Fae or Fae Knot (Providence Paranormal College Book 10) Read online

  Fae or Fae Knot

  Providence Paranormal College Book Ten

  D.R. Perry

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2017 D.R. Perry

  Cover by Fantasy Book Design

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

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  Version 2.0 August, 2021

  ebook ISBN: 978-1-64971-943-0

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-944-7

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Connect with the Author

  Also by D.R. Perry

  Other LMBPN Publishing Books

  Chapter One

  Gemma

  “There is no bright side to losing my kid.” I snarled at the woman on the other side of the desk, jutting my chin forward to show her my tusks. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  “Gemma!” My grandfather pressed one hand down on my shoulder, keeping me in my chair. To someone of his generation, tossing the Headmistress’s infertility on the table as a caltrop was way out of line. But I’d never been one to stay inside those.

  If he hadn’t stopped me, I might have leaped over that mahogany expanse and gotten right in Henrietta Thurston’s face. Adding some injury to insult was something I hadn’t done in too long. There was nothing like losing all contact with my daughter to bring back the old rage that had fueled my mosh-pit inhabiting youth.

  “You’re correct, Miss Tolland.” The Headmistress leaned forward in her chair, keeping her gaze locked on mine. Two white-tipped tails peeked out on either side of her straight back. If I’d pissed her off with the infertility comment, it didn’t show. “I shouldn’t have implied that your loss gives you time to study. Instead, I should have said accepting my third offer of a full scholarship here at Providence Paranormal College will help you learn more about how to navigate the other side of faerie law. You’ll need that knowledge now.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I crossed my arms, winding my hands around my elbows and digging in with my nails so hard I broke skin. The other two people in that room smelled it, even though I healed in seconds. Being a Troll had powerful benefits.

  “When I see potential, I want it at my school.” The Headmistress’s smile showed more teeth this time than it had seven years ago when she’d given the same reason for her first offer. That made sense. She hadn’t been a Kitsune then.

  “I’d say my King already recognized that.”

  “Yes. He’s wise and I’m sure you’ve learned much while rising to the rank of captain in his navy. But other parts of your education are still lacking. I'm giving you the opportunity for a well-rounded perspective.”

  “What’s the catch?”

  “You’re navigating in the shallows, girl.” Grandpa tapped my arm with one of his massive elbows. “This is the last of the Thurstons you’re addressing and the first Kitsune in mortal existence since our courts sundered.”

  “My family name is of no consequence, John.” Henrietta Thurston’s eyes glittered like sea glass. “But the magic and instincts that come with these tails is. My patience is not what it used to be.” She looked at me, narrowing her gaze to a tight focus. “I’ll make this offer one more time. Before I do, check your coincidence. It’ll guide your course as surely as the stars.”

  I wasn’t sure how she expected me to “check coincidence.” That wasn’t in a Troll’s skill set, Seelie or Un. What did she mean? Considering the Headmistress had lived most of her life as an Air magus, probably something intellectual. I closed my eyes, wishing I could sift through memories with a touch, like Henry Baxter.

  Three was a magic number for any faerie. This was the third time I’d sat in this office, getting an offer most people wouldn’t refuse. Supposedly, Tony Gitano had taken the same full scholarship without even reading the fine print. The first time, I’d walked in just minutes after learning I was pregnant with Hope. The second time, it had been hours after the king had saddled me with a captain’s commission on Hope’s third birthday. And now, it was one full day since my little girl took up the Alkonost’s feather and went Seelie by accident.

  All three had something in common—circumstances beyond my control. The bane of my life was being reactive, someone who had little choice but to make counterstrikes and do damage control. Even as a captain, I served alongside my grandpa the admiral, who had preempted me all these years. It was time to activate something for once.

  If accepting a scholarship wasn’t autonomy, nothing was.

  “Yes. I’ll take it.”

  “Excellent.” The headmistress pulled a piece of paper from the top drawer of her desk, set it down, and pushed it across.

  “Hmm.” I skimmed all the words on the page, then blinked as I looked it over a second time. “There’s a mistake here. It says I start coursework now, but it’s Midterm.”

  “Yes.” Thurston nodded. “You’ll have a directed study with me for your general requirements, culminating in a CLEP exam this Friday to get you credit for life experience. I expect you to pass everything on the first try and gain enough credits to place at Junior level. After that, you will complete a half semester intensive on coincidence and contracts with Professor Watkins and some consultants I’ve hand-picked.”

  “You already tagged people in on this?”

  “Yes. I believe in your potential that much, Miss Tolland and so do the educators I mentioned. Next semester, you will have a normal course load for a second semester Junior.”

  “Okay.” I pulled a pen out of the cup on my side of the desk and scrawled out a signature.

  Asking about catches hadn’t been a bad idea. The huge one was starting with exams in five days. But I’d brave that. Confidence was one of my strengths. The other was devotion to my little girl. Vast as an ocean, it was. I’d weather this if it meant that someday I’d be able to see her again.

  “Tenacity, thy name is Gemma.”

  “What was that?” The Headmistress’s raised brow and crooked grin told me she knew full well my inside voice had escaped and heard what it said, too.

  “Nothing.” Instead of pouncing on the fact that she’d asked me a question, putting her a third of the way into my debt, I caved. With good reason. “Thanks for this opportunity, Headmistress.” I stood up and extended my hand. Grandpa loomed behind me.

  “Thanks for taking it, Miss Tolland.”

  We shook on the whole deal. Henrietta Thurston put her back to me, placing my contract into a folder inside a large filing cabinet, paneled to match her desk. She might have had a swanky office and eve
rything, but at least the Headmistress filed her own paperwork. I respected that.

  The last thing that caught my attention before trailing out of the room after my grandfather were Henrietta’s tails. They waved like kelp at the bottom of the sea, serene as though testing currents I had no awareness of.

  I’d just made a deal with a Kitsune, offered thrice, signed and shaken on.

  If that wasn’t trouble with a capital T, I didn’t know what was.

  Albert

  I hate talking politics. Engaging in them boiled my blood. And I had a good reason for this particular nasty. But helping a family member get settled with a peer came before having to explain myself to my Queen.

  “I can totally climb that tree.” My daughter pouted.

  “I’m sure it’s well within the scope of your abilities, Hope.” I took a breath, and she discarded the rest of my explanation like a duce in a game of War.

  “The way you talk stinks like yesterday’s fish.” Her nose wrinkled, exactly the way her mother’s used to back in our Trout Academy days. I couldn’t help but love her instantly, too.

  “This is how the queen’s folk learn to speak.” I tilted my head, knowing my phrasing and tone of voice would do nothing to soften my next words to her. “You’re also one of hers, so eventually you’ll also talk this way.”

  “You get it from your mom.” Hope wrinkled her nose as she remembered our brief meeting with my mother. “She’s even worse.” She rolled her eyes. “God.”

  “No divinity there, just another duchess of the queen’s court.” I held my tongue about watching her language. For an almost-six-year-old with such a large vocabulary, learning to cuss while growing up surrounded by literal drunken sailors is unsurprising. I was lucky she hadn’t called me a scurvy knave yet. “You must stay here for a year and a day, like any newcomer to either faerie court.”

  “But I don’t like it here.” Hope blew a raspberry.

  "The laws of fae magic don’t change based on our feelings." I glanced down at the top of her head, framed by the rainbow wings she'd sprouted upon becoming the Alkonost. "The queen needs that time to prove your loyalty, especially considering you are one of the three mystic birds."

  "That sucks.” Her tiny fists clenched as her wings drew closer to her back. "I hate this."

  “You’re entitled to that opinion as long as you follow the queen’s rules.”

  This time, Hope didn’t bother using her words to answer. Instead, she growled, teeth bared to show off her elongated bicuspids. I sighed and shook my head. The queen’s treacherous consort had robbed her of her destiny by flinging a magical feather talisman at her. But there was no bringing back her genetic or magical predisposition at this point.

  “Climbing that tree looks like the only fun in this entire place. There’d better be a good reason I’m not allowed to do it.” She tapped her foot, gazing up at me as she displayed her skill at avoiding direct questions.

  At least she understood how fae debt worked. Hope’s distaste for wordiness and over-explaining was sure to be the first of many hurdles I faced over the course of our new journey together as parent and child. I erred on the side of brevity.

  “Because it’s special.”

  “So what?” She shrugged. “I’m special, too.”

  Unsure what to say, I paused. I couldn’t say the tree was more special than her because I knew in my heart that if it came down to Hope or the arboreal wonder, I’d choose her in a heartbeat. Declaring it off limits for good would be an outright lie. Honest and direct weren’t Sidhe staples. Fred Redford would explain it better but he was trying to rescue Bianca Brighton. I’d have to do my best imitation of good old fashioned Redcap bluntness.

  “This tree’s special differently than you are, Hope. It’s where the power our ranks convey comes from and climbing it now is out of the question.”

  “Oh.” She stared down at her feet as we continued along.

  “I know you’re bored, but that’ll change soon enough.” I reached out, hand hovering a few inches from the top of her head. But I didn’t have the courage to face her reaction to any sign of affection. The first time I’d tried it, her eyes had gone watery as she called for her mother through trembling lips. I refrained, letting my hand drop back to my side as though defeated by an army of thousands.

  “I’m not playing with anything like Grandma's clockwork dolls again.” She shook her head, ruddy bobbed hair flying out in a nearly perfect circle. “They’re creepy.”

  “No dolls, I promise. But you will have fun.”

  “No idea what it is, then.” She stopped walking and peered up at me.

  “Not a what, a who.” I smiled down. She narrowed her eyes. “Ed Redford is coming to visit his brother. He’ll be bored, too.”

  “I don’t want to play with a little kid.”

  “He’s older than you by about two years.”

  “And probably just some kind of lame Changeling.”

  “No. He’s the youngest medium in Rhode Island. And he’s waiting to meet you right on the other side of the courtyard.”

  "Medium?" She bounced on her toes. "That means he sees dead people! Woah, cool!"

  Hope took off running through the courtyard. I lengthened my stride to keep up but let her have a respectable distance. Growing up half-time on an Unseelie Pirate ship had done no damage to Hope’s sense of wonder, even if it gave said sense a macabre twist. I had to be honest with myself. Her excitement at meeting a child who must have had a near-death experience before he got out of diapers would have made me cringe if she hadn’t been my daughter.

  But I couldn’t show her how disturbed I was. I owed her and her mother for all the missed years. Fred had tried to convince me that my absentee fatherhood wasn't my fault. He’d failed. Fault or no, honor bound me. I’d be as good a father as possible or die trying. But with the way my life had gone so far, the latter was far likelier.

  Ed

  I hit the flagstones and covered the back of my neck with my hands. In the Under, I never knew whether any person running toward me was friend or foe. I knew my shifters though, so I thought she was dangerous. Half-open wings equals bird body language for ‘fight club.’

  “Um, kid.”

  I didn’t dare look up, but already knew which ghost had spoken, anyway. The not-quite Spanish accent gave her away.

  “Go away, Kasa.”

  “No. Anyway, it’s just another kid.”

  “Huh?” I blinked, even though the only thing in front of my face were the shimmery flagstones the queen liked so much.

  “She’s some kind of weird bird kid, but not much different from you.”

  “Oh.” I knew of her, even though we hadn't met yet. Al's daughter.

  I stood and brushed shiny grit off my knees just in time almost to knock the bird girl over. She fluttered her wings and hopped backward before my head clonked her on the chin.

  “I’m Hope Tolland. Or it might be Dunstable, I dunno.” The girl tilted her head to one side, making her unevenly chopped red hair fall far enough to brush the top of her wing. “You’re my size.” She blinked. “Are you sure you’re older than me?”

  “Well, yeah.” I rubbed my hand on the back of my head. “Mama says my growth got stunted.”

  “Okay.” Hope Tolland grinned, then folded her hands in front of her.

  “You praying or something?”

  “Nah. Just a way to chill my hands out.” The grin countered her hands by unfolding into a smile.

  “Excited isn’t how most people act when they see me.” I kicked at a tiny stone.

  “Yeah, but you’re a medium, so that means you can see all the ghosts here, too.” She jerked her chin at the one over my shoulder. “Hi!” One of Hope’s wings flapped in a waving gesture.

  “Hello, little bird.” Kasa’s voice sailed over my head like an annoying fly.

  “Thought I told you to leave, Kasa.”

  “Oh, no!” Hope pouted. “It’s cool finally to be able to see ghost
s. Don’t send her away. Please?”

  At first, I thought Hope was acting, but the glassy shine in her eyes and the red on her face changed my mind. The girl’s happiness reminded me of a glass when you pour hot chocolate into it by accident, about to crack at any second because it couldn’t take the heat.

  “Fine.” I shrugged. “Kasa can stay, even if she’s the most annoying coyote shifter ever to go ghostly.”

  Hope set her hands free and clapped. Her smile was more like hot chocolate in a mug this time. It belonged.

  “Mama always used to give the five-cent tour of her ship to newcomers. Are you gonna give me one for this place?”

  “As much as I can, I guess.” I glanced to my left, at the passageway I still hadn’t taken time to explore. “This place is humongous, though. I don’t know more than about a half a penny’s worth.”

  “You talk like the knight.” She jerked her thumb back over her shoulder at Sir Albert Dunstable.

  "Um, that’s your dad.” I never called my father "the duke" instead of “Dad.”

  “I guess.” Hope shrugged. “Only met him a little while ago.”

  “Okay.” I couldn’t imagine not knowing either of my parents. But then again, Josh, the Alpha of the Tinfoil Hat pack, sent me here to find out stuff about Hope. Telling him that this girl felt alone and separated from her family might be important. It’d be even better if she’d tell me more. “Let’s go see the stuff I do know. It won’t take too long, so after that we can check out some things I didn’t want to see alone.”