A Fey Harvest by Amy Sumida Page B

impressed by their ingenuity. Arach, however, was impressed by their efficiency. They'd made hundreds of pieces of jewelry for us in the two weeks they'd been there, including setting stones into weapons, belts, baldrics, and even boots. We had become a sparkly household. Arach had sent some of the pieces to the High King and Queen as gifts and now fey were flocking to the Kingdom of Fire wanting to trade for more jewelry.
    The Dragon King had become a businessman.
    I was told that Queen Aalish was green with envy, probably not the best color for her with that yellow skin as a foundation. Part of me wanted to stick my tongue out at her and say neener neener neener but the other half of me was too refined. Or maybe too concerned over her possibly plotting my downfall. So I just secretly giggled and gossiped about her with the pixie women.
    King Cahal had actually mirrored us, asking after the pixies and how they were getting settled. I liked him for that and had hopes that he'd make the change Faerie said was needed but I was doubtful over his wife. He didn't speak of her during our short conversation but the lack seemed to be even more telling. The Queen of Earth was not pleased.
    We'd had invitations from the other two kingdoms to come for a visit but I wasn't sure about the rulers of Air. They were hard to read, especially King Fionn with those totally black eyes. Kinda creepy. Arach assured me they were a perfectly normal fey couple and that he'd spent many enjoyable evenings in the Kingdom of Air but I was still a little hesitant. What he found normal was definitely not my definition of the word.
    I should have been jumping at the chance to interact with the other fey, Faerie was insisting more and more regularly that they needed to change, but something about the Air Kingdom made me uneasy. So we accepted King Giurmean's invitation first. Seeing as I was deathly afraid of the water, and having been drowned by a killer kelpie already, my insistence that we visit King Giurmean first kind of threw Arach for a loop but finally he just shrugged, chucking it up to one of my human eccentricities.
    There had been no further abductions and no more missing fey to report. The peace had an edge to it though, like the center of the storm, nice and quiet right before all hell broke lose. So tensions had been high, everyone waiting to see what would happen next while hoping it wouldn't happen to them. Faerie, although quite vocal about the fertility issues of the fey, had no more to say about the abductions either, just some cryptic line about the darkness.
    Who knew an entire realm could be afraid of the dark?
    I sighed and smoothed my dress nervously. A visit to another kingdom required faerie finery to reflect your status, so I couldn't just show up in any old dress. I had a couple of magical choices that Arach had given to me for the Faerie-God Ball but Arach said they were too ostensibly fire in their design and it was thought to be rude to go into another element's kingdom proclaiming your affiliation so vibrantly. I couldn't walk into Water waving my Fire flag. One must be subtle, he said.
    I was totally confused by all the nuances of faerie etiquette and I told him so in no uncertain terms. I believe I used the words crazy faeries and stupid rules, so Arach promised to have something appropriate made for me. I didn't usually like men picking out my clothing but I had to admit, Arach had good taste and he hadn't failed me yet.
    This newest dress was no exception. It was magnificent and kind of miraculous. As a gesture of peace and goodwill, Arach had commissioned a dress made out of both of our elements, fire and water. How do you make a dress of fire and water? Hell if I know but some sidhe seamstress had done herself and her magical abilities proud. I was wearing a dress made of steam.
    No, not steam punk, there were no wires or pumps or gadgets attached and I didn't have a corset on of any kind. I was enveloped in a gown of