Abigail gasped and closed her eyes. Leaves and flowers blossomed through her hair. Lucifer released her wrist as he scooted back. It was torture to separate from her, but he shifted farther back so that his magic wouldn’t keep drawing hers out. He didn’t want her to completely turn into a tree. If she did, she might not turn back.
Godric crawled forward again to see Abigail’s peaceful expression. He tugged her sleeve back to better see her hand. Her fingers looked more like roots than human skin.
Lucifer planted a peck on her cheek and sat up, eyes on Godric. “Now it’s time to heal you.”
Godric laughed. “So long as you don’t have to heal me the same way.”
“That would be my preference to avoid as well.” He beckoned Godric closer.
Lucifer relaxed his eyes and used his second sight to examine the hex he’d sewn together. He pulled at the threads of magic so that they fell away. The spell wouldn’t bother Godric if he touched Abigail again, but the damage was already done.
Now Lucifer had to undo that.
He turned over Godric’s hands and placed his on top, first wicking away the pain, then using it to fuel his energy. He breathed in pain and breathed out pleasure. In a burst of cooling blue light, he pushed the healing energy out.
Godric flinched. Lucifer would have thought he’d burned Godric from the way he jumped. Without meaning to use his affinity to do so, Lucifer sensed a surge of relief followed by satiation.
Godric blushed, and he drew his knees to his chest. “That was, um, unexpected.”
Lucifer pretended not to notice the other man’s arousal. This already was all kinds of awkward.
He shifted Godric’s arms onto his knees and worked on those next and then his chest. Once those pains faded, it was easier to feel the other places his body hurt. Every part that had touched Abigail to carry her to the stream needed to be mended.
“You know, I wasn’t going to try to kiss her. Or do anything else lecherous,” Godric said.
Lucifer didn’t answer. Maybe the young man hadn’t intended to do anything. He’d certainly been unselfish enough to rescue her despite the injuries it had cost him.
Godric rushed on, filling the silence with chatter that threatened to spoil Lucifer’s concentration. “I have a younger sister. I wouldn’t want anyone to take advantage of her while I’m away, but that doesn’t mean I would hex someone because he said she was pretty.”
Guilt wormed its way under Lucifer’s resolve. He tried to ignore Godric as he spoke, but he was impossible to block out.
“Not that I think a man would pay my sister such a compliment with her scars, but she is beautiful—on the inside.” Godric paused and then added, “And the glamours help with her appearance. I think I would be happy for her if someone was kind enough to look after her. You needn’t be so quick to hex me in the future.”
“If you could hex someone, mayhap you would,” Lucifer said with a sardonic smile.
Godric grinned. “True enough.”
Lucifer wondered whether he’d misjudged Godric.
Healing the third patient in one day—and one he couldn’t renew his stores of pleasure magic by caressing—wore Lucifer out.
He lay back down beside Abigail, though not too close. “Wake me up when she turns her roots back into fingers—or if she wakes and can’t turn them back and starts to panic.”
He wanted to snuggle up to her but fought the urge. She needed to change back into a human, not become a full tree. Drowsiness tugged Lucifer closer to sleep. He closed his eyes.
“What are you?” Godric asked.
Lucifer opened his eyes. “Haven’t you ever heard it’s rude to ask a Witchkin what kind of creature he’s descended from?”
“I beg your pardon.” Godric inspected his own hands, nearly all healed. “But I have to know.”
“Believe me, it’s better if you don’t.” He doubted Godric would care to learn he’d been cured by an incubus with a store of sex magic.
* * *
Lucifer woke to the sound of Abigail giggling.
The forest had grown darker as the sun slipped lower on the horizon. The grumble in his belly told him it would be dinner soon.
Godric sat beside Abigail, showing her how to weave flowers into a crown. She was adept at working with plants and had once been an excellent weaver. It didn’t surprise him to see her nimble fingers capable of imitating Godric’s movements. She learned tasks more quickly than a child, as if the memories were stored in her skin, waiting for the right moment to prove they knew how to weave all along.
Both her hands were complete.
When he tentatively prodded her body with his awareness, her fingers were free of aches. The tension in his chest loosened to find she was no longer suffering. He sat up and stretched.
Abigail’s eyes lit up when she saw him. “Lucy!” Abigail abandoned her flowers and hugged him.
Her arms around his neck were as cozy and reassuring as a warm blanket on a cold winter night. He wove his fingers through her hair and breathed in her scent of pitch and oak leaves. He could have stayed like that forever, even with Godric watching, but he couldn’t hide with her in the forest forever.
“It will be dark soon.” He kissed the top of her head. “We’d best return before we miss supper.”
She drew back, worry creasing her brow. If he knew how to make her forget what had happened, he would. But memories were a tricky business to work with magic, as her current lack of memories demonstrated.
“I will make sure Baba doesn’t do that again to you.” He couldn’t meet her eyes as he spoke the words, uncertain he could stop Baba. He took her hands in his and kissed her fingers.
She bit her lip.
“She doesn’t believe you. Nor do I,” Godric said. “She isn’t safe there.”
“I know.” Lucifer helped her to her feet.
She dug her heels in the ground, fear in her eyes. He hated to see her trust and innocence shattered by what Baba had done.
Godric stood, placing himself in the middle of the path. “She’d be better off with me taking her home than staying here.”
Lucifer knew that too. But he couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t be able to protect her. “I’m not going to let you take her.”
“And I suppose you’re just going to go back to Baba like nothing ever happened. You’re going to keep on letting that witch abuse a girl too daft to even understand why she’s doing it?”
“Daft?” Abigail repeated. Her round eyes looked wounded.
Lucifer hadn’t known she understood that word. He patted her on the head. “You’re a very smart girl.”
She nodded.
“And you’re a foolish and selfish man,” Godric said with a huff. “And stubborn. If you truly cared about Abby, you would do what’s best for her, not what’s best for you.”
He didn’t want Godric to be right, but it was true Abigail wasn’t safe. Certainly, he didn’t want to let her leave. But he loved her enough he didn’t want this to keep happening to her.
“You can’t take her home,” Lucifer said. “But she does need to leave.”
He hated to admit it to himself, but he couldn’t avoid the truth any longer. He was going to have to send her away.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
As Cunning as a Cat
Lucifer needed a plan to keep Abigail safe. Unfortunately, the only person who was on his side was Godric, and he wasn’t sure he was trustworthy.
Lucifer didn’t know if he needed an elaborate scheme to trick Baba into releasing Abigail. He had always assumed she was free to leave—and that Baba wanted her elsewhere—until her previous conversation with Godric about needing Abigail. If she considered Abigail her apprentice, she was as bound to stay as he was. Then again, Baba might have only said that to ensure Godric didn’t try to steal Abigail.
But Abby did need to leave. Lucifer wished he’d accepted the truth of this sooner. There was only one
person he trusted to care for her as well as he would.
And it happened, Isibeal would be better off with that same person, which was why he needed Godric’s assistance.
Sunlight peeking through leaves danced across Godric’s face as Lucifer considered his predicament and how to utilize Godric.
“You seem to have no trouble traveling by forest path,” Lucifer said. “Can you manage portals despite your lack of magic?”
“I’ve got myself here twice—and home once.” Godric held himself taller, clearly proud of this.
“I need you to take a message to the Raven Court. I’ll write it under the pretense that I wish to find asylum for Isibeal.”
“Who’s Isibeal?” Godric looked to Abigail as if he thought she might be going by a false name.
“That’s the name of the young lady who Baba—” Lucifer stopped himself before he said the words out loud. It wouldn’t take much for the events that had led to Abigail’s dismemberment to come crashing back down on her. “She’s the woman who arrived beaten and bleeding. She was in labor.”
“Oh.” Godric’s forehead furrowed. “I see. Why does Isibeal need asylum?”
“Did you fail to notice the state she arrived in? Bruises don’t just magically bloom overnight. Her Fae lover did that to her. He thought she’d cheated. She hadn’t.”
“That’s … unfortunate. And you think the Raven Court will take her in? That lot isn’t much better than other courts. The Raven Queen isn’t full of kindness and forgiveness like the Verde Court my father holds allegiance to. I hear Queen Vega is as wicked as the old queen—perhaps worse. I should take Isibeal and Abby both home with me.”
There was no way in Fae that was happening.
“Queen Vega is all right.” Lucifer couldn’t help thinking Vega would like knowing she had such a wicked reputation. “The Raven Court will take her in. And while you are there, you will deliver a second message for me. One to the Red Queen.”
Abigail hugged him around the waist. Lucifer suspected he should feel relieved that he had a plan for keeping her safe. Yet the burden around his heart only felt heavier at the idea of losing Abigail. When the time came, he didn’t know if he would be able to follow through with it.
* * *
Lucifer found Kelsie and Baba preparing dinner in the cottage while Isibeal sat in the rocking chair nursing her baby. Cleaning up the birthing must have taken so long that it had put them behind schedule for dinner.
Kelsie’s hands were on her hips. “Well, of course the soup tastes like dirt. You just told me to add cilantro.”
“No, I pointed to parsley. You know very well I do not like the cilantro.” Baba’s voice rose. “If you did not daydream so much, you would have paid attention.”
Kelsie’s face flushed. “I wasn’t daydreaming.”
The room still smelled of blood. Lucifer crossed the room to open a window.
Godric halted at the door, Abigail at his side. “I beg your pardon. I should step out, shouldn’t I?” He averted his eyes from Isibeal. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I didn’t know—”
Isibeal blanched. She hunched protectively over her baby and shifted to the side, her dark hair falling over her face and hiding her startled expression.
“Nursing is perfectly natural. Don’t they do that back home in your family’s court?” Kelsie snapped.
Godric’s face turned pink. “I don’t know.” He turned away.
Isibeal scooted the rocking chair to face the wall, her shoulders remaining hunched and tense.
“Lucy, come see if you can fix this soup,” Baba said.
“That’s right.” Kelsie strode toward the door. “We’ll see if Baba’s favorite apprentice can fix dinner.”
The grumpiness on her face faded as she spotted Abigail hiding behind Godric. Kelsie placed an arm around Abigail and spoke quietly, coaxing her into a chair she pulled out and placed next to Isibeal. Lucifer did his best to doctor the soup with more herbs. Baba’s cottage had never felt so crowded.
Godric stood awkwardly in the doorway as Lucifer added herbs and spices to the pottage. The young man glanced at Isibeal again. From the tension between Isibeal and Godric, Lucifer suspected there was more going on than awkwardness about breastfeeding. She hadn’t said which court she’d been taken in by. Godric was part of the Verde Court, his family of the Tinaalto lineage.
If Lucifer’s suspicions were correct, his plan for helping Abigail and Isibeal both were about to be foiled.
Lucifer nodded to the other man. “How about selecting a ripe tomato from the garden?”
The relief was palpable on Godric’s face. He rushed outside. As Lucifer selected the cleaver from the knives to chop up a sausage, Abigail shifted in her chair uneasily. He turned his back on her so she wouldn’t have to see him dice the meat.
“The Fae noble who was your beau,” Lucifer said to Isibeal. “What court was he from?”
Isibeal didn’t answer. She turned her face away from him, but he already saw the tears in her eyes.
He lowered his voice so that Godric wouldn’t hear out the open window. “The Verde Court?”
Isibeal’s voice wavered. “I’ve met the Tinaalto family at court. He’ll tell his sovereign he’s seen me here. My lord will find me.”
“Son of a succubus!” Kelsie swore.
Lucifer gave her a dirty look. He didn’t like that curse. That was probably why she used it.
Baba settled herself in a chair, studying Isibeal.
“I need to send word to your granddaughter,” Lucifer said. “Vega will help her, won’t she?”
Baba sucked her teeth. “She will. If she gets here before they do.”
Lucifer had hoped to send Godric to the Raven Court. He was certain Vega Bloodmire would grant Isibeal asylum, and if not her, Clarissa would. Isibeal was a Red affinity like them. It was likely her child would become one as well.
But if Godric was loyal to his family, he would go to them instead. He would tell the Verde Court where Isibeal had fled to. That meant Lucifer would need to leave to go tell Clarissa—before Godric told his kin.
But Lucifer didn’t want to leave Abigail alone with Baba again. Nor did he think it safe to travel in the forest with Abigail when she might wander off on her own and get snatched by leshi or other Fae. And Isibeal was in no condition to travel.
There were no easy answers.
He still hadn’t decided what to do about Godric knowing Isibeal by the time he went to bed. If he found Godric gone in the morning before he gave him the messages intended for Vega and Clarissa, that would tell Lucifer he intended to inform his family.
That night Isibeal and her baby took his bed, the baby positioned between the new mother and the wall. Kelsie and Abigail shared a bed, while Godric slept on the floor before the hearth. The little house was noisy for such a small space, the baby crying each time she needed to be fed or changed. Lucifer slipped outside to transform into a cat, his affinity needing to be restored again. He didn’t like leaving Abigail, but he needed to have a reservoir of magic in case he needed it.
When he returned to take his place on the floor as far from Godric as he could manage, he found Abigail waiting for him under his blanket. He knew he should tell her to go back to her own bed. It wasn’t a good habit for her to be this dependent on him. It was even less healthy for him to take such comfort in the sanctuary of her arms when all he could think about was how good it had felt to kiss her.
On the other hand, he feared this might be one of the last opportunities he had with her. She cuddled up to him, and he knew he couldn’t say no.
He stroked her hair, trying to memorize the way she felt in his arms. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, her own as ghostly as moth wings. He tucked her head back under his chin and held her there before either of them were tempted to do more.
Lucifer woke early for chores. He wrote his letters to Vega and Clarissa outside in the early morning sunlight
, struggling to find the right words. When Godric emerged from the hut, offering to chop wood, Lucifer pressed the letters into the other man’s hand.
“I ask you as a favor to take these notes. Not for me, but for Abby. Don’t stop at your family’s estate.” Lucifer gazed into Godric’s brown eyes, trying to determine if he would do the right thing.
“Or course.” Godric nodded.
“Please don’t speak of what you’ve seen here to anyone.”
“You mean, about Baba chopping off Abby’s fingers?”
Lucifer couldn’t tell whether Godric was pretending to be dense or he was a muttonhead. “I mean about Isibeal.”
“Oh. Certainly. Discretion is my middle name.” He bowed.
“The Fae will kill Isibeal if they find her. And probably her baby as well.”
Godric swallowed. “I realize that. I won’t tell.”
Lucifer wanted to believe him, but he’d learned to be distrustful of Fae, Witchkin, and Morties alike. Godric wasn’t all bad, but he couldn’t fathom what kind of person he was deep inside.
Godric left after breakfast. Lucifer hoped he was doing the right thing trusting him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Son of a Fae
Lucifer woke to the sound of a distant scream that pierced his dreams. He sat up from his place on the floor beside the hearth, looking from the loft to the open door. Someone had woken before him and had gone out. Cool morning air nipped at his skin. The sun had only just crested above the horizon.
He thought he’d been dreaming, but the scream came again.
He threw off his blanket. “Abby?” he asked, his heart thundering with sudden trepidation. “Kelsie?”
Kelsie’s face appeared over the edge of the loft. “Is she down there with you?”
Lucifer didn’t waste another moment. She wasn’t in the cottage. He ran out the door and hurtled over the fence.
“Abby?” he called.
A sob answered him. He followed the sound. He found the bucket beside the path, a puddle pooled around it. Abigail sat hugging a tree, her face hidden from him. She wore her nightgown, which was now torn in places. The collar was ripped, and her shoulder was bleeding.
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