Chapter Nine
Rowan woke up warm, and someone was holding her. She blinked as a familiar face swam into view. “Renyet?”
“Just Ren. Told you that.”
“I thought you went to work.”
“I had a late start today. Me and the other orcs were comparing tusks.”
That was funny, so she giggled. “Why are you holding me?”
“Your life signs tanked. I came immediately.”
“Weird fetish, but you do you,” she muttered. She slumped against him.
Her aunt barked a strangled laugh.
Ren pressed his forehead to hers. “Do you need to go to the garden?”
“No. I just relaxed a little too hard. Didn’t have to hold either of them together anymore, so I unravelled a little bit.”
Aspen gasped. “What?”
“The curse would have held you mostly together while they drained you, but you cut it off, so you became energy floating loose. I gathered you up and anchored you to the carriage house. That became your body. Your voice was all of the music you could grab and repeat.”
Rowan dragged her voice in. “They kept coming for Mell, so I put her somewhere safe that I had created in the woods, and I set the estate to protect itself. She couldn’t be here for that.
It would have killed her.” She looked at Renyet and said, “You know what happened when she finally went receptive.”
“Norecayet found her.”
“Sort of. I laid out a scent trail. He’s a good guy on paper, but I didn’t count on having to fight him. So more self-defense and you know what happened there.”
“The feedback.”
“Yup.” She frowned. “So why are you here?”
“Because you were close to dead.”
“Close doesn’t count,” she mumbled.
“Hm. I suspect you haven’t had a physical recently, so I have asked Dr. Oriel to take you on as a patient. She heard my description and was fascinated.”
She frowned. “You don’t have the right to do that.”
He sighed. “Who is your next of kin?”
Aspen lifted her hand. “That’s me. I used to have her power of attorney and medical power of attorney.”
“Can you authorize her to have a physical workup?”
Aspen looked at her with a shocked expression. “Rowan, when was the last time you went to the doctor?”
“I have had two hospital visits in the last twelve years.”
Renyet sighed. “And no follow-ups?”
“I was busy. I got the stitches out on my own.”
He flinched.
Aspen turned grey. “Rowan.”
Rowan frowned. “What? You were trying to join the ether, and I had to fight that for years. It took me going through all of Grandpa’s books to find the spell to bind you to the carriage house.
Then the second attack and I needed to be somewhere that wasn’t next to Mell, so I had to make up the apartment in the woods with a lot of the leftovers from the attackers. ”
Aspen said, “Why did you need distance?”
“Because I told her not to answer the door, and she opened it anyway. Four came for her. Eight came for me.” She felt the heat on her cheeks and wiped at them. “She didn’t listen, and I paid.”
Renyet held her close and kissed her temple.
Aspen whispered, “Does she know?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you want her to know?”
“No. She’s a mom now. As long as she keeps putting little Rowan first, I won’t mention it. She was young, she was stupid, she was online dating, and her date showed up at the door.”
A different voice spoke behind Ren. Norecayet. “She needs to know.”
“Why? Why does she need to know?”
He looked at her seriously. “Because she is wondering why you don’t want to be at her side like you used to. She wants to know if you hate our son because of me.”
“I don’t hate him. He’s a baby. He has weird ears, but consider the source. Your goblin owes me a fight, but I am not healed enough yet. I need to be healed so I don’t use maximum defense on you.”
Ren said, “Her grandfather is the executioner.”
“No, Avor said he is the necromancer.”
Ren stiffened. “He did?”
“He would know. He knew him.” She smiled. “That is probably why Grandma is waking at the same rate he is.”
Aspen grinned. “Mom and Dad are waking up?”
“Yup. She’s over her tired, I guess. It’s why I needed the carriage house. Didn’t I mention this?”
“I think you might have. I am still getting used to having elves and djinn and orcs in the house.”
Rowan smiled. “It is easy to get used to. They are just really obvious omegas and betas who can use magic.”
She laughed. “No alphas?”
“No, but some of the djinn are really tall.”
Aspen frowned. “Why are the magic users all women?”
“They aren’t. They used to be the elite. Homegrown elves. They were encouraged, and they learned ways to boost their power by draining the women. Well, the girls. They never let them grow to be women.”
Aspen paled. “Oh, shit.”
“Those little girls are the ones Laurel got to safety. Six little girls who are now the same kind of elf as Regis is.” She smiled. “We video chat now and then. They are almost finished high school. Mom and Dad are booked solid. I have a phone for you on the desk in your room.”
Aspen smiled. “Thank you.”
Norecayet said, “She did the same for Mellwyn. She’s already in touch with her extended family and getting me to put a glamour on the baby.” He smiled. “The ears are really obvious.”
“And he’s blue.” Rowan pointed out.
“Green-blue,” he murmured.
She giggled. “That is what everyone was saying about you when you appeared. So how and why do you split?”
“Oh, your wards are effective against orcs. Goblins can go under the earth, and I did.”
Rowan blinked. “Oh, that explains so much. I thought I had a big gopher.”
He grinned. “Very big. Mell wanted to know if she could invite people for lunch. Some of the ladies were interested in helping to plan the shower.”
“Oh, sure. I have now fine-tuned the wards for intent. Nothing scarier than me has gotten through in the last two and a half years.”
Norecayet looked around. “Can anyone use the gym?”
“As long as the blue weirdo doesn’t go through the floor. That would be a repair charge.” Rowan looked at him.
He smiled and inclined his head. “Excellent. Thank you.”
“Of course, if you are on baby duty, you bring him down here in a car seat or bassinet and show him how to lift properly.”
The man sobered and nodded. “I will.”
“Oh. Norecayet, this is my Auntie Aspen. Aspen, this is Mell’s fella. Little Rowan’s father.”
Aspen walked up to him. “You named the baby after Rowan?”
“It seemed appropriate to both of us.”
Ren said, “I thought you said you let him through your wards. He said he dug under.”
“I did. He still has a head, right? It couldn’t be too easy, or he would think something was suspicious. He wasn’t really thinking clearly at the time.” She realized she was still being cradled on a mat by the healer. “Right. You have a speculum to polish or something like that. Off you go.”
She tried to get out of his grip, but he felt like a warm mattress. Her heart wasn’t in it.
“Okay, Ren, I have to order enough food for one hundred and twenty people for Friday.”
He blinked. “One hundred and twenty?”
“Yeah. There are ten folks just living here right now, plus the royals, plus the mages, the djinn, spare elves, and some friends and family from outside the property. Oh, and Grandma and Grandpa will be there as well.”
She looked at the surprised expressions and shrugged. “A good party snowballs, and I throw a very good party.”
Rowan smiled and grabbed her phone, sitting up using Ren as a climbing frame. He grunted and laughed as she straightened, using his forehead as a final block to boost herself up.
She smiled and said, “I have to go make lists, and I probably have to invite some coworkers to the party.”
She walked out of the basement and headed to the kitchen to take inventory and write a menu.
She had to do math and nodded when she had come up with a staggering shopping list. It was a good thing that her favourite shops all had delivery. She set up shopping lists and sent the butcher shop the list first and followed up with a call.
“Hey, Soratho, this is Rowan at the big house.”
“Yes, Rowan, I could tell by the fact that my computer started screaming.”
“How likely is it that you have everything on my list?”
He chuckled. “Am I invited?”
“Sure. Why not? Do you and the other have a mate yet?”
He paused. “How did you know that?”
“Busy couple of days, and now I know what to look for. So when will you know what you have?”
“I am missing about ten pounds.”
“Sub it in with chickens?”
“I can do that. This is going to be quite the event.”
“My aunt is back from out of town, and a friend who lives here has a new baby. Big party.”
“I would be honoured to attend.”
“Excellent. When can I get a delivery? I need to start brining and rubbing things.”
He laughed. “Tomorrow morning okay?”
“Sure. This is going to be buffet-style. I don’t have time for anything else.”
He laughed again. “Are there any higher-ups that are going to be there?”
“Ark from my company, and the king and queen, possibly with the princess. A bunch of djinn and mages.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, so don’t drop any of the meat.”
He laughed weakly. “Got it. Tomorrow at eight?”
“Sure.”
She smiled then did the same thing with her greengrocer and the standard grocer. She had gasped at the amount of butter she needed, but she spared no expense.
She got a call from the butcher, and he asked if he could send everything that day. She agreed and smiled. Two hundred pounds of meat would be there by six.
She grinned and got her mixer out, getting to work on the puff pastry she needed for some of the desserts. Three pounds of butter emerged from the fridge, and she focused on what she wanted and then worked to make it happen.
She was humming when Mell came in with little Rowan. “Oh, I didn’t know you were working in here.”
“Just finishing up some puff pastry. If you and the ladies want to use the kitchen for planning, I can get out of your hair.”
“No. Please stay. I feel like you are running from me every time I enter your personal bubble.”