For her — and this was the hardest part of all — she felt so much for Jude, longing to be with him, craving him.
He still held her hands, but he moved closer. “I just wanted to be near you.” He then smiled. “And I’ll never forget that moment, which now seems absurd. I mean, you had a bottle of ammonia in one hand and ugly yellow cleaning gloves in the other. It wasn’t exactly a romantic place or time. I thought what harm could there be?”
At that, Hannah chuckled softly. “No, not romantic at all. Then everything changed.”
“Hannah, I’m so sorry. If I could undo that moment, I would. I’d meant absolutely nothing by it.”
“I know. I believe you.”
When movement hit the corner of her eye, she yelped as two vampires landed on her porch. Jude even moved to position himself in front of her protectively. He relaxed immediately afterward, of course, when he saw who they were, then headed to the door.
She recognized them both as well. Paul was one of Jude’s lieutenants and the other was one of his team leaders, Alex. Her heart warmed at the thought that Jude had sent two of his best men to guard her.
He glanced back at her. “Your detail has arrived.”
She offered each a beer, but their refusal was firm; they were on duty. After Jude talked things over with his men, Paul and Alex took to the air to stay in flight above her house.
Jude returned to her. “You won’t be seeing them, Hannah. They’ll be in the air, patrolling your home the entire time. If anyone approaches, they’ll hold them for questioning, then they’ll call me. I’ll return immediately to deal with the situation. Okay?”
“Of course.”
“And when you’re ready to head to the Gold Rush, or anywhere else, just contact Longeness, and he’ll let either Paul or Alex know.”
For the first time since Jude had pushed her to an awareness of what she’d become, she finally began to trust that things might just be okay. “That sounds good. And thank you so much for bringing Vojalie and Davido in. I adore them both, and Vojalie really did calm my nerves.”
“Good, I’m glad.” He nodded briskly, moving back to her, but his gaze suddenly caught and held in a way that stole her breath.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’m remembering. And Hannah, for what it’s worth, the time I spent with you in the bunkroom was one of the finest experiences of my life. I want you to know that.”
Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took. “I feel the same way.”
She leaned toward him with no particular intention in mind, but he must have read something deep in her soul because he quickly took her in his arms and kissed her.
Hannah held onto him, feeling sad and aroused all at the same time. The divide between them was so great, as big as the entire breadth of the Strait. Despite the changes she was undergoing, she was human and intent on living a human life and Jude was, well, Mastyr of Kellcasse Realm.
She gave herself to that kiss, however, feeling it could possibly be the last time she’d ever feel his lips on hers again or his powerful arms holding her tight.
He pulled back, but before she could say anything else, he strode to the open doorway, then launched into the air.
~ ~ ~
Jude headed to his house situated on Castle Island in the middle of Kellcasse Realm. The island was renamed in the last century to reflect the home his wife had built for them. Despite his sadness of losing his family, some of his best memories were inside the castle. Of being with Naomi, and of course, his daughter, Joy, who had been born there. The castle was always a welcome destination point.
He flew carefully, however, even a bit slower as he headed home, his gaze panning the horizon constantly for sign of the Invictus, or anything else out of the ordinary. He passed over a number of villages, many lit with candles and oil lamps, and a few with electricity.
He loved the variety of communities in his world, the trolls with their love of drinking and dancing, the howling shifters towns, the industry-oriented elven population and the magical, warm-hearted fae.
Because of the diverse population, he had strict codes of conduct between species to prevent racial slurs and prejudice, and a small squad of elves and trolls who kept the forest gremlins from pilfering their neighbors. It was as hard to get a forest gremlin to embrace honest labor as it was for a rock to pick up and move all by itself.
When he reached the largest lake of his realm, with Castle Island at the south end, his heart both warmed and ached. He’d built this home with Naomi when she was with child. He’d let her have her choice of architecture and didn’t blink twice when she said she wanted a castle. ‘After all, Mastyr Gerrod has a very large one and the structure I have envisioned will be quite small by comparison. But we will have a boat house.’
A couple of years later, his little girl, Joy, with curly blond hair, had run up and down the stairs of his home scaring the shit out of him since he was afraid she’d fall and tumble down those same stairs. That is, until he realized she’d been half-levitating the whole time. She’d had that much power even as a child.
After their deaths, he’d never brought a woman again into this house. He’d never wanted to.
Until now.
And that thought also scared the shit out of him. He shouldn’t be wanting Hannah anywhere near his home or in his life, for her safety alone. He wanted every Invictus in his realm dead, before he married again.
But for the first time since having taken that vow, his longings rose like a sudden flash-flood within his chest.
He tried not to think the thought, but the truth was that he’d give just about anything to have Hannah making a life with him in his home.
As he touched down in the stone courtyard, he heard a troll singing what he knew to be a beer-drinking song. Nothing had felt as normal as hearing Nathan sing. Not liking the word ‘butler’, he’d assigned himself a new title: Executive Castle Coordinator, or ECC, and was proud of it.
Jude didn’t care what he was called; he loved having Nathan keeping his life working day and night.
He opened the large wood front door and passed through.
“Is that you, Jude?”
“It sure is. Am I smelling coffee?”
He moved past a large living room built with a couple stories high ceiling, inset with wood beams. Three tall, arched, diamond-paned windows ran along the east wall, flanked with sun-blocking shutters.
A long dining room came next, with tall, tapestried chairs, and a runner crocheted by his nanny two-hundred years ago. Naomi had loved the runner, so he’d kept it on the heavy, dark wood table all these years. A very large window made of the same diamond panes as the ones in the living room, framed a view of the lake. Across the water, a dozen villages climbed into the surrounding hills.
His own vision saw everything in a glow of green hills and blue lake.
It was a beautiful vista that one day he’d love for Hannah to see. Maybe if he shared with her some of the favorite parts of his realm, she might be inclined –
But there he stopped his thoughts cold.
What was he thinking?
He needed to guard against any such hopes or fantasies. Hannah loved her bar and belonged there. And he never wanted her to sacrifice what meant so much to her just because she was now a blood rose.
And he needed to stay focused on the Invictus and finding a way to run the last one to earth.
He passed through the hall that housed storerooms on the left and a butler’s pantry on the right. Once a year, he brought in his lieutenants and lead Guardsmen, serving them a feast he catered from one of the talented, local elven restaurants.
Once in the kitchen, Nathan held up a tray of intricately decorated cupcakes.
Jude’s brows rose. “Don’t tell me these are from — ?”
“Yep. Just Two Sweet in Merhaine. Arrived an hour ago. Abigail sent them over. Actually, Elena did.” His eyes glazed over for a moment. Nathan had a thing for Abigail’
s business partner and spent as many long weekends as he could courting the elven beauty.
“Well, this is a treat.”
Nathan had a few crumbs clinging to the corner of his mouth. Trolls loved sweets.
Jude moved to sit at the large island. Nathan poured him a cup and slid a plate over to him. The cupcake was decorated with the front image of his castle. Jude smiled as he bit down.
Needing to bring the kitchen up to date, Jude had given Nathan full control over the remodel. The results were stunning. The entire layout was made of white marble and stainless steel and made for a serious cook, which Nathan was.
The kitchen had a north view of the lake and its rolling hills. Several villages could be seen in the distance, with cottages and shops climbing in various places all the way to the top. The most expensive dwellings sat on the ridgeline and had excellent views of Kellcasse in both directions.
As mastyr homes went, the castle was fairly small with an upper story of three bedrooms and his own large suite. Nathan lived in a detached guest house, the one connected to Naomi’s boathouse and dock. Sailing had been one of his wife’s favorite pastimes and she’d spent a lot of time on the water with Joy.
Well-groomed gardens, now in early summer’s full bloom, pressed up against all the stone walls of the castle and more than one lattice-work took purple clematis as far as it would go. Naomi had laid out the gardens herself.
She and Joy were buried where they’d been struck down in the middle of the small peach orchard on the western side of the property.
Jude went there often to sit and think.
He’d once thought to build workers’ cottages near the orchard, but Nathan, who had been with him from a year before his marriage, insisted on hiring outside help and services.
When he’d purchased the island, he’d built a stone bridge for all the non-flight laborers to use during construction.
As he sipped his coffee and took his time with the cupcake, he stared out across the lake.
He almost felt at ease, until Nathan started moving slowly toward the window, frowning. “What is it, Nathan?”
With a large pot he’d just cleaned still in hand, Nathan peered out the window. “Ordinarily, I’d say that’s lake mist, but I swear I’ve never seen it look like that before. It’s moving in a strange pattern.”
Jude set his coffee down and moved in the direction of the door leading to the porch. This side of the island fell away, so that the gardens below had a terraced look. The porch itself he always referred to as a balcony, even though it was on the ground floor.
He moved to the center of the stone balustrade and stared hard. Using his realm cell-phone, he contacted his other lieutenant, Reese. “Do you have anyone near Castle Island?”
“You got Invictus sign?”
“No. I’ve got some kind of weird-ass mist on the lake moving steadily in my direction. Should hit in about two minutes.”
“Rising from the lake?”
“No, moving across it like a thin strange fog. I don’t like it.”
“What do you need me to do?”
Jude felt sick inside his body the closer the mist drew. “I want you to keep all your forces away from this mist. It doesn’t feel right to me. Bring a squad over here but do not engage. Just stick close enough to keep your eye on things.”
“Got it.”
The mist was maybe thirty yards away and closing faster than he’d thought.
Nathan, pot in hand, moved up next to Jude. “Is it me, or does it have a sickly sweet smell?”
“It does. Something like death.”
And before Jude understood anything, Nathan dropped unconscious to the balcony floor, the pot clattering on the stone.
He made a quick decision and contacted Paul.
“Yes, Mastyr.”
“I need Hannah at the castle, the back balcony and I need her now. This is an emergency. There’s some kind of mist. But don’t … go past … ”
Confusion hit first, then he felt himself falling.
~ ~ ~
Hannah sat on the bench at the end of her bed, lacing up her soft, black leather work shoes when Paul about gave her a heart attack. He suddenly appeared on the porch outside her bedroom door and rapped hard on the glass.
Thank God she already had her jeans and tank top on. She was almost ready to head down the hill to the Gold Rush, but thought that on the way she might just give Paul a lecture about how not to go about scaring humans.
“Give me a sec,” she called out.
She’d grabbed her cellphone, shoving it into her pocket, then started across the room.
Paul called to her. “Hannah, it’s Jude. He’s in trouble. He wants you at Castle Island. Now.”
What surprised Hannah the most wasn’t the announcement of trouble, but her instincts. She didn’t think twice. She simply yanked the door open, shut it quickly behind her, then opened her arms to Paul. He pulled her hard against his side, then launched into the air and flew at top speed toward the realm access point, adjusting arms and feet while traveling.
“How long will it take?”
“I’m fast, but I can’t do it in under three minutes.”
The Kellcasse point was in the direction of Whidbey Island. But because Paul was realm, a tunnel in the midst of clouds appeared that led all the way down to the water.
A tour boat emerged carrying a variety of realm folk over to Port Townsend for the night, mostly trolls and a few shifters. Paul moved fast, speeding over the central canal that led into the myriad waterways that made up the island world of Kellcasse.
She might have enjoyed the trip, but the closer they got to Jude’s home, she could feel him as though he was trapped somewhere and couldn’t get out.
“Paul, what did he say?”
“He said it was an emergency and that he needed you and that there was some kind of mist.”
“Mist?”
“That’s what he said. Then nothing.”
“What do you mean, ‘nothing’?”
“I don’t know. The call ended, but it felt like he lost consciousness.”
“Go faster.”
Hannah’s palms were already tingling and her skin had started heating up. She warned Paul that she had a fire-gift power emerging, using Vojalie’s description. Since she was pressed up against him, he was going to feel it. “I just hope I don’t burn you.”
“Don’t you worry about that.”
Another hill and another and another. More canals below, villages, boats, lots of boats and in the lanes, people on bicycles.
It was such a picturesque realm.
Then there were the Invictus.
Oh, God.
One more rise into the air to clear a hill and Kellcasse’s large central lake came into view, with lights from scattered villages all around the perimeter glowing in the water.
Toward the nearer, south end, she saw what had to be Castle Island except that it was enveloped in a mist. And as Paul descended she could smell that it had a strange sickly odor.
“Drop me down at the end of the bridge and don’t go near the mist. But you’d better get some of your Guardsmen over here.”
“They’re on the way.”
As soon as he released her, she knew the heat she was releasing had given him some blisters. But she couldn’t worry about that.
Paul called out. “He’s on the balcony off the kitchen at the back of the house.”
She ran into the mist, past the stone arch of the courtyard. She raced toward the wood door and flung it open.
She saw a golden light out on the lake moving closer.
Margetta.
No, no, no.
Lorelei had told Hannah all about the ancient fae and her golden light.
Hannah ran as fast as she could through the living room, down the hall, and found the door on the right that led to the balcony.
The golden light loomed now.
She saw Jude and reached him just as Margetta appeared through the
mist, her hand extended toward him.
Death was in that hand.
Hannah let her power rise and as it did she directed her palms toward Margetta and watched flames leave her arms and hands, catching Margetta in the chest.
The ancient fae, also part wraith, shrieked in the horrible way the Invictus wraith had the night before, her pain obvious. She rose in the air, higher and higher and the mist flowed with her.
Hannah moved away from Jude and the troll who’d fallen near him.
She had one goal right now, not to make this easy for the woman who’d caused so much suffering in the Nine Realms and who had apparently been a heartbeat away from killing Jude.
She lifted both her arms and the tingling in her palms turned to fire once more. She aimed at the mist, wanting every last bit of it gone.
Margetta flew faster but everywhere the fire touched the mist, the mist evaporated.
She kept it up until Margetta’s golden light disappeared and all the mist was gone.
When Hannah lowered her arms, her heart was racing so fast that she had to struggle to catch her breath. She forced herself to calm down, but all the adrenaline she’d released at finding Jude close to annihilation, had left her shaking.
She pressed her body up against the balustrade for support.
“Hannah?”
“Jude.” She moved back to him, suddenly afraid Margetta had wounded him.
He sat up, looking dazed. “You made it.”
“Just in time, thank God.”
“Was it Margetta?”
“Yes, but she’s gone now, the mist with her.”
His gaze shifted to the troll. “Nathan, you okay?”
Hannah glanced behind her and saw that the troll now sat against the low stone wall, but his eyes rolled in his head.
“I don’t think he can talk, yet, but he doesn’t look injured or anything.”
Movement in the sky had Hannah ready to fire up again, but she immediately recognized Paul, and worked once more at calming down. Paul dropped down to the balcony close to Nathan.
“What happened here?” Paul asked.
Jude shook his head, still sitting. “The mist came on so fast, then I just fell and blacked out. It happened in an instant.” He turned to Hannah. “Are you okay?”