Chapter Twelve

By the time Kincaid made it back to éire Danu, his unit brothers were waiting for him in the queen's antechamber. Off to one side he saw his mate and Cody and over where Meryn had been running everything Aiden now sat with her in his lap as she yawned and got comfortable.

Aeson hurried over. "Is it true, he's okay?"

Kincaid smiled. "He's better than okay. They have him resting now, but he should be home by tomorrow. Rheia is amazing. I don't know how she did the miraculous things I saw without magic." He motioned with hand like he was sewing. "She was stitching up veins."

Aeson's eyes widened with admiration. "Then we will have to send her an extra special "Snack Party" starter kit."

He was about to turn to his mate when she was suddenly at his side. "You're okay right? Meryn said you had been shot."

He leaned down and kissed her gently. "I'm fine. Heath patched me up so I could help Leon. Just feeling a bit bruised."

He saw Cody watching everything with huge eyes. "Did you take care of Ms. Zadie while I was gone?" he asked, in a serious tone.

The little boy nodded solemnly. "I even kissed her forehead to make her feel better."

"Excellent work! We'll make a warrior out of you yet."

Cody beamed.

Kincaid looked around. "Where are the other kids?"

Zadie pointed to the courtyard. "They wanted to help, so Kyrn got them settled at the house and they began setting up the classroom." She kissed the top of Cody's head. "Someone became an escapee," she teased.

Cody twisted in her arms to look up at her. "I hadta help you."

"You did great." He blushed when his stomach growled.

Cord appeared by the kitchen entryway. "I have food prepared for everyone."

Cody turned to Kincaid. "Ms. Bayberry said she was making your favorites, I wanna try those."

Kincaid brightened. "She did?" He turned to Cord. "We'll be having dinner at home tonight."

The squire smiled. "Should we expect you in the morning?"

He looked at his mate and they both turned to look at Meryn. Kincaid nodded. "Probably not a bad idea. I have a feeling we'll be recapping and getting everyone up to speed."

"Very good. Have a wonderful evening," Cord said, gave a half bow then began to herd the warriors into the seating area for dinner.

Kincaid took his mate's hand. "Let's go home."

*****

"Oh, thank the gods you're okay!" his mother exclaimed, pulling him into her arms. "We would get updates here and there, but we mostly kept the children entertained." She pointed to the two long tables in the dining room. "I made your favorite, Beef Burgundy." She steered them to the table and the three of them sat down.

Cody eyed the bowl. "I like the carrots. I helped in the kitchen, and she gave one to me before it went into the pot."

Draven leaned over. "Me too!" he ruffled Cody's hair.

Kincaid watched them feeling proud. It couldn't be easy sharing your parents with other kids, but it looked like his brothers and sisters simply viewed the Eirson kids as more brothers and sisters. "Not so outnumbered now, are you?" he asked Draven.

His youngest brother grinned. "Nope! There's tons more boys now. I always have someone to play with."

Around the table Kyrn helped his parents serve the kids, making sure everyone had a napkin and a drink. Kincaid noticed that the kids were all wearing different clothes now. "When did the clothes arrive?"

His mother broke out into a huge smile. "A wonderful woman named Baba brought everything by. She said she couldn't help the survivors, but she could help the kids. They had an amazing afternoon picking out new clothes and then writing ‘Thank you' cards to Baba and the warriors."

Kincaid sat back and simply absorbed the warmth of the room. It was full of life and laughter, a stark difference to what he saw on their mission.

Zadie took his hand. "This is worth fighting for, isn't it?" she asked.

"Every time."

He ended up eating two full bowls of stew and only got up when the kids began yawning. He was about to help get them to bed when Kyrn shook his head. "I can handle this. I think your family should introduce yourselves to Aldrya, she's been waiting for you."

His mother tittered nervously. "I don't know if it's proper we should meet her."

Kyrn smiled warmly down at the triplet sisters. "Nonsense. She's been wanting to see you." He grimaced slightly. "At least you won't get an earful like I did."

Kincaid turned and scooped up Ember. His father and mother both picked up his other sisters. Together they walked out back to the large garden area. Like before, the birch tree with its white bark along with the snow made everything look magical.

"Aldrya, we're here," he called out.

From the center of the tree the spirit appeared then glided toward them. "More babies! I will never tire of the sight of them," she said, reaching for Ember.

He passed his sister to the smiling guardian. "Hello little one, my name is Aldrya."

Ember reached up and touched the spirit's white hair. "Pretty!"

Aldrya turned to his parents. "It is not an easy task to raise the children of others, especially when you have so many of your own. Why take this on?"

His mother smiled down at Enid. "How could we not?" She cuddled his sister closely. "All I can think of is, ‘what if something happened to us?' I would want my children to be able to stay together and not be raised apart. After everything the Eirson children have been through, I believe they are owed that at the very least."

Aldrya nodded slowly. "It may become a thankless task. Your own children may feel neglected and resentful."

Draven spoke up. "No, we won't. Momma says that love only grows. With all the new kids we'll have a ton of love to go around. If momma and papa are busy, we can always go to Aeron or Aralea." He scrunched up his nose. "We'd also go to Kincaid, but momma says he'll be busy being mated for a while."

Kincaid felt his cheeks flush.

Aldrya simply laughed. "Being mated can be time consuming," she said, then looked at him her eyes twinkling. "What of you Master Witch? You would not only have to share your family but also your mate."

"I feel the same as Draven, it's not taking something from me when I get so much from it as well. I started with five brothers and sisters, now I have over twenty. We had our parents, but now we have you and Kyrn." He shrugged. "I guess I just saw it as my family getting bigger."

Aldrya was contemplative, then finally turned to his mate. "What do you think?"

Zadie looked up at him and when he looked into her eyes, it was as if he could see love itself. "I have never been happier in my life."

Aldrya handed Ember to Giles, then walked over to the side of the garden. "From this moment forth, the Bayberry family will be under my protection." She lifted her arms and green leaves and branches began to spill forth from the ground.

He watched in amazement as a huge bayberry bush grew along one side of the garden.

Aldrya turned to them. "Welcome to House Eirson. Thank you, for taking care of my children."

Not knowing what else to do, his mother just stepped forward and hugged the spirit.

Aldrya's eyes widened, and she let out tinkling laughter. "I can see now why your children have such large hearts."

His mother stepped back wiping at her eyes. "Thank you, for giving us a home, when ours is no longer safe for us to return to."

Aldrya looked back at the large shrub. "You will always have a place here," she said, then faded back into her tree.

"Just when I thought I had seen it all," his father said, bouncing Hazel.

"Jessup, let's get the kids to bed. It's been a long day for everyone," his mother suggested.

Kincaid gave everyone hugs and kisses and watched as his parents corralled the kids into the house to get ready for bed.

A warm hand took his. "Are you sure you're okay?" Zadie asked.

He placed her hand on his side. "See? Not even a scratch. The bad guys just got in a lucky shot."

"Was it bad?"

He looked over to the lone birch tree and nodded. "One day later we would have lost them all."

She gave his hand a squeeze. "Let's go to bed. Let's just go upstairs cuddle and go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll start again."

He brought her hand up and kissed it. "Great idea."

With her at his side and his family under the same roof, he truly felt like he had come home.

*****

The next afternoon, Kincaid looked around the dining table in the queen's chambers and couldn't fight the growing pit of dread in his stomach. The queen was still sleeping in her room, exhausted beyond measure and Brennus was pacing around the room like a caged animal.

Outside, though several hours after dawn, the sky remained dark and grey. There was no hint of the sun anywhere.

"I don't want theories. I want to help Auntie!" Meryn exclaimed. "You all are like old and stuff, what can we do to help?"

Kendrick looked away, unable to answer.

Thane sighed. "Meryn, she's tired."

"Give her coffee."

Law shook his head and reached across Aiden to take her hand. "Meryn, her soul is tired."

Meryn's face scrunched up. "What is coffee for the soul?"

Aiden simply leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Sometimes baby, there isn't anything anyone can do."

"Fucking bullshit!"

"Little Meryn, try to eat something. I brought Sebastian's new pudding for you to sample," Cord said, setting a bowl in front of her.

Kincaid noticed that the squire looked pale and wan. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he looked thinner.

He saw that Darian was also staring at the squire.

"Coffee for the soul," Darian whispered. He stood. "Cord, cease your efforts, I'll take it from here."

Cord looked like he was about to argue, but Darian raised his hand.

The squire placed a fist over his heart and bowed.

"Whatcha doin?" Meryn asked.

"A little trick I learned from Bronwyn."

Aiden frowned. "Marius' mate?"

Darian nodded and went to the queen's bedroom.

Meryn looked up at her mate. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

"No clue," Aiden replied.

"Great, just fucking great," Meryn muttered.

After a few minutes the door to the queen's bedroom opened and Darian escorted his mother out to them, her hand on his arm. She was yawning but was otherwise awake and alert.

Brennus rushed to her side. "How do you feel, my love?"

"Like I could still sleep for a few more days, but my head is clear," she answered.

Cord began piling as many food options as would fit around the queen's place setting.

The queen eyed everything and shook her head. "I'm not that hungry."

Meryn stood from her seat and dug around in her bag. She walked over to the queen with two foiled wrapped objects. "You hafta try my Toast'Ems . Kincaid brought them for me, they're a favorite from when I was as kid."

The queen looked like she was going to protest, but smiled instead as Meryn struggled with the foil wrapper. Once open, she placed two flat pastries on the empty plate in front of the queen. She then opened the second package and did the same. "This one is my favorite. Brown sugar and cinnamon. This one is frosted strawberry. Now. You can eat them like this, which is what I had to do cuz I wasn't allowed to use anything in the kitchen, but you can toast them or even microwave them." She pointed to the brown sugar and cinnamon one. "I like this one microwaved because the sugar gets gooey. The strawberry one is good toasted because it's like a little pie."

The queen looked around for a fork.

Meryn wagged a finger at her. "Nu uh. You just pick it up and eat it, like Cord's scones."

The queen picked up the one with the brown frosting and took a bite. Surprise lit up her eyes. "It's so light, but also very sweet." To everyone's relief she quickly finished the first one and started on one of the strawberry ones. "I can see what you mean. If this were crispy it would be like a small tart." She smiled. "These are wonderful. I wasn't very hungry, but they were easy to eat." She turned to Cord. "Do you think you could make a homemade version of this? I think it would be healthier for Meryn to eat than store bought with preservatives."

Cord looked intrigued. "I will consider it a challenge."

Meryn broke the second strawberry one in half and munched on it. "But, what if it's the preservatives that make it yummy?"

Cord raised a brow. "How do you think those would taste with fae cinnamon?"

Meryn's eyes widened. "That would be amazing."

"I had two boys for so long, but having a girl brings different kinds of joys," the queen said and kissed Meryn's forehead.

Meryn flushed red. "I'm just sharing my favorite breakfast with ya."

Behind them Portia opened the door. "Your Majesty, you have guests."

The queen looked around the table, clearly at a loss as to who it could be.

Portia cleared her throat. "Elder Marshall Ironwood and Lady Lily Camden to see the queen."

"My other Auntie," Meryn whispered.

Portia stepped to one side and allowed the couple to walk in.

"Meryn! Amelia!" Lily exclaimed, rushing forward, her arms open wide.

"Mother! Auntie!" Both Meryn and Amelia squealed, then ran to meet her halfway.

"Let me look at the both of you," Lily leaned back and eyed them both. "Both of our girls here, where we couldn't get to you and both pregnant at that."

Kincaid realized that it was the first time Amelia hadn't seen her parents in person since she found out she was with child.

"Marshall! I think Meryn has lost weight," Lily said, turning the smaller woman about.

Giggling, Meryn turned. "I'm fine."

Lily then looked over Amelia. "My baby. You're absolutely glowing." She went to sniffle, then shook her head. "I have to be strong if I'm going to be a grandmother." She looked back to Meryn. "We would have been here sooner, but the council was having closed door meetings, so we wanted to keep an eye on things at home for a bit."

Meryn hugged her aunt. "You're here now."

Marshall walked past his mate to bow to the queen. "Thank you for seeing us, despite the lack of notice."

The queen stood as did Brennus. "Nonsense! You're family now. Meryn is Eamon's daughter and of course Amelia is my son's mate. You will always have access to the palace and to my chambers."

Thane, Law and Justice greeted Marshall. "Father."

Marshall gave them all a smile. "You always indulge me. How have you boys been?"

Law put his hand to his forehead. "We have two baby sisters who are with child to look after, we're exhausted."

Marshall simply raised an eyebrow. "Still doing the bare minimum then?"

Thane and Justice laughed.

Brennus stepped forward and clasped arms with Marshall. "Hail and welcome.

Marshall clapped Brennus' other shoulder with his hand. "Has Amelia been behaving?" he asked, releasing the warrior's greeting.

"Of course."

There was a moment of quiet.

"I notice you didn't ask if I had been good Uncle Marshall," Meryn called out.

"I know better. I'm mated to your aunt, whom you very much take after."

Marshall cleared his throat, then brought up his hand. Moments later the air around them flexed and popped.

Zadie looked up at him. "Soundproofing?"

Kincaid nodded. "A pretty strong one at that. He is one of our Elders," he said, proudly.

Marshall then looked to Kendrick then to the queen. "We may have a slight problem."

Behind them Lily snorted. "Slight problem my ass! If I had a quarter of the power, you do I would have incinerated the lot of them."

Brennus eyed Lily. "She really does take after you."

Marshall winced. "I might have let her this time too."

The queen motioned to the table. "Let us sit down."

Once everyone was seated Marshall continued. "I'm not sure how much you know, but a few days ago, the Witches Council sent enforcers out for the first time."

Kendrick leaned back. "We know. We may have inadvertently caused that."

Marshall eyed his niece. "Why am I not surprised?"

Meryn looked indignant. "It wasn't me this time! I swearsies!"

Kincaid leaned in. "Elder, I'm Kincaid Bayberry. This particular infraction was my doing."

Zadie spoke up. "Let's be fair, I'm the one that pepper-gel'd the witch council representative."

Lily choked on her tea as she began to laugh. "I would have paid good money to see that."

Marshall shook his head. "The enforcers were going practically door to door looking for ‘persons of interest', yet even when I pressed them for more information, they would not tell me what was going on."

Kendrick pointed to Kincaid. "A witch representative here in éire Danu saw his third power come online."

Marshall's eyes widened. "Third?"

Kincaid nodded nervously. "Yes, Elder."

Marshall looked to Kendrick. "Your doing?"

Kendrick just sat back looking very smug. "No, that was all on his own."

"Well, no wonder they were more batshit crazy than normal," Lily observed. "Though why they were in the Lower City…" she gasped. "Your family?"

Kincaid smiled reassuringly. "Safe. Kendrick was able to get to them in time."

Law pointed to Marshall. "We swung by to get you, but we must have missed you by no more than an hour. We gave Caiden a heads up, so he organized the warriors and their families."

Marshall shook his head. "When we heard about the patrols we went directly to the Council building. When we didn't get any answers, we tried using the portal to come here, but it was shut down."

The queen sat forward. "Excuse me?"

Lily picked up her teacup. "It's why we're late in arriving, we had to drive over twenty hours south to Noctem Falls to take their portal here."

The walls around them flexed and the floor beneath their feet vibrated. "Portia!" the queen called.

"I'm here, Your Majesty."

"Bring me the communication crystal," she ordered.

Portia took in the queen's brusque tone and practically ran from the room to fetch the crystal.

Minutes later she returned with Molvan at her side, carrying the crystal. Gently he placed it down on the table.

The queen turned to them. "Please do not let them know you are here unless I call on you to speak." With that she tapped the crystal.

"Storm Keep Witches Council, how can I help you?"

"Put me through to the council immediately," the queen ordered.

"May I ask who is calling?"

The queen simply placed her hand on the crystal.

They heard the sound of stone on stone and a startled yelp.

"I moved your pedestal closer to your face so that you may read my signet easier."

"Forgive me for not noticing earlier, Your Majesty, give me one moment to take this crystal directly to the council," the male voice said, tripping over themselves.

They heard the quick staccato of footsteps running in a hallways before the receptionist announced their call. "Forgive the intrusion, I have Queen Aleksandra of éire Danu calling for the council." There was a brief pause. "I will leave this crystal here and see myself out."

Meryn had to cover her mouth with both hands to keep her laughter silent.

"Your Majesty, to what do we owe this honor?" a male voice inquired.

"I demand an explanation."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you…"

"Do not play dumber than you really are Brugmansia. Why is the portal from Storm Keep closed?"

"Given all that has happened in éire Danu, we, of course have security concerns," he answered, smoothly.

"You know as well as I do, that the type of portals established in other pillar cities can only be opened and closed by the fae. Why would they present a security risk?"

"Things in éire Danu must be extremely dire if your unit assigned witches are gaining second and third elemental powers," he answered.

"I do not keep track of the warriors. My concern is with the portals that I created as part of an alliance I made with Storm Keep. Part of that alliance states that the fae has full control of the portal and that the land it rests on is considered a part of éire Danu. You did not have permission to take it offline."

"We are only acting in the best interests of our people. If Kincaid Bayberry were to return to Storm Keep for evaluation, we could possibly make the determination if his additional powers came online to keep himself safe."

"You will have to request that of Aiden McKenzie, I have no say over unit warriors."

"We have submitted that request, however, the Lycaonia council refuses to pass on our concerns."

"That, isn't my problem. Summon Salundro Vi'Ilkyan to the council chambers."

"It may take some time to find him," Brugmansia said, in a stalling fashion.

"You have three minutes. After that I will open up a new portal to Storm Keep and send my personal guard to find him. You will not like the results."

"One moment."

The line went quiet.

After nearly three minutes Brugmansia came back. "He is here, Your Majesty."

"Salundro, go maith ar fad ?" she asked, in a musical language.

" Nil, tá an chomhghuaillíocht briste ," he replied.

The queen's back went ramrod straight. "Salundro, it has been too long since you have basked in the light of the fae. I will open a temporary portal for you to return home."

"Thank you, my queen."

"We really must insist…" Brugmansia began.

"You would do well to never stand between me and my children," the queen advised in a deadly tone.

Darian stood and went to the far side of the room and opened a portal.

Moments later a very relieved looking fae stepped through.

"Since you are opening up a temporary portal, can we ask that you send the twins Nigel and Neil Morninglory to Storm Keep?"

"Once again, I have no jurisdiction over the warriors," the queen replied.

"They are not warriors. With Travis Hickory and Leif Grassfield being reassigned to Noctem Falls, the twins returned to a probationary status. Normally, that would mean they would be receiving instruction from family members to get them to where they need to be, but the twins are orphans. The council will take over their education."

The twins looked at each other and they both nodded. Kincaid knew what that look meant. These two would go rogue before going back to Storm Keep.

Meryn stood up so fast she knocked her chair over. She reached into her small Bag of Wishes and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She ran around the table and handed it to the queen.

The queen skimmed it, a smile forming on her lips. "Brugmansia, you say that the twins have no family, but it was to my understanding that they were adopted by Meryn McKenzie as her brothers."

"We received no such request."

"Why would you? Adoption would have been a civil matter, it was approved by the Elder Council," she informed him, grinning wickedly.

"Which one?" he asked.

"I would have to verify, but I'm pretty sure I heard Jedrek Lionhart speaking of it weeks ago, all four councils approved the adoption. Not only does that mean they have family, that makes them my family."

"Impossible!"

Darian closed the portal.

"Karl Brugmansia, I consider the alliance between Storm Keep and éire Danu broken. If you wish to reestablish cordial relations, I am willing to work with your Elder Council. Until then, the gifted portals from our nation to yours will remained closed."

"I see," he replied in a clipped tone.

"Have a wonderful day."

She tapped the crystal and its inner light faded.

"Did that just happen?" Kincaid whispered.

Around the table, everyone looked to one another.

"Izzy, I'm gonna need more coffee," Meryn said, walking back over to her chair. Ryuu righted it for her, and she sat down. "Lots more coffee."