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Below is Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All characters belong to CH and AB

SPV

The herald, who was a goblin, announced my presence at breakfast, "The Princess Sookie Brigant, also known as, Sookie Stackhouse, Famed Telepath, and Friend of the Longtooth Werewolf Pack."

Callan and Mánus, my dragon bodyguards, escorted me into the dining hall. My great-grandfather sat at the head of an enormous carved oak wood dining table. The table seated at least twenty people, or I guess I should say fairies, on each side. Niall immediately stood to greet me. As he did so, the other guest at the table rose as well. I recognized a few of the guest, while others I did not.

The dining room had white walls ornately decorated with gold carvings of different types of fairies and birds. The walls also had gold candle sconces interspersed around the room. There were several arched windows on one wall of the dining room. Gold cornices adorned the top of each window engraved with bucking unicorns. The curtains hanging from the cornices were deep blue edged with gold filigree.

I looked up at the ceiling, noticing that it was light blue in color; it also had gold carvings that met together in the center of the ceiling with a large chandelier. Winged fairies, actual fairies and not carvings, were hovering in each corner of the ceiling. Their colorful wings added to the décor of the dining room. There was one winged fairy perched on one of the arms of the chandelier that I recognized by name, Fraoch. He gave me a huge grin then zoomed over to me and landed on my shoulder.

"You look beautiful, Princess. If only I were bigger, I would. . . " Fraoch said, until Callan cut him off with a poignant stare.

Niall came to me and gave me a kiss on both cheeks. He then showed me to my seat, which was located directly to the left of his. I noticed that Dillon, my great uncle and Niall's heir, sat in the chair to Niall's right. My guards continued to follow behind me and took up positions directly behind my chair. I noticed that there were several other dragons in the dining hall as well. Two dragon guards were behind Niall, two behind Dillon, and another two behind a male fairy that I did not know.

"Great-Granddaughter," Niall greeted. "I am pleased that you have joined us for breakfast. It has been a long time in waiting that I could share with you the delights of fairy."

As soon as Niall finished speaking, a line of brownie servants came in bringing platters upon platters of food. Some of the platters exhibited what looked to be pastries and fruit while others different types of meat. They made sure to place at least one of everything on my plate. I noticed that my plate was piled so much higher than the rest of the guest. I knew I would not even eat half of it.

The first thing I bit into tasted like heaven. It was so sweet and so juicy.

"My goodness gracious, this is so good!" I exclaimed.

"That is a sugarplum, my dear one," Niall answered.

"They are grown by sugar plum fairies from the Earth Clan." Preston, who was also seated at the dining room table, said for some reason, with pride. "They are quite a delicacy."

I gave Preston, a warm smile; glad to see another friendly face amongst all of the fairies.

I continued to try the other things on my plate.

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After we all ate breakfast, Niall introduce me to the other guests.

"Sookie, I am sure you recall meeting my son, Dillon."

"Yes, Great-Grandfather," I answered.

"Seated beside him is his mate, Binne." He inclined his head toward the female fairy seated next to my Great-Uncle Dillon. I assumed this was the mother of my triplet cousins Claudette, Claudine, and Claude.

"How do ya do," I replied with my best southern charm.

She gave me a stiff nod and then turned up her nose. Well, I guess she had the royal air down pat, no pun intended.

"On your other side is Ian." Niall continued with his introductions.

I looked at Ian, who was the male fairy with the dragon guards that I had not known. He was very handsome. He was slim in build and had wavy blond hair that was pulled back by an ornate silver pin. He also had very clear green eyes, much like Niall's.

"Ian," I said in greeting.

"He is your grandfather Fintan's son," Niall stated as if saying the sky was blue. He continued to proceed down the line with introductions, as if he didn't just drop a bomb in my lap.

I began to choke on my drink. Fraoch, who I forgot was sitting on my shoulder, fell off and landed on another sugarplum that was on my plate. He began to bite into the plum with his razor sharp teeth. Niall casually batted him away, "Fraoch, wait your turn, you know the rules." Fraoch flew up back to his previous spot on the chandelier. His wings lazily flapped, as he humped.

Ian leaned forward and patted my back to help me out. I gave him a smile in thanks.

Oh boy, I have another fairy uncle.

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After we all ate breakfast, the pixies furiously landed on the untouched leftovers from breakfast, Fraoch, of course, leading the way. I giggled at the sight of him greedily eating the sugarplum that he had previously claimed from my plate.

Niall and I exited the dining room; followed again by our dragon guards. Niall proceeded to give me a tour of the castle. Located within the castle were a large ballroom, two bathhouses; one for female fairies and the other for the males, and my favorite, the Royal library.

Niall showed me several different Wings containing the living chambers of the Royal family. Dillon and Brea were in the East Wing. Ian's chambers were in the West Wing. My chambers were located in the same Wing with Niall, the North.

Hanging from the walls throughout the castle were hand woven tapestries. They depicted various points in Fae history. I stopped to look at one tapestry in particular. It showed a battle from the Second Vampire and Fairy War. On closer inspection, I saw what I believe were a couple of familiar faces. One vampire had an exuberant look on his face as he charged into battle. His sword was drawn high and his long blond hair was streaming behind him. My heart gave a little groan at the sight and I quickly turned away.

Niall continued along with giving me the tour of the castle.

"Great-granddaughter, has everything been to your liking?" Niall asked.

"Yes, everything is amazing," giving Niall what is known as my Crazy Sookie smile, trying to hide my now somber mood.

"I appreciate you bringing me here," That was as close as I could get to show Niall my thanks, without actually saying the magic words.

"Would you like to see the Royal Gardens today as well?" asked Niall.

"Yes. Please," I replied.

Niall placed my hand on top of his and we proceeded to stroll though the gardens. The Royal Gardens were quite beautiful. It contained many different flowers and shrubbery. Some of the grounds were manicured while others were left natural. There were marble statues of different fairy beings randomly placed throughout the grounds. Also, hidden away behind some tall manicured shrubs, was a pond. Niall guided me to one of the marble benches placed around the pond and we both sat.

Niall then said, "Great-Granddaughter, I have heard of the troubles you recently faced in your realm. I hope that you find Faery both wonderful and healing. I also like for your stay to be productive."

Niall was always cryptic but that sounded ominous.

Okay—so another all fairy chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Sorry for the improper link from the previous chapter. I wrote it out this time if anyone is still interest in seeing Sookie's dress. If this does not work, I apologize in advance.

http(colon)(slash)(slash)pageantrymag(dot)com(slash)magazine(slash)fashion(slash)prom(slash)FS09(slash)FS09(underscore)LargePages(slash)FS09(underscore)pg04(underscore)Shimmer(underscore)lg(dot)html

I updated Dillon's mates name which is actually Binne in the books.

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