Darian nodded. "Oron and I hid the fact we could see them when we were younger, to avoid irritating the older fae around us, now it's second nature to do so."
"What did you do to Molvan?" Amelia asked.
"I walked over and knocked his hand away from the wall where he was leaning, effectively trapping the sprite. Once free, the sprite flew away. Molvan was not only furious I had ruined his fun, but because I had also hit him. He saw me as insolent."
Amelia rubbed her mate's arm comfortingly. "What did he do?"
Darian covered Amelia's hand with his own. "He terrorized me with a dagger scaring the literal piss out of me, then used said dagger to pin me three feet above the ground dangling from the Royal Garden's perimeter wall."
"What a bastard!" Meryn exclaimed.
Darian nodded his agreement. "It had just started to dim..."
"Dim?" Amelia asked.
Darian gave her a rueful look. "I keep forgetting how much you don't know about my home. Éire Danu is called the Land of Eternal Sun because the sun never truly sets. Think of Alaska in the summer. It sort of just dims a bit in the evening."
"Serious-fucking-ly?" Meryn asked. "I go from caves, shadows, and darkness to Cancertown? Can I get some sunglasses?"
Darian scowled at Meryn. "You will not get cancer from visiting Éire Danu. We are protected by the city's magic."
Izzy waved an impatient hand at both of them. "Back to the story."
"My apologies, little sister." Darian winked at her. "It had begun to dim, so of course, my big brother was out searching for me since I wasn't at home." He gave a soft smile. "The little sprite had gone for help and was leading him to where I was pathetically swinging in the breeze. When he found me, I sobbed my heart out and buried my face in his chest. It took him almost the entire way home to get a coherent story out of me. Once we got back to the palace, he handed me off to Cord to get cleaned up and ready for bed. Then he left. Later that night, he came to my room almost as if he knew I was still terrified out of my little mind. He got me to calm down and squeezed into my small bed with me. He told me not to be afraid, that Molvan had learned his lesson and would never come near me again. After that, I was able to go right to sleep."
"Just like that?" Meryn asked.
"Absolutely. If my big brother told me not to worry, then I knew I didn't have to worry."
Amelia turned to him. "What did you do?"
Oron gave a lazy shrug. "I used a bit of fae magic and with the help of a small sprite, we enchanted some thorny briars and pinned Molvan to the wall with the word 'bully' etched over his head." He looked over at Felix. "I believe the sprite's name was Fremi Skysong."
Felix's eyes widened and he pointed to his chest. Oron nodded. "Yes, your great- great- grandfather."
Meryn looked down at her friend then over to Darian who looked just as shocked. "Dude, Felix has saved my life and you saved his great whatever's life, so you saved me too."
Darian scowled at him. "When were you going to tell me that?"
Oron felt his mouth drop. "You mean you didn't know?"
"I was five!"
"Oh yeah. So, good work, I guess." He eyed Darian. "Did you never wonder why so many Skysong sprites moved into the royal gardens?"
Darian pointed to his chest. "Again, I was five. To me, it was a normal thing to have them there."
"After hearing what Fremi did to protect you, the queen invited the entire clan to make their home in the garden. Fremi watched over you until you were grown. There've been Skysongs in the palace ever since."
Izzy snorted and leaned against him. "I wonder what else you know that he doesn't."
Pierce sat back. "It must be nice to have a sibling. I'm also of the Hope Generation, unfortunately, in my case, not many of our leap had children right away, so I was the youngest one for close to a century."
"What is the Hope Generation?" Izzy asked.
Pierce, Darian, and Law smiled. Pierce pointed to his chest. "We're the ones born after the Great War ended. We represented the continuation of life and the hope for a better tomorrow."
Law picked up his wine glass. "It's sad that our generation now represents some of the oldest paranormals alive."