Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
My mate stood beside the man who’d allowed his land to die and watched me like I was water in the desert.
Magic rode me, spilling from my hands and feet into the ground.
Life sprang up behind me, not enough to heal the land, but enough to begin the process.
Healing what this spell had done would take me a while.
But first, Thorvin would know what he had done; he would see and feel what I felt the second I stepped into his territory.
The Lord left Rowan and started toward me. I said nothing, only threw my magic into the ground, opening a wide, deep hole. Thorvin’s eyes widened when he saw what I was doing. His steps hitched, and I thought for a moment he might turn and run. But the Lord squared his shoulders and kept walking.
“LORD THORVIN. AS A STEWARD OF THIS LAND, I HAVE FOUND YOU LACKING.”
Thorvin bowed his head. “I am aware. My power comes from books and knowledge, and I waited too long to heal this cancer on my land. For that, I cannot be sorry enough.”
Vines rose from deep in the ground, struggling to rise through the dead parts of Thorvin’s land. I encouraged them to break through, healing them as they rose. They wrapped around Thorvin’s arms and legs, lifting him high into the air.
Thorvin did not struggle or beg. Instead, his face turned stoic. “If you kill me, there will be war.”
“YOUR DEATH IS NOT YOUR DESTINY TODAY. SEE WHAT YOU HAVE ALLOWED TO TRANSPIRE, LORD, AND KNOW HOW YOUR LAND SUFFERS.”
Without further ado, I directed the vines to gently deposit Thorvin into the hole. I made a pocket of air to ensure he would survive and sent dirt pouring back into the hole.
Danu would take care of the rest.
Once he was buried deep inside the earth, I opened my eyes, my magic draining into the ground.
Rowan stood before me, eyes glowing. “The voice thing is new.” Amusement and a touch of wariness colored his tone.
I’d noticed too. “My power keeps growing. Dad did something the other day at that ceremony.” I grimaced. “Haven’t felt the same since.”
A scream rumbled through the ground. One of Rowan’s eyebrows rose. “Should I ask?”
“Plausible deniability.”
He nodded. “He’ll be alive when he comes out?”
“Should be. I asked Danu to ensure he can…recover.”
Rowan winced. “Do we need to have the Keep medics respond?”
I lifted a shoulder in an unconcerned shrug. “We’ll see when he gets back. I asked Danu to keep him for a couple of days.”
“Days,” Rowan said slowly. A dark chuckle, then a shake of his head. “When you teach a lesson, you do it well.”
I tugged him down for a kiss. “Killing him would have been more merciful.”
Rowan smiled against my lips. “No one has ever accused me of being merciful.”
How in the world could I have ever looked past this glorious man? I ran my hands over his chest. “I’ll be here for at least a day. If you have business to attend to, I have another of Moira’s potions in my pocket.”
Rowan frowned. “I don’t want to leave you in another Lord’s territory alone.”
We’d have a ton of fun being naked in a hole together for a day or two, but Rowan was still a Lord.
He’d sacrificed many things when he took me into his territory, and I wouldn’t keep asking him to sacrifice more.
I smoothed the wrinkles I’d put in his sweater when I grabbed him.
“Send Moira. She’s always up for some fun, and I know she’d love seeing Thorvin come up from the ground. ”
“Hmm. Your friend is a bit of a masochist.”
I laughed. “Moira is definitely bigger on the inside. We see very little of her on the outside. She’ll protect me, though I don’t anticipate anything going wrong. Thorvin is contained, and the other Lords are preoccupied with other things, I assume. No one should know I’m here.”
“More than likely they do,” Rowan corrected. “Caelan is in his territory.”
My eyebrows rose. “You have a spy in Joy Springs.”
He flicked my nose. “Darling, I have spies everywhere.”
“Of course you do. He’s the one we need to worry about most. We should be fine. If Moira can’t come, see if Ash is available.”
Rowan still hesitated. I kissed him again. “It’s fine. I promise. You have things to do, and I have to fix the mess Thorvin caused.”
When he saw I wasn’t going to back down, he nodded. “Fine. Text me when you come up for air.” He winced. “Or whatever happens when the earth releases you.”
“I expect a full twenty-four hours, possibly forty-eight.” Anger rose inside me once more. “The land needs a lot of attention.”
“I’ll check in with Moira enough to be annoying,” he promised.
After a kiss that left me breathless, Rowan disappeared. I touched my lips and sighed, laughing at myself when I realized I was wearing a dopey smile.
Guilt still touched me sometimes but quickly became overshadowed by what I’d found with Rowan. Love waited for no one, and sometimes it hit you like a freight train. I’d been doubly blessed and vowed to never take it for granted.
A shimmer appeared before me several minutes later, revealing a slender, grinning vampire holding a cooler. “Hey, hot stuff. Heard you put a dude in the ground.”
I pointed to the mound of dirt. “If you listen hard enough, you can occasionally hear him scream.”
Moira’s eyes lit with vicious delight. “I’ll have to put on my listening ears, then.”
Her face changed the moment she took in our surroundings. She blinked and let out a vicious curse. “I didn’t think Rowan was lying, but gods, Evie. Are you sure you can fix this?”
Moira swallowed hard and shook her head. “This should be criminal.” Her jaw tightened as she came to sit beside me. “I’m glad you put him in the ground. Wish it would have been permanently.”
“Killing a Lord could have disastrous consequences.” I quoted the words I’d heard a dozen times over the past year or so.
Moira rolled her eyes. “Don’t they know who your dad is?”
Dad seemed disinclined to get involved in most things, unless it happened to be my love life.
“Sometimes, I think it might not matter if I killed all of them. People, especially our kind, can be self-governing. We might have to deal with a despot here and there, but that happens with humans too. If the Lords were gone, would we even notice after a few weeks?”
Moira stared at me, amusement sparkling in her dark eyes. “Careful. You’re sounding awfully Libertarian there. You might offend the masses if you accuse the people of—” She let out a dramatic gasp, “having sovereignty over their bodies, emotions, and property.”
“Only a closet Libertarian would know that’s what they believe.
” We grinned at each other. “The world would run so much better if the world operated under the principles of doing what’s right versus what’s right for them to line their pockets or their egos.
The Lords are a mess, and people shouldn’t have to suffer because they can’t get their shit together.
Would it really matter if we allowed them to self-govern for a little while? ”
Moira shrugged. “Power abhors a vacuum. Someone will step into the empty spaces the Lords leave and claim they’ll do a better job.
Even if we know it’s bullshit, people tend to flock to charismatic leaders.
” Her lips twisted. “We need to think about this deeper. The fae are tricky bastards and have been for eternity.” She smiled at my look.
“We have to start asking more serious questions.”
“Like what?” As I was one of those tricky bastard fae, I knew better than most the games my kind could play.
Moira’s expression turned somber. “Are we being led by our noses to walk a certain path?”
I’d thought the same thing a few times but didn’t have enough evidence to prove such a thing was happening.
“There’s no reason a fae would design a spell like this if it didn’t have a purpose.
All of us are harmed when the land suffers.
The fae may not feel any ill effects immediately, but they would after a while.
I can’t figure out why someone would do something like this if all of us would suffer. ”
Moira’s lips twisted. “Perfect example of collateral damage. Any fae who suffers the fallout might not be the intended target, but whoever cast the spell considers the end result worth the potential loss.”
I stared at Moira for a long moment, disturbed to my core. When I opened my mouth to ask her why she would know something like this or automatically think this was the purpose of the spell, Moira makes a downward slash with her hand. “Don’t ask,” she said in a clipped voice.
I pulled my knees up and rested my chin on top of them. “A burden earned hurts half as badly when it’s shared,” I said lightly.
“As much as I appreciate your colloquial wisdom,” Moira said dryly, “I like my burdens secured tightly behind a closed door in my mind.” She softened her words with a smile.
Didn’t make me hurt any less for her, though.
“One day I hope you find someone you can unlock that door for,” I said softly.
Moira shook her head and scoffed. “Gods, I hope not. That poor bastard will be opening Pandora’s box and have no idea what’s about to hit him.”
I nudged her with my shoulder. “I thought Caelan was it for me. For a while, he was everything. I would have torn the world apart to keep us together. When I was floating in that godsdamned tree, all I could think about was all the mistakes I’d made and wonder if I’d ever make it back to the people I loved.
When I did and I saw you all there, I thought I had everything I’d ever wanted. I’d been given a second chance.”
Moira bowed her head.
“The moment I stepped out of the tree and saw Caelan, I wanted the rest of my life to start right then, with me as his wife.” I spread my hands out to encompass Thorvin’s land.
“But here I am now, with Caelan nowhere to be found. I have a mate, someone I love more than I could have ever loved Caelan, and you, Ash, and Tess are still with me.” I scooted over and slung an arm over her shoulder.
“Life isn’t linear, Moira. Sometimes a second chance means doing something different than before.
It means taking chances, even if it’s opening up a little bit to the people you love so we can help share your burdens. ”
Moira let out a heavy sigh. Her fists clenched at her sides. “I’m not ready,” she said after a long silence.
I reached up and stroked my fingers through her silky dark hair. “That’s okay. One day you will be. Until then, I will be right by your side.”
She laid her head on my shoulder, relaxing bit by bit, until she finally exhaled and sat up. “You better get in the ground and do your fancy woo woo stuff. Rowan won’t wait too long before he’s chomping at the bit to have you back.”
I smiled at her and stood to undress. Going underground unclothed would be unpleasant at first, but I didn’t want to have to travel home naked, and this type of magic always destroyed my clothing.
Moira turned her back and waited. When I sat back down and hissed at the freezing ground on my bits, she laughed and turned. “I’ll be right here,” she promised.
“Thorvin will be under for the next forty-six hours.”
Moira raised an eyebrow. “Specific, but okay.” She looked at her watch. “Good luck down there.”
I frowned. “Remind me to punch Thorvin a few times once I’m awake.”
“No problem,” Moira promised.
I closed my eyes and let the magic sweep me under. Lots of work to be done to give Thorvin’s territory a fighting chance.
And the work had to be done even if I didn’t think he deserved it. The land was the victim here, not Thorvin’s ego.