Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Garron watched a barrier of bramble erupt in front of us, taller than the cottage and so dense that not a speck of the setting sun’s light shone through.

“Your powers are growing,” he said.

“If that were true, wouldn’t I feel some kind of change in the well?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

“Casting is vastly provoking,” I muttered.

He heard and chuckled. I focused on the bramble barrier and reversed the growth to return it to the individual sticks I’d poked into the ground. Before the barrier finished shrinking, I felt a tingle of warning so strong it stole my breath.

Opening myself, I stretched my senses, searching, and found the trackers. I felt magic coming from a puddle near them. After days of nothing but idly watching us, I felt their intent change.

“They’re going to attack again. Soon. Just after dark.”

Garron’s hand settled on my shoulder.

“You have nothing to fear. We’ve beaten them back twice already.”

“At a cost each time.” I lifted my skirts and jogged to the cottage. “Garron, start the tea. Eadric and Edmund, gather bramble branches. Daemon, go to the cellar and find a bag of peas.”

“Kitten, what’s wrong?” Brandle asked.

“She said they’ll attack again,” Garron said.

“It’s nothing to worry about?—”

“Whatever magic I sensed a moment ago has hardened their resolve. They will not fail again. What means will they use to ensure that if they were willing to burn Liam and eviscerate Edmund previously? I would prefer we not underestimate them.”

“All right. What do you have in mind?”

“They’ve chosen not to fight fair. I see no reason to do so either.”

While Garron and I brewed the healing tea as a precaution, Eadric, Edmund, Liam, and Brandle scattered pieces of bramble around the glade’s perimeter, and Daemon and Darian placed the pea seeds around the cottage and fire.

“You said you sensed magic. Was it from the coins they hold?” Garron asked as we worked.

“No. It came from a nearby puddle…not from it but through it.”

“Through it?”

“Like the coins. I can feel the magic in them and how they connect to the trackers and through the trackers to someone in Drisdall.”

“Is it the same person?”

“Yes.” I stared down at the tea leaves, struggling to maintain calm.

What did it mean that Maeve was communicating with the trackers now? Had something happened to Eloise? Was she in danger, or was my twin acting out, forcing Maeve to need my presence to control her?

Returning with the trackers, willing or otherwise, would not protect my sister.

“Everything is ready,” Brandle said from the door. “I’ve also put out the cooking fire. Do you know when they intend to attack?”

“Once the light fades.”

“I know you feel safer when you’re near us, but I would prefer you somewhere out of reach.”

“Not the cliff,” Darian said, appearing beside him.

“I will go to the roof at dusk then and help as I am able.”

Brandle considered my dark dress and nodded. “Lie low and you should remain hidden.”

At the appointed time, I left Garron to store the tea in the cellar and asked Edmund to boost me to the roof. He kissed my forehead and told me to stay until he fetched me. Then he took the ladder away to stow by the garden fence.

The seven of them returned to their normal places, lounging in their swinging beds and idling around the table to converse as the moon rose higher and the remaining daylight faded from the sky.

Crouched low against the thatching, I followed the trackers’ movements in my mind as they quietly approached. I could feel their concern that the fire wasn’t lit. They’d hoped to use it like last time to distract and disable so they could work as a group to kill one brother at a time. They were determined to take me at all costs.

However, my determination to protect the men of this glade was stronger.

Once they entered the glade, I touched my energy to the hidden bramble, silently growing it in their wake and cutting off their chance to escape.

Edmund started arguing with Daemon and flipped him out of his bed. Daemon came up swinging. The ruse worked to distract the trackers from the wall encircling the glade as they drew closer to their quarry.

The first tracker moved past a patch of pea seeds. I waited as, one by one, they moved forward, unaware of the danger. When the final tracker stepped over the patch, I touched the peas with my intent. Strong thick vines silently erupted from the ground and ensnared his legs, twining upward toward his torso. His muffled grunt of shock had his group spinning back toward him.

The brothers used the distraction to run toward the trackers.

Unaware, the trackers withdrew their blades. Metal glinted in the moonlight, and I felt their rage-filled intent to gut whoever had their companion.

Reminded of what they’d done to Edmund, my fear rose sharply.

No, never again .

I stood, feeling the anger churning in my well.

“Obey me,” I whispered to the vines. “Protect what is mine.”

The vines slithered over the ground, moving faster than Edmund could run, and wound around the trackers’ feet, snaking their way up their legs and torsos. Unable to flee, the trackers hacked at the plants. The vines grew thicker and stronger without needing to be coaxed.

“Your parlor tricks are useless,” one of the trackers snarled. “Give us the girl.”

My intent changed, and the vines snared their hands. Immobile, they could do nothing as offshoots plucked their blades from their grips and brandished them before their faces.

Edmund stopped short at the sight.

His surprise wasn’t shared by the tracker I’d unmanned. That one laughed.

“Are blade-wielding plants meant to strike fear in us? We cannot be harmed by anything made of magic. Release us and take your beatings like men.”

“Take their coins,” I called.

Garron began searching the tracker nearest him, patting his clothes.

“Eh! Remove your bloody hands or lose them.”

Garron dug into the man’s coat and removed a coin. Angry curses rang out in the glade as the rest also lost theirs. The vines held strong against their struggles.

Edmund left the group and jogged back to where I waited. He silently helped me down and walked beside me as we joined the rest.

“Your mother awaits your return,” one of the trackers said when he saw me.

“She is not my mother.”

“And your sister? Is she no kin of yours either?”

With a touch of my will, the vines covered all of their mouths.

“You have no reason to speak of my kin. We will keep your coins and set you free. You fought fiercely, wounding several of the glade’s inhabitants, but your coins were lost in the process. You can choose to leave the forest or allow the oath that binds you to keep you here until the beasts eventually take you all.”

Connected to them through the vines, I removed their memories and replaced them with the new one without touching them.

“Now sleep.”

I faced Brandle. “They are men filled will ill-intent and no remorse. If the opportunity presents itself, they will kill all of you and return me to Drisdall. Yet, knowing this does not change our need to spare them. We cannot become the monsters we are fighting to free ourselves from.”

“We agree,” he said.

I glanced at Edmund and watched him nod.

“We’ll return them to their place and leave them with enough wood to see them through to dawn. After that, their fates are their own,” he said.

Nodding, I withdrew my energy from the vines and watched the men crumple to the ground.

Edmund grabbed a pair by their collars and started dragging them toward the trees. Eadric took two more and winked at me. Liam followed with the final tracker.

I trailed behind them, stopping at the edge of the glade.

“Father?” I called once they’d disappeared.

A set of red eyes moved from deeper within the trees, approaching. He stopped short of the moonlight that shone on the ground several feet from the trees.

“Eloise and I yet need your protection. Please hold onto what remains of your humanity and avoid the trackers.”

“Love,” he growled.

“I love you too, Father.”

He grunted and retreated into the shadows.

Garron came to stand beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist. I met his concerned gaze.

“I feel well,” I said automatically. “No depletion of note.”

He sighed and leaned his head on my shoulder.

“I fear you will attempt to cast a spell beyond your abilities. Be wary of your limits, Kellen, or you truly will leave us like snow.”

I kissed the top of his head and watched the forest for the others’ return. Edmund’s knuckles were raw and split when he joined us. I didn’t question why; I simply told him to fetch the tea.

The first tracker died the following morning. Aware of their intent, I had kept myself open to their presence. He disappeared abruptly, surrounded by the beasts.

“You paled,” Eadric said.

I leaned into Brandle’s warmth and closed my eyes.

“The beasts claimed a tracker’s life.”

Brandle stroked my arm as he said, “They made their choice by not leaving with the dawn. Their fates are their own.”

I nodded and forced myself to take the next bite of oats that Eadric offered.

By dinner, another tracker lost his life. I could feel the fear growing in the remaining three.

“It’s plain that the coins protected them from the beasts,” Garron said. “It’s unfortunate we melted them.”

“Nothing good would have come from keeping those coins,” I said.

That night, I settled between Daemon and Darian. As I closed my eyes, something whispered that danger would come to our door again soon.

I slept fitfully and checked the trackers often. Shortly after dawn, only one tracker remained.

My restlessness grew with each passing minute until I felt it—magic from a pool of water near the tracker. A tingle of warning, unlike anything I’d ever felt, washed over me, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Danger.

Death.

Fear flooded me, and I reached for the bramble. It burst from the ground, creating a dense, impenetrable barrier.

“Kellen? Love?” Liam said from beside me. “What is it?”

I opened my mouth, but my throat tightened, trapping the words I desperately wanted to speak.

She’s coming.

“Kellen?” Brandle said, clasping my chin.

His warm gaze held mine as I struggled with what Maeve’s arrival would mean. The charms would keep them safe, wouldn’t they? I thought of all the times I’d lost control and hadn’t hurt them. But Maeve wasn’t me. She understood how to cast. I’d seen what she could do, and the tracker was right that my abilities were parlor tricks in comparison.

“Kellen. Kitten. What’s wrong?”

“I’m afraid,” I said.

“You’re not alone. We’re here,” he said.

His fierce embrace didn’t make me feel safer, only more desperate. I couldn’t let them face Maeve. Not yet. I could protect them against the trackers, but in my heart, I knew they would not be safe from her when she arrived.

I wrapped my arms around Brandle in return and held him for several long minutes. When I pulled back, I smiled reassuringly enough that he released me.

“The remaining tracker won’t last much longer, and with each passing day, I fear more for my sister. Can we begin to prepare to travel to Turre while I work to break your curse?”

Brandle’s gaze shifted from me to his brothers.

“Waiting may be the problem,” Daemon said. “Worry is a distraction.”

I frowned, uncertain of what he meant, even as Darian and Liam nodded their agreement. Did they believe my worry for Eloise was distracting me from breaking their curse?

“I believe it would benefit us all to start making arrangements,” Brandle said.

“Agreed,” Eadric said. “We should attend to the mines first since it will take several days.”

The rest echoed their agreement.

“All right,” Brandle said. “With one tracker remaining, four can go to the mines, and three shall stay. Kellen isn’t left alone for any reason.”

They decided amongst themselves that Edmund, Liam, and Daemon would stay with me while the others went to the mines.

I kissed them farewell and did my best to hide my fears as that tingle of warning continued to grow. Brandle saw through me, though. He kissed my forehead and promised they would work hard to do what was needed quickly.

“We will return at dusk.”

What had begun as a whisper grew to a roar. The warning refused to be ignored.

Maeve was coming.

Fighting the urge to stretch my senses toward Drisdall, I focused on preparing a stew for the evening meal and checked on the tracker. He was surrounded by beasts and wouldn’t likely live to see the light of a new day.

Daemon stayed beside me, helping with whatever I needed while Edmund sparred with Liam.

“You seem distracted, Lamb,” Daemon said, watching me.

“I am. I’m wondering what’s happening back home. Something feels wrong, and it has me on edge.”

He caught my skirt and drew me back to his lap to comfort me with some cuddles.

“Will you tell me more about your sister?” he asked.

“Eloise is the sun to my moon,” I said. “Golden hair and golden skin with a welcoming personality. On the surface. Cross her and she will lob a rock at your head with practiced accuracy. Yet, for all her fierceness, she is like me. A defenseless young woman.”

Daemon snorted. “It would be amiss to consider you defenseless, Lamb. Do you not see the barrier surrounding this glade?”

I twisted to scowl at him. “The tracker from a kingdom without magic called what I can do a parlor trick, Daemon. What do you think that means? He knows there are far more powerful casters than me out there. So, yes, against those who seek to harm me, I remain a defenseless young woman.”

Enlightenment glinted in his gaze.

“The mother who is not a mother is a strong caster,” he said.

I said nothing as my heart thundered in my tight chest.

“Breathe, Lamb. Our vow to protect you remains unchanged.”

His words affirmed my worst fear—they would stand with me, even if it meant their quick deaths.

Near dusk, the forest shivered. I had no explanation for the feeling other than it knew something dangerous had entered its expanse.

I checked the lid on my well, willing it to remain sealed at all costs.

Perhaps, if I remained hidden, she wouldn’t find us.

The others returned, laughing and animated by their achievements. While they washed, I served the stew and gently expanded my senses. The weather would hold and continue to warm—a cloak wouldn’t be needed during the day any longer unless it rained. The beasts were restless and had surrounded the tracker, waiting for his meager fire to give out. However, the tracker didn’t fear them. His calm had grown with each passing hour, which didn’t bode well for us.

I considered leaving the bramble barrier around the glade but worried she would sense my touch in the obstruction, so I withdrew my intent and watched it wither. No one commented on its absence as we retired for the evening.

As I lay between Brandle and Garron, I silently begged my mother to stay Maeve’s hand until after they left the next day.

Restless, I slept little and checked the tracker often.

Before dawn, I felt his change: excitement, adoration, and lust, which grew even as his life’s energy faded to nothing.

“Are you cold?” Brandle asked, feeling my tremble.

“Afraid,” I said truthfully. He would know it regardless. “I know you worked hard yesterday. Can you leave at first light today? I made biscuits you can take with you.”

He petted my hair and agreed. “Wake the others.”

I watched him stand and pull his shirt on then I turned to kiss Garron’s chest. His hand moved on my hip as he woke with a soft grunt.

“Good morning, Snow,” he said softly.

“Good morning. Brandle agreed to leave for the mines at first light. He told me to wake everyone.”

A sleepy smile tugged at Garron’s lips. “Wise of him.”

He kissed my forehead then slipped from bed to allow me to wake Eadric next. I could feel he was pretending and knew he likely planned something indecent. Impatience tugged at me, but I pushed it back. Worried or not, if I acted too out of character, they would not leave quickly.

So I woke him with a light kiss on his cheek and found myself pinned underneath him, my legs wrapped around his waist and held in place.

“I have a better idea to wake the rest.”

He arched into me, sending a spark of unneeded pleasure through me.

“Eadric, Brandle is?—”

Eadric sat up suddenly, keeping my legs around his waist as he lifted me. Then he dipped his head and sucked my nipple into his mouth through the thin material of my shift. A small sound escaped me at the feeling, and I threaded my fingers through his hair to keep him there. His hands encouraged me to move my hips, grinding me against his hard length and feeding the growing pleasure.

Lips brushed the side of my neck as Edmund’s hands stroked my sides. They caught on my hem and slowly drew my shift up. Eadric broke away briefly, allowing his twin to remove what kept him from directly kissing my skin. I shivered when he shifted his attention to the other breast and kneaded my bare backside.

Tipping my head back, I allowed Eadric more access and sighed in pleasure. Eadric lifted my hips off his hard length, and a second later, I felt Edmund’s fingers brushing through my folds from behind. They worked together to shatter my composure quickly.

Panting and relaxed, I dropped my head to Eadric’s shoulder and shivered as Edmund slowly inserted a finger into my spasming opening.

“Have we appropriately repaid you for waking us so prettily?” Edmund asked, dropping a kiss on my shoulder.

I nodded as he carefully stroked his finger in and out of me.

Eadric’s hand left my hip to explore my folds with his brother.

“You’re taking his finger so much better, Sparrow,” Eadric said, kissing my temple. His finger joined his brother’s slowly pushing into me. I tensed. Edmund bit my shoulder lightly, and I spasmed around his finger as he withdrew. When he inserted it again, it was with Eadric’s. The burn, as I struggled to accommodate the intrusion, drew a whimper from me.

Eadric’s thumb circled my nub. “Better?” he asked.

“I would feel better with no fingers,” I said.

Eadric chuckled. “Perhaps, but then our cocks would likely hurt when you’re finally ready for more.”

“Language,” Garron said weakly. I lifted my head and saw he stood in the doorway with his back to us. Only Eadric and Edmund remained in the cottage. I kissed Eadric’s neck in gratitude for their thoughtfulness then carefully moved against their fingers.

“Good,” Eadric crooned. “Just like that. Accept as much as you can. Relax, and it will be easier.”

As my heartbeat slowly settled, they worked their fingers in and out of me until they moved without any resistance. Wet squelches sounded in the cottage as they stopped working together and moved in opposite directions.

“It’s time,” Brandle called.

“Edmund looks like he would rather cut off his own?—”

“Shut up, Eadric,” Edmund snapped, withdrawing his finger.

Eadric gave me a playful kiss and stood, carefully setting me on my feet.

“I’ll stay with you today. Let’s dress you.”

Dressing me involved kissing as much of me as possible and more fondling until I batted his hand away. When he walked me to the privy, the others were waiting by the garden. I kissed Edmund, Garron, Liam, and Daemon goodbye and went to the table to join Brandle and Darian.

Darian pulled me into his lap and nuzzled my neck as Eadric offered me a bite of biscuit.

“The sounds you make when you find your release will be the death of me,” Darian said.

“She took two fingers today,” Eadric said proudly as I flushed scarlet.

“Please refrain from sharing the details of our time together in front of me,” I said.

Eadric nodded and fed me another bite. “I apologize, Sparrow. I forgot myself in my excitement. You did so well.”

I closed my eyes as I chewed and felt something to the south. Barely a caress on my consciousness, the small space of nothingness would have been easy to overlook. Yet, once I perceived it, I couldn’t pretend it didn’t exist.

We were being watched.

Maeve had found us.

Panic bubbled in the well, but I gave it no chance to escape. I needed to find a means to send them away. Brandle wouldn’t agree to leaving me alone, though. Perhaps, if I?—

A rumble vibrated under our feet. Rock grated and groaned behind the cottage.

“No,” Brandle yelled.

Dropping his bowl, he went running toward the sound. Eadric’s eyes went wide, and he raced after his brother.

Without willing it to happen, I sensed Daemon, Edmund, Liam, and Garron. Unhurt but aware of the danger they faced, they hurried to the nearest supports in the mine. They knew their brothers would come for them.

I stood so Darian could follow. But he didn’t. He grabbed my arm and started pulling me with him.

Knowing I needed to stay, I balked.

“Wait, Darian. They’ll be injured. Let me go to the cottage to gather supplies.

He looked at me, his eyes wild, and I caught his face between my palms.

“Breathe. Focus. Save your brothers, and don’t forget my sister needs you.”

“We won’t, Princess. Thank you.”

He kissed me quickly, and I released him.

After he disappeared around the side of the cottage, I turned and found Maeve standing behind me. Although only a little over a month had passed, she looked nothing like the vibrant woman I’d known. Barefoot, hem covered in dirt, and twigs stuck in her long grey hair, she’d aged several decades.

“‘Ello, dearie,” she crooned with a kind smile that showed missing teeth. “If not for the noise, I would have missed this haven.”

“I doubt that, Maeve,” I said.

Slowly, she straightened from her stooped stance.

“Your eyes gave you away,” I said. “While the rest of you has changed, those have not. Have you come to take me home since the men you sent failed so abysmally?”

Through Eloise, I’d learned the danger of provoking Maeve. Yet, I dared not pass idle time with false pleasantries when any of the brothers could return abruptly.

She considered me for a long moment.

“No, I don’t believe it wise to return you to your sister. It is best to keep you here. You have much to learn.”

“Oh?”

“Your cool regard spared you in the past. We will see if it continues to serve you well in the future.” She plucked the best apple from the basket she held and offered it to me. “Eat the apple and spare your sister. Refuse it and I will unleash such horror onto Eloise that she will forget her own name. The choice is yours.”

Without hesitation, I took the apple and bit into it.

Maeve’s wicked grin grew as I swallowed the bite.

“Sleep well, Kellen,” she said.

The spell coursed through me, settling into my bones. Everything went dark, and I collapsed to the ground, still very aware.

Fingers brushed the hair back from my face.

“You are truly a beauty. If you ever wake, no man of worth will ever want you. This, my sweet daughter, will be your greatest fall.”