Chapter Seven #2
“Yes, well, I can’t because, instead of helping them, I was helpless, and my family doesn’t believe I have ever been helpless.” She looked at him with fat tears falling.
Ren carefully wrapped her in his arms. He held her while the tears fell. After a few silent moments, she said, “It doesn’t hurt.”
He smoothed a hand over her hair. “It isn’t supposed to hurt.”
“I know, but this is the first time it hasn’t.”
“What about Mell’s hug earlier?”
“She’s a determined hugger. It was like leaning on a bruise.”
“Ah. So when do you want to contact your elders?”
She sighed. “When Aspen is awake and we can get Avor and Regis here.”
She didn’t mention that she had been trickling power into her grandparents for weeks.
When the first mages got up and moved around, she had started trickling the power through.
The plants around them were giving energy to the glass coffin that they rested in.
They were currently at seventy-five percent strength. A few more days would be good for them.
He offered her his arm, and they walked back to the house. She yawned and headed for her room. She wasn’t surprised when Renyet walked with her. His room was next to hers and had a charming sign on the door with his name on it.
“May I see your room, Rowan?”
She sighed. “Sure. Why not. We are neighbours, after all.”
He smiled, and she opened her door.
“You don’t lock it?”
“No. Why would I? This is my home, and it knows me.” She opened the door. Soft lights warmed the huge space, and she listened to his intake of breath. “Yeah, sorry. It smells like me before the shield.”
She glanced at him, and his pupils were huge. “Did you just get high?”
He laughed softly. “Yeah, that’s what it feels like. I... you have a powerful scent.”
She laughed. “Are you saying that I stink?”
“No. I can smell your power in the scent. This is not a timid omega scent; this is a get the fuck out of my way, I am going to burn you down and then pat your head kind of scent.”
She chuckled. “That was what I was going for.”
He smiled. “This looks like a cross between a nest and a war room.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That was also what I was going for. Oh, these are my parents, and these are my grandparents.”
She walked into her study, and there were the small portraits. “The big portraits are in the grand hall.”
He looked and blinked. “There he is. The executioner. Your grandmother... she’s like you.”
“She was sweeter. Nicer. With a spine of steel. Her parents originally owned this property, and my grandfather bought it when they married. They just kept it as a family home for my father and then my mother, and they signed it over to me because since it was a historic building, I could get a pass from the Omega Centre if I was the caretaker of this building, so that is what my grandparents gave me. Freedom to choose my life as long as I maintained the property.”
“You didn’t flinch when I mentioned the executioner.”
“Ah. My first skill was turning an attacking boar into pink mist. Grandpa was so proud.”
“How old were you?”
She shrugged. “Six. It wasn’t a mage skill, but it was a defense. The hard shell formed that day as well, but it faded when he held me and calmed me down. Grandma made pie.”
“Where were your parents?”
“At work. They are doctors. Both betas. Happily retired in the islands.”
“Your father is a beta?”
“My mother is the bloodline. She’s a bit tall, very bossy, and competent. They moved to Emerald to open the bed and breakfast, but Mom volunteers on the coastal rescue while Dad makes the food for when she gets home.”
He chuckled. “So strong women.”
“Women who make the most of what they have. When Grandpa found Grandma, she screamed, kicked him in the groin, punched him in the face, poked him in the eye, and activated her defense. Then she ran for it. She was shocked when he turned up at the house a few hours later and asked to court her. She had an ice pack on her fist, but she could see him through the glamour. When she was sitting there growling at him, her father went and put her in her room so they could discuss the matter, and the engagement was set.”
“Grandpa sounds determined.”
“He was. Is, I guess. And devoted. Having been at the new palace, I am understanding aging patterns.”
“When did they meet?”
“About two hundred and fifty years ago. They had my mother eighty years ago. I appeared magically twenty-nine years ago.” She held a hand up. “I refuse to believe my parents had sex. It is a personal illusion that I must cling to.”
He snorted and looked at the image of her grandfather. “He was a mythical figure, and he joined the colony so that his family would not fear him insisting on inheriting. He didn’t want to inherit. He wanted adventure instead of being called when enemies to the empire needed to die.”
“Yeah. He told me that. He also said he was older than most grandpas had any right to be.”
“Did he have an occupation?”
She snorted. “He was a doctor.”
He grinned. “So you have a doctor fetish?”
“I am a paralegal. I do not have a doctor fetish.” She sniffed. “Now, Renyet, I am actually tired. It’s been a day, and I have to get the fuzzy stuff out so I can sleep. I have to remember how to sleep without the shield.”
He smiled. “I could help.”
“Nope. I have to learn my body again. I don’t need a coach.”
He chuckled. “I am willing to assist.”
“Uh-huh. It takes four days with no sleep for me to get blurry.”
He nodded. “Let me know if you need anything. I am right next door. Oh, what are the rules of the kitchen?”
“Eat what you like, cook what you like, and if you take the last of something, write it on the fridge whiteboard.”
He nodded. “Excellent. I love the space in the kitchen.”
“Me, too. Now, go and settle into your room. I have an early morning of curse-breaking ahead of me.”
He smiled. “May I kiss your cheek?”
She gave him a suspicious look. “On my face?”
He laughed. “Yes.”
“Yes.”
He leaned down and kissed her right cheek. She felt the magical transfer and scowled. “Sneaky.”
“I am a shaman. Sneaky is the first thing I learned.”
“What happened to the clan you were training to watch over?”
He grinned. “I will tell you another day.” He kissed her again without the magical imprint he had left on her the first time. “Good night.”
“Good night.” She walked him out, closed the door, and went to the bed in the window seat. She would deal with her ginormous princess bed tomorrow. Tonight, she wanted to watch the stars until the sun came up.
She sat with her phone and typed up a meal plan with menu items that could be circled weekly. Preferences. A place for allergies, and an email for any favourite recipes that they wanted her to try.
Grilling was scheduled for every other week. She snorted. She was going to need a chat group or a small web page.
She smiled and sighed. As long as she kept the main house to the same configuration, it would maintain its historical designation. She was allowed to use it for its original purpose, and its purpose was a pack house. If the walls remained with the historically appropriate trims, all was good.
She felt sleepy and set her phone alarm for twenty minutes before dawn, and it went on a charger while she nodded off. Sleep wasn’t something to be wasted. Tomorrow was going to be busy.