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Kaye Fierch is a pixie and consort to Lord of the Court of Termites, Lord Roiben.
Physical Description []
From the time she was a small child, Kaye has been glamoured to look like her human counterpart, Kate, who has brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. She also has distinctly Japanese facial features which were inherited from her father. In her true pixie form, Kaye is thin with green skin and hair and completely black eyes. She also has pointed ears, shimmering moth-like wings, and four joints in her fingers rather than three. After Kaye discovers she is a pixie, she keeps her natural green hair color while in her human glamour.
Personality []
Kaye is headstrong and independent. She also has a habit of smoking when she is stressed or scared. She's tough and street-smart. She is willful and impulsive which gets her and those around her into difficult or dangerous situations. She relies on her cleverness and ability to think on her feet to save her on many occasions.
With her feet always in two worlds, she stands in stark contrast to both humans and other Fey. Her mannerisms, speech, and interests are those of a typical (albeit, eclectic) human girl. She grew up knowing very little about the Fey and even less about the Gentry, so she is seen as crude and inelegant by other Fey. Meanwhile, she was alienated from the time she was a child for her knowledge of faeries and some of her Fey nature. Other people simply thought she had an obsession with imaginary faerie friends, and that her mismatched reactions like laughing during a serious discussion were simply signs of poor behavior.
Over time Kaye gains confidence as she accepts the complex and contrasting facets of her identity.
Biography []
Early Life []
As a child, she had three faerie friends, Spike, Lutie and Gristle, and was also acquainted with the Thistlewitch. Since then she has moved to a more urban part of the state with her mother, a musician, traveling from city to city with the rock band.
In Tithe Kaye meets Roiben while in the forest. Roiben is running from people chasing him down when he comes across Kaye. This leads Kaye to then discover the existence of the faerie realm, which she thought was just a childhood dream.
Kaye discovers that she is a pixie and has been wearing a human glamour her whole life. This leads her to realize that she was switched at birth and the real Kaye Fierch is somewhere in the Faerie realm. This also means that her mother is not her real mother, who is totally unaware that Kaye is not her real daughter.
Tithe[]
Kaye was raised in New Jersey and Pennsylvania by her mother Ellen Fierch. During her childhood spent in the shoreside suburbs, she spent most of her time with three faeries names Spike, Lutie, and Gristle. She spoke of them often, so people assumed they were her imaginary friends. Ellen's work as the lead singer of a band required the two of them to leave their hometown and move to various places in and around Philadelphia.
After Ellen's boyfriend Lloyd unexpectedly attacked her, she and Kaye were forced to move back to New Jersey with her grandmother. Once at her grandmother's house, Kaye began to search for Lutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle. As time passed with no response she began to doubt her memory, suspecting that they were simply figments of her imagination.
Her suspicions dissolved when she found and saved the life of Roiben, a faerie knight, by pulling a magicked arrow out of his chest. In return, he granted her three truthfully answered questions about anything, which she did not immediately use. After learning of Kaye's contact with Roiben, Lutie and Spike finally came to her and warned her to avoid Roiben, as he was responsible for their friend Gristle's murder. Kaye confronted Roiben about the murder and in a fit of anger, demanded Roiben's full name, not knowing that the Fey's full names are a means of enslaving them.
Kaye later learned that she is actually a changeling but and that she needed to keep her human appearance because the Unseelie Court needed to use her as a tithe. Since Kaye is not mortal, the ritual would be forfeit and the Solitary Fey would not be bound to a court.
Kaye attempts to control her newfound abilities by enlisting the help of a Kelpie to teach her how to use magic. She is soon kidnapped by a group of fairies as planned and is taken to the Unseelie Court to go through the sacrificial ceremony. At the climax of the ceremony, Roiben manages to free her from her bonds before she is killed and get them both safely away from the Court. In the process, he kills the queen of the Unseelie Court and many of her guards.
Kaye and Roiben spend the day at Kaye's home and discover that strange events are affecting the mortal world. Odd reports of mauling and kidnappings are reported on the news and Roiben makes Kaye understand that this is a result of the solitary fey being free for the next seven years. Kaye receives a call from her friend Janet, inviting her to come to a Halloween rave held at the waterfront, she tries to persuade her not to go but fails. She also discovers that Janet's openly gay brother, Corny, has followed a faerie knight he became infatuated with to the court.
After a failed attempt to receive help from her "imaginary" faerie friends, Roiben and Kaye attend the rave. They are separated, and Kaye successfully locates her friends, but briefly leaves them to apologize to Janet's boyfriend for bewitching him earlier in the novel. However, she finds that the kelpie who lives near the waterfront has taken Janet into the water to kill her. In the novel, it is suggested that Janet went with him out of loneliness and a desire to get revenge on her boyfriend for going off with Kaye. Kaye follows but is too late and she manages to convince the kelpie to relinquish her body. Roiben finds Kaye mourning for her friend and gets her home.
Kaye discovers that she is a pixie and has been wearing a human glamour her whole life. This leads her to realize that she was switched at birth and the real Kaye Fierch is some were in the Faerie realm. This also means that her mother is not her real mother, who is totally unaware that Kaye is not her real daughter.
The next morning, she and Roiben travel to the Seelie Court's camp some distance away to see if Corny is there. They reach a dead end but discover that the knight, Nephamael, has proclaimed himself the king of the Unseelie Court. Roiben is suspicious of the situation and thinks that it is a trap for Kaye and him. Later, Roiben's suspicions are proved correct when they enter the Unseelie Court. Nephamael, who had discovered Roiben's true name when Kaye shouted it at the Tithe, uses it to take control over Roiben. He orders him to seize Kaye, but Roiben uses trickery to let her get away. Kaye then devises a plan to poison Nephamael, while Corny and Roiben amuse him. She goes through with it; however, before Nephamael is dead, the Seelie Queen arrives, hoping to take over the court (in which Corny goes slightly insane and stabs Nephamael multiple times, ultimately killing him). Roiben prevents this from happening by claiming the throne as his.
Ironside[]
In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben's coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure only of one thing— her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to him, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye cannot see or speak with Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows does not exist: a faerie who can tell a lie.
Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth— that she is a changeling left in place of her human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother's shock and horror send Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and bring her back to Ironside. But once back in the faerie realm, Kaye and Corny find themselves a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben’s throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it.
Whilst she is in the court, the Seelie queen attempts to make Kaye use Roiben's name by bribing her with the return of the "real" Kaye. Kaye uses a fake name, then escapes with Ethine as a hostage. She later gives Ethine back in exchange for the release of a friend's brother, Luis, previously seen in Valiant.
Kaye then finds out that Roiben is going to have to battle Ethine, not the knight Talathain, who they believed was the Bright Court's champion. She goes to warn Roiben. In order to speak to him, Kaye must complete his quest, and she does, claiming that she can lie, which in itself is an untruth. He beats Ethine but instead of simply killing her, he asks her who she will pass the crown on to. The Seelie queen objects to this, but Roiben declares that his sister has the right to declare her successor even with her last breath. Silarial tells him that if Bright Court will easily defeat the Unseelie Court if they were to fight; Roiben asks her if she will void their previous bargain, and Silarial agrees.
Roiben reveals that he has gathered an army from the exiled fey, which would overwhelm the Seelie Court, but Silarial then threatens Kaye's life. Ethine kills Silarial with the sword she had been given, declaring that Silarial is no longer her Queen. Ethine now holds the crown because she was Silarial's heir, but she chooses to give it to Roiben, saying "Take it and be damned." Roiben states that his sister's hate was a fair price to pay for peace and now rules both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and peace will be held as long as he controls both courts.
Kaye tells Roiben that she plans to open a coffee shop in Ironside and spend half her time in Faerie; she reveals that she was able to say she could lie because "lying" can also mean lying on the ground.
The Cruel Prince[]
Kaye attends the coronation where Balekin Greenbriar stages his unsuccessful coup. She is in Lord Roiben's tent eating Chinese food from the mortal realm with him when Jude Duarte arrives to speak with Lord Roiben about an alliance.
Kaye asks Jude why she cares who gets the throne. Jude tells her that she cares because Faerieland is where she lives and even if she hates it half the time, it's hers.
In special editions of The Cruel Prince Kaye and Roiben can be seen together talking about the cafe that Kaye owns. Kaye tells Roiben that she wants to come to live with him in the Court of Termites, instead of living in the human world and only seeing Roiben occasionally. Roiben is unsure at first but then becomes happy at the news that Kaye wants to live with him.[1]
The Wicked King[]
When Queen Orlagh attacks the Court of Termites, Kaye is injured. Lord Roiben is furious when Cardan does not allow him to retaliate. The unprovoked and lack of retribution was part of the deal to get Jude back from the Undersea, but Lord Roiben can't know this.
The Queen of Nothing[]
While visiting the High Court, Kaye punches Nicasia in the face for the attack that left her badly injured. Kaye now bears a scar that starts at her throat and runs down over her chest. Nicasia's selkie guards rush toward her and get into it with a knight, Ben Evans who had rushed to defend Kaye. Roiben and Jude run to the scene. Jude tells Nicasia that she's lucky that's all Kaye did. She then declares that it is over. Kaye seemingly agrees, and she and Roiben leave.
Relationships []
Roiben[]
"I know he has a consort he favors, though she is of low rank." ― Cardan Greenbriar to Jude Duarte about Roiben and Kaye, The Cruel Prince
Roiben and Kaye are in a romantic relationship. They first meet in the forest when Roiben was being followed by people who were trying to kill him. Roiben and Kaye then formed a friendship and became protective of each other. They later started a relationship which Roiben ends in an attempt to keep Kaye safe. However, they then restarted their relationship at the end of Ironside. Kaye and Roiben will start living together in the Court of Termites after Kaye decided to move from the human realm.
Gallery[]
