Once a Pirate (Mystical Realm Series Book 1) by Sarah Snyder

“My familiarity is inexcusable.”
    “Char,” Anna interrupted his self-recriminations. “It’s fine.”
    To reinforce her point and to save him from further guilt, Anna rose up and placed a kiss on Char’s cheek. He smiled down at her, his cheeks blushing at her attentions. Char’s shyness was completely at odds with the confident Prince she came to know. The knowledge made her smile.
    ***
    “She must be sent back!” Milla’s pink eyes sparkled with fury.
    “If she is sent back, she will die,” Mara tried to speak calmly to the Fairy Council sitting around her, but she grew weary of explaining her actions.
    “As long as her blood is not spilled on our soil, it doesn’t matter!” Milla screamed.
    “We don’t know that her blood wouldn’t be spilled on our soil, Milla,” Mara reminded for the third time since she arrived to the opulent Fairy Council hall.
    The building was a vibrant, sparkling rainbow of colored gems and stones. Its sheer massiveness was testament to the power and prestige of the species which dwelled within. Mara found the structure a bit gaudy, but her fellow Fairy insisted it was a symbol of their rightful place in the realm. Her golden eyes scanned the various Fairies around her. Some still remained in their seats, patiently listening to the information Mara presented, while others paced or flitted about anxiously at the news.
    Mara hoped to keep her kin from interfering with the human’s transition to their realm while she sought a solution, but with the answer to her quest so final she had no choice. She silently cursed Mina for enacting the spell which opened the portal to the Mortal Realm. Not only had the Fairy broken several rules, she sent the entire realm into chaos and destroyed Anna’s happiness. And, to finish off her deed, abandoned Mara to clean up the mess she left behind.
    “We have to assume she cannot be sent back through the portal without risk to our world,” Micah agreed. The brown Fairy looked sympathetically at Mara. “You have done all you can, Mara. It is time to assess other options.”
    “What other options?” Mara asked cautiously.
    “We must ensure the human’s blood is never spilled on our soil,” Micah looked around, waiting for agreement from his fellow Fairies. “I suggest a stasis spell.”
    Murmurs erupted from around the room as Fairy balked at such an atrocious lack of concern for the human. Fairy worked to preserve life, their traditional belief in “happily-ever-after” was rare among the realm now, but it served them well through generations. To place an innocent living creature into a stasis spell went against everything they believed in.
    “We cannot!” Marla shook her blue head furiously. “It’s an abomination!”
    “The girl has done nothing wrong,” Mindy’s purple eyes flared with indignity.
    “We have no choice,” Micah argued. “We must preserve her until we find a way to rectify the situation. If her blood is spilled, the realm will be threatened.”
    “A life in stasis is no life,” Mara’s voice echoed, silencing those around her. “She is an innocent child who did not ask to be brought to our world. She has suffered enough.”
    “Mara is right,” Mathew piped in from the doorway. The entire Council stilled at the black Fairy’s presence. The strongest and most feared of all Fairy-kind, the man didn’t usually bother himself with the frivolities of his kin.
    “Mathew,” Mara breathed his name, shocked he would show to a meeting as she was he knew her name. She always had a bit of a crush on the dashingly handsome Fairy shimmering with an onyx gleam.
    “Why have you come, Mathew?” Micah asked, his tan cheeks blushing brown at the other Fairy’s dismissal of his idea.
    “Apparently, my fellow Fairy kin can’t handle problems without my presence,” Mathew glared around the room. “How dare any of you consider putting an innocent in stasis? You are essentially sentencing her to a half-life; to