Sapphires and Desires (The Gem Fairy Series Book 1) (12 page)

“I will stop if you promise not to throw a fit. A real one. You child. If you do, I will start again.”

I nod.

“Give me your hand.” He instructs and I do.

He grabs it in his and mumbles something too quiet for me to understand. When he’s done he releases it.

“There, the emotion ward is off.” He says raising his hands in surrender. “Happy?”

“No!” I cry and angry tears escape my eyes. How could I possible be happy when my whole life is upside down? My cousin was almost murdered. I saw dead people, for Christ sakes! I
died
! I went to some magic fairy land and then found out that I am a fricken fairy?! I’m a fairy for god sakes. I sound psycho just thinking it! Am I crazy? Maybe when I was in the accident I lost my mind, maybe this is all me stuck in a damn coma. Yeah, tell yourself that, Laytah, you’re not in a coma. My tears turn into sobs and eventually Damon wraps his arms around me in an embrace. I’m not sure whether I want to kill him or hug him. After all he had kept me from falling apart over the last week. Then again he deprived me of my emotion for nearly a week without my permission.

“You’re okay. I was only trying to help.” He murmurs as I sob into his chest and tear stain his t-shirt.

“I don’t feel much different.” I tell him.

“You were laughing and playing board games five minutes ago and now you’re balling. It worked, trust me.” He promises.

“But I was sad and angry and confused before, now I’m just more sad and angry and confused.” I cry through sobs.

“I didn’t take away your emotion, Laytah. I took away its strength over you, I blocked it from being so strong.”

“Oh.” I cry. God, I’m such a wimp.

I try to put my strong face back on but it shatters as I try to position it.

“How long were they blocked for?” I ask him.

“I blocked them with glamour when I found you trying to escape the cave the second time so that you wouldn’t kill yourself trying to climb down the cliff. Made you not so scared, calmed you down. It was enough to have you follow me to the water. You were fine until I mentioned you dying and what not then you snapped through the glamour and
shot me,
” he glares at me then continues. “Then I shot enough glamour into your system them you didn’t run away screaming. When you handed me that ripped piece of your gown when our hands met I warded your emotion.” He admits and releases me from the hug.

I don’t say anything.

“At first it was for your own safety and then I had to stop you from shooting me again or something. I didn’t expect a little human girl to be so feisty. No, in all actuality I should’ve been more prepared. I spent many years of my life as a servant telling newly turned fae what had become of them. I’ve had some pretty fowl reactions. Worse than getting shot. I guess that I just thought you’d remember or recognize me and all would be well. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

It’s silent for a few minutes as I run this over. Finally through a raspy throat I say, “It’s alright.” I‘m not sure what makes me forgive him but I do. Maybe it’s because he’s using glamour on me and I don’t know it or maybe it’s because I trust him or maybe it’s because I understand or maybe it’s because I feel for him. I don’t know and I’m not about to think about it anymore and risk bursting out with tears again. Once the dam is sealed you don’t go poking holes in it. Once you poke holes in it the rest of it caves and who knows how long it’ll take to rebuild it again and stop the flood.

“It’s not, I’m sorry,” he says softly and brushes my tear dampened hair out of my face. “Are you alright?”

“No, I’m not alright. My world has cracked right down the middle but I will have to be okay I guess wont I? The world doesn’t revolve around me.”

“Mine does.” He whispers almost so quietly that I don’t hear him. In fact I pretend that I don’t because I know that I was not meant to hear it.

With my emotion back it finally sinks in, the tragedy of his love story,
our
love story. To him I am his wife, to me he is a stranger. I sigh deeply and wipe my face on my sleeve.

“Can’t you use your magic or whatever and zap me a tissue?” I ask him jokingly, sort of.

He laughs and grabs me one off of my night stand but instead of handing it to me he takes it upon himself to wipe the stray tears from my face and chin.

“You know, it’s going to be alright. It seems like hell right now but once everything settles it will work out. Just think, once we get rid of that stupid uncle of yours, you’ll be queen of the Ruby and we can proceed with our plans.”

“What plans?” I ask him.

“Oh right. We were planning on joining our Courts peacefully all of them actually. You know that friend I was telling you about? He is king of the Emerald Court he is a lesser fae but one that is very old and peaceful he is willing to let his crown go. The leader of the Diamond fae also wishes for equality and wants to banish the boundaries between the types of fae she has offered to let her crown go as well. Jadorn, your uncle wishes to conquer all four Kingdoms violently. We can’t let him do that. Once he holds the power, there’s no stopping him. He will run the fae society into the ground. It will be a dictatorship instead of a monarch influenced by its people.”

“I don’t know if I want to be queen. I don’t think that I
can
.” I admit truthfully.

“Of course you can it’s your birthright, Laytah.”

“I don’t know anything about anything.” I tell him.

“You will once you take back your memory.”

I curse in my head. Again with the memories. I feel like shouting, ‘they’re not mine!’ But decide against it.

“Eventually you will take them, even if you say you won’t now, I know you will. You always pick others over yourself and by not taking them, you will be rejecting the cries for help from millions.”

I pretend like I don’t hear him and close my eyes trying to fall asleep.

“We
should
go home soon.” He says.

I ignore him and keep my eyes closed, pretending I’m already asleep.

To my surprise he laughs. “I know you’re not asleep. I’m not that dumb, you know.”

I find myself unable to hold back a smile.

“Fine.” I give in dramatically. “Let’s go and get this thing over with so I can come back home. I’m serious. I’m not staying there any longer than I have to.”

“Fine.” He mimics and suddenly we’re back in the Amber Evers, or at least that what it looks like to me.

“Where are we?” I ask him as he sets me down on a rock.

“The Amber Evers.” He confirms. “Your magic should come back quicker while we’re here and not on earth. Just a warning, you may feel
funny
.”

“Why? Why not zap us to somewhere else? What Kingdom is this in anyway?” I wonder.

“Because you cannot simply
zap
yourself from earth to where ever you want. The Amber Evers is in the forest the separates all four Kingdoms. I can go straight into my own Kingdom from anywhere but I cannot enter others. This is as close as we can get to the Diamond Court from
zapping
around.” He explains.

“Why are we going there?” I question.

“Because we have to speak to the king. We need allies before we storm into the Ruby Court.”

“Oh.” I say and shut up.

“Follow me. I’ll use a little glamour to mask your appearance so no one recognizes you. We can’t afford to have you recognized and have rumors of your return circulating the Kingdoms.”

I follow him through thick brush and over hills too tall to walk over before I decide that I need a rest.

“What are you doing?” He asks as I lean against a tree.

“Resting.” I say breathlessly. “Not all of us are super human, you know.”

He laughs quietly. “Come on there’s not time to stop, it’s not safe here.”

“It’s completely silent.” I contradict.

“Which is not a good thing.” He murmurs and grabs my hand pulling me forward. “Would you like me to carry you?”

“No, I’ll be fine.” I say earnestly and follow him while trying to catch my breath.

“You sure?” he asks hesitantly.

I shake my head unable to speak. I’m exhausted.

“You may want to lay off of the
bagels
.” He mocks and then to my surprise he picks me up into his arms and begins
running
. Obviously he’s much stronger than I previously assumed.

I eventually fall asleep. He doesn’t slow down a tad. His endurance is as super human as his good looks apparently.

When I wake up I’m lying on something hard. I get up to see that it’s a bed, sort of. It’s kind of a make-shift type bed that really would be better identified as a slab of wood with a blanket on top. It looks like I’m in some sort of old shack. Maybe a lake house cabin?

“Hello?” I call out quietly. It’s still light out so I know that I haven’t slept through the night.

“Oh, princess, good morning, dear. King Damon Kingsley is outside waiting for you when are ready. These are for you.” An elderly lady says walking out from behind a bookshelf. The lady looks to be about the age 80 or maybe even older and looks completely human besides her elf-like pointy ears. I try not to stare. In her hands she holds a set of clean clothes which she hands to me. I choke back a laugh at her words I hadn’t made the ironic connection. Damon’s last name is Kingsley and he’s a king how ironic.

“Where am I?” I ask her sluggishly.

“You are just outside the Diamond Court, dear princess. I’m sorry, excuse my rudeness, I forget that you don’t remember me. I am your god mother Lenaya.” She says with an aged smile.

“Oh, nice to meet you.” I say awkwardly. The woman nods and leaves the room so I can change. It isn’t long before I walk out of the cottage into a large clearing in the woods. My eyes scan the area looking for Damon, I don’t see him anywhere.

“Hello there, princess.” An extremely high voice greets me and I turn to meet its owner. Only when I turn, I don’t see anyone.

“Hi?” I reply slowly.

“Down here, princess.” The voice says with a chuckle.

I look down to see a woman dressed in white and only about a foot tall. I nearly scream but catch myself before I make a fool of myself. That or it could be the wave of glamour that hits me like a freight train from somewhere behind me. I’m tempted to turn and see if it’s Damon behind me but am too taken by the small creature in front of me.

“It’s so nice to see you again, princess. I know you don’t remember me, I’m Anabelle. I’m a Brownie.” She tells me swirling and dancing as though there’s music playing.

“You don’t look like a brownie.” I tell her, confused.

She giggles as though I am hilarious. “A brownie is type of fae. I am the care taker of this home. I live here with Lenaya, princess.”

“Oh.” I say stupidly. Obviously she isn’t a chocolate brownie. I think back to a TV show I watched once about fairies. If I remember correctly, Brownies clean houses and stuff in exchange for a place to live.

“I will leave you in the king’s hands, princess,” she says nodding to Damon who has been confirmed to be behind me and then she disappears into the cabin.

“I’m glad you’re finally awake.” He says to me and I turn around to face him. My eyes bulge at what he’s wearing. He’s dropped the casual clothes and is now only wearing a pair of plain black leather pants, his chest is bare. His sunglasses are nowhere to be seen, his only accessory is a long black sheath attached to his waist which holds a sword. I gawk awkwardly. “I see you met Annabelle, and Lenaya too, I assume.” He observes looking at my new outfit, a light blue summer dress.

I nod as he releases the glamour and the sight of Annabelle sinks in. I don’t know what I thought fae looked like before I came here, I guess, by looking at Damon, I assumed fey all looked like humans.

“We’re going to stay here tonight, it’s safe. Lenaya has it warded. Tomorrow morning we will finish our way to the Diamond Court.” He says and grabs my hand. “Lenaya was your mother’s best friend. She is a very nice lady.”

“Why does she look so old if the fae don’t age?” I ask confused.

“Well, she was born without magic. She’s part of the Diamond Court but chooses to live in the Amber Evers which not many people do because it’s dangerous. She is what humans would call a witch. Although she doesn’t have her own magic she does magic through herbs and spells. She taught me witchcraft when I first turned fae. It’s how I met you. You were visiting her from the Ruby Court with your mother. Witches grow old and die just like humans but there life spans are far longer. Lenaya has been around far longer than I have and she’ll probably live for far longer. She’s smart many fae come to her for advice and aide.” He explains and then pulls me around the cabin to the other side of it. “Come with me.”

I follow him to a little wooden bench carved from a tree trunk and he has me sit down. “How are you feeling?” he asks concerned.

“I’m fine. Disoriented, but fine.” I answer.

He smiles. “It will get better I promise. It’s a lot to take in.”