Beloved LifeMate: Song of the Sídhí #1 by Jodie B. Cooper Page B

private study and bed chamber had an extra layer, one he added himself.
    “Chi’Kehra,” Mirk said warmly, slightly bowing. His body servant, of eighteen hundred years, was one of the very few people ever allowed within his inner sanctum.
    “Afternoon Mirk, I'll be in my study.” He turned to leave, but stopped when Mirk shifted from foot-to-foot. After so many years together, he knew Mirk's silent way of getting his attention without actually asking for it.
    He sighed, knowing he must have forgotten a meeting of some sort. He had hoped to have a free afternoon of reading the latest novel by W.L. Kylupspur about a dragon – shapeshifter – who found out his predestined lifeMate was a fairy, a fairy that fell through a wild portal and got stuck on Earth.
    “Yes,” he questioned, raising his eyebrow in query.
    “Ah, yes, well,” Mirk's tiny feet shuffled and he pointed to the new fairy 'appointment calendar' sitting on a wide table near the windows at the far end of the room, “it's been beeping every few minutes. The message screen says: Meeting on Earth.”
    Chi’Kehra groaned. He hated new gadgets, especially fairy made; they never worked right. “My meeting with Gerald isn't until next week.”
    Some five hundred years ago, he had sent some of his best spies to Earth. He checked in with one or more of them, once a month by opening a temporary gateway, which connected Sídhí to Earth.
    When he first opened a gateway to Earth he had been excited, hoping to reconnect with the lost houses of the Elfhiem. That hope died a quick death. The constant bickering and in-fighting was bad enough on Sídhí, but the elves on Earth had continued the war against all the other races.
    At the time, he made the difficult decision to remain a silent observer.
    He kept the connection between Earth and Sídhí completely secure, which wasn't as hard as it sounded. As Chi’Kehra, he was the only person on Earth or Sídhí who had the power to create a gateway. The synth crystal flowed through his body like a living organism, answering his mental orders. Only the fairy or dragons could come close to manipulating the synth crystal, the pure energy created by the Ancient Ones, like he could. And comparing their abilities to his was like comparing the strength of a flea to a dragon.
    His spies on Earth kept him updated, reports of the ongoing war between the various races continued. He honestly didn't know why they continued fighting, not after four thousand years. The previous Chi’Kehra started the Great War, because he thought vampires were evil, bloodsucking monsters. An entire war fought over a racial belief that was not true.
    He was very thankful he wasn't in the middle of the continued fighting and even happier that Earth didn't have a native born Chi’Kehra.
    An Earth-born Chi’Kehra would unite the elvish houses on that world. Once that happened, and after the elves destroyed all the other races, the Earth Chi’Kehra might turn his attention toward opening a gateway to Sídhí.
    He shuddered at the very thought, praying to God that never happened. He would have a war, to end all wars, dropped in his lap. Earth's modern technology increased his worry; from what his people on Earth said, the weapons of that world had the destructive ability of an exploding synth spring. One bomb could easily wipe out the entire capital city, the surrounding mountain, and the valley.
    “Hckrum,” Mirk softly cleared his throat, gently pulling Chi’Kehra from his morbid thoughts.
    Resigned to losing his afternoon, he approached the new gizmo. The flat screen of synth crystal woke-up at his approach, beeping its urgent message. 'Meeting on Earth with Gerald – ten minute warning!' appeared on the screen.
    Frustrated, he shook his head and looked down, some three feet, to his diminutive companion. “Mirk, tell me I didn't set it up wrong.”
    Mirk grinned at him, adding to his sour mood.
    “Fine, please tell Gabe I'm opening a gateway,