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T ess

Wednesday: Wedding minus 10 days

O ne thing you can say for the Fae: they know how to put on a show.

Anybody else would have emailed a renewal contract. Instead, we get delicate script on fancy stationery and a twenty-one-horse parade.

Jack put an arm around my waist, stopping me. “Hang on. Let’s deal with the glamour first.”

“What glamour?” Puzzled, I looked more carefully at the riders. The horses were gorgeous. All pure white with black manes and tails.

Behind me, I heard Aunt Ruby and Eleanor walk out onto the porch.

The riders …

“Something makes me only see the horses clearly,” I said, realizing it just then. “Why?”

“Games,” Jack said, biting off the word. “Always games.”

Holding my hand, Jack took a step forward and waved the envelope in the air. “We see you, honored guests of the Callahans and the citizenry of Dead End. Please drop your glamour, that we might know you.”

I glanced at him, still surprised when he demonstrated one of the many, many things he’d learned in his years leading the fight for the good guys during the vampire wars. Formal Fae speech was clearly one of them.

A wave of icy, crystalline-pure magic swept over us, ringing in my bones like the peals of a silver bell, and then I could finally see the riders.

I gasped, and behind me I heard twin echoing gasps.

These Fae were gorgeous.

Sure, they’re all lovely, but these seemed to take the whole “We are Fae, and we are too beautiful for you to comprehend” thing to an extreme. The lead rider sat tall in his saddle, and his straight fall of snow-white hair was so long the ends brushed against his horse’s back. The hair color had nothing to do with age; the Fae were immortal. His appearance was of a man in his early thirties, but he could have been thousands of years old. His eyes were a glowing mix of green and gold, and his face was poetry.

Wow.

I shook my head, sure that the glamour was causing this reaction. After all, I was engaged to the hottest man I’d ever met and loved him with all my heart. Jack was six feet and four inches of hard muscle, with wavy bronze hair, green eyes, and a smile that could turn so wickedly seductive it was a wonder I didn’t go up in flames when he used it on me.

But still.

This Fae was beautiful.

And he was smiling at me.

“Jack Shepherd,” the Fae drawled. “How unlike you to turn up in such a peaceful place. Shouldn’t you be out chasing vampires?”

“Rhys na Garanwyn,” Jack gritted out from between clenched teeth. “How like you to show up where there’s trouble. Shouldn’t you be off pulling the wings off flies?”

The Fae threw his head back and laughed, and his laughter was as beautiful as the rest of him. Deep, rich, and husky, the sound made me shiver, and I could hear twin sighs behind me.

“Is he using glamour on us, or is he really that pretty?” I asked Jack in a whisper.

“I really am that pretty,” Rhys said, leaning forward on his horse, his teeth gleaming in a sensual smile. “If you like, we can go somewhere private and discuss my beauty.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Enough about me. Let’s talk about what you think of me, right?”

The Fae looked confused, but Jack laughed. “Exactly right. Okay, what do you want, na Garanwyn?”

Aunt Ruby pushed forward and took the envelope from Jack. “I am Mayor Ruby Callahan of Dead End. Welcome to our town. Are you the bearer?”

“I am the Bearer.” When he said it, we could hear the capital B. “I am here to instruct you as to the terms of the proposed renewal Bargain of your town charter.”

Another capital B. The Fae took Bargains extremely seriously.

“This can’t be good,” Jack muttered.

“Well, we certainly want to renew,” Aunt Ruby said, but she looked nervous and put a hand on my arm for support. “What is the Bargain? What terms do you ask of us? Do you work for Viviette?”

Jack winced. “If anything, Viviette works for him. Rhys na Garanwyn is second only to the king and queen of the Seelie Court in the hierarchy of all Fae royalty.”

“You’re a prince?” I tilted my head. “I met the king and queen of Atlantis. Do you know them? Do all you royals hang out together? Where’s your crown?”

The Fae prince’s smile widened, and he gestured with one hand. Suddenly, an intricate silver-and-crystal crown sat on his head. “I rarely wear it. Too heavy, and it frightens the commoners.”

“Oh, boy,” I muttered. Then, louder: “Okay, as one of the commoners, I’ll ask you to please answer Aunt Ruby … the mayor. What is the Bargain? What do you want from us? And does it have to be by the sixteenth? We’re kind of busy around here till then.”

“Busy with what, Tess of the Callahans?” the prince drawled in honeyed tones. “Anything I can assist you with?”

“Not a chance,” Jack growled. “I’m tired of the show. Thrice asked and done: what are the terms of the Bargain?”

Three was a magical number in the Fae world. I didn’t know all the details, but when you asked a Fae something three times, they had to answer or come up with a good reason not to do so. Of course, to a Fae, killing you was a perfectly acceptable reason, so the “thrice done” trick wasn’t usually done casually.

Prince Rhys na Garanwyn drew himself up in his saddle and stared down his nose at us. “Thrice asked and now answered. The Bargain to retain the territory upon which your town resides for another five hundred years shall be a series of challenges. By our command shall you know them. By our dictate shall you attempt them. By our leave shall you achieve them.”

“That’s clear as swamp mud,” Eleanor said with some exasperation. “Speak plainly, Your Highness.”

He raised one princely eyebrow. “Five trials shall be set. Should you prove yourselves in Courage, Alliance, Wisdom, Compassion, and Beauty, the Fae will renew your charter. Should you fail, you and all humans will be banished from these lands forevermore.”

“Are you going to explain these trials?” I demanded. “Seems vague.”

“Come, take my hand and ride with me, lovely Tess, and I will explain more.” Rhys actually held his hand out to me.

I shrugged, ignoring Jack’s low growl beside me. “Sure, if you want to know how you’re going to die.”

This time, it was the Fae who flinched. He slowly lowered his hand, his lovely eyes narrowing as he studied me thoughtfully. “Ah. Yes, I have heard this of you. It might be interesting to see if your gift works on my kind, but not today. Tomorrow, one of us will approach you to set the first trial. Sleep well.”

He rose in his saddle and bowed to us, aimed a sardonic stare at Jack, and flashed a wicked smile at me. “May we meet again soon, lovely lady.”

Then he circled his hand in the air, and the rest of the riders fell in beside him. The horses took maybe ten steps, and then they disappeared. Horses and riders all vanished as if they’d never been in the parking lot, except for the length of silky green and gold cloth that fluttered through the air toward me.

Jack snatched it out of the air and crumpled it in one fist. “I hate that guy.”

“He doesn’t seem to have any love for you, either,” Aunt Ruby said, sighing. “This is going to be a mess. I’d better call a town hall meeting.”

Jack and I both groaned.

“It could be worse,” Eleanor said brightly. “He could have been demanding you wear Queen Viviette’s wedding dress.”