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He never left me that whole night, and I slept in his arms until daylight, or what passed for it here. But he left early, telling me to stay in bed and rest, because he had business with the king. Probably an hour or so later, servants came in to help me dress and sit me by the fire so I could have something to eat. I’d never before been pampered like this, and it was a nice change. When I’d stayed so briefly at Ellien’s castle, the servants had brought me meals occasionally, but nothing like this. I tried to tell myself to just enjoy it, because surely, it wouldn’t last. Besides, I’d soon grow fat and lazy if I were pampered like this every day.

They brought me boiled eggs and succulent pieces of ham and a fine assortment of cheeses, along with a tankard of beer and a carafe of spiced wine. There were three different kinds of rolls and buns and some little delicate cakes. It was all beautifully prepared, and I ate way too much. Afterward, I went back to bed and got under the covers to wait for Bracca. When he came in and found me in bed, he joined me, and it was later in the afternoon that we finally talked.

“The king has invited us both to dinner, tonight,” he said. “A few of the members of his council will be joining us.”

I nodded, dreading it, having never really met the king except for those few moments when we arrived, but having heard alarming rumors of him all my life. Larek, the Dark Fairy king was spoken about in whispers and sometimes used by mothers in place of the bogeyman, as in “King Larek will get you if you don’t behave, and he’ll pick his teeth with your bones.” A lovely thought, but one I’d heard many times growing up.

I dressed carefully after Bracca left that afternoon, putting on a suit of the clothes the servants brought in and put in my wardrobe. After trying on several combinations, I settled on a pair of black trousers, lined with the softest fur, a matching waistcoat, embroidered in golden thread, a gold-colored jacket and some black boots, also lined with the same ermine. Bracca came to fetch me, bringing with him a mink jacket for me to wear, far too beautiful for someone like me, I thought.

When I told him so, he shook his head. “Nonsense. You look really handsome.” He fiddled around with my hair with his fingers, saying, “Have you even looked in the mirror yet today?”

I laughed. “No, I try to avoid looking in mirrors, if I can.”

He pulled me over to a dressing mirror next to my wardrobe. “I thought your beauty had peaked yesterday, but I was wrong. Take a look at yourself.”

Mystified by his words, I glanced over into the standing mirror and had no idea who the creature in the mirror was—the one staring back at me. I only knew that he definitely wasn’t me. And he definitely wasn’t human.

“W-what have you done to me?” I asked, touching my face as my voice got whispery and scared.

“I haven’t done anything. Someone put a glamour on you when you must have been a small child. It was a disguise to hide how you truly looked. When you came to the Liminal, it cracked, and since you’ve been here, it has finally fallen away.”

“No, that’s crazy! That can’t be me in the mirror. Take it off me. Please, Bracca.”

“I’m not doing anything. This is you, Killian. There’s nothing I can ‘take off.’ Your mother must have been trying to hide you, and what you see is how you truly look.”

“No!” I touched the face in the mirror in fascination and saw the hand move over my own face. I could feel that hand, too, so it was me—but not me at the same time. My head started spinning, and I scrubbed at my face with both hands, watching in horror as the man in the mirror did the same. Bracca had to hold onto me tightly or else I might have fallen down in shock.

“This is you, Killian, I swear it to you. This must be your mother’s doing. She must have found a powerful witch to make a spell so strong that it’s lasted all these years.”

“What witch? What are you talking about?” I clutched my head and fell down on the nearest chair. “Why am I like this? Why are you saying my mother did this to me?”

“Because she must have. She wasn’t trying to hurt you. She was probably trying to protect you. To hide you from those who might harm you or take you away. What you see now in the mirror is your true form, like I told you. And you’re beautiful. We don’t know yet for sure why she did it, except to hide the fact that you’re obviously Fae. Listen to me Killian. My father thinks your real father is not Sir John Honeywood. In fact, he thinks—as I do—that you’re no relation to Sir John at all.”

“What?” It was too much to take in all at once. I turned away from the mirror and pulled frantically at all the blond hair that was streaming off my head, until Bracca took my hands in his to stop me. I’d noticed the hair before, of course, as it was so long and fell across my shoulders, but I thought it was something temporary that Bracca had done to me to make me look better in front of his father and the others. I thought he must be ashamed of the way I looked compared to the Fairies. I rarely even glanced in mirrors anymore, so I‘d had no idea.

The creature I’d seen in the looking glass had nothing to be ashamed about. Not only was his hair long and lustrous and golden, but it was curling up on the ends, too, like it just wanted a reason to show off. It had lighter streaks of white throughout it, and that person’s face was exquisite and finely boned, with full lips and huge, glowing, gold-green eyes. His eyelashes were thick and long and dark. A legacy from my so-called real father? I moaned and put my face in my hands. I looked nothing like me —the person I’d always thought was me, that is. It was like my whole life had been a lie.

“Why are you so upset?” Bracca asked. “Most people would give anything to be so beautiful.”

“No, that-that creature in the mirror is a lie! He’s not human looking. Not at all.”

“Because you’re not fully human, Killian. You may not be human at all, depending on who your mother really was.”

I turned to him with tears standing in my eyes, and I dashed them away. “Who am I then? Who was my real father and mother?”

“Your father was more than likely King Brendan, of the Dokkalfar Elves, and we don’t know about your mother. Your father kept her locked away in his citadel. We won’t know for sure until we take you to the Dokkalfar capitol city of Daeneid and see how it reacts to you.”

“How what reacts to me? What are you talking about?”

“The capitol city, the seat of power of the dark Elves, has been slowly deteriorating since King Brendan died six years ago. They have a tradition called “true-blood” that decides their kings. When a new king is crowned, they spill a few drops of his blood on the throne, and if it responds to that blood, then he’s their true king. Don’t ask me how it does that, because I’ve never seen the ceremony, and they don’t talk about it. But the king who’s reigning now is a nephew by marriage to the old king. His blood didn’t provide the required response, but he was crowned anyway, because they had no one else even remotely related to their former king.”

“This is too much to take in,” I said, as my head was beginning to spin and ache.

“Have you heard the name King Brendan before?”

I shook my head miserably.

“Your mother escaped him when you were only a babe, and he was killed in battle some six years ago, during a skirmish in the mountains.”

I still found it all impossible to believe. “I don’t understand. You’re saying my whole life has been nothing but a lie.”

“I know it must be hard to fathom,” he said and rubbed my back, soothing me a little. “But what I’m telling you is the truth.”

“When you made love to me and told me I was beautiful, you were talking about him.”

“Him? You mean you. It’s always been you, Killian. You were just in a kind of disguise. Think of it that way, if it helps.”

“You know what I mean. You understand what I’m really asking. Why did you make love to me when you said you weren’t in love with me? Please answer the question. Maybe it seems silly to you to concentrate on just that part of this mess when my whole world has just blown up in my face, but it’s that or go mad. Why did you bring me here? What do you fucking want from me?”

“I kissed you the first time I saw you at that bridge in Maling. I know you remember that too. You looked fully human then, and the glamour was still on you. It was before you came to the Liminal and before your face began to change.”

“I suppose that’s true. But are you saying you were attracted to that version of me then?”

“It’s all you, Killian.”

I shook my head. “No. You said I’m half Elf and half something else. I think you’re lying to me, and you’ve magicked this all up somehow. I’m not some kind of Fae creature. I don’t believe that. I’m no Dark Elf.”

“Denying it doesn’t change anything.”

I turned with a muttered oath and began pacing up and down the room. I was furious and needed someone to hurl some of that fury at.

“None of this explains why you want me.”

“Killian, I know you’re young, but surely you know that people make love all the time, and it doesn’t have to mean anything.”

I knew he was right. I wasn’t stupid, but I still didn’t like that it was true.

“Why did you come for me? What do you have planned and why am I really here? I know the Dark Elves are the enemies of Fairies like you. Or if not exactly enemies, there’s no love lost between you anyway. So what do you hope to gain by bringing me here and concocting this crazy story?”

I saw the surprise on his handsome face and couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say. Was he going to tell me more lies, or was he finally going to tell me the truth?

****

Bracca

“It’s not a story, Killian. I brought you here because I’m going to marry you. You’re the true-blood heir to the Elven throne. We’ll find a surrogate to have your child to ensure inheritance of the royal line. The child you have has to be a true-blood to be accepted as the next in line.”

“Marry me?” he yelled at me, apparently unable to focus on anything else I’d said. “Two men can’t marry each other!”

“First of all, I can do anything I damn well please. What’s to stop me?”

“All right, yes…but I’m not some animal for you to breed.”

“We’ll find you a surrogate female—maybe a Fairy woman—to have your child. As long as the babe is yours, he’ll be a true-blood like you and heir to the throne when the time comes.”

“This is insanity. You can’t just tell me you’re marrying me. I should have some say in it.”

He began pacing again and glared over at me as he passed by me. “Maybe I don’t want some Fairy woman to bear my child. I need more information. Like why did my mother run away? This King Brendan must have been cruel to her, or else she’d never have left. And then why did she just abandon me in the human world—why?”

“Perhaps he was cruel to her. The king is dead now, so we have no way of knowing for sure. As for your mother—we simply don’t know. She was no doubt a beautiful creature and Brendan must have had some reason to want to marry her. We’ll keep trying to find her and discover what that reason was.”

“Why would she take me with her? Just to hurt my father or because she-she didn’t want to leave me behind?”

“We have no way of knowing that. She must have had her reasons.”

He glared at me. “This is all too hard to believe,” he said, and turned away.

I pulled him back around to look at me. “But it’s true, Killian. If we find her you can ask all your questions. She didn’t completely abandon you. She was responsible enough to leave you with Sir John.”

“He sold me to the Fairies!” he shouted in my face.

“Well…yes, there is that. But what I’m saying is that it could have been far worse. Your mother left you when you were a small child, didn’t she? Don’t tell me you remember much about her. Maybe it was for the best. How do you know what she would or wouldn’t have done to you eventually?”

He blushed a rosy shade of pink but looked up at me mulishly. “The same way you seem to know everything.”

“Damn it, Killian, stop arguing for once. You asked my intentions. We’re going to be married. Do you seriously object? Tell me now and there may be a way to stop this. Do you want to marry me or not?”

“Do you want to marry me?”

“Why do you persist on making the simplest question into a challenge?”

He shrugged.

“Yes, I want to marry you. Get that through your head. It will be quite soon, so try to listen to me. Your father was the king of the Dark Elves and now that title belongs to you, because we’re convinced you’re the true-blood. How many times do I need to say this?”

He pressed his lips together and glared at me. “I fully understand that part of it. Because you’ve said it like a million times now.”

I spread my hands in a “Well, then?” gesture.

“When you came for me, just how were you planning on making me agree to marry you?”

“You’ll agree.”

“Are you so sure of me?”

“Yes.” I caught his hand and pulled him into my arms, staring down at him. “But here’s your chance to protest if you like. Will or will you not marry me?”

He blushed and refused to look directly at me.

“Will you?” I insisted and stared down at him. “My father could find you another husband if you prefer. Perhaps one of his councilors?”

“No!” he shouted at me, his eyes wide with panic.

“Then do you have a better idea? King Hendris won’t let you just waltz in and take his throne. You’ll need our help and our army’s assistance just to get in and see him.”

Killian sighed and looked away. “Why do you want their kingdom saved anyway?”

“My father wants it.”

“And do you always do whatever he wants you to do?”

“Yes.”

He sighed. “How will it benefit your father if I take over?”

“My father is already High King, but not of the Elves. He would take over that role for them and it would give him immense power.”

“But I’m the one who would be king. The throne wants me , according to what you said.”

“He’d be the high king, and you’d defer to him.”

“How do you intend to make me do that?”

“You’ll name me as your Regent.”

“Why would I need one of those?”

“Because you’re young and have been raised as a mortal, and you know nothing about ruling a kingdom.”

“So you expect me to betray my own kind and just hand the kingdom over to your father?”

“You didn’t even know they were your kind until just now. My father will make an excellent High King.”

“Will he?”

“Yes,” I growled at him.

“And you honestly think I’m the true-blood Elven king?”

“I do. My father’s sources are good. The Dark Elven

kingdom is dying a little more every day, so there might be a bit of a rush. The kingdom would be strengthened with your blood and eventually that of your child.”

“What if the people rebel?”

“The people will back whatever their new king wants—if he’s the true-blood. And I actually don’t think Hendris will fight you all that much, considering the kingdom is dying, though how he’ll respond remains to be seen. He may challenge you.”

“I thought you didn’t think much of my skills with a sword. Do you honestly think I could fight a Dark Elf for the throne?”

“No, of course not. Even if I believed it, I wouldn’t allow it. I’d do the fighting if it comes to that.” I pulled him into my arms and fought for a kiss for a few seconds. He hadn’t liked that last statement, what with him being such a hero knight and all—in his mind, anyway. But he didn’t fight too hard, and I was pretty determined.

“We need to marry at once if you agree. I believe my father and his council will bring this up at dinner tonight. I wanted you to be prepared.”

“But you don’t love me.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes before I could stop it. “Love is a human emotion, Killian. I have plenty of other reasons for wanting this.”

He closed his eyes at my words and then said the most shocking thing of all.

“If love is a human emotion, and you say I’m not really human, then why do I feel it when I look at you?”

I groaned and took hold of his shoulders. “Listen to me , a chuisle . Love is nothing you need. It only causes pain. I’ll take care of you. I’ll be by your side and help you rule the Dokkalfar kingdom. I’ll make sure you have a child to carry on your line, and that will be enough. Enough for both of us.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Stop all this womanly sentiment. I told you, love is for mortals, and you’re still thinking like one.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “All right then. I’ll marry you. God help me.”

“Dry your eyes and wash the tears off your face. The king is expecting us. We’ll be happy—I promise you.” For some reason, the words seemed to ring throughout the room, and we both heard it. I told myself I’d just imagined it. He looked a little frightened, so I pulled him close.

“I do promise. I’ll do everything in my power to make this work.”