The Ancient Fae

Chapter 2

A week after her near fight with the unseelie in South Padre Island and stalking out of the great hall in her bikini, after having said no to one more marriage proposal to a fae lord, Ritasia was finally allowed some freedom again. Her mother had taken away her ability to fae travel, punishment for not ignoring the unseelie fae like she should have done in the first place, but now she had it back. Yet, she knew her mother was planning something.

Ritasia didn’t have a clue as to what it could be. But she knew from the sidelong glances her mother gave her, she was trying to figure out a way to ensure Ritasia didn’t get herself into any further trouble.

The problem was Deveron had left her alone again. She was glad for her brother’s interest in the dragon fae Princess Alicia, but she really did feel a bit…lost. She’d been so used to getting Deveron out of trouble, or covering for him, or even partaking in his mischievousness. But now that he was busy attempting to see Alicia on a daily basis, when he was ordered not to, Ritasia floundered as to what to do with her own time. She hated to admit it, but she was lonely.

She thought to involve herself in something adventurous, thrilling, dangerous, anything to chase away the doldrums. But what was there to do? She realized then that nearly every adventure she had taken part in had revolved around her brother or cousins.

She was forbidden to go to South Padre Island for another month, just in case the unseelie was still there, hanging around, maybe with reinforcements, just waiting to “play” with Ritasia some more in her dark way. And she’d never had a chance to see Cassie and tell her whatever she would have told her once she’d come up with something. She wasn’t sure if Micala was staying away from Cassie or not, but she hadn’t seen much of him either.

She opened her tower window as the seasonably cool breeze on the fall day swirled around her, smelling of crisp clean air. She considered the forest leaves flittering on the trees beyond the castle curtain wall in all their glorious colors—from purple to brilliant orange and bright red to sunny yellows while the grass and evergreens were still emerald green.

If she had even one artist’s bone in her body, she’d paint the scene and capture it for all time. Or at least until she could enjoy the fall colors next year.

Not that that would be adventuresome or dangerous. She sighed and rested her arms against the stone windowsill of the ancient castle, wondering whether she should take a jaunt to the human world today to some place that was forbidden.

At least forbidden to her if she chose to go alone. No place was truly forbidden to the fae. Except if she was the wrong sort of fae when she visited a location where another had called the territory their own.

But even Deveron almost always took a companion or two with him on his jaunts to the human world. She couldn’t even bother with her cousin Niall, who was with the winged fairy, and Micala, who was getting himself deeper into trouble with the human girl Cassie, she was certain, despite Deveron’s warnings.

Ritasia wasn’t interested in any male she’d had to consider. Her mother had paraded a host of suitors before her all month long, attempting to get Ritasia’s consent, yet she hadn’t like any of the men. Either they were too old, or dull, or way too reckless. A couple even had human girlfriends, and she would not abide that.

She turned her thoughts back to where she would go and what she would do.

Before she could decide, which was another thing that was driving her insane—the inability to come up with exciting excursions that she could enjoy at the blink of an eye—a maid knocked at her chamber door and called out, “Princess Ritasia, Queen Irenis summons you to her solar.”