The Skye Trilogy: Isle of Skye, Isle of Night, and Isle of Dawn. * Bonus: Scrumptious Skye Confections Cookbook* (62 page)

“No.” he answered. “I did.”

“How is that possible?” I asked, stopping dead

“My mother was a witch.” he replied. His eyes danced as he took in my expression. “Not as powerful as you or Winifred but she was adequate in her skills. She taught me that the most powerful spells should be sealed with blood. Any amount of blood, large or small, is considered a sacrifice.”

His words were almost too much for me to comprehend. I listened as he continued to talk while we started walking again.

“I’m not sure what my family’s genealogy is. I have no idea if we are descended from the Fae or the Gypsies. My mother learned from her mother, who sadly died when she was thirteen. My grandfather grew up in Wales on a small farm. He was poor, but he was very smart. He bought his own land and then continued for the next several years to buy as much as he could around the area. Some of those transactions were with money but most were won in card games.”

“As time passed, he became extremely wealthy and prosperous but you would never know it by looking at him. He never dressed in fine clothes. He rarely had fingernails without dirt under them. He was brilliant. My mother was considered an oddity. She was beautiful, but there were always whispers of her using witchcraft. By the time, she was three and twenty she was considered a spinster because she was unmarried.”

“My father was the third son of a Viscount, which means he had to either buy a commission in the army or find himself a rich wife. He decided on the latter. He charmed my mother, but my grandfather was wary. He was so desperate though for my mother to produce an heir he chose to ignore his concerns. My father, of course, thought that by giving him a grandson he would reap the reward.”

Mathias chuckled. “He obviously never knew him very well. When my mother gave birth to a second son, my brother Darias, he realized that he would never get his hands on any money. So he decided to make everyone’s life a living hell. He was spiteful to my mother. He used to bring his whores around and make them dote over Darias like they were his mother. Benedict was also very cruel to me.”

“I don’t have to go into details but I found out just the kind of man he was by the time I was four. When my grandfather died, my father was livid. He fully expected to gain access to everything the estate had to offer, but my grandfather gave it to me. My father knew that by the time the courts were to make a decision I would be eighteen so it would pointless.”

“He made sure to get his revenge though.” Mathias said as he stopped. He had placed his hand on a tree for support before he started speaking again. “I was so upset when my grandfather died. He was my father in every way, shape and form. The night after his funeral I was slightly drunk when I went upstairs to retire for the evening. I thought I heard crashing and went to check on my mother.”

“When I heard her cry out, I raced down the hall to her room. I pounded on the door, but she told me she was fine and to go to bed. I walked back to my room, but I knew something wasn’t right. I was getting undressed when I heard her scream. I went back to her room and broke the door down. She was lying in bed naked; her face bruised and my father was calmly buttoning his trousers.”

“I vowed right then and there that one day I would kill him.” Mathias said. “I beat him to a bloody pulp and threw him out of the house. He snuck back in that night and cleaned out the safe and proceeded to collect the rents from the villagers. I didn’t care. I just wanted him gone. What he took was a drop in the bucket. Nine months later though, my life irrevocably changed.”

“When my mother told me she was pregnant, I was horrified. I wanted nothing to do with the babe. But the night Elizabeth was born I crept in to see her. When she opened her eyes and looked up at me, I fell in love. She was perfect.”

“Five years later my mother died and I was left to raise her. My father did come back, but I knew I could pay him off a bribe. He thought that taking Darias was some bargaining chip. What he didn’t realize was that I would’ve paid more for him to take that disturbing piece of shit for three times than what I eventually gave him.”

“I suppose when you have been constantly pitted against someone your whole life it’s bound to leave a mark and with Darias it did. My mother and I both tried with him, but he was, as I think you once said, a chip off the old block. After they left a sense of peace finally came over the house. For the next ten years I nurtured and loved my sister but as she grew older I knew I had to hire someone to prepare her for what was to come.”

“What was that?” I finally asked

“She was to have her debut in town, and I wanted for her to have someone to guide her in the circles of London society.” he answered. “Jane was the Vicars daughter. His wife had died giving birth to her, and she was a kind and affable young woman. I paid her no attention but when she returned from London early into her season, I heard the whispers. She had been ruined by a high ranking member of the ton. I felt sorry for her and then honestly didn’t think about her again.”

“A few months later I was out riding and saw her horse. I went further along the path and found her on the ground bleeding to death. I quickly summoned a doctor, and he told me that she had miscarried. The damage from it was irreversible. Over the course of the next few months, we became friends, and it was then I had a bright idea.”

“If I married her, not only would I bring her respectability but I could also provide Elizabeth with a mentor.”

“Did you love her?” I asked

“I cared for her.” he said thoughtfully. “Did I love her? No.”

“But if she couldn’t have children why would you marry her? Didn’t you want your own heir?”

“I had no desire for children.” he answered. “Back then I thought I might pass along my father’s cruelness.”

“That’s ridiculous.” I said

“I know.” he smiled. “I was young and angry. The night before my wedding I went out to enjoy a few drinks and then, well, you know the rest.”

“I’m sorry Mathias.”

“Don’t be. At the end of the day, I had a great grandfather, an amazing mother and a wonderful sister.”

“Did your mother teach you to use magic?”

“She was always performing spells. I guess I picked a few things. My father was horrified, and he taught Darias to make the sign of the cross whenever she came near him by the time he was seven.”

“That’s terrible.” I said. I tried to imagine as a mother how that must have made her feel. I can’t even begin to imagine the horrors Morgan Worthing must have endured at the hands of her husband.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before Mathias stopped and moved aside. I looked up in absolute wonder. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Mathias’s home blew me away.

He had built himself a treehouse.

This was not just any run of the mill tree house you would find in backyards across the world. I counted five different buildings set amongst the tall trees, and they were all connected by glass walled hallways.

When Mathias jumped up to a small deck outside the one closest to me, I smiled in response to his obvious delight.

“You sure are a lousy host.” I remarked before I teleported up in a flash

“I’m terribly sorry my lady.” he apologized gallantly. “I wanted to make sure you could teleport. When I did the enchantments, I also used the same spell to block any Fae. I was hoping your blood that I used mixed with mine would ensure not only could you make it through but if you needed you could teleport here.”

“Is this your definition of a safe house?”

“This is where I want you to go if you anything happens and you find yourself in trouble.” he answered

I nodded. “So are you going to give me a tour of the most remarkable tree house ever built?”

He grinned and opened the door for me. My face lit up when I took in what was the living room. Mathias’s house on the Isle was very modern and impersonal. This, however, is where Mathias lived. The walls were painted a soft brown that glowed warmly in the afternoon sun that peeked through the windows. The back wall was floor to ceiling shelves that were crammed with books and knickknacks.

I walked deeper into the room and noticed the brown leather sofa looked comfortably well worn. There was also a huge chair in the corner with an accompanying ottoman. The coffee and wooden end tables had light scratches here and there, but they seemed solid. I walked over to examine a set of drawings on the wall by the chair.

The yellowed pages were faded, but you could make out a child’s drawing of a tree house. The first picture showed the outside and the second was a drawing of the inside complete with measurements. The third however seemed to be a list of material needed as well as the calculation of the time it would take to finish the project.

I smiled when I saw at the bottom Mathias’s name scrawled in the corner.

“When I was four years old I had a friend in the village named William. His father had built him a small tree house, and we used to play in it for hours.”

“What games did you play?” I asked interrupting him

He smiled, almost childlike, “Mostly pirates.”

“Wow.” I said. “So were you the pirate or the Royal British Navy?”

“I was always a pirate.” he answered. “One day I decided I wanted my own treehouse more than anything in the world. For about a week, I labored over the sketches. Finally, I gathered up the courage to ask my father. He barely glanced at them before he pushed them on the floor and told me if I wanted to do something useful I could pour him a glass of port.”

“That was the last time I ever asked him for anything. My mother had seen the drawings later and decided to surprise me on my birthday with a treehouse, but it was never quite the same. She framed these drawings for me, and after I was turned I went back to the farm a few months later. I took these and a few other items.”

“When is your birthday?” I asked

“Today.” he answered

“What?” I said loudly. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve baked you a cake and got you a present.”

He pushed his hands into my hair on either side of my face and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before answering. “Today was my present.”

I closed my eyes to absorb his words. “I’m trying to imagine you as a child.”

He frowned and walked away from me. I was confused by the sudden shift in attitude. “What? What is it?”

“I can’t give you children Willa.” he said softly. “I’ve been a vampire too long.”

“I know.” I said perplexed. “I’ve already thought about that.”

“Have you?” he asked. “Have you really?”

Any woman whose biological clock was ticking would think about this issue. I think I had always thought about children as someday but when you meet the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with those thoughts are inevitable. When that person happens to be a vampire though there are some things, you must be prepared to accept.

“I have.” I answered. “Besides we do have options if we want a family.”

“Like what?” he asked. His face was screwed up in confusion

“Well, we could get Cupcake and Oscar to knock up some bitches. A couple dozen puppies running around should cure any ticks of a procreation clock.”

Mathias’s mouth did twitch but he still looked concerned

“We could adopt?” I offered. “There has got to be some Fae or even wood Nymphs around that need an excellent home. There’s also in vitro. I’m sure we could find a Fae or gypsy who would want to impregnate me.”

Mathias hissed, and his eyes glowed red for a second. I just rolled my eyes. Did he not know how it worked?

“I’m not talking about sex Mathias. They fertilize one of my eggs with sperm and then inject it back into me.”

“I am not going to allow another man’s sperm inside of you.”

“Oh good Lord,” I muttered and shook my head before grabbing his face. “It’s not like that and you know it. To be honest, this could all be a moot point. We may be dead in a few weeks. Besides, I’m not sure mixing our genes would be a good thing anyway. I can’t even imagine how our children would turn out. I have this horrible vision of a foul mouth little boy chucking me the finger every time I asked him to clean his room.”

“That’s a lovely thought.” he remarked. “When I saw Elizabeth dead, I was so angry. I wanted to kill everything in sight.”

“Of course you did, you were more like her father than her brother.”

“If I saw you dead it would destroy me.”

I sucked in my breath. I knew what he was saying. He was telling me in his own way that he loved me. My whole body felt weightless with happiness.

“It would kill me too.” I said quietly

We were both still for a moment before Mathias suddenly said. “Do you want to see the rest of the place?”

I gave him a smile and nodded. He grabbed my hand, and we went through the first glass hallway and up a short flight of stairs. The kitchen had gorgeous cherry cabinets and granite countertops. I stroked my hand over the top of the gleaming surface, taking in the beige, brown, bronze and red stone. The appliances were small but top of the line.

I let him lead me down another hallway, and I looked into a beautiful bathroom. The walk in shower took up half the room and had windows from floor to ceiling. When I spied the toilet in the corner, I cocked my eyebrow at him.