Chapter 36
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Elijah
I steered clear of Kainda for the rest of the day after lunch. There wasn’t much for me to do other than listen and memorize my part of the assault plan. I didn’t have magic or tactical experience to help with the planning process. It had gotten late, but they still went on planning full steam ahead. Walking to the other end of the building away from the active planning, I bumped into Bronwen Oliver— Kainda’s mother.
“Elijah, are you hungry?” She asked, holding out a few pieces of fruit for me to choose from.
I didn’t see much resemblance between mother and daughter. Bronwen had the same deep, fiery red hair. But the bright blue eyes like sapphire, and ghostly pale skin hadn’t passed down. I must’ve given myself away, obvious in my looks between the two of them. Bronwen looked at Kainda and smiled before turning back to me. She gave me another smile and pulled me further from the crowd.
“She never really did look like me or Theron. It’s like the Goddess took all of our best traits and tossed them into a blender to create our daughter. She seems to care for you quite a bit.” Bronwen said, looking at Kainda as she spoke to me. “I’ve seen her look your way at least a dozen times in the last hour or so. It’s none of my business who she dates, but I just hope that whoever falls for her can give her endless happiness.”
Yeah, I could do that if she’d let me. I looked at the witch next to me to see tears swimming in her eyes as she looked at Kainda. “She’s not told me a lot about herself, but I’ve figured out a few things. You weren’t around much when she was growing up, something to do with her only being half witch.”
“Yes. It was easier on her in some ways and incredibly hard in other ways. For me, it was only the latter. I never wanted to be separated from her, but it was the best thing for her. My coven is more than just a little bigoted. The other children were so mean to her, and the adults weren’t any better. She couldn’t go to school with the other kids because our High Priestess didn’t want her to learn or develop her magic. They were afraid of it. My heart broke every day when she would come in from playing with the other kids, and she had some awful tale about her day. It wasn’t what I wanted for her.
“And then there was the situation with her father. He was a human living on coven lands working in a profession that my family, my coven condemned. The bullying didn’t bother him when it was directed at himself, but he’d get so angry if he heard or saw someone messing with me or Kainda. I was terrified he would lash out at someone and then be banished from coven lands.”
When she paused, I broke in. “Not to be rude, but if you knew your coven hated humans and violence so much, why did you ever give him the time of day to even figure out if you could be anything?”
“It’s a long story. He and some other hunters were brought to our coven to help us eliminate a pair of Dobhar-chú. I was appointed as their guide on coven lands. The Goddess has a way of making her desires known. We were magically fated.” A lone silent tear slid down her face. “You probably have no idea what that means. It’s like having a soul mate, but this bond is real, tangible even. Nothing would have kept me from falling for him except us having never met. He saved my life in more ways than one. Once I realized what we were to each other, there was no turning back. I’d already fallen in love with him.”
“If he was your perfect partner, why did you split up?” Curiosity had gotten the better of me. I knew I shouldn’t be prying, but I couldn’t help myself. Not only was I learning about Kainda’s history, but I was also learning about the magical community.
She swallowed, rubbing her hands over her arms. “Being magically fated is only permanent one-sided unless both partners are magical beings. So while he loved me, he wasn’t bound to me forever. Life at the coven was getting worse, and I was an anxious mess all the time. I didn’t want Kainda to never be able to learn about or use her magic, to grow up surrounded by hate, and I was weak. When Theron came home from a hunt, I had all his and Kainda’s stuff packed. The look on his face will haunt me for the rest of my life. It nearly killed me to send them away.
“Kainda got to grow up surrounded by people who either loved her or at least liked her. Another witch in Theron’s hunting party taught her about her magic. She was happier than she’d been since she was too little to leave the house. Growing up in the hunter lifestyle wasn’t what I’d have wanted for her, but it was better than what I could give her.”
“Why not leave the coven and go with your family?” I couldn’t help but ask. It seemed there was something important in the answer to that question.
Bronwen turned too, her gaze meeting mine and holding. “I hold a very prestigious position in my coven. One that they wouldn’t just be able to replace me with someone else that wanted the job. Coven life was the only life I’d ever known. And as awful as my coven was to Theron and Kainda, I couldn’t just abandon them. I was petrified at the thought of living with a group of hunters constantly immersed in violence and death. It was the antithesis of my whole life.” She shuddered. “To be honest, I was weak.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. Kainda wouldn’t be who she is without her past, and I like who she is.” Looking over, Kai chatted with Evin gesturing wildly, and my heart turned over in my chest. She made me so incredibly happy that I often times had to resist the urge to pinch myself to make sure I hadn’t dreamt the whole thing. “Can I ask you one more thing?”
Tears still swam in her eyes, but the clench of her jaw, the same stubborn tell that her daughter possessed. “Nothing has stopped you from asking me incredibly personal questions until now. What is it you want to know?”
“What does it mean to be magically fated?”
She gave me a curious look before answering me. “Didn’t I already answer that question for you?”
“You did, but I feel like that was the short version of the definition. I want to fully understand that concept. Is that why she’s pushing me away because I’m not that person for her? Is she waiting on that perfect partner?” I hated the desperate whine that edged my voice, but I couldn’t help it. The need to know had gotten too strong and ignored my pride.
Reaching out, she touched my shoulder gently. “That is something for you to discuss with Kainda.”
Without saying anything else or waiting for me to respond, she walked away. It was a lot of information to process. I looked across the room at another of the hunters, seeing Delmira staring off into space. When Kainda had introduced Del, she’d called her Theron’s widow. The man was lucky to have had two women who loved him so deeply. Both of them still wore shrouds of grief like living, breathing creatures. And then there was his daughter, who put her life on the line to avenge him and to finish what he started.