Free Blue Skies on Fire by Zenina Masters

Chapter One
     
     
    Andor Felix paced in front of his mother’s desk.
    “Sit down, Andor. There is no reason for this agitation.”
    “You are ordering me to find a mate, Mother. I am pretty sure that this is exactly the kind of event that calls for agitation.”
    Meridith Felix, of the people of the norther crown, scowled at him. Her elven features remained graceful and understanding, even though she was exasperated.
    Andor thudded into a chair. “Where is Father?”
    “Kyrok has slept beneath the ice for the last decade. He will be rising soon, and he wants you to have a wife when he does. He wants grandchildren.”
    Andor rolled his eyes. Neither of his parents knew his origins but had taken in the infant left on their doorstep. The need for grandchildren had not bothered them at all in the last five hundred years.
    “Why now?”
    Meridith smiled. “Because now there is a way for you to meet another nice shifter and find out if you have a connection. It is a welcoming moment, and they have thrown it open to the fey as well, so your peculiar type of magic will definitely blend right in.”
    Andor slumped back in his chair. “I never blend in.”
    His mother got up from behind her crystal desk, and she came around to crouch in front of him. Her pale-blue hair rippled down her back and pooled on the ground. “For hundreds of years you have used guile and glamour to blend in with the humans. You could—and did—find pleasure with them, but did you ever feel the connection of one who could meet you on equal footing?”
    “You have told me to avoid the shifters until now. Why the sudden change?”
    She smiled slightly. “Because I want you to stop being alone. I live this life because it was chosen for me. I raised you because I love you. I want you to have someone to love as well. It is a wonderful feeling. I even grew to love Kyrok after a while.”
    Andor smirked. “Yeah, I can tell. The question is would you have chosen him on your own if your family hadn’t staked you out as a sacrifice to him?”
    Meridith chuckled. “If he had bothered to assume a form without the claws and had courted me, yes. He is a very handsome and charming male when he wants to be.”
    He raised his mother to her feet and stood with her. “I will go and speak to him. If he is sure that it is what I should do, I will make the arrangements.”
    His mother hugged him. “Good. He is expecting you before sundown. He will tell you who to contact.”
    Andor grinned. Of course, his parents were conspiring against him. Despite the rocky nature of their introduction, they got along very well. It just went to show that sometimes arranged marriages worked out for the best. The nature of the arrangements left something to be desired, in his opinion. He had no intention of tearing his mate off an altar stone on a beach.
    He left his mother and headed down the stairs of the ancient castle in the frozen north. It was a weird place for a castle, but his mother was right at home there. Ice fey were not common, and it showed how desperate they were when they staked her out for the dragon.
    He descended ten stories under the earth to find the huge door and his sleeping father resting behind it.
    So, she has finally talked to you.
    Yes, Father. Do you feel it is time?
    It is past time. You need more than just the lust of the moment. You have had plenty of that. Find a woman who sets you on fire for a change, my handsome son.
    You are just saying that because I am handsome.
    There was a low rumble through the door.
    I will be awake within the month. I want you to give some serious thought to finding a woman of your own, the nice, legal and modern way.
    Andor laughed. So, don’t follow in your footsteps?
    What your mother and I started was fine for its time. With the new ability to mix powers, I would not mind proposing and doing it all over again. Perhaps we could present you with a brother or sister.
    That is an interesting idea. Well, how do I get to