Page 14 of Cathmoir’s Sons (Bad Boys of Bevington #5)

Chapter 14

The Naga’s Farewell

KELLAN

I don’t even have tequila as an excuse.

This hangover is a combination of tears and confusion. What are these boys doing to me? They’re laying siege to my heart. I should be able to ignore them. I have plenty of experience with break-ups and hating my exes. I had it down to a fine art with Mitch. I honestly hated Mitch more after every family event where we were forced together.

With Law and Luca, I can barely hold on to any anger. I look at Law and I think of all the hours he’s sat outside of Jane’s back door, even though I know how much he hates the snow. I think of his unwavering support when I was consumed by rebuilding Ceòfuar. I think of the silly smile on his face when I texted him that I love him.

I may have watched that video a few hundred times.

Looking at Luca is worse, if that’s possible. I look at him and see his profound loyalty. I remember his passion for our research. His relentless quest for knowledge is so like my own. The rising delight on his face when I asked him to come to Italy with me. Being included made him so happy. How can I be angry with someone who feels like the ying to my yang?

Having them come last night reminded me that these boys are all in with me. They couldn’t have been worried about my safety. There’s nowhere on Earth that was safer than that clearing in the Bevington woods last night. That’s not why they were there. They knew I’d be grieving, hurting, so they made sure to be there to catch me when I fell. Can I even be angry with them after that? I grasp at the aching place in my chest, that black hole of hurt the discovery of their lies created.

It's scabbing over. It doesn’t even feel raw anymore.

And they haven’t even brought their ringer to the fight. How am I going to cling to my anger when I’m faced with Rhodes? The last time I saw him, he was dying. All I feel when I think of him is relief. I’m just so, so happy he’s alive.

I push my greasy breakfast around on my plate and brood.

Rachel reaches across with her fork and steals a breakfast link from my plate.

“Hey,” I object. No, I wasn’t eating it but that doesn’t mean anyone gets to eat my food.

She grins and snags the uneaten fruit cup from the edge of my tray.

We’re in the dining hall of Spellman Quad, which the college has opened to everyone attending Carrie’s memorial. There are a few students in the dining hall as well, since Winter Study has started and there’s a class or two taking place today. But Winter Study is notoriously relaxed. Most classes are scheduled for early afternoon so students can ski in the mornings or sleep off their hangovers.

I very much wish I could sleep off my hangover.

I pick up one of the three bottles of water I’ve put on my tray and drink it down. It makes my stomach turn over.

“Better?” Rachel asks. She’s just absurdly bubbly and bright this morning. She’s going to get a smack if she’s not careful.

“No,” I grumble.

“Someone stay up too late and drink too much?” she asks.

I squint at her, understanding Whitey’s death glares better than I ever have before.

“Last night was beautiful, wasn’t it?” She sighs. “I haven’t sung anyone off to the Mother before.”

That’s because Rachel spends most of her time with people who are only questionably mortal.

“Didn’t Darwin’s grandfather die a few years ago?” I ask, stretching my throbbing brain to remember people close to Rachel who have passed.

Rachel nods. “Fae rituals are way different. No singing. A little chanting.”

I wince. The idea of chanting right now makes my ears ache psychosomatically. I crack the second water bottle and begin to chug it down.

The clatter of more trays on the scarred wood of the round table makes me wince again and glare at Teddy and Gabe as they sit on Rachel’s far side.

“All okay, Kells?” Teddy asks.

I nod sourly. “Any chance you’re packing a hangover potion?” I ask.

Teddy’s face creases. “Sorry, mate. I should have brought more. I just gave away my last one to Professor Tang.”

I wave off her apology. I should have stocked up myself.

Gabe holds his hand out to me, but Teddy pushes it down.

“You can’t even walk a straight line this morning,” she says. “You’re more likely to give her an aneurysm than heal her hangover.”

Gabe giggles. Giggles . He sounds just like Honour. No, definitely not letting him do magic on me until he’s sober.

Teddy shakes her head at him. “You’re gonna regret that last bottle of wine so hard in twenty minutes when Charlie shows up with the kids.”

Gabe just continues to laugh.

“How are the three cutest babies in the world?” I ask before cracking open the third bottle of water.

“Mmm.” Teddy takes a bite of eggs on toast and washes it down with tea that looks murkier than the Mississippi River. “I anticipate chaos. Callan and the Holly King babysat last night. Twins’ll either have learned a number of new words in a language none of us speak or how to summon a Fyre Serpent. It’s a toss-up when we leave them with elder fae.”

I chuckle, then rub my temples. Damn, Gabe’s not the only one regretting that last bottle of wine.

“So,” Teddy says. “Winter Study’s starting.”

I nod. “My first class is Monday.”

“Which means you’re free for dinner Sunday.”

I am , but . . .

“Sure,” I say warily.

“Good,” Teddy says firmly. “See you for drinks at six. We’ll probably be at Thistlemist. I’ll text if we’re somewhere else. Dress casual.”

I squint at her. “Teddy?—”

She squints back at me.

I shut my mouth. Even when she’s not very pregnant, annoying the Teddy is a bad idea.

“Bring one of them ,” she says, before sipping more of her muddy tea.

My squint turns into a glare. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“’Course not. Bring Jane, too.”

That I can do.

“Spending time with Callan at Hogmanay was really good for her. Thanks,” I acknowledge.

Teddy nods.

Rachel elbows me. “It’s getting to be that time.”

I check my phone. She’s right. Carrie’s memorial starts in fifteen minutes.

With murmurs to Teddy and Gabe that we’ll see them at Old Chapel, Rachel and I return our trays and make our way out of the dining hall. It’s a beautiful winter’s day. The sky is a fathomless, crystalline blue. The breeze carries the scent of snow as it ruffles the ice-frosted pines. Each icicle hanging off the eaves of Spellman Quad, each mound of snow carefully cleared off the paths, glitters.

Their sparkle is like needles into my brain. I snap my sunglasses down from the top of my head and groan. “Bleh, sunlight.”

Rachel giggles. She links her arm in mine and rubs herself against my side. I consider homicide.

“I told you to slow down,” she says.

Did she? I don’t remember that part, but I was fairly deep in my fifth bottle of wine before Law decided to roar so loudly he nearly caused an earthquake.

“Such bad life choices were made last night,” I grumble.

She elbows me in the ribs. “Spill.”

Not even one chance. I love Rachel, but she can’t keep her mouth shut when she’s happy. And now that Evan’s free, anything Rachel knows, Evan knows, too.

I don’t know Evan that well. He was sentenced to Karkarus just before I started my senior year at Bevington. Before that, he was a near mythical figure. The Mr. Black . And despite his fall from grace, Evan’s widely regarded as the best The Mr. Black Bevington’s ever had. But since I got in trouble more than once as an undergrad, I avoided him like the plague.

After he went to jail, I visited him a few times with Rachel and Teddy. My impression was of a thoughtful, caring man who was dying by inches. Mostly I knew about him from Rachel, and although I’d never question her devotion to him, they’d only been dating for a few months when he was arrested. I’m not sure how well Rachel knows Evan.

That he’s been to visit Rhodes twice in the short time since the battle at Jedburgh Abbey makes me wary. What’s his angle? He doesn’t know Rhodes. Being protective of my ... ex-boyfriend ... doesn’t make sense. I get that Evan might feel guilty about the mages who died at Jedburgh Abbey, but surely he can’t be extending the Capricorn Guild’s protection to all of us. And if he is, why hasn’t he talked to me? As Teddy would say, what’s he playing at?

“Nope.” I pretend to zip my lips shut. “Some mistakes you take to the grave.”

“I’ll get Charlie to tickle it out of you,” she threatens.

I glare at her. Charlie is a champion tickler. And if he got his fingers anywhere near my ribs right now, my head would explode.

Of course, if Law saw Charlie’s fingers anywhere near my ribs, it might be Charlie’s head that’s in danger. Anyway, this is exactly why there are things Rachel shouldn’t know. She’s a hazard.

“I’ll tell him about the peanut butter,” I say.

Rachel swats at me. She knows what would happen if Charlie found out she was at the heart of that prank. “You said you’d take that to the grave!” she squeals.

“There you go,” I say with no small amount of satisfaction. “And shh, you are an eleven today and I need you to be, like, a three. Blessed Mother, my head hurts.”

Rachel giggles and starts walking faster, almost skipping. She’s trying to kill me. I shuffle along a step behind her and try not to think murderous thoughts.

She bounces up the marble steps of Old Chapel and through the huge, open oak doors. At least it’s mercifully dim inside.

Evan’s waiting for Rachel in the atrium leading into the auditorium where Carrie’s memorial is being held. He stands to the side, talking with Darwin, out of the flow of traffic into the auditorium. There are a few other people milling around in the atrium, but the cacophony of voices from inside tells me most people have already gone in to find seats.

Evan’s wearing the green cloak of the Capricorn Guild over a grey suit. I haven’t seen him in a few years, since he forbade anyone but Darwin from visiting him in prison, but he’s a different man than I remember. He’s no longer faded and bent; he stands tall as he talks to the fae prince. There’s a shimmer around him, concentrated on his head. When I’m arms-length from him, the shimmer bursts into a rainbow around the shadowy outline of a plumed helmet.

Well, that’s new.

Evan claps Darwin’s shoulder; the fae turns and smiles at me and Rachel before he heads out of Old Chapel, probably to find Teddy and Gabe. He doesn’t like to be very far from them. It was absolutely no surprise when they crashed Carrie’s memorial last night. Since they formed a quaternion their freshman year, I don’t think they’ve been out of sight of each other for more than a few hours.

Which reminds me of a certain Cait.

Rachel bounces over to Evan, dragging me by the wrist, making my temples throb again. When she’s this excited, she throws off almost as much radiance as the divine aura of whatever’s on Evan’s head.

Evan pulls Rachel into his arms and kisses her. It shouldn’t be hot, watching them kiss, but there’s so much devotion in every line of their bodies that my belly slow flips. And not because of my hangover.

I didn’t kiss Law or Luca goodbye. They were gone when I woke up. When I rolled over, the pillows still smelled like them.

What Law wrote to me comes back even through the haze of my hangover.

You told me to ask you for a kiss every day. To remind you that we never know how much time we’ll have and not to waste a moment. To say that Teddy misses her Other Gabe every day and would give anything for one more kiss.

I chew on my dry lower lip. I should kiss them goodbye. Even when I’m furious with them. I should always kiss them goodbye.

Evan saying my name drags me back to attention. “... Would you like me to clear out the cobwebs?”

Yes, I’d give a great deal not to have my head throbbing and my gut rolling and my eyelids scraping like sandpaper as I go into Carrie’s memorial.

“Please and thank you,” I say.

Evan shifts Rachel to his side, keeping his arm around her, as he reaches to me.

A deep growl silences everyone in the atrium. “Don’t touch her.”

I turn my head to the source of the noise. Lawson’s standing to my right, his arms crossed over his chest.

He has got to be kidding.

First, Evan’s about to relieve one of the worst hangovers I’ve had. Second, didn’t we get past this jealous bullshit last night?

I lift my sunglasses and glare at him. “Do I look like I’m in the mood for this?” I ask.

He glares back, his pupils narrowed to slits. Very reminiscent of Whitey’s death-glare. “I told you I wouldn’t tolerate any man but Luca or Rhodes touching you. What part of that was unclear?”

Seriously? We’re back to this? Charlie was comforting me. Evan was about to heal me.

I roll my eyes at him and let the sunglasses drop back down since it doesn’t seem like anyone’s going to do anything about how sore my eyes are anytime soon. The discomfort makes my voice sharper than normal when I remind him, “I don’t answer to you, Law. And you can’t do anything for my hangover. So please, tone it down and let the Primus do his thing.”

Law’s gaze shifts to Evan. I’m always aware Law is Cait: a predator who doesn’t conform to the near-human social norms I was raised with. But in this moment, I see him not just as Cait Sidhe, but as what Luca told me: the future king of his people. A war-leader. Protecting the one thing he can’t lose.

“Touch her and I’ll rip your fingers off and eat them,” Law snarls at Evan.

Aaand then he says things like that.

Evan folds his lips together. Then he says, with great composure, “If you could find an acceptable Water-mage to relieve Professor Wyndham’s hangover, my fingers and I would be most appreciative.”

Law looks back at me. “I’ll get Luca.”

Luca heals via his Necromancy. Every healing pulls him closer to the Mother’s breast. It shouldn’t be used except in the most dire circumstances.

I rub my fingers over my forehead, where a fresh throbbing has started. “I’m fine. Please stop making a scene. I’d honestly rather suffer the hangover than have your brother glowering at me, too.”

I flick my fingers at him: an unequivocal suggestion that he leave. Then I turn away from him and walk into the auditorium.

Even though Jane limited the invitees to people who knew Carrie personally, between staff at the various schools where they taught and her former students, the RSVPs were well over a thousand. Old Chapel’s auditorium is filling up already. I see a lot of familiar faces, and some I feel I should know but can’t quite place.

I hope getting repeatedly mind-fucked by a Crow Queen isn’t screwing with my long-term memory.

I pick a spot half-way down in the tiers of seats. Because of the age-gap between me and Rach, we didn’t have many classes together. Two big lecture classes on our shared Element, from memory. But when we did, this is where we liked to sit. Neither at the front nor at the back. Comfortably in the middle.

I leave seats open on either side of me and nod at the people further down the row. They’re fae, wearing silken robes, although I don’t recognize them.

Rachel plonks down beside me. “He’s cute, in a caveman way.”

I groan. “He’s a student.”

“Ooo, naughty, Professor Wyndham, naughty,” she croons.

I really am going to smack her. “Benighted Mother, do not start.”

Rachel giggles, a chime like struck crystal. “Of all people, I am not going to judge you.”

“Good, because there’s nothing to judge.” Because I’ve broken it off with them. A trickle of my anger comes back, prickling around the edges of my hangover. “He and his brother had their laugh at my expense,” I say, although I’m not sure I believe that anymore. It was an unbearable thought, that the three of them had conspired to ruin my career. That cut almost as deeply as Law pretending to be my pet. “I’ve learned my lesson. Again . End of story.”

Please, let it be the end of the story. As I look around this huge hall, filled with some of the brightest magickal minds on the continent, I contemplate how they’d look at me if they knew I’d been sleeping with two students.

They wouldn’t be as non-judgmental as Rachel, that’s for sure.

Rachel hums and I can tell she’s not going to be satisfied with that answer, but I’m spared an interrogation by Teddy’s arrival.

She’s announced by caterwauling. Great Mother, Gal has a set of lungs on her. I see Charlie and the kids caught up with them as Teddy plows down the aisle of seats from the other direction. Teddy’s got baby Carrie swaddled against her chest. Charlie’s carrying Carrie’s wailing older sister. Gabe’s got Honour and Darwin’s bringing up the rear. He’s wearing full fae robes in deep green and silver and fits right in with the fae following him: his father, the Holly King, and two of Rachel’s fellow Darkswerds.

Teddy’s expression is grim. I know she hates being the center of attention, but honestly, between the babies and the fae retinue, she doesn’t have a chance of going unnoticed.

She sits down next to me and reaches for Gal. As soon as Gal’s in her mother’s arms, the wailing stops. She rests her head on her mother’s chest and I expect her to close her eyes. Instead, she looks at her sister and starts whispering.

My necklace warms.

“Gal-me-girl,” Teddy says over her daughter’s whisper. “Baby’s sleepin’. She can’t hear you.”

Gal lifts her curly black head to glare at her mother. Dang, I would not want to be on the receiving end of that glare.

“Mummy,” Gal says in a tone that suggests she’d be planting her tiny fists on her hips if she was standing. “Teach Car-Car. Shh.”

I can’t help but giggle at the consternation on Teddy’s face. Rachel joins me.

“You’re so screwed, mummy,” I tell Teddy.

She sighs. “Don’t breed. Learn from my mistakes.”

Evan slides into the seat next to Rachel and puts a hand on Rachel’s belly, which isn’t showing any bulge yet. “Too late,” he says merrily.

Rachel lights up like Times Square, rainbows bursting from every crystal. I squint behind my sunglasses and, when that doesn’t help with the daggers sinking into my eyes, cover my sunglasses with a hand.

“Lightshow, Rach,” I grumble.

“Sorry,” she says. “It’ll fade in a minute.”

It doesn’t. It takes forever to fade, during which Gal starts whispering to her sister again. It’s hard to hear her over the crowd, plus Teddy picks that moment to start bantering with Gabe, but I catch some words that a toddler shouldn’t know.

Great key. Infernal plane. Ash Flower’s Throne.

“Uh, Teddy, we may need to have a word about Gal,” I murmur.

Teddy breaks off flirting with her husband and whips her head around to peer at me. “What now? She smear sommat on you? Gal-bee, I’ve told you banana’s not a present everyone wants?—”

Her assumption of the tiny terror’s guilt tickles me, since it’s usually warranted. “No, she didn’t. Do you know what language she’s speaking?”

“Um, is it a language?”

“Definitely. Necklace is translating it.”

Teddy glances down at the babies in her lap, then at my neck. “Sure it’s workin’?”

“It’s your enchantment, Professor Nowak.”

Teddy chuckles. “Wouldn’t be too sure, then.”

“It hasn’t been wrong yet.”

“Huh. What’s she sayin’?”

Before I have a chance to answer, Jane rises from a row of seats on the stage and approaches the podium.

“Thank you for coming to Carrie’s memorial service,” she says.