The Glass Sword
New World Magic Book 5
Genre: Romantasy
Tropes: Paranormal Romance, Shifter, Shifter Romance, Fae, Seelie/Unseelie, Fae Court, Grumpy/Sunshine, Magic, Magical Romance, Fairy Tale, Fairy Tale Romance, Unicorn, Unicorn Shifter, First Person, Real World/Magical World, Contemporary, Fast Paced, Witty Banter
Heat: Open Door Medium/High Spice
A unicorn walks into a bar…it’s cheaper than therapy.
Therapy, you say? Sign up Marly, the angry ex-Unseelie-fae-queen. Or how about Sasha, the bitter exiled-Unseelie-fae-king? And definitely Ruby, the mortal bartender who lost her heart when she found her memories of March, the unicorn shifter she loved.
A good therapist would say learn to live with the consequences of choices, but Ruby isn’t ready to accept that a choice she didn’t even know she made landed March as the prisoner of the Seelie fae court. And Marly and Sasha have some feelings about reclaiming the throne of the Unseelie court.
But consequences beget consequences. Amid dying kingdoms and the dying embers of old loves and older hatreds, friends become betrayers, lovers keep secrets, and someone or something is out for blood red revenge.
Excerpt
So let me get this straight,” Dr. Bel said to the three of us: me, Marly and Sasha all seated in a semi-circle in her office, “because I want to make sure I understand what happened. And remember, this is a safe space and there is no judgement, and no ‘wrong way’ to react.”
“We are allowed to feel our feelings,” I added because I am her star patient.
“Yes, Ruby. Correct. So. You—” she nodded at Marly, “wanted to murder this Madame person for spying on you with a…” she checked her notes, “stuffed animal?”
“Clover isn’t—” she shook her head. “Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time. A great idea. But Sasha reminded me that while murder is one and done, humiliation lasts forever.” She smiled a pirate’s smile. “Shoulda been there, it was badass.”
Bel cleared her throat. “So, you two decided the way to go forward was to, um, trick Madame into thinking she’d get the crown? And then turning around and giving it to Marly? In front of the entire court?” She looked at Marly. “Was that the badass part?”
“You bet,” she replied. “I wish you could have seen the look on that miserable cow’s face.” Her smile faded. “She did promise she’d come for me. Guess she finally did.”
I sat and watched and almost bit through my tongue trying not to say I-told-you-so. Their little bit of fun went a long way towards explaining the seething hatred Madame had for them. And how we all ended up here. From the day I met her, I didn’t feel like Madame was the kind who could take a joke.
“That is correct,” Sasha said. “It was my idea.”
“Well,” I said, “you’re right about humiliation lasting forever, pal.”
“Ruby, what did we literally just say about judgement?”
I mumbled an apology, but I could tell Bel agreed with me.
She leaned forward in her chair. “One of—possibly the most powerful magic user in your kingdom, and your sworn enemy…who, according to you, repeatedly challenged your claim to the throne and repeatedly threatened you both… this public humiliation prank was your solution?”
We all turned to look at Sasha. The way the color drained out of his already pale face let us know that maybe, possibly, he hadn’t really thought it all the way through. He cleared his throat and said, “It also seemed like a good idea at the time?”
Marly came to his defense, of course. “Whatever we did, she’d still have been gunning for us. Are you saying we should have gone with Plan A and just killed her when we had the chance?” She got a distant look on her face. “What sort of weapon would have done it…?”
That was an excellent question. I’d been asking myself the same thing.
“I’m not suggesting anything of the sort.” Bel was furiously polishing her glasses. “But perhaps there was an option somewhere between murder and a prank?”
“Can we all stop saying prank?” Sasha muttered.
“After all,” Bel continued, “what did your prank accomplish?”
Marly folded her arms and glared at the world. “You’re looking at it.” I could see she was trying to decide who to be mad at.
Bel sighed. “Okay. Let’s move on. Why don’t we talk about how we are re-acclimating ourselves to this realm. Ruby?”
I shrugged. “Since my trip was short—like, it was only a three-day weekend here, even though I was there for… longer, it wasn’t a huge thing. I’m back at work at the bar. My orchid didn’t even die.” Eventually, I’d have to talk about what happened to me. What happened to Aster. What I did to March. But for now, it was easier to let Marly and Sasha re-litigate how they ended up in exile.
“We have to find a place to live,” Marly said. I started to tell her the two of them could use my place for as long as they needed, but she put her hand up to cut me off. “I love you too much to live with you. We need our own space.” She glanced at Sasha nervously. “I mean, I don’t know how long it’ll be before we—”
“I have a job,” said Sasha, and that pretty much brought the room to a halt. After a minute it became apparent he was not going to continue.
“As a…?” Bel said.
“I saw a notice on a wooden post in the street soliciting drivers, no experience necessary. As I have no experience, it seemed ideal. I used Marly’s phone and called them.”
“Honey,” Marly said, “you don’t have a car.” She cocked her head. “Do you know how to drive, even?”
“I spoke to James, and he went and retrieved my vehicle from the kingdom. No one noticed, he said, and the gate was shut.” I figured he was talking about the sleek black and silver chariot-looking thing I’d seen parked in the area between the black glass gate and the moat. The moat made me think of the pulpos, and the pulpos made me think of Aster, and Aster made me think of March. I pushed it away.
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