They apply a soothing salve to the cut on the back of my head, washing the dried blood out of my hair with warm water, giving much the same treatment to grazed elbows and knees from diving beneath Sidney in dragon form, and all the other scratches and scrapes from everything that happened under ground. Every wound and sore spot is soothed and bandaged, even some I didn’t realise I had.
In amidst the coming and goings I relax back into the pillow, and rest my eyes.
I must sleep, because when I close my eyes the room is empty, and when I wake Sidney is sitting by the bed, holding my hand.
I’m aware of his touch first, the warmth wrapped around my fingers. I give his hand an involuntary squeeze, and feel movement as he shifts in his chair. And when I open my eyes I see his furrowed brow, the worry in his eyes.
“You’re awake.”
His eyes scan my face.
“Are you all right?”
I take a moment to feel through my body, before I answer.
Everything aches, every single muscle in my body, in a way I’ve never experienced before. It can only be because I tried to suppress the magic, to push the energy back down, back where it came from. There’s no other explanation.
“I’m a bit sore,” I admit, giving Sidney a weak smile. “But other than that, yes, I’m all right.”
A relieved smile crosses Sidney’s face.
“I was so worried.” He shakes his head. “I knew something was wrong. I felt my fertility taken away again, like an icy cold something stabbing into my groin. And then I went back to my rooms and they’d been ransacked, drawers pulled open, stuff everywhere. And of course your contract, gone.” He smiles ruefully. “I should have protected it better. I’m so, so sorry for not locking it away somewhere, where no one would find it. I thought my room was safe from intruders, than my house was safe from my brothers.”
He gives my hand a squeeze. “I came looking for you, but of course you were gone. The worst thing was the other women didn’t even realise.” He looks at me. “Didn’t you tell anyone you were heading outside?”
I shrug. “I awoke to silence. No fighting, no burning. I thought the brothers must have accepted your negotiations, and withdrawn their troops.” I push myself up so I’m sitting, Sidney grabbing some pillows to put behind me for support. “I went out to see this fresh new, quiet, day. But then Frensen was there, with my contract, and I knew I had no choice but to go with him. He grabbed me anyway, before I could even think to call out, to give someone warning. Of course his first spell was to remove your ability to have more children.” I bite my lip. “We could do the spell again, if you wanted. I could divine who it is who would go...”
Sidney shakes his head. “I already know who that would be,” he says, his gaze intense. “The person I love the most. And I couldn’t bear to lose her.”
I nod. I guess it must be Stacey. Now that she’s with child he’s been spending so much more time with her, and how could he not fall in love with her sweet nature? Besides, it makes sense that the two of them should be together, mother and father of the child they’ve created.
My heart feels like it’s tearing in two, such a sharp stabbing pain in my chest, and I have to suppress a gasp.
I didn’t quite realise how much that would hurt, Sidney actually falling in love with someone else, nor quite how much I had actually fallen for him, until I picture him and Stacey together. My heart feels so damaged, and I have to blink back the tears that threaten.
I can’t let him see that, how foolish will I look?
Instead I return to the subject of my time with Frensen.
“I don’t know how long I was down there for,” I begin, and Sidney interrupts.
“Four days, and about six and a half hours, if my calculations are correct.”
I raise an eyebrow, but I can’t suppress the smile. “You kept track?”
“How could I not? I was so worried for you.”
I take a deep breath, and remind myself he was worried because I am his witch, and not for any other, personal reason.
“Okay. Anyway. Frensen came a couple of times, and a guard came once, with a meal. Frensen was so pleased when Kress died, one brother out of the race, I guess it gave him the idea of getting rid of Mitchell, too.”
“Is that what was happening when I arrived?”
I nod. “If you had not taken back the contract, and reclaimed me as your slave again, then Mitchell would be dead right now, and Frensen’s wife, too.”
Sidney frowns. “Did he not bother to find out the consequences?”
“He did.” Bitter bile rises in the back of my throat. “He just didn’t care.”
“But you did something, didn’t you? You stopped the spell, too.”
I shake my head. “I was trying. I was pushing against that surge of energy that happens, trying to push it back where it came from, or if not, contain it. But I was on the verge of losing that battle. I could feel it pushing back, leaking out, spiralling up through me.” I pause, and look at Sidney. “If you hadn’t come when you did, I would have lost, and who knows what other consequences there might’ve been.”
Sidney frowns, and I continue. “Magic flows,” I explain. “It should be allowed to just be. If you don’t let it flow, it builds up, the results of the spell become stronger.” I swallow, as all of a sudden I know exactly what would have happened when the spell was finally released.
“You would’ve died,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “And that would have been my fault.”
My cheeks are wet, and I realise as I wipe at my face that I’m crying. Sidney sits up on the bed next to me, and wraps his arm around my shoulder.
“Shh… It’s okay. That didn’t happen. I’m alive, you’re alive, and all the people who’ve ever caused us trouble are not. We got through it.”
“What about Mitchell?”
Sidney kisses my forehead.
“Mitchell and I have agreed to rule jointly. I gave him Stacey, as a sign of goodwill. In return he has agreed to never raise an army against me.”
“You gave him Stacey?” I’m confused, but Sidney misunderstands my concern.
“He has promised to look after her properly, and treat her like a queen. In fact, he’s going to marry her, so she will be a queen. If he’s found to fail in his role as husband and father, in any manner, both Stacey and the child will return here to be cared for under this roof. But if he looks after her, he can raise the child as his own.” Sidney glances at me. “I realised over these last few days, exactly what does matter to me,” he says. “And if I never have a child to call me father, well, that would have just been the icing on the cake, anyway.”
My mind is a whirl.
“But… I thought… You and Stacey.” I shake my head. I can’t get a coherent sentence out of my mouth.
Sidney frowns, and then his eyes open wide in realisation. “Stacey is beautiful, inside and out, but I have never been attracted to her, to any of them, really.”
“But she’s carrying your child.”
“My brother wants children far more than I ever have, let him be the doting father.”
“But you won’t get to be King.”
Sidney laughs. “I’ve sprung this conversation on you far too soon, haven’t I? I should’ve at least waited until you’ve had something to eat, and woken up properly.” He gives me a squeeze, but then slides off the bed, kneeling on the floor so that we’re eye to eye with each other.
“Mitchell and I are going to rule jointly. If Mitchell dies first, before the child is old enough to rule, then I will rule until such a time as the child is of age. If the child is already of age, I will pass over all rights and responsibilities to that child. Who does it matter who raises him or her? Biologically they’re my offspring, and any subsequent offspring will be my descendents.” He smiles.
“But what about Stacey?” My heart breaks as I think about her glow, and how happy she was to be pregnant with Sidney’s child. And how amazing her expe
rienced was with him. What will all of that be like with Mitchell?
“Stacey is happy to go with Mitchell,” Sidney reassures me. “And yes, I did ask her first. I explained the reasons why I wanted her to go to him, and how it would ensure peace. She met with him, and he promised to look after her and the child. All the events of recent times have humbled him, especially Kress’s death and so he was good to her right from the beginning. I think he is scared that I would end his life, so he is very focused on changing his ways. Besides, he is much closer to her own age, for a start.” He peers into my eyes. “Are you following me?”
I nod. “I think so. I just, earlier, you said you wouldn’t ask for your fertility back, because you would lose the person you love the most.” I hesitate. “I assumed that person must be Stacey. Have you given up the person you love the most, just so there can be peace?”
Sidney’s gaze flicks across my face, and I know he must be checking to see if I’m joking. When he realises I’m not, he bursts out laughing.
“Lauren. There’s only one woman I’ve ever been attracted to to the point I was almost obsessing over her, and that’s you.”
My heart leaps in my throat. “Me?” I look at him. “But you didn’t want me.”
“What? How could you think that? What about the amazing sex we had?”
I think to the days before Frensen kidnapped me. “Well, I know you enjoyed that, and so did I, obviously, but I still didn’t think you felt that way about me.”
“You know I didn’t want to have sex with you at first, in case I hurt you, or if my manner turned you away from me, or any number of other fears that crossed my mind. I decided earlier not to impregnate you, because then once you’d given me a few children, my brothers would be vying for a turn, and, I’m rather ashamed to say this now, but the promised freedom was never actually going to eventuate.” He glances down at our entwined hands. “All the women we brought in as breeders were told that, to help make them… well, more enthusiastic, shall we say? Give them hope and encouragement and a reason to want to fall pregnant. But in reality any women who actually fell pregnant were just going to be shared out among my brothers and I, moved from one brother to the next after she’d given them a couple of children. My father wanted to ensure he had as many descendents as possible, to continue his name.” He shrugs, and glances back at me. “So if I’d got you pregnant, then eventually I would have had to pass you on to my brothers, and I never, ever wanted to lose you.”
I nod, though his admission makes me feel a little ill inside.
He continues. “And then when you were right about me being infertile, well, your magic certainly came in handy.” He grins.
“So you were going to keep me as some sort of useful ornament?” I don’t know whether to feel indignant, or relieved that the rest of my life would have been relatively easy.
He shrugs. “I was hoping to figure out a way to be with you, maybe when we were both old, and my father and older brothers had died—”
I stare at him in amazement. “You were going to wait until we were geriatric, before making your move? Till we both need assistance to get around? Or would you be cautious then too, and wait, I don’t know, until one of us was dead?”
There’s a twinkle in Sidney’s eye, a huge grin crossing his face, right up until my final words, and then his expression turns serious.
He reaches out to grab my hand, weaving his fingers through mine.
“I feared you were dead.” His voice is sombre now. “When my fertility was gone, my first thought was that you’d been killed, and so any spells you’d ever cast had been reversed. You can imagine my bittersweet sense of relief when I found my room trashed, and your contract gone. I hoped Frensen had just taken the contract, and cast his spell. I didn’t know whether you had to be actually present for spells to work, or if he could do it from a distance. Just wish, and it was done. You’ve no idea how much I hoped it would be the latter. But then I went to your quarters, and you were nowhere to be found.” His voice breaks, and I can hear, now, just how scared he felt in that moment.
“That’s when I knew how foolish I’d been,” he says, his gaze holding mine. “I decided there and then that if I could save you, I’d open up to you, tell you the truth. That I’d change things.” He clears his throat. “Darla was amazing, just so you know. She determined when you’d been seen last. As it happens one of the other women was awake when you snuck out, so we knew it had only been an hour or so that you were missing. And then Darla told me of the stories she’d heard, conversations amongst the servants, and we were able to track one of the servants who was being paid off by Frensen for information.” Sidney looks at me. “That’s how Frensen knew I had a witch amongst my women, and it’s how he knew where to start looking for your contract,” Sidney says. “And then when Kress died, I had to look for Mitchell, and make sure he was alive, and explain everything that had happened. And that’s when we made our negotiations and agreements. I desperately wanted to come and find you, but I had to make sure Mitchell was on my side, because if I’d found you first, and Frensen had meanwhile convinced Mitchell to take his side, then I would have been dead, and you too, probably.”
Chapter 13
I take a moment to thank the gods, or the universe, or whatever that great source of energy wants to be called, that Frensen’s first wish did not kill both the other brothers, and that Sidney was able to negotiate a truce with the remaining one.
“So Frensen is dead now, too?”
The smell of burning flesh still singes my nostrils, so I’m certain it must be the case, but I know that doesn’t necessarily mean death, at least not straight away.
Sidney gives a heavy sigh, and nods. “I killed him. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t let him continue to hurt you, or the rest of our family. I knew when Kress died that he’d been a sacrifice for something Frensen had asked for. There was no other explanation for it.”
He glances as me. “I never wanted things to end this way with Frensen, or Kress, for that matter. We were all such good friends as children. So close to one another, even though we all had different mothers. Frensen and Kress always looked out for me, and I always looked up to them. And the same with Mitchell. He idolised me as a kid. It’s a shame adulthood had us at war with each other so often. I always hoped we could find a way back to that place.”
Sidney squeezes my hand. “But enough of that. I have other news for you.”
“Yes?”
“I have freed all the remaining slave women from your quarters.” His smile is wide on his face. “I’ve offered them work, here, if they want it, with their own private bedrooms, and if they do not, I have promised them enough money to get back home, wherever that may be. Darla has chosen to stay on as a cook, and a couple of the others have taken me up on my offer, as household staff of sort or another, but the other women, including the three I’d kept on from last time have all chosen to leave.”
“That’s wonderful.” I reach out and wrap my arms around him. “I’m so glad to hear that, Sidney. Thank you for doing that. I know you don’t have to, but I love you even more for it.”
His eyes sparkle, and he shrugs. “It’s not much, but it is something I can do.”
“So...” I raise an eyebrow. “Why did you keep on those other women? Why not let them move on somewhere else, when it became apparent they weren’t going to fall pregnant.”
Sidney takes a deep breath, forcing it out through his mouth. He squeezes my hand again, his gaze dropping to our interlaced fingers. “Of all the women I’ve ever bought, those three have all had children before,” he admits. “I thought, if they fell pregnant before, then they can again. I didn’t want to give them to my brothers, in case they fell pregnant to one of them, even though they hadn’t with me.” He glances up to meet my gaze. “But they’ve been here for years now, without the slightest inkling of a pregnancy. If I’m honest, I suspected I might not be fertile. I always hoped I was wrong, though, that it was the wo
men, not me. That’s why I was so harsh when you suggested it. I didn’t want it to be true. But I did suspect it, and I didn’t want to pass the only confirmed fertile women I knew on to my brothers, who may have just been unlucky, not infertile.”
He leans forward to press his lips against mine. “But your suspicions spurred me to have a test to confirm it, and with your power, your magic, we fixed the situation, and now I have at least one biological child out there.”
“A child you’ve given away,” I point out.
“Yeah, well.”Hhe grins. “I have something much better right here.”
I reach up a hand to place across his cheek, and pull him close for a kiss.
His lips are so soft, his touch so tender. I cannot remember ever being held in such a way before.
My hand drops from his cheek, the other rising to meet it at the top button of his shirt.
“Wait,” he pulls away, and I can’t help but feel a stab of disappointment.
“One more thing, before we get too carried away.” He grins, and removes something from the top drawer of his desk.
My contract.
“Do you not have a safer place to store that?” I ask, feeling a twinge of annoyance that he is still storing the key to all my power in his top drawer.
As though nothing went wrong doing that last time.
He grins. “I don’t need to, anymore.”
I raise a brow. “And why is that?”
He doesn’t say anything, just opens the case, and pulls out the tightly rolled paper. He unrolls it and smooths it out on the blankets, so for the first time since I signed it I can see the sleek cursive writing of the terms of the contract filling the page, the ink shimmering with magic, and then, in the same ink, my own shaky signature in the bottom right corner.
“I should never have signed this,” I say, regret weighing heavily on my heart.
“No,” Sidney replies. “You shouldn’t have. No one should have that power over you. Ever. I’m so sorry that you were forced into this, Lauren. And I’m especially sorry I took part in it, by buying you, and using your magic for my own means.”
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