The Castle of Water and Woe (Briarwood Reverse Harem Book 3)

by Steffanie Holmes

  “I’ll kill you!” I found my rage and found my voice. I leapt toward his voice, pulling my magic inside of me to suck the air out of his laugh. My body slammed into the earth, and the fae king’s laugh – now behind me – boomed louder, pounding inside my head like a jackhammer.

  A bright light flickered in front of me. My eyes watered. The laughter boomed in my ears, fading away as the roar of my thundering heart

  “Corbin, mate, are you down here?” Arthur’s voice.

  Hands grabbed my shoulders. I thrashed and kicked, trying to throw the king off me. “I found him,” Rowan yelled. At the sound of his voice, my body went limp. Pain flared inside my head – white hot heat melting my skull.

  “Corbin, Corbin, can you hear me?”

  “The voice …” I murmured, pressing my hand to my temples.

  The air around Rowan shifted, his stormy tension becoming a cold, bitter chill. “I think he’s hurt,” he called.

  “Careful, mate, we got you.” The fire flickered out as Arthur’s strong hands slid under my elbows. He helped me to my feet, supporting my weight against his sturdy frame. I hated how weak I felt, but there was no way I could physically walk out of the sidhe alone.

  I leaned against Arthur as he practically dragged me up the stairs. Flynn, Maeve, and Blake waited at the top of the stairs. Maeve rushed at me as I collapsed on the grass. She cupped my face in her hands, and a warm energy leapt from her skin into mine.

  “Corbin, what happened?”

  “You cried out,” I croaked. “I tried to get to you, but this … force—” I glared at Blake “—stopped me, and I tripped down the stairs.”

  “I heard a voice.” Maeve’s lips pressed against my forehead, leaving a warm trail across my clammy skin. “It was Daigh. He was here.”

  I shuddered. That was the voice I’d heard, too. The fae king himself. “Is he still here?” I whispered.

  “I don’t think so,” Blake said. “He had no physical form. Daigh is the most powerful of all the fae – it’s possible he could have cast his voice through the void in order to taunt us. It was probably a last ditch effort to distract us so the spell wouldn’t work.” He glared right back at me. “It very nearly worked, but we managed to put up a ward that should hold them for a few days.”

  The six of us traipsed back to the castle, holding onto each other’s exhausted bodies as we clambered up the hill and wound our way through the flowerbeds and topiary avenues. I tried to avoid looking at Blake, because the silhouette of his broad shoulders and the way his hair caught the silvery moonlight made my body shake with rage.

  This is my coven. No way am I letting that Unseelie traitor take it away from me.

  Once we reached the castle and were inside the Great Hall, my feet stopped working. I collapsed on the sofa, too tired to tackle the stairs at that moment. Everyone else looked beat, too – between the two rituals and the cops and Daigh’s revelations and the sleeping draughts and Blake’s unwanted appearance, it had been a bloody long night.

  Arthur carried Maeve up the stairs, in what was becoming their ritual. They murmured to each other, some secret conversation that made Arthur’s eyes gleam with something other than suppressed rage for once. Maeve was good for him. The rawness of her grief balanced his anger, gave him a purpose. When Arthur was protecting someone, he didn’t feel like such a total no-hoper. I could relate to that.

  Flynn loped up the stairs, too tired to even come up with some dumb insult to finish the evening. Blake made an elaborate show of yawning. “So, I guess I’m sleeping on the couch.”

  “There’s a guest room. First on the right at the top of the stairs. The bed’s already made and I’ll grab you a towel when I come up.” Rowan stared at Blake’s feet.

  “Thanks. Appreciate the hospitality.” Blake started for the staircase. “How near is it to Maeve’s room?”

  I glared at Blake. If I had strength left to swing my fist, you’d be eating it, you Unseelie wanker.

  Blake shrugged, unperturbed by my obvious annoyance. “The fae always said you humans had no sense of humor.”

  Blake’s footsteps receded up the staircase. Rowan patted my knee softly, then withdrew his hand as though I’d electrocuted him. It was weird, even by his standards, but I didn’t have the energy to wonder about Rowan and his tics now.

  “I need my tea.” Rowan stood, still staring at the floor, and shuffled to the kitchen. He usually went to bed at exactly the same time each night after finishing a cup of herbal tea and counting all the window panes in the Great Hall. Even though it was several hours past his bedtime, he still had to finish the routine.

  I’d been trying to get Rowan to visit a doctor for years to have his obsessive compulsive disorder officially diagnosed so he could have it treated, His obsessions clearly caused him anxiety. He said that after rehab he was done with doctors. I had to respect that, since I was the one who dragged him to rehab in the first place.

  I tried to will my feet to move. They didn’t obey.

  Rowan returned, carrying his cup of tea and casting his eyes around to the windows, his mouth moving silently as he counted each pane. The tension in his shoulders slipped away as he relished the comfort of his ritual.

  “Corbin, go to bed,” he said.

  “I will.” My vision blurred. Rowan’s face swum in and out of focus.

  “No, you won’t. You can’t go on like this. We need you, and you’re not good to us if you don’t sleep.”

  Rowan was the only one who knew about my insomnia, and that wasn’t by my choice. He got up at stupid-o’clock to proof his bread loaves, and he’d caught me still working in the library too many times.

  “Hey, I don’t bug you about your problems,” I snapped, then immediately regretted it. Rowan stared at his shoes. “Sorry, mate. I didn’t mean it. You’re right, I’m just wrecked. We can’t do anything until we know what the fae were trying to do with those babies, and I can’t find anything in the books that will help.”

  “Maybe it’s not in the books.”

  I grunted. That wasn’t an option I was willing to consider right now. Not until I’d pored over every single word in that damn library.

  “Corbin, go to bed. You look like shite.” Coming from Rowan, with his kind eyes wide with concern, the comment tugged at something inside my chest.

  “Everything is bollocksed up.” I said, rubbing my eyes.

  “I know you don’t want him here,” Rowan whispered at the floor, his words so soft I couldn’t be sure if I heard them correctly. “You never asked for him to come, like you did for us. You are the heart of Briarwood, and nothing will change that.”

  Rowan’s voice trembled, the words catching in his throat. I blinked, but before I could think of anything to say, Rowan had retreated up the stairs. He threw a final look over his shoulder, a look that shuddered with something like longing, and then he disappeared onto the upper floor.

  My head swam. I couldn’t think why Rowan was being even more weird than usual, but it had been a long, weird night. And it’s not over yet.

  I hauled my weary body off the sofa, flicking off the lights in the hall. I crept up the staircase and around the covered walkway, pausing in front of Blake’s doorway. In between Blake’s door and Flynn’s, a couple of outdoor wooden chairs leaned up against the wall.

  So tired. So very tired. There was probably only a couple of hours until sunrise, and I hadn’t slept since I’d been knocked out by that draught the fae forced down me. My whole body begged for rest.

  But my work wasn’t done. Not while Blake was still in our house, and there was a chance he was a double agent or had some agenda we hadn’t foreseen.

  That dark voice thundered in my head. “You will lose them all, and it will be your fault.“ Well, damn you, voice in the darkness. You don’t know shit.

  I pulled one of the chairs from the wall, and sat it across from Blake’s door. I sat down, resting my head against the hard back. I folded my arms over my chest, relishing the b
reeze that funnelled up from the courtyard below. The cold would keep me awake.

  If Blake went anywhere, I would know.

  ***

  … bang bang bang!

  I opened one eye, expecting to see a stack of books in front of my nose, the walls of the library bending in around me – the usual place I woke up in the morning.

  Instead, the back of my head slid off something hard and wooden. My arse ached from sitting on something hard and uncomfortable. My face stung from a cold bite in the air. And I faced one of the wooden doors that surrounded the covered walkway on the second story of the castle.

  Why am I here? What’s all that banging about? What ...

  I remembered. I was slumped in a chair outside Blake’s room, making sure he didn’t get up in the middle of the night and murder us all or—

  Shite. I’d drifted off to sleep. I rubbed my eyes, trying to force my aching body to stand up. I had to check on everyone. Blake could have got up to anything while I snored like a wanker. That banging could be him slamming Arthur’s head through a wall.

  A cramp arced down my leg. I groaned as my foot collapsed underneath me, and I lurched toward Blake’s door. From inside, the banging increased, shaking the door on its hinges. Fury rose in me as I thought of what he might be doing.

  My fingers closed around the door handle, but before I turned it I realised the banging wasn’t even coming from the room.

  My brain woke up. It recognised that I was too tired and sore and bollocksed up to think or hear or see straight. The door wasn’t shaking, and the banging came from downstairs, from the courtyard. From someone slamming their fist against the Great Hall’s door.

  “Hey!” A girl’s voice yelled up from the shadows. “Let me in!”

  NINE: MAEVE

  Corbin’s yelling pulled me out of a deep sleep, far too early for my liking. I picked up my phone and groaned as I read the time on the screen. 5:28 AM. The moon still teased me from outside the window. After the intensity of yesterday, I’m pretty sure I hadn’t been dreaming, which was just as well. I wasn’t sure what Corbin would do if he ended up being dragged into one of my sexy dreams alongside Blake ...

  Blake… Corbin… oh no. Horror clenched my heart. What had Corbin done to Blake? I flung the sheets off my body, grabbed a shirtdress from the hamper beside my screen, and pulled it over my head as I scrambled down the spiral stairs of the tower.

  I met Flynn in the hall, rubbing his eyes. “Who the feck is trying to sell us vacuum cleaners at this time of night?”

  “I think Corbin might have attacked Blake—”

  Flynn’s eyes widened. He leaned over the rampart and peered down into the courtyard. “Corbin, mate, what the bloody hell’s going on?”

  “Don’t yell,” Corbin called back. “You’ll scare Connor.”

  “Connor? Connor’s here.” Flynn darted down the stairs ahead of me. How in God’s name was he so spry on only a couple hours sleep? I had to grip the balustrade to stop myself keeling over. The weariness was like alcohol, corrupting my balance and impairing my brain functions.

  I followed Flynn into the Great Hall. Jane sat on the couch, jiggling Connor in her lap. The rest of the guys crowded around her, but they parted so I could step through and sit beside her.

  “What are you doing here?” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, shocked at how cold she felt through the thing jacket she wore. Jane shrugged me off.

  “Don’t fuss. I’m fine. I just couldn’t sleep in the cottage. I kept jumping up to check on Connor every two minutes. So I just put him in my bed, but then I couldn’t close my eyes in case the fae came in … and I remembered that the castle was impregnable to the fae, and I thought…” Jane waved a hand at the pram beside her, filled to bursting with blankets and toys. A wooden mobile stuck out the side like a rhino’s horn. “I thought maybe I’d feel safer here. That is, if it’s okay that Connor and I stay the night?”

  “There’s not much bloody night left now,” Corbin mumbled. I looked up at him, surprised to see how drawn his face appeared. Huge black circles marred his usually handsome face, which was streaked with sweat. His bloodshot eyes couldn’t focus on anything – they darted around the room as though he were following a particularly engaging ping pong match. His shaggy hair stuck out at all angles, and he gripped the arm of his chair as if it was the only thing stopping him sliding onto the floor. That fae draught must have done a number on him. I mean, none of us were ready for an America’s Next Top Model photoshoot, but Corbin looked a hundred times worse.

  “Of course you can stay.” Flynn held out a rattling toy for Connor, who giggled as he tried to reach for it. Connor’s high-pitched shriek sliced through my head like a blade. Corbin winced.

  “I’ll go make up another spare room,” Rowan said, backing out of the room.

  Corbin grunted, his eyes squeezed shut. “Where’s Blake? How come he isn’t down here to meet our new house guests?”

  “Does it matter?” I asked. “He’s just as tired as the rest of us, and he did literally leave the only home he’s ever known to save us today. I won’t begrudge anyone some extra sleep. Speaking of which, you should go back to bed right now.”

  “I will,” he said, but he didn’t move.

  “Corbin.”

  “Mmmmm.” Corbin’s head flopped against the arm of the chair.

  “I’ll take him.” Arthur folded Corbin’s arm over his shoulder, leaning his heavy body against his own. They shuffled toward the stairs.

  “I should give him a hand.” Flynn kissed Connor’s forehead and loped after them. “If you need any help with this wee one, give a yell and I’ll come a running.”

  “Thanks.” Jane smiled up at him, and with a final wave to Connor, Flynn was gone.

  I was alone with Jane and Connor. She bounced the baby on her knee, not looking at me. At the end of the room, a clock ticked through the minutes. I tugged at the hem of my shirtdress, suddenly aware that I wasn’t wearing underwear. I waited for Jane to speak, sensing from the tension in her shoulders she was nervous about being here. She doesn’t like asking for help and admitting she was scared.

  “I didn’t mean to come barging in here and wake you all up,” Jane said, her voice dull. “I know you guys must all be exhausted. I even walked around the whole perimeter of the castle first, just in case there was a window open I could crawl into and sleep on the couch until morning.”

  “Hey, you can come here anytime you need. I’ll even get you a key cut so you can come and go without any attempted breaking and entering.”

  “We don’t need that. It will just be tonight. I don’t want to be a bother.”

  “You’re not a bother. Stay as long as you like. Otherwise, what’s the point of having a friend who owns a castle?

  Jane’s face twisted. I wondered if I’d struck a nerve by reminding her I owned Briarwood, when she had so little. But I was too tired to give the gesture more thought. Her secret hung between us, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say that wasn’t “do you have sex with men for money?” and so I didn’t say anything at all.

  Jane cleared her throat. “Connor loves it here,” she said finally. “He grabbed a handful of Flynn’s hair and wouldn’t let go.”

  “Flynn seems to have taking a liking to him, too. It’s nice for him to have someone around with the same emotional age.”

  Jane snorted. “I can see that. Listen, have I thanked you recently for bringing Connor back?”

  “Only about seven million times.”

  “Well, I want to say it again.”

  I yawned. “In the morning. I don’t want to fall asleep halfway through your heartfelt gushing.”

  I watched Jane wrap Connor up in a fluffy blanket with dancing bunnies around the border, not sure if I should bring up what Inspector Davies had revealed to me about her past. I decided to leave it for now. We were both tired. This wasn’t the time to be digging around for her secrets.

  Rowan poked his head into the room,
staring at the floor. “I’ve made up a room for you guys. I need a cup of tea. Do either of you want one?”

  “Hot chocolate?” Jane’s eye widened.

  “Sure. Hot chocolate.”

  “You’re on.” Jane turned to me. “You coming?”

  I shook my head. The corners of my eyes drooped. “I need sleep.”

  Jane wrapped her arms around me. “I’ll see you tomorrow. After everything you’ve been through today, I hope you sleep like a baby.”

  Connor’s eyes flew open. His tiny face screwed up, and he started to wail.

  Jane held him over her shoulder, frowning as she felt his nappy. “Oh, I’d better tend to that. Hopefully, the walls are thick enough Connor won’t wake you when he cries.”