by Eve Langlais
Katherine nodded, hoping that would encourage her to speak more without irritating her further. She knew that fae ages of majority were different from the ones that witches and humans abided by. Human youths reached their lawful age at eighteen, most fae did so at twenty–three, with the exception of a few races like the long–lived dragons and elves, and the witches received their magical age of majority at the youngest age of all: fifteen. But did the coven witches and warlocks have separate ages of majority for physical age and magical age. The physical age when Katherine was ruled under the law to be a legal adult was eighteen, but she could be held accountable for her magical actions as young as fifteen. Although it could be contested by a guardian witch or warlock if needed.
Natalie continued, uninterrupted, “But I needed somewhere to live, you know, like most people, and food.”
Her tone had dipped into outright sarcasm. Katherine made no comment because she wanted to no more and Natalie was volunteering the information.
“Now I have a way to earn money,” Natalia said with a shrug. “I assume your mom gives you an allowance.”
“You assume wrong,” said Katherine as she spoke up for the first time.
Natalia gave her a wry look, signed them both in, and grabbed a pair of gloves. “Did I?”
Katherine pulled the gloves on with no hesitation as she said, “We may be the royal family here, but we don’t come from We work in the shop to fund normal living expenses like groceries, the light bill and the daily lessons that are required for witches and warlocks to take. Which as everyone knows aren’t allowed in public schools.”
Natalie pursed her lips together. “So you’re not rich?”
“No,” Katherine said, slightly offended by the question.
Then Natalia turned those pink eyes on her. “But I bet you’ve never gone hungry, either. Never heard your sister cry because there was nothing but stale bread in the house and your mother hadn’t been able to afford to buy meat in over a week and your dad didn’t have two pennies to scratch together to get a proper hunting license to kill game in the town forests.”
Shock rocketed through Katherine’s system, but she answered the question truthfully, “No, I have not.”
Natalia nodded. “Well, I have. That’s why I’m here. So I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t get me fired today and would be willing to stand in a corner while I work the route.”
Katherine stilled, looked into Natalia’s eyes, saw sincerity, and slowly backed into a corner where she sat on a stool and watched a girl with silver hair, haunting pink eyes, and a rock the size of a mountain on her shoulder sort out defective bottle caps for the assembly line.
Chapter Nine
She waited over two hours and she never complained. Because she didn’t see Natalia once complain, and in those few hours Katherine realized something about herself–she was incredibly privileged. Privileged not to have assumptions made about her just because of who she was, privileged to have parents who could food on the table, and privileged to be in a situation that meant at the end of the day she had people she could count on. Because by the lonely hunch of her companion’s shoulders and the anger in her voice, Katherine knew Natalia Cumberbatch had no one else.
So Katherine watched and waited as she worked and after she was done and they left, she said nothing until Natalia did.
In frustration, the girl whirled on her and said, “Well, what did you think?”
Katherine shrugged. “I think you did a good job. You’re a hard worker.”
“For a fae?” Natalie asked snidely.
“For a person,” Katherine said, a hint of ice in her tone.
Then she grimaced and shrugged her shoulders. “I was thinking we could go grab some sandwiches.”
Natalia’s face turned tense. “I don’t buy lunch, sorry.”
“At my house,” Katherine calmly tacked on.
Natalia narrowed her eyes and then shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Great,” Katherine said softly as they got into the SUV and instructed the guardian to take her home. Lunch and the rest of the day was uneventful. The day passed and they separated.
***
The next morning was more of a wake call than Katherine liked however. It was when Natalia showed up at her house at the crack of dawn that Katherine had a premonition of how tiring this venture was going to be. Stumbling downstairs while hurriedly tugging a t–shirt on over her yoga pants, Katherine answered the door. Just before it opened she watched Rose breeze past her and flounce out through the back of the house. Katherine eyed her sister suspiciously but she had no time to question where she was going before an impatient knock boomed on the door and she had to turn the knob to greet her guest.
Blinking like an owl at the girl who stood in her doorway, Katherine said, “What? You have to be at work now? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I don’t,” Natalia said.
“Oh,” Katherine said. “Well, then come on in.”
“I have somewhere to be.”
“And I have to comb my hair,” Katherine retorted.
“Your hair always looks like that,” Natalia said without blinking.
Katherine untangled her fingers from her bird’s nest hair and glared. “Does not.”
“Does too, I’ve seen you around at school,” Natalia said, turning and heading down the porch.
While Katherine was trying to process the fact that Natalia had noticed her before, she heard her mother yell down, “Who is it, Katherine?”
“My jailer,” yelled Katherine, closing the front door in irritation and snatching her errant strands of hair up into a messy ponytail at the back of her head.
Halfway across the lawn, she stopped and said, “What about my breakfast?”
Natalia reached into her bag and pitched an apple so fast that it would have been to think she was trying to strike Katherine out. “There you go, p–”
“Hey,” interrupted Katherine, as she knew what she was going to say. “If you’re going to start with that, I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Natalie turned around and grimaced. “Sorry, Katherine.”
Katherine sighed, rubbed the apple on her t–shirt and took a bite.
“You almost killed me with that apple, you know,” she informed Natalia as they got into the back of the SUV.
Natalia gave her look that gave Katherine shivers. “If I were trying to kill you, you’d know.”
Katherine grimaced and munched in silence as she watched the town pass by. Natalia had apparently given her guardian the location of their destination ahead of time. Katherine didn’t recognize any of the area.
Finally she asked, “Where are we going?”
Natalia shrugged as the car pulled off into a side road on the west side of town and they came upon an old antebellum home. “We’re here.”
She got out and Katherine rushed around the side and up the steps behind Natalia. “Where’s here?”
“The old town library,” Natalia said as she slipped a giant key into the old wooden door and pushed it open with a creak.
“Why?” Katherine said as a guardian entered the building directly in front of her.
“My family used to own it,” said Natalia from somewhere around the corner.
Katherine followed the voice to a room with maps on every surface, the walls, the tables, and even chart stands. She had to know now. But she also knew that Natalia had given her the opening she needed to pursue her line of thinking.
“And what is your family?” she asked humbly.
Natalia glanced over at her from a case, lifting the glass exterior to get to the papers inside. “We were the only castienne on the East Coast…and as far as I know, I’m the last one.”
Katherine blinked but didn’t say anything as Natalia continued in a conversational tone, “Do you know what a castienne is?”
Katherine shook her head, unsure. The term sounded familiar but she couldn’t place it.
“Castle pr
otectors, literally the sword guard of the old queens of Europe,” Natalia said as she took out the map and spread it on a counter. “My family and all my blood ascendants were bound to serve specific queens from birth to death. It’s in an interesting tale how we ended up on this side of the Atlantic, though.”
“Is it?” said Katherine, fascinated, as she came up on the other side of the counter and her guardian took position not too far away.
Natalia gave a sharp smile. “Let’s just say a very smart and stubborn high queen decided she wanted to relocate and not tell anyone.”
“The Infanta Maria Christina of 1472,” Katherine recited by rote memory. She was required to know of the important queens of Atlantic history and Maria Christina was undoubtedly the first and most well–known high queen on this side of the Atlantic.
“Well, as you know,” Natalia said, “that kind of thing is forbidden. Queens don’t relocate. For any reason. It would be as if your mother decided she wanted to rule Charlottesville tomorrow and decided to take the entire territory. It’s just not done. At least not since the last great wars.”
Katherine nodded impatient, already knowing that part of the history.
Natalia glanced at her with a smirk as if she could sense her impatience before she continued on, “Well, she came and there was an uproar and she stayed. But the high queens of the old territories didn’t want it publicized that she took important blood retainers with her, including her castienne.”
And suddenly Katherine realized the significance of that. “Because the retainers are bound to the land, not to the family who serve the land. If they could move, anyone could.”
“Exactly,” said Natalia, “and the high queens of Europe didn’t want that to become public knowledge.”
“I can see why not,” Katherine said ruefully.
“So my family are the descendants of those original castienne of Infanta Maria Christina,” Natalia said.
Katherine nodded thoughtfully. “All right, so what are we here for?”
“The deed to this house,” Natalia said thoughtfully. “Your mother promised to will it to me.”
“But why–” Katherine said before she could halt her mouth.
Natalia said, “Why would she will the family home to the killer who slaughtered them?”
Her tone was deceptively simple, but still Katherine’s guardian placed a hand on his weapon.
Then Katherine raised her chin. “Yes, why would she do that? It goes against every rule set down by the coven council and the queens before.”
“The same reason she allowed me to be your partner and the same reason she’s trusting you with the information I’m telling you now,” Natalia said thoughtfully.
Katherine licked her suddenly dry lips.
“You didn’t kill your family, did you?” she whispered quietly.
Natalia raised an eyebrow, not denying it. “Now why would you say that?”
“Because for as long as I’ve heard about this case, I’ve never heard of any evidence against you. Just rumors. And my mother didn’t make the pardon decision alone…but with the coven council’s help,” Katherine aid.
Natalia nodded. “Most aren’t as smart as you.”
“Most aren’t willing to see past the façade you put up,” Katherine countered.
Natalia shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll be leaving soon. Now that I have the deed, I can sell the land and home for funds. I can go and never return.”
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know.”
Katherine nodded as they walked back outside. She turned to Natalia and asked, “If you didn’t kill your family, then who did?”
Natalia smiled. “Some bitter old witches who couldn’t let the past be.”
And Katherine got a shiver down her spine. The smile was as cold as frost. She wouldn’t want to be one of those witches–now or ever.
Katherine nodded. “Anywhere else to go?” Because what else was there to say when someone told you their biggest secret and admitted a vendetta against the highest queens in all of Europe?
Natalia shook her head. “I think we’ve seen and done enough.”
Then she reached into her pocket and took out the stone. “Here.”
Katherine blinked and said, “What? We have one more day.”
Natalia shook her head and smiled. “Benefits of being a castienne. I can cancel blood pacts without debt, and I believe the two of us together have learned what he needed from this little stunt of the queen’s.”
Katherine crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “And what is that exactly?”
Natalia grinned. “That all fae aren’t murderous bastards and all witches aren’t pretentious pricks.”
Katherine tilted her head back, laughed, and then turned to accept the stone. Just like that she could feel the pact dissolve.
Handling the stone pensively, Katherine said, “You know…I think there’s a lot more to learn here. We could even be friends maybe.”
She looked over at Natalia with hope in her eyes.
Natalia shook her head gently. “Don’t get soft on me. A witch and a fae, friends?”
Katherine snorted. “Well, you do know I’m dating a fae?”
Natalie raised an eyebrow. “I was going to ask you about that.”
“Really?” said Katherine doubtfully.
“No,” said Natalia dismissively, “I said that to make you feel better over this bond you’re trying to forge with me. But since you brought it up, what’s your deal with Ethan Nestor?”
“My deal?” Katherine said confused.
Natalia grabbed her bag and shrug. “Well, with what he is and what you are. Well, who you are…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Katherine asked.
Natalie stiffened. “You don’t know what he is do you?”
“No, but you obviously do,” Katherine said in a chilly voice.
Natalia waved a hand. “It’s not my place to say. Just…be careful who you’re hanging around with. If you thought I was bad, Ethan’s worse.”
Katherine shook her head. “Now you have to tell me.”
“I don’t have to do anything for you,” Natalia said, “What I do have to do is leave.”
“Seriously?” Katherine said her mouth agap. “You’re going to tell my boyfriend is bad news and not tell me why? Just like that?”
“Like I said,” Natalia said with a shrug as she put on some shades, “It’s not my place to say. Ask him. Now if you’ll excuse me I have somewhere to be.”
“Don’t you always?” Katherine said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Natalia winked. “Sorry kitten. Your problems are your own. But tell your mom that she has my thanks…”
This time Natalia hesitated.
“And?” Katherine asked with a wary look.
“And I hope it works.” Natalia continued.
“What works?”
“This whole feel–good experiment she has going on. If this small town of humans, witches and fae can come together. Maybe there’s hope for the colonies after all.”
With that she left and Katherine watched her saunter off down the street. She didn’t bother to off her a ride. She got the feeling that if Natalia had wanted one, she would have asked for it.
As the sun arched higher in the sky and she felt a cool winter breeze, Katherine gathered her jacket tighter around herself and went home. She had a lot of thinking to do. Not just about Natalia, nor about Ethan. But about her life, her presence in the world…and her place in it. Later that night as they sat in the living room shoulder–to–shoulder and remembered her father, her mother put an arm around her shoulders as she asked, “So what did you learn from our castienne?”
“That sometimes life isn’t fair,” Katherine said. “It’s just not.”
The Queen of Sandersville nodded. “That’s part of what I wanted you to get out of this, my darling. That and they’re not so different us…the fae.”
&n
bsp; Katherine sighed. “Not so different after all”.
About the Author
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Witches Shall Rise © Copyright 2014 Terah Edun
A Christmas to Bear
Carina Wilder
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of going home to the family for Christmas. And that’s exactly why Aria’s chosen to avoid hers like the plague and head to the quiet mountain town of Wolf Rock to ski, celebrate single life and admire the male shifter population from afar. Funny how a little accident can turn a girl’s world upside down. Lucian is a sexy, reclusive polar bear shifter who’s stayed out of humanity’s way for ages, and he expects humanity to return the favour. That includes clumsy women who aren’t great at skiing but are remarkably gifted at smashing into trees.Will the laws of attraction trump the laws of common sense? Probably. It is Christmas, after all. The season of mistletoe, warm hearths and the warmest hearts.
Chapter One
Frozen crap on a stick.
The ski was broken. At least it seemed to Aria that it was as she ground her teeth in a numb–fingered attempt to repair the faulty gear. The metal binding which was meant to secure the ski boot to the ski itself was being an asshole, if that was an appropriate title for an inanimate object.
This was at best a poor start to a Christmas vacation which was meant to be relaxing. In what had initially seemed like a sensible move, Aria had deliberately abandoned her family this year in order to take some time for herself, away in the quiet mountain town of Wolf Rock. Nothing was ever quite so torturous as a holiday spent with relatives after the end of a relationship, and avoiding masochistic activities seemed advisable at the very least.
The very thought of all those sympathetic family members’ eyes, silently inquiring:
Are you okay? Incidentally, I don’t really care, but it’s my duty to ask because of DNA.
I know it’s utterly inappropriate to ask this, but why exactly did you break up? Don’t spare any details.