Soul Mates: Scent (The Soul Mates Series) (17 page)

“Back again I see. Staying longer this time are you?”

I nodded and smiled as I pulled Anna close to me.

“Doesn’t say much does he Daire? Well, go on in, if you must.”

I followed Daire in and headed straight for Taban’s room. “I need to get a timepiece.”

“Right.”

“Hi Taban,” I said with a smile.

Taban looked up from his workbench and grinned. “Back again, glad to see you young Prince! And you too Consort of our young Prince. What shall it be this time?”

“Taban can you make the timepiece so that we can have a month in the Faerie Mound while only a few hours pass in the mortal world?”

“Oh… aye… sure, I can do that… just have to … err… yes… yes… give this a twist… pull that… and… that ought to do it… yes…”

“And one other thing Taban, is it possible to have two?”

“Two! What do you mean two? What do you need two for?”

“Well, just incase Anna and I end up getting separated…”

“Ah… well, hmmm… not ever needed two before… let me see here…” Taban looked at the timepiece and did a few more calculations. Then pulled off a small key from the back of the timepiece. “Here we go… as long as Lady Anna keeps this piece with her and you keep the timepiece with you and they are joined before the stroke of midnight each evening… yes that should work…”

“Should work? Or will work Taban? I need some guarantees! I do
not
want to end up in a different time than Anna.”

“Right, right… well… in theory it should work… and I’ve never been wrong before… so I’m ninety nine point nine percent sure about this… Yes, you will be fine as long as you are back together before midnight each evening.”

“Okay,” I said looking around the workshop for something to hang the key on for Anna. It didn’t take me long to discover a long gold chain from some previous experiment Taban had been working on. I slipped the key onto the thin chain and slid it over Anna’s head. The key lay nestled between her breasts. I slipped the timepiece into my pocket. “Thanks Taban. You are a life saver.”

“Anytime, my young Prince.”

“Come, Queen Tatiana is waiting to greet you,” Daire said as we left Taban’s workshop.

“Wait, we are not appropriately dressed to meet the Queen.” I frowned at our clothes.

“Well we don’t have time to go digging through your bags for new outfits or to go shopping. You will just have to apologize…”

I chuckled, “Daire, I can do better than that.” I quickly imagined Anna in an electric blue gown trimmed in silver. It fit tightly around her waist and exactly matched her eyes. Her raven hair I left alone since I appreciated it flowing down her back like some dark waterfall, the only adornment I added was a diamond clip at the base of her neck. As for my own attire, I went for a silver suit made of the strange, but comfortable material Daire and the other Fae men seemed to wear. At the last second I slipped my ring off my finger and handed it to Anna. As she slid the ring onto her ring finger ivy and mistletoe twisted through her hair to match the same in my own.

Daire blinked. “For a Halfling my Prince you have a great deal of power. It is no wonder King Auberon wants you as his heir.”

“Don’t worry Daire, your kingdom is safe from me, I have another destiny.”

“Can we go now? Queen Tatiana does not like to be kept waiting.”

“Of course.”

We followed Daire through the now familiar maze of hallways to the throne room where Auberon and Tatiana waited.

“King Auberon, Queen Tatiana, we have returned and as you can see the young Prince came to no harm today.”

“Very good Daire, Cole. Welcome Max, Anna… do come in. Let me introduce you to your Queen. Darling, meet your relative, Max Fergus and his Consort Anna Lissa Felidae.”

Tatiana narrowed her eyes at Anna’s last name. “Auberon darling, did you just say that our young Prince is to be wed to a Felidae? Surely not!”

I pulled Anna protectively against me and waited for Auberon to explain the situation to Tatiana.

“Yes, my darling Tatiana. Max is not just our young Prince, he is also jaguar. His mother’s side. He has a destiny that does not lay with the Fae.”

“Surely the Fae side of the family trumps the jaguar side, does it not? After all the Fae side is royal.”

“I know my love, but it is the will of the Goddess Diana that Max and Anna wed and lead the Felidae Clan.”

I felt my jaw clench as they discussed us as if we were not there. My eyes flashed in fury and I could feel the ivy in my hair growing as if it wanted to reach out and strangle something.

Calm mon amour… be calm… Tatiana will come around… give her a moment to understand.

“I see. So because you banned our son from Never Never our great grandson is now a jaguar and is going to lead the Felidae instead of the Fae… is that what you are telling me?”

“Yes, Tatiana, I know it was my mistake. I have tried to rectify it. I have invited Regan back to Never Never. And at least we have gotten to meet our great grandson and to know that he is a powerful Fae. And that he has a sister, Abbey.”

“A sister?” Tatiana’s face lit up at those words. “She can’t be a shifter too, she is pure Fae…”

“Yes,” Auberon smiled excitedly at his wife.

I frowned. “King Auberon… my sister is only two years old. She is not fit to become your heir anytime soon and I hope that you will give her the choice.”

“Of course, of course, Max… I won’t make that mistake again,” Auberon said with a grin and a twinkle in his eye.

Somehow I knew that Abbey’s normal life was going to be turned upside down in the upcoming years, but at the moment I couldn’t worry about that. I had bigger problems to worry about, namely a lion named Frederick and Gideon’s training.

“Max, Anna, it is a pleasure to meet you both. I hope you will join us for an early supper. Auberon felt you would surely be starving when you arrived.”

“We would be honored Queen Tatiana.”

“Please Max, you may call me Tatiana, unless of course it is in a formal court setting. Anna, my dear, do come join me. I have so many wonderful thoughts for your wedding that I would like to discuss with you.”

Anna squeezed my hand and went to join Tatiana and I crossed over to Auberon. “An early supper sounds good. We were just discussing dinner options before we got here.”

“I am aware of the shifter’s appetite for meat, Max. We have prepared a delicious banquet. I hope that you and Anna will be our guests for many nights to come.”

“Well, to be honest, Taban has given us a timepiece that will allow us to stay here for a month while only a few hours pass in the mortal realm. I’m not sure how that is going to work though with all of you… since we will need help from several of you as well.”

“I will speak to Taban and see if we can get more timepieces for those that require them. Perhaps we can have the whole Faerie Mound time slowed down so that it matches your timepiece… That might work best…”

“I appreciate your help Auberon, but…” I frowned. “About Daire and Cole at my school today…”

“I trust they kept you safe and did not get into any mischief.”

“Well, yes, and no they didn’t but you see, they were a bit of a distraction.”

“They showed themselves!”

“No! No, I’m sorry, I meant they were a distraction to me and to my friend Tony who, it turns out, is a Sióga Feiceann.”

“You know in the old days we used to kill Sióga Feiceanns.”

“What?”

“Well it was dangerous to have them around, now though we don’t bother unless they cause us trouble. You can trust this friend of yours?”

“Of course!”

“Well then, see, no problems.” Auberon said as he led us into the banquet hall. “And he might even be useful one day if the Unseelie ever make an attempt to find this particular Faerie Mound.”

“Don’t they know where it is? They are Fae too aren’t they?”

“No they don’t know this one; we created it after the war began. It is our refuge. And yes, they are Fae; they are the nightmares of the Fae.”

“So there are other Faerie Mounds?”

“There are several in the US, one in New York, one in Colorado, one in New Orleans, two in California, one in Hawaii and one in Florida. Not to mention the ones in Ireland, England, and Scotland.”

“Are they connected? Can you travel from one Faerie Mound to another?”

“Of course, they are connected through the Never Never. Faerie Mounds are just entrances to the Never Never. Some are more elaborate and intricate than others, but still they are just entrances to the Never Never.”

“I see.”

“Auberon, you keep talking about this war with the Unseelie… what is it over? I mean, why are you at war with these nightmare creatures?”

“Because the Queen of Air and Darkness wants it all. She wants to rule over everything Fae and mortal. I cannot allow that. She sends her nightmare creatures out into the mortal world to torment the mortals and I send my Sidhe soldiers out to fight them. Unfortunately she has more nightmares than I do soldiers it seems. So far she has concentrated on larger cities. We are trying to get some of the lesser Fae on our side to help in the fight. Right now they are neutral. It did not help when I banished my son and his wife. I nearly lost the lesser Fae then to the Queen of Air and Darkness, but for her cruelness I probably would have. I have paid a great deal for my snobbishness and arrogance, Max. I won’t let that happen again.”

I nodded, trying to take in everything that Auberon had said. I really wanted to help in some way, but I knew my destiny did not lay with the Fae. I was not destined to be King of the Fae, but that did not mean that the shifters could not help the Fae… perhaps… I would have to speak to Anna and the goddess Diana about it.

Tatiana turned the conversation towards Anna’s and my upcoming nuptials as we ate. Anna seemed quite taken with some of her ideas for the wedding and I just smiled and nodded as I devoured my steaks as quickly as possible.

“That was delicious Auberon. I could not eat another bite.”

“I shall inform the brownies in the kitchen that your meal was to your liking. Now I do believe that Gideon will be waiting for you out in the garden.”

“Yeah, I should get to training, how do we get to the garden?”

“Daire will take you there,” Auberon said. “Daire!”

“Yes, my King?”

“Daire, take Max and Anna to the garden for training with Gideon.”

“Of course my King.”

“Anna dear, we shall talk more later about your dress, I know that my ladies shall come up with the perfect thing…”

“That would be lovely Tatiana.”

I took Anna’s hand and we followed Daire out of the banquet room and down another hallway. “Hang on Daire, we need another change of clothes.” I quickly flashed Anna into some tight black leather pants and halter-top. She was equipped with daggers strapped to her wrists and the boots that I’d flashed onto her feet also contained hidden daggers.

For myself I went with comfortable Fae pants in a dark color and a short-sleeved shirt of the same material. I equipped myself with matching daggers and a long sword that ran down my spine and was hidden by the long hair that accompanied my current Fae looks.

“Are you finished playing dress me up, dress me down?” Daire sighed.

“Yeah, I guess. Though I should really do something about Anna’s hair…”

“Leave it be, mon coeur. I know you like it down, besides, I am not the one training, you are.”

“Right.”

“It is about time you got here!” Gideon said as we stepped into the garden.

“I’m sorry Gideon, we had supper with Auberon and Tatiana,” Anna apologized.

“Well, isn’t that just peachy and I suppose they can show you how to slice off a lion’s tail with a table fork?”

“Er… well, I suppose they possibly could… but…”

“But they didn’t and now we are behind on time and we have a great deal to cover.”

“It’s all right Gideon, we have a whole month. Taban gave us a timepiece.”

“Ah, well, good. We are going to need it.” Gideon grunted. “Pick up that broad sword.”

I did as I was told and was soon defending myself against his attacks. We worked like that for about an hour and then Gideon decided that I needed sleep.

“Get yourself a good nights sleep Max, and get yourself here early in the morning. Seeing as you’ll be staying here in the Faerie Mound, shouldn’t be too much trouble to be here on time.”

I nodded and took Anna’s hand. “We’ll see you in the morning, Gideon.”

Suddenly I felt the air around us change and I knew Gideon was trying something sneaky, so I flashed us across the garden to the doors leading to the throne room.

“Damnaigh. How did you know I was going to try a sneak attack?” Gideon asked as he dropped the wooden sword to the ground.

“Felt the air change.” I called back to him.

“Well that bastard lion is gonna have a hard time sneaking up on you!”

“Darn right he will,” I said with a grin.

Daire was waiting for us just inside the doors to take us to our bedchamber. “I was watching you with the broad sword. You are pretty good.”

“Thanks.”

“And that traveling with a passenger… how do you do that?” Daire asked almost in a whisper.

“I just do it, I don’t even think about it.”

“Can you travel with more than one passenger?”

“I don’t know, probably.”

“Want to try an experiment?”

I looked at Anna and shrugged. She nodded and smiled. “Sure. Where to?”

“Flash us to the Throne room.”

“Okay.” I held Anna against me and took Daire’s hand and thought of the throne room. Within seconds we were there, standing in the middle of Auberon’s court, where he was apparently conducting some business with some nobles.

“Oh forgive me King Auberon. I did not mean for us to intrude upon your proceedings. We were conducting an experiment.”

Auberon looked startled to see the three of us appear in the middle of his court dressed as we were, but he smiled graciously and nodded. “You are forgiven young Prince Max. I take it the experiment was successful?”

“It was my King.” I said with a smile.

“Very good. Now perhaps Daire can get back to showing you to your chambers.”