She's No Faerie Princess (13 page)

Of course that had been BP. Before the Princess.

Since meeting her, he figured his nerves had frayed tobloody spaghetti strands, and now here he sat in theliving room of the King of Faerie trying to determine if theguy might be up to something a little fishy.

Damn, he needed a vacation.

Eyes on the door and attention on his thoughts, Walkerreflected on the potential badness of the current situationand declared it monumental. Part of that stemmed from Fiona's suspicious and pessimistic reaction. After all, shewas related to the king, which meant she knew him andwhat he was capable of a lot better than anyone else Walker knew. But the rest of the itch between hisshoulder blades came at the prompting of his owninstincts, and those told him—screamed at him, really—that trouble currently stampeded toward him like a herd of

angry water buffalo. He couldn't give much of a logical explanation for why he felt like that, but his instincts tended to be good ones, and he'd learned a long time ago to rely on them and listen to what they had to say.

He didn't know all that much about the inner workings ofthe Fae courts. He knew there were two of them and thatthey traded power year in and year out, each monarchreigning supreme for six months before surrenderingpower to the other. He knew Queen Mab ruled the Seelie Court, as she had for the last nine hundred years, and heknew her people were renowned for their art and music,their capricious, merry natures, and their vain beauty.

And he knew about the Unseelie Court, ruled for just aslong by King Dionnu. Those Fae enjoyed a different sortof fame, one based on intrigue and mystery, dangerousmachinations and dark seductions, wild midnight ridesand raids, and dark, powerful magics. But that just aboutsummed up his understanding of Faerie.

Because of the restrictions on travel between the twoworlds, his exposure to the fair folk has been extremelylimited before Fiona's arrival. He'd met only one Faebefore, a young man obsessed with his ownentertainment and convinced of his own irresistiblebeauty. Now Walker realized the man had been a cousinof Fiona's, but at the time he'd just thought of him as apain in the ass. His self-indulgent and unauthorized jauntaround town had brought the wrath of Mab down on thehead of the Others and caused a world of trouble. The Silverback Clan and the rest of the Council of Others hadbid him a relieved farewell and hoped earnestly never toencounter his kind again.

Like everything else, that had also been BP, so Walkerfigured he could be forgiven for not having anticipatedthat he'd be dragged kicking and howling into the politicallife of a culture he knew no more about than how to spellit. The assumption didn't seem out of line.

Oh, who the hell was he kidding? Since the princess hadwaltzed into his life, the lines had shifted so far out ofwhack, he couldn't even be sure they still existed. Especially the one that had been drawn to keep the pawsof scruffy beta werewolves off of elegant Faerieprincesses. She seemed completely oblivious of that one,as she demonstrated every time she pressed thatluscious little body against him.

His teeth clenched reflexively against the desire to lick hischops. Damn her for giving him a taste, because now hecouldn't stop remembering it. His fingers itched to touchher again, to fill themselves with sweet, subtle curves andsilky soft skin, and it was all her fault.

She should know better than to tempt him, know betterthan he did that a relationship between a Lupine and a Fae was doomed from the beginning. Lupines mated forlife, a life that lasted an average of seventy years or so,as opposed to the Fae's virtual immortality. If that didn'tput a damper on the romance, other facts would, like theone about Lupine jealousy—which blazed out of controlanytime someone so much as stared too long at a mate —juxtaposed against the notoriously fickle passions ofthe Fae. All in all, these two twains were destined neverto meet, much less live happily ever after.

So why did Walker find himself struggling so hard not topin the princess to the nearest flat surface and mark her

as indisputably his? What kind of sick joke was that?

Blocking the intoxicating scent of her from his mind, hefixed his gaze on the sitting-room door just in time to seeit open for a figure that defied all of his expectationsabout how a thousand-year-old king should look.

Instead of a distinguished figure who radiated wisdomand dignity, Walker found himself staring at a
 
GQ
 
covermodel. Dionnu looked no more than thirty, with pale,unlined skin and the leanly muscled build of a runner. Hestood tall, over six feet, and his erect posture brought theslim flexibility of birch trees incongruously to mind. Hewore a pair of black denim jeans and a gauzy silk shirtalmost the same sapphire shade as Fiona's top. Like hisniece, his black hair fell in glossy waves about his head,curling down over his collar in the kind of chic disarrayonly achievable through magic or expensive stylists. Unlike Fiona, he had black, empty eyes that reminded Walker of a reptile or a sorcerer.

Dionnu's aura of elegant grace and lazy amusementreally should have made him look effeminate or weak, buthis eyes kept that from happening. This was not anyone Walker would show his back to in a dark alley. Or on acrowded street corner at high noon.

"Fiona, darling," the Fae drawled as he stepped into the room. He spared a brief, dismissive glance for the brownie behind him, who scurried off as if on a mission. "I'm delighted to see you again, but I admit it is a surprise. I thought your aunt would sooner renounce her throne than allow one of her pets to be exposed to my corrupting influence."

Fiona had risen to her feet when her uncle entered, and

Walker watched her offer a small curtsy before shesmiled at the king with her trademark sunny charm. "Youknow me, Uncle. I never was very good at followingorders."

Dionnu chuckled, an unmerry sound that made Walker'shackles rise. "I do, and I like to credit my side of thefamily tree for that." He took Fiona's hands and kissedher lightly on each cheek. "I take it that explains yourpresence here in the human world? A little civildisobedience?"

"Exactly. Every girl needs a vacation from the rules now and then. And since Aunt Mab is nowhere in sight, it's the perfect place to relax."

Still smiling, Dionnu turned and looked at Walker. "Aren'tyou going to introduce me to your friend, Niece?"

"If you insist." Fiona laughed dismissively and glanced over her shoulder at Walker, her expression saying she paid him about as much attention as the average plant stand. "But he's no one important. The Council of Others assigned him to me as a sort of bodyguard. Apparently, they're a bit paranoid over the idea of something bad happening to a member of court on their watch. Just ignore him. That's what I've been doing."

Walker's jaw clenched at that. If he hadn't known it to bean outright lie, he would have been tempted to grab herand demonstrate graphically just how difficult he was toignore, but this didn't seem like an opportune time. Givenshe'd started off her meeting with her uncle by outrightlying to him, Walker was willing to credit her with somesort of strategy. He just hoped it was a good one.

He kept his expression blank and his gaze focusedstraight ahead of him while Dionnu gave him a cursoryevaluation. Behind the mask of boredom, Walker thoughthe saw the king's eyes flicker, but Dionnu said nothing,just turned and led his niece to a grouping of furnitureplaced not around the room's large, inviting fireplace butaround a mirror the size of a small pond that took upmost of the center of one wall.

Seating himself in a thronelike wing chair, Dionnugestured for Fiona to make herself comfortable. "I have toconfess I'm surprised that you would make the Council of Others a stop on a vacation visit to the city, Niece. Iwould have thought you would be eager to see moreinteresting sights."

Fiona laughed lightly and perched back on a sofa nearlyidentical to the one she'd recently vacated. Figuring hemight as well play along for the moment, Walker took upa sentry's position just behind her shoulder. "You can becertain it wasn't on my touring list, Uncle, but I didn't think I had a choice. I had no idea you were here, too, or I'dhave come straight to you, but I needed to get helpsomewhere when the Faerie gate didn't open on my wayback home."

"The gate didn't open?" Dionnu frowned and crossed his legs in another of those should-have-been-girlie moves. "What are you talking about?"

"The gate in Inwood Park. The one I came in through. When I went back and tried to cross back into Faerie, I couldn't. The gate has been sealed somehow."

Walker watched Dionnu's expression out of the corner ofhis eye, but he didn't see much of anything beyond

surprise and maybe a little irritation. Neither of them,

though, made it as far as those blank eyes.

"I don't see how it could happen. A gate has never spontaneously closed itself before. It doesn't sound very likely."

Fiona shrugged. "I know. I was surprised, but it's still true. There's no getting back to Faerie at the moment. Sowhen I realized I was stuck here, I decided to contact the Council to see if there was anything they could do. I knowthey're mortals and it was a long shot, but I didn't havemany options. They're the ones who told me you were intown!" She beamed. "So of course, I had to come by andsay hello. I should have thought of this years ago. It's theperfect rendezvous point that Aunt Mab would never thinkof."

The king smiled in a way Walker thought was supposedto indicate amusement and affection. It might even havesucceeded, if it had been worn by someone with thefacsimile of a soul behind his eyes. On Dionnu it made Walker wary.

"Well, I'm certainly glad the mortals at least proved useful enough to send you to me," the king said. "Not only will it give us the chance to spend more time together, but it has brought the problem of the gate to my attention as well. You can be certain I will be looking into the cause of the problem."

"Oh, don't trouble yourself, Uncle—"

"It's no trouble, I assure you. After all, I will need to use the gate when I'm ready to return, as well. As amusing as the mortal realm may be, I doubt I'll be anxious to remain

once my business here is done."

"Business?" Fiona laughed again and settled back in her seat as the brownie who had opened the door to them earlier bustled in with a tea tray loaded with covered dishes and small silver pots. "What business could you possibly have here?"

Dionnu leaned forward and lifted one of the pots, pouringa stream of amber liquid into two cups. Discreetly, Walkersniffed and detected the scents of tea, apples, spices,and the kick of a potent spirit that smelled of flowers andfire. Faerie wine, if he wasn't mistaken.

"I would have thought the Council had mentioned it to you." The king handed one of the cups to Fiona and lifted the lid off of several plates of tiny delicacies, both human and Fae. His voice was casual as he offered his niece a snack. "I came for the negotiations with the humans. Just because your aunt couldn't be bothered to make time for them doesn't discount their importance."

Fiona helped herself to two chocolate cookies, balancingone on the edge of her saucer while she nibbled theother. "The Council did mention something about youworking on some sort of political cause, but I admit Ididn't pay much attention. Aunt Mab never mentionedanything, and you know diplomacy has never been myforte."

"Which is such a shame, considering your family connections. I could help you go far, you know." His black eyes sparked. "But I suppose one needs desire as well."

"Which I altogether lack."

"So you say. In any case, the purpose of our negotiations is quite simple. The Others of this world have determined the time has come to alert the humans to their presence, and it's up to folk like me to make sure they don't put themselves in an untenable position by doing so. If we want the Others to have rights in this world, we're going

to have to secure them now, before the human public has time to protest."

"Uncle, that sounds positively philanthropic."

Dionnu laughed. "Hardly. I just want to be sure that if anyof our people decide to take a sojourn among theprimitives here, they do so without risking some sort ofwitch hunt. You know how these humans can be. They'vedone it before. I think it's in the best interest of the Faethat they not do so again."

Fiona sipped her drink. "Mm. Maybe that's why Aunt Mabdidn't mention it. You know how she feels aboutmembers of her court visiting the human realm. Even herown nieces and nephews have to sneak around to do it."

"Perhaps. Either way, it's a shame. After all, there is

always strength in numbers, isn't there?"

The king's eyes glinted over the rim of his cup and Walker's hackles stood up even straighter. This Fae waseven creepier than he'd originally thought. He had to beatback the urge to place himself between Fiona and theking. Walker doubted that would go over well with eithermember of the royal family. Besides, Fiona seemed tohave a plan. She hadn't shared it with Walker, anddamned if he quite knew what it was, but he knew herwell enough to know she'd get pissed if he interfered withit. He would do so without hesitation the moment he

sensed she was in real danger, but until then, he bided

his time.

"If you say so." Fiona grinned, biting into her second cookie. "Personally, I've always been more of the selfreliant type."

"Another of my own traits I see in you. You and I have much in common, Fiona." Dionnu smiled that skin- crawling smile. "So much that I still regret your lack of interest in accepting my offer."