The Castle of Wind and Whispers (Briarwood Reverse Harem Book 4)

by Steffanie Holmes

  Dammit, he’s right. I hated that Daigh had seen through us like that. Even though he didn’t know about the belief magic, he knew there was a reason we hadn’t used our secret weapon on the fae. We couldn’t harness the magic because the statue was outside the castle grounds, but even if we could, there was no way we’d use it. If we hurt the villagers or drove them away or did anything to disrupt the flow of belief magic that was going to Flynn’s statue, we could lose our shot at defense against the Slaugh. The angry mob outside our gates were probably driving up the belief magic to stratospheric levels. In case we couldn’t make an agreement with Daigh or, more likely, he double crossed us, we needed to keep that magic flowing until the Slaugh came if we wanted any hope of defeating them.

  If we could hold out it until Ryan’s painting came out and the press descended on Crookshollow, then the villagers wouldn’t be able to pull stunts like this – not without the whole of England looking on. Without our magic throttled, we could hit Liah with some of the belief power, try and get her out of their heads, maybe take her out completely. If we hid out at Raynard Hall, we’d at least have a chance.

  But when they got in here… we would lose the castle, we’d lose the wards. We’d most likely be dead.

  But we can’t leave Briarwood. Memories flashed through my mind – of the first day I’d arrived and the boys literally fell over themselves showing me around and trying to impress me. Of the first time Corbin and I shagged on his desk in the dark paneled library, of the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen whenever Rowan was at the stove, of climbing over Flynn’s piles of crap in the garage, swinging swords with Arthur in the orchard, of Blake’s wicked grin when he first showed up on the couch in the Great Hall.

  Briarwood was my castle. It was the only place in the world I’d ever considered home. No way did I want to give it over to a horde of villagers to pillage and ruin.

  “Forget it.” I said. “We’re not letting them in. For all I know, you could be lying about Liah even being here. I’m not giving up Briarwood based only on your word.”

  “If you don’t stop Liah, then what you showed us tonight will come to pass,” Daigh insisted.

  I sighed. “You’re basing this harebrained scheme on that stupid dream? You’re more deluded than I thought.”

  “If we’ve seen it, then we must try to change it,” Daigh insisted. “Isn’t that our responsibility to the earth and to her inhabitants?”

  “Either predestination exists, or it doesn’t. You can’t have it both ways.”

  Aline smiled at the mirror. “Our daughter questions everything, even the evidence of her own eyes.”

  Daigh grinned back. “What monster have we raised?”

  “Neither of you raised shit,” I snapped. “I was raised by two amazing people in Arizona who you killed with a Ferris wheel.”

  “Temper, temper.” Daigh nodded at Aline. “She is most definitely mine.”

  “The DNA test will confirm that,” I growled, wrapping my fingers around Aline’s arm and dragging her toward the door. “I’m just going to consult with my mother here. Don’t go away.”

  Out in the hall, I yanked Aline through the doorway of Rowan’s room, and flattened us both against the wall. “Okay, I give in. What’s his game?” I hissed. “Is he telling us the truth or what?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing,” she whispered back. “You’ve been around him a lot more recently than I have.”

  “I’ve only had a handful of conversations with the guy, and from what I can gather, precisely eight-two percent of what he said was lies.”

  Aline smiled, her white teeth catching a glint of the moonlight. “For Daigh, that’s a pretty good percentage.”

  “Is this funny to you?” I snapped. “Lives are in danger here, and you’re flirting with the enemy. Do you even get that?”

  She rubbed my shoulder. “Whoa, hey, calm down, honey-bee. We’re going to figure this out.”

  I cringed at her saccharine pet name. “You lived in this castle a lot longer than I did. Do you know about this door in the cellar?”

  Aline shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean he invented it. I never did go down in the cellar much. It’s so dusty and grody and full of spiders! We have to remember that Daigh’s got nothing to gain or lose personally by coming to warn us. He’s safe in the fae realm. His safety is not in danger.”

  “We have no idea what he might gain by this, that’s the whole point. At least there’s an easy way to confirm his story,” I said. “We go to the cellar and look at this secret doorway. If we can find it we can conclude at least that part was true.”

  Aline glanced up at the ceiling. Heavy footsteps moved across the floor above. Arthur’s voice called down from the top of the stairs. “Maeve, are you okay down there?”

  “I’m fine,” I called up. “Aline’s down here, too. Can we talk to you about something?”

  The stairs creaked under Arthur’s weight. Aline reached behind me and shut the bathroom door. A few moments later, Arthur appeared in front of us.

  “What’s up? I don’t want to leave the post for long.”

  “Aline will go and watch the window for a few minutes. I need you to go down to the cellar.”

  “You thirsty?” Arthur used the cellar to brew and store his mead and other alcohols.

  “Not really. But Dai—” Aline stomped on my foot, shoving me out of the way so she could face Arthur.

  “I just remembered there used to be a secret passage in the cellar,” she breathed. “There was a spring-loaded door in the last wine rack, and the passage behind led into the woods.”

  “I’ve never seen it,” Arthur said.

  “Not many people knew about it. I don’t even think Andrew and Bree knew. It might be a good escape route, if we need it, but we need to know it’s still there.” Aline batted her eyelids in a flirtatious way. “Can you go down to the cellar and check?”

  Arthur glanced over at me, a questioning look in his eyes. I nodded. I didn’t like that Aline was lying to him about how we found out about the tunnel, but we needed to know it was there. It was better for him to go down there than me. No way was I leaving Aline alone with Daigh.

  “You’ll both watch the window?” Arthur said. “Don’t take your eyes off it. I think the protective wall is starting to buckle.”

  My stomach churned. I nodded again. Arthur shot me a final dark look, and hurried off down the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, I grabbed Aline.

  “What did you do that for? Why did you lie about Daigh?”

  Aline’s eyelids fluttered. “Because if Arthur found out Daigh was here, he’d rush in with his chest puffed out and we wouldn’t get anything else out of Daigh. And then your Sir Lancelot would probably go straight back upstairs and wake everyone up, and that’s not what you wanted, is it?”

  She was right. That was exactly what would happen. I let go of her. “Sorry. I’m just a bit—”

  “It’s okay, Maeve. I understand.” Aline wiped her eyes. I noticed the sheen of tears on her cheeks.

  “Go upstairs,” I told her. She didn’t move. I didn’t have the heart to tell her again.

  A few moments later, Arthur’s footsteps beat a path up the stairs and down the hall. “You were right,” he huffed when he saw us. “There’s a door and a tunnel behind it. You coming up?”

  “I just want to speak with Aline privately for a bit. I won’t be long. I promise.”

  Arthur looked ready to protest, but what could he do? I was still his High Priestess. “Hurry up,” he called back as he vaulted up the spiral stairs.

  Aline pointed to the bathroom door. “Shall we?”

  “Fine, let’s get this over with.” I re-entered the room. Daigh swiveled his face toward me. His features appeared eerily solid for being only an image on the mirror. I longed to touch him and see if his face felt real, but I didn’t dare. “Okay, so you were telling the truth about the tunnel. Say I believed you that Liah was outside compelli
ng the humans – if we wanted to stop her, what would we have to do?”

  Daigh grinned, showing two rows of beautiful white teeth. How did he get his teeth so white? They couldn’t have dentists in the fae realm. “That’s my girl.”

  “I’m not your girl. Just answer my question, or I’ll have Arthur down here to smash that mirror into a thousand pieces.”

  Daigh shook his head. “You can’t involve the giant knight, or the coal-colored one, or any of the others. This has to be just between the three of us.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Liah is coming for you. We know she has the power of compulsion. She can leap from mind to mind like a frog. We can’t have this inside their heads if she tries to get in. Only spirit witches like you and your mother can withstand compulsion.”

  “And Blake,” I said.

  “Probably best you don’t run to him with this, either. He doesn’t exactly trust me, and he’s likely to go to the other guys with this information, is he not?”

  He was right. Damn, I hated that. I didn’t want Daigh to be right. I wanted him out of my life.

  But that wasn’t my role here. I had to work for the good of humankind. I thought of Corbin – of how he felt trapped at Briarwood, and of all the amazing things these guys could do if they had freedom, real freedom. How even if we managed to defeat Daigh, we’d still go through this again and again and again until the fae got what they wanted.

  And as much as I hated to admit it, Daigh and Liah had a point. Climate change, deforestation, genetic vulnerability of crops, fossil fuels… all the science pointed to humankind wiping itself out and taking the earth and her ecosystems with us. I could see how they came to the conclusion the earth would be better off without us.

  I had to show the fae another way, a new future. I had to try. And that meant surviving tonight, no matter the cost. It meant losing Briarwood – a symbol of freedom and hope and power. But it was worth it for true freedom.

  I have to do this. It’s the only way.

  “Fine,” I sighed. Daigh beamed at me through the mirror. “Tell me what we have to do.”

  27

  MAEVE

  “I don’t like this.”

  “What did you say?” Aline yelled over the wind. Her long wavy hair whipped around her face.

  I shook my head. It didn’t matter what I thought now. We were committed to this course of action. I didn’t see any other choice.

  We stood on the parapet overlooking the gardens at the side of the castle and the meadow beyond. My foot slipped into the internal gutter running along the narrow ledge. I pressed my back against the slate roof, my eyes focused on the flickering torches along the boundary and the village of Crookshollow in the distance.

  After Daigh disappeared back into the mirror and we gone back to my room, Aline and I fell into bed. I pretended to sleep, my ears prickling for any change in the noise outside. After half an hour, Arthur woke Flynn up and crawled back into bed. In a few minutes he was snoring, and Aline and I could get up and go to the bathroom again.

  My stomach churned with guilt and disgust that I was deceiving the guys to break the wall. But Daigh was right about the fact that Liah couldn’t get her hands on our escape plan.

  Shouts and cheers blew into my face. I gripped the edge of the crenelation and peered over the wall. Arthur was right – the tractors had made it half a length closer. The wall bent back under their onslaught. Soon it would break anyway.

  “I hope this works,” I yelled at Aline. “I hope Daigh’s right.”

  She squeezed my hand. I couldn’t hear her words, but I read her lips. “Me too, sweetheart.”

  Sparks of her spirit magic flickered against my hand. I closed my eyes, and focused my attention on drawing up my own power. My magic flared inside me, and I pushed it through my fingers, sending it to Aline so she could deactivate the charms.

  After a few moments, she dropped my hand. “It’s done,” she mouthed, and picked her way back along the ramparts to the low arched door leading back inside.

  I dared a final look over the parapet. At the front gate, the tractor’s wheels spun against the gravel as it crashed through the invisible barrier and skidded up the drive. A roar of triumph rose up from the villagers, spreading along the wall as the lights moved through the trees and up the curling paths toward Briarwood.

  It was downright Shakespearean. I’ve brought this ruin upon my house.

  Shouts echoed up the stairs. I raced down, slamming the door to the roof behind me. As I made my way across the first-floor landing, Flynn slammed the bathroom door open and screamed my name. Even the the gloom, I could see his face had gone pale.

  “I’m here!” I cried, rushing around the covered porch.

  “There you are!” Flynn crashed into me, his arms engulfing me in a tight hug. “I thought your tiny arse got sucked down the loo.”

  Flynn’s silly words belied the raw panic in his voice. I clung to him, not wanting to let him go. I hated that I’d worried him, and that I was still lying to him. I hate this. I’m so scared.

  The other guys crashed down the stairs. Rowan carried a struggling Obelix in his arms, and Arthur already had his sword strapped around his waist. “They’re broken through the barrier,” Corbin said. “Arthur tells me Aline remembered a secret passage in the cellar that leads out to the forest. Our best shot is to make it there.”

  Corbin flung open the door to the secret passage. It would get us downstairs quicker. “Last person through needs to pull this shut,” he said, jabbing the secret door hidden in the paneling. I followed him as he vaulted down the narrow steps and pushed the small door in the pantry open. In front of the pantry was a small square wooden door cut into the flagstones. Corbin pulled it up, revealing a rickety staircase leading down into the gloom. He gripped my hand and led me down the steps, shining the screen of his phone in front of him to illuminate a tiny square of light.

  “Meeoorww!” Obelix yowled from behind me. He didn’t want to go into the cellar. That makes two of us, buddy.

  A loud bang crackled through the castle. My heart leapt into my throat. Arthur shoved Rowan down the steps after me. “Hurry,” he growled. “They’re ramming the portcullis with that tractor. It won’t take long until they’re inside the castle!”

  28

  MAEVE

  “Someone pinched my arse,” Flynn squealed.

  “Meeorrw!”

  “Shut up, Flynn,” Corbin shot back.

  “But it’s such a bloody nice arse,” Blake said. “And Arthur won’t move up and give me more room.”

  “My shoulders are stuck,” Arthur groaned, grinding his enormous arms into the rough walls in an attempt to dislodge himself. I winced as my own arm scraped against the sharp stone. The passage was too narrow for me to walk straight ahead. I had to shuffle sideways. I couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable it was for Arthur.

  “Everyone, quit your bickering,” Corbin said, his voice stern. “I’m shutting the door now. Arthur, we need light. Flynn, we need absolute fucking silence.”

  “Aye, aye, Mussolini,” Flynn shot back.

  Corbin pulled the cellar door shut behind him, plunging the tunnel into darkness. “I’m on it,” Arthur said from in front of me. A moment later, a small flame flared to life, casting a flickering glow over the rough walls and Arthur’s strangely calm expression.

  “Hold out your hand,” Arthur told me. I complied, and he rolled the tiny fireball onto my fingers. Heat flared in my skin, but the fire hovered an inch above my palm as I moved it back and forth. Cool.

  “Pass that back,” he said. “I’ll make you another one.”

  I rolled the ball onto Flynn’s palm. The firelight caught Flynn’s features. His usually bright eyes were wide and terrified. His red hair flopped over one side of his face – a complete mess. He turned and passed the fireball to Blake while Arthur rolled another onto my fingers and cast a third for himself.

  “Three will do,” he stage-whispered.

/>   Arthur started to move along the tunnel, sliding his bulk along the rough walls. I followed him, carefully planting my feet on the uneven ground. Above our heads, the castle groaned and banged. What are they doing to Briarwood?

  Tears stung my eyes. I blinked them away. I couldn’t think about it now. We were alive. We were getting out of here. We’d live to fight another day. That was the important thing. Even if they tore down every single stone, Briarwood would live on inside us.

  The bangs and bumps above us faded as inch by inch we made our way further from Briarwood and deeper into the dark tunnel. I wondered how far we’d have to run on the other side to make it to Raynard Hall. I bet Flynn will love hiding out in his artistic idol’s house—

  Ahead of me, Arthur groaned – a deep, unhuman sound that made my blood run cold. He stopped dead in his tracks and I crashed into him. My hand slammed into the wall, snuffing out the flame and plunging my section of the tunnel into darkness. Behind me, Flynn’s body slammed into me, his elbow digging between my shoulder blades.

  Rowan grunted. Blake yelped. Corbin yelled something, but I couldn’t make it out. Blood pounded in my ears. I settled my hand on Arthur’s shoulder. He trembled – was that rage or fear? “Arthur, what happened? What’s going on?”

  “The tunnel is bricked up,” Arthur growled. “There’s no way out.”

  29

  CORBIN

  “There’s got to be a way through,” I moaned, standing on my tiptoes so I could see over everyone’s heads to where Arthur stood at the front of the line. “Have you looked for a spring?”

  “It’s a solid brick wall.” Arthur held up his fireball and checked every corner. “It’s not fucking springing anywhere.”

  “A loose brick then?” I held up my own fireball, scanning the walls on either side of the tunnel. “Maybe there’s a side passage we missed—”

  “There’s no side passages,” Arthur growled. “It’s like we’ve been deliberately led into a trap!”