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“You … you used your blood?” She was, in spite of the fear that came with this information, impressed. “How—you mean in a transfusion?”
“My veins would not have stayed open long enough for a transfusion. I did two things. I poured some blood down your throat … and then later, I made an incision directly into your heart and opened my vein again and poured some into your heart as well. Your body took to my blood immediately, almost as though it had been waiting for it all your life.” He paused and frowned. “Our queen believes in the dictates of fate, and in that moment, I did wonder if that was your fate—our fate.” He held her hands now, both of them tightly in his own.
“Your Fae blood, down my throat, in my heart. You made a hole in my heart?” Jazz looked down at her chest but found no scar to indicate that he had cut her to receive his blood. “You could have killed me … I could have died … again.”
He smiled sweetly and touched her face. “No, you already had Royal Seelie blood working inside you. You
wouldn’t have died, and what I did sped up the transition for you, made it simpler.”
“So, I have Fae blood inside me.” Jazz’s thoughts were clear. She wasn’t a fool. She had already assimilated the fact that something was different inside her, and she had accepted it. She loved life, and what was more, she loved this big hunk of Royal Fae. She couldn’t, would never, forget, that he had broken rules he held dear for her. Did that mean he loved her? Perhaps he cared for her, but did he love her … the way she loved him, above all else, all others, above herself?
“Not just Fae blood—but Royal Fae blood,” he corrected. “It is forbidden because, well, allow me to explain.”
She nodded and smiled encouragingly. “Yup, explain.”
“In the days when we Fae walked amongst humans in Ireland and Scotland, we were worshipped as gods. Your people called us the Children of the Light amongst other names indicating their affection for us.” He frowned. “Something went wrong. Perhaps some of our Fae went too far … at any rate, there came a time when your ancestors wanted us off the land we loved.” He shook his head. “Fios warned their villages of our warriors coming, and bands of your human men would attempt to fight us and died during their show of defiance. It wasn’t until the Milesians arrived that humans were at last able to stand against the Seelie Fae.”
“Yes, I know some of this,” Jazz murmured. “Go on.”
“Gossip came to light about some Fae, not Royals but Seelie Fae who had taken on human lovers, some of whom had been killed during battle.”
“Ah, those Fae healed their lovers with their blood?”
“Yes, but only one or two of those humans survived the process. Most humans cannot cope with the transition, and Seelie blood lacks the Royal gene that tempers that transition. Seelie Fae blood works spontaneously. As a result, those that did not survive transition went mad and killed themselves. Thus, this was a forbidden tool.”
“I am happy, Trevor, that you took the chance—happy,” she reassured him.
“Mine is Royal blood, and I am not repeating this out of immodesty, only to indicate how very different it is in many ways. Yes, I knew that I was taking a chance and depended on you, what you have inside you both as a Fios and as one of the bravest female humans I know I will ever encounter. It was Crystal, the Dark King’s consort, who appeared and told me to use this method, implied that you would do well with my blood, and helped me along.”
“The Dark King’s consort—darn, I didn’t get to see her.” Jazz’s reaction to this was disappointment. The thing she kept telling herself was that she felt great. It was difficult to be upset when one felt fantastic.
He chuckled. “Indeed, she is quite stunning.” He sighed then and said, “You are still human as far as your mindset, but you are no longer really human, not your organs, not your blood—only the human traits that were learned over your lifetime. You will have to cope with that during your training, as they will get in the way. You will have to overcome them,” he said and stroked her long blonde hair. “Your human will interfere with who you must be.”
“I kinda like my human traits and don’t mean to give them up.” Jazz cocked a brow at him and tried to assimilate everything he had told her and put it in context with the fact that she had been dead and now was not. “Does this make me a zombie?” she teased to lighten the moment because he looked sick with concern.
He laughed. “No, you are not the walking dead. Zombies are not really the ‘living dead’ as you humans like to call them. They are dead and without any directive of their own. They walk, they eat, but they are still dead.”
“Are you telling me that zombies exist?” She was temporarily diverted.
“Never mind them. What you are is quite vibrantly alive. You are … changed and have skills and magic, and you must be trained to use those things.” He eyed her tentatively and said, “Let me show you, so that you may fully understand.” With a flick of the wrist, the mirror that hung over one of the wall tables was in his hands, and he held it up for her.
Jazz leaned forward. Remembering she was naked under the covers, she hurriedly held the satiny quilt up to her neck and gazed into the mirror.
Her blonde hair seemed thicker, sexy and full around her creamy skin, whose texture was unexplainably different. However, it was her eyes that held her in place. Blazing royal blue eyes sparkling with a myriad of stars stared back at her. Her eyes, though not alien, not Fae, were definitely not human.
She scooted backwards from the image of herself and hugged the covers tightly around her body as though to ward off what she had seen. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No—that wasn’t me.”
“Yes, it is, it is you, but, Jazmine Decker, you are and will always be the person you have always been. Nothing can change that unless you allow it, but now, you are also immortal.”
~ Fourteen ~
BRESLYN, PRINCE OF Dagda, stood in the Council chambers, his massive arms folded across his tattooed and muscular chest. His dark blonde hair was tightly braided and tied with leather at the nape of his neck. He looked prepared for battle.
His mate, Princess Ete, the queen’s Daoine cousin, stood at his side, clothed in warrior leathers, an indication of what they expected.
Beside them were Danté, eldest Prince of the House of Lugh, and his half-human, half-Daoine Fae mate, Radzia, at his side, also clothed in warrior leathers. Breslyn looked them over and smiled. He could see that Z was in full temper.
Radzia, known by all as Z, was ever impulsive, and she was at that moment furious as well. She threw her dark hair over her shoulder, stepped forward, raised a wagging finger at the Council, who had called this meeting, and rebuked them. “How dare you! All of you who sat back and watched while our queen, your queen, worked and fought to aid us in the war against the traitor Gaiscioch.” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. I don’t get any of you who have called this meeting. It is a total waste of time. Your warriors—us in fact—have been working to rid Tir and the Human Realm of the threat from the Dark Prince, his brothers, Morrigu, and his monster army. Just what is wrong with you?” She clucked her tongue. “You are so quick to forget. Our Queen Aaibhe is beauty and wisdom and power, and she has taken you to a time of peace out of the ashes of war. You destroyed Danu with just this sort of temperamental bulldookie. Your Seelie nation was floundering through the most horrendous times, and she stepped up, ignored her personal needs, and put the needs of her nation ahead of her own. She helped you create a world of music and art, harmony and peace. She kept you safe in times of war and showed you how to maintain the peace most of you have always wanted. Some of you here—some of you—call yourselves her friend. So I ask you, how dare you!”
