Chapter 9

Here’s a little background (as requested) on some of the faeries as portrayed in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series.

Maeve Reed (Conchenn):  Seelie court Sidhe.  Banished from the Seelie court by King Taranis, Lord of Light and Illusion, for refusing to become his consort.  Her refusal was based upon a suspicion that he was infertile.  Therefore, she has lived in exile in the human world for years, fearing that the king will have her assassinated if her suspicions come to light.  She is married to Gordon Reed, the director/film-maker who brought her to fame as a movie star, decades ago.

Meredith NicEssus (aka Merry Gentry), Princess of Flesh and Blood:  Princess of the Unseelie court of the Sidhe.  She was in hiding for several years, posing as a human and working for a private investigation firm that specializes in magical situations (Grey Detective Agency).  She was in hiding because having a great deal of mixed (human, brownie, etc.) blood, she is mortal—therefore despised by many of the Sidhe, particularly her cousin Cel and her Aunt Andais, Queen of the Unseelie court.  To curry favor from Prince Cel, many of the Sidhe challenged her to death matches.  In order to survive, she ran from the Unseelie court.  She was recently discovered in L.A. and in the course of events, came into her powers.  She was invited back to the fey by her aunt who offered her the chance to become the heir apparent to the Unseelie court, contingent upon her getting pregnant before her cousin Cel could get someone else pregnant.  Meredith now lives in L.A. with a bevy of fey guards whose other job is to try and impregnate her.  (So she has lots of sex with lots of different guys, lol).  Her powers include Flesh (turns her enemies inside out, literally—sounds weird right?  Now imagine being turned inside out and still living forever—most sidhe are immortal.) and Blood (she can make any wound bleed copiously, imagine bleeding to death from a paper cut).  She is also descended from 5 fertility goddesses, which gives her other related powers.

Seelie vs. Unseelie courts:  Supposedly the Seelie are the good faeries, and the Unseelie are the bad ones.  However, the distinction is more based upon appearance.  So, the pure blooded sidhe generally belong to the Seelie court while the more apparently mixed blood fey end up in the Unseelie court.  Physical deformity/variation is strictly Unseelie court.  Actually, the Unseelie court is filled w/ rejects from the other court—no fey is turned away (theoretically).  The Seelie court members view the Unseelie as really, really perverted and/or ugly.  Morally however, there’s not much difference between the courts.  Only in outward appearance/reputation.