmed but didn’t fall.

Kiri strove not to gag. “You shouldn’t—”

Stop now,
Lathyr snapped at her mentally. Moving jerkily, he draped her scarf jacket around her shoulders.

But the words burst from her. “This smell reminds me of what the great Dark one did to humans in Denver last month.”

There was shocked silence as everyone stared at the Water King.

Tension, danger buzzed in the air from the merman. His eyes went wild. Kiri groped for something to defuse. “I am honored to receive the geas.”

The Water King bared his shark teeth at her, and she wished she hadn’t seen them, but he seemed to ease away from viciousness. Give the man a bone, remind him of his status, and he reacted in a positive manner. Good to know.

“Thank you again.” Kiri slid her gaze along the royals, feeling a hint of support from the Water Queen, the Air and Fire couple, and, oddly enough, a deep and waiting sort of curiosity and patience from the Earth King.

Lathyr bowed, and without another word they backed to the door. Wise not to take your eyes off volatile royals. There, Lathyr paused and looked back. “I have decided to use my merman father’s family name, also, so I am Lord Lathyr Squall-Tricurrent.”

The Water Queen straightened, hopped from her throne and stood staring at him. Lathyr inclined his head. “A pleasure meeting you, my distant cuz.”

Whirling, the Water Queen demanded, “What have you done, Marin?”

Inner guards opened the door and they escaped, leaving loud gossiping voices behind them.

Now-smirking hall guards closed the doors behind them, muttering something nasty in a mer language Kiri didn’t understand. Lathyr whirled and set his hand on the hilt of his sword, sneered something back.

“Easy, lad.” A dwarf appeared and put his hand on Lathyr’s arm.

“They must apologize,” Lathyr insisted. “Or we will fight.”

Chapter 32

“I WILL JOIN
you in that fight,” said a smooth voice, an elf, who stepped from behind Kiri to confront the guards, too.

She hadn’t heard either the dwarf or elf arrive and could have sworn they weren’t in the hall when she and Lathyr had exited.

Droplets appeared on the guards’ faces and scales that weren’t hidden by armor.

“As you wish, great guardian elf, Pavan. I apologize to you, woman,” the slightly shorter one said to Kiri, bowing...and keeping his eyes down.

“I, uh, I, too, apologize, Tricurrent.”

“Lord Squall-Tricurrent and Lady Palger,” Pavan corrected silkily.

“Lord Squall-Tricurrent and...Lady—?” The merman stopped.

“The Water King has marked Sir Squall-Tricurrent and Lady Palger as royal questors. According to all our traditions, she is now royal.”

“Until she fails,” the first guard muttered.

“The girl won’t fail,” the dwarf said, a little too heartily. “She’ll—they’ll—succeed at the quest and earn their status and rewards.”

“Apologize to the
Lady,
” Lathyr insisted.

“I apologize, Lady,” the second guard said, with the shortest bow she’d ever seen, but he kept his face and eyes expressionless.

“Come on, you two,” the dwarf said, shooing them down the hall before him. “You’re guesting in our wing.”

The guards behind them tensed into statues.

Lathyr said, “Salutations, and many thanks, Guardians.” He looked down at her. “These are the two great guardians of the Lightfolk—they...observe...the royals.”

“This was not well-done of Marin,” the dwarf snapped, like shards chiseled from rock. He touched Kiri’s elbow, directing her into a branching, still-dry, hallway. “But it is done...the quest geas lodged within you, and cannot be undone.”

Kiri swallowed. “What does it mean?”

“You will be compelled to search for the great Pearl and complete the quest to prove your magical power is strong enough for you to become royalty,” the elf guardian said.

“And what does
that
mean?” Kiri asked flatly.

“You’ll be in the line of succession. Currently the female couple who hold this palace are the heirs to the Greendepths. Whether you replace them or fall after them in the hierarchy list will be determined by your quest,” the elf continued, then they headed toward a perfectly circular iron doorway at the end of the hall.

“What happens if I fail?”

“If you refuse the quest compulsion you will wither and die.” The elf bent a stern look on her.

She shook her head. “Not going to do that. This is interesting.”

Both the guardian’s expressions warmed.

“Good you got curiosity,” the dwarf said.

“What if I fail the quest? I don’t become royal, I guess, but what else?”

The guardians shared a look, then the elf said, “We will ensure any consequences of the geas are not fatal.”

The strength of her sigh surprised Kiri, but she hadn’t been able to hold it back. “But I’ll be a failure for the Transformation project.” She lifted her chin. “I want to show them what humans-now-Lightfolk can do.”

“Kiri, we’re not sure what you
can
do,” Lathyr reminded.

“We’ll find out, and best if I complete the quest. I. Will. Do. My. Best.”

“That’s all anyone can ask,” the elf said as they stopped at the door.

“This is our wing,” the dwarf said gruffly. “It’s dry, three stories and composed of glass and iron and magic.”

“Um-hmm.” Kiri cleared her throat. “Thank you for putting us up.”

The elf smiled at her and she noted he had more lines in his face than any other Airfolk she’d seen, but stronger charisma. “You are welcome to always stay here with us.” He bowed. So did the dwarf and Lathyr in response. So Kiri dipped her knees, too.

“Our apartments are heavily shielded.” His eyes gleamed. “And we have Meld and a state-of-the-art office, including a number of electronics that run on Meld.” He rubbed his hands.

Kiri sighed. “Sounds good.”

“Kiri needs water chambers.”

“We have that,” the dwarf mumbled. He set his palm on the door and it opened. “We have areas for all elementals.” He laughed like the sound of cheery pebbles slipping down a hill. “And unlike the rest of the place, Jenni Emberdrake keeps our wing balanced with elemental magic.”

“We prefer it that way,” the elf agreed. He, too, put his hand on the door and sang a few spell rhymes. “We have keyed the portal to you and Kiri, Lathyr.”

“Our thanks,” Lathyr said, at the same time Kiri said, “Thank you.”

The door opened and she walked into a room that reminded her of the Castle. A room that could be in any inland human’s home and tears gushed down her cheeks.

Lathyr was there, his arm coming around her waist.

“What is it?”

“I haven’t talked to my friends, Shannon and Averill in...” She’d completely lost track of time.

“Only five days, and I think you told them you were going on a trip?”

“Yes, but still...” She counted days. “I missed the Mystic Circle Fairies and Dragons they joined, whatever emails they might have sent. That would have concerned them.”

“Jenni would have tried to soothe them.” Lathyr stroked Kiri’s long hair down her back.

“It’s not the same.”

“No,” the elf said.

The dwarf grunted loudly and they looked at him. He pulled at his beard. “Summons from the Earth King. Gotta go.”

He pointed a thick forefinger at Kiri. “You remember, girl, that you can do this.”

She met his intense dark brown eyes. “You think so.”

A nod. “I do. Later.” He tromped back out, apparently not in a hurry to answer the king’s summons. Must be nice to be more powerful than the royals.

The elf said, “Come with me. We have video conferencing in our office.”

They walked through the entrance room that looked like a living room, into a hallway.

The elf waved to a staircase curving up to the left, watery green light filtered down from the stairwell. “The third-floor apartments on the left are my rooms.” He gestured to the right. “These are my fellow guardian’s, the dwarf Vikos.”

Didn’t sound like they were lovers, but they hadn’t acted like it. More like business or soldierly partners—army buddies. Not that she knew much about army buddies.

They reached a round-arched door and it swung open, revealing a small, round and domed chamber. Like the gaming room at Eight Corp, a wooden counter-desk curved along most of the wall. Kiri’s eyes widened as she saw a stack of unique-looking tablet computers, and another set of handhelds. Four large monitors were hooked up to desktops and there were game pads, gloves and visors, game sticks, keyboards, microphones and speakers.

“Wow,” she breathed, and tension left some of her muscles.

“Do whatever you need to do to reassure your friends, explore the wing.”

Lathyr had gone to one of the stations and turned on a computer.

Kiri stepped to follow, then looked down. Grass grew thickly on the floor. She trod on it, loving the feel on her soles.

“By the way, Lathyr,” the elf said, standing at the doorway just as Lathyr had in giving his parting shot to the royals.

Lathyr turned from the computer counter and straightened, his shoulders in a taut line. “Yes.”

The elfman smiled, amused. “Good job on finishing the Water King off.” The guardian tilted his head toward Kiri. “Your lady set him up and you finished him off.” The elf paused a beat. “Which means we will not have to intervene. His wife and the other royals will discuss his behavior with him. Finally. A good option for Vikos and me.” He winked at Kiri, “Call me Pavan.”

She’d figured out being gifted with the guardians’ names was an honor. Once again she did a bow, which was getting really tiresome.

“The Waterfolk suite is a two-story circular area off the living room as we came in,” Pavan said. “Part of it is dry, the rest water.”

“Thank you.” Lathyr bowed.

Pavan waved his hand and left.

Application icons appeared on the huge monitor’s screen. One was for a video conferencing program she had an account with. Another little sigh. She put her hand around Lathyr’s arm.

“Thank you for standing with me.”

He glanced up at her with a smile. “Always.”

“Do you have any idea what the time might be in Colorado?”

“After work, I believe.”

Kiri nodded. “And I’ll have to tell my friends that I’ll be going away again. Does anyone know where the great Pearl is?”

Lathyr blinked in surprise. “Of course. It is in the deepest part of the ocean.” He touched the tip of one ear. “I doubt I can swim that far down.”

Biting her lip, Kiri scoured her internal database.

“What humans call Challenger Deep,” Lathyr said, “In the Mariana Trench.”

“The Mariana Trench, near the Mariana Islands? What ocean is that?”

“Tell your friends you are going to the Philippines. That should sound fine to them.”

“Yes. It might.”

He held out a chair for her and she slipped into it, logged on to the program.

And got an immediate ding from Shannon. She was sitting on the old love seat she and Kiri and Averill had shopped for when they’d first married.

“Kiri, it’s so good to see you! What’s been going on?” Shannon’s eyes narrowed. “You look a little rough.”

Kiri licked her lips. She didn’t want to lie any more than necessary to her friends. “It’s been a very intense few days.”

“You’re okay?” Shannon asked sharply.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Shannon’s lips compressed and her face moved closer to the screen as if she examined Kiri. Squinting, she said, “Who’s that in the background?”

Lathyr came up and put his hand on Kiri’s shoulder.

Suddenly it was easier. “My new guy.”

Shannon’s expression lit with happiness. “You have a new guy!” She moved over a little on the love seat and Averill joined her.

Now Averill narrowed his eyes. “Who is he?” he asked, at the same time that Shannon said, “Is it serious?”

Lathyr kissed her hair.

“Maybe.” She found herself flushing...she could still do that. “I’ve been busy,” she added weakly.

“I completely understand,” Shannon said, with one of those explosively relieved breaths she had.

“Who’s the dude?” Averill said louder.

Lathyr lowered until the camera caught most of his face. Shannon made a yummy noise. Averill nudged her. She glanced at her husband. “Not my type, you know that, but very nice to look at.”

“Thank you,” Lathyr said politely.

“Hey, good to see you,” Shannon said.

“Hello,” Lathyr replied. He nodded to Averill. “My name is Lathyr Squall-Tricurrent and I work for Eight Corp.”

“Human resources,” Shannon said promptly.

Kiri choked. That had a whole different meaning to her now.

“That is correct,” Lathyr said.

“So you’re Lathyr, and you’re Kiri’s new guy.”

“I am her lover.”

Shannon laughed and Averill scowled. Kiri felt fluttering in her middle, glanced at Lathyr’s face. Intent, as always. Surely the quest would begin tomorrow, so tonight... Yes, she wanted to have sex...love with him, again.

“Mind if I do some checking on you, Lathyr?” Averill asked. It wasn’t truly a question, just something to say while that sharp brain of his calculated angles.

“You are welcome to,” Lathyr said. “Though I doubt I am much on the internet.” He hesitated. “If you wish to confirm my character, you may speak with Alex Akasha, the CEO of Eight Corp.”

“CEO,” Averill said neutrally.

“We are—acquaintances. I believe he will vouch for me.”

“Where do you come from?” Shannon asked.

“Currently I am living in Mystic Circle.”

“Yeah, we knew that. Kiri spoke of you. Hey, Kiri, can we ask Jenni Emberdrake about him?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kiri said. Her eyes slid in Lathyr’s direction.

“We’ll ask Jenni,” Averill said. “We know her a little now from playing Fairies and Dragons.”

“You’re good, Kiri?” Shannon asked.

“Yes, I’m very good,” Kiri said steadily.

Shannon’s expression turned sly. “But you’re going to be busy some more and probably out of reach?”

One way to put questing under the sea. “That’s right.”

“Okay.” Shannon took Averill’s hand. “We’ll try not to worry.”

“You take care of her,” Averill said to Lathyr.

“I promise,” Lathyr said.

“I suppose you can’t stay and talk.” Shannon sighed.

“Not right now,” Kiri answered.

“We have a plane to catch,” Lathyr lied.

“Where?” Shannon asked, again leaning forward.

“We are going to the Philippines.”

“The Philippines!” Shannon said.

“Eight Corp is considering an Asian office and wants me there,” Lathyr said. “I have permission to take Kiri.”

“Nice.” Shannon grinned, then wiggled her brows at Kiri. “Have fun.”

“I’m sure it will be interesting,” Kiri said primly, also fibbing with her tone.

Averill grunted. “This gonna be a permanent office that you or Kiri or you both might man?”

“Unknown,” Lathyr said. “I reiterate my promise to you to take care of her.”

“I can take care of myself,” Kiri grumbled, even though she doubted. She had a lot to learn.

But Averill and Shannon smiled, then blew kisses at her. Though Kiri just wanted to look at her happy friends more, Lathyr signed her off. She sagged in the chair.

Lathyr swiveled the chair and lifted her from it. “You need food and rest....”

“And loving.” She stroked his cheek. “That, too.”