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“Two hundred years is a pretty long time,” Marco pointedout.
“I know,” I said. “And obviously relations have gone pretty—incredibly—sour. But…” I touched West’s arm with what I hoped was a reassuring caress. “We need allies. The vampires are almost overwhelming us. The fae used to be willing to stand by our side. I’m not saying we let them off the hook for the things they’ve done wrong. I just have to find out if there’s anything I can do to mend that falling out—at least enough that they’ll help us push back thebloodsuckers.”
“You always want to see the good in people, don’t you?” he said with a balefullook.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “A quality I thinkyoushould be particularly thankfulfor.”
Nate gave a cough that might have been covering a laugh. West glanced back at the bear shifter with a growl, but it was more playful than menacing. He elbowed me. “Point taken. And I do think the fae probably hate the vampires at least as much as they hate us. Possibly more. If it’s more, we might be able to work with that. I just don’t want them anywhere near mykin.”
“I’ll keep that inmind.”
“You really are an overachiever, Princess of Flames,” Marco said teasingly. “A few weeks ago we grab you and tell you you’ve got to unite the kin-groups—surprise! And you’ve already moved on from that to uniting entire paranormalcommunities.”
I smiled. “Well, I don’t think I’m exactlyfinisheduniting the kin-groups yet. And I don’t know if I’m going to manage to unite anything at all with the fae. We’ll just have tosee.”
“West is right about one thing,” Aaron said. “You can play to the idea of their own self-interest. The vampires could easily decide they want to exterminate the fae when they’re done withus.”
“Just that one thing?” West grumbled, cocking hishead.
Aaron chuckled. “We’ll see about the rest. I doubt Ren’s ancestors recorded events that never happened. But I agree that the fae haven’t shown much indication of friendliness in mylifetime.”
Well, that seemed to be par for the course for me these days. Taking on the Impossible: The Serenity Drake story. Who would I want to play me in the movieversion?
Nate paused, touching a mark on one of the tree trunks. “We’re coming into the local fae leader’s domain now. Maybe we should keep the negative comments quiet from hereon?”
“Good plan,” I said, with particular emphasis atWest.
He held up his hands. “I’m not going to ruin your peacekeeping mission, Sparks! But I also don’t promise I won’t say ‘I told you so’ if this goessideways.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “As long as you say it while you’re making better use of those hands, I promise I won’tmind.”
His gaze heated up in an instant. “I’ll take thatdeal.”
There, now I had him grinning. Maybe that thought would keep him in a better mood until we were finished with thismission.
The fae weren’t expecting us like they had been when I’d met with their monarch not that long ago. I stopped a few steps down the rough path by the edge of their territory and propped myself against a tree to wait. The last thing I needed was to start this impromptu parlay off on the wrong foot by barging deep into their lands. I could show proper respect. I just wanted them to notice I washere.
It only took a few minutes. A slender, elongated figure slipped from between the trees. Her entire form shimmered with a glow that made it difficult to tell if she was even wearing clothing—or if she wasn’t, how human her bodywas.
“Shifters,” she said, with a slight bob of her head. “Dragon and alphas. These are ourgrounds.”
I straightened up. “I know. I’d like to speak with the one who rules over you in thisterritory.”
The fae woman’s eyes gleamed with an even deeper sparkle, like a silver coin under sunlit water. “On whatmatter?”
I remembered Aaron’s suggestion. “A major threat that could affect both ourpeoples.”
The woman pursed her lips, but she bobbed her head again. “I will see if he is willing to meet with you. Stayhere.”
There was a slightly accusatory note to her last words, as if she thought we’d want to go gallivanting around fae territory the second we had the slightest opening. “That’s fine,” I said, leaning back against thetree.
“Oh, yeah,” West said under his breath after she’d vanished into the woods. “I’m bowled over by that warmwelcome.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and thenreallyhoped no fae were still watching us. “I haven’t had a chance to make my caseyet.”
He sighed. “Well, if anyone can convince them, it’syou.”
That was the greatest vote of confidence I’d ever gotten from him. I’d takeit.
