"You don't have to--" Elinor began.
"If we're going to be partners, then you need to keep up your strength as much as I do," Edward said. "Is animal blood okay?"
Rose raised her head at that, but made no sign she understood the word.
"Animal blood would be preferable," Elinor said. "I don't usually--um--drink--"
"I'll be right back," Edward said. He pushed back from the table, stood up, then shifted shape in one fluid moment.
"Thank you," Elinor said awkwardly.
Edward the wolf gave her an unreadable glance, then slipped out the door.
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Chapter Sixteen
"Do you know why Ceidrin doesn't want to be king?" Lucien asked after Ceidrin and Gene vanished down the hall.
"I would assume it has something to do with Gene," Sennet said, and noticed how hollow-eyed and weary he looked. "Why don't we go eat some lunch and discuss it? You look like you could use something to eat."
"I'm--" Lucien closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Food would be wonderful," he said. "Thank you."
"And then, perhaps, you should get some rest," Sennet said. "I healed your wounds, but I can't help you regain your strength." She took his arm as he stood and swayed, but he managed to walk to the kitchen under his own power.
Once there, she fixed them both egg salad sandwiches and sat across from him at the table while the water heated for tea. "Why doesn't Ceidrin want to be king?"
"When they--Gene and Ceidrin--first met, certain members of his branch of the family tried to bribe Gene to leave him," Lucien said. "There was an--argument. Almost a battle, really. And Ceidrin left. It took him about thirty years to set foot in Faerie again."
"Does that have anything to do with why Gene doesn't seem to age?" Sennet asked. She'd always wondered about that, but hadn't felt it her place to pry.
Lucien finished the last of his sandwich without replying, then sighed. "There are ways to ensure humans don't grow old," he said. "It creates a sort of bond between the elf and the human; that's why they're usually lovers. It's not done very often."
"And I assume it doesn't protect them against accidents or sickness," Sennet said.
"You would assume aright," Lucien said. "I'm not...I'm not well-versed in humans. And I think our next king or queen should be."
"Would you like another sandwich?" Sennet asked. "And some tea?"
Lucien hesitated, then nodded. "Please," he said. "And thank you."
"Tell me about Oriellen's hounds," Sennet said, and poured him a cup of calming tea. "Ceidrin said one of them shifted shape."
"All I know is that they appeared and attacked me," Lucien said, his voice low and weary. "I've not seen them before. If Oriellen has been running her own hunt, she has been very circumspect."
"And their mistress?"
"She will not stop until she has the crown," Lucien said. "I didn't realize the depths of her desire, before. But now I know."
A shadow in the doorway alerted Sennet to Ceidrin's presence; he looked both preoccupied and tired.
"Gene fell asleep," he said before she could ask. "I thought I'd come and get something to eat before I went back to him."
"I wouldn't leave him alone for long, if I were you," Sennet said. "But you have time to sit and eat a sandwich. Would you like some tea?" She wanted to tell him what she'd seen when she healed Gene's wounds; what they had done to him, but that would have to come from Gene himself.
"Yes, but I can get it myself," Ceidrin said, and did just that. "And I have no intention of leaving him alone for long. A nap sounds like a great idea right now."
"You still need to tell me where you saw Nidrea last," Sennet said, "so I can start searching." When he opened his mouth, perhaps to refuse or to declare his intention of going himself, she shook her head. "Don't even think about it. I can take care of myself, and Lucien knows where she lived, too, remember?"
"Do you have a map, then?" Ceidrin asked with bad grace. He limped to the table, pulled out a chair, and sank down, frowning. "I'll show you where her house was. But I...I owe you enough already, Sennet. You don't have to do this."
"I will go," Lucien said.
Ceidrin took one look at him and shook his head. "No."
"But I--"
"You look like hell warmed over, to use one of Gene's phrases," Ceidrin said. "Get some rest. Sennet can go in search of Nidrea's heir."
Lucien thought about protesting; Sennet saw the words die before they reached his lips. "Is there another bed I can sleep in?" he asked.
"Third door on the left down the hall," Sennet said. "Go to sleep. Ceidrin and I can handle this part."
Lucien left, looking all too pleased to do so. Ceidrin watched him go, then turned back to his sandwich. "You could have--"
"You agreed to let me help you, not Lucien," Sennet reminded him.
"Do you have a map?" Ceidrin repeated.
"I have a mirror," Sennet said, and produced a small round mirror from a nearby drawer. "You can show me where it is." She set the mirror up in front of him. "All you have to do is touch it and show it what you see in your mind."
"And then you'll magically be able to go there?" Ceidrin asked. "This is--"
"Yes," Sennet said, which eliminated the rest of his protests. "We might not have much time. If either Oriellen or Meinren discover that Nidrea had a son--"
Ceidrin shuddered. "I pity him, then," he said. "Very well." He closed his eyes and touched the mirror's glass.
A road appeared in the mirror, a winding country road with field and forest on either side. In Ceidrin's memory, it was summer, and the corn stood green and tall while the leaves on the trees had yet to turn their various colors in their autumn display. There were houses here and there, spaced far apart, isolated and alone like little islands amid a sea of green.
Down a winding gravel road was a small stone house surrounded by oak trees, a picture-perfect cottage whose tiny yard bloomed with flowers. It was a peaceful house, a perfect place for solitude--or exile.
It looked very familiar, but Sennet couldn't get a fix on it at all. She frowned. "Was it well-warded?"
"Of course," Ceidrin said, and opened his eyes. "If you were a runaway heir to a throne, wouldn't you ward your home?"
"I can fix on the road--the first one--but anything after that is blank," Sennet said. "Were there any houses nearby?"
"I have no idea," Ceidrin said. "Nidrea didn't inform me whether or not she had neighbors. I was there for an hour at the most."
"Wait--" Sennet touched the mirror and the little stone house vanished. Half a mile away, across a field and a stand of trees, now covered in snow, she saw the remains of another little house, un-warded, abandoned and cold.
"This is real time?" Ceidrin asked.
"Yes," Sennet said, and watched as a wolf--or at least it looked like a wolf--appeared out of the fuzzy grayness that were the very active wards around Nidrea's former home and picked its way across the snow.
Towards the trees and the other house.
"Hmm."
"You've thought of something," Ceidrin said, staring at the wolf.
"Yes, I have." Sennet shrugged into her coat and found a hat after a bit of rummaging in the hall tree. "Will you rest? And stay inside? I'll be back as soon as I can."
Ceidrin watched her, his expression both weary and worried. "Be careful," he finally said. "We'll stay here. And I promise to get some rest."
"There's food in the fridge if you get hungry again," Sennet said, and focused on the wolf's destination; the house amid the trees.
When she opened her eyes, snow crunched under her feet and the searing cold tried to freeze her lungs. She stepped up onto the sagging porch, glad of her coat now that she had arrived. It only took a bit of talent to cast a warming spell across her skin, and she waited in comfort for the wolf to arrive.
It slipped out from the shadows a moment later, its eyes catching the reflection o
f the moon with an odd green glow. It stood and stared up at the house for a long moment, and then--and then shifted shape. In the wolf's place, a young man stood, his dark hair hiding the expression on his face.
He shivered, glanced back at the barely visible stretch of road, and took two steps before he sensed Sennet's presence.
Before she could speak, he growled something under his breath. Sennet felt something flex around her; some sort of ward, she thought, and made sure her hands were in full view.
"I mean no harm," she said softly, knowing he could hear her. "My name is Sennet, and I am a Healer." He seemed strangely familiar, as if she'd healed him before a long time ago. And perhaps she had. "Do you know the person who used to live here?"
The young man stopped his careful retreat and stood there, just looking at her, for almost a minute before he spoke. "His name was Arthur Caswell." Each word was measured carefully before leaving his lips; Sennet could feel his distrust like a living thing around her.
And that was why this place seemed so familiar. "Arthur. Oh, yes. I've been here before."
Now it was his turn to study her. "You have?"
"A long time ago," Sennet said. "And that's the reason why you look so familiar. Arthur called me one day--you'd been shot. By a hunter, I think." And he hadn't aged a day since she saw him last, Sennet thought. How long ago had that been?
The young man touched his stomach, right where Sennet knew there would be a scar. "I don't remember you," he said. "Why are you here? Why now? Arthur's been dead for years."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Sennet said. "How did he die?" She remembered Arthur Caswell as an older gentleman, yes, but in good health. How many years ago was that? She couldn't remember.
"I--" The young man scowled. Sennet didn't think he had given her his name before; from what she remembered, he had barely spoken at all. "How do I know you are who you say you are?"
"May I have your name?" Sennet asked. "I gave you mine, after all."
For a moment, she thought he'd refuse, but then he nodded, jerkily. "My name is Edward. Edward Lange."
"And you live in the stone house that sits behind those wards?" Sennet asked. Fifty years ago, according to Ceidrin and Lucien, Nidrea had been living in that house, alive. When had she died?
Edward took a step back. "You...you've seen my house," he said flatly.
"I've been inside your house," Sennet said. "To heal you. Do you remember?"
He glanced away, his gaze shadowed. "Thirty years ago. I don't remember you, but I remember the hunter. I remember that I was dying." He spoke in a monotone, all emotion gone from his voice. "Arthur had gotten past my wards somehow. He had seen my house. And I was hunting on his land when the hunter shot me."
"And then he called me," Sennet said. "I can prove to you what I am if you still don't believe me, but I would have to touch your hand."
He stepped back, even though he was not within reach. "Why are you here?"
"I came here to help a friend of mine," Sennet said, wondering how much she should tell him. "His name is Ceidrin, and--"
He reacted to that name by retreating even further, poised to flee. But then, he wiped his hands across his face and shook his head, as if trying to convince himself to stay. "I...I expect you'd be happy to know that Elinor is safe, then," he whispered.
Sennet saw raw fear in his gaze, and wondered what she had done to make him so afraid. "I'm very glad to hear Elinor is safe," she said softly. "But I did not intend to upset you. I'm sorry. How long have you lived in that house?"
He closed his eyes, then, and braced himself against something she could not see. "My whole life," he whispered. "I was born in that house."
"How long ago?" Sennet asked. Was he Nidrea's son? Was that even possible?
He glanced away. "I was not born with the form of a wolf. That happened when I was eighteen."
"Arthur didn't tell me anything about you," Sennet said. "Only that you needed my help." She stretched out her hand. "Edward, I'm not here to hurt you."
He stepped closer; that, at the very least, was progress, but he made no move to touch her. "I could go back," he whispered. "Behind my wards where you cannot go."
"Is Elinor behind your wards?" Sennet asked. "Is she okay?"
"I told her I would bring her back a rabbit or something," Edward said. "So she could eat."
"Then do so," Sennet said. "Don't let me stop you."
That startled a laugh from his lips. "You want--"
"I am here to do one thing," Sennet said. "To ensure that if Nidrea's son still lives, he has not been found by those who would wish him dead."
He flinched at the name, and glanced back towards his house, as if longing to return to the safety of his wards. "Elinor told me what happened," he said. "Did you find her m-mother?"
"Ceidrin did, and almost died because of it," Sennet said. "But he's safe now."
"Elinor was planning to contact him," Edward said. "She--" He covered his face with his hands, then, and sank down into the snow. "She doesn't know."
Sennet couldn't leave him kneeling there in obvious pain, even if his pain had nothing to do with an actual wound. She inched down the stairs until she stood a few feet in front of him, then held out her hand again.
"I mean you no harm."
He raised his head. "I know you don't. I can--feel what you are." He hesitated, then took her hand, and Sennet helped him back onto his feet.
"You were wounded recently," she said. "Who healed you?"
"Elinor did," he whispered. "She–" He glanced back again, and shivered. "She hit me. With her car."
"She hit you?" Sennet did not stop him when he slid out of her grasp. "Elinor is a Healer?"
"She says not like you," Edward said. "It's...it's a long story. I suppose–"
"How long have you lived--"
"I was cursed one hundred years ago," Edward said quietly. Up close, she couldn't help but see the torment in his gaze. "One hundred and eighteen years ago, I was--not entirely human, but close enough."
"Your father was human," Sennet said. "If you are who I think you are."
"I am a wolf except for a handful of days before and after the full moon," Edward said stiffly. "I can't do what you are thinking. I can't."
"What am I thinking?" Sennet asked. She certainly wasn't going to push him; he'd vanish into his wards and close himself off from everyone again.
"Elinor said that if Nidrea left an heir--"
"I'm a neutral party to this," Sennet said gently. "I'm not about to kidnap you and force you to do something you don't want to do. That's not the way Healers work." When he didn't reply, she said, "But I would like to speak with Elinor. No one told me she was a Healer." And if she had enough talent to heal the wounds she'd sensed, she had enough talent to ensure herself a place anywhere for the rest of her life.
"I don't want to be involved in this," Edward whispered.
"Was Nidrea your mother?" Sennet asked.
He blew out a breath, took a step backwards, and started to shake his head. "Even if I lie to you, you already know the truth," he said. "Yes. Nidrea was my mother. And Elinor doesn't know."
"She may need to know," Sennet said. "May I cross your wards?"
His breath caught in his throat. "You...you may. But I told Elinor I'd bring her something to eat–"
"I'll wait here, then," Sennet said. "We can go back together."
From the look in his gaze, he didn't think that was any better than the alternative, but he nodded, shifted shape, and loped away into the trees.
Sennet sat on the edge of the porch and stared across the snow-covered field. What was already a complicated situation had suddenly become much worse. The elves might have accepted a half-human king, especially if he was proven to be Nidrea's son, but she doubted they would accept one who was a wolf for most of the month.
How had he been cursed? Who had cursed him? And could such a long-standing curse be broken?
She would have to find out.
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Chapter Seventeen
Perhaps it was the fact that he had a full stomach now, but Edward found it quite simple to find and subdue two rabbits for Elinor. Hunting them kept his mind off the Healer and what would happen once she followed him to his house. Or what would happen afterwards.
For a moment, as he stared at her from the shelter of the trees, he wondered if he could get away with vanishing back behind his wards, closing himself off from everything, and forcing Elinor to go with her, perhaps, and leave him alone again.
Until the next snowstorm, when he would run out of food and eat the wrong chicken and perhaps die this time instead of finding a way to escape their cages.
He stepped out into the open and saw Sennet straighten up.
"You came back," she said. "I wasn't sure you would."
He had said something similar to Elinor, and she had come back. "I said I would let you through. And I will." He raised his hand to show her the rabbits. "They aren't getting any warmer."
In human form, it was a longer trek across the snow, and colder, too. By the time they reached the edge of the wards, Edward was beginning to wish he hadn't left his coat behind.
"Here–" Sennet touched his arm before he could pull away. "I can give you warmth."
She did something, then, that sent a tingle of magic across his skin. And suddenly, he wasn't cold anymore.
Edward blinked. "Thank you." He hesitated. "I was walking home when Elinor hit me. If I had this–warmth–then, I think I might have made it home."
"Where were you walking from?" Sennet asked.
"Ah–" Edward laughed. It was a bit amusing, now that he could look back on it. "It's been a bad winter. It's been hard to find food. And I–um–ate the wrong chicken."
"Oh, I see," Sennet said. Her voice sounded a little funny, but she didn't laugh.
"I got to eat for two weeks, at least," Edward said, and tried not to make that sound as hopeless as it actually was. "This might be a silly question, but are you bound to tell them anything?"
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