“Every ruling castle does,” Raza nodded. “There are two in Unseelie, due to the shifting of power.”
“Alright then,” I agreed, “let's go get ready for another trip.”
“Your father is already there,” Tiernan added. “So at least the elves have someone speaking on their behalf.”
“Yes, but my father doesn't know the Human Council like I do,” I sighed.
“Hasn't he worked with them before?” Killian asked. “Your mother was an extinguisher.”
“Yes, and she met him at a party here, in Fairy,” I explained. “The humans believed he was there because he was Uisdean's brother, not because he was a king in his own right. Twilight was unknown to the Human Council until I became its Princess.”
“So, the neutral King doesn't have a lot of experience in human politics,” Killian noted.
“Exactly,” I said.
“Seren's right, King Keir has good intentions, but he's not the best diplomat when it comes to humans. We'd better hurry,” Tiernan exchanged a dark look with Raza.
Chapter Fifty-Six
The fairy hunters stationed at the Isle of Danu's Council House were not surprised to see us. They welcomed our whole party, which consisted of Raza, Tiernan, Killian, Cat, myself, and three royal Guards (Tiernan had a King's Guard now too), with grim looks. Well, everyone looked grim except for Councilman Tristan Lightheart.
Tristan was once a witch. Then I brought him to Fairy. The small amount of fairy blood in his genes happened to be dullahan, a particularly unpleasant looking fey. Talk about the short end of the fairy stick. The Fairy Realm reacted to that dullahan blood, bringing it out fully, and transforming Tristan into a dullahan half-breed. Tristan accepted the change and decided to stay in Fairy, to serve the Goddess. Danu rewarded his loyalty by not only making him a high councilman but turning him into a stunning, sidhe man.
“Your Majesty!” Tristan's violet eyes sparkled as he rushed forward. The setting sun caught his pearly skin, and turned it a rosy-peach. “It's so good to see you.”
“So you've heard,” I said.
“Of your multiple nuptials?” Tristan winked at me. “Yes, we've all heard. Congratulations, Your Majesties,” he nodded to Raza, then Tiernan.
“Tristan, where are the other council members?” I asked.
“HR,” he said. “At that meeting. I stayed behind to wait for you. Danu told me you were coming.”
“Oh, she did?” I chuckled. “That was nice of her.”
“She said you're the only one who can save the elves,” Tristan sobered. “So we should probably hurry, Your Majesty.”
“Indeed,” Raza said. “Lead on, Councilman.”
Tristan took us straight into the Council House, through the corridors, and to the garden in the center of the castle. The Council House had been built around Anu's rath, the rath Anu created when he left Fairy directly after his birth and traveled to Earth. The rath sat in the center of a fey garden, beneath a little hill covered in sacred olive trees. There were gates set into this hill, golden gates with the image of a silver earth upon them. The Earth was turned so that Ireland faced out.
We hurried through the rath doors, treading the tunnel of In-Between with haste. We emerged into a nearly identical garden, in a nearly identical castle. The High Fairy Council House of Ireland. The guards standing duty outside the garden doors directed our large party to the courtyard, where several cars were waiting to take us to the High Human Council House. Tristan had scried ahead.
The journey wasn't that long, the High Council Houses had been built close to each other on purpose. The rushing to emergency meetings was probably one of the biggest reasons they'd considered when building the Human Council House. We turned into the open gates of the Human Council House (actually a castle) in under fifteen minutes. Our cavalcade was met by a council aid, standing on the main steps. We had indeed been expected.
She led us to the council chambers, but the extinguishers on guard duty insisted that our guards remain outside. So I headed in with only Raza, Killian, Tiernan, Tristan, and Cat. They'd tried to stop Cat once before, and that hadn't gone well. It seemed that word had spread, and now Cat was considered royalty. She had her very own puka pass.
I don't know what I expected to find in the chambers, but it wasn't my father, standing before the councils, coven elders, and caster witches, defending himself.
“I am a king of Fairy, you cannot charge me with contempt,” Keir was saying.
“What the hell is going on here?” I snarled as I stomped forward.
“Your Highness,” Councilman Reginald Murdock greeted me. He was about to say more when I cut him off.
“It's 'Your Majesty' now,” I stepped in front of my father and glared at the long table full of people wearing superior expressions. Those expressions had prompted my unusual burst of arrogance.
“Yes, of course,” Murdock cleared his throat. “Congratulations. We've heard of your marriage...marriages.”
