Chapter Two

The knowe was built. I couldn't believe it. I had been so exhausted once I got done building the rooms that I didn't realize that there were people already bustling in and out of the areas. I had built thirty bedrooms orginally, but seeing some of the more Fae changelings enjoying the knowe more than they enjoyed the house, I had a feeling I was going to need more bedrooms. Tomorrow, though. For now, the kitchen, bedrooms, and a large ballroom were built. There was a plan for more, but I didn't have the energy. Now that it was more than just a shallowing, the knowe could help me build more, expand if needed. They were alive in the aspect that they responded to my magic.

A magic burn headache was starting to become a migraine. At some point, Opal had put a bottle of Tylenol next to me with a large glass of water. Once I was coherent enough, I gulped down the water with a few pain pills. It didn't kick in immediately, so I continued to relax in one of the bedrooms. It was dark, it was cold, and it was quiet. It was all that I needed at that moment.

At some point, I had gotten up to check on the changelings who were in the knowe now. Most of them were changelings who were addicted to goblin fruit, the ones who wouldn't last very long with the addiction but were willing to fight it enough to get Jasper some information on how to help them. He hasn't gotten far, of course. He was a mixed pure blood, but still a pure blood. He could only go off of what they were feeling at the moment. At least some of them were willing to eat. Keeping the food down was the hardest part so far. A few were willing to eat something as long as we mixed it with a little goblin fruit. Toast? Goblin fruit jam on top. Not long ago, Jasper thought that he found the part of the fruit that made it so addicting to changelings, but it had failed. It worked for a few days, at least. Those changelings lasted a week before things went downwards.

Once the headache subsided, I wandered around my brand new knowe. Decorations were starting to go up. Tapestries had been made for my family line. There wasn't much to go up, though. My mother Diamond was the original choice for the sensenchaul to the King and Queen. She had turned it down, but was given a knowe to command instead. She sat alone in the tapestry. The next one was of her meeting each father and giving birth to each of one of her children, with Opal at the highest point and I was at the bottom. The next one was of me, at fourteen years old, holding a dying changeling that had been shot by an elf shot. It was then that I vowed to open a safe place for changelings to live. The next was the meeting with the King and Queen, with them nodding their heads in agreement. I didn't have to fight them as hard as I thought I had to.

There was one room that had been made into a small office. It wasn't much, so far. Ryda was in there with one of her patients. One of Blind Michael's victims was there, talking slowly about their encounters. They were a Bannick with some of the visible scars of Blind Michael's work, like fur on his hands that didn't belong. It appeared to be a reminder that wasn't allowing them to heal properly. Ryda's work was starting to show and the kids were starting to heal.

She had seen me poking my head through the window. With a small wave, she ended the session with the Bannick child. Once he left the room, the marks of Blind Michael's influence disappeared. Illusion magic that Ryda had cast earlier faded once the meeting was over. The kid gave me a smile before running off. They weren't that old looking. I'm not sure they were older and Blind Michael had corrupted their bodies. I wasn't sure if they were going to recover entirely, but Ryand was doing a great job.

"Hey, I wanted to talk about training more psychologists to help me out," she said, getting abrupt and to the point. Ryda is Ellyllon and it was starting to show that she was going to molt soon. Wrinkles were forming on her face and color was disappearing in her hair which was currently thrown into a tight bun on the top of her head.

"Sure," I said. "Will I have to pay them or are you going to reach out to other healers to get them trained?"

"I'm going to approach the King and Queen at the next party." A sly smile was on her face. "Which will be tonight, Countess."

The phrase was so new to me that I cringed. I was going to have to get used to it, though. I was technically a Countess already, when the knowe was just nothing more than a shallowing. I refused to be a called a Countess until the day came when it fit better into place, became a permanent part of Faerie. Today was that day, the day of my birth. My mother was surely going to be proud when I walked into the court, announced my title properly and took the full responsibility on my shoulders.

Ryda must have seen the turmoil on my face for she put her hands on my shoulders. I was short. Ryda was slightly shorter, but I was definitely below average height. I think I got that from my mother than I got from my father, for my father was roughly six feet in height while my mother was about five foot two.

"Countess Sapphire," she said, sternly. "You are one of the best Banshees that I have ever known. Opal failed at being a Countess because she didn't know how to run it all without being forceful. You are kind, thoughtful, and willing to fight for both sides, Faerie and mortal. Somehow you have found a balance. You work best for these changelings."

I flashed her a smile that I hoped was genuine. Instead the muscles made me feel like it was strained. "You are far too kind."

"I still don't know what to name the County, though," I said. "In Faerie, it should be walking distance from the King and Queen."

"Well, let's go see if the waterfall is there." The smile that she gave me was soft and reassuring.

The waterfall. I had forgotten about the waterfall. It was one of the major reasons why the knowe was taking so long to build. I was forcing the world of the Summerlands to be built around the idea that I had, including a large waterfall a lot like Niagara Falls. It was the biggest part of the knowe that was going to overlap the other knowes in a way. My mother had started a river to help me out, as well as Queen Mira and King Barley. Another river was flowing as well, but I was not sure where it was coming from. The direction was from Toronto, just across the border between the Falls in the mortal realm. It could have been from the High King and High Queen, but I doubted it. Why would they help a little independent fiefdom form?

We went out on to a balcony that had formed at some point. I had not built it. My mother had not built it. The knowe must have known that it was needed. It looked out into the twilight sky of the Summerlands. The sky was twinkling with stars. And the sound of large rushing water could be heard. I almost cried when I saw the large rushing waterfall beneath me, leading to a large lake not too far away.

This was the dream. The Summerlands didn't need to respond to what I wanted. But it did. And when I looked down at the lake, I swore I saw a woman swimming in it, but instead of legs, she had a long serpent like tail.

"Who is that?" I asked.

Ryda followed my gaze. Her eyebrows knitted together as she watched the woman swim. "I haven't the faintest clue. Does not look like a Merrow. Can't be. It's fresh water."

"Are there freshwater versions of Merrow?" I questioned.

My answer was a shrug. "I'm not familiar with the water Fae as much as the land ones. I help the land, not the water. They have their own healers, they don't need the Ellowyne."

"Right. . ." I backed away. "Well, hopefully she isn't angry that I moved her when I wanted the waterfall to be here."

The smell of the water felt like home. And it was making me far more relaxed than I was before.

"Darling," said a voice behind me. I turned to gaze at my mother. She was smiling. "My Hobs are done working. We are going home to get ready for the ball, but I do have another gift for you. Keep an eye out for them."

"Them?" I echoed. "Mother, you can't give me your people."

"Don't worry, they volunteered," she said cheerfully. And with that said, Diamond turned away, throwing her human disguise back on without a moment of hesitation. Her magic of fresh snow and evergreen disappeared quickly with the breeze. I watched her go for a moment before turning and looking for the serpent woman.

She was gone from view. I do not know how deep the lake was. I gazed around, seeing snow fall in the distance in all directions, coming from the other kingdoms that surrounded me. No snow was falling right now, but when I thought about it, I could see clouds forming to allow it to fall. I now knew what I wished to name my new fiefdom.

"Changelings' Home," I said barely higher than a whisper. Ryda glanced at me, an approving expression on her face. I rested a hand on her shoulder. "You go rest. I can tell that you are about to molt. Relax in one of the spare rooms. You can lock it and no one will disturb you."

"You are too kind," she said, avoiding the words thank you in the process. I always hated the stupid rule. But I gave her a smile with a nod as well.

Now it was time to get ready for the ball. It wasn't a celebration of the Yuletide, that had already come and passed. It was getting close to Christmas in the mortal world. I still needed to put a tree. Though, I didn't feel like doing so, since barely any of my changelings wanted to celebrate.

I needed more coffee, though, if I was going to survive the day without any sleep. The inspection had taken too much of the morning already. It was already five. Darkness was descending outside. The party was going to start soon, at six. I needed to get ready quickly.

The person in my kitchen forced me to stop and stare. Matt, the person who I had mistaken for Daoine Sidhe earlier had dropped his human disguise. His hair was no longer just red. There were shades of white mixed in. His eyes were soft brown and he gazed at me with something that made me stand there nervously. He must have used the spell recently, because I could smell his magic. Fennel and sun baked clay.

"What are you doing here still?" I asked. I moved slowly to the coffee maker, pressing a hand on it to refill it with simple hearth magic. I wasn't all that good at it,the coffee was going to taste like shit, but I wasn't turning my back on Matt in the moment.

"I need to talk to you," he said. The earlier sternness in his voice was gone and replaced with something that I was more familiar with hearing from the than from a pureblooded Fae. Admiration. It made me queasy hearing it from him.

I rested my hip against the cupboard and my hands on the counter. My expression should have said, "Please, continue." When he didn't add anything, I waved my hand in a circular motion, telling him to keep talking.

"I heard stories about you," he said. "I come from the Midwest, from the Kingdom of Starfall. There's a pureblooded Cait Sidhe that came from your care. I met her."

I straightened at that comment. Then I bared my teeth at him, hissing, "If you hurt Silvia I swear I will break Oberon's Law right here and right now."

Cu Sidhe. He was Cu Sidhe. It was more evident now. A few had come to my aid when Marcus took over, but none had stayed. Not long at least. They had their own agendas that they wanted to take care of before they took of my kids and I. Cu Sidhe and Cait Sidhe have never gotten along. They were enemies since the dawn of Faerie. Knowing that he had been in contact with Silvia, a pureblooded Cait Sidhe who stayed in my care when Marcus took over, made my skin crawl. She felt like she could take down Marcus and I agreed with her. But nowhere here was going to offer that. I told her to go West, hopefully she was going to end up in California, where wealth was rich and the Cait Sidhe were on the streets everywhere. If I believed Matt's words, she only made it to the Rocky Mountain area.

He threw his hands in the air. "Whoa, not what I meant. We got along for the short amount of time that we talked. She's become the second Princess of the local cats. I saw a picture of the two of you by accident. She told me what you were doing here. She was so proud and happy. Told me that she was going to come back and challenge Marcus and kill him. Once she took over, she promised that she was going to be the first Queen of Cats to be friendly with the Divided Courts. Your Divided Court, specifically."

Matt handed me a photo that he had tucked away in his pocket. It was a copy of a photograph that I had taken. It was of me standing next to a tall muscular woman with long black hair held back in a thick braid. Her skin was dark, a lot like the twilight sky of the Summerlands. Her eyes were a piercing yellow. In her cat form, Silvia was a pure black cat with yellow eyes. The colors were dulled in this copy, but I had the original with all the pure pigments. I smiled softly at the picture. She was twenty two in the photograph. Her birthday was in November, on Thanksgiving this year. She was now twenty three.

"She said that you were once knighted as well, but no longer use the title," said Matt. His voice was hesitant, like he didn't want to interrupt what was happening, even if it was a photo with memories. "I wanted to know why."

I didn't want to tell him. I really didn't. I didn't know Matt, and even if he knew Silvia, I wasn't there for the encounter. There was no reason why I had to tell him why. Though it didn't stop the memory from coming to my mind. Me, on the battlefield with my bow and arrows laced with elf-shot. I was accurate. My shots never missed. I hit only purebloods and avoided the changelings. I was only thirteen when I was on the field as a squire, next to my knight. He was shot down that day. It was only elf-shot and he as a pureblood would wake up in about ninety years. I was knighted for my efforts. Once I worked for the effort to become a Countess, I refused to let anyone call me Sir Sapphire Letty. I was now Countess Sapphire. That was it. I never deserved to be knighted. I was too young and foolish.

And I was alone.

"I find Countess to be better suited," I stated.

"You were sad there for a moment," he said. "Why?"

I wrinkled my nose at him. My coffee pot let out a long beep, signalling that it was finished. I still did not turn my back to him.

"Why are you here?" I asked. "Did Silvia ask you to come here?"

Now I was witnessing Matt dancing on his feet, trying to avoid my gaze. His cheeks were becoming flushed. I wanted to demand again, stronger. Maybe if I forced some of my Banshee heritage into the demand. Banshees could force anyone to do anything with enough force. It made us terrifying rulers that way. Instead I moved away from the cupboards and stood in front of him. I forced him to look at my face. His face grew even more red and his eyes grew wide.

"I could force you to tell me," I said. "But I want you to tell me on your own."

The words came out far more harsh than I wanted them to. I could see him flinch and I mentally beat at myself for not trying to be nicer.

"I think I'm in love with you," he blurted out.

I blinked. Once. Twice. Then, I bellowed, "What!?"

I took a couple steps backwards. That must have been enough for him, because Matt began spewing words out. "Silvia and I were fighting when the photo fell out of her pocket. She took advantage of the situation and started talking about you. Each word, each action you took, everything made me fall in love with the image that she was creating. I just. . . I had to come see you."

I rubbed a hand across my face, trying to process it all. It was ridiculous. It had to be. But the way that he was gazing at me made it seem all too real at that moment.

"Got any other secrets to tell me?" I questioned.

"My name isn't Matt."

Breathing in deeply, I shrieked, "Then what is it?"

"Tart."

Coffee. I needed coffee. Without even thinking, I turned my back towards Tart. My hands were shaking as I poured a cup. Extra hands came around with sugar and seasonal flavored creamer. It was peppermint mocha at this time of the year. I whirled around to see Matt‒no, wait, Tart‒ smiling towards me. We were far too close for me to be comfortable. The excitement on his face was like a new puppy coming home. I, however, needed space. Much more space. I pressed my hands against his chest and shoved him away. He stumbled backwards but didn't fall down.

"No," I said, shaking a finger at him. I felt like I was scorning a dog in that moment. And the look on his face was telling me that he was hurt and didn't understand why. "I don't even know you. You can't just spring this on me."

"Why not? Purebloods get married on whims. Why can't a pureblood and a changeling do the same thing?"

I rubbed my shaking hands across my face, trying to process things without going crazy. The madness was rising. "Oh Titania's teeth, where is Opal when I need her?" Her tea would calm me down and she would definitely have more strength to kick out Tart.

He was frowning at me. "You don't look so good."

"I need you to leave," I commanded. "Right now. I don't want to see you until after the ball. Do you understand?"

"But‒"

"Now!" I shouted. My magic rose around me in response to my madness. Even if Tart wanted to stay in the room, he was forced to leave with my Banshee scream.

I watched him leave the house before I made my way upstairs, fresh coffee in my hands. Only two bedrooms were upstairs. Mine and Jasper's. There was an office, too. The silence helped me focus. I made my way to my bedroom, brushing my free hand on the wall until I flicked on the light. My room bathed in light from the light above the bed. It was a double, more room for myself alone but I slept in the middle anyway. In a corner was a dresser with a lamp sitting on top of it. On the other side of the bed was a vanity where I applied my makeup and did my hair. To the left of all that was my closet. I dropped my coffee cup on my vanity before going through my closet.

My mind was still reeling from the interaction with Tart. I was barely even focusing on my choices as I thought. No one has ever confessed their love towards me. There was Lilith when I was young. A red skinned, forked tail girl who was my best friend when I lived with my mother in her court. One day she had asked if we could be more than friends. I wasn't sure what she was asking at the time, I was too young to understand. The next day when I wanted to ask her what she meant, I found out that she had left to find more of her own kind, a species that she thought had been wiped out with the fear and rise of Christianity.

I grabbed my glittering dark blue dress, with a V-neck line and mid-sleeves. It fell in a mermaid style, clinging to all of my curves. Not that I needed my curves to stand out. I had a natural hourglass shape. The worst part was finding shirts that fit properly most of the time. The dress was made from spider silk, though, so it fit no matter how much I changed. I wiggled myself into the dress. Once that was done, I sat down at my vanity and drank the rest of my coffee before digging through my makeup.

My curling iron warmed up as I picked out colors. My skin was far too pale for foundation, so I stuck to moisturizing my face and putting on some light pink blush. I stuck to pink for my eyeshadow and layered on some mascara. I created a thick layer of winged liner. My lipstick was a shade darker than my natural lip color.

A knock made me pause as I started curling my hair. "Come in!" I shouted.

Jasper's head popped in. He was already dressed and appeared to be ready to go. He wore one of his favorite button up shirts in a frosted blue color with a dark blue almost black vest on top. His slacks were pure black with freshly shined shoes.

"Hey, you almost ready?" he asked. "The Queen might not mind if you are late but I don't want to be."

"Traveling to the knowe through the Summerlands would be easier and quicker," I said. I hissed as I burnt my hand with the device.

Jasper came into the room and brushed a hand against my hair, whispering something that vaguely sounded Welsh. My hair tightened and twisted as his magic rose around us. It smelled of icy dew and poppy. Once he was finished, it popped around us and my hair was freshly curled.

"You did a really good job," I said, avoiding the word thanks. I wanted to say it, anyway.

He held out a hand towards me. "Let's go celebrate the ball and rub it in the faces of other purebloods that a changeling is a Countess."

I smiled and took his hand.

Time to impress.