Awakenings (A Witch's Coven Novel Book 1) (3 page)

Stephen slowed down and walked beside me. He went to say more, but changed his mind and ran off to be with Charles. The two of them laughed over some joke between them, and Stephen led them in the opposite direction. I was never more grateful for his discretion in leaving me alone. I returned to my house and gave the letter to the master servant and was scolded for ruining my dress by being caught out in the thunderstorm. I finished my chores for the day and went straight away to bed, claiming that I had a stomachache, which was truthful. I curled up in my bed and drifted off to sleep. In my little room, I would be left alone until morning. Then I would face the day and would have more of a challenge with hiding my condition.

Hours later I awoke to a knock on the door to my room. I lay there in pain and in a half-awake state and did not move. After some time the door opened slowly, and I saw a hunched over old lady come into my room. She closed the door behind her and came over to me, carrying a bag. She pulled off her hood and I recognized the face.

“Stephen!” I became fully alert and sat up in my bed, holding my side.

“Are you all right?” He pointed at my side and went to touch me, but I pulled away.

I shook my head but did not reply.

He backed off and sat on the chair by my bed. Opening the bag he had brought with him, he took out some cheese, bread, and a jug of warm milk. “I brought this for you.”

I accepted the bread and cheese. “Thank you.” I did not know how hungry I was until I began to eat.

Stephen reached back into his bag and brought out a stick of cured meat. He cut me a few pieces and offered them to me. I accepted and ate quickly but did not say much.

“Would you like for me to leave?” He put the bag on my bed. “I’ll leave you the food and drink. Just eat your fill and then get some sleep. I was worried about you. I could see that you were upset when I saw you this afternoon. I just wanted to make certain that you were okay.”

“Please stay.” I finished eating, and he put his feet up on the bed and turned away from me to give me some privacy.

His company comforted me and, after a few minutes, he hummed a tune that kept him busy. I sat there listening to him and drifted off to sleep. Sometime later I awoke, and he still kept watch over me. He had taken the leftovers and packed them back up into his pack but left the jug of milk by my bed. I yawned and stretched, feeling full and more at ease.

Watching over me still, he began to sing a melody that was whimsical and reminded me of a song that my mother used to sing to me when I was little. Stephen finished the song, and I drifted back off to sleep. I awoke hours later. The sun had started to rise, but Stephen still sat in the chair watching over me.

I started to speak, but he held up his hand. “There’s no need to explain if you don’t want to. Do you want me to go after him and bring him to justice?”

His question caught me off guard. I did not know how to reply.

“I can see the marks on your legs and bruises on your arms and face. I will find him and chop his cock off.” He leaned forward and his stoic expression proved to me that he did not joke.

“I don’t need you to do that.”

“Look, no one needs to know. I will not speak of this to anyone. Just tell me who he is, and I’ll take care of it for you.” Stephen leaned closer and waited for me to give him the word.

“I don’t need your help because they’re dead.” I sat up fully in bed and could see that he wanted me to explain more. “Two men did attack me, but a miracle happened.” I raised my left hand and showed it to him.

“How did they die?” Stephen took my hand and looked at my palm, trying to find the source of what I had done to them.

“Lightning passed through me and killed them both.” I pulled my hand from him and hid it. “I don’t know how it happened, and I didn’t mean it, but they both died.”

A smile broke out on his face. “You’re a witch and your magic protected you. Do you know what this means?”

I was ready now to accept the truth. “Yes, I’m an outcast and will need to hide my magic or be killed.”

He reached over and held my hand. “No, that is not true. There are places you can go and will be trained and protected. This is a wonderful gift for you. With magic, you will be able to leave all this behind you.”

“All the witches I ever heard of were stoned or drowned.” I frowned and glanced out the window at the rising sun.

Out in the hall we could hear the clanging of pails being brought through the hallway. Servants were at work, finishing up breakfast and the morning work.

Stephen put back on his disguise. “We will talk about this later. For now, rest up and take it easy today.” He gave me a gentle hug and went to the window. “Did you get out of your work today?”

I nodded. “I have never missed a day, so I told them I was sick. I’ve been told to rest in this morning, but I’ll get to work this afternoon. Don’t worry about me.”

“Please, rest up. If there is anything I can do for you, let me know.” He came back to me and squeezed my hand one last time and then went to the window.

“Thank you.”

He climbed out the window and that was the last time I would see him for a long, long time.

***

Alessia leaned forward in her chair, looking confused. “That can’t be the end of your story. What happened to Stephen and Charles?”

I took a long suck on my pipe, held the smoke, and then blew it out the side of my mouth. The white smoke curled in wisps, swirling around the window nearest us. “The war happened.” I watched Alessia’s expression, but she hid her feelings well. “You are too young to remember that time. All men of fighting age went off to defend the land. Both Stephen and Charles left the city for more than a year.”

“But you did eventually meet up with Stephen again, right? And Charles, did you find love with him? Was he your first love?” Alessia put her hands together and touched my knee. “Please, continue your story. I want to know what happened.”

I moved her hands away. “You think all was beauty and light, don’t you? That was not how it was when the men were away. We all worked hard, making supplies and rations that were shipped off to the soldiers. We also were worried about the blockade to the south that had stopped trade coming into the city. The winter that year was hard.” I took the pipe out of my mouth and regarded Alessia with a questioning eye. “Do you want to hear the truth or the fairy tale that you’re expecting?”

To her credit, Alessia did not answer right away. She thought for a moment or two and replied, “No, please finish the story.”

I leaned back in my chair and even after all this time the thoughts that came to mind were jagged and raw. A clap of thunder rumbled close by and the flash of light came in through the window. I waited for the thunder to die off and then said, “Then I will tell you what happened, and maybe it will be a lesson to you.”

***

That first winter with Stephen and Charles away, I turned eighteen and had little chance to celebrate. The master servant worked us hard rationing the food and had us cooking all through the day and late into the night. We made supplies for the soldiers and shipped off most to go to the front while we ate poorly.

In the months since the summer, my bruises healed quick enough, but I stayed away from men and kept mostly to myself. But the house lord’s son, Cameron, kept his eye on me. He hobbled around the house, looking constantly after the pretty girls. But we worked hard and had no time for nonsense or play. Still, a few girls gave in to him and earned a little silver on the side. I was not one of those girls.

My friend Denise came to me one morning with a smile on her face.

“What are you smiling at?” We carried supplies back into the storeroom and had a few moments to forget the cold and the snow outside.

“I have a secret that I want to share, but cannot.” She had a skip to her walk and appeared to be in the throes of happiness.

“If you had a secret you wanted to keep, you wouldn’t have brought it up with me.” I poked her with my elbow and she nearly dropped the large bag she carried.

“Hey, stop that!” She caught herself and steadied her footing. We walked along down the long hallway and she stopped and dropped her bag to the ground. Putting her hands on her hips, she whistled and stretched her back. “That’s heavy!”

“Do you want me to take the heavy bag for a bit and we’ll switch?” I stopped and put my lighter bag down.

Denise shook her head and came close to me. “Nah, I’ll be fine.” She glanced down the hallway in both directions and saw no one. “But I do want to tell you about my secret.”

“Maybe I don’t want to hear it.” I went to walk away, but she grabbed my arm.

“Please, stay. We’ve been working for months day and night. Can I not share with you a little juicy story?” She smiled at me and beneath the dirt and grime her beauty did shine through.

I stopped and said, “Okay, tell me your story.”

She came closer and lowered her voice. “It’s a dirty one.”

I flopped myself down on the bag I had been carrying. “I figured as much.”

A smile broke out on her face. “Cameron called me to his room last night.”

Visions of his clubbed foot and his being naked came to me, and I quickly expelled the images from my mind. “Are you sure you want to tell me this?”

Denise pretended to slap me on the shoulder. “No, it’s not what you think. He’s gentle and treated me well.”

I crossed my arms and was not in the mood for such stories. Charles and Stephen were away as well as most the men. “So did he fuck you and give you a few pieces of silver for your time?”

A pained expression crossed Denise’s face. “Is that what you think of me?” She pulled away and went back to her bag to lift it up. “You’re wrong. That’s not what happened.”

I relented and put my hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. Tell me what happened and I’ll be quiet. I promise.”

She pretended to still be annoyed but then smiled. “Okay, but please don’t tell a soul.”

I glanced around the empty hallway. “Who would I tell and why? We’re friends and I won’t betray your trust that way.”

She came closer and lowered her voice so much that I had to strain to hear her. “Cameron asked me to his room last night. After we all went to bed, he knocked on my door as we had planned, and he brought me back to his bed. He had a good fire going and had moved his bed over closer to the fire. I did not know what to expect, so I sat down on his bed and told him that I would not be leaving the room with his seed in me. I did not wish to be carrying a baby and all.”

Curiosity got the best of me and I started to get pulled into her story. “How did he take that when you told him?”

Denise looked me in the eye and then glanced down the hall to make certain no one was coming. “He told me that he would not ask that of me but wanted to teach me my Latin.”

I kept my mouth closed because I realized that I had no idea what Denise meant, and if I were to speak, I would show her my ignorance. Instead, I nodded and listened.

“I sat there in my nightgown, and he sat me on the edge of his bed. He was fully clothed and he came behind and held me. For many minutes, he simply held me and played with my hair, running his fingers through it. The heat of the fire felt good on my legs and I relaxed and fell back into his arms. Then he massaged my neck, shoulders and back. He took his time, in no rush, and hugged me close. We didn’t kiss, but I rubbed his back through his shirt and he did the same to me.”

“And that’s all he did? Sounds boring to me.” I crossed my arms to try and warm myself from the cold.

“I’m getting to the good part. Be patient!” Denise swatted at me and laughed. “I never had anyone treat me so nice before. He held me and we kissed, but he didn’t try to throw me on the ground and just go at me like a dog. Cameron was different than any guy I had known.”

I chuckled. “Denise Smith, you have never been with a boy before in your entire life, and you have one night of kissing and suddenly think you’re an expert?”

She looked at me and winked. “Just because I don’t brag all the time about the boys I’m with doesn’t mean that I haven’t some experience.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just sat there with a frown on my face.

Denise closed her eyes and recounted her story to me. “Cameron kissed me on my throat, wrists, and on the tops of my feet. When I would try to kiss him, he would shake his head and push me back down on his bed. He would keep his hands near the fire for a few seconds and then put them on me. I could feel the fire’s warmth on his hands, and I just relaxed and trusted him.

“I don’t really know how long he massaged and kissed me, but I was rather excited.”

“You mean you were wet.” I flicked a piece of wheat at her but missed.

“That’s when he lay on top of me and kissed my forehead, cheeks, and made his way down my body, kissing me through my dress. He knelt on the floor and then kissed me on my thighs, and I giggled. He stopped that when he saw that I couldn’t stop laughing, and then he pulled up my nightgown and buried his face in my undergarments. He took a deep breath and then breathed out, allowing the hot air to warm me. I remembered that I sighed and he asked if I were okay, and I would have agreed to anything then. But he stopped and sat next to me on the bed and played with the top of my nightgown, twirling a loose string, and asked, ‘May I teach you some Latin?’ He smirked, and when he saw that I didn’t understand him, he asked, ’May I lick you?’

I nodded, and he returned to the end of the bed on his knees and kissed me. He kissed me where my hair ended down there and then he spread my lips with his hands and he lightly licked me and pulled away.”

“Now you’re getting somewhere.” I leaned forward engrossed in the story. “What did it feel like?”

“Almost too strong. I had to push him away a bit because everything was too intense that it almost hurt.” Denise thought for a moment and almost stopped talking, but changed her mind. “I’m a bit embarrassed to say what happened next.”

“You can’t just end things there with me. What did he do?” I thought I heard someone coming down the hall, but when I glanced, no one was there.