Etched in Stone: Twilight Court Book 9 Read online

  Etched in Stone

  Amy Sumida

  Copyright © 2018 Amy Sumida

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 1720614091

  ISBN-13: 978-1720614091

  Legal Notice

  This book is copyright protected. It is only for personal use. You cannot amend, distribute, sell, use, quote, or paraphrase any part of the content within this book without the consent of the author or copyright owner. Legal action will be pursued if this is breached.

  More Books by Amy Sumida

  The Godhunter Series (in order)

  Godhunter

  Of Gods and Wolves

  Oathbreaker

  Marked by Death

  Green Tea and Black Death

  A Taste for Blood

  The Tainted Web

  Series Split:

  These books can be read together or separately

  Harvest of the Gods & A Fey Harvest

  Into the Void & Out of the Darkness

  Perchance to Die

  Tracing Thunder

  Light as a Feather

  Rain or Monkeyshine

  Blood Bound

  Eye of Re

  My Soul to Take

  As the Crow Flies

  Cry Werewolf

  Pride Before a Fall

  Monsoons and Monsters

  Blessed Death

  Beyond the Godhunter

  A Darker Element

  Out of the Blue

  The Twilight Court Series

  Fairy-Struck

  Pixie-Led

  Raven-Mocking

  Here there be Dragons

  Witchbane

  Elf-Shot

  Fairy Rings and Dragon Kings

  Black-Market Magic

  (Etched in Stone)

  -completed series-

  Fairy Tales

  Happily Harem After

  The Four Clever Brothers

  Wild Wonderland

  Beauty and the Beasts

  Pan's Promise

  The Little Glass Slipper

  Codename: Goldilocks

  White as Snow

  Other Books

  The Magic of Fabric

  Feeding the Lwas: A Vodou Cookbook

  There's a Goddess Too

  The Vampire-Werewolf Complex

  Enchantress

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  Pronunciation Guide in the back of the book.

  Chapter One

  “What did you say to me?” Tiernan stared at me with horror; his silver eyes widening dramatically.

  “The Earth is overpopulated, Tiernan,” I said. “And yet fairies have been immigrating there for centuries.”

  “Yes, but those fairies are now coming back,” he reminded me of the recent homecoming of our people; returning to the Fairy Realm after living in the poor conditions of the fairy undergrounds all across America.

  “Not all of them,” I corrected him. “A lot have chosen to stay on Earth and rebuild.”

  “Ridiculous,” he huffed. “Why anyone would choose to stay on Earth when they could safely return to Fairy is beyond me.”

  Tiernan has come a long way from being the arrogant, human-hating asshole he once was, but certain prejudices were not budging. With this particular one, I could see his point. Fairy was a magical place, and you might assume that magical people would want to live there. But some fairies preferred the neutrality of the Human Realm; where their magic made them special. Besides that, Earth had its own type of beauty. But Tiernan was too much a child of his realm to ever understand that. So, I didn't even try.

  “It's their decision, and they've made it,” I said diplomatically.

  “I still don't see why it results in us stealing human children,” he huffed.

  “Not steal.” I rolled my eyes. “I want to bring orphaned children from Earth—children from all over the world who don't have homes, or who have been placed in abusive homes by the foster system—and bring them here to live a magical life with parents who want them desperately.”

  “It still sounds like stealing.” Tiernan frowned. “And I believe that stealing human children is against the laws of the truce. In fact, I think it's specifically noted.”

  “It's not stealing if we ask them,” I argued. “We'll give the children a choice.”

  “You can't give all of them a choice,” he reasoned. “Some may be too young to understand, and some may say yes simply to be rebellious.”

  “But, Tiernan, you said yourself that you've seen mistreated children living in horrible conditions because the human governments either don't know about them or don't care. Why can't we help them while easing the heartache of a fairy couple who have to wait a century even to try to conceive?”

  “I don't know,” he muttered. “What did Raza say?”

  “Raza said that he'd have hundreds of volunteer families for me to choose from by lunchtime.” I smirked.

  “This doesn't feel right.” Tiernan crossed his arms.

  “Fairies have taken children from Earth before,” I pointed out. “And the kids get raised to be happy and healthy before being given the option to leave. But those were kids taken from normal homes. We'd be adopting mistreated children, and those living in orphanages; giving children who feel unwanted a chance to be a part of a family and be loved. Isn't that a good thing?”

  “Perhaps.” Tiernan wavered.

  He could be stuffy, but Tiernan had a soft spot for children, and he felt a kinship with those who had been rejected or cast out. Rejected children? That was his kryptonite. But now, he was King of Seelie, and Tiernan was determined to be a good king. So, every decision he made for his kingdom was given careful consideration.

  “I've already spoken to the Human Council, and they've given their approval,” I dropped the second bomb on my poor, badgered husband. “They have thousands of candidates, and are even willing to investigate individual cases presented by extinguishers or hunters who have noticed child abuse.”

  “The humans are signing off on us taking their children?” Tiernan gaped at me.

  “Councilman Murdock said—and I quote—'It's about time you housed some of our people on your world.'”

  “He would,” Tiernan huffed.

  “Tiernan, I'll leave it up to you,” I offered. “You know the Seelie better than I, and I don't want to bring children into a dangerous situation. But now that we've taken control of the kingdom, I think that Seelie would be a good place—no; an amazing place—for a child to be raised. I know that if my father had appeared to me when I was little and told me that I was a fairy princess, and I could go live with him in a big castle—”

  “You'd have laughed your cynical ass off and then told him to stick his fairy tricks up his ass,” Tiernan interrupted me.

  “Yeah; all right,” I conceded. “But I was an extinguisher kid; these children will be different.”

  “And difficult, and possibly dangerous,” Tiernan added.

  “What? They're human children.” I rolled my eyes. “I just said they'd be different from extinguisher kids. For one thing; they won't be trained to kill.”

  “But many have mental issues because of the trauma they've experienced, Seren,” Tiernan said gently. “I don't want to put my people at risk by bringing broken children into their homes.”

  “Tiernan, that's kind of cold,” I said in surprise.

  “You are half human, Seren,” he said sternly. “I understand that you want to help them as much as you want to help the Fey, but I am fully Fey and King of Seelie; I must put our people fir
st. Children or not, I don't want mentally damaged humans in our kingdom. Are we clear?”

  “But I can bring in mentally sound children?” I pushed.

  “Ugh!” Tiernan huffed and threw his hands into the air. “How about this; you start your little fostering program in Unseelie, and if all goes well there, you can bring a few children here on a trial basis.”

  “Deal,” I said. “And Twilight.”

  “What?”

  “My father has agreed to the fostering program as well.” My smile brightened. “I'll be bringing children into Unseelie and Twilight.”

  “Goddess help us,” Tiernan muttered.

  “She always does.”

  Chapter Two

  There was more than orphans to find homes for in Fairy. Thousands of fairies were returning to their birth realm and would need places to stay until they found permanent homes. I had promised these fairies that I would help them make the transition, and I intended to do just that. So, after my talk with Tiernan, I was going to head to Twilight and speak with the Elves. The Dark and Light Elves had previously lived separate lives; Dark in the Unseelie Kingdom and Light in Seelie. But they viewed themselves as one race and wanted to live as one community. My father and I had given them a home in neutral territory—Twilight—so they could do just that. Now, I was hoping that they would pay that courtesy forward and house some returning fairies for us.

  There were several reasons I'd chosen the Elves as hosts. First off; the returning fairies were Seelie and Unseelie—no Twilight fairies had gone to live in the Undergrounds. The reason most fairies had wound up in the Human Realm was that they were fleeing far more dangerous conditions in their home kingdoms. Twilight has always been ruled by my father, and King Keir loves his people. So, no danger here. In fact, those fleeing fairies would have been better off if they had sought sanctuary in Twilight rather than Earth. But I digress.

  I could have housed them all in their respective kingdoms, but these were fairies who had learned to live side-by-side with each other; even going as far as working together. In the Fairy Realm, such intermingling was unheard of. So, instead of sending all of them back into segregation, I decided to encourage their mingling. I spoke to my father, and we both agreed to bring some of the returning fairies to Twilight. Then their friends and relatives could journey into our neutral kingdom to visit, and hopefully, they would see the benefits of putting aside grudges and living peacefully together.

  The Elves already understood that we are one race of people; we just have different magic. In that respect, they are more enlightened than the rest of the Fey. As such paradigms of peaceful living, and as the first non-Twilight fairies to be allowed to have a community in Twilight, I thought they'd be perfect hosts for the returnees. Plus, the Elves could use the help; they were still in the process of building their village. The returned fairies would have immediate work; which I was hoping would serve to ease them back into the way of life in Fairy. Here, everyone contributed, and everyone was provided for. No one went hungry in Fairy, and no one was homeless unless they chose to live unfettered in the forest—and then, the forest was their home. In the Human Realm it was another story; especially in the Fairy Undergrounds.

  I knew the leaders of the Elven Village and was on good terms with one pair of brothers in particular; brothers who had previously been separated by kingdoms. Hinrik and Dagur's parents had been an interracial couple; one was Light, and one was Dark. Their union had produced one Light Elf son and one Dark Elf; a result that had given each parent a child to raise, but had also caused considerable heartache. The Elves had gone to great lengths to become a single community for reasons just like this one.

  I knew twilight time was near; I could feel the magic tickling my skin. So, I kissed Tiernan goodbye and prepared to hover off the ground; taking me between earth and sky. In such a “between” place, I could access the In-Between; which connected the realms through raths—AKA fairy mounds—and also connected the interworld gates on Fairy. Once I was in the Between, I didn't need the raths; I could form my own access points and travel anywhere on Earth or Fairy. It was a talent only Twilight Fey possessed, and it came in handy. The only limitation was time; it had to be twilight—either dawn or dusk—for my magic to be strong enough to form the connection.

  But as I eased out of my kiss with Tiernan, my scry phone rang. I pulled out the leather case that held a slice of enchanted crystal. With a brush of my hand, the clear stone came alive like a crystal ball would; crystal balls being the fairy way of communicating—even from one realm to another. Scry phones were Raza's invention, and they were quickly replacing the unwieldy balls. They were actually pieces of crystal balls; slices that held the same amount of magic that a full-sized ball did.

  Colors swirled in my slice and finally settled into forms as the scry came through. Daxon Tromlaighe's anxious face came into focus. Daxon was my fourth lover, and the only man who was still in the “boyfriend zone.” Tiernan Shadowcall and Raza Tnyn—King of Seelie and King of Unseelie respectively—were my husbands, and Killian Blair—Caster witch, my fellow Ambassador, and the first Nathair-Sith (a type of snake fairy) in existence—was my fiancee. Actually, Killian and I would be getting married very soon. But Daxon was new to the Seren Scene and had only recently become a legally recognized king and the first fairy king of Earth; King of the Fairy Undergrounds.

  Daxon was previously the self-proclaimed King of the California Underground; each state had its own underground and monarch. However, after an epic battle involving the other kings and queens of the undergrounds—which we nearly lost—the ex-monarchs went into hiding. The Undergrounds needed new management, and so the Councils and the Coven had appointed Daxon as King of all Undergrounds on Earth and charged him with the task of assigning princes and princesses to rule the individual undergrounds, or principalities, as they were now called.

  “Daxon, what's wrong?” I asked as soon as I saw his face.

  “I need you, Seren,” he said grimly. “How fast can you get to LA?”

  “Your timing is excellent; twilight is nearly here,” I said. “You at home or the club?”

  “Enchantments,” he named his nightclub. “I'll be in my office.”

  His face faded away; already focused off-screen before it vanished. I was left blinking at the disappearing mist in my scry phone.

  “That was abrupt,” Tiernan noted.

  “And worrisome,” I added.

  “It's Daxon.” Tiernan made an annoyed face. “He'll be fine. No matter what happens, that man always seems to land on his feet. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was part cat-sidhe.”

  “The same could be said for you, honey. In fact, you made a similar transition from miscreant to monarch.” I kissed his cheek.

  “It was hardly the same,” Tiernan huffed. “I was born a...”

  “Count?” I asked with a smirk. “Just as Daxon was.”

  “But I was ostracized for defending my mother,” Tiernan countered. “Tromlaighe left Unseelie simply to save his own hide.”

  “And went to a new land where he fought his way to a position of leadership and did everything he could to help all fairies—not just the Unseelie, but all of them. Sound familiar?”

  Tiernan scowled. “He became a crime boss, Seren. I became a Lord of the Wild Hunt; that is not the same thing.”

  “You both did what you had to do, and while you did it, you helped others,” I said gently. “Daxon may not have taken the most honorable route, but once he got to a place of power, he wielded it well. You did the same, T. You found sanctuary in Twilight and then joined the only fairy organization that equally helps all races of Fey. You're a lot alike, and I think that's why he irritates you so much.”

  “He doesn't irritate me,” Tiernan denied. “He...”

  “Irks you. You find him irksome, which is the same thing,” I concluded. “Sorry, but I gotta go, babe. We'll talk about your love/hate relationship with Daxon later.”

  I hovere
d off the ground a few inches and slid into the In-Between.

  “I do not have moments of love for that man,” Tiernan's growl followed me through space to another planet.

  Chapter Three

  Daxon was sitting at his heavy, wooden desk; his hands clenched into fists on his lap as he stared at a fan of pictures in front of him. His indigo hair was mussed, and the cords on his neck were standing out; giving him the appearance of a linebacker ready to rush the opposing team. His deep-ocean stare narrowed on the photographs, and the tattoos covering his forearms stood out starkly against flesh that was paler than usual. My gaze went from his clenched fists to his strained features. I hadn't seen him this upset since the moment he'd first discovered that his ex-lover was a psycho killer.

  “Did they find Lana?” I asked softly.

  As in Lana Clach; the aforementioned psycho killer and ex-Queen of the Colorado Underground. She was on the lamb like the rest of the dethroned underground monarchy, but Lana, in particular, was wanted. Like Old West poster wanted. She was the mastermind behind the plot to take over the Undergrounds and possibly the entire United States. Who knows where she would have gone from there.

  “No.” Daxon didn't even flinch at my arrival, but he moved with jerky motions as he pushed the photographs toward me. “Sit down, Seren.”

  “What the fuck, Dax?” I whispered. “You're starting to scare me.”

  “Wrong emotion.” Daxon lifted his face to reveal the fury in his eyes.

  I looked down at the pictures and scowled.

  “Statues?” I shook my head. “I don't get it. You're angry over statues? Did they carve them wrong? Your gardener put them in the wrong place? They too big? What? And who the hell put clothes on them? That's just weird.”

  “Those aren't statues, Seren.” Daxon swallowed roughly. “That's Prince Calvin and Prince Tehron, of the Utah and Nevada Principalities.”