Chapter Seven
The moon had moved when she sat up. “Well, that was something.”
She looked at the healer and covered her mouth to stifle her laugh. “Sorry about that.”
He smiled wryly. “What?”
“You just opened a glitter bomb. I hope it washes off.”
“That’s what the glamour is for.” He rubbed a hand over his features and grinned. “This is a first for me.”
She looked at her dress, and it was bloody but intact. The plants around them were spectacular and two feet taller than they had been before the healing started. “Oops.”
She shifted to kneel and looked at the jungle that was swaying in no breeze at all. “Aw, babies. You caught it all.”
The trees and plants shivered happily. The healer held his hand out to her, and she took it, letting him help her to her feet.
Rowan could feel the texture of his fingers on hers. It was the first time she had felt something in years. She sighed. “Well, this is going to suck.”
He blinked. “What is?”
“I can feel with my fingers again.” She eased her fingers out of his. “Do I look weird?”
He smiled. “You look like an opal omega.”
“Oh, so multicoloured weird. Delightful. I need a cup of tea.” She walked toward him, and he turned to walk next to her as they left the garden.
The gate latched on its own, and she continued toward the house. He walked with her. She sighed. “What’s your name?”
He chuckled. “Samoth Renyet Arthros.”
“Good, I didn’t want to be skeevy and read it off your lease.”
“You may call me Ren.”
“You may call me landlady.” She snorted. “It’s like a superhero with a lot of cats.”
He snorted. “Do you have cats?”
“No, but I think there are mushrooms around that eat mice.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“They guard my garden. The garden takes care of the rest.”
She walked into her kitchen, and Ren closed the door behind them. Mell was sitting there, and her head came up. “Rowan, you have a scent.”
“Oh, darn. I thought I ditched that.”
Mell got up and went to hug her. “Wild roses and cinnamon.”
“Oh, that must smell odd.”
“It suits you. Can I hug you?”
Rowan laughed. “You already are.”
“Oh, right. You are so soft and really glowy.” Mell held her snugly.
“Mell, I am really not used to contact. You are freaking me out.” It was true. Her friend’s desperate need for contact had to be honoured, but it wasn’t Rowan’s thing.
She kissed Mell on the cheek, and Mell smiled and relaxed. “You have had a big day, Mell. Go to bed; your little guy is going to be calling for you in the night.”
“And little Rowan, too.” Mell chuckled. “Norec is a good guy. When he meets you like this, he’s going to hit the floor and grovel for weeks.”
Rowan sighed. “We have a big day of getting Aspen up and running tomorrow. We need sleep. He can grovel on his own time. I mean, I am guessing he has a job.”
Mell smiled. “He’s an arborist. That is how he came to be in the woods to find me to start. He was looking for bad trees.”
“Ah, like, they didn’t file their taxes?”
“More like they carried disease that could have taken down the forest.”
She leaned back. “Mell, did you pick a lumberjack?”
Mell grinned. “With a clipboard and a measuring tape. Yes. So you are going to let me rent the strangely new old building?”
“Yes. And parking will manifest late tomorrow. Once you get it inspected, you can set it up, and then you can get your business license, and you can begin populating the rooms with toys and educational arrangements and create a curriculum. Then, you get your skeleton crew in and your cook, arrange food deliveries, and find your deputy.”
“Huh. How do you know so much about it?”
“When we were at university, I was trying to study, and you were going over your business plan.”
“Oh. Right.” Mell grinned. “Forgot about that. You are so soft and cuddly.”
“And I can shred your wardrobe from here.”
“Fair, fair. You heading to bed?”
“Yes, I just have to thank the guy destroying the last of the pie.”
Mell smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
“Night, Mama. Get all the sleep you can.”
“Norec is giving me energy. I am not nearly as tired as I should be.”
“You will be. Shoo.”
Mell nodded. “I am glad you are opal again. I missed it. You are so pretty.”
“That’s drunk talk, Mellwyn. Go to bed.”
Mell giggled and headed off to her room where her mate and baby were waiting.
Rowan looked at Ren. “So what do I owe you?”
“For what?”
“For the magic. That wasn’t healing.”
He smiled. “You are very clever.”
“Yes, I know. I am also adorable. Now, what do I owe you for the spell?”
He held up the empty plate. “More pie?”
She snorted. “How much more?”
“One a week for the next year?”
“All apple?”
He grinned. “Surprise me.”
“Oh, you don’t want that. If I am feeling whimsical, you are doomed.”
Ren looked at her. “I am willing to take a chance, but you will have to create a food vault in the fridge. I am getting the feeling that some of my guys might be food motivated.”
“So like a breakfast and dinner situation?”
He beamed. “Exactly like that.”
She sighed. “I am going to have to amend the rental agreement.”
“Or create a supplementary contract and give us a fridge we can raid at will.”
“Fine, but you are going to be sharing space with breastmilk.”
Ren shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me, won’t bother the others.”
“Okay. Big families?”
“Not particularly. Most of us are second or third sons. Useful but not necessary.”
“Mages have to have value.”
He smiled. “We do, but the emperor was very insistent that there was power rising at the lost colony, and it might need some guidance. Then, he handed me a scroll with your image on it, sent by one of your very interesting mages.”
“One of our... someone is pimping us out?”
“Someone is acknowledging that sometimes power requires power. And that magic understands magic. My people are inherently magical, so it made sense that we were selected for assessment.”
Rowan cleaned up the pie pans. “They made you take a test?”
“Several. I did my assessments and waited to hear if I was a match for any of the new magic.”
Rowan narrowed her eyes. “Which new magic?”
He grinned, his carved tusks glowing. “Take a wild guess.”
“You have a wrong number.”
“I don’t believe so. I am uniquely qualified to work with you as you learn what your limits are. I also really have a fascination for your home. I have never seen an omega do what you did here.”
“I have a family history that they probably didn’t have.” She smiled as she washed the pans and thought about her parents and her grandparents.
“Family history?”
“I am not the first person in the family to look the way I do. My grandmother also had a connection to the land. Her parents bought this place, and my grandfather respected the link she had.”
“Wise man.”
“Big fella. Dark skin, white hair, red eyes. I have their portrait in my room.” She smiled. She felt him go still behind her.
She heard him rustle and said, “Do you know his original name?”
“Vasoric.”
“I see. Is he still around?”
“No. He and my grandmother had their family late, and when I was fourteen, they passed together. They are buried on the property.”
“Can you show me where?”
She looked at him. “Now?”
“Please.”
“Okay. It’s a bit of a hike.”
“Are you tired?”
“A little, but it’s fine.”
She finished the dishes, dried her hands, and headed outside once again. “Come on.”
He walked with her, and she asked, “Who’s covering your patients?”
“Dr. Oriel.”
“I hear good things about her.”
“Where?”
She laughed. “I can use lust. I hang around strip clubs, and strippers need gynecologists more than the average lady. Those outfits do not breathe, and they get in places no underwear should go.”
He chuckled. “You are not wrong. You really consume sexual energy?”
“No, I gather it, like picking up a battery and holding onto it until you need the power. When I need more, I gather more. With Keres and her mates around, it was like picking up dropped apples. I am short. It wasn’t even a stretch.”
She passed the carriage house and said, “Hi, Aspen.”
There was a sleepy trill of sound.
They walked into the woods, and Ren kept step with her. There was a path that glowed to her senses.
“How do you know where you are going?”
“Uh, everything glows. Can’t you see it?”
He chuckled. “I can, but I don’t know how you can.”
“These were my people. This is my land.” She said it matter-of-factly. “I know where everything is.”
The small cemetery was just ahead, humming with power.
He exhaled. “You didn’t cremate them.”
“No. Grandfather said not to.”
“Good. I do not believe they are dead.”
Rowan looked at the power signature, and she blinked. “I think you are correct, but I don’t think tonight is the right time to wake them up.”
“Why not?”
“Because I need to focus on the family member whose survival is likely and necessary. Grandma and Grandpa are holding each other, and they can wait a day.”
Ren looked at her. “You knew.”
“Yup. I know all living things in my territory.” She smiled.
“I have called my parents, and they are getting ready to host them when the time is right. It isn’t quite right.
I have to bring Avor and Regis here for it.
They don’t have to watch the waking, but they do need to be there to know that the king has returned. ”
Renyet blinked. “Right.”
“My grandmother got tired right before I went to high school. The trust was already in place, and my parents stayed here until I entered university. Then they headed to the islands and settled on Emerald.”
“So they are unaware of this situation?”
“That Aspen was cursed? They are unaware. They never even met Mell.”
“Why did you hide it?”
She sighed. “I didn’t. Our calls cover their bed-and-breakfast and the sun and the surf. That’s it. They don’t ask about me. They see me, and I look fine, so that is good enough.”
He sighed. “You don’t know how to mention it.”
“It is complicated. If I tell them about the curses, I get the question about what I was doing at the time, and why I didn’t stop it, and it is not something I am comfortable discussing with my parents.”
He froze. “I had forgotten.”