Judith (Queen's Birds of Prey Book 3)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I guess we’ll have to wait to find out if you do or not.” Duncan explained to her that he never slept. “Really? When I woke just now, I was thinking I could sleep in this bed and get a very refreshing night’s sleep. You don’t sleep at all?”

  “I don’t. Mom didn’t either. I only found that out recently when I was going over her journals. She mentioned that you would need it, especially when the children arrive. I didn’t read too much into that, thinking we’d both need to rest when we have children.” She asked him again why he was over by the fireplace. “No reason other than I did enjoy watching you in your slumber. You’re very selfish of space, I’ve noticed as well.”

  “I’ve never shared my bed with a person overnight before.” He thanked her for that. “It’s very strange, but I feel as if I’ve gotten a full night’s rest right now. Like I could get up and be productive if I wanted to.”

  “We have only a couple of hours before our guests arrive. I have several questions I’d like to ask of you.” She dressed herself in warm clothing and moved to the fireplace to start a fire. “Ah, yes, that feels wonderful. I can do that as well, light a fire with only a touch. Would you like to adopt any of the children we have coming today? Several of them are older than the majority of them coming. They have, I’ve been told, given up on having a home and parents for themselves.”

  “Not that it matters, but why haven’t they been adopted before now? I’m asking because it’s been my experience that people toss away children that don’t conform to something they have in their heads.” Duncan pulled her to him, and she sat on his lap as he told her he knew that as well. “I’ve never really thought about having children, but I think I’d want a brood of them. I don’t think I’d care if they were from my body or not. I think, and I know this is just as true as it was when I was just starting out as a human, children don’t need parents as much as they need guidance. Most of the older children have no one to tell them right from wrong. Or so it seems.”

  “Your question as to what is wrong that they’ve not been adopted before now—I actually know the reason. When I set this up, the managers of the place the children are coming from had decided, quite on their own, that we’d not want the older children to come around. They’re nine and sixteen now, a boy and a girl. Anyway, she told me like it was going to be a problem for me as well. Apparently, their parents had been put in prison for robbing a bank. I think she somehow believes them to be tainted in some way by what their parents did.” Jude told him that it hadn’t tainted him to have a bastard of a father. “No. I told her the same thing. I don’t think she particularly cares for me except for the money I donate there.”

  “Yes, well, I think we both know money speaks volumes to that sort of people and their mindset. When can they move in with us?” Duncan laughed and kissed her on the nose. “In the event you didn’t know, that wasn’t really an answer.”

  “I’ll have the rooms set up for them when they arrive.” He looked at the clock on the dresser. “In about three hours. How about we figure out what we want in the way of rooms for them, such beds and the like, and let them decide what it is they want for the rest of the things we get for them?” Jude asked him if there were stores open she didn’t know about. “Not that I’m aware of. But I have the same magic as my mother, I believe. I can visualize a room, and it fills out the way I see it. I’m sure you might well have it too. Try it out in this room.”

  “No. Not this room. As far as I’m concerned, this room is off-limits to changing around.” Duncan asked her why this room. “Our bedroom should be just the way we leave it. I want that much in the way of comfort. I want to know it will be the same as we left it. Sort of…I guess you could call a security blanket kind of thing.”

  Duncan agreed with her, and she was glad. Being able to mess around with the rest of the castle was going to be fun. But just as she said to him, she wanted the comfort of having things where she left them in this room, even if it was just leaving a towel on the floor and it being there when she returned.

  They were headed downstairs when Duncan told her more about the kids. The boy, Abraham—Abe for short—was tested for autism. He wasn’t autistic, just shy. The young girl, sixteen, had been watching over her brother since he was born. Duncan told her he thought that might be another reason for the two of them not being adopted—they came as a pair. No one, it seemed to him, wanted them both. But he hoped the two of them would.

  “Of course we’ll take them both. What a thing to wonder about. They need each other as much as the two of us do. I can’t believe anyone would ever think it was all right to separate the two of them.” Duncan took her hand into his and kissed the back of it as they entered the kitchen. “I don’t cook. I can if I really have to, but I don’t do kitchen work well at all.”

  “We have Meridiam here as a first-rate cook.” Duncan introduced her as his queen. Meridiam curtsied to her, then smiled at Duncan. “We’d like a little something light if you have time, please. The children should be here soon. I’m sure you have it all under control in here?”

  “It is, sire. The food is ready to go out as soon as they’re in the castle. It’s all been prepared by the little people.” Duncan explained to Jude that they had several faeries working for the house. “I hope you don’t mind, miss, but I use them in here on nights you will entertain.”

  “I’m all for making anything you need there for you. I want you to want to cook for us, and if you need them here full time, I’m sure we can work out something to make that happen for you as well.” Meridiam smiled at her. “You tell me what it is you want or need, and I personally will get it for you. I love to eat, and I eat a great deal. There is extraordinarily little that I won’t eat, but we’ll go over that when it’s less of a busy morning for us all. Okay?”

  “Yes, miss. And I thank you for that. It would be nice to have a staff here to do the everyday things. If you’d not mind, I can take care of the hiring of them for us.” Jude told her whatever she needed. “Thank you again. It’s just like the good king here said—you have your heart in the right place and want things to go smoothly.”

  Jude enjoyed the conversation as she ate her warm scones. She especially liked the seeds and nuts her bird would enjoy. With the nice hot cup of tea she had with two scones, Jude was able to meet the faeries that would be working in the kitchen with Meridiam. There would be others hired for the rest of the household when the new year was coming in. Jude was as excited as she’d ever been for the children to arrive.

  “They’re here.”

  Everyone gathered in the front hall. As soon as the first two people—the adults, she assumed—got off the bus, she knew there was going to be trouble. When Mercy grabbed her hand, she looked at her.

  “Let me handle this. I want to.” She asked her if she knew what had happened. “Yes. If you allow me to take care of it, then it will be all right. However, I might have to hurt that bitch standing there.”

  “You do what you have to do. I’m not sure what is going on, but I won’t have one person fuck this up for the kids.” Mercy said she’d make it right. “Thank you.”

  ~*~

  Tracy wasn’t sure what was going on but moved into the hallway where the noise was coming from. She and her brother had been left behind this morning. Ms. Holloway had said they’d done something wrong and would be dealt with when she returned. No amount of begging would get her to tell them what they’d done to make it so her brother could at least go to the Christmas party without her. The woman standing in the hall looked directly at her when she asked what was wrong.

  “Are you Tracy Jamie?” She nodded, still unsure what the guard, Mad Max, everyone called him, was doing in front of Abe’s room. “I want you to get yourself ready to go with me. Also, your brother, if you please. You’re coming to the party even if I have to murder someone to have you there.”

  Tracy started forward, her mind set on goi
ng to make sure Abe was all right. He’d been locked away from her when Ms. Bitch left. It was what Tracy called her behind her back every time she had to deal with her.

  “Your brother is fine, I promise. Get your things gathered up. Everything. And I’ll do the same for Abe.” Tracy told her she didn’t have much. “You know what, just leave it all. Whatever you need once we’re at the castle, I’m sure we can get it for you. This man here, he is going to walk away from me and live to see another day.”

  “We’ve been told we can’t attend the party.” The woman told her she knew better. “I have to live here, miss. They’ll kick us out, and I don’t know if I can care for my brother on the streets. He’s all I have in the world.”

  “Of course you care for him. Trust me when I tell you you’re both going to be fine. I swear it on my unborn child here, you both are going to be fine. Get your brother, and we’ll be set to go.” Mad Max told the woman they weren’t going anywhere without the permission of the headmistress. “You will walk away now and not try and stop us. Go to your room and sit there. Wait. You’ll tell me now why the two children here were not allowed to go to the party.”

  “Ms. H., she don’t like them none. She believes them to be a wart on her good works.” She asked him if he thought that too. “I don’t think much—she told me not to. They didn’t do nothing but be in her way, she tells me. But I was to have me some of the girl, if I wanted, in payment for not letting them go to the party.”

  The man fell back. It wasn’t until the woman looked at her bloodied knuckles that Tracy understood she’d hit him. When she looked at her, Tracy took a step back. She didn’t want to be hurt or raped by anyone today.

  “I swear to you, I would never harm you. My name is Mercy Oliver. I have a daughter about your age who was really looking forward to you and your brother coming today.” Tracy told her again how she needed to live here for her brother. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but the man and his wife who are having this party for you guys are going to take you in as their own. If you don’t trust what I’m saying to you, I’ll call Jude right now, and she will verify it. Jude is my sister.”

  “You swear nothing will happen to Abe? I can take it, but it hurts his heart when someone yells at him. He’s very shy.” Tracy looked at her brother’s door and the chain that was over the doorway. “She does this to him when he won’t participate in classroom work or speak when she tells him to. He doesn’t care for her.”

  “No one does, I’m thinking. Come on, honey. Let’s get you and your brother fixed up, and we’ll be on our way.” Nodding, she started for the keys on Mad Max’s belt. Tracy watched as not only the chains fell away, but the door disappeared too. Tracy asked if she’d done that. “I did. To chain anyone in a room isn’t right. But what she’s done to this young man is going to get her in deep shit if I have anything to do about it.”

  “Will you? Have anything to do with it, I mean?” Abe was in the corner, his head covered with the thin blanket he’d been allowed. “Come on, Abe. We’re going to the party. Do you want to see what kind of food they have? I bet they even have ice cream for us.” He looked at her while she calmly told Mercy what had him so afraid. “They chain him to the bed at night. I have tried to keep them from doing it to him, but they chain me up too. I can’t help him if they do that to both of us.”

  “Come along.” She could hear the anger in Mercy’s voice, but never once did she raise her voice while speaking to her or Abe. “I have to make one stop on the way out, but my husband, his name is Joel, is out there waiting for you at the car. He is a genuinely nice man. Get in the car, and I’ll be out shortly.”

  “Don’t do anything stupid.” Mercy looked at her, the anger seemingly clearing from her eyes. “Don’t do whatever you’re thinking about. This place might be run like shit, but it’s all a lot of these kids have—other than sleeping on the streets. Promise me you won’t do whatever it is you think needs to be done, and we’ll head to the car without any trouble.”

  “Do you have any idea what she’s doing here?” Tracy took a big chance and nodded. No one knew as much as she did about this place, other than the bitch. “All right. I won’t do anything right now. But you have to promise me to speak with Jude when you can. Not today—today is for fun. But soon after the other children leave. Promise me that, Tracy, and I’ll do as you asked.”

  “I swear to you on my brother’s life, I will tell her everything she needs to get this place under new management. It will be the truth as I know it.” Mercy stared at her for another few seconds before nodding and following her and Abe out. “Thank you for trusting me.”

  Joel was just where Mercy had said he’d be. He didn’t try and shove Abe into the car but allowed him to move at his own pace. When he stood in front of the front door of the big limo, Joel not only opened it for him to sit inside, but he also asked if he’d allow him to buckle him in. It was the first time Abe had allowed anyone to do anything for him but her. She knew at that moment she could not only trust these people, but she thought she might be able to get them to take care of Abe as he needed to be.

  “I’m going to be eighteen in a year and a half. I know people are only looking for babies. So if you have any pull with the couple you said is going to take us, I’d like for you to see if they’ll allow me to stay until I can get my brother situated.” Mercy asked her why she thought they’d turn her out when she turned eighteen. “As I said, people looking for children don’t want a grown woman hanging around too.”

  “I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised by Jude and Duncan. They’re as good a couple as that bitch isn’t.” They both heard laughter from the front seat, and Tracy knew it was her brother. “He’s had some trauma in his life, hasn’t he? Someone hurt him badly.”

  “Yes.” She looked out the window as the houses became fewer and fewer, and the open fields became more. “His father did it. Not to him directly, but he sold him to one of his buddies. His mom thought it was a hoot. He has nightmares about it, and I got the information from him when I woke him from a bad dream.”

  “Does he visit them?” Tracy said he’d not seen them since they’d been arrested. “Do you think he’d want anything to do with them?”

  “No. Why?” Mercy didn’t say anything, but Joel did. He asked her if he would be happy if they were gone. “You mean dead? I doubt very much he’s given much thought about them being around him very much. I’m sure he couldn’t care less if they were alive or dead. However, I don’t want you to do it. You’re very ready to right wrongs with killing, aren’t you?”

  “In this, selling that young man to other men is a killing offense if you ask me. No one, especially a parent, should ever have something like that even enter their head about their own flesh and blood. Do you?” Tracy didn’t, but she didn’t want this woman to have it on her conscience that she’d killed someone. “Killing them won’t ever be on my mind after they’re gone. People like them make me physically ill. The very fact they can be alive while he’s suffering as he does is enough to make me want to lose my temper with them.”

  “Don’t do it. Why should they not have to live every day with the consequences of their actions? Both of them are in solitary confinement to keep the other inmates from killing them. To me, being cut off from everything around them is more of a punishment than you ending their time in prison.” Tracy looked at them both. “I’m not going to ask you for a promise to kill them. I don’t think I have to. What I am going to ask you is, would you not do so? Would you please not kill them while they’re in prison?”

  “All right.” She knew that it had been hard for Mercy to give her what she wanted. Tracy told her she’d owe her for this. “I’ll take that too. You will owe me one favor. A favor of whatever I ask, you’ll do. I will tell you it will be nothing illegal, nor will it be harmful to you or your brother’s health and wellbeing.”

  They were pulling up in front of
the large castle when Tracy put out her hand. Mercy looked at it, then at her. Tracy wasn’t sure she would take it at all until she spoke.

  “I’m magical, as I’m sure you’ve gathered. Touching our hands, it will give you something. I’m not sure what, but you will get some of my magic.” She smiled at her then. “You’ll also get some from all the birds, now that I think on it. This could be really fun.”

  When she got out of the car, Tracy looked at Joel. He was grinning as well. She asked him about birds and what that meant. His laughter wasn’t very encouraging.

  “We’re all birds. All of us. I would guess you will be as well.” He got out then, and she still sat there.

  Mercy looked into the limo where she was still sitting and put out her hand. The moment their fingers touched, Tracy felt it. The tingling down her arm told her she was going to be in deeper shit than she’d realized the moment she and her brother entered the house. But they’d be safe. For her, that was more than enough to put up with a little magic and some tiny birds. What kind of harm could a bird do to her if she messed up? Time would tell, Tracy supposed. Hopefully, she had plenty of time left to figure it out.

  Mercy was still laughing as they entered the castle with Abe. Holy crap monkeys, Tracy thought, it really was a castle. And there were beautiful decorations everywhere. Abe just stood in the middle of the great hall and looked around.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” The whispered voice could only be one person. “You’ll get back into whatever brought you here right this minute and go back to the home. I will deal with you later.”

  “I sent for them.” Tracy turned to look at the beautiful woman standing next to a tall man. “You were told when arrangements were made that everyone was to come to this party. If you want to talk to me about it later, I’ll be all ears. But for now, come along, Tracy, my husband and I would like a word with you and your brother Abe.”

  Tracy followed the woman and her husband to the room with the Christmas tree. While Tracy didn’t know exactly what was in store for her at the end of the day, she decided she and Abe would have the best time of their lives today. Tomorrow might find them both locked away again, but the here and now was going to be for them.