Otherworld Challenger. Jane Godman
are green, like Stella’s, so the color makes the ring of fire appear fainter, possibly even nonexistent.”
Vashti felt her lip curl. They were going to send a man who didn’t understand something so fundamental about her people in search of this challenger? Her father was unlikely to have anything to fear. Which wasn’t exactly a good thing for her people.
“But Lorcan and I do know someone who fits that description. Someone who doesn’t look like a faerie.” Tanzi turned her head to look up at her husband. “Aydan.”
“Who is Aydan?” Jethro asked.
Lorcan turned his head to look up at him. “A prominent member of the resistance in Barcelona. We’ve worked together many times, fighting against Moncoya and his henchmen. Tanzi’s right, he doesn’t look like a faerie. He barely has a ring of fire around his irises. Aydan could pass for a mortal any day.”
“You mentioned Aydan to me when I said I was losing my right-hand man now that you were coming to live here on Spae. You said Aydan would be the perfect replacement,” Cal said.
“And he would. Brave, sensitive and totally reliable. I’d trust him with my life.” Lorcan’s voice resonated sincerity. “Hell, I have trusted him with my life. Many times.”
“What’s his background?” Cal asked.
Lorcan shrugged. “Sure, haven’t we always been too busy kicking the shit out of Moncoya’s henchmen to find time for a bonding session? I assumed he was one of the Iberian sidhes. Most of the resistance are.”
“But his eyes are green,” Tanzi insisted. “I noticed it the first time I saw him, which is why I think he is a faerie.”
Cal looked thoughtful. “I’m a great believer in gut instinct. Is it worth you checking him out before you go to Avalon?” he asked Jethro.
“Sure. I can check out everyone Lorcan knows who doesn’t look like a faerie, if you like.” Jethro pushed away from the wall, standing straight and tall, looming over the rest of the group as they sat on the grass. Vashti was reminded once more of his sheer size and latent power. “But I thought we were up against the clock?”
“We are. We need to try to find the challenger before the elections for the Council leadership take place in a month,” Cal said.
“I have to go home before I set off for Avalon, so it won’t cost too much time for me to do a detour to Barcelona to see Aydan. I can sound him out about his background without coming right out and asking him any direct questions.”
“Home?” Without thinking, Vashti had spoken directly to Jethro.
“Home.” He repeated, his eyes flickering over her with their customary lack of interest.
“Where is home?”
“Maine.” When she returned an uncomprehending look, he continued, as if speaking to someone of limited understanding. “In the United States.” When she continued to stare at him, he spoke more slowly again. “Of America.”
“This is a place in the mortal realm?”
“Of course.” His voice was openly contemptuous now. “I’m mortal. Where else would I live?”
Before she could utter a scathing reply, Cal interrupted. “We’re in agreement, then. Jethro will speak to Aydan before he sets off for Avalon. If there’s the slightest chance he’s our man, bring him to the palace so I can see him for myself. Use the excuse Lorcan has already given us. I’m seeking a new right-hand man and Aydan comes highly recommended.” He rose, reaching down a hand to Stella. “Come on, let’s get you to your bed.”
Vashti watched as the group split up, wandering away to their separate cottages. She stayed where she was, shifting position slightly so she could sit with her back against the cottage wall. Hugging her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on them and remained that way for some time, wrapped in her thoughts.
“Why didn’t you tell him of your fears?” Ailie’s voice interrupted her musings as the older woman came to sit next to her.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Vashti retreated behind her usual combination of arrogance and belligerence. It was generally effective at driving people away. Why did she get the feeling it wouldn’t work with this woman?
By the combined light of the moon and the lantern Ailie placed on the ground, Vashti could see the sympathy in the Spae leader’s eyes. “Of course you do. It is natural to fear the unknown. There is no shame in it. Why not tell Jethro you are dreading this journey to the mortal realm?”
Vashti snorted. “You’ve met him. He’s not exactly Mr. Approachable.”
“There is a coldness in his manner, I agree. But I think you can trust him. Although he may not always use them wisely—” Ailie broke off as though chasing an elusive thought. Shaking her head slightly, she continued. “He has goodness, a strong sense of what is right and the ability to draw others to him that is unlike anything I have known before.”
“He hates me.” Where had the sudden wobble in her voice come from? “He thinks I am working for my father to undermine the Alliance.”
“In that case, is it wise for you to go with him on this quest?”
Vashti sighed. “I have to go. Because it means more to me than anyone else. Except perhaps Tanzi, but she has other commitments now.” She turned slightly so she was facing Ailie. “Jethro thought it meant so much to me because I will lose my royal status if the challenger is found.”
“That hurt you.” It was a statement not a question.
“I know what people think of me. I’m Moncoya’s daughter, a spoiled-brat princess with no thought beyond her own comfort. But that?” Vashti shook her head. “He couldn’t have shown his contempt for me any more clearly. I have to see this through for the sake of my people. If this man is found, he has the potential to tear the faerie dynasty apart in a way even my father couldn’t achieve with his ambition and cruelty.”
“And you see it as your duty to try to hold the faerie dynasty together?”
“If I can.”
“Yet the thought of going into the mortal realm terrifies you.” Ailie’s soft voice became even more gentle. “Why is that?”
Vashti hunched one shoulder. “When we were children, our father instilled a fear of mortals into us. They were the enemy, to be feared and avoided. I’ve been into the mortal realm before, but in the past I have always been escorted there and back, and protected the entire time. My interactions with the earth-born only occurred when I was required to kill or kidnap them.”
“Yet violence toward the earth-born is not the true faerie way. In the past faeries and mortals have lived in harmony.”
Vashti’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “My father does not subscribe to the old ways.”
Ailie nodded. “I have heard as much. What I don’t understand is how Tanzi had the same upbringing yet, when she fled from your father, she voluntarily went to the mortal realm to escape him.”
“Tanzi was desperate. And she was with Lorcan, a man who had sworn to protect her.”
“While your journey will be undertaken alongside a man who is antagonistic toward you.”
Vashti laughed. “That’s his approach to me when he’s having a good day.”
“And your pride will not allow you to try to break down these barriers between the two of you?”
“Not in this millennium. Probably not in the next.”
Ailie shook her head sadly as she stood. “Then I wish you luck.”
“I have a feeling I’ll need it.”