Torsten must not have liked William very much.
“Kaila is going to bury him,” Victoria stated like her brother’s impending demise was no big deal.
William was a big boy and he had brought it onto himself. Why couldn’t he have just let Jill go?
“Does my daughter have a good reason to be upset?” Torsten asked. He didn’t dispute what his daughter may do to a royal prince.
Victoria clammed up.
Ice cracking in her glass broke the silence.
Each little fracture of the cubes made something visceral knot in her. It was the sound of a stick breaking behind you when you were alone on a dark path.
“Kaila must have already been upset when Elizabeth came home bleeding,” Jaeson said.
“No, Jill healed—”
Victoria shoved pie in her mouth.
“We talked to the chalk merchant,” Torsten said. “Alexander told you about the field we found, where the townspeople complained of a very noisy fight, and I found the remains of an advanced amplification circle that none of the villagers could have drawn.”
She wished so bad that Victor was here, and then suddenly he was, and she just wished he had waited five more minutes.
“Tor, what is General Ansulf talking about?” her brother asked in his oh, so calm, but completely furious voice.
Childhood Monsters
Victoria swung her panicked gaze to Jill, determined that the other witch would join her for this interrogation.
It wasn’t even about Victoria, after all.
“Come, sit, your grandfather has some questions for you,” she said. “He says Will was worried about you and sent him to check on your safety,” Victoria added, telling Jill everything she knew in her look that said, we’re screwed.
The rubies in Victor’s right ear glowed with fire magic just barely contained.
“I’ll need to clarify for Will again just who is responsible for Jill’s safety,” her twin said, purposefully looking at each of the three vampires sitting down.
Jaeson rose from his seat beside Victoria, so Jill could slide in. They definitely were divided by sides and now the real battle was ready to start.
“Jill’s grandfather is the most responsible for her since Kaila’s husband is dead,” Jaeson reminded Victor as her twin slid in next to Jill.
“Not anymore,” Jill said, without explaining it. She looked down, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.
The rules of guardianship in Maeren were clear. There was only one way a witch could have her family’s guardianship overruled.
“Vic inked you already?” Victoria asked, surprised.
No wonder they took so long. She should have known her twin wouldn’t have let Jill meet her grandfather without protection.
She looked at Jill’s intricate hairstyle a little closer. “Water braids?” she asked her brother, really surprised now.
He had never put traditional water braids on one of his harem witches before. Did Jill realize what this meant?
“You said your brother had not claimed Jill,” Torsten reminded her.
“It’s very recent. Jill says she has never met you,” Victor commented as he took a seat.
Ha. The general had lied earlier.
Victoria noticed her twin take Jill’s hand, closest to him, and pull it onto his lap, holding it under the table. He gave it a squeeze and Jill straightened.
“My granddaughter is right, we’ve never met. My daughter and I had a disagreement over her husband and we never resolved it before . . . I was told my daughter and granddaughters perished in a tragic accident. The damage was so catastrophic to their castle that there were rumours of dragons being involved, but I knew better,” Torsten said.
“Not all monsters look that way on the outside,” Jill whispered.
Torsten reached for his whiskey glass, then stopped before his fingers did more than brush its sides, pulling his arm back.
Victoria could see he was struggling with how to respond, but Jill was looking down and didn’t see how devastated her grandfather was by her words.
“Witches should not have been fighting monsters alone,” Jaeson said. “Kaila was always too stubborn to ask for help.”
“My mother did nothing wrong. She saved us, hid us to protect Liz from—”
Victoria could sympathize. It was hard not to defend herself and her family, to keep quiet about their long-protected secrets.
“What did Elizabeth need protection from?” Torsten asked, finding his voice, and it was powerful.
He had treated Victoria with kid gloves earlier, but now that he was getting to the heart of the threats against his family?
He was demonstrating why he was known as one of the most effective generals the army had seen.
Torsten was not going to be denied protecting his family any longer.
“Don’t you think we should start with greetings and some refreshment for Jill before you start digging up the past?” Victor prompted and it wasn’t just a suggestion.
He rang the little service bell.
“Hello, grandfather. Hello, other vampires that couldn’t even take down a single dragon when it was three to one,” greeted Jill, showing a bit more of her fire now that Victor had her back.
“He was a very big dragon,” Alexander said.
Somebody kicked him under the table. He was stuck between Torsten and Jaeson, so it could have been either one—or maybe both at the same time.
Jill ordered stew and a glass of water. She had wanted milk, but the staff had looked at her askance and she had quickly modified her drink to what Victoria was having and looked back down.
Victor sighed. He drummed the fingers of one hand on the table.
“General, may I call you Torsten while we are dining?” Victor asked.
“Yes,” came the quick reply.
“Can Jill call you Torsten as well, if she is more comfortable?” Victor asked.
A little more hesitation but Torsten agreed again.
“Jill, I am providing you with an escort. Your safety is my priority. I would not have let you come down here if I really thought that Torsten would do you harm,” Victor said.
“I can protect myself,” Jill muttered to the table.
“We are all aware of your strengths, which you demonstrated,” Victor said, annoyance creeping into his voice. “I’m just reminding you and Torsten that I’m not going to let anything happen to you, so meet Torsten’s eyes and ask your questions.”
Torsten cleared his throat. “I’m not a threat to my own granddaughter,” he protested.
“Why didn’t you come for us before?” Jill asked. She looked up.
“I didn’t know you were alive. You were probably too young to remember, but your home was completely destroyed,” Torsten said.
“He dug through it stone by stone, looking for any hint that any of you had survived,” Jaeson said, sounding surprisingly bitter.
“I remember the fire,” Jill said. “I wasn’t too young. The memory was scorched into me.”
“We did search Maeren for you. Only your father’s body was found, so I hoped that Kaila had taken you and Elizabeth somewhere safe. I never gave up,” Torsten said. “I still visit the ruins of your home every summer to see if there is some hint I’ve missed.”
The food arrived but Jill didn’t pick up her fork.
“Try something,” Victor encouraged. “You need to build your blood if you’re going to be protecting yourself much more,” he added
“Liz said not to trust you,” Jill said, breaking up the dumpling on top of her stew with her fork and releasing the steamy contents below. “Our mother never mentioned her father, good or bad, but she rarely talks about Maeren,” Jill said, taking the first bite.
“Kaila may not agree with her father on many things but she knows he would never hurt his granddaughters. I’m sure her silence was because of something she had to hide and not because she was afraid of her own family,” Jaeson said.
; He said Kaila’s name like he knew her personally, something more than a casual acquaintance.
“How do you know there was only my father’s body?” Jill asked.
Torsten reached for his glass of whiskey and took a sip, waiting for Jill to take another forkful of food.
“How much earth magic do you know, Jill?” Torsten asked instead of answering right away.
“Mostly healing. I work as a nurse and I have helped my mother in the village sometimes and I’ve read a lot, although Maeren and human plants can be quite differ—”
Jill stopped her rambling, put down her fork and looked Torsten right in the eye, unflinching.
“There was supposed to be two bodies,” she said.
Torsten was matter of fact in the face of Jill’s upset.
“Earth magic can detect graves, bodies, even remains that are completely turned to ash. I usually put my hand in the ground and push my power out. As you know, everybody feels their magic differently. Ash remains are more difficult, but if you have anything left to confirm the identity, worn clothing or a hairbrush, it can be done. Males and females are distinct. Magic type is clearest of all.”
“Did you identify my father’s body?” Jill asked.
It was so quiet, Victoria was going to repeat the question for Torsten when he spoke.
“No, I just assumed. He had fire magic,” Torsten said, tugging on his neat, short beard in a sure sign of agitation. “Jill, the castle was rubble. It wasn’t just a fire. That’s why there were rumours of a dragon attack. I found very few things intact and that was only by luck. Some things had been stored inside the stone walls by your mother, letters and such, but nothing to identify the body recovered.”
Jill pushed her plate away.
“Elizabeth has to be told,” she said. She looked over at Victor. “Can you get me to Elizabeth?”
Victor squeezed the hand he was still holding on his lap.
“Jill, calm down. George is with Elizabeth. George! They are in the heaviest magic of Maeren and both of them are very strong.”
“No, no, no. You don’t understand,” Jill said shaking her head. She had stopped looking at anyone.
“Jill, what about your mother? Should we get her first? She’s closer. We should be able to find another portal,” Victoria said, grabbing her friend’s other hand, above the table.
Torsten looked helpless. Big, strong vampire and he was just sitting there while his granddaughter was having a meltdown.
“She’s panicking,” Jaeson stated.
“I know that, Captain Obvious,” Victoria said.
She had seen Jill have a panic attack before, more than once actually, while they had made their way across Maeren from the castle.
Kaila had tried to say they were after effects of the poison Jill had consumed, but Victoria knew better, had seen how Jill checked every dark corner before she slept, and heard the screams at night that woke them all.
“Jill, drink some water,” ordered Victor.
He frosted the glass and brought it to her lips but she refused to drink, water dribbling out of her tensed lips.
“Normally, her sister or mother can get her out of it,” Victoria said. “Jill needs her family.”
Torsten warned them all to get away from the table and heaved the wooden slab up, snapping the metal brackets and fasteners attaching it to the wall like toothpicks.
He shoved the table and its contents to the middle of the floor and rose from his seat next to the wall.
That was certainly an expedient way to get to Jill, which is what he did next, walking across the empty space and picking his granddaughter up in a great, big bear hug.
Only someone with Jill’s earth strength could withstand the force of his embrace.
Kaila had hugged her daughter tight like that, so nothing could get between them, not even Jill’s panic.
Slowly, muscle by muscle, Jill relaxed in Torsten’s arms. The general was making soothing, nonsensical sounds as he rocked her side to side. Jill wrapped her legs around him and started crying softly against his chest.
“There now,” Jaeson said, patting Jill on the shoulder as he stood next to Torsten. “I will make sure there are two bodies if that’s what you want,” he promised. “Just tell us what bastard to put in the ground for making you cry.”
Victoria shivered. This was definitely Kaila’s family.
Would they be proud when they found out Jill had poisoned the royals?
Victoria slipped closer to her twin, moving into Jill’s empty spot.
“Do we trust them?” Victoria asked Victor, not caring if the others heard.
She meant should Jill trust her grandfather, but she knew her brother would understand.
Victor turned around and hugged Victoria. “They’re family,” he whispered in her ear, giving her one more squeeze. She hugged him back.
“I missed you, Vic,” Victoria whispered back. “Thanks for coming for me,” she said.
“Always,” he promised. He let his sister go with one last hug.
“Can you bring Jill upstairs?” Victor asked, standing up. “We need to finish talking, but the witches should get some rest.”
“My mother?” Jill asked against Torsten’s chest.
“I’m sure Jaeson can find her,” Torsten said. “Just tell him the places you expect her to be and he will go tonight.”
“Give me a few minutes and I’ll show him. I don’t need to rest,” Jill said.
Victoria knew Jill was going to burn out soon if she didn’t rest. They had been pulling long hours all week, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and that was before the last few hours of insanity.
Victor walked over to Jill, still in her grandfather’s arms, and slid his hand into the hair at the back of her head, cupping her at the nape of her neck.
She looked up at him, paying attention.
“You are going upstairs and straight to bed. If your mother sees me running you ragged, she’s hardly going to trust you to my care. Whatever has you spooked about this missing body, can wait another day.”
“But, I have to tell them,” Jill protested.
“I gave you an order, for your own safety,” Victor said. “Ask Jaeson if he is going to let you tag along through an unknown portal to the human realm.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Torsten said before Jill could ask anything. “I agree that you need to rest. You’re worrying about something that happened more than twenty years ago and a day or two can’t make a difference.”
Jill squeezed Torsten. “If that monster is still alive . . .” she said.
“I’ll guard your dreams tonight,” Victor promised, releasing Jill.
What frightened someone as strong as Jill?
Victoria wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.
Dream Lover
Summoning Circle
Daemon
His witch had been very busy.
Daemon arrived back at his mother’s house with Kaila after chasing the trail of destruction from the park to the portal, with a quick but fruitless stop at the hospital where Jill worked.
He had been imagining all the things a dragon could do to defenceless witches, with their overblown magic and egos to match, when his mother had literally slapped some sense into him, making him work on a circle for transportation using his blood connection to Elizabeth.
It had almost seemed too good to be true when Elizabeth finally connected to him.
Then, he realized that the only reason they had joined was because Dragomir had been freed.
It had panicked Daemon more than the real dragon who had attacked Elizabeth in the park.
His familiar was a beast, every bit as dangerous as the shifters that roamed the caves of Dragos, and as difficult to tame, even with Daemon tightly controlling the reins.
It was hard to control magic that spanned the realms.
Daemon fought back the rush of jealousy as he also felt the unmistakable powers of two of his brothers wrapped aroun
d Dragomir.
She wasn’t alone. It was better that she had someone else there to protect her, with his dragon on the loose.
“Elizabeth?” Daemon called, sending out a thread of lightning on their amplified connection.
Dragomir roared in response.
Daemon thrust his power out, grabbing hold of his familiar through fear and determination not to fail his witch again.
He couldn’t force Dragomir back, with the realms between them, but he could tame the beast enough for Elizabeth to call the familiar onto her skin—if his witch trusted him to help her this time.
Daemon had messed up. He was going to have to earn that trust.
Elizabeth had been frightened by his violent reaction to the attack upon her by the dragons in the banishment caves. She had run from court before Daemon could explain, and didn’t understand what had been happening. She had been so deeply asleep to recover and he had been coping with another failed poisoning attempt of his father.
Kaila had been brutal in her denunciation of his doomed courtship. It was his own fault for not trusting Elizabeth and not telling her everything sooner.
They may have only been together for a couple of weeks but he had known Elizabeth so much longer. He should have taken a chance on the witch fate had picked for him and been honest sooner.
“Daemon? Is it really you?”
He sighed with relief at her answer.
“Yes, I’m with your mother and my parents.”
He hoped that revealing this truth would ease her mind.
He showed her their parents standing around his amplification circle, his father leaning heavily on his petite mother, but she stood strong.
Kaila reached over and grabbed a hold of his father’s other arm, lending some support.
“Is that the Blue Queen?” George asked, with his tone awed and respectful.
“Can George hear me?” Daemon asked back, confused at his brother’s lightning connection.
“Yes,” George answered himself, the lightning thread made from his own magic.
Daemon grit his molars together, knowing he had a real contender for Elizabeth. That was before he dealt with Geer, the annoying mate, and figured out why Phillip’s air was all over his witch and familiar.
No Witch Way Out (Maeren Series Book 2) Page 42