Queens of the Fae: Books 1-3

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Griffin O’Shea was unlike anyone Brea had ever met. In a way, he reminded her of Myles with his sneaky grin and twinkling eyes. There was a certain joy in his demeanor. He was also different from her best friend though. Myles never took anything seriously. It was one of the things Brea loved about him, even when it frustrated her.

Griff… After only a few days with him, Brea came to realize he internalized everything, never trivializing. There was a depth to every word he spoke, a meaning behind every action.

Including imprisoning her. He’d said it was for her own good, and she was starting to think he truly had wanted to keep her safe.

She sat atop the stone wall watching Griff work with one of his horses. If she discounted the leather knee pants and loose linen shirt he wore, she could almost imagine they were back home on Myles’ farm.

The Robinsons hadn’t kept horses since she was a kid. Her parents sold Bellamare, her horse, claiming poverty. It probably wasn’t a lie, but some part of her had always thought they did it to get back at her for not being the daughter they wanted.

Had her dad known she wasn’t his daughter? In the two days since her conversation by the lake with Griff, she’d gone over every memory she had of him. They’d never been close, and she blamed herself for that. He’d never known how to deal with her problems—like seeing things that weren’t there. What would he say if he found out she hadn’t been imagining things after all?

She laughed at the thought. He’d never believe her. Just like he hadn’t believed her when she said she hadn’t meant to hurt her mom on Christmas.

Was there more to it?

She lifted her face to the sun that had been a constant companion during the day ever since the storm. Heat brushed down her bare arms, and she wiped her hands on the blue sheathe-dress Griff had found for her. He’d laughed when she insisted on wearing pants under it, but he’d fetched her a pair before watching her tie the dress at her waist.

There were a lot of things about this place that didn’t make sense. How did he have clothes in her size? Where did he obtain the food they ate? She doubted there were grocery stores or shopping malls nearby.

And how on earth had he gotten her into the sleeping gown she’d first woken up in? She hadn’t thought about that until it was time to change into something else.

“You look like you’re thinking too hard.” Griff led his stallion toward her perch.

“Griff, how did I end up in a sleeping gown?”

He lifted one brow. “I did not change you if that’s what you’re asking.” He winked. “Magic.”

That word sent a shiver down her spine.

He smoothed the creases on her brow with a finger. “Stop second guessing everything.”

“Just trying to figure this place out.”

“Well, when you do, fill me in.” He grinned. “I’d like to figure it out myself.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t you lived here your entire life? You’re connected to the queen, of all people. I think you’re fine.”

He tied the horse’s lead to the gate and hopped up beside her, swinging his leg over the stone wall to straddle it and face her. “Don’t let us scare you.”

“What?”

“I threw a lot of information at you about wars and all that jazz.”

“Don’t say all that jazz.”

“Why not?”

“You’re some fantasy creature. You should be speaking all formally or something.”

His smile widened. “First of all, I’m not a creature. Just think of me as someone from another country.”

“Fat chance of that.”

“Second, I’ve picked up a few phrases from the human realm. That one is my favorite.” He c****d his head. “You wouldn’t happen to know what it means, would you?”

A laugh broke past her lips. “It’s just… never mind. Too much for your fairy mind.”

“Nothing is too much for my mind.” He jumped from the wall, landing in mud. “Come on. If we have to sit around while waiting for the queen to summon us, then we can at least have some fun.”

“Fun?”

“Yes. I’m going to teach you how to ride a horse. Once the queen calls us, you’ll need to be comfortable on a horse.”

Her lips twitched. Yes, this would be fun. She may not have had her own horse since she was little, but she’d spent more time at Myles’ farm than her own, and he’d had plenty.

Her heart squeezed at the thought, but she ignored the feeling as she’d been doing since he died. Myles and high school felt like a different life now. One that belonged to someone else. If this was her new reality, she had to embrace it. She couldn’t help but think that was what Myles would want her to do.

Hopping from the wall, she avoided the mud and approached the nearest horse. “What’s his name?” The horse bucked up with a neigh, kicking his feet toward her.

“Mack.” Griff pulled her back. “Careful, he can be a bit difficult.”

Brea bit back a smile and nodded seriously. “I’m going to need help handling such a wild horse.”

“Oh no, you won’t be riding him. I’ve got the perfect mare for you.” He clucked his tongue and called, “Maisie.” A beautiful gray mare approached from the barn. She was on the smallish side with a white streak stretching from mane to nose. “Maisie is an easy girl. She’ll take care of you.”

Okay, she’d play his game to see how far she could take it. It was her first day not eating any of the Gelsi berries, and the energy within her burned for release. She had to do something.

Griff saddled both horses quickly and led them to the gate that stood open to the rolling hills beyond. “I don’t want to go into the forest with a new rider, so we’ll head toward the hills.”

Brea looked to her hands. “I’m going to need your big strong muscles to help me get up into the saddle.”

“Hey.” Griff bumped her shoulder. “Don’t be embarrassed about needing help. Humans are hopeless when it comes to this kind of thing. You have your steel motor things.”

“You mean cars?” She laughed.

He helped her into the saddle, and she grabbed the reins, waiting for him to climb up onto Mack.

“Maisie will follow Mack,” he said. “Just work on keeping your balance. Use your thighs. We’ll take it slow.”

“I just hope I don’t fall off.” She looked away as a smile came unbidden to her lips.

Griff reached toward her, patting her hand. “You won’t. I promise you’ll be okay.”

His sincerity made her almost feel bad for taking the lie so far. Almost. For the first time since watching Myles hit the ground, she was enjoying herself, and she didn’t want it to end.

Griff nudged Mack forward, and they took off slowly down into the lush valley of swaying grasses and wheat fields. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine she rode beside her best friend, enjoying summer in their small Ohio town.

She focused on the familiar feel of the horse beneath her, the fresh scent of the spring day. Only, it wasn’t spring, at least, she didn’t think so. Did Gelsi ever get cold, or was it just an idyllic land full of singing birds and blooming flowers?

She wondered if she could ever be content staying here. There certainly wasn’t anything for her in Ohio, no family she missed, no friends to call her home.

Running a hand down Maisie’s neck, she spoke to the horse. “You’re lucky this is your home, girl.”

She hadn’t meant for Griff to hear her. “It can be yours too.”

Her head snapped up, but she didn’t respond.

Griff went on. “You’re the queen’s niece. Gelsi is just as much your home as it is mine. You’ve already accepted this is real.”

“How do you know that?”

“When I look into your eyes, the doubt that used to cloud your every thought is gone. If you let yourself admit it, everything I’ve told you makes sense. Queen Regan is going to welcome you into her court, and if you choose, we can be your people.”

Her people? Other than Myles, she’d never had people before. Unless you included the countless psychiatrists and institute employees.

Griff’s gaze held so much hope. Why did he want her there? The question never passed her lips because as she lifted her eyes to the most beautiful landscape she’d ever seen, she realized she didn’t want there to be any ulterior motives.

So, she decided to trust. In Griff. In this unknown queen. In life’s karma, because she’d been through so much crap, she’d earned a little good—even if that came in the form of elves taking her away from her home. If karma did truly exist, Legolas was here somewhere ready to confess his undying love. She just hoped he truly did look like Orlando Bloom.

She laughed to herself.

“What’s so funny?” Griff asked.

“You wouldn’t happen to be spiriting me away to Mordor, would you?”

His brow scrunched in confusion. “No. We’re just riding horses.”

She swallowed another laugh. “Okay, good.”

Brea didn’t know when Griff packed food into his saddlebags or how she didn’t see him do it, but he kept producing wrapped parcels like the bags were one of those clown cars where the creepy clowns just kept appearing.

“You spell those saddlebags or something?” She sat underneath the single tree atop the hill where Griff had brought her. Flowers spread across the valley on the other side, an explosion of yellows and reds.

Griff gave her a what-are-you-talking-about look. “We don’t do spells. That’s not how our magic works.”

“Calm down. It was a joke.”

He set a blanket down and placed a loaf of bread at the center, along with several hunks of cheese and dried meat, and a wrapped bunch of figs before plunking himself down. Brea reached forward for some cheese but jerked her hand back when grasses grew up over her lap.

Jumping to her feet, she backed away. “What the heck?”

Griff shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips.

Flowers popped up from where there had been none before, and the faint breeze turned into a wind tunnel aimed directly at Brea. She started running, but it followed her, blowing her hair across her face.

Only moments ago, she’d marveled at how amazing this place was. Now, she didn’t like it one bit.

“Griff!” she yelled. “I know you’re doing this. Stop!”

“Stop it yourself!” he called back.

How dare he? Dark anger fizzled down her arms, pooling in her hands. This wasn’t funny. Power seeped out of her fingertips.

“Release it, Brea.”

“I don’t know how!”

Light shone underneath her fingernails as she flicked them toward the wind tunnel, wanting, needing it to work.

Nothing did.

So, she did the only thing she could think of, the one thing she was good at.

She ran.

Mack stood closest, and she launched herself into his saddle the way Myles taught her to without any help. Digging her heels into his sides, she urged Mack into a run and took off down into the flowering valley, thundering across the beautiful landscape, leaving trampled flowers in her wake.

Story of her life.

It took her a moment to realize the wind tunnel hadn’t followed her. She pulled back on the reins, and Mack reared up as he neighed. She squeezed her thighs to keep her seat as he thudded back down and turned back to the hill where Griff stood watching her.

As she neared him, the shock on his face sent a wave of satisfaction through her. He deserved it after trying to force some kind of magic out of her, a magic she hadn’t known about until a few days ago.

That was the one part of all this that still didn’t feel real.

“You lied to me.” His jaw clenched.

She shrugged and jumped down from Mack, landing gracefully. “It’s called hustling.” She bumped his shoulder as she walked past him to get to the food. “Maybe if you weren’t so bent on helping the poor weak human girl learn basic things, you’d realize I’m more than you think.” She sat down and ripped a hunk of bread off the loaf.

He kneeled across from her. “But… that… I don’t even ride that well.”

“That sounds like a you problem.” She laughed at his stunned expression. “I grew up on a farm, Griff, of course I know how to ride horses.”

He still hadn’t taken his eyes from her. “What more don’t I know about you, Brea Robinson?”

She met his gaze. “This magic—or whatever cheesy way you weirdoes describe it—I can’t do it. I can’t control it. The next time you try to make me, I’ll throw you in that deceptively beautiful lake. And I won’t cry when the mermaids eat you.”

“What’s a mermaid?”

“Seriously? Don’t all you fairytale people know each other?” She wasn’t sure what existed or didn’t exist anymore, but this fae world made her realize anything was possible.

Griff smiled. “I think I like you.”

She grunted. “Well, everyone has their flaws.”

Waiting sucked. Brea started losing track of the days since Griff pulled her through that portal. Not much changed in the cottage she’d considered idyllic at first. Now, it was mostly boring.

She spent most of her time with Mack and Maisie, enjoying their stoic silence. Leith was like a ghost. Tasks got done, but they rarely saw him. Each evening, Brea sat at the table across from Griff to eat dinner. It was becoming her favorite time of day, the only time he wasn’t busy and would sit there for hours talking to her about anything and everything.

She’d never been much of a talker with anyone other than Myles, but something about this man brought it out of her. She told him stories of the human world, though he knew the basics since he’d traveled there a few times on missions for his queen.

Even the topic of Myles came up. He assured her what happened wasn’t her fault, but if she couldn’t blame herself, then who? It was easier not to think about it, and Griff made that easy. His charming smiles and gregarious stories filled her with a kind of laughter she’d rarely experienced in her life.

One night, he leaned across the table, meeting her eyes. “Let’s go outside.”

“Why?”

One corner of his mouth curved up. “Do you have to question everything?”

“Yes.” Despite her protests, she stood and gestured for him to follow her out into the warm night air. A full moon shone brightly overhead, surrounded by a scattering of stars.

“I used to watch the stars a lot at home.” She sat on the ground and leaned back against the side of the cottage. “We had a barn behind the house. I’d climb into the loft and out the window to pull myself onto the roof.”

She hadn’t even brought Myles there. It was a place that belonged to her alone. And now Griff.

“Sounds dangerous.” There was no chastisement in his tone, only curiosity.

“I know you think humans are so… breakable, but trust me, it was better than being inside my house.”

“Why?”

She didn’t want to explain the sordid details of her family or her parents’ constant berating to a man she barely knew, no matter how much she’d started to trust him. “That’s a story for a different time.” She leaned forward against her knees and drew in the dirt near her feet. “So… elves… do you all like live forever and stuff?”

His lips quirked at the term elves, but he didn’t correct her for once. “Not forever, but we do live longer than humans.”

“Let me guess… you’re over a hundred years old.”

He laughed. “Thanks for that. I didn’t think I looked a day over sixty. No, I’m nineteen.”

She looked up. “Only two years older than me. I… didn’t expect that. How come you live out here all alone then?”

“I’m not alone. I have Leith, Mack, and Maisie.”

She leveled him with a stare.

He looked away, and she wondered what he was hiding.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

A sigh rattled through his chest. “It’s just… I didn’t have the best upbringing. Queen Regan saved me after my parents died. She raised me, but she also realized court life wasn’t for me. I need space to think, to just be me. That probably doesn’t make any sense.”

“No.” She reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his. “It makes perfect sense.” She’d never done well around other people, preferring animals and a desolate farm to parties and class. Griff could have lived in a palace surrounded by opulent things, but he would have had to change who he was to do it.

He squeezed her hand. “You know… when my queen found out the Eldur queen’s dog was going to the human realm to bring you here, I prayed she wouldn’t send me after him, after you. Humans hold little interest for me, but you… you’re different.” Silver light reflected off his dark eyes, giving them an ethereal glow. “I’m sorry I imprisoned you.”

“I understand why you did it,” she whispered. This place was dangerous, and he’d known she’d try to escape. If he hadn’t locked her up, she’d probably be dead.

He tapped the back of her hand with his thumb. “Don’t agree with me.”

“Why?”

“Because I enjoy your biting tongue.”

She laughed. “Fine. You’re an i***t who did an i***t thing.”

“That was weak.”

“If you ever try to lock me up again, I’ll rip off your man-bits and feed them to Mack.”

“Whoa…” He crossed his legs. “Too far.”

“Sorry.”

“You should be.”

She bumped his shoulder, and he turned to face her. The lines of his face looked smoother in the shadows, his stubble hidden by the dark. Griff was a character from a book, not someone who should exist in real life. And yet… there he sat in front of her. Close enough to touch. Close enough to…

His fingers brushed her cheek, and she sucked in a breath. Myles once told her a kiss is a part of someone you hold forever. He romanticized everything, and she’d always laughed it off. But now, as she sat in front of the most perfect boy she’d ever met, she wanted something of him, something to keep forever even if this adventure had to end.

“What’s that?” he whispered.

Brea strained to hear whatever he heard, but there was nothing save the sound of crickets in the night. Then it became clear. Hooves pounded into the dirt path, coming through the valley.

Griff stood and brushed off his pants.

“Who would be traveling after dark?” Brea asked, getting to her feet. She didn’t bother brushing dirt from her pants as she strained to see the rider.

Moonlight glinted off silver hair as he rode closer.

“That’s a messenger of the queen.” Griff drew himself up to his full height.

As the rider neared, Brea could make out a crest of flowers and wolves on the man’s uniform.

He slid from his horse and approached, bowing. “My Lord, Griffin.”

“Fraser.” Griff stretched out a hand, and the other man straightened and clasped it. “Good to see you. Come in.”

“I’m sorry, I cannot.” He reached into the saddlebag and procured a letter with a wax seal. “From her Majesty. I am due back at court and must ride through the night.” He issued one more bow before pulling himself back onto his horse and riding away.

“What is it?” Brea asked.

Griff didn’t answer as he went back inside and retrieved an oil lantern from the table. He scraped his thumb under the seal and broke it before unfolding the letter.

After a moment, he looked up, a faint smile on his face. “Finally. We have been summoned to the palace. We leave tomorrow.”

Brea swallowed. The palace.

The outcast girl from Grafton, Ohio was going to meet the queen.

Crap.