The Fox’s Tale

So much has happened since the day we finally rooted out the source of the rot in the Unseelie court I hardly know where to begin. For one thing, Scott convinced Quinn and Lucas to try out for lacrosse with him after he showed them a collegiate game.

He'd successfully argued that not only would they enjoy it, but it would provide excellent training methods for the newly created United Guards of the Realm.

This is why we found ourselves one cool April afternoon waiting with Esmeralda in the school bleachers for both the game to start and the parents of our family and friends to arrive. Scott’s mother and younger sister were the first to arrive with Darcie.

At least I thought it was Darcie. She was wearing jeans and her hair was silver. I had been so preoccupied with Ellery and all the drama swirling around us that I hadn’t paid much attention to my friends’ parents.

Mrs. Thompson was a petite woman, almost as tiny as Esmeralda, and she looked like she was barely in her mid-twenties. His sister, Louisa, who was fifteen, already towered over her. Scott waved to them all during warm-ups and they all waved back with unbridled enthusiasm.

Mrs. Thompson yelled out “kick some ass, Scott!” before sitting down.

I heard one of the other players ask him, “who is that?”

Scott glared at him and snapped, “my mother.”

“MILF,” his teammate replied as he ogled her from the sidelines.

“I will rip off your arms and beat you to death with them if you say anything like that again,” Scott growled.

“What? It’s a compliment!” Scott didn’t respond, he just shoved his helmet on and ran back on the field, leaving his teammate behind, still protesting that it wasn’t anything bad.

Louisa and Darcie made eye contact and covered their mouths to keep from laughing. Mrs. Thompson ignored it all and instead turned to Ellery.

“Thank you again for dispatching Herb, Ellery. I can finally sleep at night, knowing that the people responsible for my mate’s death have been punished, and that my children are safe.”

Ellery still didn’t like to discuss the events that transpired the night of the bus crash, but she took Mrs. Thompson’s comments in the spirit with which they were intended.

“Had I known, something would have been done sooner. Please don’t hesitate to come to me with any issue of any kind, Mrs. Thompson. You and yours are under our protection.”

“Call me Vivian, please.”

“Alright.” Ellery leaned back against me and turned her attention to Darcie who was even more cheery than when I first met her, which I didn’t think was possible. Then again, love does make us giddy.

“I love that you’ve gone natural with your hair, Darcie. It really brings out your eyes.”

Darcie touched her hair self-consciously. “Thanks. Scott hated the smell of the dye I used so I stopped.” A shy smile appeared on her face. “He told me it made him feel like he was mated to the moon goddess.” She bit her lip to keep from giggling.

I was still breathing sighs of relief that Scott was the one who mated with Darcie. Don’t get me wrong, what we went through forged an unbreakable bond between all of us that remembered what happened, but Scott was the most laid back of the group.

If any of my teammates could handle being married into the Incorruptible Royal Family and by extension the Fae Royal Families it was him.

Her hair did look nice, and I said as much, but it got me wondering. “Darcie, is Lucas’s hair silver too?”

“No, his hair is naturally black, like our father’s was. I got this from my mom. Don’t worry, your kids will more than likely be brunettes.” She thought for a moment. “Unless they get a throwback gene to Jones or King Roland, then all bets are off.”

Something caught her attention and she stood up. “Oh, there’s Lydia! Lydia!” she waved to the woman who had just emerged from the entrance.

“That’s Lucas’s and Quinn’s mother?” I yelped. I knew to expect someone who looked younger than she was, but damn, I was not expecting the woman who was waving back to Darcie. She looked like she should be on the cover of a fashion magazine.

She sauntered towards us in high heeled boots, slim fit black jeans and black suede jacket trimmed with black fur. Every single man in the bleachers turned to follow her progress to the chagrin of their wives and girlfriends.

She pulled her giant sunglasses off and bent to kiss Esmeralda on both cheeks in greeting. “I wasn’t sure what to wear,” she said as she settled herself next to Esmeralda. “I hope I’m not overdressed. I’m trying to blend in,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper.

“I had the same issue, especially when Lucas told me that we were supposed to wear the school’s colors. I had to borrow something from Ellery. I don’t own anything in Sinclair.”

Esmeralda was also wearing jeans but had managed, with Ellery’s help, to pair it with an oversized green sweater.

Lydia grinned and undid her jacket to show off the tee-shirt she was wearing beneath it. It looked suspiciously like one of the gym uniform tops, only it was so snug it appeared painted on.

“Quinn brought me this to wear, but I had to alter it a bit to get it to fit.” She glanced down at her chest and saw that her nipples were standing at attention and looked at Esmeralda with a slight grimace. “Did I go overboard?”

“It looks fine to me,” said Esmeralda, but Darcie was quick to add a word or two of advice.

“Wear a bra next time, Lyds. I know you don’t need one, but human males see nipples in any way and they lose their shit. At least they do in this country.”

“Ah. Thank you Darcie.” Lydia pulled her coat closed and turned her attention to the field. “Aw, just look at my boys! It’s too bad we couldn’t have pulled a few strings to get Asher enrolled too so he could play.”

Darcie flashed Ellery a look of panic, and whispered “Asher cannot come to the high school.”

“Why? What’s wrong with him?” I whispered back.

“Nothing. That’s the problem. He looks like a statue of a Greek god come to life. If you think that people lost their shit over Ellery, just wait until you unleash Asher on them. There’d be orgies in the cafeteria before second period was over.”

“He’s the only one of Lucas’ siblings I haven’t met, and he let me meet Abraxas and Amaris so…” Ellery left the rest of her sentence unspoken.

I winced. Abraxas was surly as the day is long, and his younger sister was not all there. Disturbingly not there.

Lydia grinned at us over her shoulder. “Asher seems to have received an extra helping of charisma and sexual drive. At least he has the sense to know he’d be a terrible father and has taken precautions against that.

“And he’s never seduced someone who was mated or happily married. You’ve only yet to meet him because Lucas had to exile him for a few years. He’ll be back in time for your weddings.”

Fortunately, Lydia dropped that topic of conversation when Esmeralda protested that the uniforms weren’t tight fitting enough in her opinion and the two of them spent the next few minutes evaluating the merits of the various players.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” I whispered in Ellery’s ear. She poked me in the ribs.

“You leave them alone. Mathair Mhor was so excited she couldn’t sleep, and Lydia is actually very sensible. It will be fine.”

“Not them, them,” I said, nodding at the field.

“Oh. That I’m less certain about, but Lucas deserves to blow off some steam don’t you think?”

“Sure, but,”

The PA system crackled to life. “Ladies and Gentlemen, will you please rise for the playing of our national anthem.”