“If you think he’s the one that did this, then why don’t you all go looking for him?” Nessa suggested. “I will stay here and take care of the men, and you can find Devin to question him.”
All seven men in the room perked up at the idea.
“Just know that you can’t harm him in any way,” Nessa added. “I’m linked to him. Any harm to him is harm to me.”
The men all appeared way more motivated than they should have been. Nessa hated to have to trick them that way, but time was short, and she needed her suitors to be healed. The sooner she went on a date and rejected each one, the sooner she could work on convincing Devin that he was all she truly wanted.
Maria dropped the cloaking spell as soon as the men were gone and the door shut. Devin dropped his own spell at the same time. They need to concentrate on the men and get it done as quickly as they could, as no one knew how long the men would be out searching for Devin. It was time to save the suitor. Devin motioned to the three men lying in sick beds.
“I’d advise not touching them. I think they react to humans and not sidhe,” Devin explained.
Maria walked over to the nearest man and bent down near him to look closer. Her long, dark braid fell over her shoulder, but she expertly caught it like it was a normal occurrence. She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she stood back up and turned to Cassie.
“Do you sense anything?” she asked.
The younger of the two witches moved closer to the men, but didn’t get as close to them as Maria had. Devin didn’t know if it was out of fear, or if she didn’t need to. She stared hard at each man in turn.
“Devin was right,” Cassie finally said. “They are set to react to our human blood.”
“So this is a trap for Devin?” Nessa asked.
Devin already knew it was. He had been waiting for someone to realize the only way to get to Nessa was to take him out first. There was no way he would ever allow something to happen to her.
“Yes,” Maria replied. She turned to Devin. “You make friends everywhere it seems.”
Grinning, Devin nodded. Nessa seemed horrified that Maria was joking, so Devin reached out and took Nessa’s hands in his own.
“It’s fine,” he said and pulled Nessa back to the other side of the room. The witches would need room to work on fixing the three men.
“She’s joking while they lay there dying,” Nessa complained. Devin saw a hint of jealousy along with her concern. “Their relatives could come back at any time.”
Devin shrugged. “They could, but they won’t be getting in here until we’re done.”
“What?” Nessa asked, looking at the doorway.
“Just a little protection bubble is all.” Devin grinned. He wasn’t worried about the other sidhe. He had protected the room from the moment they all left. No one was coming or going into the sidhe sick wing unless he told them they could. It had been a very useful spell to learn, and now Devin could do anything with it.
He pulled Nessa to a couch that was by the doorway.
“It’s going to be a while,” he said, sitting down. Nessa unexpectedly allowed herself to be pulled down beside him.
After a few minutes of Nessa watching the witches remove all the items off a table and pull out the supplies they carried, Devin realized Nessa was slightly curious, so he motioned for her to go ahead and go over near them. However, he remained on the couch. He had spent a summer with the witches and knew about what they carried with them. Between Cassie and Maria, they would probably have close to a hundred different plants in their bags. Even on short notice, the witches always traveled with their supplies. Very few witches could cast magic without a potion.
Nessa returned to her seat beside him after her inspection. She seemed more curious than mad now.
“Do you know what they are doing?” she asked.
“The gist of it,” Devin replied. Then understanding her question, he said, “No I didn’t study witch magic.”
“But you stayed with them once, right?” she asked. Devin hadn’t told her much about his past, but he had answered any question she had. He wasn’t going to keep secrets from her.
‘I was there to train with their night human partners,’ Devin turned the conversation to silent. Wondering why, Nessa raised her eyebrows to question him. ‘We can’t talk about night humans around Cassie.’
‘What?’ Nessa was confused. The witches came to a night human village. Devin knew how odd that sounded in the situation.
‘They haven’t told Cassie yet about night humans,’ Devin answered. He wasn’t sure why, but he respected Maria.
‘So that lady drags her off to a village of night humans, she is raised with night humans, but no one tells her about them? How is that even possible? And why?’
Devin smiled. Her worry eased as they talked. Nessa was under much pressure; it was strange to sit with her and just talk, considering they had three close-to-death suitors and a coronation to deal with soon. Devin wondered if they would get many moments like the one they were having now.
‘I don’t know why they don’t tell her, but they can’t. If we say anything, it would put Maria in a bind, and considering she flew here without any explanation to help me, I’d say we should be as nice as possible to her.’ Devin watched Nessa, who glanced back over at Maria and Cassie as they talked quietly and picked through the vials in one of the bags.
‘Then what does she think we are?’ Nessa asked. Devin smiled. It was nice to hear Nessa say we. Everyone else within the palace walls saw him as an outsider, yet Nessa never had. There was no room for him in the palace around the nobility, but Nessa always saw a place for him.
‘I guess she thinks we’re witches of a sort,’ Devin replied.
Nessa snorted and tried to cover up the laughter that was coming out. Maria looked over at Devin, and he tried to shush Nessa. Noticing the strict look Maria was giving Devin made her start to giggle more.
‘She’s barely older than us, but she’s got that look down,’ Nessa replied, calming down her laugh a little.
‘She’s thirty-three,’ Devin told Nessa, and she stopped her giggles outright.
‘Not possible. She’s a day human. They don’t age slowly like that. She looks like she is in her early twenties.’ Nessa turned back and stared at Maria in awe.
‘Good genetics,’ Devin replied, happy that Nessa finally stopped laughing. He wasn’t trying to make her laugh, but it was nice to hear anyway. Too bad they had to be quiet. The one thing the witches hated was being interrupted while they created a potion. Any distraction could have dire consequences.
Nessa leaned back into the couch cushions. When she grasped Devin’s hand, it took everything in him to not peek into her mind to see what she was thinking. He already had once earlier and knew that she was worried about how he would feel. Devin tried to concentrate on keeping out of her mind by watching the witches across the room. Cassie dipped her hand in the mixture they were making before she went over to Liam first. Nessa noticed they were about to do something and sat up straighter to watch.
“Is it safe to touch him?” Nessa asked, a bit more worried than Devin liked. He was able to keep his jealousy hidden this time as Liam was unconscious and Nessa was sitting there holding his hand. It wasn’t going to get easier once the big lug was awake again.
“Yes. The potion will keep a barrier between Cassie and the man. She will do the rest,” Maria explained.
Devin looked beyond Cassie to Maria, who nodded to him. It was rare for Maria to let someone as young as Cassie cast the spells. He turned back to Cassie to watch. The young girl laid her hand gently on Liam’s barely rising chest, closed her eyes, and concentrated. No one spoke and hardly made any audible breaths as they waited. Cassie mumbled something, and a slight spark appeared around the hurt sidhe before fading. As she placed a second hand on Liam, Nessa gasped beside Devin. Cassie paused and looked up. She didn’t have the same scowl for being interrupted as Maria.
&
nbsp; “Don’t worry. It isn’t human touch that’s made the spell start,” Cassie explained before turning back to Liam. “Whoever did this was an amateur. They made it so that anyone who loves Nessa romantically would activate the spell,” Cassie explained. “Since I don’t even know her, I can’t activate it.”
Maria didn’t add anything, but Devin could see a slight bit of awe from her. He guessed now why Maria had brought Cassie along. Devin had thought she was Maria’s apprentice, but now he saw that was probably not the case. Cassie pushed down and said another muffled word. Liam’s breathing became stronger and more rhythmic.
“He’ll wake in about five minutes. That should give me time to get the rest of them finished before we’ll want to run out of here. I can feel those men that were here before returning,” Cassie said before going back to Maria and dipping her hand in the same mixture as before. She was calmly finishing fixing the men without sparing a worry about the angry sidhe.
“If the spell was made for someone who liked me, then it was made for you,” Nessa told Devin quietly while Cassie continued to work.
“Not necessarily,” Maria said, coming up to them.
“But everyone knows we are bonded,” Nessa replied, confused why it wouldn’t be for Devin.
Devin nodded to Maria. “I don’t know if it was for me or not. You don’t notice the sidhe. They don’t like me and pretend I don’t exist. I don’t know if anyone here in the palace would even think that we like each other, or that it would even be possible as I’m a day human.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Nessa replied. “Everyone should know by now.”
“Have you made any public declarations?” Maria asked.
Nessa seemed to think back.
“No,” Devin replied.
“Showed any obvious affection?”
“No,” Devin replied for both of them again.
“No, no,” Nessa corrected. “He’s held my hand several times in front of them.”
“That’s not a sign of affection. He could easily be using his magic to shield or protect you. Holding a hand doesn’t indicate anything romantic,” Maria explained. “Who are these three men anyway?”
“My suitors,” Nessa said quietly, like everything was falling into place.
“Suitors?” Cassie asked, walking up to them on the couch. “Like as in, you have three guys wanting to marry you?”
“Four,” Nessa added, inclining her head to Devin.
Cassie’s lips formed a silent “O”. “Well, I certainly think you have another who is mad about your current situation. Maybe you have a secret admirer.” Cassie wiped her brow and glanced over at Maria. “I hate when this happens.”
Devin stood and caught Cassie when she fainted. Maria was already up and across the room, packing up her supplies. Nessa looked confused at the situation.
“So she’s not an apprentice yet?” Devin asked, lying Cassie on the couch.
“Nope, hence the whole ‘don’t tell the teenage witch about night humans’ rule still very intact,” Maria haphazardly threw her vials into the bag she brought. Nessa turned between Devin scooping up Cassie and Maria grabbing the two bags they brought with them.
“What the heck is going on?” Nessa stood with her hands on her hips like she wanted answers.
“Cassie was right on all accounts. It looks like you have a secret admirer, Princess,” Maria said, coming back over to Devin and puffing some powder around them. They disappeared from sight. “And your visitors should be back in just a minute.” They were hidden from everyone, but Nessa could still feel him.
“But wait, what am I supposed to do?” Nessa asked. She was very confused now.
“The three men should wake in a few minutes. Tell them whatever you want, but we need to leave.” Maria was already at the door, waiting for Devin. Nessa looked around the room and stopped where she sensed him.
“Sidhe and witches generally don’t get along. If they find Maria here, the sidhe are likely to attack, and I doubt they will believe you if you tell them that they just saved those three. In fact, even if they believe you, it probably won’t matter to them. I need to take these two back to my place right now. If you want more answers, come back as soon as you can. I guess Cassie will be out for a few hours, and we can’t plan anything more without her,” Devin explained as he opened the door, which was made from trees, with his sidhe abilities. It was easy now that he had spoken to the trees that were part of the palace. He could sense them with every step, and he could speak to them just as easily.
“Plan?” Nessa squeaked out as one of the men began to stir. “I’ll be there.”
Devin nodded to Nessa though she couldn’t see him. There was much that had been kept from her over the years. It was good in many ways, as she didn’t have the prejudices the noble sidhe had, but bad in others. It made her seem almost too innocent, as she was completely different from the noble sidhe. Things were going to have to change, and Devin now had a few friends that would be more than willing to help him teach her all she needed to know. It was only hours until the coronation, but the teaching would have to wait. Devin was sure he would show Nessa the truth when they got a chance.
The families of the sidhe in the room rushed passed him and Maria. He held back against the wall and waited for them to go by. He felt their thoughts and cringed. They were all on the hunt for him. Every one of them was bound and determined to catch him and make him pay for what they assumed he had done. He couldn’t blame them; they had views that were deeply rooted in how they were raised. However, they weren’t his fight. Nessa would have to change them. He had enough troubles just trying to keep her safe.
CHAPTER 5
Nessa sat in Devin’s new house. It was foreign but familiar at the same time. He had made everything from nature, just like every other sidhe home. It was familiar, but different. This one felt like the day human world he came from. Even out of trees, bushes, and dirt, he couldn’t change his style into a sidhe. Devin was, and always would be, a day human. But Nessa was kind of proud of him for how much he had taken to heart the sidhe world. Admiration filled the eyes of the outcasts when Devin was around. He had found himself a place in the sidhe world, and she was sure it wouldn’t take much to charm the common people into Devin’s ways either. He didn’t even know he was doing it, but Devin was making allies just by being himself.
Nessa looked to the couch where the brown-haired girl was finally stirring. Devin and Maria were gone with Turner and Ronan, searching for the unknown witch sidhe. Last time Devin checked in, they were outside the city. It was likely someone that had come to the city for her coronation, and with their current theory, it was someone that was an admirer.
Cassie sat up and rubbed her head. Her hair was flattened against the side of her face she had been lying on.
“Are you okay?” Nessa asked. The younger witch still seemed dazed.
“Yeah, just takes a lot out of me to do that,” Cassie replied, yawning and trying to comb through her hair with her fingers at the same time. “Maria told me the more powerful of a spell I use, the harder it is to recover. Can’t wait until I can apprentice and this will all go away.”
Nessa nodded though she had no clue what Cassie was talking about. Rising, she moved to sit across from Cassie. It wasn’t often she had met outsiders, and they had never come to visit before. Of all the outsiders Nessa had ever met, Cassie appeared to be the youngest.
“This is a pretty cool place you have here. It’s like fairies, but in a grown up world. I always dreamed of a place like this as a child. I thought it would be so much fun to just live out in the trees. I never knew anyone lived like this.” Cassie was looking around the room now.
Nessa nodded. She wasn’t sure if she was to answer or just let the girl talk.
“So they say you are the queen?” Cassie asked, and yawned a second time. “Aren’t you a bit young to be a queen?”
Nessa didn’t quite know how to reply to that one, and she wasn’t sure Cassie wa
s asking a question. The girl in front of her looked like she was barely a teenager herself.
“Sorry,” Cassie quickly added, “I tend to talk without thinking sometimes, especially when I’m nervous.” Cassie tried her best to smooth down her hair and sit up straighter. “Let’s try this again. Hello, I’m Cassandra Booth.”
“Vanessa McKinny,” Nessa replied, taking Cassie’s outstretched hand to shake. It was an odd greeting but since her trip into the day human world, Nessa knew what to do.
“I just finished my sophomore year in high school, but I guess from what I see around here you guys don’t go to a normal school,” Cassie added.
“No, I was tutored until I turned thirteen. Since then I have been training with my brother’s men,” she explained. Nessa was unsure about the grades in day human school, but she was sure a high school student had to be around her own age.
“Man, you’re lucky. They don’t let us train until we are out of high school. I can try for an apprenticeship anytime I want, but they won’t let me start until I’m eighteen. I still have two more years to wait. It’s about being a consenting adult or something like that.”
Nessa was still unsure what the girl was talking about, but doing the math in her head she figured that Cassie was sixteen. Nessa stared in shock at her. Thirteen was about the oldest she was going to guess.
“You’re sixteen?” Nessa asked. She had to have done the math wrong.
“Yeah,” Cassie replied with a shrug. Nessa was a little embarrassed that she was shocked by it. It wasn’t that she met many day humans, but even so this one seemed really young-looking. “I get that all the time. Maria says it’s just part of being in the Zeffer family. Maria’s my aunt, and over the past decade has never looked a day older than twenty-one.”
Nessa observed Cassie closer and tried not to take an obvious whiff of her. The only people Nessa ever met that aged that slowly were night humans. Was it possible that they had night human blood, and no one had noticed? Could they be night humans without Devin even noticing? Nessa doubted it. Devin was way too good at the night human life for that to have happened, but it was still strange. Cassie was certainly a day human, but how could she age slowly?