“Genetics,” Devin said as he entered the room. He had used that excuse before, yet it was a term Nessa wasn’t completely sure about, either. Maria, Turner, Ronan, and Keaton were right behind him. Nessa raised her eyebrows to Keaton, and Devin made a slight nod to her.
‘We need him around, and I trust him,’ Devin told her silently.
‘Need?’ Nessa asked. All she could remember of Keaton growing up was how much he disliked her brother. Nessa would have loved to befriend him and share stories, but he disappeared before she could.
‘His gift is unique. I’m still learning how to do it,’ Devin replied.
Keaton nodded to Devin, as if he already knew Devin was telling her about him.
‘What is his gift?’ Nessa asked, though she was wondering if she really wanted to know. The more unique their gift, the more likely it wasn’t a good one to have.
‘The gift of honesty. If Keaton asks anyone a question, they have to tell the truth,’ Devin replied.
While it was true, a gift like that would prove to be handy to use in various situations, Nessa was unsure if she wanted to be around someone like that. Sometimes it was good to keep things hidden. Looking across at Cassie, Nessa was pretty sure Maria didn’t want anything close to the truth told to the young girl, even if Nessa had no clue why. Cassie already obviously knew about the witches, why not night humans?
“So what did you find?” Cassie asked.
“Just as we thought,” Maria answered, sitting next to Cassie. You could see a slight resemblance as they sat together. While Maria was olive skinned with thick black hair, Cassie was pale with clear blue eyes that almost matched Nessa’s own. It was the difference in coloring that made it hard for Nessa to see them as family. Yet side by side, and ignoring the difference in eyes, hair, and skin tone, Cassie and Maria shared the exact same shape face. Their eyes and noses were an exact match, and only Cassie’s smile was slightly different. There was no doubt they were family.
“The trail ends at the glen,” Turner replied, informing Nessa and Cassie of what Nessa already knew.
“Ends? Can someone just mask their trail?” she asked Maria.
‘In the trees,’ Devin explained what they weren’t telling Cassie. ‘They either came from or went to the trees after using their magic.’
“We are sure the magic came with someone who recently entered the village,” Maria replied, trying to cover up the awkward silence.
‘And it wasn’t their kind of witch magic,’ Devin added more secretly to Nessa.
‘Not their magic?’ Nessa asked. ‘Didn’t you say it was witch magic? And Cassie healed the guys from it. That makes no sense. Are there other witches out there?’
‘Oh, yes, it’s witch magic, just not their clan’s magic,’ Devin replied. ‘There are two day human witch groups out there. The sidhe with magic trained with the other group. That’s why Maria has no idea who it might be.’
“So what you think is that the person came into the village,” Cassie added, “and didn’t leave yet, right?”
“Right,” Turner replied, watching Cassie as she thought.
“They just aren’t using witch magic for the moment, but when they use it again we can tell, right? Then we still can catch them, correct?” Cassie asked.
Maria put a hand on Cassie. “This isn’t our fight. We are to leave as soon as you are able to travel.”
“Leave?” Cassie asked incredulously.
‘Leave?’ Nessa asked Devin. She hadn’t thought about it when they came in because firstly she was surprised Devin could let them in, and secondly, they needed their help, but no one could leave the village unless they were a sidhe. There were spells that kept the non-sidhe in the village.
‘They can leave at any time. I already checked into that before inviting Turner here. The spells that keep people in the village have to do with whoever asks them to come in. If they say the person can leave, then the spells don’t activate,’ Devin explained to Nessa’s thoughts.
“Yes, leave. We were given permission by the elders to come here and help Devin wake the sidhe that were infected by witch magic. We were not given permission to stay longer,” Maria explained.
“So we just leave Devin here to sort this out?” Cassie asked. She glanced at Devin, and her cheeks turned red as they had every time she had spoken directly to him since she had arrived. Nessa found it cute that Cassie was shy around him. “That’s not fair.” Cassie was sulking.
Maria gave her a soft smile and shook her head.
“What were you given permission to do?” Keaton inquired, looking into Maria’s eyes as he asked.
“To come and help Devin save the sidhe that were dying from the witch magic,” Maria replied, shaking her head like she knew exactly what Keaton was able to do.
“And do you think you are finished doing that?” Keaton asked, his blue eyes still keeping their hold on Maria.
“Yes. Those three men are better. We need to be on our way.” Maria didn’t turn away from him, but also didn’t mind answering. Was Keaton using his truth forcing power or not?
“How about you, Cassie? Do you think everyone is safe?” Keaton asked Cassie.
She glanced up at him, and her cheeks reddened more.
“I think we saved those three men, but I don’t think anyone is safe until we find the one using witch magic,” Cassie replied quietly as she looked back at the floor. Nessa was surprised by how quiet Cassie got around the group. She was fine and quite friendly only moments before they showed up.
“Cassie, we can’t stay here. This isn’t our problem. We helped Devin as he asked, but we can’t just become paranormal investigators,” Maria added. She wasn’t being mean, but more overprotective. Maria seemed to be like an older sister to Cassie than anything else. Nessa would have loved to have an older sister or a brother that was kinder than the one she had.
“And we can’t just leave Devin here to deal with this alone. He asked for our help, but what sort of help is it to put a bandage on a wound that needs stitches? He needs us to help find the witch,” Cassie argued. Nessa was surprised Cassie felt that strongly about helping Devin.
Maria sighed and looked over at Devin, who discreetly nodded. Non-verbal communication seemed to have passed between them.
“Fine. We help him find the witch sidhe, and then we go,” Maria told Cassie. “We don’t stay a day longer, and you don’t give me any trouble about leaving.”
Cassie grinned as she nodded.
‘Maria says in order for them to stay, we have to make sure Cassie doesn’t learn about the night humans. It’s important that we keep that knowledge from her as Maria is unsure how she will take it when she does find out. Her power is quite unstable as it is! We don’t need her finding out there’s more power inside of her from something like blowing the village apart due to shock,’ Devin told the group silently. Everyone nodded to him, and luckily Cassie was back to studying the ground and didn’t notice. ‘Nessa? You’re the closest in age to her. Can you please make sure to keep her safe from the sidhe? I don’t want them to think she’s a treat to snack upon.’
Nessa looked up to Devin and noticed he was still talking to the group. All their eyes were on her.
‘Of course,’ Nessa replied. She didn’t know why they were protective of Cassie, but she wasn’t about to decline any question of help from Devin.
“So what do we do to find this witch?” Turner asked, bringing everyone back into an open conversation. “I could track them outside the village as they left one trail, but they have been all over the village already. I can’t keep straight where their pathway begins and end.”
“If we can get close to them, Cassie and I can sense other witches even if they aren’t using magic,” Maria explained. “But that would require us in the palace. Maybe if we could see the whole group at once, but just wandering around wouldn’t be safe. If anyone finds us, it would be bad all around. The longer it takes us to search, the more likely that will happen.”
<
br /> “What if we could get the visitors all in one place at one time?” Devin asked.
Everyone turned and looked at him. There was no way he could call the sidhe together. The nobles all wanted to hang him for hurting their sons. They weren’t about to listen to him and congregate in one area because he asked them.
“How would you do that?” Maria asked. She had picked up on the hostility as much as everyone else.
“At Nessa’s coronation, the whole sidhe village, along with visitors, will be there,” he answered.
Nessa looked around the room to all the nodding heads. She had already forgotten what the day was, and that she needed to be back in the palace getting ready.
“That should work,” Maria replied. “We find the witch, and then we leave.”
Nessa was kind of sad to hear they would be gone soon. It wasn’t often they had outsiders around, and she had a lot more questions for them. Nessa didn’t want to let them go yet, but she understood. Maria was in charge of Cassie, and it was safer for them to leave. Nessa had been raised to distrust the witches, but it was far deeper for the others. From the little she caught of how the sidhe felt about witches, Cassie and Maria weren’t exactly welcome in the village. Nessa might have been against them also, but now she was more curious than anything. It was too bad they had to leave.
Devin escorted Cassie and Maria back to the palace to wait. He could keep them in Nessa’s apartment, and no one would know the difference, or at least that’s what he hoped. He had already guarded that part of the palace extensively. It was going to take a bit of time to get Nessa ready, even if she insisted that it wouldn’t. He kind of liked that about Nessa. She was beautiful and girly, but she never took too long to get ready. She was more likely to just pull her hair into a ponytail and run out the door than to sit and pamper herself. And she didn’t need to, either. Nessa was beautiful on her own. He was slightly curious if they would let her get away with being herself for the ceremony.
Devin sat in Nessa’s room while she was whisked away to be dressed for her coronation. She looked utterly miserable, and he couldn’t help but laugh. She would be fine as her four invisible palace guards went with her to places, and they wouldn’t be happy if he joined them.
Maria sat down on Nessa’s book-filled couch and waited. Cassie stood staring up at the open ceiling.
“That makes no sense,” Cassie said to no one in particular. “What happens when it rains?”
“I’ve heard the rain doesn’t come in,” Devin replied, “but I haven’t been here long enough to tell you if that’s true or not.” Cassie blushed and joined Maria on the couch. Devin had to chuckle. Cassie seemed to blush any time a male spoke to her. How she was going to get through life like that was beyond Devin.
“So what’s the plan?” Devin asked Maria. He was unsure how they could tell who the witch was exactly.
“If you can get us close enough to view everyone, we should be able to tell,” Maria said as Cassie lay back amongst the books. She seemed to still be tired from her healing of the three sidhe.
“You just need to look?” Devin asked specifically.
“Yes, all it should take is a look. The sidhe and the witches give off a different aura. Anyone practicing witch magic should have the witch aura clinging to them. It shouldn’t take anything more than that,” Maria replied, closing her eyes, too.
Devin nodded to the two almost sleeping witches. He was glad they both felt safe enough with him to sleep, and he didn’t dare leave them alone in the sidhe palace even if he wanted to do more surveillance. Someone was practicing magic, and from what he got out of Maria earlier, it wasn’t her form. That was a little disturbing to him, as the other form of witch magic was more powerful and more detrimental to the user. Maria and Cassie practiced light magic. It was more focused on healing and preserving life. They could use spells and energies, but they never hurt another human being to do so. The dark magic clan oftentimes used sacrifices to do their magic. Dark magic was powerful and damaging. Devin was unsure if his sidhe magic would stand up to someone desperate.
Life would have been easier if Nessa was his now. Any secret admirer would have had no chance once she slipped the ring on her finger. That alone could have stopped all they were dealing with right now.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t say yes before,’ Nessa told Devin through the bond while she was getting ready in another palace room. He had let his guard down and was probably sending all his thoughts to her by accident.
‘This isn’t your fault,’ Devin replied, standing and walking away from the witches. While they couldn’t hear his conversation with Nessa, it still felt private.
‘It kind of is,’ Nessa answered. ‘If I had let you finish and accepted your ring, maybe the person would have given up before even trying something. You are right. This could have all been avoided.’
Devin shook his head. He wanted to blame someone, but Nessa wasn’t it. He was sad she hadn’t let him propose, but he didn’t blame her for the situation they were in. It might not have made a difference if she had said yes, anyway. Love wasn’t logical like that.
‘We are almost done here,’ Nessa informed Devin.
He was surprised. How did they get her ready that fast? Maybe they were going to let her become queen without all the fuss and just as herself.
Nessa laughed across the bond.
‘No, they did all the fuss,’ she replied to his thoughts. Still, he had forgotten to shield them from her. ‘Magic, remember?’
Devin nodded to no one in the room. ‘Is everything set?’ he asked. He hadn’t been watching the time, but as he looked outside at the moon through the opening in the ceiling, he realized that it was almost at its peak in the sky.
‘Yes, Uncle Rolf is here to escort me, and we’re just waiting for Ronan to return from his patrol with Turner,’ Nessa replied. ‘Did they find anything?’
Turner had not returned to tell Devin anything yet, so Devin took that as a no. Nessa followed his train of thought and sighed.
‘Can Maria and Cassie really find this person?’ Nessa asked, a little apprehensively. Worry laced her thoughts even if she wasn’t saying that to him.
Devin walked over and tapped Maria. It was a short nap, but nothing he could do about that. They needed to join Nessa as she was already being ushered into the main square of the palace.
‘I hope so,’ Devin replied to Nessa, not completely convinced.
They had hundreds of people to look at and very little time. From what Ronan explained, the actual coronation would take only minutes, and then the party would begin. They only had those few minutes of the ceremony to find the witch. Devin was sure that the party didn’t include the common people, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake as he had only days ago, when he assumed wrongly that only the nobles were behind everything. It could just as easily be someone from the village that had a crush on Nessa.
“Time to go find this imposter,” Devin told Maria, who had already woken Cassie.
Cassie yawned and nodded.
Maria and Cassie followed Devin to the door of Nessa’s apartment.
“If anything happens, keep Cassie hidden,” Maria told Devin. Devin nodded. Maria loved Cassie more than anything. She didn’t have any family around as her sister was banished at the time of Cassie’s birth. Cassie was the last family Maria had. Devin understood that much.
“Cassie and you will be safe,” Devin replied. He was positive of that. He had enough power to keep them hidden. He just didn’t know if he had enough to keep Nessa safe from her admirer.
When Devin arrived with the two witches, Nessa couldn’t see him. With both the sidhe and witch magic cocooning him, she couldn’t even make out the fuzzy lines that he had taught her to see through the sidhe magic. She was disappointed to not be able to see him, but understood that they needed to find the sidhe causing problems. The desire to have his face to focus on was going to have to be unmet. He was keeping them safe, and in turn keeping her
safe.
Nessa followed behind her uncle as he wove through the audience, tapping people to get them to move. It was strange to walk amongst the sidhe as she had been hidden from them for days each time her safety was threatened. It was nice that Devin found a way to encase her in his protective magic, allowing her to go closer to everyone without them knowing that she was still protected. Only Uncle Rolf so far had figured it out.
As she stepped onto the stage in the middle of the courtyard, she was happy to find Ronan off to the side with Gemma. They both beamed proudly at her. With the way her life had been thrown upside down many times in the past few years, it was more than surreal to be standing before the sidhe now. Her younger cousin Gemma’s infectious grin was more than enough to keep her from feeling too overwhelmed. Gemma smiled and pointed to the other side of the stage.
He’s over there, she mouthed.
Smiling, Nessa nodded to her younger cousin. She knew exactly who Gemma was referring to: Devin. Nessa didn’t turn to see if she could see him in case she gave away his location to anyone else, but she was comforted to have him close by. Her whole life had been turned upside down when she begged her brother to let her leave the sidhe and see the day human world and he agreed. Devin had been the constant in her life from the first time she met him. She might not have liked him too much then, but she liked him plenty now. She couldn’t imagine doing everything she had done without him there. In fact, she would have more than likely been married off to Finn by now, or even dead. Devin was the reason she was able to stand there in front of her people to accept the crown that her uncle was holding and talking about.
Nessa smiled at the crowd as her uncle talked. She wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, but she smiled anyway. Instead of focusing on his words, she was watching the crowd. Would the sidhe using witch magic stand out? From what Nessa had been told, all Cassie and Maria needed was to view the audience gathered. If it was that easy, could Nessa see them, too? She glanced around, but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. All she saw were the faces of the people she was to rule staring back at her. Nessa couldn’t see far enough back to see the commoners, and the front rows were all the nobles, including her suitors. Everyone from her village and representatives from each family in the other villages were there staring at her. She recognized a few people, but not others. Would the hidden sidhe be a friend or someone unknown?