A kate Homecoming
As an at never been gone A lot can happen in a week
Martin discharges me from the clinie, I’m back to duty as if I’ve ne, especially since we’re on the verge of a war that could annihilate our way of living With our leverage against Sale Thunder gone were antipating King Peter’s next move any y now The an practically crackles with tension as everyone in the castle knows something is about to happen.
With Kane and Emory busy with Mikey. I have to step up so that they can take the time they should be spending together as a family if I can lighten the load for Kane in any way, I will always do so My old friend has a way of trying to shoulder all the burdens of the world. Ive taken on the work of trying to help him for as long as I’ve known him.
visit the nursery to meet my godson as have promised to Kane. Mikey is awake and sucking on a pacifier. Emory hands the baby over to me and shows me how to hold him She instructs me to support his head which feels a little too big for his body
His face in all scrunched up like an elderly man. He’s completely bald. The homeliness somehow manages to make him look cuter. This fragile bundle in my arms as the hope of two species.
Pale blue eyes stare up at me, and I can’t help but smile “Hey, Mikey It’s me, your Uncle Rainer”
Kane snorts, but I ignore him I continue. I’ve known your dad for a really long time Don’t worry I’ll teach you all the fun things he won’t let you do.”
Don’t you dare, Rain”
Like all the fun places in the castle to explore, how to sneak out without any of the guards knowing the best place to meet women”
If you teach him anything inappropriate will make sure you regret it”
“Im sure you’re going to be a looker like your mom because we all know your dad has a face only a mother could love
+25 BONUS
–and with the blatant disrespect, I could have you thrown into the dungeon!”
Emory hides her laugh behind her hands. “He’s just teasing you, Kane.”
“It’s too early to be losing your sense of humor,” I remind Kane, making funny. faces at the baby. “If you can’t laugh at my jokes, how are you going to survive. Mikey when he reaches puberty?”
Kane rolls his eyes and only grunts when Emory pokes him in the side to try and get him to lighten up. He knew I was joking, but he’s in a foul mood, it
seems
“Don’t you worry, buddy,” I tell my godson. “Uncle Rainer will always be here for you.”
Holding this tiny baby, I feel more responsible than ever. I have to make sure our kingdom is safe from King Peter and anyone else that wishes us harm. The next generation, and their futures, need to be protected.
If I don’t do my part then who will?
Willow
Things have irrevocably changed since that day in the hospital wing when Rainer and I became intimate. He’s a very affectionate man, constantly wanting to physically touch me, whether it’s playing with my hair or rubbing the back of my neck. After a century of trying to avoid people, Rainer’s touch is going to take some getting used to. Holding hands feels both endearing, sweet, and oddly wholesome for people our age.
Rainer drives with one hand while he holds my hand in the other. We’re making our way from Castle Graystone to the village that used to be my home. After a century away, I don’t know how much the area has changed. If there is still a trace of my former coven, I won’t know until we get there.
I’m nervous. I don’t know how the witches will react to me. I still remember being brought up to fear vampires and how we had shunned witches that had been turned regardless of whether it had been their choice or not. My father had sold me off to be a feeder, caring more about paying off his debts than
how the boren would judge him for his actions. I haven’t heard any news of what became of my coven after I was trolight to Castle Graystone all those years ago All I know is that King Michaelwanted all the witches destroyed
Rainer parks the cat, and we step out of the vehicle. We’re in the middle of a clearing where there are only trees and the ruins of stone cottages to be found The place looks like it was abandoned a very sinks as i try to look for any trace of the coven I used to be part of
Is this it?” Rainer asks.
“It should be.”
ig time ago. My heart
I can only smell the woods, no human scents to be found. I don’t know where the coven could have gone. Had they left by their own choice to restart elsewhere? Or worse, had they been wiped out, and this is the last trace of them ever existing?
I step forward and nearly stumble back as I hit an invisible wall.
Rainer is quickly on high alert. “What’s wrong?”
I raise a hand and feel for the barrier. The magic hums in my hand, almost burning my skin. “There’s a protection spell.”
“Can you break through it?”
“That depends on how far this wall spreads.”
A little glimmer of hope begins to burn through me. This kind of magic. requires maintenance. If whoever had cast it left this place long ago, the magic. would have eroded over time until only faint traces of it was left behind. Whoever cast this spell has to still be around or left fairly recently.
I put both hands on the barrier to trace the magic, following it with my eyes as it spreads for miles around us. A barrier this large takes more than one person to cast it would require a whole coven working together. Excitement makes me almost giddy. I began to move with my hands on the wall, Rainer behind me and concentrate on trying to find a weak spot over the blanket of invisible magic. Relearning my magic these past few months brought back old knowledge of how to detangle and deconstruct spells.
tates white to carile the different Boats of magic intertwining until I find the eam the hots & ahogetta trasto pells to try to break through, but is hide whing against my sekauft, refusing to untangle itself. Frustrated, I take my hands off the bare i glare at where the magical knot is high above
“What’s wrong?” Trainer aks
I
i range a hand signating for him to wait at work on this problem Rainer qually walchen me pick up a stone the sire of my palm. The rock glows a bright purple as I pour my magic into it. Pulling back my arm, I throw the rock high into the air, it hits an invisible ceiling before the magic shudders, and the all shorteners as the magic dissipates around us.
As the barrier unravels itself, Rainer’s blue eyes widen The image of the abandoned village gives way to a more modern town with houses and buildings. People are standing still, their faces watching us warily, too afraid to breathe loudly. Their fear is palpable, I can practically taste it in the wind:
At the front of the crowd is a dark–haired woman with hazel eyes. She’s wearing a red gown, her hair partially covered in a red shroud. She stares defiantly at us, using her body as a shield for her people. There is no mistaking from her clothing that she’s this coven’s high priestess
place a hand on Rainer’s arm, preventing him from moving forward. I shake my head at him, urging him to stay silent so I can take the lead. He brought me here because he knows I will have a better chance of reaching the witches. than he does. These used to be my people after all.
“What business do you have here, vampire?” the woman in red demands. “If you do not let us be, we will be forced to take action to protect ourselves.
raise a hand, trying to appease her. “We have not come here to harm you.”
“If you’ve come to take us to be feeders, we will not come willingly. We will fight to the death rather than waste away in your dungeon.
“That’s not why I’ve come,” I insist. “My name is Willow. I used to be part of this coven I was sold off as a feeder by my father, Asher. I had a sister, Bryony
“High priestess Bryony?” the woman asks
That takes pues de una suchacame the high priestuse
*
her wise wolt off as a Mandega eher was shunned by the coven Ha was freeed to leave the village High P Morgana took in Bryony and
genually Begony Kamed
raised her on her own and
successor,” the
awesivan in radi kexplains. “Bryony was my great grandim…or I’m y, the current
ivy,
high preck of this even
With the stubborn evebrows and those familiar hazal ayan, the licks so much like my younger sister Bryony. The familgresemblance is unmistakable I never
I thought re see my meter again, and yet fere is proof that she survived and had 6 family. There’s still something left of Bryony in this world, living in this
woman
“ympeat her name, emotion catching in my throat. “You look so much like Bryany *
“She thought you were dead “Hazel eyes look over me critically I guess she
was half right
I’m self–conscious of my pale skin and eyes. There is no mistaking what I am now. There is no hiding it. Even with the revelation of the family connection, ivy doesn’t look all that welcoming or glad to see me
“Why have you come back?” she questions. “Why return to this coven after all This time?”
