“She returns,” Nimeyah murmured, but there was a snide undertone.
“On an important and grave matter,” Deandra clipped out, clasping her hands before her body.
Nimeyah studied her daughter before turning her attention to Carrick. “And you’re here for the same matter?”
“I am,” Carrick replied and then nodded toward her husband. “Callidan should hear this, too.”
Nimeyah did nothing more than throw a backhand at her husband, hitting him on the shoulder. It didn’t shock him out of sleep as he merely opened his eyes and took in the people standing before him. He said nothing, instead waiting for his wife to explain their presence.
“Your daughter and Carrick are here on a grave matter,” she said to her husband, but kept her eyes on Deandra.
Callidan didn’t look overly interested, but he did scoot up a bit on the chaise and focused on the princess.
Carrick and Deandra had decided before coming that the plea for help would come from Deandra, and Carrick would be there to bolster her story and affirm the danger they were in. As such, he let Deandra take the lead.
“Mother…. Father.” Deandra took a step forward, then moved her hands behind her back where she clasped them. With her legs slightly apart, she struck a warrior’s pose. While it was incongruous with her outfit, it was her bearing that foretold she meant serious business here. “Kymaris has succeeded in gathering everything she needs to perform the ritual to take down the veil between the Underworld and Earth realm. She has the Blood Stone and her powers with it are beyond description, rivaling the demi-gods. While Finley Porter is the human designated to thwart the prophecy, she cannot do it on her own. Carrick and I are garnering forces to help Finley take down Kymaris and keep the veil in place. We are here to plead for the Light Fae to join our army.”
Nimeyah’s head swung her husband’s way, and they exchanged a long look but said nothing. Looking back toward her daughter, she replied, “We don’t get involved in the affairs of humans.”
“This concerns the Light Fae, too,” Carrick interjected. “Because you know if Kymaris conquers Earth, she’s coming after you and Faere. With the Blood Stone, she’ll shred the veil and lay your lands to waste.”
Something flickered in Nimeyah’s eyes—perhaps alarm—but she kept her jaw locked tight and her chin lifted. “We’ll take our chances. I still have tremendous stone magic of my own.”
Deandra snorts as she advances on her mother. “Do you know that it was your stone magic that allowed this to happen?”
Nimeyah jerked backward, her chin tucking inward. “How dare you?”
“Your son stole your staff with your stone, and he used it to rip open a tiny spot in our veil between Faere and the Underworld. There, he joined forces with Kymaris and funneled Light Fae magic into a human vessel that later propelled Kymaris into the Earth realm with strong powers. He’s colluding with her, and he knows she’ll come for Faere. Your own son has betrayed you, the throne, and your land. If you won’t help for any other reason, you should help to make things right.”
Carrick knew as soon as they were said that the words were wasted. Nimeyah may not be happy with her son’s treachery, but her lazy and unambitious rule wasn’t going to change.
Nimeyah made a circling motion with her wrist. From thin air, her staff appeared. Carrick had never seen it before, and it was a thing of simple beauty. Approximately five feet in height and made of solid gold, it had a round disk at the top that had a hollowed-out center. Within that space, a black meteor stone was held in place by delicate strands of gold filigree that wove all around the stone and attached to the disk.
Nimeyah swung her legs gracefully from her chaise, then stood with the staff at her side. Her husband followed suit, but his actions seemed robotic. Standing only because his wife did.
She gripped the staff tight. “I have all the power Faere needs right here. Kymaris will never make it through the protections I can place.”
“But what if she does?” Carrick asked softly. “You’re willing to risk your realm and all its inhabitants? You’re ready to risk the bulk of the Light Fae race?”
“I don’t see it as a risk,” Nimeyah replied dismissively. “Besides, I think Kymaris will be happy enough in the Earth realm that she won’t feel the need to come seek me out.”
“You’re a fool,” Deandra hissed at her mother. Nimeyah’s face flushed red, and her eyes glimmered with fury. But Deandra dismissed her, most likely knowing she was a lost cause, and turned to her father. “I’m curious what you think about this.”
Callidan flushed to be put in the spotlight. Carrick rarely saw the man talk unless it was to add something charming to something his wife already said. He was, for all intents and purposes, a trophy husband.