“She said his life line looked good. She said the same thing you did. He’ll wake up when his body is ready to wake up. I don’t want to bother Trina too much. She should be resting.”
Bosco sat up. And immediately regretted it. His head spun and his stomach was none too happy. The side of his chest where his ribs were, hurt like a bitch. But he wasn’t getting any better in this bed. And he had a date with the Winter Queen.
He threw back the covers and swung his feet to the floor. Listening to the women talk as he made his too-slow way across the room to the door.
“That baby is taking its own sweet time,” the stranger said. “But I can’t wait! And I’m so glad we’re here now instead of that awful Troll-kin fortress. This is so much better. You’ve been living it up in luxury while we’ve been crowded into that cold stone monstrosity.
“I was a prisoner, I’ll have you know!” Cassie responded.
Bosco smiled. She sounded offended, in a good way. He liked the sound of her happiness. She should be with women she had fun with. Goddess knew she’d had none of that since he’d met her.
“Anyway, you’re here now and Trina’s baby will be here soon. I just wish he’d wake up.”
Bosco made it to the door. He peeked through the crack at the back of Cassie, the tips of her ears peeking out from her long red curls. She was seated in the corner of the couch and had swung her long legs up on the cushions.
Across from Cassie was the lovely blonde he’d seen in her dreams. She looked enough like the human version of Cassie he’d glimpsed that he realized it had to be her sister, Bryanna. It was like seeing Cassie’s face on someone else. It threw him for a minute. Cassie would always be elvatian to him. Trying to fit her into her sister’s features was like trying to fit the wrong piece into a puzzle. She just didn’t fit.
But as Cassie turned her head to the side and he could see her smile he realized that no matter the differences between the two, she looked completely relaxed and happy. He was glad Cassie had found her place, but he couldn’t help feeling like there was no spot for him. He wasn’t royalty. He wasn’t human. He’d been a wanderer and a lost boy and now he was a man who wouldn’t have a job or a place. Once he’d saved Siobhan, if he didn’t die, he’d have to find out who he really was. And where he fit in.
Staring at Cassie smiling at her sister, he suddenly knew—he didn’t care where he went as long as she was part of his life. He loved her. He loved the way the tips of her ears flushed when he teased her. He loved the way she could see right through him. He loved her—be she princess, Tuathan, or witch.
There was a knock on the outer door and it swung open. Prince Kian walked in, his long legs eating up the distance between the door and the couch. Bryanna squealed and stood up, running to give him a hug. “He’s not awake yet,” she said, leading him over to the couch.
Kian frowned. “Not awake yet. How are you doing? Power still giving you fits?”
“Yes.” Cassie sighed. “No one can tell me when the power surges will stop. Bosco’s taken in several of these power boluses. Hopefully, once he wakes up, he’ll know.”
He decided he’d better stop eavesdropping and join the conversation. “Know what?”
“You’re awake!” Cassie jumped to her feet and ran to him, wrapping her arm around his waist. “You shouldn’t be up.”
“Your Highness.” He bowed low to the prince, swaying. “Sorry, I’m as weak as a newborn colt.” Cassie bolstered him and he leaned heavily on her, grateful for her support.
“Forget that ‘Your Highness’ crap.” Kian grabbed a chair and moved it next to Bosco. “Sit down before you burst your stitches.”
Bosco sank into the chair. His whole body ached like he’d been thrown from a horse multiple times and he really wanted to head back to bed. But he wouldn’t lose face in front of Kian.
Cassie moved the other chair next to him and sat down. She touched his forehead. “I think you’re still fever free.”
“I’m fine,” he said, knowing he had a long way to go until he got there. “Thank you for letting me stay here,” he said to the prince. “I’ll be out from under foot soon.”
“It’s me who should be thanking you.” Kian inclined his head. “You rescued my lady’s sister, and for that we are forever grateful.”
Bosco inclined his head. “Your Highness.”
“I know we’ve never been friends, Bosco, but I hear from Cassie that you’ve been working against my mother this whole time. I had no idea.”
Bosco’s lip twitched and he lifted an eyebrow. “I was working for myself.”
“Aren’t we all?” Kian laughed. “It just so happens that your needs have aligned with mine.”
“Is she really gone?”
His face grew serious. “It appears so. We had the funeral and burned the body on the pyre. Haddon is now King of the Black Court, although we’re working hard to shrink his territory. Holding this castle is a huge accomplishment. I don’t think we would have done that without Haddon’s killing my mother.” A shadow flashed across Kian’s face. “He’s stronger now, but he’s not nearly as strong as the queen was, he can’t hold the court for long.”
“That bastard doesn’t deserve to be king.” Bosco growled. “He should be dead. I should have killed him.”
“If we’re calling dibs, I think I deserve to have the chance to take care of him,” Cassie said. “Or at least the first blow.”
“Regardless, there’s a knighthood waiting for you, when you’re ready.” Kian nodded at Bosco. “We could even do it tomorrow.”
“He’s in no shape to stand that long.” Bryanna lay her hand on her husband’s leg. “He just woke up. Give him another week.”
“Next week then.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. But I have to go. I only have a few days before my deadline runs out. I need to be heading north.”
Cassie stiffened.
Something was wrong. Disastrously wrong. He could see it in her eyes. “Cassie, what day is it? How long was I asleep?”
“Over a week.” She drew in a deep breath. “The solstice passed three days ago.”
It stole his breath away. He couldn’t do anything but wait for the next gasp of air. He finally took a breath, pulling it in like a drowning man. “I missed it? One hundred years of waiting and I missed it?” His head dropped into his hands and his shoulders shook.
He barely heard the prince and his wife leave. “Bosco, I owe you a great debt. Whatever you need to achieve your quest, it’s yours.” They exited the suite leaving a heavy quiet behind.
“Achieve my quest.” Bosco’s voice was bitter. He was too weak to move and couldn’t sit still. He forced his aching body up and walked across the room. “I waited a hundred years for the opportunity to free my sister and I fucking missed it.” He slammed his fist into the wall.
The pain felt good. He deserved it and more. He’d failed Siobhan.
Cassie crossed to him. Her hand fluttered up as if she reached to touch him, but changed her mind. “It’s my fault. I gobbled up all your power.”
“No. It’s that bastard Haddon’s fault.” He reached out and touched her cheek. Her eyes were full of shadows. “You needed that power. Someone had to keep you safe.” The room went grey and he swayed on his feet.
“Come on, sit down.” She helped him back to his chair.
He’d spent so long waiting for this and he’d failed. “I can’t believe she’s gone forever.”
Cassie took a deep breath and placed her hand on his thigh. “Bosco, I don’t think the queen killed her.”
He tensed under her hand.
“I think she’s still alive.”
She was sweet. But oh so wrong. He gave a bitter laugh. “The Winter Queen has no mercy. She wouldn’t wait for me.”
“Listen, I’ve been working at this new power. It’s way out of my control, but I can see so many things now.” She shook her head, as if trying to shake loose of her new power. “Too many things. Time spiral
s out in front of me, so many possibilities I can’t make sense of them. I’ve been trying to see Siobhan’s future, but I don’t know how to narrow it down. I need your help.”
Hope surged through him leaving him shaking and he seized her hand, squeezing it hard.
“What are you saying? Is she alive?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have much control. I’ve been practicing. I think if you help me, I might be able to tell you if she at least has a future.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Well, first of all, I need that hand.” Cassie wiggled her hand, loosening his death-grip on her fingers.
He smiled a smile he knew had no humor in it and loosened his death-grip on her fingers. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I know you’re stressed. Ready?”
He was so not ready. What if she was wrong? What if his delaying heading north for this last job meant he’d lost Siobhan. He’d found Cassie, but to lose his sister? When he’d been so close?
He nodded and felt the rush of power as she opened her Gift.
“Think about Siobhan. Her face. The way she smiles. Anything you can remember.”
“She loved the blue flowers that covered the hills in the spring.” The memory of the tiny flowers forming a flat carpet of blue and green across the harsh landscape of the north formed in his head.
“Good. What else?”
“She loved crisp ginger cookies. She made them every winter.” He could still smell of warm ginger and a sweet taste filled his throat.
“Keep going, tell me what she looks like.”
“She looks like me. Dark eyes, white hair.” His power was weakened, but he pulled what he had and glamoured his sister for Cassie to see. Tall and willowy with long white hair and flashing black eyes. He couldn’t hold it and it flickered and failed.
“I can see something.” Cassie’s head moved from side to side. Her eyes rolled back in her head. “Fire and ice. Cold, so cold. Oh, Goddess, her eyes!”
“Cassie. Cassie stop!” He shook her hard. “Let it go.”
She came back to him, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
His last hope died. He felt hollow and cold, like he’d never get warm. It was over. Siobhan was dead.
He pulled Cassie into his arms, needing her heat to soothe the ice forming in his heart. “It’s okay. You’ve done what you could.” He gathered her close, holding her fiercely to him. Siobhan was dead, but Cassie was alive. He hadn’t failed her. “You’re someone I couldn’t abandon. She wouldn’t have wanted me to, even if it cost her life.”
“But you don’t understand. She’s alive.”
He stared uncomprehendingly at her. “She is? How can that be?”
“I saw her futures. She couldn’t have futures and be dead. We can still save her.”
“Is she a prisoner? Is she frozen? What’s happened to her.” His words tumbled out so fast he could barely keep up.
“I don’t know. I can’t sort it out. All I know is she’s alive and she has a future.”
Bosco wrapped his arms around her, immensely grateful for this woman. “Thank you,” he whispered against her cheek. “Thank you for being you. You are amazing and I love you.”
“You do?”
“I do. I can’t imagine where we’re going, but after I find out what’s happened to Siobhan I will be back here to discover everything with you.”
“Sorry, but I’m coming with you.” She tilted her chin up. “As soon as you’re able to travel, we’ll head north.”
He didn’t think he could love her any more, but he did. “You’ll go with me?”
“I’d go anywhere with you, I love you. Teach me to control this power and together we just might be able to take on the White Queen.”
Bosco kissed the top of her head. He wanted to be closer to her. To fit her body into his. To be skin to skin with her. Heart beat to heart beat. If I could I would take you to bed and show you how much I love you, but I’m exhausted. I’m not yet healed enough for sex, but would you want to climb back into that bed and let me just hold you?”
“Try and stop me.”
They took off all their clothes and crawled into the big bed, spooned together on just one side.
“Bosco?”
“Hmm?”
“I have no idea what’s next for us. The queen’s dead, but Haddon has sworn retribution. Siobhan is out there, somewhere. We’ll find her, don’t worry. And then there’s the White Queen. But none of that matters.” Cassie sighed and snuggled into him. “I’m not sure what’s coming next or who I’m going to be in the future but I know who you are. And together we’ll face it all.”
“Together.” He pulled her into his body. She fit. His missing puzzle piece.
Epilogue
Aeval followed the old woman deeper into the forest. “Where are we going?” she asked. Her world had fallen apart. Her heart ached from where a piece of her had been ripped away when she’d seen her sister self, the Morrigan, die. “Where are you taking us?”
“You’ll be safe soon enough, dearie.”
She had no choice but to stay with the old woman. And no choice but to trust her. They were one and the same. Leaving her would be like leaving her soul. And she’d already lost a piece of that and it had nearly crippled her. The Morrigan had been her inside soldier, the one who had taken on all of her battles. When she’d died, the old woman had rolled the life and memories of their other self up and tucked them in her pocket. Aeval wanted them all back inside her. Just as she wanted the old woman back inside her. Where she belonged.
“How is it you’re there? How did we separate? I don’t remember being three before.”
“Hush, we’re almost there.” The old woman pushed a long hanging branch covered with ivy out of the way. “Do you see it?”
Aeval moved closer and saw. A small stone castle of worn grey stones, nearly dragged down by ivy and neglect. “It’s a ruin,” she said, recoiling.
“It’s home.” The old woman moved forward, the cord between them tugging Aeval along with her.
“Home?”
“You don’t remember, but then again, you don’t need to. I keep the memories. All of them. The bad. The good. You just keep the pretty face and enjoy yourself.” She muttered under her breath, but Aeval heard her. “I keep the bad, you get the rest.”
A filmy remnant of memory left the old woman and brushed Aeval’s face. It was cold and tasted of fear. For a moment she was younger and something horrible was in the room with her. Someone horrible. He pushed her naked shoulder and she fell on her knees. She brushed the memory off of her face and shook it from her fingers, shuddering. She didn’t want the memories.
The old woman took it from her and rolled it back up, tucking it away. “No, you don’t want them. That’s why you created us.”
“I created you?”
They were at the front door. The old woman pulled out a heavy black key, inserted it in the keyhole, and twisted. She put it back into her pocket and pushed the door open. It resisted, but she put her shoulder to it and pushed again. It creaked open, leaning drunkenly on the old hinges.
“Yes, dearie. You created her, and you created me. That way you could just remember the fun.”
Inside it was dark. Aeval’s eyes had almost adjusted when a flame flared. The room was nearly empty. A broken three-legged stool was on its side in the corner beside a twisted set of stairs. The old woman held up a lamp. “Come upstairs, we have work to do.” She turned and shuffled up the stairs. Aeval followed her narrow skirted backside up the stairs.
“What kind of work?” She was still woozy from the death of the Morrigan. She didn’t understand how she’d splintered apart into three, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t, be separated from this last piece of herself. No matter how much the old woman frightened her.
“I’m going to make sure you’re safe.”
This sounded good. The old woman was here because Aeval had needed safety long ago. She’d needed a
place to hide and someone to defend her from...no...she didn’t want to remember. That’s why she’d created the old woman in the first place.
The old woman to hold the pain and the fear and the darkness. And the Morrigan to defend them.
And now the Morrigan was gone and there was only herself and the old woman to defend them from the hateful people who were out in the world.
In a room where the roof slanted under the eaves the woman waved her hand. Suddenly the room was cozy. A single bed with a downy comforter took up one corner and next to the fire sat a well-worn wooden chair and a spinning wheel. The long sharp point was empty, but a full basket of carded wool was at its feet. The woman sank into the chair as if she were very tired.
“Come, my dear and start the wool for me. I have work to do and spinning will ease my mind.”
Aeval obediently scooped up a large bundle of the fluffy roving. It was already drafted. Separated into fibers and ready for spinning. She found a piece of yarn and turned to the spinning wheel to attach it to the bobbin and the old woman suddenly stood up and tripped, pushing her into the spinning wheel. Her hand hit the sharp protruding spindle. “Ouch!” Blood oozed from where the point had pricked her middle finger.”
“Whatever is the matter, dearie?” The woman’s violet eyes turned near black and glittered oddly at her.
Aeval held up the wound and with the swiftness of a hawk the previously exhausted old woman seized her finger in an iron grip. Aeval struggled to pull back, but the old woman’s withered lips slid over the wound and sucked hard, pulling the blood from Aeval’s finger.
“Stop! What are you doing?” A wave of dizziness swept over her.
“You look pale. Lay down on the bed and rest.” The old woman shoved Aeval at the bed. She stumbled and nearly fell on the floor, but the woman picked her up as if she were as strong as any fae youth, and lay her down on the soft blankets.
The woman sat down at the wheel and pulled out the cords of memories and life she’d taken from the Morrigan. She began to spin, singing a crooked little tune. Aeval watched as her own memories spun out of her own head onto the spinning wheel, mixing with the thread the woman had torn from the Morrigan as she died.
Enchanted: A Fae Fantasy Romance (Fae Magic Book 3) Page 23