Chapter 24
Caelan
After retrieving a blanket from the cloakroom, we made our way through the back hall to the stables. A knot that had been settling into my chest loosened when Rowan slipped her hand into mine. Squeezing it, I held on to her until we stood in the courtyard.
Chatting with the stable hand, who was readying our horses, I was half listening to Rowan as she introduced herself to the horse she’d been assigned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her pet the mare’s nose and blow lightly into her nostrils, all the while telling her what a pretty girl she was.
“What’s her name?” she asked when I stepped closer.
“This is Gertie,” I said affectionately, rubbing my hand down her flank.
She was a lovely-looking mare, her colour reminiscent of a speckled hen – white with little black flecks all over her body.
“I named her myself when I brought her home. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the best start to life, but we soon fixed that, didn’t we, girl?
” I stroked her fondly and she butted her head against my chest. She really did have the sweetest nature.
“Hello, Gertie,” Rowan cooed. “What a pretty name. A pretty name for a pretty horse.”
I drew in a sharp breath. “Do that again.”
Rowan looked at me with confusion. “Do what again?”
“Whatever you were just doing,” I pressed, searching her eyes.
“I… I wasn’t doing anything, just petting Gertie,” she replied, sounding unsure.
“What were you thinking about, then, when you were doing that?”
She looked embarrassed. Uncomfortable, even. Two spots of colour appeared high on her cheeks. “It wasn’t so much that I was thinking anything in particular – I was just sending her my thoughts about the name and her colouring. She really likes the name you gave her.”
“How do you know that?” I asked, lowering my voice.
There was a silent pause. “Um… she told me.”
She looked down at the ground, refusing to meet my eye, so I stepped around Gertie, pushing into Rowan’s space. “She told you… in your head?” I questioned, curious.
Rowan glanced up at my tone. “Not exactly. It’s more of a feeling she shared with me.
She was happy when you said you named her Gertie, and then she just had this warmth to her when you were stroking her side,” she explained.
She waved a hand when I looked at her in surprise.
“Truly, it’s not a big deal. I’ve always been able to do this.
Speak with animals, that is.” She stroked Gertie’s rump.
“When I was a child, I used to do it a lot, but since then…” She trailed off and her eyes glazed over before clearing again.
“I realise it’s probably a fae thing, and I shouldn’t be so worried about hiding it anymore. ”
Hiding it…
“It’s not a ‘fae thing’, Rowan,” I said. “I think it’s your gift.”
She bit her lip, her brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”
“One,” I said, holding up a finger, “not all fae can do that.” I held up a second finger. “And two: your eyes glowed. They generally only do that when a fae is using their gift. Though some can glamour that away.”
Her mouth dropped open, but she closed it again just as fast. “But I’ve been doing this my whole life. How has no one seen or said anything?” Realisation crossed her visage, and a little “Oh” escaped her lips as she stared at me. “What is it, my gift? What does it mean?”
“Can you do this with all animals?”
She nodded.
“Is that all you can do, or can you ‘speak’ back to them?”
“When I was younger, there was this stray cat in our yard who was looking for food to feed its babies. I… I told my mother.” She glanced away briefly and took a deep breath, her hand absently rubbing Gertie’s neck.
“She looked at me with what I now know was fear in her eyes. She asked me how I knew and if I had seen the kittens, but I hadn’t.
The mother cat, she… she sent me a picture of them, a vision, I guess, so I just knew, like a sixth sense or something.
I have always accepted it was something I could do.
But I never mentioned it again. Not to anyone.
Not after that look. It’s stayed with me all this time. Made me feel different.”
My heart bled for that little girl and how her mother had made her feel. I vowed to myself to never let her feel that way again.
“I can send back feelings,” she continued, “but I haven’t tried to speak to them any other way.”
“I think you’re an Animal Whisperer or an Animal Empath.
I’ll have to ask Aenan to be sure, as I haven’t heard of one before.
But definitely a Whisperer of some sort.
” I smiled at her reassuringly, and when she repeated my words in a hushed voice, as if speaking to herself, it grew wider.
The awe on her face was so delightful that I couldn’t help myself. I bent down and kissed her gently.
The look in her eyes when I pulled back made my chest swell.
“Come on,” I said, giving her a helping hand. “Let’s go.”
After mounting our horses, we left the stables, bypassing the lawned area closest to the building and skirting around the front of the estate to the entrance road. As we rode down the grand drive, Rowan turned to take in the sight behind us and I knew what she would see.
The castle’s imposing structure was set against the backdrop of rugged mountains, their peaks now dotted with snow.
It always made me happy when I saw the turrets that punctuated the horizon like guardian sentinels, guiding me home.
The grey stone walls, slightly weathered by time, exuded strength and security.
It was a distinctive style of architecture, one that I had yet to find anywhere else despite my extensive travels throughout the kingdom.
While Rowan looked back, my own gaze swept around the surrounding grounds, which were vast and lush.
On the eastern side of the estate stood the Dark Forest, aptly named due to the trees that grew so thickly, the sun barely penetrated through to the ground beneath.
On the western side, beyond the castle, lay Loch Wyndaryn, its shimmering waters grey and moody.
The rolling hills bordering the north were gilded with the hues of late autumn.
Wyndaryn Estate had endeared itself to me a long time ago and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Not now. My only wish was that it did the same with Rowan, and based on the look of wonder on her face as she took in the ever-changing landscape, I had high hopes it already had.
We kept a leisurely pace until we were well clear of the manicured lawns, then, with whoops of excitement, we let the horses have their heads and galloped across the fields on the western edge of the loch.
Mack, my horse, was a big bay gelding. His sleek coat, a rich mahogany colour, gleamed in the sunlight.
We rode for about twenty minutes in silence before I let him take us where he willed, knowing Gertie would follow along beside him quite happily.
When we neared a stream, fed by the recent snowmelt from the surrounding hills, I brought him to a stop, dismounting and helping Rowan down. The water was crystal clear and would be refreshing for the horses to drink from, so I hobbled them nearby before laying out the blanket for us near a tree.
“This is nice,” Rowan said, looking around. “Are we still on the estate here?”
“Aye. It is pretty big. We would have to ride another five miles north before we reached the end of it.”
Her eyes widened at that as she settled down on the blanket.
“What did you want to be?” I asked her. “When you were a child, that is. Was there something you wanted to do in the Human Realm?”
She looked at me with surprise. The question must have seemed random, but I wanted to get to know her better.
“Once,” she said, “I wanted to be a vet.”
“A vet? What is that?”
“It’s short for veterinarian. It’s an animal doctor.”
“Oh, aye, I could see you doing that.”
“I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps, with him being a medical doctor, but my affinity with animals… It called me in that direction.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“I tried it once. When I finished school. I did some volunteer work at our local vet. But…”
“But?”
“The animals – the pain some of them were in, their fear… It overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t continue.”
I nodded, understanding.
“I think now that I know about my gift, I understand why that happened.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have had a much easier time with it. I wouldn’t have been so overwhelmed and could have actually helped them. Calmed them.”
“I agree. I think it’s something you would be very good at.”
I settled down beside her and she reached for my hand, absently playing with my fingers. “What was it like growing up here?” she asked.
I smiled as a memory surfaced. “When Aenan and I were little, we were inseparable. Two little boys raised as brothers, and we acted just like any others who had the run of a large estate. We were mischievous, unruly, always getting in trouble with Jesmina.”
I chuckled and she smiled at me, prompting me to continue.
“We delighted in hiding in the secret passageways in the corridors and scaring the maids. Jesmina was only able to find us when our laughter echoed out of the walls, and she would drag us out by our ears.”
“There are secret passageways?” she asked, entranced.
“Aye, I’ll show you sometime.”
“What else did you do?”
“Well, for a little while, after your mother died, we would spend hours and hours outside, especially in the summertime when the days were long. But as the years went on, your father kept Aenan inside more, so I spent most of my time with Lachlann.”
“Lachlann?”
“Aye – the man who taught me me brogue,” I said, thickening the Scottish accent, winking at her.
She giggled. “Tell me more.”