Bette stirred from her sleep, looking up blearily, the painting she’d stayed up all night to work on catching her attention.  She saw it through new eyes in the afternoon light.  With the slightest amount of sheepishness, she had to admit that it was good.  Very good.  A few more touches, and it would be done.  It gave her a little thrill that this was something she’d made.  Sitting back down, she rubbed her face with her hands, sighing.  This was only the beginning.  She had an idea, and she could not stray from it, until was finished.  Her new muse was a demanding one.  She got up to pick up her phone, dialing her office number.

“Hey, James, it’s me.  Yeah, I’m fine now, but I’m going to have to take the rest of the week off and stay at home.  Yes, I can take care of almost everything from here.  You’ll have to deal with everything else yourself.  Ok…if you have anything that absolutely cannot wait, call me on my cell.”

Dropping her phone on the kitchen counter, she went back to her sketchpad and started a new sketch.  For the first time in a long while, a slight smile made an appearance on her lips.

That evening, at Maeve’s mansion

The housekeeper ushered Princess Meredith followed closely by 2 bodyguards into the main living area where Maeve sat on a plush couch.  As she rose to greet the princess, an outsider would have seen two seemingly normal, albeit stunningly beautiful, women embrace and kiss each other’s cheeks.  What an outsider wouldn’t see was the currents of magic that accented every movement of these faeries.

“Thank you for coming to see me Princess.”

“I could hardly refuse you.  Besides, my curiosity is piqued,” Meredith replied with a smile.  “You know Frost,” she gestured to her companion on her left side—a tall handsome sidhe with silver hair that glimmered down almost to his knees, “and Doyle,” she gestured to her other companion who was standing to her right side—tall with skin as black as night and waves of black hair that also reached his knees.  They were a study in contrasts, but both had an air of hyper alertness and moved with a smooth grace that just screamed dangerous.