Page 43 of Through the Veil (Endangered Fae #2)

Miriam fixed him with her sharp gaze. “Sweetie, I know you’ve had a rough road lately.

But you’ve got a face lots of people will recognize.

From the book illustrations. You’ve already got fans.

They just don’t know you’re real yet. You don’t have to say anything.

Just sit there with your friends and look pretty. ”

Diego took Finn’s hand, concerned by how hard he shook. “ Mi vida ? You don’t have to. Miriam’s just making a suggestion.”

Finn ripped his hand free and bolted from the room.

“Off he runs again.” Morrigan’s caustic remark drew more than one dark look.

“Keep talking.” Diego rose. “I’d better check on him.”

The retching sounds guided him to the powder room off the kitchen where Finn knelt, heaving up the little bit of dinner he had managed to get down.

Diego held his hair for him and waited patiently until he finished.

Then he snagged a washcloth from the stack, soaked it with cold water, and pressed it to the back of Finn’s neck.

“Anxious about being in front of so many humans?” Diego asked gently.

“Terrified.”

“You can stay here, you know. Or go back to the caverns. No one would force you.” Diego knelt behind him and eased Finn back against his chest.

“No, I must do this.” Finn’s voice shook but he still managed a fierce edge to his words. “It is time to stop hiding. To do the things that need to be done, no matter how hard or how frightening.”

“I’ll leave it up to you. Your decision, caro . Are you all right now?” Diego kissed his temple, hoping Finn’s words weren’t as ominous as they sounded.

“Well enough, my hero. Your pardon. My stomach has been a bit touchy of late.”

“Obviously. Get cleaned up, querido . Come join us again when you’re ready.”

With a last hug, Diego rose and returned to the dining room, where the discussion had grown lively.

“So I should appear dressed in something like Miriam wears?” Danu asked with a little smile.

“Oh, no, Light of the World!” Sionnach sprang up, searched the room, and sat back down. “You should be adorned as a queen.”

“I don’t think they wear gowns any longer.” Her soft laugh cascaded through the room.

“As a modern queen,” Angus broke in. “We will help you. There are books with smooth, shining pages that show how people dress.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Miriam turned to Diego as he resumed his seat.

“Catalogs. So they want to go through with this?”

“Looks like it. They’re working out the details and I’ll just need to set it up, say, four, five days from now. Should be enough time to get the buzz going.”

“Where, Miriam?” Diego said on a weary sigh. “You can’t put them on a plane to New York and I’m not sure I want to risk another doorway right now.”

“Nah, you worry too much, kiddo. We’ll do it right in town. I’ll head in tomorrow and see if we can borrow the meeting hall. Is your handsome hunk okay?”

“He’s managing. He wants to be there.”

“Good.” Miriam huffed as she stood. “I got a hunch it’s important to have him there.”

When the day arrived, a gray mist shrouded the house.

Diego shivered as he stared out of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the front room.

He had stood at these same windows to confront an ancient, evil being, had gazed out on this same landscape months later at an astounding, ethereal work of ice art, had seen more impossible, bizarre things than any man had a right to, yet somehow taking the fae to a press conference struck him as more surreal than all the rest put together.

“ Y los suenos suenos son ,” Diego murmured into his coffee mug. The line from Calderón had never seemed more appropriate.

“Diego…” The soft, melodic voice drifted into his thoughts, and he turned to see Eithne behind him.

“Good morning. Are you coming with us?”

She came to join him at the window. “No. I will leave such things to those better suited.” She slid her arm through his and rested her black-furred cheek on his shoulder. “I would ask that you have a care. Morrigan has foreseen sorrow stemming from this day.”

“Whose?”

“I do not know.” She was quiet for a long moment, then spoke even more softly, “You will have my son with you and my father, as well as several people I love.”

“I’ll be as careful as possible.” He tried to reassure her through his own mounting dread. “And return them all to you.”

“Have a care for yourself as well.” She reached up to touch his cheek. “There was a time when you were mine.”

“So I’d heard. Eithne…I’m sorry I can’t be that person for you in this life.”

“I would not ask it of you. You cannot change your nature any more than I can change mine.” She stepped away so he could watch as her form shimmered and changed.

A beautiful woman in a long, black gown stood before him, her raven hair cascading to her waist, her almond-shaped eyes staring at him steadily.

“We may have the illusion of change, but we cannot change who we are.” Another shimmer and she was Eithne again, pointed ears swiveling atop her head. “I am content.”

Diego turned back to the window, thinking to change the subject. “Have you and Morrigan always been friends?”

“We have an understanding, she and I,” Eithne answered with a little smile. “Morri prefers the female form.”

“Ah. I had wondered.” The steam rising from his mug mimicked the curling tendrils of mist outside. The flows of magic tugged at Diego as if urging him to see some pattern there, its meaning remaining stubbornly out of reach. “Was I ever able to see the future?”

“There have been lives where you had the sight, yes.”

“I wish I could still. To see what today holds for us.”

Eithne leaned her head on his shoulder again, purring. “The seers are only given warnings. How things will play out is hidden even from them.”

A tread on the stairs pulled Diego’s head around and his heart sped at the sight of Finn descending in the gray suit Miriam had bought him.

He would be the only fae at the press conference in actual clothes, since his talents did not extend to glamours.

His blue-black hair, brushed to a glossy sheen, lay loose in a heavy curtain against his silk jacket.

The tailored slacks flattered his long, lean body and the rose-colored shirt supplied the perfect complement to his complexion.

He held his tie out in one hand. “Could you help me with this blasted thing, love? Miriam showed me how the damned knot is done—rather too reminiscent of a noose, I’d say—but it won’t come out evenly for me.”

Diego chuckled, relieved to hear Finn finally sounding more like himself.

While they dealt with the tie, the rest of their party arrived in ones and twos.

Angus and Sionnach had opted for suits as well, though Sionnach had arranged his glamour so his tail remained visible, proudly waving beneath his jacket.

Balor, Lugh and Faolchú, who insisted he would not be excluded, all appeared in human guise, wearing military dress uniforms worthy of European royalty.

Danu glided in last, commanding every eye in the room. Her clothes, a formal, low-cut dress of deep bronze, stunning heels and a tasteful diamond tiara, were all illusion, but her own physical appearance remained unaltered, her green hair, pointed ears and bear eyes all on full display.

“We are ready, Diego.” She extended her hand for Diego’s, regal and elegant, every inch the queen. “Lead on.”

The limos Miriam had hired pulled up the drive as if on cue.

Diego led them out, Danu on his arm and Finn at his side, to seats covered in silk sheets to mitigate the effects of the vehicles’ steel components.

Miriam had taken Zack and gone ahead to make certain all was in place.

Throughout the ride into town, Finn rubbed at his wrist, where his hand had been repeatedly severed, but otherwise he appeared calm.

News vans lined the streets as they pulled into the town’s sleepy main street. All the major Canadian players, both local and national, and most of the US networks had taken Miriam’s hook.

Cameras descended on the limos, preventing their getting out, until a chiseled figure in jeans and T-shirt hustled them back, barking out orders in a voice that even the most stubborn news hounds would obey. Zack to the rescue again.

A path cleared and they made their way inside amidst shouted questions. Miriam raised her voice to a congenial roar, “Come on in, boys and girls! You’ll get your answers inside like civilized people.”

She directed them to the long table at the front of the hall, where the town council usually sat, while the reporters and camera operators filed in to fill up every folding chair and last bit of good viewing space.

The fae settled in the chairs, their anxiety filtering to anyone with the least bit of sensitivity.

Diego took the lectern and cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for coming and for your indulgence. We realize arrangements are a bit unusual and appreciate your patience. I have a statement prepared, then we’ll allow questions directed to our guests.

“My name is Diego Sandoval. Some of you may know me as an American novelist, but today is not about fiction. Nearly two years ago, a figure stepped out of myth and into my life, forever transforming my view of the world. These beautiful people to my right are fae royalty and members of their court. Fairies, if you need a more familiar term, nonhumans who have lived beside us in secret for centuries. They choose to reveal themselves now because their lives are in great peril. They must reach out to the human world or face extinction.”

He went on to explain the connection between the two halves of the world, the consequences of their temporary separation and the need for the fae to have a foothold in the human world to survive.

Statement complete, he introduced each of the figures sitting at the table and respectfully turned the conference over to their majesties.