Unlike fairy councils which included Lords of the Wild Hunt (or LotWH as I like to call them... I pronounce it loth-wah just to be even more annoying), the human council generally didn't include extinguishers in their discussions. It never bothered me before but now that I'd been among the fey for awhile, the exclusion was starting to annoy me. The Extinguishers should at least be represented in all of the meetings, not just seriously important ones.
“Where to?” Councilman Teagan threw his hands. “And how? It would take a lot of effort to move that many people securely. It's practically concentration camp full down there.”
“And that's not cool,” I leveled a look on Teagan. “Both the living conditions and your using that as a reference.”
Teagan made an exasperated noise.
“There may be a way to control them,” Tiernan gave me a steady look. “A way that we could make them work with us. Then we could make them more comfortable too.”
“What's he talking about?” Teagan frowned and Raza lifted a brow.
“I don't know if I want to do that,” I said in a lowyou know what I'm talking about but I don't want them to know what I'm talking abouttone to Tiernan. “Especially to so many people.”
“I think the situation may call for it,” Tiernan said gently.
“Call for what?” Councilman Sullivan asked.
“Alright fine,” I sighed, giving up on trying to keep my star-crossing ability a secret. “You know how fairies can enchant humans?”
“Yes, but it's doubtful that these witches will be susceptible, not with fey magic in them,” Murdock huffed. “We already went over this, Ambassador.”
“I realize that,” I rolled my eyes. “But I have a different version of fairy-struck.”
“A different version?” Teagan settled back in his seat and gave me a wary look.
“Go on,” Raza purred.
“It's called star-crossing,” I whispered.
Raza inhaled sharply and Eadan whistled an impressed note while his hunters exchanged looks of surprise. My Guard already knew about my magic, so they didn't react at all.
“I'm unfamiliar with the term,” Teagan, along with the rest of the humans, was just plain confused. “What exactly does it mean?”
“It means that she could make any man in this room do her bidding,” Raza's eye gleamed. “And I'm not referring to her using her substantial feminine wiles.”
“It's a powerful magic,” Eadan agreed. “And a rare one.”
“So you're telling me that you can walk down into those cells and magic all those witches into becoming your willing slaves?” Sullivan's eyes were going round.
“As long as none of them are wearing any anti-fey charms,” Eadan nodded.
“Well,” I cleared my throat and Eadan's eyes went as round as Teagan's.
“No,” Eadan whispered.
“Yes,” Raza leaned forward with a huge smile. “Charms don't work on you, do they, Princess? Your human blood negates them.”
“I can hold iron without a problem,” I gave my iron sword a pat. “It's not like I've tested myself against charms but I used to wear them all the time.”
“Anyone can wear a charm,” Eadan shook his head. “It only works on the fairy who is trying to enchant you.”
“She can hold iron, Eadan,” Tiernan sighed. “I'd say that means she's immune.”
“I still disagree,” Eadan shook his head. “Holding iron is a chemical reaction to our genetics. We can't touch iron but we can all wear charms. It might make us uneasy but we can still wear them. An anti-fey charm is a ward against fey magic and her star-crossing is definitely fairy magic.”
“That's a good point,” I conceded. “I guess we'll need to test it after all.”
“It's a moot point,” Raza rolled his eyes. “We're getting carried off by tangents. The important thing here is that Seren can cross those witches into doing whatever we want them to do.”
