Free A Fey Harvest by Amy Sumida

material. Three chandeliers hung in a row down the center of the room and large floral arrangements dominated the table, the flowers thickly petaled with a wet look to them.
    Now here's where the piracy came in, there were strands of pearls draped on the chandeliers and seashells full of faceted stones were clustered around the vases of the moist blooms. There were ship instruments on the walls, including a captain's wheel, and there were kegs of liquor next to the shiny coffee service. I half expected Johnny Depp to come walking in wearing his Captain Jack costume and shouting for the rum. It was awesome!
    “I have another room prepared for your subjects to dine with mine,” King Guirmean led us further in and waved to the table, “please, sit wherever you'd like. I thought we could have a more informal visit, no pressure to behave,” he winked at me.
    “ Oh thank goodness,” I sat down with a relieved flourish. “I don't want to have to steal your pixies too.”
    “ Ah yes,” Guirmean laughed. “I think there's a few waiting to see you,” he waved a hand toward an open door and I saw a few tiny heads jerk out of sight. “I agree with you that the pixies should be treated fairly. It's not their fault that they were given less elemental power than us. They are still fey and as such, still my blood. I don't abuse my family.”
    “ You're going to make a wonderful King,” I beamed at him.
    “ Well,” he cleared his throat, pulling a little at his cravat(can you believe it? A freaking cravat). “I'm trying my best. The Water Kingdom has been very supportive and we're muddling through it together.”
    “ It was time for a change,” Arach nodded.
    There was that damn word again. I hoped that it meant Guirmean was changed enough for his fertility to return. Of course, he needed to get himself a wife to test that with but hey, one thing at a time. Besides, the fey probably had children out of wedlock all the time, he could have some babies without getting married if he wanted to. What good was it to be King without some perks?
    “Some wine?” Giurmean gestured and a beautiful blue woman sashayed in carrying a carafe.
    Now when I say she was blue, I mean completely blue. Her skin was a blue seafoam color, and against Guirmean's much darker tone, she looked almost white. Her hair was deep sapphire, and her eyes even darker than that, so they appeared almost black. In her neck were delicate gills but other than that and her coloring, she looked pretty normal. Pearl combs held her thick hair back and pearl broaches held up her slinky blue dress.
    She sauntered up to Arach first and when she leaned over, her hair swirled forward and curled over Arach's arm like it had a life of its own. I rose my brows at that but Arach just slowly pulled his arm away and didn't say anything. The tendrils pursued him though and he had to lean back in his chair to get away from them. Guirmean cleared his throat and the woman looked up with her huge dark eyes blinking innocently.
    “ My apologies,” she purred with a voice of a seductress, as she brushed her hair back over her shoulder. “My hair has never been able to behave around the Fire King.” Her skin glowed white for a second and the men looked on her with dreamy little smiles. I, on the other hand, just got angry.
    “ What the fuck?” I growled and broke the spell.
    “ Dearbhail!” King Guirmean snapped and the woman flinched, holding the wine to her chest defensively. I noticed then that her hands were webbed. “Leave the wine and leave us. Now!”
    She carefully placed the crystal carafe down in front of Guirmean and beat a hasty retreat. I could hear a chorus of high pitched laughter coming from the room she'd disappeared into.
    “I am so sorry,” Guirmean sighed. “I should have known better than to allow an asrai to serve us but she promised to behave and she can be quite persuasive. It's one of their gifts, you know.”
    “ I'll bet,” I snorted.
    “ It's