Free Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) by Elle Casey

got even louder.   It was like thunder echoing through the compound.   Tony squeezed my hand and I squeezed his back.
    Then Spike and his trainer Valentine walked up the center aisle, Finn following behind.   Spike yelled out, “The incubi stand with Jayne!   We also go where she goes!”   They stopped in front of me, just at the end of the aisle.
    Now the members of the council were standing.   Even the really old ones who were so hunched over they had difficulty looking at anything but the floor in front of their feet.   Everyone was gesturing and shouting.   I saw spittle flying out of the mouth of the old man who had questioned me.
    I don’t know when it started exactly, but soon I became aware of the sound waves of an eerie call that started trickling through the anger around me, and the noise of the crowd became almost like an afterthought in my mind.   Within seconds, the only thing I could hear – the only thing I wanted to hear – was this new sound.   A song, maybe?   A person’s voice?   I couldn’t tell.   It was pulling me in, making me want to listen.
    I watched in a daze as a figure in white floated down the aisle towards me.   All eyes turned to watch her advance.   It was a woman.   Her mouth was open and the bewitching song we were hearing was coming from her.   I felt a hand on my arm and looked to see who was touching me.   It was Chase – the only one who seemed to be unaffected by her voice.   “Jayne, it’s the siren.   Focus on my voice.   Don’t look at her.”
    The blueness of Chase’s eyes, his strong grip on my arm, and then his serious voice snapped me out of my reverie.   What the hell?   I gave myself a mental shake to get the fog out of my brain.
    The song stopped.   The crowd that had been on the verge of rioting was now completely silent.   You could have heard a marshmallow drop in that room.   Standing next to me was the Lady of the Lake – a cunning seductress and one hell of a devious siren bitch when she wants to be, as I had discovered on a couple of occasions.
    She opened her mouth and everyone sat in stunned silence, waiting to hear what she would say.   Her voice was nearly as spooky as her song.  
    “The sirens and the water sprites stand with Jayne.   We go where she goes.”
    Becky then walked up the aisle to join us.   The space in front of the head table was now filled to capacity.
    Voices began shouting again from the assembled fae in the audience; but they were singing a different tune now.
    “The gray elves stand with Jayne!   We go where she goes!”
    “The silver elves stand with Jayne!   We go wherever she goes!”
    “The wood sprites stand with Jayne!”
    “The dwarves stand with Jayne!”
    And on and on it went – all of the fae races aligning themselves with my cause.
    My heart was so full, I was afraid it was going to explode right there in front of everyone.   Tears came to my eyes, much as I tried to hold them back.   I quickly swiped them away hoping no one would notice.   I looked over at Tony and he had a sheen in his eyes too.  
    He leaned in and whispered to me.   “Now I get it, Jayne.   I totally get it.”
    My life had gone full circle.   I had gone from being an invisible nobody, to being someone nobody wanted to be without.   If I ever had doubts about being fae before, they were now completely gone.
    I turned to look at the council, watching as they all took their seats.   I pulled my shoulders back and lifted my head high, standing as straight as I could.   I stared at the old man, the one who seemed to speak for the council, the sparkle of tears still bright in my eyes.
    “So what’s it gonna be then, council?   Can my friend Tony accept the change, or what?”
    The old man looked to his left and right, receiving nods from each of the other members.
    He turned to look at me, obviously pissed off but unable to do anything about it, and answered, “The fae have spoken.   The council has