Chapter Five
Kiera glared at Hunter as he helped her to stand. “Would it be some type of record if I kill my mate the day we met?”
Hunter winced.
Keran took her hand, in his other he still held the bracelet the queen gave him. “Why are you mad?”
She sputtered, not knowing how to explain to him, that she felt blindsided.
Hunter gave her an apologetic look. “I didn’t think to warn your sister that she might be meeting important people.”
Keran frowned. “Does it matter if they’re family?”
Kiera watched as both the former queen of the fae and the current queen of the fae melt at his innocent question. “I guess not.”
“My name is Brennus and this is our squire Cord,” Brennus said, smiling broadly.
“You know Auntie?” Keran asked.
Brennus nodded slowly. “I’m her uncle, that makes her my niece.”
“Don’t hurt Auntie!” Keran exploded.
Brennus actually took a step back. “I would never in a million lifetimes hurt Meryn.” He knelt down. “I would rip both my arms off before I would ever even think to strike her.”
Keran ran behind Hunter.
Hunter stood in front of Keran, facing Brennus, blocking the small boy from the room. “Son, I was going to wait, but I need to know. Why would you think Brennus would hurt his niece?”
“That’s what uncles do! They hurt you.”
“Oh no, please no,” Kiera whispered.
Amelia wrapped an arm around her and suddenly Kiera felt her strength renewed.
Nicol began to cry and the queen held her close. “Real uncles don’t hurt you,” Queen Aleksandra said. “They may technically be related to you by blood, but real family doesn’t hurt you.”
Kiera nodded her thanks to Amelia and walked over to stand by Keran, pulling him into the curve of her body. “We have Hunter now, you don’t have to worry about me, he’s here for us both.”
Keran took a long, shuddering breath. “He said we were useless and it would be better if we were gone.” He stepped forward, taking Kiera with him so he could look at Brennus and Hunter.
“We wouldn’t get a lot of food. Just enough so no one would think we were starving.
Just enough clothes so we weren’t freezing.
He would test us all the time, to see how much magic we had.
When he didn’t like the results he would hit us, but never where anyone could see.
” He looked up at Hunter. “I took as much for Nicol as I could.”
Nicol was hiccuping in the queen’s arms. “He always got hurt, for me. It was my fault!”
Brennus stood his face like a thundercloud. “The entire city is a cesspool!” he exploded.
“Now, Brennus, they aren’t all bad,” Queen Aleksandra chided. “Just the ones in charge.”
Kiera felt her insides shaking. She was so angry she felt tears dripping off her face. “Why take them? Why take them if he didn’t want them? I could have made it work somehow.”
Cord cleared his throat. “I do not mean to interject myself where I have no business, but I feel it would be remiss of me not to ask. Did your parents leave behind a trust at all? Most paranormals have them.”
Kiera froze. “He would have told us.”
Amelia walked over and rubbed her arm soothingly. “Would he?”
Keran walked over to Brennus and handed him the bracelet. “If I can ask for anything with this, can I make my fake uncle go away?”
Brennus blinked, then began to grin. “Son, you keep the bracelet, I’ll do that for free.” He rubbed his hands together. “Doran has been bored lately, he might want to come along.”
Queen Aleksandra rolled her eyes. “And you all wonder where little Meryn’s violent streak comes from.”
Brennus looked proud. “Oh, I know exactly where she gets it from.”
Keran held the bracelet to his chest. “Auntie would help?”
Amelia snorted. “She’d take great pleasure in hurting an asshole like that.”
Keran thought things over. “She’s having a baby, if it would make her happy, maybe she can deal with him.”
Brennus clapped him on the shoulder. “Kiera, you and Hunter are newly mated. Would you like to leave him here with us for a while?”
Keran smiled shyly. “Can I come visit later? My new grandma and grandpa want us to stay with them.”
Brennus nodded sagely. “You’re a good lad, looking after your grandparents. But don’t forget about us, okay?”
Keran shook his head. “We won’t, will we Nicol?”
Nicol squeezed the queen tight. “I wanna come back too.”
Queen Aleksandra returned the girl’s hug. “Oh dear, now I don’t want to let them go so they can shop.”
“We have to go shopping, I wanna buy stuff for Kiera,” Keran said, waving the bracelet around.
Aleksandra looked at him. “You wanted that for your sister?”
He nodded. “She would take whatever jobs she could, even if they hurt, just to take care of us. Sometimes she would come home to visit, and I could see she was limping or having a hard time standing. I wanna take care of her now.”
Kiera couldn’t stop the low cry as she fell to her knees to pull him into her arms. “I’d do anything for you and Nicol, you’re both my whole world.”
Seconds later, Nicol barreled into them. “Dad too!”
Kiera wiped at her eyes, then pulled Nicol close. “Yes, Dad too. Our family means everything to me. If I had known…”
Keran shook his head. “He would have hurt you too.”
“Oh baby!” Kiera could stand the idea that her tiny brother had been protecting both her and Nicol the whole time. “From now on, you let me protect you.”
Keran shook his head. “No way.”
A low growling sound had all three of them turning.
“Dad looks so cool right now,” Keran said, staring.
Kiera stood on shaky legs. “Hunter?”
He held out a hand that was tipped in black claws. “Give me a second,” he said, through clenched teeth.
Brennus walked over and stood next to Hunter. “They are safe. They will never know pain again. They are loved,” he said, in soothing tones. “The one responsible will die. Your unit brothers, myself included will see this done.”
“I know I should be kinda scared, but all I can think of is how safe I feel,” Kiera said, watching as her mate struggled to stay human.
Hunter looked up. “Really?” he asked, his voice sounding more normal.
“Witches don’t have animal forms. I can’t imagine fearing anything with you at my side.” She squinted. “Did you get taller?”
Hunter breathed out slowly and shrunk back down to his normal height. When he opened his eyes, he was back to his usual self. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to lose control.”
Brennus shook his head. “Perfectly understandable.”
“Dad is the coolest Dad ever,” Nicol whispered. She walked up to him and held up her arms.
Hunter glanced down at his hands to make sure they were safe, then picked her up. Turning, he looked at Keran. “I protect you and your sisters now. Never put yourself in harm's way again.”
Keran looked the other way. “I won’t go looking for it, but if you’re ever not around, I’ll still protect them.”
Hunter shook his head. “Then I’ll have to make sure, I’m always there.”
“Keran, have you ever thought about being a unit warrior?” Brennus asked.
Kiera scowled at the older fae. “He’s a baby! He won’t be doing warrior things until he’s grown.”
Keran stood straighter. “I want to be a unit warrior like my dad and protect people.”
Brennus nodded approvingly. “Hunter, let’s start him on cadet drills.”
Kiera turned to Keran. “Baby, are you sure?”
“I want to be like Dad when I grow up. I may not have magic, but I can fight.”
“Why do you think you don’t have magic?” she asked.
“Because fake uncle said I didn’t have any, like you.” He pointed to Nicol. “He said hers was barely there and wasn’t worth mentioning.”
Brennus crossed his arms. “We won’t get approval for his Tribunal, but there are other ways.”
Kiera felt a surge of satisfaction. Her uncle would pay for what he had done to her brother and sister, even if it wasn’t, exactly, legal.
“Let’s head out. We have a little over an hour to pick up some things before dinner,” Hunter said, holding out a hand to Kiera.
Kiera took Hunter’s hand then reached for Keran with her other. “Ready?”
Keran looked to Brennus. “We can come back, right?”
Brennus nodded. “You can come here whenever you want. I will take you around to shops myself, so you can surprise your sisters.”
Keran put the bracelet in his pocket. Then took her hand. “Okay, let’s go.”
*****
Kiera watched as a wrinkle-faced fae fussed over the kids. Keran was checking out his new clothes in the large mirror and Nicol looked like a princess in her tiny fae robe.
“He doesn’t live after this,” she said, softly.
“That was never a question,” Hunter replied, watching them with a soft expression.
“I want to know why.”
“Then I will take time with him, to find out why.”
“Never again.”
“I swear to you, never again.”
“Can we find out about the trust?”
“I know exactly who to ask.”
She turned so she could bury her face in his chest. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” he said, holding her close. “I will take care of your uncle, so that you and your brother and sister can concentrate on your new lives.”
“Kiera look!” Keran said, showing off his pants and short sleeve shirt. “Baba says the over shirt can be added if it gets cold, but since it’s warmer back home, she thinks the short sleeves will work better.”
“I think you look amazing. Is it comfortable?”
He nodded and put the over shirt on. “Very! Look, the sleeves fit,” he said, pulling them around his wrists.
“Dad! Do you like my dress?” Nicol asked, running over.
“You look like an angel, spin around for me,” he encouraged.
She spun so her skirt flared out. The golden fabric, glittered in the light.
“You take my breath away.”
Nicol blushed. “Thank you, Dad.”
Baba walked over and handed Kiera a small stack. “This should get you through tonight. Come back later when you have more time. I have different styles now, including pants.”
Kiera took the stack gratefully. “Thank you, I’m sure it will be perfect.”
As they were heading out the door, it swung open and a woman and two small boys walked in. “Oh, my goodness, I’m sorry!” She stood off to one side, to allow them to pass by.
Kiera went to exit the store, then stopped. Her stomach felt as if she had drunk a few shots of whisky. “Are you a fire witch?”