Chapter Sixteen
He left the castle to cheers and some cursing, having prevented the men from swimming Thorne in the harbour.
The infamous witchfinder had been decried as a sorcerer, and, glimpsing yellow eyes from under thick lashes, Dermot saw it true.
Thorne wasn’t a preacher’s son, instead he resembled a faerie, and most likely his mother had been an adulteress.
Still, Dermot said nothing as Thorne and Weston stole away to some ship, the witchfinder coughing blood at the first gust of wind.
Hoping he’d find a cart to take him back to the village, Dermot came to the place where he’d spied mermaids. His first victim had been maimed there, and he was astounded to see life there again.
‘We are down here, Dermot,’ said Fand.
Dermot surged forward and found Fand with Aubrey, the mystical ancient standing beside a shy, retiring young man whose family had been captured or killed.
‘It would not do to have you walk all night for a village where you cannot live. Even if you were to go to the mainland, as you certainly could, I can’t imagine a life for you there,’ Fand said.
‘Thank you for dealing with Maldred. Faeries must seem treacherous, but we give as well as take when a promise has been kept. I invite you to our realm, where you can live in peace. Aubrey has made a modest request, that of a simple cottage in pleasant countryside. I can do this for you.’
‘My son is alive and bound to this land,’ Fand continued.
‘Woe will strike all who remain here, for it will prove to be a miserable place. Even the weather worsens, and so will everything, given time. It is his punishment. I do not wish it to be yours as well. I, too, will be leaving. My daughters live on the emerald isle, not too far away. There is nothing here for me but ghosts now.’ With one delicate shift of the hand, she ushered them into a rowing boat that might’ve belonged to any simple fisherman.
‘Is this what you want, Aubrey? To be away from the world with only me for company?’ He said this jokingly, tempted to laugh until Aubrey nodded.
‘I would like nothing more,’ Aubrey said, smiling as he moved closer. Over the course of the voyage, he pressed their fingers together until, at last, they sat with their hands clasped.
Fand smiled knowingly through her hair until the strands parted, locks flowing with the wind so her face was revealed. Smile lines drifted from her nose to her mouth; a sign of happier days. She remained in the vessel as they reached shore, nodding as Dermot and Aubrey disembarked.
‘This is where I leave you. Messages can be carried by bird, should we need them,’ Fand said, smiling to them in turn. ‘You will find everything you need here. As well as happiness, I hope.’ She turned sombre as she looked to the sea. ‘Love is the most wondrous thing on earth.’
‘Thank you, Fand,’ Dermot said. His feet shifted anxiously on the sand, observing the cottage nearby. When he turned back, Fand was already rowing away. As if she felt the weight of his look, she raised her hand in a wave before sailing out of sight.
‘Aubrey,’ Dermot said. ‘I can’t think of what to say.’
Aubrey smiled at him so that Dermot simply stared, taking in the young lord who’d once languished at that window. Now they stood as equals.
‘I love you,’ Dermot confessed, so weary that the words tumbled out of him. Astonished and ashamed, already having blighted their life, Dermot went on, ‘I know that my feelings are wrong, and you would be right to reject me. A mere scullion to say nothing else, but…’
‘No,’ Aubrey said, making Dermot’s insides coil in one great twist. He closed the distance between them. ‘I love you too.’
Dermot couldn’t guess who initiated it. Before mind caught body, they were in each other’s arms. Now he held Aubrey, he would cherish him always, at leisure to love at last.