The Fairy Tale series begins with Book I, Winter's Bite. If you've read the first installment, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and are ready for the next phase of this adventure. And if you haven't, I would *highly suggest* you begin there.

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Four Years Later. . .

A sigh full of anxiety resonated through the Hawaiian jungle early one winter morning.

A slender, sun-kissed Hawaiian fem-fairy lay beneath her white sheets in warmth and comfort, and yet she could not sleep. It was the texture of the ceiling's splintered wood that vexed her as she waited for the sun to rise.

As the wife of Prince Okalani, she thought she deserved better than the ancestral adornment she was forbidden to remove from her domain, a room merely as large as the diameter of an ordinary koa tree. She was only 77 millimeters tall and a very narrow 16 millimeters at the waist (although much fuller at the bust). Even so, she couldn't truly breathe unless she had enough room to expand her great white fairy wings.

Rather than dwell on the disturbing mess above her head, clearly carved by amateurs, she closed her eyes and pictured enough jewels to bathe in, a fleet of servants tending to her every whim, and a castle worthy of the empress she intended to be someday. Once the birds chirped their morning song and the sun crept onto the horizon, she could wait no longer.

Her wings popped open as she sat cross-legged in bed. They were as white as snow and captured every dazzling beam of light. She reached over and walked her fingers up her new husband's bare back.

"Get up, my dear. It's time to start your day," she hummed in her sweetest voice.

The prince was facing her and opened the one eye that wasn't pressed into his pillow. He closed it back up, but he smiled a proud smile. Surely he remembered the promise he had made to his Goddess Divine—his climactic wee-morning-hour words, said in a cry that trembled through her whole body—to make her the happiest fairy in all of Kanaloa Territory. "Overzealous, are we, oh sweet Kaila?"

He rose with one elbow, throwing the sheets aside. His wings were erect, and since he slept in the nude, it was clear his wings weren't the only attributes to rise with the sun. He caressed her back and placed a kiss on her knee. His mouth and tongue then began forging a path up her thigh. 

"It feels like I've been waiting a lifetime for this day," she said. Rooted in her own agenda, she eased her leg away from his nuzzle just before his lust for her came to berth. "We might finally be rewarded for keeping those vermin alive."

"That's assuming General Chevalier will show up this time and is ready to fulfill our demands." He pinched her cheek as if she were a moping child. "I wouldn't get my hopes up quite yet, my dear."

That's not what he said last night!

While his hands went for her waist, she turned her back. Her drooping wings blocked his pursuit.

Prince Okalani sat up and scooted closer. Lounging behind her, undeterred, he moved her silky nightgown strap aside so he could kiss her bare shoulder. "Please, don't be like that. I will do everything in my power. I'm just trying to warn you that some things are beyond my control."

"That's because you let your brother do all the talking. He lets Pyxis swarm all over us. It's disgraceful, really!"

"Now, Kaila, it's a delicate situation. Haipo is merely trying to stay on good terms with Pyxis."

"We have the soldiers they've requested, plus Christopher MacRae. He alone should be worth all the gold in their bottomless coffers!"

"The alliance is frail," the prince crooned with infuriating calmness. "Try to keep that in mind before you come up with an unreasonable sum for handing them over. If we insult them with demands that are too high, they could just take what they want from us."

"I don't think they have as much muscle as you believe. Why else would they want our soldiers?"

He didn't have an answer for that.

Kaila collapsed onto her back, disenchanted with the most likely outcome of the day's summit—status quo.

Her husband was still staring at her with deep, longing eyes. She finally let out a breath and unclenched her legs. Her knees lifted and parted. His weight shifted over hers and his tongue probed deeply into her mouth, declaring his intentions.

She was the object of his only ambition—morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The prince rushed through obligations, if he arrived for them at all, and neglected any hobbies, if he ever had any in the first place. He was insatiable and she normally didn't mind being his sustenance. She was the most beautiful fem-fairy on the island in her opinion—and his too—and he was perpetually at her mercy. 

As his heavy kiss wandered to her neck, she shifted to her side, leaving him scrambling against the sheets. "Where is the meeting? Here at the Tree Palace?"

Prince Okalani rolled to the other side of the bed and let out a huff. "No. General Chevalier wants to confirm that Christopher MacRae is in our possession. We are meeting in the bunker at nine a.m. If all goes well, we'll hand him the key." He stepped from the bed and started dressing himself.

Kaila sat up abruptly, dropped her jaw, and stared at him. He must have felt the strength of her glare because he finally glanced over.

"Do you think that's wise?" she hissed. "The location is a secret for a reason."

The prince shrugged as he pulled his pants over his behind. "He wouldn't take no for an answer. General Chevalier insisted that Christopher not be moved from his cell unless under his authority."

"You mean to tell me one wingless fairy can't be moved to a neutral location? Honestly! Who is in charge here? Your half-witted brother?"   

"Enough! Know your place for once!"

With flair for the dramatic, she snapped her wild waves of hair in the air as she collapsed onto her pillow, face down. Rage coursed through her, but she had her special way of expelling it with sobs as delicate as a trembling flower petal.

Prince Okalani set a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, my love."

Though she nodded to accept his apology, she shrugged away from his hand. She wanted him to go, fueled only by a desire for her and guilt. His temper was too feeble and unpredictable to exploit.  

The prince fastened his tunic. He didn't even bother to run a hand through his hair before leaving their chamber at a bereft pace. He closed the door softly behind him.

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A brief Winter's Bite (Book 1) recap will appear after Prologue (Part 2) for any Fairy Tale readers who've been away for a while. . . .