He knew who was going to be mated to whom. His mother had left him a thick book of things that she’d seen in the future. She’d also told him about his own mate, and how she would make him happy.
“She will make you the king that I know you will become. The lands, all that I ever had, they are for you, waiting. Mercy will gladly turn them over to you. But do not allow her to think herself less than you. She will, because she is a good person. Her mate, he will make her feel things that she never felt when she was my bird.”
Duncan had seen the birds, of course. He had lived in the castle proper his entire life, as well as when the encampment had been moved for safety reasons. His mother had even known that Mercy would end the life of the king. It would be written that he was killed at sea from a great storm. So far, all her tales and stories had been right. But the mate for him, Mother had said she was pretty. Duncan thought her to be a vision.
Her name and what she did was lost to him. He thought perhaps it was because she was related to him, in a way. His other, she’d told him only that she was a bird and one of her six. Over the years he’d been able to narrow it down to which one, just not her name. Duncan had determined which one she was by knowing what the others were. Their names were difficult to get, but he was getting them.
Approaching Mercy would have to wait for a while longer. There was trouble coming, as there usually was around him, that would make Blaze a target of great wrath. And she would be harmed, as would her own mate. But it was his mate that he worried for. She too, he thought, would be injured.
Joel was trying to keep his load to a minimum. But the others, the other birds, were putting more into his pack than he would carry. The man did not know yet that he could carry much more than a human could, and would still be able to fly high, even as a small bird. He looked at the opening of the cave when a glint of something flashed over his eyes.
The sword of Duncan Castle. It had hung over the fireplace, he’d been told. Duncan had seen his mother from time to time. She would visit him when she made her rounds, and they’d talk about the way life was going to be for him and his Mary. Most of the time she would bring him food, some sweet treat. But as he grew older, she brought him books to read. Numbers to look over, as well as a great many other things.
Duncan could read and speak any language. His ability to work on a computer was known worldwide. He could also fight with a sword, gun, or even his fists as any great fighter of any time. His mother had made sure that he was a learned man. One that could have a conversation with his mate, or anyone for that matter, and not seem out of place.
When they were finished with their work, he waited until they took to the skies before he entered the cave as well. There were things that they’d taken that he was glad for, but now he had to leave behind the books.
Soon he’d talk to Mercy, and she’d have to come and get them to read. But for now, they were where she could find them—and he knew that she would. Mercy had his mother’s books now and was reading them over for information. Duncan wondered if she’d figured out that he had been born. More than likely, he thought. Mercy was the smartest of all the birds.
Putting the books near the opening, he walked around, not really seeing the things that he’d seen hundreds of times before. But he did find one thing that he thought to take with him this time. The ruby that was as big as his fist. It would be for his mate, his bride.
There were times when he needed to come here, to make it so he had coin, but of late it hadn’t been necessary. All the people that he was still caring for as king, he paid out of his own earnings. Money for them wasn’t that much, but he had made a promise and he would hold to it. Besides, there were only a few left, four at last counting.
Mary was like him, an immortal, and she would remain with him even after he took his mate. She was to be his cook first, then nanny to his children. She would teach them all the ways of a child of royalty, and he would love them with his wife as much as he could.
There was Jacob as well. He had been a maker of swords when he’d been younger. He still looked to be only in his mid-twenties, a skilled man well beyond the years he looked. The money that he made, it went back into his work. Jacob made decorative swords for people around the world. None of them, he promised, would ever be used to take a life. It was the magic that he put into each of them that made it so.
Cowell was also in his home. He served as his butler and best friend. They had grown up together, him being Mary’s only son. No matter how many times he begged the man to go out on his own, to be the rich man that he was, he felt that his place was with Duncan, and he would stay until Duncan’s children’s children had children. Smiling, he thought that to be a very long time indeed.
Leaving the cave the way he’d found it, Duncan leaned against the stone and could almost feel the warmth of his mother there. She’d not been like most of the queens he’d heard about in books, nor the ones that he’d encountered long after his mother was gone. Mom wasn’t cold like they seemed to be. Nor did she turn away from a hug. Mary told him that she had changed his dirty nappy and fed him when he was slinging his mush around the room.
It was her laughter that he could remember more than anything. Her face had faded away over time. Her soft hands he could no longer see. But her laughter and the smell of her skin, that would come to him forever.
Fresh linens. That was what she smelled like, with just a touch or rosemary for scent. Whenever he smelled that today, cooking or just growing in the gardens as it did around his estate, he thought of his mother.
Her laughter wasn’t soft like her skin, however. She brayed like a donkey. Great gulping gasps of air as she exhaled the most horrific sound. But she cared not what she sounded like, he began to think. For she laughed often and loudly. All the time.
Duncan made his way back to the area where he’d landed. He hadn’t taken flight as Mom’s birds had. He couldn’t fly, not yet. He had to wait for his mate, and she’d be with him soon enough. The small helicopter took off without a sound other than the swish-swish of the blades as they cut through the air.
Mary was waiting for him as he came to the front of the house. She would pepper him with questions, all of which she’d know the answer to, and he’d send her to the kitchen for either a cup of her tea or a glass of the same amber liquid. It was one of his true loves of food, tea.
“The invitations have gone out.” He turned and looked at Mary, asking her what she was talking about. “To the Christmas party that you said you’d host.”
“Yes, I remember. All the children, they have sent us their lists? We know what they will want?” She huffed. It usually meant that he’d told her already and she hated to be reminded again. “I just want this to be perfect, Mary, my dear. My future niece and my bride to be will be among the guests.”
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry, my lord.” Oh no, he thought, a my lord. He must be in deep trouble. “You should know that I have made you a list and have put it on that mess of a desk you have.”
“Have you checked it twice? Trying to find out who is naughty or nice?” She just stared at him, as she usually did when he made a joke that went flat. Duncan tried singing it for her. “You know the song—sing it with me, Mary.”
“I will not.” He’d gotten her goat, as she called it. “What is wrong with you these days? You’re acting like a child.” She huffed again and muttered all the way back to her kitchen.
Laughing, Duncan made his way to the library. Cowell was there waiting on him, smiling hugely. He asked him if he’d heard them.
“I did. What will you do when she takes a switch to your bottom like she did when you were smaller?” He said he thought he could outrun her now. “You might, but you’ll have to return, and she’ll be there waiting for you.”
“What have you been up to with the computer?” He decided to change the subject. Just thinking of her coming after him with a switch, as she really had when he’d been a child, made him want to limp a bit. “Did
you get the revised list that I laid out for you this morning?”
“I did. I have to admit, I never thought of the food for the children. The roast beef and all the trimmings might have been a grand meal for us when we were poor, but I doubt much these children want to have it at a children’s Christmas party.” Duncan told him how he’d seen a party for children in a book and had gone from there. “Yes. That was brilliant of you. It was easy enough then for you to change it to party favors with a Christmas theme.”
“I didn’t actually come up with that until I saw some of the paper you’d been ordering to wrap gifts with. That was all on you.” Cowell thanked him. “I want this to be an annual thing with the holidays. We’ll have something for the children, a little extra cash for the adults to have something nice, and food for them to take home for their own holiday.”
Duncan had been at the hospital one morning and one of the nurses told him that there were plenty of children that would go home to a cold house and no food. It was hard, he knew, but he’d never thought of the affect it might have on the little ones in the household. The party and all of it was on Mary.
He’d come home and told her what he’d heard. It hadn’t occurred to him that he could help the children, other than giving their parents a gift card for food. She’d smacked him in the back of the head and asked him what he’d have done if he’d only gotten a meal for Christmas and no presents. There were always presents under the tree for him and Cowell, even if it was a sweater that Mary had made them. But he was never hungry; no one was that his mother cared for.
The party was launched that very afternoon, and plans began the very next day to get things set up. The hardest part so far was getting permission for the children to travel to his home. Red tape had nearly killed the idea before it began. And now it was going to happen, and that was where he’d meet his mate.
Chapter 12
Joel stood over the graves of his parents. After they’d been exhumed, he’d asked to have them buried near where he was. The lot at the back of the property that he and Mercy owned was zoned for the purpose, and now he had them close enough that he could go and talk to them, should he wish. Today, he felt, was a good day to see them.
“I wanted you to know how sorry I am that this happened to you. I never thought that he’d do something so cruel as to take you away from me.” The bench had been Miley’s idea, so he sat down on it after brushing off the newly fallen snow. “He murdered you both. I’m sure you’re aware of that, but I wanted to tell you some things you might not have known at the time. Saul thought that there was money, a great deal of it, for some reason.”
A small bird landed on the headstone that Piper had made especially for them. It even bore a small picture of them over each of their names, and in the middle, their wedding picture. Every time he looked at it, Joel cried. It was a gift that he never would have gotten without these women in his life.
“I’m married now. I have a wonderful wife. Her name is Mercy. And Miley is walking now.” The bird flew away, and a smallish kitten came to join him on the bench. “Hello there. Where did you come from? My, but you’re a pretty little thing.”
The kitten mewed at him and he put her down. He wondered if any of the women would object to him having a cat for Miley and laughed. They were birds—they might very well be afraid of it. He’d ask Mercy later if it was still here.
“Saul is going to a federal prison that specializes in handicapped people, such as he is now. I only just figured out that you knew he was a diabetic and that you tried to help him stay on a diet, Mom. But he didn’t. In the last month or so he got his levels up so high, and didn’t take care of them, that one of his kidneys failed. The doctor that is caring for him said that Saul will not live long. He has given up on trying to be a healthy and better man.”
He looked around again, wondering if Saul would be put here with his parents. Then he decided that he didn’t want to bury him near here. He hadn’t been good to anyone, and he didn’t deserve a beautiful resting place.
“I’m going to update you on Saul’s health, but I just don’t think I’m ready to talk about his behavior about killing off our child. He’s lost his leg and the other foot to not caring for himself. And a finger so far. His hands are in bad shape because he refuses to let anyone take care of them. They have to sedate him to get the doctor in to see him. He...well, he throws things at him, fecal matter, and then laughs.” Joel cried a little, thinking of the state of his brother. “I wish we could have been a normal family. All I can think of is the day I turned fifteen and him hurting you both so badly, because you’d not let him have the money that Grandma had been sending me all along.”
Saul had come into the house just as he was handing his mom the cash that he’d been sent. Thankfully that was all he’d gotten that day, but Saul had been so pissed off that he beat Mom so badly that she’d ended up in the hospital with nineteen stitches in her head. Dad had had to stay overnight from the concussion that he’d gotten when he’d tried to hold Saul away from Joel. Saul would have more than likely killed him on the spot if not for his dad. As it was, they’d had to use all his money that had been saved to buy prescriptions for them both.
“I never minded that. I know that you felt terrible for it. I could hear you crying that night, and it broke my heart. The money would have been wonderful to have bought something for you and Dad, which was my plan all along, but being able to help you feel better was better than any gift I could have gotten.”
Joel sat there for another half hour, not talking about his brother anymore, but he did talk about his life. His new baby coming along, and how well Miley was doing in school. Walking back to his home, he stopped to watch the swans on the lake that hadn’t frozen over, and a few deer eating the last of the apples from the trees.
Joel was nearly home when he saw what he thought was a fox kit and remembered the kitten. She was still there when he went back, still curled up under the bench. When he sat down again, picking her up, she mewed at him again and wrapped herself inside of his jacket. He reached out to Mercy to let her know his thinking.
You want to bring a cat into a home of birds. Well, I guess if it didn’t mind you, it won’t us either. He’d never thought of that and told her. Yes, well, you’ve not been a bird as long as I have. A cat might do us some good around here. The barn could use a few of the little beasts to scare away the mice.
Beasts? I take it at one time you were scared by a cat. She said that it was more than one time, and yes, she didn’t much care for the creatures. But you’ll allow this little fella to come live with us? I think that Miley would love a pet of her own.
Sure, bring her here. But you do realize that Miley could very well be her own pet, don’t you? I’m joking, love. Miley has been saying she wanted a pet. I’m just glad she’s not asked for anything larger than a puppy. While I’m thinking about it, the horses that you and I wanted are to arrive sometime after the new year. The foals will be big enough to take from Momma then. He told her that was wonderful. I think so as well. Miley is enjoying her riding lessons now that she’s getting around much better. She said that she feels like she’s eighty feet tall on the back of a horse. I told her not to fall from that height, or I’ll never let her ride again. She laughed, Joel. I don’t think she takes me all that seriously.
She does, but she loves it when you get all mom-like on her. Joel blew kisses to his parents and told them that he’d return soon. Then he made his way, again, back to the house. I’ve decided something out here. I don’t want Saul to be buried out here with my mom and dad.
Good. The little fucker needs to be cremated and dumped on a land fill. He would agree with her, but he didn’t think he could live with himself if he did that. I’ll see what I can find for the local cemetery. I think we donate the money it takes to clean it up all summer. Maybe they can find us one that no one has purchased as yet.
I’d like that, I think. I love you, Mercy, and thank you. She said that she loved h
im too, and to come home. I’m on my way right now. I have the kitten with me. She seems to like the inside of my coat.
Because you smell like lunch.
He was still laughing as he came up on the porch. The house was decorated in fall colors now. Miley loved the ability to put out just about anything that she wanted and was having a blast with it. She and Mercy had come home just yesterday with a giant blow up turkey and a pair of pilgrims. Joel was almost afraid of what they’d have for Christmas.
The mailman was just driving up to their mailbox when he sat down on the step. It was just too pretty to be inside. Walking out to get the mail from him, he loved the fact that the man not only knew who he was, but also asked sincerely about Miley.
Taking the mail to the house, he slipped inside with the kitten now in his pocket. Miley came out of the dining room just as he shut the door.
“Mom said that you had something for me. Mail? I didn’t send for anything yet.” The yet part startled him a little, but she was working and spending her own money. So long as half went into the bank for later in life, then she could pretty much get whatever she wanted. Within reason, of course.
“I do. Here, come and get it out of my pocket while I sort the mail.” Having money, he had discovered, meant that you got a great deal of mail daily. Mostly it was people asking for you to give it to them, but sometimes it was just correspondences like the handful he had now. When Miley squealed, he laughed. “I’m guessing that you want her?”
Miley and the cat bonded immediately. The purring of the little cat could be heard all the way across the hallway. When she was asked by Mercy, who had just entered the room, what she was going to call her, Miley didn’t even hesitate. She was proclaimed to be Purr. A good name, Joel thought.
“This looks like a wedding invitation. Do we know anyone getting married?” Mercy said that she didn’t and took the thick envelope when he handed it to her. “There isn’t a return address on it. Isn’t there usually one on them?”
Mercy: Queen’s Birds of Prey: Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Queen's Birds of Prey Book 1) Page 15