Once we were five feet from the lioness, she began to prance away. I walked fast to keep up and we ended up in a high-hedged labyrinth. Baladar was either the best mecca user in existence, or he had, like, a hundred million dollars in property here. This place was beyond huge.
The second I stepped into the entrance of the labyrinth, the music vanished, leaving behind silence. Not a single sound could be heard, not a bird, bug, or bee.
“I don’t like this,” Victor said from behind me.
“It’s okay, there’s no reason to be alarmed at this stage,” I said. My guards knew I had met a fae with a lioness familiar before, but they still didn’t like it.
We wound through the labyrinth, until finally turning a corner to find a tall and striking male. I had a moment’s pause. I’d been expecting that same woman from before. But as the lioness walked to the male, nuzzling into his side, it made perfect sense. The female fae had said she wasn’t very powerful; she couldn’t have been an heir. The lioness was not her familiar. It was this man’s.
He looked to be around my age, but age was probably impossible to judge on a fae. He was well over six feet tall, with a strong, wiry build, and long silky blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, except for a few braided strands that hung at the side of his head. He had deep green eyes, slashed through with gold threads. He was probably one of the most beautiful males I’d ever seen, but there was no mistaking his otherness. His ears were slender and pointed; he wore no illusion to hide his fae heritage.
Crossing his left arm over his chest he gave me the slightest of head nods. “Your Majesty.”
I didn’t know this man, but I didn’t want to offend, so I decided a slight nod in return was appropriate. “Pleasure to meet you,” I said.
My guards were at my back fanned out in an arc and the fae eyed them. “I’m Caspien, one of the princes of the Summer Court, and I would like to speak with you in private.”
“No!” Blaine stepped before me and gestured to the prince’s weapon. “There is no way we’ll let our queen go off alone with an armed fae.”
Prince Caspien nodded and unsheathed his blade, placing it on the ground before his familiar. “You have my word that no harm with befall her at my hand.”
Violet stepped in beside me. “I’ll accompany the queen,” she said, clearly not convinced.
It looked like my best friend didn’t completely trust this person, and I thought that was wise. This could be a ploy to kill me and weaken the mecca, weakening the shifters so they were ripe for the killing.
Caspien did not look worried. “As you wish, magic wielder.”
Violet and I shared a look at this unfamiliar term. Blaine, Victor, Ben, Jen, and Monica looked less than happy as we walked away, leaving them to stand guard over his weapon and familiar. I was calm though. Few beings could rival Violet and I together, and I sensed Baladar would also come to my aid if needed.
Violet was at my left, a few paces behind me, and the prince was on my right. “Dalia sends her warm regards,” he said formally.
Dalia? Oh … that must be the name of the woman I met in Astoria Park.
I nodded. “Thank you. Please return those regards. So what brings you here?”
He didn’t hesitate, which I liked. “Things are reaching crisis point in the Otherworld. We sent Dalia across to try and warn you after your queen’s death. This was the catalyst that has set the Winter Court off on a destructive path. Why, we do not know, but they are determined to take over both sides of the veil.”
“Why send Dalia before and not just come yourself?” The prince was clearly far more powerful, and a leader in his own right.
“The less powerful the fae to cross over, the less ripple effect. We were hoping the Winter Court would not know she had come. But, as this escalates, we felt it was imperative that I seek your council in person. My father is the king of the High Court of Summer. From here on I’ll be the direct liaison between our two courts. Now more than ever we need this alliance. We have information to share, and hope you’ll do the same.”
Whoa. The son of the king of the Summer Court. I felt a little in awe, even though I was an actual queen. Something about the Tuatha de Danann had that effect on me, an ethereal otherworld energy and power. I nodded that he should continue.
“The mecca is weak in the land of fae. Ever since your late queen fell, our world has begun to die.”
I was no longer walking. I didn’t want to miss a single word. “Dalia did mention there was an imbalance. What happens if the Otherworld dies? Would Earth also perish?”
His expression shuttered. “Right now we have no idea. Everything requires a balance, so there is a very real risk that your world will fall with us, but we cannot know for sure. Maybe, because the mecca is stronger here now, Earth would survive.
“Even more pressing, the Winter Court has stolen a precious item of ours, a power object that promotes energy and fertility. Without that object or the mecca empowering our lands, our food, and eventually our people, will die off. This means that time is running out before war spills into your land. We are weakening. We cannot hold them off for much longer.”
“What can I do to help? How do I fix this?” I would not let an entire race die because of some imbalance my queen had created.
I knew it had started with her. I just had to figure out what she had done to make it so. Plus we needed all the allies we could get, especially since the Winter Court was gunning to take us out.