Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) by Jodi McIsaac Page A

few weeks in Tír na nÓg had been so busy for both of them, and she wanted more than anything to just spend a lazy day with him and Eden. “It means so much to me that you’re here,” she said. “Who else would regrow a poppy field for me—again?”
    He laughed. “Nevan’s outside waiting to walk to the Council meeting with you,” he said. “Eden’s still sleeping; I’ll tell her you said happy birthday when she gets up.”
    “Okay,” Cedar said, feeling a twinge of disappointment as she handed Finn the paper bag in her hands. “Here, I got her a bagel; it’s her favorite kind. Maybe bring her by to see me after the meeting?”
    “I don’t think we’ll be back in time,” Finn said. “I’m taking her into the mountains this morning. There’s a secret network of pools near the top of one of the peaks that my mum used to bring me to when we were hiding out from Lorcan. I thought she’d like to see it. We’ll just get home in time for her party.” He grinned in anticipation. Finn had been like a child on Christmas morning ever since their return to Tír na nÓg. He spent almost every day exploring his lost homeland, discovering what had changed since his childhood and introducing their daughter to his favorite places.
    “Of course,” she said, forcing a smile. Instead of joining them on their adventure, she would be spending her morning trying to sort through the politics of a world she didn’t quite understand. “Well, we’ll have fun together at her party,” she said, giving him a hug before disappearing into her wardrobe, which had expanded considerably now that she was queen. Thankfully, she could get into most of her dresses without assistance—only the most ornate ones required Finn or Riona’s help. Today she chose a pale yellow dress with short ruffled sleeves, something that wouldn’t have been entirely out of place at a summer wedding on Earth. She fastened her hair up with a shell-shaped comb and slipped her feet into a pair of delicate sandals studded with yellow sapphires. Finn had already left the charred poppy field when she walked back through it, leaving through the door that led to the circular courtyard lined with willow trees. As queen, she could have chosen to relocate to the opulent accommodations in the Hall with her family, but Cedar loved the home Finn had made for them, and she knew how attached Eden had become to her tree-house bedroom—and her new grandparents.
    Riona was sitting on a bench under one of the willow trees, watching the waterfall that spilled into a pool in the center of the room. She stood up when she saw Cedar and curtseyed slightly. Cedar rolled her eyes. “Will you please stop doing that? We’re family , and it’s extremely weird when you bow to me.”
    Riona laughed but made no promises. “It comes with the title, my dear, so you’d best get used to it. You look lovely,” she added. “I hope all goes well with the Council today.”
    “So do I,” Cedar said. “I’ll see you at the party later.”
    When she reached the outer door of their home, Nevan was waiting for her, just as Finn had said, along with three tall guardsmen dressed in the dark green and silver uniforms that marked them as part of the Royal Guard. “Good morning,” she said. They nodded back but made no verbal reply.
    Nevan curtseyed. “Good morning, Your Majesty,” she said. Cedar smiled at her friend, who looked more like a fairy than any of them with her platinum-blonde pixie cut and glittering white dress. Together they started walking toward the Hall, with one of the guards in front of them and the other two behind. Cedar could have used a sidh, of course, but she enjoyed these morning walks with Nevan, who was bubbly and talkative and had assigned herself the role of Cedar’s—and Eden’s—tutor in the ways of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Each morning as they walked to the Hall together, she told Cedar more about the history of her people and would quiz her on the