THIRTY-FIVE. I’m a what?

POV - Lillia

I’ve read a little about fairies from the books in the library. Like wolves, they get their wings when they turn eighteen, and their bodies mature enough to shift. I wonder if it hurts to grow wings out from your back. The first time I consciously shifted into my wolf form, with Elijah guiding me, it was a little painful but bearable. Because I can shift into my wolf, from what I’ve read, the chance of me shifting into my fay form and having fay powers is unlikely.

“Are you okay?” Dad asks as he stops outside a park in the middle of the suburbs.

“Yeah, just thinking,” I admit.

“About what?” Elijah asks.

“About if I’ll fly or have any fairy powers. I guess I won’t because I have my wolf, but I was hoping,” I admit.

“You’re right. Most half-castes are wolf or fay, wolf or vampire. But some rare cases, usually those from high bloods, exhibit bits of both their parents. You might have one of my elementals,” Dad explains. I nod. An elemental is the type of power a fairy controls. There are five, air, earth, water, light and mind. Most Fay has one power from their element or elemental.

“One of yours?” I ask as I step toward an established flower garden.

“What do you mean? How many do you have?” I ask.

“All of them,” he replies. I stop walking. All of them? That’s not possible. How can my father have all of the elemental powers? Maybe he’s just kidding. According to the book I’ve read, most fairies have one ability, but some can have two. But those cases are rare. I also read that there are varieties of each elemental. For example, the typical air power is telekinesis, where Fay can move things in the air. But some fay with the air element can wield fire by moving the air really quickly. Or they can control the wind in storms, creating cyclones. Some fairies can have one power from one element and another from a different element, depending on what powers their parents wield, if that makes sense. But all of them? That sounds highly unlikely.

“Why are we here?” Elijah asks as we stand outside the circle arrangement of flowers. The rows of flowers actually spiral towards a centre, and there is enough room between each row to walk between. The colours of the flowers are placed randomly, almost looking as if there was no plan in putting the rows together. The effect, although, is beautiful. The flowers are fragrant, attracting butterflies and bees that flitter from flower to flower.

“This is the entrance to the portal,” Dad states. I look over at Elijah, who shrugs, and then I follow Dad, who has begun walking between the flower rows.

I watch as he picks up a flower and slowly picks off the petals one at a time. The petals float softly on the ground, falling amongst the flower beds below. The next flower Dorian picks is a big one with thin purple leaves. This one takes longer to deflower, and I’ve stopped watching when a petal floats past me and catches my eye. The petal’s edges begin to glow, and instead of floating to the ground like the others, it disappears in a golden light, leaving a pink stain in the air. I turn to see if Elijah notices, but he smiles at me.

The closer we walk into the spiral, the pinker the air becomes. Dorian doesn’t say anything, instead just picking up his next flower. Each petal that flutters through the air glows golden before leaving a pink stain, and I admire the colour as it grows around us. Tentatively, I poke my finger into one of the pink stains.

“What are you doing?” Elijah asks from behind me.

“Can’t you see the pink air?” I ask, turning to look at him. His eyebrows are furrowed, and he has no idea what I am talking about.

“No,” he responds. I smile weakly. I must look strange, randomly poking my finger in the air.

“She sees the portal,” the guard behind Elijah states. Is that what it is?

“Yeah…” I agree, but I am not really sure what I am agreeing to. When I turn, the air is thicker with this pink colour, and I continue to follow my father.

Walking, I look down at my feet, admiring the flowers on either side.

“We’re here,” Dorian says suddenly.

“Huh?” I reply, stopping behind him. Dad grins as he turns and looks at me.

“Welcome to Sprigganager,” Dad says. I look around. There is still a slight pink hue in the air, and I notice that I feel lighter, which is an odd sensation.

“Wow,” Elijah says from behind me. I look around and notice what Elijah sees. The environment is similar to home but different at the same time. The slightly pink hue has gone, the air clear like home, yet everything looks sharper. It’s like when I’m in my wolf form, the clarity of everything is heightened. My jaw drops in amazement as I look around. The trees look similar, but their trunks have a slight purple hue and yellow leaves. The sky… the sky is pink… just like the portal’s colour. I step forward and notice it feels different when my foot hits the earth.

“Gravity is lighter here,” Dorian smiles. I nod, trying not to look stupid as I take another step forward. Wow. It is… wow.

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Elijah says softly.

“Who’s Toto?” I ask.

“Dorothy’s dog,” the guard next to Elijah says.

“Who?” I ask.

“Nevermind,” Elijah says, taking my hand.

“Whoa!” I exclaim when the guard next to Elijah steps forward and lifts off the ground. Fine lines in wing shapes appear behind the guard’s back. Rainbow-coloured light glints off the lines, making them look magical. They look like insect wings, except there are eight wings altogether, two large ones at the top and two thinner, smaller ones at the bottom on each side. I notice his clothes remain on, unlike wolves who lose their clothes when we shift.

Elijah wraps his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“Cool, huh?” he whispers in my ear.

“Yeah,” I softly reply. In the air around us, I see faeries flying above our heads, going about their day as if everything is normal.

“Celsitinem tuam!” A guard states as he flies down before my father, bowing.

“Pim!” Dad replies, greeting the fairy. The fairy stands up, a smile on his face. His hair is long and white, which he wears in a man-bun, and his uniform is a light grey with three purple lines on the left sleeve.

“This is my daughter, Lillia, and her mate, Alpha Elijah from Redwood pack,” Dorian says, introducing us to the fay.

“I met your mother. I’m sorry for your loss,” Pim says as he looks at me, smiling.

“Thank you,” I say awkwardly. Pim looks around my age, but if he knew my mum, he must be older than he seems.

“I have their room ready, sire, and your parents are looking forward to meeting them,” Pim says, speaking to Dorian.

“Thank you. Shall we go? Our house is over the hill,” Dorian asks, turning to us. We nod and walk with Dad over the hill.

The house over the hill is not a house. Nope. Not at all. It’s a friggin palace off the pages of some fantasy book. Bronze columns sparkle in the sun over the horizon, looking like upside-down chemistry flasks. Each sphere at the top of each column has pink glass windows; it seems out of this world. Which, I guess it is. As we approach, we see more fairies fluttering about in the air or on the ground, tending to the colourful shrubs and flower-looking plant life.

I notice a group of fairies fly into one of the upper columns and gasp in surprise.

We walk past rectangular-shaped inground water features, with the clear water pooling into a pink base. “Look,” Elijah says, nudging my arm as we walk. I look at where he’s pointing and gasp again.

“The water is pink?” I ask, surprised.

“Yes. The colour of our ocean here is pink,” Dad agrees. I don’t say anything else, grabbing Elijah’s hand as I try to take in my surroundings.

“And you live here? This is your house?” I ask. This is not a house. Not a house I know of, anyway.

“This is Sprigganager Palace. It has been in my family for eons,” Dad says, smiling at me.

“Celsitinem tuam”, a fairy greets, bowing as we walk past.

“What does Chelsea-two-dayum two-um mean again?” I ask, trying to copy the way the fay greets us.

“It means Your Highness. Your father is the King of the Fay,” Pim answers proudly.

I stumble over my feet, making Elijah chuckle as I try to compose myself.

- You knew? – I link him.

- Um…yes…but it wasn’t my place to say. You looked funny tripping over, by the way… -

- I did not! I didn’t trip. I was walking elegantly, thank you – I state, making Elijah laugh again.

- Keep telling yourself that –

I don’t reply, instead following Dad, who walks as if nothing happened.

- Did anyone see? – I finally ask.

- No. I think you’re safe. Cutie – Elijah responds, pulling me into him and kissing the top of my head.

We follow Dad through hallways and vast rooms, Dorian explaining what each room is used for. I try to concentrate on where we are going and not on the new information about my father I have just been given. My father is King of the Fairies, which makes me what? Princess? Then what does that make Elijah? What the eff is going on here? And if my father is a King, is that like an Alpha? It must be; if it wasn’t, Elijah would have said, wouldn’t he?

Elijah tugs my hand as we pass by rooms, trying to get me to focus.

- Sorry – I admit to him.

- No. It’s okay. It’s a lot to take in – he replies, and I nod.

I focus on where we are going and look into the rooms we walk by. We pass sitting rooms and, a music room, a large hallway that could pass as a community hall. There is a room full of couches and love seats, and I see elegant-looking fay sitting and chatting with each other. Those we pass stop what they are doing and bow towards Dad, greeting him with a celestine tuam.

“This way,” Dad says, indicating the wall. He chuckles when I look at him, puzzled. I notice two guards standing beside the wall, bowing lowly when they see Dad. Dad nods, and they both stand up, touching the wall behind them with their hands. I gasped when the wall disappeared, revealing a long hallway two metres across.

“Earth fairies,” Elijah explains, and I look at him.

“You are from Garden State?” Dad asks Elijah, who nods in response.

- Some Earth Fay can move the earth through touch, sight or thought. I knew of one who could phase through buildings – Elijah explains through our link.

“This is my parent’s quarters,” Dad states, smirking at my shock.

“Okay,” is all I manage to say. Dad leads us through the hallway, where I see large, sparsely furnished rooms. He shows us toward a sitting room that smells strongly of talcum powder and frangipani flowers. A high-back velvet green sofa sits inside the room, and two high-back matching armchairs are on either side.

We venture around the chairs, where I see an older version of Dad sitting. The man smiles as soon as he notices us.

“Dorian! About time you brought her!” the man, who I assume is my grandfather speaks.

“Dad!” Dad smiles, walking over to the man and giving him a hug. The man turns to look at me, a smile on his face.

“Dad, this is my daughter, Lillia, and her mate, Elijah,” Dad says to the man.

“Hi,” I say shyly, wrapping myself closer to Elijah’s arm.

“Hello, sir,” Elijah greets.

“No need for the formalities; come give me a hug, you two!” the man says, opening his arms. I look up at Elijah, who nods and step towards the man. He wraps his arms around me, and I feel surprisingly comfortable.

- Hmm. He smells good, like a dad – Penny hums in my head. I agree.

“Call me Grandad,” the man says, “oh, I always wanted to be called that,” he grins, looking over my shoulder at my father.

“Let her breathe, Julian!” a soft voice laughs. Grandad lets go, smiling at me.

“Come look at how beautiful our granddaughter is, Mirra!” Grandad says, stepping back from me. I turn to see a petite woman standing near my grandfather. She has long grey hair that cascades down her back, but her eyebrows and eyelashes are a contrasting dark brown. The combination suits her.

“Wow. I can see you, Dorian, in her, but she must get her good looks off her mother,” the woman states. Dad laughs, and the woman smiles. She then turns to me with a severe expression.

“I never got to meet your mother. I heard what happened to her, and I’m sorry we weren’t there to help her,” she said.

“That’s okay. I only heard what happened to Mum recently. Mum never really talked about her past,” I admit.

“I wish I could have met her, but I’m glad you’re here. And you brought with you your mate?”

“Yes, this is my mate, Elijah,” I agree. I watch as my grandmother looks over at Elijah.

“May I?” she asks, stepping towards him.

“Uh, okay,” Elijah says, giving me and Dad a look. My grandmother reaches for Elijah’s collar, where my mark sits underneath and exposes it.

“Good. It should appear in a few days,” my grandmother says, stepping backwards.

“Really?” Dad asks, excited.

“What appears?” Elijah and I ask at the same time.

“Your fay mark. I can see it already appearing on your neck from his bite. Elijah’s should come in a few days,” My Grandmother explains.

“Your fay mark looks like a tattoo that appears from your bite and climbs up your neck and down your spine and shoulders. Which means you have more fairy genes in you than we thought,” Dad says.

“Pfft. Of course, she does. She is of my blood and our future Queen!” my grandmother scoffs.

“I’m sorry, what?” I ask.

“You did tell them, didn’t you, Dorian?” Grandad asks, motioning for us to sit down. I look at my dad expectantly, who nods his head. No! He has not told me anything besides the fact that he is King! And that piece of information came from a guard, not him.

“Lillia, Elijah, I am the current King of the fairies. My parents were the previous King and Queen. When I retire, you both will take over.”

~

Edited with Grammarly