Still, I smiled at Raza when he looked to me, and I tried to appear as confident as possible for the unseelie fey. These fairies had once frightened me, but now they were like family, and I would support them in every way possible. If only Danu would as well.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Aodh?” I rushed down the hallway to meet the sylph halfway. “What are you doing here? Nighean? Neala? You've all come? What's happened? What's wrong?”
“All of us, and several more,” Aodh looked over my shoulder to Raza and Tiernan, “but still not enough, I'm afraid.”
“What's he talking about?” I asked Raza.
“I sent a request for troops to Queen Iseabal,” Raza stepped forward as a small group of seelie fey came through the front doors of Craos-Teine. He looked them over and frowned, “So she refuses to honor the truce?”
“Queen Iseabal said she did not recall military assistance to be a part of the truce agreement,” Sorcha Silverlight stepped forward and bowed to Raza, “Your Majesty.”
“Mother,” Tiernan went to hug her, then turned to greet his sister, Latharna.
I felt a little awkward around Tiernan's family now that we weren't an item, so I held back and tried to catch up on what was happening.
“Damn her,” Raza growled. “It stated clearly that we would stand together, supporting each other with soldiers during times of war. She has broken the truce with us. Now I shall be forced to war with Seelie after I finish defending Unseelie from Moire.”
“Wait,” I held up a hand. “You requested that Iseabal honor her end of the agreement, but she's refused?”
“It seems so,” Raza's jaw clenched.
“Then what are all of you doing here?” I looked past Tiernan's incredibly beautiful family to Aodh's, and then to several other seelie fey, quite a few of whom I recognized immediately.
They had been prisoners of Unseelie once. I had rescued them from the dungeons of Castle Unseelie, and taken them back to their kingdom. There, I had done the same for the unseelie prisoners, freeing them and returning them to their homes. Now the freed prisoners were back in Unseelie. Why?
“Her Majesty wouldn't listen to reason,” Rose, a buttery sprite, one of the smallest fey there were, was sitting on the shoulder of a duergar. “But Aodh argued until she finally agreed to allow all of those who wished to fight on behalf of Unseelie to do so. We are those who have chosen to honor the truce, Your Majesty. We hope that it will be enough to stay your hand from acting against Seelie when this is over.”
The duergar (sort of like a dwarf) was only two feet tall himself, but he was still much larger than Rose. She looked like every young girl's image of a fairy, all delicate and pale. But she wore hardened, leather armor, and her creamy blonde hair was pulled back in a war braid. Her oak eyes, much too large for her face, regarded Raza solemnly.
I suddenly had another image of Rose, bloody and bruised on a dirty stone floor. Horrible things had been done to her in Unseelie. Terrible things had been done to all of the prisoners, from both kingdoms. But the vision of Rose, in particular, had haunted me. That she was among those who had come to support Raza, both baffled and inspired me. It gave me hope.
Rose was here for both her people and herself. Fighting beside unseelie fey would heal her in a way I couldn't even fathom, and maybe it would even keep the Unseelie King from declaring war on her kingdom because of a broken truce. What an amazing amount of courage and conviction to be found in such a little body. I suppose the best parts of people are not restricted by size, race, or sex.
There were only around sixty seelie fairies there, nothing really, when it comes to an army. But Raza suddenly acted as if they were the most magnificent fighting force he'd ever seen. He walked forward regally, and laid his hands upon the duergar and Rose, grasping their shoulders before looking to the rest of the seelie.
“We are honored to have you with us,” Raza said to the seelie fey. “Know that you have made a personal friend of the King of Unseelie today. You have chosen to be honorable despite how difficult it was to do so, the greatest obstacle being your own queen. I find this to be not only admirable but awe-inspiring. I will repay your bravery as best I can, by sparing our kingdoms the war your queen has nearly initiated. I declare that she has held up her end of the truce. I have no need of further assistance from Seelie, Queen Iseabal has unknowingly sent me her best warriors!”
The seelie cheered, and Raza went out among them to shake hands and speak personally with every one of them. As he did, I knelt down to kiss Rose, and then her duergar friend. He blushed, probably unused to such attention. Duergars were not the most attractive fey, and they tended to be standoffish, especially with humans. This one had a nose bigger than Rose, and eyes the color of dirty dishwater. But he still managed to look gallant when he bowed to me... after getting his blushing under control.
“Thank you for coming,” I said to them. “I will not forget this either.”
“You made a huge leap forward when you freed us,” Rose said to me. “That leap has turned into a roll, and it's picking up momentum. But it will take time to heal old wounds. We will get there, Your Highness. Do not lose faith in us.”
“I have to admit, I'm astonished that all of you, so recently imprisoned by the unseelie, would heal your wounds the fastest,” I shook my head. “This act alone ensures that I will never lose faith in the fey.”
“We know better than most, the horror that hatred can bring,” Nighean said softly, her enormous, translucent wings shivering behind her. “So we also know that forgiveness is the only way forward.” She laid a pale hand on my shoulder, “I heard about Bress. I'm so sorry.”
“Dear Goddess, Nighean,” I pulled her into a hug, “could you not be so damn perfect?”
“Your Highness?” Nighean blinked her huge, ivy-colored eyes at me.
“Bress would have raped and tortured you,” I shook my head. “Yet you're sorry for his own torment.”
“His torment was what led to mine,” Nighean shrugged. “I understand that, and I know he's changed. More importantly, he'stryingto change. Aodh told me he spoke with Bress, and Bress expressed his regret over his treatment of several seelie, including myself.”
“You spoke to Bress?” I asked Aodh in shock.
