Chapter 1

The rest of the story is too personal for me to tell as if I were writing about someone else. I keep trying but I can't seem to get the words to sit right on the page. Maybe it's because the person who I became during that period is closer to who I am now. I don't know, but I can't distance myself from her anymore. She is me, so I will just have to tell the story from my heart, and I do not think that my heart will ever forget the day that we rode to the King's City. I have been told that it was a sight to behold. The awe that the Humans of the city felt at seeing Angels for the first time, the beauty of the Sylph and Dryad knights on their black and white horses, and the wood and water Nymphs, with their slim blades and long braids down their backs, were often spoken of in the weeks and months after the unification of Nova Britannia. As was the discomfort the people felt at being confronted with the wilder chaos loving Fay such as the Glaistig, the Phookas and the Gwyllion. There were hosts of other Fay as well who were much like me. Fay, but not distinct to one type. Or, Fay . . . but perhaps a little Human. All were clad in shining armour with polished weapons and shields. From a certain perspective it was, while very awe inspiring, also terrifying.

I was terrified. My heart pounded so hard I felt as if I were being shaken to pieces. Mine was a sparrow's heart that longed to fly away, that beat too hard and fast for its tiny body, when what I needed was a brave heart, a lion heart, a dragon heart. I could hear the echos of the stamp, stamp, stamp, from the marching feet behind me and my heart pounded along with it, filling me with a panic that I thought might kill me.

Of course the people talked of this too, but it wasn't my terror that they saw and they will never know that I felt it. What they saw at the head of the Fay army was the Captain of the King's army, their hero, surrounded by angels, and at his side rode a girl on a unicorn. To this day it makes me squirm and sweat with discomfort when I think of the things that the people said about me, but I'm telling you the whole story so . . . I suppose I ought to tell. They didn't see a terrified eighteen year old high school drop out. They saw a vision of serenity and peace, hope and beauty. They saw an ethereal woman child on the back of a unicorn, a creature believed to be too pure to carry lowly mortals, but there I sat as Gwydion's spies whispered through the crowds that I was the wife of the man who rode beside me on his big black charger, and pregnant with his child. There I sat, my face still and pale, in a gossamer gown the colour of wild aster blossoms, and a Fay circlet set with a glowing moon upon my brow. Anyone could imagine how it looked from the outside. Even in a world that knows that unicorns and fairies are real, it isn't everyday that a unicorn wanders the city streets carrying a pregnant Fairy princess on its back, surrounded by tall, vivid beautiful angels at the head of an army. The people of Nova Britannia saw this as a sign that peace was coming, and that I would bring it to them.

No pressure there huh?

An envoy had been sent to the King's castle ahead of the Fay army to advise my brother Liam of the 'gift' that King Lugh was sending, and as we made our way towards the bridge that lead to the almost Island where the castle sat, a contingent of the King's Army rode down to meet us. It was strangely comforting to see Lief and Thaylum at the head of the well regimented row of soldiers. I made eye contact with Lief for a brief moment and he gave me a barely perceptible nod, then got down from his horse and saluted Rowan. It all felt so stiff, so formal and alien to me. I was trying to adjust my world view to include my current reality, and struggling against it at the same time. The idea that I would rule here crashed violently against the knowledge that in another world, I was no more than an uneducated, knocked up teenager. I was caught in something of an identity crisis. There was a division in my mind and I was almost choking as I tried to swallow the thought of myself as the queen of this place. It had been so easy to accept Rowan's proposal to me, and accept the role that I would have played as his wife in that in-between life when I was his and before I knew who I was, but to be Queen . . .? I watched as the King's castle loomed into view ahead of us. The King's Castle. That was it. That was what they called it. Not Camelot, Caer Sidi, or Caer Dathyl. Not Caer Paravel, or Cader Sedat, but I suppose that it didn't matter what it was called, it was still the heart of the journey. The place that lay in wait.

We crossed the bridge and the road disappeared under us at an alarming rate as we made our way toward the looming gates. I looked up to see a tall golden haired figure flanked by two archers watching from the ramparts above the portcullis, yellow and red banners behind them flapping briskly against the blue sky. A welcoming party in fine clothing stood outside of the gates watching our approach with astounded faces, and then the Fay army was falling into ranks and awaiting instruction. Rowan dismounted and a squire hurried to take the reins of his horse, then he turned to me and lifted me down from the unicorn's back. I think he saw then, for just a moment, how very frightened I was, because he left his hands on my waist, steadying me, and he flashed me an impetuous grin before turning serious again. I turned, once I had my balance, and pressed my cheek against the unicorn’s for just a moment then kissed his muzzle, I'm pretty sure it was a him, and told him, “Thank you my friend,” and then took a step back. The unicorn reared and whinnied then cantered off into the trees. I turned back to Rowan and he offered me his arm, which I took. Very conscious of moving properly in the dress, I stepped around the train so that it wouldn't tangle then gave it a twitch to straighten it out and tried to think tall thoughts as we approached the gates of the castle. It was more like a stereotypical medieval English castle than Fiannasmere was. With grey stone walls, banners flying, and tall stone turrets, it was very stiff and proper. The castle stands on what would be Stanley Park and it is by the water's edge at the north most tip of the almost island. For the most part the surrounding landscape was still wild and beautiful, there were towering cedars and a few oaks that had come as acorns from the old country, but there in front of the castle were elegant formal gardens with benches and carved archways reminiscent of the carvings that I'd seen in pictures of old Norwegian churches. It was all very impressive but somehow, despite the garden, not very welcoming.

The gates were opened and the portcullis was raised as the Angels and the King's Men arranged themselves around Rowan and I. I will admit that, while I knew that we were walking into what could potentially have been a very dangerous situation, I did feel a hair safer with Rowan, Lief, Thaylum, Raphael, and Malik all there with swords buckled on as we walked through those gates. The huge courtyard on the other side of the gates was lined with trees dressed in red for autumn and court officials and tall elegant ladies in ornate gowns—although their gowns had none of the delicate otherness of the one that I wore. A man hurried towards us, the chancellor I realized. I was concentrating so hard on my poise and composure that I barely heard his words though, some sort of greeting I assumed, and I simply smiled and nodded as he lead us to a dais where a young man, tall with burnished hair and bright blue eyes—the figure I had seen up on the ramparts—stood. Liam, my brother. Rowan had already told me much about Liam but it still gave me a jolt to see the half-brother who apparently took almost entirely after our mother. He was quite decadently handsome. As handsome as my father Lugh. If my mother had been as beautiful as her son, then it was no wonder Lugh had loved her at first sight, but perhaps the most striking quality, even more so than that beauty, was the complete openness, and goodness, and desire to do right, evident in his eyes. I knew just looking at him that he was someone who would never knowingly do me harm. Liam smiled as he stepped down from the dais and embraced Rowan, speaking to him as an equal, “You've talked the Angels out of the mountains and the Fay out of the forests! How did you do this Rowan?” Liam was obviously in awe.

“It wasn't me,” Rowan said.

Liam had been so busy taking in the Angels that he hadn't given me more than a passing glance. I was just a girl on Rowan's arm in a pretty dress, and Liam was a King with bigger things on his mind than his Captain's new wife. The gossip from the city was only just making its way to the castle. Although he had seen me ride up on the back of a unicorn, at that moment, he hadn't any reason to give me anything more than a cursory inspection, but as Rowan took my hand and drew me forward Liam's eyes rested on my face.

“Liam, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Rhiannon.”

Rowan didn't say any more than that. He didn't need to. It was the way he said it . . . I don't know if I can adequately describe the gravity and meaning he managed to convey in that one sentence, or the quality of force in him. From just his posture and his tone of voice it was apparent that Rowan had complete control over the situation. It was no wonder that he had climbed as high as he had in life. Rowan had a force to him that was undeniable, and Liam understood immediately that Rowan was telling him something of great significance. Something more than simply, “This is my wife.”

Liam looked at me more sharply now, regarding me seriously. I let my eyes meet his and I blinked twice slowly then extended my hand toward my half brother. He took it and I smiled. It was as much a smile as I could manage but I knew that it would mean something to him. I knew that someone else had smiled at him that way, giving him as much as she could. He would have simply bowed over my hand but recognition flared in his eyes and instead he sank to his knees and pressed my hand to his forehead. “Lady,” he whispered. That was all.

He knelt for several heartbeats before I said to him, “Come. Do stand. Please?”

Liam stood and took one more long look at me before turning abruptly to the chancellor, “Double the Guard and have my private meeting chamber and dining room prepared immediately.” Then he faced Rowan and said under his breath, “You had better explain.”

Rowan pitched his voice low but there was an edge to it, “You will have noticed that certain members of your court are . . . conveniently absent, and that I have men loyal to me posted at intervals throughout the courtyard. There are two thousand Fay knights outside of this gate that will tear this castle apart stone by stone if anything happens to her, and as we speak her history and true identity are being spread throughout the city streets. I am not threatening you, but you need to understand that we have a certain amount of control over this situation.”

Liam looked back at Rowan, dead serious, “Then come,” he said. “There is much that we must sort out. Bring whoever you trust most.”

I couldn't believe that Liam had only just turned seventeen.

Rowan gave several orders that I didn't have the where-with-all to fully register and that I couldn't quite hear over my heart, but then Cole materialized at his elbow. “I think that we have a stow away in the Fay ranks. You know who. Find her and bring her to us. I'd check the infantry first.”

“Yes sir,” Cole said and was away, then I was being whisked down long grey corridors. Lief and Thaylum in front of us and Raphael and Malik taking the rear and Rowan holding my hand tightly as Liam lead the way.

*

Now, it had always seemed improbable to me that it should have been possible to make the court safe, especially in so short a time. From what I'd learned of it, it could be a fractious place, but I had only been in that world a matter of weeks. I had no idea how extensive Gwydion's knowledge of the court was or how deep his network of spies went. For that matter it hadn't entirely dawned on me at first that Rowan had his own devoted inner circle that included more than a few spies in various households and different departments of the government and, what with the long term friendship that he had maintained with my father, he had his Fay connections as well. I was naive and I didn't understand how far blackmail, a few subtle leaks of information and a couple of rumours could go.

Within two days Gwydion's handy work had seen the heads of two of the thirteen most powerful families arrested for treason, a third had been placed under house arrest for suspected treason and three other families had suddenly left the court for their home estates. One of these families met with 'misfortune' on the road. A bundle of letters was intercepted and planted. They were filled with information that connected two lieutenants and one second lieutenant in the King's Army to the Exiled Prince. The men were placed in the dungeons and an investigation was started. Thaylum and Cole started rumours within the army. One that an alliance with the Fay was inevitable, and a second opposite rumour that the Crown would not tolerate Fay interlopers, and then for three days Lief, Brian, Cole, and Thaylum sat back and listened to the talk. Some of the men were striped of their rank and sent away for speaking treasonous words, others were arrested. One hundred and fifty questionables were grouped together and sent to a garrison Five leagues to the south of the city on a routine make work task to keep potential trouble makers out of the city on our arrival day.

I won't claim that they didn't have to kill people to make this happen, in fact I was told after the fact that five Glaistig assassins made certain that required absences were observed. But all of this was enacted like a carefully performed dance, like a clockwork that had been set in place for years but only just finally activated. Lief told me, after the fact, that the entire procedure had been like walking through a burning house in which you felt the flames licking your clothes and the roof would cave in on your head at any moment. The Human court was in a state of upheaval and uncertainty when we arrived. Liam was not in a position, with an enemy force gathering on the horizon, to send away a fighting force of two thousand potential allies, and those who would have opposed a Fay alliance were conveniently gone. It was as safe as it was going to get and as we walked quickly through the castle my story was being spread through the city streets like a wild fire. There was no way that it could be covered up. The streets thronged with talk of 'Queen Sulamith's lost child', 'The rightful Queen!' and how I'd brought the angels and the Fay army with me. The common people of the city knew who I was before Liam did. If anything happened to me now he'd have a bloody riot on his hands. I didn't think that this was a fair position to be putting my brother in, but this was about creating a world that I and others like me could live in.

*

It felt like an eternity before we were behind closed doors. Even once we reached Liam's private chambers Rowan had Lief and Malik enter and search them first to make sure that the rooms were safe and empty, but almost the moment the door was closed Liam turned to me, “I know that you're my mother's daughter, and I'm guessing that you're older than me, but other than that I'm in the dark so would somebody please enlighten me?” He was tense and very, very serious.

“Let's wait until everyone is here,” Rowan said.

“Would you at least tell me who her father is?”

Liam directed the question at Rowan, but I answered. “King Lugh,” I said simply.

Liam looked like he had been punched in the gut. “There are some people who really wouldn't like to hear that, but they are conveniently absent, Rowan.” Liam looked at him sharply, “How long have you been planning this?”

“Mmm, about eleven days,” Rowan said it casually as if he were telling Liam how long it takes to sprout pea plants.

“Fuck . . . FUCK! Eleven days! Do you know how little I get done in eleven days!” Liam wasn't angry just deeply unsettled.

I found it interesting how irreverent he was for a supposed monarch.

Soon those we had been waiting for were assembled. Not a large group, just Gwydion, Yuka, Nuriel, Rowan's grandmother Caitlin—the head of the Human council—,the chancellor Finn a conservative man who was none the less above reproach, a couple of other well trusted court officials who I didn't have the attention span at the time to really take note of, and then after a few more minutes of waiting, Nimue and Cole. Nimue, who had stowed away, looked sheepish as she sat down at the table and removed her helmet, but too pleased at being back with Cole to be truly embarrassed by her behaviour. Lief, Raphael and Malik were standing guard at the two doors and the window. We were seated around a small table. Rowan turned to Nimue and, with a pointed look and a gently sarcastic tone asked, “Since you are here,” he paused for emphasis, “Would you mind filling our kind hosts in on the situation?”

Nimue could be impetuous, but she had also been raised as the heir to the Fay throne and was used to behaving properly when the occasion called for it. And so, Nimue told the story.