Chapter 46
Fern
I woke with a groan. My head was throbbing awfully, the pain increasing when I opened my eyes a crack. That had them screwing up tight again, but it didn’t help. I was awake now and paying for the consequences of my actions. Mouth dry, a faint feeling of nausea had me sitting up carefully in bed.
In bed?
I was at Kael’s family estate, I remembered that, but with that realisation came a whole lot more. Walking into the tavern with Kael. His claiming I was his in front of all of those people. Lance… Lorien…
Dain.
I got to my feet, pulling out a fresh uniform from my bag and then put it on before walking out into the hallway, and that’s when I saw that his door was still half open.
It would have taken very little to walk back in there, examine all of those drawings in the cold light of day, but something stopped me.
The look on his face, perhaps. He went as pale as his hair, his dark eyes burning like coals in a skull, right before he slipped out the window and leapt onto Argent’s back.
It was obvious he never meant anyone to see those drawings, let alone me.
The urge to stay in the guest room, to avoid everyone until we were ready to fly out, rode me hard, but it was not the one that won out.
I needed a long drink of water rather desperately, and perhaps some willow bark tea, if Mistress Elsie had some on hand.
The muffled sounds of someone moving around the house below, the smells of good cooking drew me down the stairs and into the kitchen.
“Tea is on the table and is freshly brewed.” Elsie said, as she stirred a pot of what looked like oatmeal. “If you need willow bark, it’s in the blue teapot.”
“Thank you,” I said. “That’s most kind.”
“Oh!” Her head whipped around, her eyes widening as she took me in. “Oh goodness, I thought you were one of the boys.”
The woman’s strength was impressive. She hauled the massive cauldron off the fire and then set it on the kitchen bench.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t even know where that came from, but I was stammering it out. “I could go and get them if you want?”
“Sorry? Sorry?” She shook her head and then wiped her hands on her apron.
“Gods above, I’m the one who should be apologising.
Or Ivy, if she emerges out of that room anytime soon.
Sorry my unruly child decided that last night was the best time to declare her feelings for Dain.
” Her eyes met mine. “Sorry we didn’t have a proper welcome prepared for your arrival. ”
“Oh, there’s no need to make a fuss on my account,” I said, then winced. “Though that seemed to have happened despite myself last night. We had a little too much to drink, and I opened the wrong door by mistake.”
“A mistake you wouldn’t have been able to make if Dain’s room was locked as it usually is.
” Elsie shook her head. “The children all call each other brother and sister, because that’s the way we’ve run this family, but Ivy is no blood relation of Dain’s.
She doesn’t get a lot of opportunity to meet suitable young men all the way out here and I think that’s why she set her cap for Dain. ”
She drew out a chair and then indicated I should do the same.
“I love my children, whether they were born from my body or brought here as war orphans. Truly I do, but sometimes they do things that are just maddening. I’m sorry you saw all of those drawings.
It must’ve been a terrible shock. This is not at all the way I intended to greet the woman my sons’ have decided to court. ”
“Seems like we’re both very sorry,” I said with a smile.
“While those bloody sons of mine sleep off the ale upstairs, no doubt snoring their heads off.” She returned my smile. “Men are fools, I’ll tell you that for free, and none worse than my sons. One is hard enough to manage. Are you sure you want four husbands?”
“I’m not sure of anything,” I said, pulling a mug closer after Elsie poured out the tea.
The willow bark was sweetened somewhat with honey, but the acrid taste was still there.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know what any of them intended until last night.
” A slow sip gave me a moment to think. My head was still throbbing murderously, making that a painful experience. “Still don’t when it comes to Dain.”
“You just have to look at the four of them to know what they want.” Her hand stretched out across the table and gave mine a squeeze.
“Even Dain. He…” She shook her head. “That’s not my story to tell.
None of them have ever brought a girl around here, if that helps clear things up.
That lieutenant of yours…” Lance was mine?
I remembered his words, but felt like I was still trying to digest them.
“I know young Lacey would be pleased if he looked at her the way he does at you.”
“It’s not something I noticed,” I replied, the warmth of the mug, the willow bark doing its work, helped me relax back into my chair. “I thought Lance was just being friendly and Kael was…”
I was talking to his mother, I reminded myself.
“I know exactly how Kael would’ve been.” Elsie got to her feet, grabbing a large ceramic bowl before sifting flour into it, then cracking eggs and adding milk.
The batter was whipped furiously with a whisk, perhaps indicating her mood.
“My son… He never knew his father.” Her brows draw down sharply.
“The Duke of Harlston. Never has a more arrogant man walked the earth, though my son seems determined to try and surpass him.”
A knob of butter was dropped into a frypan, the sizzling sound filling the silence. Batter was poured in and then the bowl set down.
“I…” She dared a sidelong look at me. “I just hope he’s kinder than his father was. If he ever crosses the line, you tell me. I don’t care if he’s my own blood. No man should ever try and force a woman.”
“Force?” I let out a nervous little laugh. “No, nothing like that. Assuming that I’ll fall at his feet just because he crooked his finger my way? Perhaps.”
“Gods…” Elsie shook her head and then flipped the pancakes before pulling out another plate. “I should apologise for that too.”
“Not at all.” I drained the rest of the tea, then washed the mug in the sink. “You’ve been nothing but kind and opened your house to us with no warning, so what you should do is put me to work.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t—”
“Please.” Coming to stand beside Elsie, she looked up at me and then smiled. “It’d make me feel better and perhaps ease this damned headache.”
“Got a hangover, do you?” Her grin was a welcome sight. “I’ve got what you need. Grab down all of those plates if you’re keen to help. The cutlery is in the drawer. There’s lemons, sugar, and syrup in the pantry…”
Following her instructions helped dispel the last vestiges of awkwardness.
When I was finding my way around a strange kitchen, I wasn’t thinking about last night.
Didn’t need to try to work out how I felt about it.
The two of us fell into a nice rhythm, talking about smaller things, until the front door was jerked open.
Dain looked like he was about to storm inside, but then froze mid-step when he saw me.
Our eyes locked, my heart rate picking up instantly, which had the pain in my head spiking.
He looked like he was feeling the exact same thing if his expression was any indication.
His lips parted, his throat worked, but right before he said anything, the thunder of footsteps alerted us to the fact that some of the other occupants had also awoken.
“Pancakes!” one of the younger children said, launching herself at Elsie. She swept the little girl up into her arms and kissed her cheek. “Can you make mine look like Argent? No, ‘Fang?”
“Are you going to make pancakes for the dragons?” an older boy asked. “Can I take them out to them, please? Please, Mum?”
“You can go and wash your hands and face, is what you can do, Ian.” Her firm tones stopped the boy from arguing, especially when she pointed imperiously at the downstairs bathroom. “All of you can.”
“But Mum…” another child said.
“We’ll see if there’s any leftover batter after you lot eat. If there is, I’ll make pancakes for the dragons.”
“As if you wouldn’t make a batch just for them.
” Kael’s voice was a little scratchy, and somehow those deep tones had me shivering.
I could almost feel the weight of his arm around my waist, the feel of his fingers on my nape.
Perhaps because he pressed a kiss to his mother’s cheek, then approached me. “Sleep well?”
Those heavily lidded eyes seemed to see far more than I intended, if that’s what that dimple popping meant.
His smirk was back as he swooped closer.
I pulled back instinctively, but his hand was there, cradling my head, right before he kissed my forehead.
There and gone again, he left my skin tingling.
“Or did you spend the night wishing my arms were around you?”
“Wish?” My reply came out too sharply and without thought. “Make that thankful I was able to sleep in peace.” Gods, not only was I being terribly rude, I was doing it in his mother’s kitchen. “Elsie—”
“Don’t worry about me.” She smiled as she poured more batter into the pan.
“Any woman who is going to take my boy on will need to work hard to keep him in line. Speaking of which.” The woman turned to her son.
“Why aren’t you getting your lady some pancakes before this horde gobbles them all up? I taught you better than that.”
“Right you are.”
He grabbed my plate and as I tried to protest, he piled it high then set it before me, before pouring a mug of tea for me.
“I’ve got this.” Lorien sat beside me, pouring mine from the white tea pot. “Willow is in the blue, right, Elsie?”
“As always,” she replied, flipping the pancakes.
“Going to need some of that before we fly out. Lance?”
“I didn’t drink as much as you lot did. Wanted to keep my wits about me.” The lieutenant grabbed a jug off the table, which earned him a frown from Kael. “Did you want some syrup on your breakfast.”
“Ahh… yes?” I said.
He pulled the plate away from Kael and then decorated the pile with swirls of sweet smelling syrup.
“Need to eat up.” Kael put the plate back in front of me when Lance was done, then started cutting up his own food. “You’ll need your strength for today?”
“Strength…?” I croaked.
“We’ll fly out as soon as we’re done with breakfast,” he replied.
“No.” Dain looked far too pale as he came to stand opposite us. “We can’t. We won’t.”
“What?” Lorien asked, but Dain was focussed entirely on Kael.
“I had a vision last night.” The busy sounds of the table died away then.
“If we got to the Tomb, we’ll…” His eyes met mine for just a second, yet I felt branded by his searing gaze.
“I saw Fern die.” A clatter from the kitchen let me know that Elsie had dropped her spatula in the pan.
“All of us died. The cave collapsed with us in it. We need—”
“To go to tomb as planned.” Kael seemed to say that from between gritted teeth.
“And do everything we can to ensure that vision does not come true. That dream about the bay? It’s made clear your dreams are warnings, Dain, not fate.
We’ll heed it well because…” His eyes met mine and while they always burned like blue fire, that took on a different resonance right now.
Determination, that’s what I saw, and somehow that helped quell my own concerns.
“I’m not losing Fern.” His focus shifted to the table.
“Not any of you. We’re strong, capable, and smart.
If we don’t rush into things, we can get what we need from the tomb and then be on our way. ”
“That will help a man in a fight.” Barry appeared at the end of the table wearing a sober expression. “Not guarantee the result.”
Kael’s rakish smile was back.
“Then I’ll have to do what I can to ensure it goes my way, won’t I?”
“Perhaps Fern should stay here,” Elsie said sometime later as we carried our gear out to the dragons.
Well, the men did. Lorien and Lance had almost gotten into a scuffle over who got to carry my bags.
Dain had strode over, snatched it from their grip and then walked past without even a sidelong look.
“Blackreach is a hellhole, let alone the Tomb of Terror. No place for a lady.”
“Where Auren goes, so do I,” I said, taking her hands. “But thank you for your concern and your hospitality.” Ivy hung back, standing at the very edge of the family group, a sullen expression on her face. “And I’m sorry again for all the trouble we caused.”
“Just come out of that tomb safely.” She squeezed my hands and then turned to the others.
“All of you.” Kisses were placed on Kael’s forehead, then Lorien’s, but when she went to Dain, I wondered how she’d reach up that high.
Then man almost bent double, letting her press a kiss there, before pulling away.
“You might not want an old woman’s kisses,” she told Lance as she patted his hand.
“But if you could try to keep these idiots from killing themselves, you’ll have my undying gratitude. ”
“I’ll try,” Lance said, squeezing her hands.
“Now—” Elsie turned back to the rest of us, but Kael cut her off.
“We’re leaving. I’ll send word once we get back to the keep. Everything will be fine, I promise.”
Would it? I climbed onto Auren’s back some hours later, feeling her readying herself to launch. Are you sure this is what we need to do, dear heart?
I need answers, she replied. There has to be a way we can find them without putting you humans in danger.
The answers are in the earth, Viridian said, looking our way from across the grass.
Let’s hope we don’t have to pay too high a price to get them. That thought was for me alone, forcing me to hold on tight as my dragon took to the air.