Sure. Relaxing.
I glanced at Arach with a smirk as faerie acrobats twirled from the ground and into the air employing magic along with physical skill. This was just the latest round of entertainment. There had been musicians, storytellers, and even a play; all performed in the center of the dining hall as we feasted. Our sons couldn't be more delighted, especially since they had a table full of children sitting with them. Not only was Lesya there, but there were also Hunter (Roarke's son), the Phooka Pups, the Hidden-One kids, and Prince Morgan (King Guirmean's son). King Guirmean and Queen Nora of Water were already at Castle Aithinne when I'd arrived with my entourage. Arach had invited them to attend the festivities early; he and Guirmean were best buds.
Guirmean and Nora were seated to my left while the children sat on Arach's right. Kirill took a seat on the far end to corral the children and prevent any mishaps. I gave him a little wave over the collection of kids, and he waved back. Hey, Kirill wanted a houseful of children; here was his chance to see what it would be like. He was smiling now, but I was curious to see what expression he'd be wearing at the end of the night.
“It's a celebration, Vervain,” Arach said.
“I know. I was just expecting it to start tomorrow.”
“Your people have traveled from another realm to be here.” He shrugged. “I thought they deserved to be entertained upon arrival.”
“You're a wonderful host, Dragon,” I said in my queen voice.
“Thank you,” Arach replied as if he already knew it but confirmation was nice just the same. “Now that everyone's distracted, you will tell me why you have ghosts in your eyes.”
“Ghosts?” I asked as my stomach clenched. “In my eyes? That sounds problematic.”
Arach frowned as he searched for the correct phrase. “A haunted look?”
“Ah, that. I should have known I wouldn't be able to keep it from you,” I muttered. There went holding it back until after the party.
Arach frowned at me and then leaned over to speak to Guirmean, “Please excuse my wife and me; we have a personal matter to discuss. Isleen will see to your comfort.”
“We're fine,” Guirmean assured him. “Completely comfortable. Please, don't concern yourself.”
Arach nodded and stood. Despite Guirmean's protests, he waved Isleen over from where she sat at the end of the high table.
“My King?” Isleen asked.
“Please take care of our guests, Duchess,” Arach said. “I must speak to my wife.”
“Of course.” Isleen nodded before heading back to her seat.
“A Thaisce.” Arach held a hand down to me. “Your expression has told me that this conversation requires more privacy than I'd initially thought.”
I sighed and took his hand. As we passed Kirill, I leaned down to whisper that we'd be back soon. He waved me off. The children were too distracted to be much trouble at the moment, and Isleen was there if he needed help.
Arach took me through the kitchens; causing a bit of a stir among our busy faeries but it was the fastest way out of the castle without having to go through the hall. The kitchens had a private exit on the kingdom side of the mountain that led into the kitchen gardens where vegetables, fruit, and herbs grew. They were the only cultivated gardens we had and were encircled by a stone wall; a natural extension of the mountain that Castle Aithinne had been carved from. The gardens needed to provide for hundreds of faeries and so were appropriately massive. They contained an orchard of fruit trees, tidy rows of vegetables spotted with bushes of herbs, and stone paths that led between them all. They spread along the mountain all the way to the border to the Air Kingdom, where the heat of Fire mixed with the cool currents of Air and created tropical conditions which helped the produce grow. Location is everything.
Arach led me through the rows of vegetables and into the orchard at the far end. The trees muted the sound of revelry, replacing it with the soft rustling of their barren branches, just starting to bud. The warm, moist air encouraged growth to sprout sooner than in most parts of Faerie. My skin felt silken with heat and humidity, sensitized to Arach's touch.
“Tell me,” Arach said simply as he stroked my cheek.
I did. I told him all of it. From the Mirror to the death of its prisoner. His expression hardened but he stayed silent through it all. I watched his chest rise and fall with his furious breaths, and my heart sped up. Finally, when I'd finished, Arach closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Why didn't you mirror me?” He asked.
“To tell you about things you couldn't do anything about?” I countered. “No; I didn't want to do that to you.”
“I have a right to know these things, Vervain,” Arach snarled. “We've talked about this, and you agreed that you'd tell me.”
“I agreed to tell you when I was going to war,” I corrected. “There was no war. As far as me going into the Mirror, there was nothing to be done while I was inside, and once I was out, it was over.”
“One of the others should have mirrored me,” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “And it wasn't over; you were taken again.”
“Arach, you were planning this party,” I said softly. “It was a happy time for you. I didn't want to ruin it with things like that.”
“You mean things like my wife being trapped in a mirror?” Arach growled as he pushed me up against the trunk of a tree. “Did it not occur to you that a faerie king, one who you contact through mirrors, might have some knowledge on how to free you from one?”
I gaped at him; both at his treatment of me and his words. “Could you have?”
“I don't know, but that's not the point,” Arach snapped. “I could
