Chapter 2

Jess was nervous as he led the small group of Elves into his home. He was okay with them being there, but his family was also there. His mind was screaming at him to get them out and to safety. But his sister had just had twins and couldn't move because of the complications during delivery. That put a damper on security plans.

The wind swirled around him, bringing new and old scents to him. He was secretly happy air was his element. He could tell when a new danger threatened his family. It was always on the wind. Whether it was love or a deep malice, he could always tell when it was close. Now that didn't mean he wasn't wrong some of the time.

Jess turned a full circle while walking, taking in the small group following him. Something didn't feel right at all but he couldn't say it out loud. He didn't want to insult his new guests when they had tried so hard to help his sister during labor. But something wasn't feeling right about one of the characters with him.

He heard the marveled gasps as they walked through the first floor. He thought Elves wouldn't give two cents about being in a human home. His thoughts were wrong. When he spun around again to see what they were admiring, he saw them looking out the window towards the river. He laughed. It had been Aiden's idea to put the picture window right there. He guessed they were impressed.

He hooked a left at the junction then went down to the last door on left. He knocked and waited until there was a muffled response. The door opened. Jess stepped back in surprise as Mikey opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. It was the first response that came to his mind. It was slightly rude, but they had never really had any sort of formality between them.

Mikey laughed and stepped back from the door. "Good to see you too, brother."

Jess stepped through the door and to the side so the others could follow him in. He watched them look around once more. This time their enthusiasm wasn't so great. He swiveled around so he could see his brother and brother-in-law.

"You never answered my question," he said as he headed across the room.

"He's here to see Aiden and the babies," Clint stated without looking up from his work. "Also he's here to meet the Elves."

Jess gave his brother a dirty look. "Always the opportunist, aren't you?"

Mikey shrugged. "I do what I have to do. I told my Court and Council that I was going to see my sister and they never asked."

"Lying by omission is still lying, even for a King," Clint said.

He finally looked up. Jess could see the lines creasing his brother-in-law's face. He tried to hide them with the glasses but they were evident.

He took his glasses off and rubbed his face then dropped his chin to his upraised forearm. The toll of running a group of people and raising a family was taking its toll on him. They all had tried to get him to divvy up the extra work, but he refused. The only thing they could do was watch him work himself into the ground.

"We still say you should give us some of the work," he said quietly.

Clint sighed and lifted his head. "If Aiden can do this, so can I."

"Aiden's also super human. You're not. You can't function on two hours of sleep the way she can. You need to divvy up the responsibility or she will come take her spot back before she's ready," Mikey said calmly. He held up his hand when his brother-in-law was about to argue. "Don't even try it. I have your number and I'm not afraid to use it."

It was a warning Clint was going to take heed. He had seen the work of the Jenks brothers. When they thought someone needed help, they stepped in and did their best. If they thought he needed help, then they were right. He needed help and he was ready to admit it now that they had threatened him.

He waved it off then looked to his guests. "Please have a seat." When the two main people of the group sat down, he folded his hands. "I'm sorry to have made you wait, but there were some funding issues that couldn't be ignored."

Leothain waved his hand in the air. "Do not worry about it, Your Majesty. We understand fully the issues of funding. Your kind think we simply hid because we had no means of keeping ourselves fed. In reality we have figured out simpler ways. We would love to show you."

Clint smiled. "I would appreciate it. We'll call Keldin in as well. He can help make sense of all this." He shifted papers on his desk then stood. "Jess has told us you wish to build a place in the trees."

Leothain didn't ask how he knew before they'd met. "Before we get to that topic, should we not introduce ourselves?"

"Forgive my abruptness. I have been swamped for a month and a half."

"It is quite all right. I am Leothain, Ruler of the Golden Wood. This is my brother Lacain and my daughter Kasta. The others with us are members of our security team."

"I'm Clint, King of the Silver Court. You've met my brother-in-law Jesse."

Mikey stepped into the foreground and extended his hand. He was going to be friendlier than any of his family. "I'm Mikey Jenks-Lowen. I'm King of the Golden Court. Aiden is my sister."

Lacain was extremely shocked. "Why has the King of the Golden Court gone out of his way to meet us?"

The other King smiled. "It's not every day I get to meet people who knew my mother."

Silence filled the room immediately. Everyone knew that Lorraine Lowen was Cole, Andy, Wyatt, Mikey and Aiden's biological mother who had been killed. Anyone who had known the woman knew that her alliances only rivaled her daughter's. Aiden was just like her and people respected her because she had earned it, not because of who her mother was.

By the pained look on his face, Leothain had known Lorraine Lowen rather well. Things that were done in the past typically stayed in the past when it came to the Elves, but this was something that obviously couldn't.

"I knew your mother when the Empire was in its last stages. She was carrying your sister and you. She was excited to be having another baby but she was scared because of the prophecy," he said.

Clint tilted his head. He hadn't been told the prophecy because the twins had fulfilled it when they were seventeen. That had been long before he had met Aiden and had adopted Dylan. This was the first time he was hearing about it and he wanted to know more.

"Our grandmother was told by the then Future Watcher that Aiden and I were going to take the throne from her," Mikey said. He had been watching and reading his fellow King closely. "She tried to kill us when our powers manifested. Aiden took her out in a no holds bar match. That's how we came into power."

Leothain nodded. "Your mother didn't want this life for the two of you. She wanted you to live long happy lives and find the people you were meant to be with. She didn't have the latter luxury and she wanted to make certain you got that one love. Of course you know your parentage."

Mikey nodded. "Yeah. Mom had an affair so Aiden and I are bastards."

Jess turned to him. "Have you met your father?"

His brother shook his head. "No, but I know who he is. It will take a little while to convince Aiden to meet him. I think I'm going to wait until she's better before I bring it up."

Clint nodded in approval. "I think that's the best idea. She's going to have a lot going on for a little while."

He rolled his shoulders to get the tension out of them. "I thank you for coming to strengthen our alliance."

"We have come for more than just strengthening our alliance. We have reason to believe one of our own is going to attempt to murder your Queen."

Once again silence filled the room. No one had dared to come after the Queen since she had taken the throne. Others tried to take on the whole Court and Council but no one had succeeded. The strength and reach of the Silver Court had kept others at bay. It had to be someone from another race who was trying to do this despicable thing.

If it was an Elf, they were going to have a hard time. It was a known fact that Elves lived forever and could only be killed one of two ways. They had to be killed in battle or die of a broken heart.

Jess moved his fingers and the air moved under his hand. He brought the current up to his nose so he could smell whatever it was that was bothering him. Nothing was new except the smell of the Elves and rain that was in the weather forecast.

The double doors opened and every head turned. Clint was the first one to it, helping Aiden as she stumbled slightly into the room. He wrapped his arms around her and guided her to the plush chair he had vacated. Everyone looked at her as Jess planted himself on the edge of the desk.

"I thought I told you to rest," he scolded as he tugged at her hair.

She smiled tiredly up at him as she leaned back in the chair. "I heard you talking."

That meant she had been reading their minds in her sleep. She did that sometimes because she couldn't control it when she was dead tired. He tugged once on her hair then dropped the strands.

"Leothain, this is my sister and Her Majesty Aiden, Queen of the Silver Court," Mikey introduced.

Leothain stood and reached for Aiden's hand. She extended it and watched as he leaned over it for a kiss. He then rubbed his kiss into her skin. As she looked at him, she could see yellow and purple swirling around him. The colors meant he was excited to meet her and that he was royalty. The latter she already knew, and she was pleasantly surprised by the first.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty," Leothain said. "Your friend Austin has spoken highly of you since I met him a while ago."

"He's done nothing but blab about you as well. And please. Call me Aiden. Everyone else does," she replied.

He looked surprised. "You allow such insubordination?"

"We're only insubordinate when Court is not in session," Jess explained. "She doesn't call for decorum when it's just us."

"It's been just us for so long, I wouldn't ask for you to change." She shifted until she was comfortable then laced her fingers together and rested them on her belly. "What brings you here? Besides forming an even stronger alliance."

Mikey stirred, taking his time to move to his sister's free side. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, knowing it had to be bad for him to be moving closer to her. When he was within two feet she reached out with her mind.

'Is it that bad?'

He nodded. 'Unfortunately so. He has come to alert us. He thinks one of his kinsmen is after your life.'

Aiden made a face. "I'd like to see them try."

Jess followed the line of conversation even though his mind was completely silent except for the typical chatter of the house. "You still haven't recovered from childbirth. You're of no use to us if you're sick." He was given the dirtiest of looks. "I'm being honest."

"He's right," Clint agreed. She looked at him. "We need you at top strength. Let us deal with this and if there's a fight, you can handle it."

He didn't think she was going to agree. She stared at him for such a long time he thought she was going to punch him. For a few moments he waited for the fist to come flying through the air and sock him in the face. He got the hand, but it wrapped around his chin. Aiden shook it from side to side.

"You better be glad I love you," she whispered then kissed him. He smiled and sat on the arm of the chair. She turned to their guests. "If things are as bad as you say, I must ask you to stay just in case we need help."

Leothain inclined his head with a smile. "I would be honored. We have given your brother our request."

Aiden looked to Jess and he nearly fell off the edge of the desk. He had forgotten about the tree houses when they said someone was after Aiden. Her face contorted into one of sympathy as she laughed at him.

"Sorry," he said. "They want to build tree houses out in the backyard."

She outright laughed at him this time. Even Mikey chuckled. "The children would want to play in them once they're gone. And they're called flats, not tree houses."

He shrugged. "They're built in a tree. They're tree houses."

He smiled as she shook her head. "It would be my honor to build your accommodations."

Lacain stepped forward. "Your Majesty, we would insist on building our own flats. We have specific measurements we use. We would just need the supplies."

Aiden laughed at the thought running through Mikey's head but didn't voice it. "I will front the bill and please call me Aiden."

After a bit more discussion, Clint led the small group from the office. Aiden slumped back in her chair and looked at Mikey. He stared levelly back at her. Jess looked between the two of them. They always had the freaky twin thing going on and he had never been able to figure out what it was.

"Hey, Mikes, Mom wants to know if you'd consider giving some blood. Aiden's suffering from anemia since she gave birth. Mom thinks she needs a blood transfusion," he said.

Mikey looked down at her. "You know you need to take care of yourself. You have twins to take care of."

"I know," she said as she waved her hand in front of his face. "I'll deal with that later. Right now we need to get a list of supplies out so our guests can be as comfortable as we are." She went to stand up only to have Mikey pull her on to his back. "What are you doing?"

"You're not going to walk. You barely made it in here. I'll have Cole get the list together while I go to Wyatt to have some of my blood taken. Then we'll have it transfused into you and have Mom put you on a strict diet."

She made a noise. "Like I'll stick to it."

"You better. You've always had low iron in your system. We can't have that now, not when we're so close."

Aiden didn't argue, which really surprised Jess. Usually the two of them went at it like cats and dogs until Mikey gave up. Apparently nearly losing his sister had caused him to change his strategy. Aiden simply rested her chin on her twin's shoulder and let him carry her back to her suite.

Jess turned down the hallway and went to finish the work he had started.