CHAPTER FOUR
“Nyssa!” Aust’s frazzled cry came Ella’s nursery at the back of Nyssa and Iadon’s suite. With the high pitch of his plea, I could only imagine what calamity he faced this time.
Nyssa and I covered our mouths with wine-stained fingers and tried to muffle our laughter. With the back of my sleeve, I wiped the sweat from my brow and pushed my hair from where it stuck to my face. Dying hide was laborious work, but Iadon needed our aid.
It took mere weeks for his skills as a leatherworker and craftsman to transform the modest tailor shop the males renovated into a roaring Haven mercantile. It seemed everyone wanted a gown, robe or cloak tailored by Iadon.
Myself included.
He and I had discussed, in length, the changeover to my adult wardrobe now that my sixtieth birthing day had passed. I was an adult now. I wanted to reinvent myself, draw an appraising eye, shuck the modesty of youth and embrace my feminine form.
So today, while he manned the workshop and finished sewing the platinum clasps and fur trim on a commissioned velvet cloak, we readied six large skins for the project. We had finished with the midnight blue and had moved on to dye the remaining leather the deepest mulberry we could manipulate. What we achieved was a rich mulberry wine.
The fragrance of crushed berries mixed with bloodroot, smooth sumac, mountain alder and red wine filled the suite with a humid steam and mouthwatering ambrosia.
Nyssa made to put down the wooden paddles we used to lift and stir the steaming caldron, but I stopped her. “Fash not,” I said, wiping my hands on my apron. “Mayhap he simply taped his fingers into the diaper again. Let me go.”
Nyssa leaned close so our shoulders touched. “Last time he mixed the powder with the cream and Ella’s backside was caked with the most awful goop you could imagine.”
“Elven hearing,” Aust called from the back hall. “Here is a thought—instead of ribbing the male who is changing the young, would it not be kinder to aid him?”
I giggled again and set the rag close enough for Nyssa to grab, if need be. “Coming.”
The emergency, though I am not sure it could truly be called one, became apparent the moment I rounded the corner and entered the small pink room smattered with rosebuds.
“By Shalana’s grace.” I clamped my hand over my mouth and quaked with laughter.
Aust stood covered from waist to eyebrows in a massive splatter of pea-green poop.
I raised my sleeve to my face, my eyes streaming, partly from the ridiculous scene, but more so from the nostril-singeing aroma. Try as I might I was powerless to aid him as he stood, arms extended, covered in excrement. “Oh, Aust, apologies, but you smell like Harilyn’s goat pile.”
He raised a hand, freeing a chunk of golden hair stuck to the waste pasted to the side of his face. “I was almost to the cream part when the wee little monster made the strangest face. When her cheeks reddened I thought she might cry so I leaned in. I only meant to raspberry her bare belly, but during my approach . . . this occurred.”
Another wave of hysteria racked me. “Nyssa,” I called, leaning toward the open door, “the praxle juice worked out Ella’s little problem.”
“Oh, fabulous.” Nyssa’s voice grew louder as she strode toward us. I stepped aside and let her pass. “I hoped—Oh Aust, love, what did she do to you?”
Ella took that moment to let out an angelic squeal, her chubby little fist wedged deep in her mouth. Stumpy legs kicked and bucked in the air at the sight of her naneth.
Nyssa relieved Aust of his duties. With a clean diaper on Ella’s bottom, she snatched a fresh jumper from the dresser and eased it over the baby’s golden curls. “Aust, take your clothes off and get into the shower.”
He hesitated.
Nyssa lifted Ella to her shoulder and frowned. “Do not guard yourself here. We love you, now and always. Now go clean yourself up.”
Nyssa pointed to the rabbit clock on the shelf by the crib. “Lia, you need to be going too.”
Aust tugged the tie of his soiled tunic, shrugged his shoulders and let the garment fall to the hardwood with a flap. The lacings of his leathers were next. After stripping bare, he stepped over the mound of fouled fabric.
“Where are you off to, sweeting?” he asked and headed up the hall.
I followed him as he sauntered along, hands raised as not to sully Nyssa’s walls. Though Aust remained self-conscious of the faint tiger stripes which appeared ankle to shoulder last fall, they were quite exotic.
Reaching around him to get the door, I slid into the bathing-room first and cleared his path. Leaning into the shower stall, I turned on the water and tested the stream until the temperature warmed. “While Jade is Behind the Veil recovering, I volunteered to assist with some of her classroom duties.”
“One of the classes I took over? I have nothing scheduled until tomorrow morning.” Aust was only half listening as he leaned close to the mirror and examined his splatter-covered face. His chest bounced in amusement.
The sight lightened my heart. It had been months since he had laughed. Before his father was killed. Before he left on his Ambar Lenn. Life here at Haven suited him. “I am happy to aid you as well, but today I am in one of the other classes.”
The air began to warm and I retrieved two fresh towels from the corner cabinet and set them out. I busied myself washing my hands.
He stepped into the shower and closed the glass door. “Forgive me, little one, but are you up to it? Your headaches—”
I raised a hand. “Please. I am not as delicate as everyone seems to believe.”
He narrowed his gaze, his brow rising in a smooth arc. Lathering the soap in his hands, he rubbed his chest clean. “That may be true, but the castle can be loud and chaotic.”
“One of the things I love most about it.”
Aust’s eyes rolled closed as he tipped his head back. Water cascaded over his shoulders and down his body, rinsing the suds toward the drain. After a moment, he laughed again. “Tham would have loved seeing what Ella did to me.”
Milling my hands into a sudsy froth under the vanity faucet, I laughed too. “The teasing would never have ended. No one relished a calamity like Tham.”
A long silence overtook the conversation and I gave up on ridding my fingers of the dye.
Aust’s gaze met mine, filled with compassion and sadness and love. In one moment, with one look, I felt like a child again, weak and unsure. Gods, we all lost so much.
I sent a prayer to the gods to watch over Galan, Jade and the young. How I wished everything was well and they were home and not still at Castian’s palace. Reaching for a towel I cleared my throat. “Tell me, how fares your courting of the beautiful Bree?”
Water washed over Aust’s back-tilted head as he ran his palms over his forehead and smoothed his hair. He sighed. “Bree is wonderful. Lovely. Warm.”
“But?”
“But her coyote self, her animal side, has yet to be won over. After being orphaned as a child, her Were instinct is to claim a dominant, alpha male as her mate.”
Aust was many things, intelligent, loyal, brave, and sacrificing but I would never consider him dominant or aggressive. “What will you do to win her coyote over?”
He rinsed the shampoo from the lengths of his wet hair where it stuck to his shoulders. “The Equinox Moon approaches. Weres can already feel their animals growing restless. Bruin is hosting a massive Were run across the mountainside and has given me permission to join them.”
“As yourself or in your tiger form?”
He palmed the bar of soap and ran it over his chest and down his torso. “In tiger form. If I can prove myself strong enough, Bree is certain her coyote will relent and accept me.”
“I wish you well, brother mine. You deserve every happiness.”
“As do you, sweeting.” He turned and lifted his face to the water, the suds washing down his thighs under the stream. “Bruin and Mika are coming to the courtyard for evening repast. Will you join us?”
“I should be back in plenty of time.” I gauged the light coming in the window and pressed a hand to the glass shower door. “But I must needs run to change my dress. I should hate to be late on my first day.”
“No one is staring at you.” Linked at the elbows, Samuel and I made our way through the sea of students. Flowing like battling currents, bodies jostled and swept in opposite directions up and down the wide stone hallways of the castle.
I continued my search for the first classroom where we were to instruct this afternoon.
Samuel’s night-black brow drew so tight it was a wonder his reflective glasses remained on his face. “Stop your scowling. No one is staring at you.”
There was, in fact, a great number of people staring at him as we neared the third-floor classroom where Jade taught Theory of Healing. But, with a lot of eye contact and head shaking, I kept most of the students at bay.
“Merlin, good to see you.” Nash broke through the crowd and slapped Samuel on the arm. His smile crinkled the crescent tribal tattoo inked around the orbit of his left eye. The shimmering colors of the ink complimented his russet skin. “I didn’t know you were back to teaching, my man.”
Samuel’s jaw clenched. “Yeah, well, we thought we could help out while Jade is recovering.”
Nash ran a palm over the squared peaks of his purple mohawk and frowned. “Fuck, I had no clue Clay was a mole. It makes me sick how close Jade came to—”
“No one blames you, Nash,” I said.
The acrid scent of his guilt mixed with the wall of cologne surrounding him was overwhelming. Verily, my sense of smell was far more heightened than the females in his classes, but did they find sprayed-on pheromone appealing?
I rubbed at the tingle in my nose and tried not to inhale too deeply. “If you will excuse us, we are off to shape the minds of youth.”
“Or make a complete arse outta myself and destroy what little pride I have left,” Samuel said.
I squeezed his elbow. “A little faith would do you well.”
Samuel rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. “Lucky me, I’m stuck with Mary-feckin-Poppins as my sidekick.”
“Who?”
Nash chuckled. “Well, I’m a TA in Weapons and Warfare down the hall if you need me. Good luck. I’m sure you’ll do great.” With a wink, the shimmering colors of his tattoo wrinkled then smoothed. Striding down the stone corridor the junior wizard disappeared into the crowd of bodies.
Left unto ourselves, I tugged Samuel back into motion. “Stop expecting the worst.”
“Life has taught me well.”
“It would do you better to expect greatness while preparing for adversity.”
“Could ye tone down the pep rally? I think I might slit my wrists.”
I shook my head and with one more turn, found the classroom. “Here we are—”
I misjudged the clearance of the jamb and Samuel’s shoulder caught against the frame of the doorway. Hard.
“Jaysus woman.”
I winced as he rolled his shoulder, and inhaled the bitter scent of his frustration. “That was my fault.”
“No shite.” For a moment, Samuel looked like he might dissolve the whole arrangement. “Take me to the podium. Use the desk to lay out Jade’s binder. We’ll go through the content of the lesson like we discussed.”
I led him to the wide chestnut stand in the front corner of the rectangular room and placed his hand on its surface. After gathering the loose papers left by the previous instructor, I tucked them in the shelf below. Samuel slid behind the podium, gripping the sides and drawing a deep breath. Angled in the front corner, opposite the door, he stood in full view of the two dozen students seated.
After witnessing our not-so-elegant arrival, they stared hard at Samuel. I glanced at the man standing at the lectern, wondering what they saw.
There was an edge to Samuel’s attractiveness. A sharpness beyond his dark, chic haircut and the way his jaw cut square like a carved statue. He held presence. Behind the pulpit, mirrored glasses in place, he also held the focus of the room.
“Okay, guys.” Samuel scanned the rows of seats as if by habit, his cheeks mottled, a slight quaver to his voice. “I suppose ye’ve all heard about the attack on Jade?”
There was a chorus of affirmation and whispers.
“Some of ye may know, I have nea been in a classroom for a bit, so bear with me. Miss Caleblasse and I will make every effort to fill in until Jade’s on her feet again.”
Distracted by his use of my proper name, I almost missed when a blond male in the second row raised his pencil.
“A student has a question,” I said.
“Okay, shoot.” Samuel inclined his head toward the class and we began our day.
“Jade spoke the truth, Samuel. You shine in the classroom.” I guided him down the main staircase of the castle and across the congested stone foyer. “You see, all that worrying and you rocked their stockings off.”
Samuel smirked. “I think ye mean rock their socks off.”
“Is that not what I said?”
“No. No one rocks someone’s stockings off. It’s socks.”
I paused for a group to pass and headed toward for the main entrance. “My point is sound. You did well.”
“Better than I thought, actually.”
I bowed my head as the blond student from our first class held the oversized wooden door for us to exit. I made certain Samuel’s shoulder cleared the frame before we continued through. “Blind or not, you connect with the students. When this is over you should consider staying on. It would give you something productive to contribute again.”
Samuel’s chest bounced as he laughed.
“What amuses you? Have I said something else you find queer?” I pulled the furred collar of my jacket together and pressed closer to his side. The late afternoon sky hung gray and dreary. Chill-bumps raised on my legs beneath my skirts.
He laughed harder. “First, instead of queer, if ye mean to fit in, maybe ye should use a word like strange or odd. Second, it doesn’t dawn on ye to glaze over the fact I’m blind, does it? Ye throw it out there as if it were no more important than my hair being black or my tie being crooked.”
“You are not wearing a tie, Professor Murray.” Tightening up on his arm, I borrowed a bit of warmth as we concluded our descent down the stone steps of the castle.
“I’m just sayin’ ye surprise me more often than not.”
“Tomorrow, we shall be better still—careful, one last step—we have Realm History after morning repast and Theory of Healing with Magic before mid-day.”
Samuel’s smile faltered. When we stepped onto the path and the crowd thinned, Samuel let his elbows ease from his sides and took a half-step away.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It felt good. Like old times.”
“Why does that sadden you?”
“Because if this were then, Jade and I would go to the Hearthstone for a drink after a satisfying day of teaching.”
“Well, I have time—”
Samuel stopped and removed his arm from mine. “Look. Lia. Teaming up for the Academy is one thing—I’d suffer through anything for Jade.” He scrubbed his fingers over his mouth and exhaled. “Ye see, we’re teaching together. That’s all. Yer still the sister of the arsehole who stole my future and I’m still the bastard wizard yer entire family despises. This is an arrangement not a friendship.”
His words slapped my cheek as cold as the March wind, and by the long silence that grew between us, he knew it.
“Samuel! Lia!” Bruin emerged from the forest on the west path and jogged toward us. His broad chest heaved beneath his leather jacket, a flush on his bronze cheeks. “Did you hear? We found Clay Wells about two hours ago.”
Samuel’s demeanor darkened further. “Did he confess why he attacked Jade? Did he admit to being Abaddon’s pawn?”
“We didn’t get that far.”
“In two hours? Why the hell not?”
Bruin canted his head to the side. “Cause he’s dead. Chopped into shoebox-sized pieces.”
“What?”
“Aust’s wolves smelled the chunks o’ corpse and led us straight to it. Bits of Clay strewn all inside the mechanical shed by Ward 14. Real life Texas Chainsaw Massacre stuff.”
I crinkled my nose, but could still imagine the acrid stench burning my nostrils.
“Bits of Clay?” Samuel repeated. “Sooo not funny.”
Bruin shrugged, laughing at his own joke. “I was hoping for a go-round with the ginger-haired bastard. Too bad someone beat me to it.”
The resonant growl of Bruin’s bear filled the air.
As the bass sound echoed in my chest, I shivered. Being drawn and cleaved was a horrific end, but facing Bruin’s bear in a fury would be worse. No doubt.
Samuel shook his head, his gaze drifting sightlessly over the landscape. “I dinnae understand why he attacked Jade.”
Bruin led the three of us off the path and away from the flow of students ending their afternoon studies. Our boots crunched over the stiff grass near the forest’s edge.
“Galan told Reign that after Clay Tasered her, the fucker took her silver bridal pendant.”
“Eruanna,” I said with a nod. When they both looked blank, I continued. “The pendant is called Eruanna. Jade told me Clay had stolen it when I visited her at the palace.”
Samuel scowled. “Ye never mentioned it to me.”
“How is Jade’s bridal pendant any of your concern?”
“Everything about Jade and her safety is my concern. I made that clear to ye.”
“Kids. Hey. Stay on point.” Bruin glanced around before leaning in. “Okay, so Clay took the pendant to return it to its original owner. Who is that?”
“Queen Rheagan,” I said.
Samuel cursed. “Yer feckin brother gave Jade a necklace belonging to the bat-shit Queen who tried to take over the world? Nice.”
I propped my fists on my hips. “Galan only discovered its origin when he visited the Oracles in Toronto. For the past eight thousand years, it has been a treasured family heirloom.”
Bruin nodded. “And her Holy Warriors wanted it back. Why?”
My chest constricted at the same moment the white dots popped up behind my eyes. With Rheagan free from exile in a ghostly form, they would try to reinstate her. They believed that being her heir, I was the vessel to make that happen.
I fumbled at my throat, trying to draw air into lead lungs. They had come. They attacked Jade on protected grounds.
There was no place I would ever be safe.