Found (Book One of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel (8 page)

He was just getting up to go when he realized that he was being watched. The young boy couldn’t have been older than ten, with a shock of fair hair and wide dark eyes that looked like they had already seen too much. If he was part of the Angioli coven at this age, that meant he was Wiccan-born.

Most Wiccan children were raised with loving care, but life was unpredictable. Kieran could tell it had been so for this boy, and so he gentled his tone when he spoke.

“What are you looking for, hm? Are you afraid that I’m a draugen who’s going to eat you?”

The young boy looked nervous, but was caught by the foreign word.

“What’s a draugen?”

“It’s a man from the sea. A man drowns, and a monster comes back out, enormous, dripping with seawater and seaweed, hungry to eat the flesh of those who were luckier.”

The boy considered.

“I’ve never seen the sea.”

“Well, then I must not be a draugen, and I must be safe to know. Are you hungry, to be staring at my food with eyes like that?”

The boy’s face cracked into a shy grin, and he nodded.

There was a certain kind of safety and security in being able to do a task as simple as looking after a small child. Kieran cut some bread, cheese and meat for the boy, and from the boy’s quiet direction, he found a pitcher of lemonade and a bag of apples as well. He took an apple for himself and sat down beside the boy.

“Beatrice said that you were pushing Hailey too hard today,” the boy said without preamble.

Kieran winced.

“So the story has spread so far?” he asked. “Does Beatrice think that I’m a monster?”

The boy’s grin was lopsided.

“Beatrice thinks that everyone’s a monster or a Templar until she decides otherwise,” he told Kieran confidently. “She used to be even worse before she came here though, so it’s all right.”

Kieran thought of the beautiful young witch who had interrupted the sparring session he had had with Hailey that morning. That already felt like it was a hundred years ago, and looking back on it now, he could see where he had gone all wrong. He realized that she would never have lashed out to defend herself. Instead it had taken a danger to her friend to bring her out.

A cold part of his mind told him that it was a lever that could be used, either by the Magus Corps or by the coven that was so interested in Hailey’s talents. He shuddered when he realized that after gaining her trust, he would be the tool to manipulate her.

Kieran shook his head, and he glanced back at where the boy was watching him with solemn eyes.

“What about you? Do you think I pushed her too hard?”

The boy scowled, and he gave the question serious consideration before he answered. It was incredible in some ways to think that this child held within himself a seed for great power and long life, but there it was. There was no real natural end to a Wiccan lifespan after they had been initiated, and this boy could live out the new millennium if he was lucky.

“I don’t think you should push anyone,” the boy said finally. “I think that you should tell them what you need, and if they have the generosity and the spirit to help you, they will give it to you.”

Kieran chuckled in surprise.

“Well, that was certainly a wise thing to hear out of you. I believe I will take your advice, little master…?”

“Luca. They call me Luca here. I don’t remember what my name was before.”

Kieran frowned a little. The potential for a long life was no guarantee of a safe one after all, and many children born into Wiccan families found themselves orphaned. He himself had been one of them.

Luca finished his meal and dutifully washed his plate and Kieran’s as well. Before leaving, the boy glanced over his shoulder at the major, and Kieran felt as if he was being judged by quite an old soul.

“Hailey can hide even better than Beatrice or me if she wants to,” the young boy said at last. “If you’re going to go ask her instead of pushing her, I can tell you where she probably went.”

“I would be very grateful. I know that I acted poorly earlier, and I am in no hurry to repeat my mistake. Tell me where to find her, and neither you nor she will regret it.”

It seemed like that was enough for Luca, who nodded.

“If she is not in her room, she’s probably in the west tower. Donato says that it used to be a place for rich people to look out over the land while they were trapped at the monastery, but it became so old that none of us care to go up there.”

“Thank you, Luca.”

The boy grinned and left, and Kieran was once again left to his own thoughts.

In some ways, he thought, he wasn’t all that different from Hailey. Members of the Magus Corps served an extremely vital function when it came to protecting the Wiccan world from the predations of Templars and other enemies. However their combative powers and, in many cases, their combative natures made them a poor fit for the people they protected. His clashes with Donato were just the most recent example of the kind of welcome most Magus Corps agents expected when they had to deal closely with covens.

With a sigh, Kieran rose up. He still wasn’t quite ready to face Hailey yet. If he had to guess, there was a chance that she was still too upset to deal with him. The inner courtyard waited, and he had gone a few days without the training and conditioning that he preferred to do regularly. He would wear himself out and then go to find her.

THE WEST TOWER was like much of the monastery that was not frequently used by the Angioli coven. It was dusty and rundown, but underneath the grime, there were remnants of a truly fine tradition of craftsmen. Hailey didn’t know anything about the monks who had once walked through the hallways where Wiccans now lived, but she wondered about them from time to time.

The west tower had an enormous leaded glass window with a few utterly clear panes that must have cost a fortune when they were first installed. Through them, she could look out over the land, away from the mountains, towards the village.

She had been told that the tower was a favored haunt for exiles when she first arrived, a place for them to look out over the hills and to imagine the world they had left behind. The Angioli coven was a bustling place, full of people who knew what they wanted and what they were looking for, but it was also a place for people who treasured their solitude.

Hailey was someone who had become used to being alone, but she was unsure if she would ever treasure it. Unbidden, the thought of Kieran’s hands sliding all over her body came to her. She shivered to think of his eyes gazing deeply into hers, at how much he could see of her, at how much he wanted to see.

She carefully pulled away from the thought of their flight and her use of the teleportation ability to bring them back. She had felt power beyond imagining when she touched the major, and something told her that if she fell into its depths, she would never come back up again. She might light up the sky like a Roman candle, but she had no confidence that Kieran would survive it.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the knock at first. It was only when it came again and more insistently that she looked up.

When she opened the door, she was unsurprised to find Kieran. He had bathed sometime since she had last seen him, and his dark hair was slicked down. Even in the dim light, she could make out a pink scar along his temple. Without thinking about it, she reached out to touch him, and it wasn’t until her fingers were on that tender skin that she realized how rude it was.

Blushing, she jerked her hand away, and Kieran chuckled.

“I think that after everything that we did today, that wouldn’t be a problem,” he rumbled, closing the door behind him.

The west tower should have felt tight and cramped with him in it, but instead it only felt right. After a moment, she simply took his hand and tugged him over to the window. There was a deep stone bench that was set directly beneath the glass. They sat close for a very long moment, and Hailey rested her head lightly on his shoulder.

“I’m afraid of what all of this means,” she whispered, and his large hand came up to stroke her cheek.

“It means that you are a very powerful witch who could do a world of good.”

Hailey laughed a little sadly.

“Do you understand how new that feels? Before you came here, they called me a vampire. I was something that was meant to be carefully housed, but I was always meant to be watched. Of course there would always come the day when my lust for power overcame whatever feeble bonds I could form. Then I would attack everyone around me and have to be put down like a mad dog. I’ve read the histories, Kieran. Sometimes it was the Magus Corps that was called in to deal with witches like me.”

Kieran held her a little closer.

“Times have a way of changing, especially when you’re willing to make them change. That would not happen today. I would not allow it to happen.”

“Am I really such an asset that I cannot be risked?” Hailey asked bitterly. She felt the way that Kieran stiffened against her, and she immediately felt ashamed.

“I will not allow it to happen because it is not right, and because regardless of what others fear, you do not deserve that kind of abuse. You have done nothing wrong. Instead what I have seen over the past day is a woman who would do anything to save the people that she cares about, who only has to hear that she could do good before she throws herself into it. Also…”

“Also?”

“There are also my feelings for you,” he said quietly. “They are not important at the moment, and they cannot be important, not for the work that lies in front of you.”

“What if I say that they’re more important?” Hailey demanded, but even as she asked, she knew the answer.

“It wouldn’t last,” Kieran responded promptly. “You could be happy by my side for a few months, perhaps even a few years, but then the need to attend to something greater would eat at you. It is what lies at the core of you. It is what makes you so uniquely yourself.”

Hailey buried her face in his shoulder.

“You believe me to be much better than I am,” she muttered, and he chuckled softly.

“I believe you to be exactly as you are, sweetheart.”

Hailey shook her head. Here, cuddled up against Kieran’s bulk and without the stares of the rest of the coven around her, she could be honest.

“You didn’t feel what I felt,” she whispered. “You didn’t feel how…how deep things are. I could see what you were offering me, and it was endless. It was intoxicating. It was so much power that I could do anything I wanted. What if the need for it became overwhelming? What if I took too much? You’re not invulnerable.”

“Sweetheart, I have lived for centuries, and despite it, one thing that I have always known is that I was meant to die someday. I have the scars to prove it, too. I do not fear you, and I wish you wouldn’t fear yourself.”

His blunt and utterly calm words loosened a great knot in the back of her throat. Hailey fought back tears for what felt like a long while. When she looked up, at least her eyes were dry.

“You say some pretty incredible things, Major,” she said, keeping her voice deliberately light. “Let’s see if you still believe them after I’ve taken over the world.”

“Well, please let me be the first to swear loyalty to our new queen.”

Hailey smiled a little at his grave pronouncement.

“How much more testing do we have to do? Is there going to be a lot the coven or the Magus Corps needs to know before they decide if they want to front me a ticket across the world?”

“I’d like to do some more tomorrow, after we’re both rested.”

Kieran offered her his hand and pulled her off of the bench, leading her towards the door.

“I think we should both eat, sleep and rest up for tomorrow. Perhaps if you can find your friend Beatrice, you can sit and tell her that I’m not a monster after all.”

Hailey frowned.

“What do you mean, find Beatrice?”

Kieran shrugged.

“Donato mentioned that she was missing, but she told me she was going down to the village. I imagine she’ll be back at any time now.”

The feeling of unease that had been budding in the back of her mind grew large, and frantic. Hailey glanced behind her. Outside the window, night was falling with the typical Alpine speed. There were still a few streaks of scarlet in the sky, but in a very small amount of time, it was going to be pitch black.

Kieran seemed to pick up on her panic.

“What? What is it?”

Hailey threw the door open, and nearly started running down the hall. After a shocked moment, Kieran was on her heels, and she explained to him.

“Beatrice’s parents were killed by Templars, and the only reason that the Templars didn’t kill her too is because her mother shut her in a wooden chest. She nearly suffocated in there, but it was better than what the Templars had in store for her. She had to stay in that chest for hours, and ever since then, she can’t stand to be in the dark. There’s no way she would be out in the woods in the pitch black. Something’s wrong.”

“Stay calm,” Kieran cautioned. “Perhaps she’s come back.”

Hailey hoped that Kieran’s words were true, but after checking in with an increasingly worried Donato, she learned that they were not. With the dark setting in fast and the chill growing even deeper, the coven mobilized to find the missing teen.

Through it all, Kieran was silent, watching the proceedings unfold. He only spoke up when Donato asked him to search as well, and he nodded quickly.

“I’ll take Hailey with me. With her teleportation, we can start from the village and work our way back towards this location.”

Donato paused, but then he nodded. Hailey was relieved. If this had happened and Kieran wasn’t present, there was a good chance that she would have been left to simmer at the monastery. Instead, she grabbed a long, black coat from her room and a pair of thick gloves as well. She found Kieran outfitting himself similarly, and when she arrived, he offered her his arm.

This time she simply took the power that he offered. It was still deep and strong and strange, but even with a little experience, she was learning to make the most of it. She saw the apprehensive looks of the coven as they blinked out, but when they appeared again on the outskirts of the village, she was only focused on searching. She was just turning to Kieran to see where he wanted to start when there was a puff of air and a heavy weight alighted on her shoulder.