~~
Trinity
~~
We had made it through. It was over. The entirety of the festivities had come to an end, and it was now the end of the Yule celebration. It wasn't what I had expected, but it had been a lot of fun nonetheless. I wasn't at all upset that we had come for this visit.
I had a few more meetings with Aunt Glory before it was all done, and like Athair mór had suggested I kept the warning from Danu out of our conversations. I did, however, tell her about the blessing that Reece and I had received.
"Truly?" She asked the moment that I had mentioned them. "Mother summoned you and your mate?"
"Yes, though I have a feeling that there was some magic in the air during that time that might have caused it." I blushed and was glad that it was just the two of us at the moment.
"Oh ho, do tell." She winked at me with a mischievous grin.
"Aunt Glory." I yelled in disbelief.
"Oh come now, Trinity, we were friends before we knew we were family. We can still have our girl talk, right?" I sighed as I listened to her. She was right, and we had already had some girl talk before.
"Oh, alright. I guess you are right. We're two queens here right now, not family."
"That's it, Trinity my girl, tell me all about it." The grin on her face was so big I thought it must have been painful. Still, I just told her.
"Well, it happened after the light ball." I went on to explain it all to her. The way that Reece and I wanted each other so frantically that night. The way that we mated in our human and wolf forms and that afterwards we were both taken to the celestial plane for a blessing from Danu.
"I have never been summoned by Mother, not once. Then again, I did have hundreds of years with her before she and all the other Gods and Goddesses moved away from this world."
"She did say that she can't meddle in the lives of her children. It's not allowed. Perhaps that was the reason." I was paraphrasing here, but I wanted to make Aunt Glory feel better, even if it was just a little.
"Perhaps, it would explain why she has not been there for us. She did come down to collect Sorrel's body when he died."
"Glory?" I left off the aunt part so that she might answer me more freely. "How did Sorrel die?"
"He was in a battle and was injured gravely. He normally would have been able to survive, but a piece of the blade he was injured with was lodged within his body, and we didn't know. The metal poisoned him slowly, and he died from the sickness."
That had to have been painful. And it made me think of my grandmother. She had been in an accident and then even after healing died of an illness no one could figure out. I wonder if she was poisoned by the metal as well. It was possible, I guess, but I didn't know for sure.
Following the conversation with Aunt Glory, she was a lot happier than I thought. She accepted that Reece and I were blessed and wasn't upset about it. And in fact, she was looking forward to seeing what we could do, especially Reece since he was given light magic.
The next day was the closing banquet for the Yule celebration. We were expected to be there for that dinner, and then the following day was the New Year's Ball. Such a busy few days.
When we went to the banquet, we still took guards with us; however, those that weren't on official guard duty went as guests. That meant that Shawn and Dietrich were guests and sat at the table with the rest of us. This banquet was out in the courtyard just like the opening banquet and all the banquets that had been in the middle of the festivities.
Everything had been running so smoothly while we were here that I wanted to relax on the security a little bit, but Reece refused. He said you never know what would happen at any given time.
We even still had someone taste testing my food for poison. Tonight it was Pierre, a wolf from the Sentinelle. When the plates and cups were delivered to my table, he tasted them all. The food seemed to be just fine so I was allowed to eat.
We were talking with Athair mór and Aunt Glory excitedly as the night went on. My cup had become emptied, and a hooded server walked up to me and filled it without being asked. I guess that's what they're supposed to do after all.
Before I could take a drink though, Pierre snatched the cup from my hand and dipped a spoon into it for a test before I could have any of it. He swallowed it down and was just about to hand it to me when he tensed up.
Pierre's entire body became rigid and soon started to shake. Reece grabbed the cup and set it aside before it could splash across my face, and he quickly laid Pierre onto the floor of the dias we were sitting on top of. The server that had filled my cup had disappeared, but David, Shane, Waverly, Izzy, Thoma, Hugo, Mateo, and Brianna had taken off after them.
Shawn and Dietrich stood around me protectively, taking on their roles as my guards. Reece was trying to get Pierre to vomit the poisoned drink up, and I was still in shock. Had he not tested that it could have been me. I am such an idiot sometimes.
I let the guilt go though, I had work to do. I knelt at Pierre's side and placed my hands over him. I had been practicing healing magic, and I wasn't going to let that go to waste now. My hands started to glow over him, and I watched as his body slowly relaxed. It was working, I hoped. It looked like it was at least.
After a moment, Athair mór dropped to Pierre's other side. He put his hands over him as well, and the both of us had blue glowing hands over the man. The combined effort of our healing was finally doing the trick. The poisoned drink spilled out of his mouth, and he finally took a deep breath.
There was color coming back to Pierre's face and he was panting heavily.
"Th..th..that, my lady, i..is w..w..why I needed to test it all." He was looking at me firmly. "Please do not be so lax next time." His words were coming normally by the time that he was done lecturing me.
"Yes, Pierre, I am sorry. Thank you for being so diligent." I was on the verge of tears. This whole taste testing thing was not something that I thought I had needed in the first place, and here it was that something had actually happened.
"We got him." Shane's voice was coming up the steps moments before we saw him. "This creep here was the one that poured the drink."
"Let me go you fucking wolf!" He snapped at Shane as he forced the man to his knees before us.
I stood and walked to stand in front of him, Reece at my side. When I was in position, Shane pulled the hood of the man's cloak down to reveal his face.
"You're one of the asshats who tried to dance with my wife at the light ball." Reece growled at him.
"I tried to dance with her at all of them." He snapped at Reece in return. "She refused every time."
I hadn't danced with anyone, but Reece at the other two balls, I knew that he didn't like it.
"Why? Why did you deny me?" He was glaring at me.
"She is married and mated, you fuck nut; she is my mate and my wife."
"That means nothing. She could still have a Fae consort. She could have a whole slew of lovers if she wanted."
"Like hell she would." Reece's voice was a feral growl.
"Agreed, I don't want more lovers. I have all that I need and want." I sneered at the man, appalled at his words.
"That's stupid. The Queen always has consorts; she will keep them even when she gets a king. It's the way that things are done. Are you not a Queen?" He looked at me like he was the one that was appalled.
"Not that kind of one." I glared at him. "And still, whether I took one or not, you wouldn't be it. You tried to poison me. All you are worthy of is death."
I felt the regal attitude flowing within me. Reece looked at me like he wasn't sure that he heard me right, but I just gave him a calm expression.
"Reece, do you want the honors, or should I take this one myself."
"Trinity?" He was still worried as he looked at me.
"Fine, I will do it."
I stepped up to the man and placed a hand on his forehead. I felt the power of Danu course through me. It was the water magic that she had given me. I thought of the water that Athair mór had used and summoned it to me. Only the thing is, I didn't summon it to my side, no, I summoned it inside the man. It filled his lungs and throat and mouth. He was incapable of taking a breath because he was filled with so much water. It only took a second or two before his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He slumped to the floor then, dead.
My guards and family were looking at me with wide, shock-filled eyes. Aunt Glory and Athair mór were looking at me with pride.. I guess at that moment, I was more of a royal, or at least a Fae Royal than I was a wolf royal.
