Phoenix POV:
Aton had a daughter.
In the mortal realm.
I stared at the image of the girl as she sank into the grass of some unknown mortal place. Eyes still skimming her book.
They were an unusual color, the exact shade of honey, trapped in a ring of chocolate.
Those were not human eyes. Yet the rest of her was so utterly mundane.
I growled lowly in my chest. Only a fool would miss the key factor in this. "Shes not fully fae."
"No..." the older man sighed, "she is not."
I narrowed my gaze at him, he expects one of us to dilute our bloodline with a halfling.
No...he expects us to strengthen Atons. Of course. If she bred with another human that would be more of the old fairy kings blood gone.
And he intended to use the mystic valleys as a barging chip. Clever.
The seelie next to me frowned, "what about our fated?"
It seemed he for once was asking a somewhat decent question.
Our fated were the fae who shared the other half of our soul. My fated is supposed to become my wife, no other. It is not our way.
We can play of course. But no fae, seelie or unseelie would bond with one who was not fated to them, that would be dooming themselves to an incomplete existence.
And on top of that he desires us to do so with a halfling.
That is quite a low. I personally have no desire to rid myself of a chance to be even better than I am singularly for a halfling.
And he doesn't actually want a marriage anyways. What he wants is an heir. A stronger mix of fae blood in Atons lineage. "Well...I may oppose bonding with her. Would a child suffice?"
I could feel the seelie court families eyes upon me, as well as my own mothers. She practically hissed, "a child with a halfling? You dare ask us to dilute the blood of the royal unseelie?"
Syric shook his head, "I wish to keep Atons blood strong and alive, and whichever boy manages to provide an heir. Without the use of lust charms and the like. win their court sovereignty over the mystic valleys."
I nearly rolled my eyes, I have never and will never need to use a lust charm upon any woman.
The seelie on the other hand. Perhaps it would have aided him.
I could see it in my mothers eyes, her decision.
So I simply nodded, "very well. I simply ask you allow me to observe this woman a little while longer. She is after all the future mother of my child."
I did not miss the faint sound of disgust from the prince next to me. "I would like to learn more about her as well. If for no other reason than to save Atons heir from the tragedy that the unseelie prince is sure to bring."
I smirked a bit, "I think you mixed tragedy with pleasure. Seelie. And lets not pretend you have honest intentions. You may want to save her from me, but you have the same intentions as I."
"Doubtful."
We stared each other down for a long moment.
Syric looked between us, "I see you two have not changed...although I suppose 20 years could not change 280 even if they tried." He sighed a bit. From here on only the prince's may stay. This is their task from here on..I cannot have the courts interfering upon this."
The room cleared.
My gaze flickered around the room, "...and then there were three." Finally my eyes rested upon the halfling. "Well...lets see what this Violett girl is like."
~~
Hunter POV:
I was genuinely disgusted by this entire thing.
She was not my fated. Nor was she fully fae.
Yet she was now a barging chip and I felt sorry for the girl. I would make the best of this for the both of us, she deserves affection at the least for what she is to grant the seelie court if she graces us with a child.
So I stood in silence watching the image of the moral girl in the mirror pools as she slow approached a building of some sort.
I was fixated on the moral symbols, I could speak mortal english just fine, but I rarely found cause to read it so I was a tad bit rusty, "what is-"
Phoenix cut me off, "sunnysides institution for the mentally ill."
I glared at him out of the corner of my eye.
He rose a brow, "its not my fault you lack knowledge sunshine."
I was about to interrupt when a voice boomed through the space. "Violett! How nice to see you."
If we could hear as well as follow her image away
From reflective surfaces that that means that Syric must have slipped a reflections charm on her person at some point.
Perhaps if she knew him she already knew of her task.
She smiled slightly at the man dressed in white, "well, it is Tuesday. Tell me Dr levington, how is my mother today?"
He handed her a glass of water and smiled, "you came all the way to the city please at least drink something before you rush in."
I hummed sipping it lightly. "No changes then."
He just shook his head as the approached the door. "Im afraid not and Letta, I am sorry but i must ask a favor."
She just smiled, "yes?"
He gestured to a group of waiting mortals, "we have some students here today as part of their study program...would you mind if we used your mother as a primary example and observed the two of you? She has some of the most vivid delusions I have ever seen and it will be good for them to see both that and your very unique and patient way of dealing with them."
She nodded once slipping of her shoes, "it is no problem. I suppose the first thing I must mention is, my mother has vivid fantasies of fairies. She believes them real."
The mortals started scribbling away on tiny pads of paper.
"and most importantly she believes my father was one. And therefore I am one too. Which is why I took off my shoes. She doesn't think its right for a fae to wear shoes, apparently my absentee father never did. I suppose its the one fun piece of him I got, I prefer to be barefoot anyways." She paused fasting small silver bells to her ankles and wrists. "I dance for her and the common room every other Tuesday. Fairies like to dance and if I go too long without her seeing me do so..." she gazed through the murky glass window, "...well it upsets her very much."
One of the students rose his hand, "so you entertain her delusions."
She smiled a bit sadly, "what else can I do? None of the medicines work, and she plunges into a desperate depression if I do not embrace my fae side." Sighing a bit she reached for the handle, "I love her so I dance. I love her so I learned how to play three instruments and sing all her favorite songs. You do strange things for the people you love...I just pretend to be a fairy."
She handed the older man from before her bag, pulled out a tambourine and flung open the door.
With a twirl and a chime she was in the next room.