Soul Mates: Scent (The Soul Mates Series) (20 page)

Anna! You’ll have to explain! The Fae girl saw me in the hall. Auberon must not have thought to tell them.

Do
not
worry
mon
amour,
I
shall
take
care
of
it.
Anna stroked my head as she reopened the door and stepped into the hall.

I peeked my head around the corner to see several Fae gathered and pointing down the hallway toward Anna. I watched as she approached them and spoke quietly to them.

Come out, mon amour, let them see you.

Are you sure? I don’t want them scared of me.

It is fine, you only surprised her, and she did not know that you were a shifter.

I slowly padded down the hallway toward the girl and her two friends and sat down on my haunches next to Anna. I purred in pleasure when Anna stroked my head.

“See, he is harmless and he understands you if you speak to him. Unlike a real jaguar, Max can communicate in both forms with humans and all Felidae,” Anna told the Fae girls. “Max, this is Rhoswen, Gelsey, and Fayette. Ladies, may I introduce you to my mate, Max Fergus, Fae Prince and Jaguar?”

The Fae girls all giggled and curtsied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my Prince,” Rhoswen said with a blush.

Anna, tell them I am happy to meet them too. And they do not have to call me Prince. I am not the heir to the throne. Max will do fine.”

Anna nodded and smiled. “He said to tell you to call him Max, and it is nice to meet you.”

“Oh, but we couldn’t!” Fayette exclaimed.

“Of course you can, Max is not the heir, he has refused the throne. So no need to call him Prince.”

“He is still of royal blood, and deserves the title. King Auberon would not like it if we didn’t speak to him properly,” Gelsey replied fretfully.

Just let it go Anna, you will not change their minds.

Anna nodded at me again. “All right, he says if you wish to continue to call him Prince, that is fine, but he does not require it of you. Now if you ladies will excuse us, we are going to retire for the evening.”

“Consort Anna, I do beg your pardon, but…” Gelsey started.

“Oui?”

“It is just that we were wondering why the Fae Prince has shifted just before you go to bed? Is he cursed?”

Anna laughed. “Non, non… Max is not cursed, he is just honorable. He does not wish to sully me before our wedding. You understand?”

“Oh!” The Fae girls tittered.

“Well that is very un-Fae like, must be the Jaguar in him,” Rhoswen replied.

“Don’t mistake Rhoswen, she doesn’t mean that our Fae men are dishonorable, just that in love they are hard to restrain when it comes to their mates,” Gelsey smiled.

“I see,” Anna replied. “Well, good night.”

“Good night Consort Anna, Prince Max.” The Fae girls curtsied again and I followed Anna down the hall to our room.

I waited until she climbed into the big golden bed before jumping up next to her and curling up beside her. I laid my head on her stomach and fell asleep with her stroking my fur.

The next two and a half weeks passed pretty much the same, waking up with Anna, breakfasting with Auberon and Tatiana, training with Rik, Thomas and James and then dinner again with Auberon and Tatiana. Some nights Rik and the others would join us, and other nights they would go off on their own. But for the most part this became our routine while we were in the Faerie Mound. Until one afternoon two and a half weeks into our stay, Auberon came to watch us working out.

“You seem to be making great strides in your training Max,” Auberon said cheerily as I defended myself against Rik.

“Don’t distract him, sire, Max is holding his own, but one swipe of those lethal claws could render him useless for a few moments.”

Auberon looked around and noticed that the training had drawn quite a few Fae spectators. “It seems your training ground has become quite the place to be lately.”

“Aye, it has. Several of your warriors have put in bids to go up against the young Prince Max if you will allow it.”

“It is Max’s choice. Though I do have something for him, a gift, well really it is more of an heirloom. It is his birthright to have them.”

Gideon stared at Auberon, his face full of surprise at Auberon’s words. He completely missed my laying Rik out flat and winning the round. Applause broke out from the spectators and Gideon returned his attention back to the training and me. “That is enough for today. Take the rest of the day off. Relax, enjoy the afternoon. We will get back to it tomorrow. Early. Young Prince Max, over here.”

I shifted forms and flashed myself back into a pair of black Fae pants before joining Auberon and Gideon. “What’s up?”

“You are doing very well Max,” Auberon said with a smile. “I could not ask for a better warrior, I only wish you were fighting for us. Perhaps one day you will come back and train some of our young warriors.”

“Of course, Auberon, I would be happy to help.”

Auberon smiled. “I have something for you.” He held out a bundle containing two gleaming swords with golden hilts and fancy carrying sheaths that tied on around the waist. “Veritas and Aequitas. They mean Truth and Justice. Wear them always, use them when needed. Like your Leprechaun ring no mortal will notice them and neither will they get in your way. They will just be there when you need them.”

“How do I…”

“Here, let me.” Auberon took the sheaths and tied them to my waist and placed Veritas on my right hip and Aequitas on my left. “You draw them out cross ways, Veritas with your left hand and Aequitas with your right. If you seek only to know the truth, Veritas will get it for you. If what you seek is Justice only, Aequitas is the one you use, however together Veritas and Aequitas are most powerful, use them well young Prince Max.”

As Auberon let go of Veritas and Aequitas the swords disappeared at my hips. I couldn’t even feel them until I reached with my left hand to take out Veritas and suddenly its gleaming handle was there in my hand. I let it go and did the same with Aequitas and again it appeared as if out of thin air in the palm of my right hand. “Cool.”

“Wisely Max, use them wisely. They are not for training. Do not pull them while training with the shifters or other warriors.”

“Other warriors? What other warriors?”

“Seems several of the Fae would like to a chance to face you in the training ring if you are up to it,” Auberon said with a knowing smile.

“Sure, if they want to get their butts kicked by a Jaguar Fae Prince, tell them to bring it.” I grinned.

“I’ll let Gideon know to set it up.”

“Great.”

“I think Daire is waiting for you, he is impatiently pacing on the other side of the ring.” Auberon nodded at Daire and smiled. “I’ll leave you to your afternoon of relaxation then.”

“Okay, and thanks Auberon, for Veritas and Aequitas and everything.”

“No need to thank me. They were forged for you. They are your birthright.”

“What do you mean?”

“They were made from Faerie. All Fae Princes and Princesses are given a special set of weapons, forged from Faerie. They appear to the King or Queen and Faerie tells us what they are and who they belong to.”

“How… I mean is Faerie more than just a place?”

Auberon’s face grew serious, he laid his hand on my shoulder and looked deep into my eyes and I saw deep into his soul, deep into Faerie, into the magic and I knew. Faerie was everything, Faerie was everywhere. It was alive within the walls of the Faerie Mound, it was alive within me, it was where a great deal of my magic came from, where my Irish luck came from, it had blessed me my whole life and it was welcoming me back into its arms, even knowing I couldn’t stay. Faerie was like Diana but more so, more powerful, more everything. And Faerie knew that I was not meant to stay and rule here. It would not hold me, it would let me go and love me when I returned for visits.

I understood then, more than ever what I was. As much as I denied it, I was a Fae Prince. I had the royal blood of the Fae in my veins and I was proud to be Fae. I embraced that part of myself and felt more at peace than I had in weeks. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I will live wisely and I will return to Faerie frequently, you have my word.”

Auberon pulled back and I felt myself returned to the here and now and I smiled.

“Well, it seems Faerie has accepted that you are not the heir, but wishes to see a great deal of you in the future.”

I nodded. “Seems that way,” I replied. “Auberon, why have you not had another heir? I mean before you banished my grandfather, why didn’t you and Tatiana have another child?”

“Ah, well… There is much you still don’t know about Faerie. I think I will leave Daire to explain it to you. He really is overly anxious to show you around.”

“Oh, right, well, okay, I’ll see you for supper then.”

Auberon nodded and left me with Daire.

“It is not a subject Auberon likes to talk about. It makes him sad.”

“Children make him sad?”

“No, the fact that Seelie women can only bear normal children once. Sometimes they are lucky and have twins or triplets, but after that first pregnancy, should they become pregnant again… well… the children are not born normal… they are Unseelie.”

“Of course for the last seventy years no Seelie children have been born at all in the Faerie Mounds. Some Halflings in the mortal realm like your father and you, of course, but no full blooded Seelie children.”

“Why?”

“Because Tatiana and Auberon were not together in a physical sense,” Daire replied. “They are the King and Queen of Light and Illusion and they are needed to make all things grow properly. When they were apart things were not good here. But now… now we have several couples that are expecting. They have you to thank Max. You have brought Tatiana and Auberon back together. We all are very appreciative of it.”

“Oh, well, no problem. What did you mean by children born second become Unseelie?”

“We aren’t sure why it happens. We think the Queen of Air and Darkness sends her Unseelie warriors into our Faerie Mound to seduce the Seelie women and then they become pregnant. The children are born with nightmarish features. We take them to Never Never and the Unseelie collect them from there. I suppose Unseelie women can not have children and this is why they sneak among us to procreate.”

“So a Seelie woman has never had more than one child that was normal after the first pregnancy?”

“Not that I can recall.”

“Wow that sucks.”

Daire laughed. “Yeah, I suppose it does. But it is the way it is. Auberon’s grandfather tried to see if he could change it when he was King, but…”

“You mean Auberon has a father and grandfather? He hasn’t always just been?”

Daire laughed even harder than before. “No, it just seems that way. The current King Auberon’s father was also King Auberon as was his father before him and so on. And they always married a Tatiana or a Tetianna, close enough in lore that it looks as though it has been the same King all along, but it hasn’t been. If Reagan had stayed in Faerie and become King, he would have been the first to break the tradition. But the current King Auberon found that it was only a tradition and not a necessity and so he chose not to share his name with his son. Now he is without an heir, so who is to say what would have happened if he had named your grandfather Auberon as well?”

“Well for one thing, if he had, I wouldn’t be me, so I’m pretty darn thankful that he named him Reagan. And I think Auberon will have his heir, if my suspicions are correct.”

“What, your sister?” Daire asked thoughtfully.

“I think so… if he gets his way, she will be. And honestly I think Abbey might just be the right choice. I know she is only two but there is something about her, you know?”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Come on, I want to show you some of Never Never. Have you ever been?”

“No. I would love to see it,” I said as I followed Daire down another passage. “So how did Auberon’s grandfather try to change things?”

“Oh well, he tried for a second child. She seemed fine for the first couple of days, but then they began to notice strange things. Dark shadows followed her, things she touched would begin to bleed, and she could make a light room go dark with a breath. She is extremely powerful and craves more and more power all the time.”

“You mean she is still alive somewhere?”

“Max, she is the Queen of Air and Darkness. She is the Unseelie Queen. She is the one responsible for all of the terrible things that have happened in the mortal realm in the last two thousand years.”

“I don’t…” I felt like I’d had the wind knocked out of me.

“She feeds on death and destruction. She is chaos and catastrophe. She unleashes her unspeakable nightmares upon the world and they wreak havoc upon it making her stronger. It is what we fight as Seelie warriors.”

“If she is fed by death and destruction what feeds Auberon?”

Daire smiled. “Auberon is fed by joy and laughter, the good in the world every birth; every life is a reason to celebrate. Each one brings him power.”

We stopped in front of a simple looking door, one I would have mistaken for a closet if I hadn’t known what was behind it.

“Are you ready? Do you have weapons?”

“Always,” I said with a smile.

Daire opened the door and we stepped through to Never Never.

Never Never was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was incredible. Everything was so vibrantly bright and strange and interesting to look at. I placed my hand on a nearby tree and felt the smoothness of its bark. I could feel its life, the life of Gaia, pulsing beneath my fingers and I quickly pulled my hand away. A branch from the same tree reached down and curled about my arm in a playful way, as if it was trying to shake my hand and get to know me. I stood still as it explored my energy and I explored it. I felt a surge of energy pass into me and it made me grin.

I could see Gaia, a beautiful woman with long flowing blonde hair and sparkling blue green eyes watching me as her energy flowed through me and explored my blood and my mind. She smiled and looked as though she were lit from within. Then I felt all of that light flow into me strong and fast and infuse itself into my blood, my heart. I wanted nothing more than to shift and climb that tree to the top and her. I wanted to lie among the branches and watch this vibrant place for a while with her. I felt connected to her, not in the way I was connected to Anna, no this was different. It was more like a connection to a mother, the mother of all things living. It was the most incredible feeling that flowed through me, I felt charged and relaxed at the same time.