“You can both take an elevator down with some of the Star's Guard,” Tiernan declared as the elevator dinged and the doors slid apart. “Get in.”
Torquil and Conri scowled at each other as they got into the elevator car. Several guardsmen followed them in until the car was full. Dylan leaned in and hit the button for the bottom floor, then got out of the way. The doors slid shut and the panel above the elevators lit to show their descent. Uncle Dylan pushed the down button again.
“Well, I don't hear any screaming, so that's a good sign,” Dylan shrugged.
“They're twilight knights,” Tiernan said. “Even if they're terrified, they won't scream.”
“If they really are scared of the elevator, the plane will horrify them,” Dylan grimaced.
“I'm kind of looking forward to seeing that,” I grinned.
Chapter Four
The knights were wide-eyed for quite awhile when we first boarded the private jet but they acclimated fast. It was fun to see the magical fey clench their armrests during take-off, some even closed their eyes, while it didn't bother Cat at all. She just curled up at my feet and went to sleep. Maybe it seems childish to delight in their fear but these were the same people who teased me about gawking at the wonders of Fairy. So it was nice to see that they could be awed by simple human engineering.
Then Tiernan passed out the cell phones and explained how to use them. No fear there. Instead of being intimidated, my stalwart knights turned into children, phoning each other and then laughing at the echo of their own voices. When Conri showed them how they could choose their own ringtones, I thought we'd never get another moment's peace.
I'd recently learned that fairies were crazy about human music. Their own musical evolution seemed to have plateaued somewhere around the fey equivalent of Bach. They did orchestral music, instruments that were mostly played sitting down, and if they wanted to get really wild, they might add some vocals. So our extensive offering of music genres was mind-boggling to the fey.
Human music had become big business in Fairy. The markets had stalls offering Mp3 players full of any genre you wanted, along with solar chargers to power the devices and headphones to listen to them. It really isn't all that surprising when you consider that there is a huge fairy population in HR. Why wouldn't they bring some human culture back into the Fairy Realm? But when I first saw Mairte, my brownie personal assistant (I hated calling her my maid), wearing a pair of headphones and rocking out to Taylor Swift, I nearly had a heart attack.
Suffice it to say that my Star's Guard was delighted when they discovered that their new phones could also play music. I had a feeling that I'd be buying them all headphones before the trip was through. Either that or I'd be listening to a wide variety of music played all at once, all the time.
“So if raven mockers are twilight fairies, why haven't I ever met one?” I asked Tiernan as we headed back to the private cabin in the rear of the plane where we could hopefully escape the cacophony.
I needed a shower and then some sleep. I fully intended on letting the rest of the guard shower too but I was using my princess prerogative of going first... and of claiming the bed.
“They keep to the woods and the Human Realm,” Tiernan closed the cabin door and pulled off his traveling tunic. I spared a moment to appreciate the sculpted muscles of his chest before I started taking off my own clothing.
“Not much for court?” I headed to the bathroom and started the water.
“They're a quiet group, they like to keep to themselves,” Tiernan slid into the small shower stall with me and began soaping me up.
I sighed and draped my arms over his shoulders, closing my eyes to better enjoy the sensation of his expert hands kneading at my knotted muscles. I felt his lips press to mine and opened to his kiss, luxuriating even more in the moment. But I didn't have the energy for sex, so I pulled away, giving him a rueful look. He laughed and backed away as much as the tiny stall allowed him, taking those magic hands with him. Insert disappointed sigh here.
“So they like to keep to themselves, except when they're sucking the life out of dying humans,” I ducked under the spray to rinse off.
“They actually went out among the Native American tribes before America was settled and given its name,” Tiernan went on. “They loved the ideals of the tribes and several of the mockers married natives.”
“Really?” I slid out of the stall so he could rinse off easier.
“Mockers were greatly influenced by the Native American people and most of them have American Indian physical features,” Tiernan paused as he rinsed and then shut the water off and came out. I handed him a towel as he continued. “It's why the raven mocker myths speak of them being witches in the tribe. The natives never knew that the mockers weren't human.”
“So they still believe the raven mockers are human witches?” I lifted a brow.
“Unless they're a government official or council person who has been told the truth behind the myths,” Tiernan nodded.
“I guess it doesn't make a difference,” I mused. “What race your enemy is hardly matters, as long as you know how to defeat them.”
“Which they can, as long as they have a clairvoyant shaman they can turn to,” Tiernan grimaced and handed me my bag.
“What do you think is going on in Tulsa?” I pulled out a T-shirt and slipped it on before climbing into the small bed.
“Honestly, Seren,” he said after he pulled on some cotton pants. “I haven't got a clue but if the Human Council is this insistent on your timely arrival, it must be bad.”
“When is it not?” I huffed as I dropped my head back onto the pillow and finally got to sleep.
Chapter Five
