Page 44 of Through the Veil (Endangered Fae #2)

“I cede the right of first address to you,” Balor said with a nod to Danu. He shifted uncomfortably in a chair much too small for his massive frame.

“I thank you, Heart of the Earth,” she said with a little smile. A wave of gratitude washed over Diego that they managed a united front in public. “To you, the heralds of this human world, we wish to say that we have no designs on your lands or your—”

“Queen Danu!” a blonde reporter called from the center of the pack. “Is there a trailer available for this movie yet? Who’s the director?”

“Yeah, when’s the release scheduled?” called another.

“Is it Peter Jackson?”

“Is there a title?”

Danu turned bewildered eyes to Diego. “What do they ask, Taliesin? They speak words I know, but I cannot fathom their meaning.”

Before Diego could answer, Finn slammed both palms down on the table and rose. He stalked around to stand in front, the blazing red of his eyes giving away his anger.

“Listen!” he shouted over the din of questions. “This is not a movie. We are not here to promote any sort of story. This is real!”

Someone in the back shouted, “You’re the model from A Pooka’s Life, aren’t you? Are you reprising that role?”

Finn buried his face in his hands and Diego held his breath, waiting for him to fall to pieces. Instead, a roar from behind him shook the building. An ominous rumble shivered through the floor.

“Bloody idiots!” Faolchú snarled as he came to wrap Finn in his arms. “How dare you upset him like this! Do you have any idea what you people have done to him?”

With a nod from Angus, Sionnach came around the table as well, where everyone could see his tail.

His melodic, soothing voice filled the hall.

“This is no movie. We are not human. Several days ago, a human government mistook us for beings from a distant planet. Four of us were captured and tortured in the name of scientific experimentation.”

“Which government?” someone shouted and was quickly shushed.

“I do not think it wise to say which one,” Sionnach continued. “Finn has not yet recovered from his ordeal. They treated him as if he were no more than a rock or an interesting bit of driftwood.”

“My dears,” Danu spoke up from the table. “Perhaps it is time to do away with illusions. Let go of the glamours. Shift, if you like.”

“They will run screaming,” Balor said with a snort.

“Then let them run.” The chill in Danu’s voice signaled her patience wearing thin. A white light suffused her skin, pulsing outward as her body blurred and expanded until a huge, brown bear sat in her place.

Balor grinned and abandoned his human features for his tusks, his royal uniform fading away to reveal his massive, heavily muscled frame, covered only in his kilt.

A black bull soon stood tossing his head at Danu’s side.

A golden eagle mantled and shrieked atop the table.

Sionnach stood before them clothed only in fur from the waist down, graceful and beautiful.

Faolchú turned his wolf’s head to the watching reporters and licked his jaws in a less-than-friendly fashion.

“Faolchú?” Diego murmured. “Please don’t eat anyone.”

“Disgusting thought.” Faolchú’s muzzle wrinkled. “Who knows where these humans have been?”

Finn shook free of his arms and faced the stunned gathering. Blue light danced over his skin as he raised his arms and melted out of his clothes. A moment later, a bright-eyed otter sat where Finn had stood.

“Wow. Those are some wicked effects,” one of the younger reporters said on a whistle.

“These are not effects,” Otter-Finn said as he rose up on his haunches and shifted to raven.

“This is magic. True, actual magic, not illusion.” The raven shifted to a black turtle, then a panther.

“The sort of magic humans have long thought the stuff of fiction. Try me, test me. Ask me for any animal and I will shift for you. If I did this with machines or computers, I would not be able to anticipate all of your requests.”

The shouted requests came fast and furious.

“Sheep!”

“Horse!”

“Hummingbird!”

“Chicken!”

Finn complied with each and every animal request. In buffalo form, he snorted, “You have no imagination! Harder ones!”

“Octopus!”

“Bird of Paradise!”

“Pangolin!”

Finally stumped, Finn turned his bird head to Diego. “What is a pangolin?”

“Those armored anteaters,” Diego reminded him. “You saw them on National Geographic once.”

“Oh, yes.” Finn flipped his wings and expanded to become the strange, Asian mammal.

The reporters had, en masse , jostled closer, most of them no longer in their seats, wide-eyed and fascinated. A voice startled them all from the side of the hall.

“Finn! Do the dragon!” Zack called out.

Pangolin-Finn lifted his head. “I will frighten them.”

“They need to be scared, Finn. They’re not getting it.”

“Heart of the Earth? Could you move the table back a mite?”

Balor picked up the eight-foot table with ease and moved it to the back wall.

A shiver ran through Diego as the flows of magic shifted, Finn pulling what he needed from the air.

The hair on the back of his neck stirred and the blue glow around Finn grew star sapphire bright.

Finn’s body expanded and expanded, until his head brushed the ceiling on its long, sinuous neck.

Black wings snapped out to either side in a span wide enough to cover a city bus.

Dragon-Finn filled his lungs and let out a bone-shaking roar.

The front rows scrambled back, creating chaos as they became entangled with the people behind them. Someone screamed and a panicked stampede seemed inevitable. The stampede had nowhere to go, though. Miriam’s solid bulk blocked the only door.

“Settle, you ninnies!” she bellowed over the din. “He won’t hurt you!”

Diego held up his arms, his heart bursting with pride for his love’s courage and persistence. “Finn…”

The dragon head lowered to nudge at his chest. Diego wrapped his arms around Finn’s neck to rest his cheek against the cool dragon hide. A careful claw-tip stroked through Diego’s hair, then Finn lifted his head to his audience again.

“Come. Touch me. Prove to yourselves that I am as real as you, that a dragon stands before you.” He pointed a claw to the blonde who had spoken first. “You, beautiful lady, you strike me as braver than most.”

She stepped forward, wobbling on her heels as she picked through overturned chairs, a tiny woman with sharp, blue eyes.

“Melissa Hawkins, Channel Seven News.” She squared her shoulders and reached a shaking hand up to touch Dragon-Finn’s nose.

“Oh! It’s so soft…” Her hand slid down to stroke his muzzle. “So smooth. Could I see your…foot?”

Finn lifted a clawed forefoot for her to touch.

“Ow! Damn! Those claws are sharp.”

Eyes round as saucers, she turned back to her colleagues. “This is the real deal.”

“Yes, real. We are magical beings, and we are as real as you.” Finn flipped his wings to settle them on his back, standing still and patient while several other intrepid reporters came to touch him.

“We are here to appeal to you, to your governments, to the people of the world. We do not need your houses, your money or your cars. We have no designs to rule the world. We ask for one thing only. A place to call our own. We have existed on this earth for thousands of years, lived beside you, often helped you. Now we need help so that the fae and the world’s magic do not become so much dust and memory. All we ask is a place to stand.”

“Sounds like a sound bite if I ever heard one,” Diego whispered to him.

“You like that? I thought it sounded impressive,” Dragon-Finn whispered back as his forked tongue flicked out to lick Diego’s temple.

With the flummoxed reporters satisfied and doing their level best to absorb what they had learned, everyone settled again and the press conference began in earnest. To their credit, several of the reporters were old pros and recovered quickly enough to ask relevant questions.

What requirements did the fae have in a land purchase?

Were any negotiations already ongoing? Finn shifted back to his fae form behind the lectern, where he pulled his pants and shirt back on, apparently content to listen.

After an hour, Miriam called a halt, citing the fact that some of the fae were still recovering from their ordeal, and thanked everyone, the signal for them all to please leave. Sionnach accompanied them out to answer any last questions and give them some final photos.

Diego let out a slow breath. “I think, all things considered, that went rather well.”

Whoops and cheers erupted from the fae as they congratulated one another.

Enthusiasm overflowing, Lugh seized Diego by the biceps, lifted him up against the wall and captured his lips in a crushing kiss.

Too stunned to react, Diego simply let it happen a moment, surprised at the softness of his mouth when the rest of Lugh was so hard.

Then he pulled back with a little laugh. “Stop that, you big lug. Go find someone else to manhandle.”

Lugh gave him a wink and a grin. “Your pardon, I was carried away in the moment.” He turned from Diego and shoved Zack against the wall instead. Zack’s gray eyes opened wide in shock as Lugh plundered his mouth, then he closed his eyes and gave in with a little moan.

When Lugh came up for air, Zack slid his arms around Lugh’s neck and said, “Do that again.”

Now that looks promising . Diego turned to find the one he truly wanted to kiss. “Where’s Finn?”

Faolchú’s ears twitched as if searching. “He was just over there.”

“Diego!” Sionnach rushed back in, clutching Finn’s clothes to his chest, his eyes brimming with tears. “I’m so sorry… I couldn’t stop him.”

“What do you mean? Where’s Finn?”

“He’s…”

Diego seized the little Fomorian by the shoulders, a cold hand squeezing his heart. “Where is he?”

“He said that what he does now, he does for you,” Sionnach whispered, the tears trickling down his beautiful face. “He shifted to raven form and flew away. He’s gone.”