Chapter 11
C urling up in her favorite chair in the nook beside the kitchen, Celina stared out the huge picture windows that looked out onto the land. Dawn hadn’t yet lightened the sky. The faint purple hue of moonlight still lingered, blanketing the grounds outside with the cover of darkness. White mist danced through the darkness, circling around the house in a protective embrace.
The violet light swirling with the white mist of dawn had always felt like the very breath of magic to Celina. If the storytellers were to be believed, it was why the matching jewel tone had been selected as part of Calderre’s royal emblem long ago. The enchanting, powerful hue was an appropriate symbol for the realm.
History aside, Celina loved how it felt, how the mist teased her hair and whispered to her soul.
“Listen.” Her mother’s gentle voice touched her mind, bringing memory to life. Nurturing hands covered Celina’s eyes as she stood at the lake’s edge, sheltered by the mountains at the heart of the realm.
Her mother had ridden with her to the sacred place in the dark of night. Bare feet touching the damp sand of the lakeshore, they had stood and waited to greet the dawn, listening as the world rose from its slumber on the morning of the summer solstice.
“Listen with your heart, Celina, and you’ll always find the answers you seek. The earth and the ancestors will guide you on your way. Heed the magic. Choose each sunrise to be a protector, a leader, and a guide for our people. Choose each sunset to honor those to whom you are bound, and embrace them with love, never fearing the dark. Heed the light of your soul. Let it be bright as healing gold, strong as Rokan steel, and powerful as royal amethyst.”
Celina opened her eyes to see the most beautiful colors mixing together as the sun rose. Mist danced like rain across the lake, sweeping around them in an embrace, a moment of pure enchantment.
Tears clouded her vision as the memory swept through her. It was a tradition in their family, the royal family, to greet the sunrise at Grenada Lake on the solstice of each daughter’s tenth year as she transitioned out of childhood. Celina’s mother, heavily pregnant with Cat at the time, had roused her in the middle of the night two years earlier than planned for the rite of passage.
She suspected her mother had known, through her gift of premonition, that her time was near its end. She had taken both her daughters to the lake for the ritual, though one was yet to be born, passing down the wisdom from mother to daughters in the ancient way.
Celina had taken Cat during her tenth year and shared the memory and words from their mother, completing the tradition. She had been raw with emotion, both joyful and bereft at the absence she felt in a wholly different way than Cat did.
Their mother would be so proud of the young woman Cat had grown into, boldly striving for her place as a leader of their people. It was a relief to know that Cat could handle anything that came up while she was gone, allowing her to channel all her focus and energy on finding Connor.
Knowing they were hours away from beginning their journey in earnest lifted a weight from her shoulders. I promise I’ll find him, Mother. I’ll bring your son home.
The breeze rose, as if in answer to her oath, whipping the mist into a frenzy of lavender in the slowly awakening sky.
Sun eventually peeked through the gray clouds, voices of birds singing as the day lightened. It wouldn’t be enough to dry out the land, just tease them with a bit of warmth. It was, however, far better than riding in the rain, so she wasn’t going to complain.
Soon, they’d get their map and begin the next leg of their journey. She had to approach it like that—each piece a small accomplishment toward their end goals—otherwise she would drive herself crazy with worry. All she needed to do right now was get the map and head out. The rest would come.
“You’re up early. You should have woken me.” Rodric’s deep voice pulled her away from the view of dawn outside the windows.
“It’s my favorite time of day,” she admitted. “I love the meeting of colors. They’re lovely on their own, but together, at sunrise, they’re magnificent.”
She glanced over to find Rodric’s eyes on her, quietly watching her.
“Beautiful.” He brushed through her hair, gently running his fingers over her ear in the process. “Thank you for last night.”
Delightful tremors coursed through her at his touch. The man was dangerous to her senses. It was going to be hard to resist him.
She cleared throat. “Anytime.”
“I haven’t had a nightmare that bad in nearly a decade.” His eyes bored into hers as he dipped closer, causing a flutter of soaring wings in her stomach. “Thank you for being there, and for resisting using your magic to bring me out of it.”
“Your trust is important to me, Rodric.” Although he would have benefitted from it, she wasn’t about to break that trust by using her magic on him without his permission.
He tipped her head back and brushed his lips over hers in a feather-light, almost reverent, touch. The gentle touch sank into her skin and loosened all the tension within her, filling her with warm peace.
“Was that a thank-you kiss?” She smiled up at him.
Flecks of amusement danced in his eyes as he nodded. Running his fingers along her temple, he caressed her face, sliding his hands lightly through her hair, all the way down her head to her neck, brushing along her jaw. Breath caught in her throat, she kept his eyes as he canted his head again, the sweetness turning to passion the closer he came.
“This time is just because I want you.”
The warm press of his lips sent a wave of sparks through her, igniting every single nerve ending in her body, down to her toes. She stretched up to meet him, opening to let him in and tasting the promise of spiced heat.
“Oh, for the…” Sam’s annoyed voice sounded behind them as a door slammed, drawing her attention away from where she wanted it to be. “Weren’t you two needing a map this morning? Or are you just planning to deface my kitchen?”
She stared at Rodric as she answered, holding him hostage with her gaze. “Yep. Map. Be right there.”
A muttered curse floated after Sam as he exited the nook.
“I suppose we should follow him.” Rodric smiled conspiratorially at her.
“We should.”
He stepped back, holding out his hand to pull her up. Staying in his space instead of continuing to step past him, she rose on her toes and kissed him one more time, savoring the velvet feel of his lips joining with hers. Forcing herself to pull back, she gave herself one last tempting taste before stepping away.
Rodric’s low growl made her shiver as he turned toward the windows, a hand in his hair. Regaining his composure, he flicked a still smoldering glance at her and smiled.
He nodded toward the torn-up earth visibly through the windows. “The storm really tore things up last night.”
“Most of that wasn’t the storm; it was Sam.” Celina chuckled. “I think he woke early to fix the damage before Althea returns. She’ll have his hide if her garden suffered.”
The pleasant fire that had been simmering died from Rodric’s eyes as his gaze whipped between her and the devastation outside.
“Sam did this?” Shock laced his voice.
“You said Sam was always playing with rocks as a child? Well, he still is. Our conversation before you joined us last night was a bit heated.” She gestured at the scene. “This is the result of his untamed emotions.”
“The noise was worse than it should have been for the storm, but… that was Sam?” he murmured. He shook his head in fear or disbelief, she wasn’t sure. “Celina, there’s a mudslide out there on the hill. The earth is torn, and rocks overturned. That’s a dangerous, reckless use of power.”
His reaction was a little much for the situation, but he wasn’t entirely wrong. Sam did struggle with control when his emotions ran strong. Instead of defending him, which would likely fuel Rodric’s negative reaction, she took a different tact.
“Old wounds and trauma feed all our worst traits, Rodric. Sam was struggling to deal with his past when we argued last night, and the result was a bit destructive. Rebuilding what he damaged will strengthen his control, but he won’t master his magic until he finds peace.”
Rodric’s jaw worked as he surveyed the destruction again. “He could have flattened the keep.”
“These lands are fortified to allow him to safely exercise his magic. Althea and Barnabus made sure of it when the strength of his magic became apparent.” Celina didn’t want his fears to reach unwarranted heights. “The keep wasn’t in danger. But, yes, Sam is a very powerful earth mage.”
Rodric exhaled some of his tension, but it seemed to take a concerted amount of effort. “We should go see about the map so we can get going.”
Turning away from the view that had caused such turmoil, Rodric headed in the direction she indicated. He walked quietly beside her as they left the kitchen, but he didn’t take her hand.
Celina gave a silent, brooding sigh. Apparently, she was destined to push every man in her life to the brink this week as she forcefully pushed them past their comfortable boundaries. Morgan and Sam would forgive her; she only hoped Rodric would too, given time.
S tudying the topographical map, Rodric cursed. The territory was enormous. Barnabus had brought a huge map featuring the eastern half of Eldridge. Which figured… it was the more unsavory portion of the realm, bordered by dangerous neighbors.
They were gathered around a large table in Barnabus’s private workshop. Maps of all sizes lined the walls, and a large shelf held rolled versions that could be laid out on the high table and reviewed as commissions were discussed.
“This is the area where Connor’s team was originally headed?” Rodric circled a broad area on the map with two fingers. It was east of Barrett’s Forest—the direction Brenna’s kidnappers had been headed when he lost their trail.
“Yes, yes. We gave them a detailed landscape for that area. Where they went after that…” Barnabus shrugged, waving his hand in a who knows motion. “But I think we might have something to help with that, eh, Sam?”
The locations syncing up was a very good sign and boded well for their mission. It made up somewhat for the difficult conversation he’d had with Celina earlier. He was certain that if he could have one conversation about magic that didn’t dredge up the past, he would be able to make more significant progress. It hadn’t happened yet, but he had hope that would change. He was truly trying but being constantly blindsided with emotional blows was holding him back.
Barnabus took his arm, using him as a walking stick as they moved to a new room. He was stable on his feet, but his eyes were unfocused as if he had trouble seeing. Rodric was curious if his low vision meant his career as a mapmaker would soon be ending, but he didn’t ask as the elder leaned on him.
Sam led them into a smaller workroom just big enough for the four of them to gather around an empty table. Unlike in the larger workroom, this wasn’t an angled worktable, but rather a flat one. Sam sealed the door and then pulled out some materials.
Barnabus’s wrinkled hands smoothed over the material, feeling its edges and learning its shape without looking directly at it.
“Sir,” Rodric asked, hesitation softening his voice. “Are you… can you see well enough?”
Barnabus’s loud, crackling laugh filled the room. “Don’t need eyes for this type of map, my boy.” He unerringly patted Rodric’s jaw.
“Your mate is a healer, and you live here in Calderre. Why haven’t your eyes been healed?” Rodric looked at Celina when he asked the question, wondering for the first time what type of boundaries corralled her magic. What was normal in her world but not in his?
“Can’t fix old age, son. Nothing wrong with my eyes but time and life. Healers mend things that are unnaturally weak and broken. Nothing unnatural about aging. My Althea keeps me as strong as nature allows.” Barnabus chuckled again. “I like your young man, Cela. Questions don’t frighten him. Now, let’s begin.”
With quick strokes, he inked the main points, mimicking the larger map they had been looking at in the outer room. Towns, mountains, and other markers darkened the page in a rudimentary design. Rodric watched in fascination. Did magic help him see what his eyes couldn’t as he drew the landmarks?
“Sam, join me.” Barnabus shifted, making room for Sam at the worktable.
Taking a fistful of dirt out of a jar he’d brought over, Sam scattered it over the page. Eyes closed, he began moving his hands in sweeping motions, as if he was sifting through sand, holding some in his palms while letting the rest fall. Slowly, the map started to change, the ink shifting and growing as the scattered dirt sank into the pages. Trees, rivers, and other natural elements sprang up on the map, giving an intimately detailed story of the landscape. Eventually every speck of earth had disappeared into the map.
Sam brought the dry map to life. He’d been young enough before the fire that Rodric hadn’t given a shred of thought to whether or not the boy would inherit any magic. He’d only been aware of the twins’ magic, Damien and Jena being his and Avery’s best friends. Magic was sparse enough in Eldridge—to his knowledge, at least—that he assumed the development was random. Watching Sam had him questioning that concept.
Opening eyes several shades darker, Sam breathed a sigh of completion and smiled at his work. Rodric’s heart clenched. Damien’s eyes had darkened like that when he used magic, too.
“Very good. That should do it. One other thing.” Barnabus maneuvered carefully to a locked cabinet and brought a small, locked wooden box back to the table. After spending a few moments sifting through the seemingly ordinary stones, muttering to himself as he weighed them in his palms and discarded them, he selected two.
“Celina.” He motioned her forward and placed a stone in her hands, then covered both of hers with his, murmuring soft sounds. Celina’s demeanor glowed with joy as she bowed her head close to Barnabus’s over the stone.
“Let the truth warm your soul, my girl. Until we meet again.” Kissing her forehead, he released her and turned to study Rodric for a moment with a twitching eyelid. Rodric shifted uncomfortably under the direct attention of the elder mage. What did the man see when he focused so intensely on Rodric?
“Celina, dear, take Sam up to the kitchen and make him pack some of that coffee you like for the journey, hmm? I’d like to talk to your young man for a moment.” Barnabus spoke to Celina as if she were a beloved granddaughter.
Pocketing the gifted stone, Celina stepped up to Rodric and touched his arm, silently asking if he was okay with the request. He nodded slowly, still tense. Letting him go, she stepped away, leaving him to Barnabus’s canny senses.
“Come, sit with me.” Taking hold of his wrist, Barnabus used him as a walking stick again as he led them to the two chairs under the only window in the room.
Rodric didn’t think the old man actually needed help, but he didn’t want to be rude to the elder. He waited, wrist still being held loosely captive. When the man spoke, it was unexpected, nearly startling Rodric from his chair.
“You know my Sam.”
“I knew his family, yes. A long time ago." Rodric blinked away images of Damien and his siblings. Their remembered laughter lingered and tightened his chest. “I didn’t know any of them survived.”
“That line is a strong one indeed. I worry for him, when I’m gone…” He trailed off, lost to his own concerns and memories. “Our daughters were all grown, off following their mother’s lead and taking on the world, when he came into our lives. I was so grateful to have a son, to have him follow my path. But he has darkness, from his past, that no amount of love has lightened. Blessings and tragedy, always intertwined, hmm?”
The truth had a weight to it, settling around him like a cloak. Tragedy was at the forefront of his mind, always. Yet, Sam was alive. “He looks exactly like his older brother, Damien, but otherwise seems to be completely different. It was a shock to recognize him.”
Barnabus patted his wrist in a grandfatherly way. “Yes. You’ve had a dark path as well, I can see. You’ll be good for my Sam. Guide him when he needs a warrior’s perspective, a brother’s perspective, as Damien would have.”
“What makes you think I’ll be around to guide him? Or that he’d welcome it?”
“I’m blind, son, not foolish.” Warm, crackling laughter filled the room with more heat and comfort than a roaring fire would have. “I do like you. Not afraid of questions. You’ll need that. Don’t let fear hold you.” Barnabus smiled, squeezing his arm. “Now, are you going to let me gift you a stone?”
“There’s magic involved.” Rodric battled reticence built over a lifetime as he wrestled with everything happening to him. He had to proceed but didn’t know how to do so without drowning in more hurt, inviting more grief into his life.
“Ah, but you are not afraid. We just established that, yes?”
“I still—”
Barnabus waved off his words, moving unerringly to the table to retrieve the stone. Rodric shook his head, amused despite himself as the cunning mapmaker navigated perfectly back to his seat with no assistance. No wonder Celina adored him; he was delightfully formidable. He waited, holding out the stone to Rodric. Challenging him in no uncertain terms.
Overcoming his nausea, he took the stone, accepting the wisdom the old man was intent on giving him. Not afraid. At least it wasn’t healing magic. That terrified him more than anything.
Warmth from the man’s hands settled over Rodric’s, completely blanketing his in tingling heat. Flickers of orange firelight danced over his hands, tugging his burdened soul to the surface. Sensations long buried bubbled up, churning in his chest in effervescent sparks.
A part of him desperately wanted to be okay with this, to join the fight for magic that these people represented. For Avery. For Damien. For Brenna. An equal part of him still wanted to run from the pain. He blinked, trying to rid the emotions from his eyes, and the image of the flames weaving around his hands disappeared.
Finished, the old mapmaker cupped his face, an enigmatic gleam in his cloudy eyes. “You are a good fit for our Cela, a very good fit. Come back and visit me, after.” He winked at Rodric, chuckling merrily as he slowly made his way out of the workshop, pausing briefly to pat the creation he’d made earlier. “Don’t forget your map.”
Rodric stared at the warm stone in his hand as he sifted through his reeling emotions. He’d fled after his life exploded, building a quiet, steady life as a hunter. He’d grown to love his work as a Preddari but was beginning to see that he’d still been running. From magic. From what was left of his family. Right or wrong, those choices had led him here, nearly full circle. An opportunity to make a new set of choices.
After a time, he moved, placing the small stone in the pocket over his chest, nestled safely with Brenna’s bracelet. Moving to the table, he reverently touched the specially made hunter’s map. Thin, strong hide backed the incredibly detailed drawings. Lifelike images materialized in his mind as he ran his fingertips over the individual elements, showing him realistic visions of each area he touched. The map itself was a piece of art, but this was more than art… it was alive. Incredible.
Upstairs, he found Celina and Sam talking quietly near the door, waiting on him.
“Everything okay?” Celina asked as he approached.
He nodded, giving her a small smile. “Yes. Give me a moment with Sam?”
Understanding shone in her eyes. “Sure, I’ll meet you at the stable.” She wrapped her arms around Sam, giving him a long hug, which he returned, speaking quietly into her ear.
This time, watching them interact failed to rouse the jealousy that had bitten at him before. So much had changed since last night. Instead of rivalry, there was a hint of brotherly affection for the dark-haired man embracing his woman. If life had gone differently, they probably would have become friends once Sam grew up.
Sam surprised him by speaking first once Celina left. “Keep her safe. She’s the most stubborn woman, sometimes to her own detriment when it comes to people she cares about. Do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even from herself.” His amber eyes darkened with worry, making the green streaks stand out in brighter contrast. “Please.”
“You can trust me,” he vowed, warmth filling the cold places inside him. Sam had no reason to entrust him with something so precious beyond whatever Celina had told him. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe.”
He held his hand out, waiting. A few seconds later, Sam nodded, an intensely thoughtful set to his brow, and reached out to grip Rodric’s arm just above the wrist in a familial greeting.
Rodric squeezed his wrist, a sense of rightness filling him. “It was good to see you again, Sam. When this is over, we’ll have to… get to know each other better.”
His own surprise at his words was reflected on Sam’s face. It had not been what he’d intended to say. But, looking into Damien’s eyes again, he couldn’t help but want to honor the mapmaker’s request, offering friendship to a man who should have grown up alongside him.
Shock transformed into a haunted look on Sam’s face. “What do you mean, ‘again’? Do you know me?”
Rodric looked away briefly before facing the man whose history had paralleled his own for a short time. “Once. A long time ago. Damien was my best friend those last few years, before the fire changed us all.”
Hand in his hair, dislodging the waves, Sam rocked back on his heels, eyes focused on the mists of memory. “You had a sister.”
“I did.”
“Avery. I remember her. Damien adored her. Mom…” Sam swallowed before starting again. “Mom always thought they’d be mated when they grew up.”
A smile spilled from Rodric, unexpectedly taking over his face as a forgotten image came to him. Avery, blonde hair blowing in the wind, sparkling eyes staring admiringly at Damien as he told a story. The pair of them sitting close together on the picnic blanket, hands touching when they thought no one was looking.
Their families had traveled to the coastal shores together the year before everything was lost. Laughter and sunshine swirled through his mind, bringing the memory to life. He’d teased his friend mercilessly for spending most of the day with his sister instead of him.
“You know, she may have been right.” He gripped Sam’s shoulder in camaraderie. “Thank you. That’s a happy memory. Most of mine aren’t. Maybe we can help each other. Not all of the past is bad. I forget that sometimes.”
“Yeah, maybe we can.” Sam choked on a laugh, eyes shining as he shook his head. “Stay safe, Rodric. And keep Cela out of trouble.”
“As much as she’ll let me.” Rodric smiled, picking up his bag and turning to go find Celina. Keeping her out of trouble could fast become a full-time job.
The sun had finally come out, clearing their path for the rest of the day. A hard day’s ride would get them close to the border. They’d be riding into Eldridge by the end of the following day, assuming the weather held.