Page 3 of Cathmoir’s Sons (Bad Boys of Bevington #5)

Chapter 3

Hogmanay Hootananny

KELLAN

“ Y ou snookered me,” I grouse at Teddy.

“I’m dead awful at snooker, actually,” she responds, without lifting her head from her task: diapering a squirming twin.

“You know I wouldn’t have come if I’d known about the ball .”

I sweep the Legos scattered across the floor into a basket and dump the basket in front of Gal, who is sitting on her freshly diapered butt on the thick carpet of the Ember Palace nursery. It was just the twins’ room, until Teddy tried to put Carrie’s cradle in a room down the hall and Gal screamed non-stop for a full day about “keepin’ Car-Car swafe.” Teddy moved Carrie’s cradle into the twins’ room, which became the nursery, and the screaming stopped.

Well, most of the screaming stopped. Gal’s still very ... vocal when she’s displeased.

She’s in a good mood today, though, and grabs a Lego from the pile to chew on.

“Ball, shmall,” Teddy says. “It’s a party. Eat the finger foods. Drink the good booze. I finally convinced Callan to let me serve proper ale as well as that fizzy shite. I booked a local folk band Gabe loves. They’re mint. Enjoy the fireworks at midnight. Auntie Jill’s bringing her whole tribe. She loves you. You can talk with her all night and listen to the good music if you don’t want to dance. Let Callan hang out with Jane for a while. If anyone understands loss, it’s him.”

That’s true. Callan’s last princess, who Teddy calls Ursula the Sea Witch, was wife number five . And he’s too traditional a fae to divorce.

“Okay, fair,” I admit. “Still, you didn’t tell me I’d have to wear a dress-dress. Or heels.”

Teddy snorts. “I have to wear dress-dresses all the time now. Fecking fae. And feel free to wear Docs under your dress-dress. I do.”

“No way can I wear boots under my dress. It’s only knee-length.”

I’m sure there are other dresses in the suitcase that’s still in Jane’s closet but I’m not ready to unpack it, so I’m down to the contents of my own closet, and the gray silk dress I bought for schmoozing alumni. It’ll do for a ball.

“Ah, I shoulda mentioned you don’t get to wear your own dress.” Teddy holds up a finger for emphasis, somehow finishing off Honour’s diaper with one hand. Dang, she’s good. “The Liusaidh will want to dress you. You have to pretend that she’s giving you one of her million granddaughters’ hand-me-downs. Which will fit you perfectly and be in the best color for you. Just roll with it.”

I snort. “Seriously?”

Teddy nods. “It’s a high fae thing. You’re a guest. You’re gifting them your time and attention by visiting. It creates an imbalance if they don’t provide everything for you.”

I sit on the floor next to Gal and start putting together the Legos. She immediately crawls into my lap and helps. And by “helps,” I mean, she begins chewing on each of the Legos I snap together.

“Is Gal teething?” I ask Teddy.

“Like a bugger.” She nods. “I swear she’ll have more than thirty-two teeth at the rate she’s going. Here.”

She tosses me a knot of cloth. Cold bites into my fingers. I juggle the freezing cloth between my hands.

“What’s this?”

“Teething cloth. Give it to Gal. She knows what to do with it.”

“It’s too cold for a baby.”

Teddy snorts. “You’ll see.”

“Oookay.”

I offer the cloth to Gal, who immediately grabs it with a chubby fist and swaps it out for the Lego in her mouth.

“So, not too cold?” I ask, filing away that hypothermic lips are evidently okay for babies.

“Nothing’s too cold for our little Fire babies,” Teddy says, snapping a green and red onesie over Nor’s kicking legs and plopping him on the floor next to his sister. “Two ticks and she’ll be whining for G’daddy to make it cold again.”

I tickle Gal so she giggles while continuing to chew the cloth. “Good news for you, kiddo. I can make that cold, too.”

“She’ll love you forever,” Teddy says, leaning against the changing table and rubbing her stomach. I’m sure her skin and muscles are still adjusting to not being stretched by the cherub sleeping in her crib on the other side of the room.

“How’re you doing, mama?” I ask.

“Eh. Not gonna whinge. Charlie’s got me circuit training to get back in shape. Bastard that he is. Yesterday was core day.” She rubs again. “He’s trying to keep me distracted.”

“I know you were close to Carrie,” I say gently.

Teddy pushes her hand through her straight, black hair, ruffling it up from her forehead. “I’m a right numpty, ain’t I? I know everyone dies. Even Dar’s granddad, Mother keep him. Just ... Carrie. I thought she’d still be terrorizing freshmen when the twins get to Bevvy. I can’t imagine it without her. I can’t imagine the world without her. I keep expecting her to email a question that’ll have me turning me melon inside-out for days. I made her favorite muffins the other day?—”

Teddy breaks off, pinching her nose, wiping her eye with her thumb.

I roll up off the floor and pull my friend into a hug. “It’s okay to let yourself feel her loss, Teddy. I know I do.”

Teddy sniffs and hugs me back. “I haven’t been much of a friend to Jane. Every time I try to talk to her about Carrie, I bottle it.”

“Jane understands you’re grieving, too. There’ll be time for you to share with Jane, to listen to her stories about Carrie and tell her yours. That’s how we honor Carrie’s memory.”

“Yeah, you’re right, mate.” She lifts her head. “Oh, for feck’s sake, I’m allowed to have a scryke without the Light Brigade chargin’ in!”

I turn to follow her gaze. Gabe, Charlie, and Darwin are all standing in the nursery’s doorway, watching their wife anxiously. Gabe’s silent because he’s an Air-mage. Darwin’s silent because he’s fae. But Charlie’s a big guy and a Fire-mage, so there’s no reason he should be able to sneak up on me and his wife. Unless Gabe’s cloaking the sound of their movement, which I wouldn’t put past him.

At the appearance of their fathers, the twins begin to coo.

Charlie pushes through the doorway, crossing the room to us. He opens his arms, and I hand Teddy off to him. She grumbles and rolls her eyes but slides into her husband’s embrace and lays her head on his broad chest. Charlie gives me a wink from under his sandy bangs. Teddy calls him her Viking and with his big build and the blond beard he’s grown since we were at Bevvy, I totally see it.

Charlie cradles Teddy’s head against his collar with one huge hand. “You don’t have to be so hard, bean. We all know what she meant to you.”

Teddy thumps her husband’s shoulder. “I’m not bein’ hard. I have a bloody newborn. I’m too busy to cry.”

“Don’t let my father hear you say that if you’re going to continue to turn down his offers of nannies,” Darwin says, coming up behind Charlie and sliding his arms around both of them.

Darwin’s always been cold around me. It’s understandable. He’s a high fae prince. Showing emotion is a political liability. But he’s completely different when he’s in private with Teddy and their family. Watching him be so affectionate is always slightly surprising, and totally heartwarming.

“No nannies,” says Gabe, scooping up Gal as she tries to scale Darwin’s leg. “I mean it. I’ll quit teaching if I need to, but our babies are being raised by us.”

A chorus of nos answer Gabe. Darwin turns and takes Gal from Gabe, freeing Gabe to pick up Nor, who has scooted over to his family on his diapered butt and is starting to whimper. Gabe flubbles Nor’s pouty lip with his finger until the toddler giggles.

“There are four of us,” Charlie says. “We can handle three babies.” He pats Teddy’s stomach. “Five when Teddy gives me mine.”

She punches his shoulder, not gently. “If I catch twins again, I’ll never forgive you.”

“Mom’s a twin,” Charlie observes. “They run in my family.”

“I’ll kill you dead, Charlie Miller,” Teddy threatens. Charlie chuckles.

“You realize that when they outnumber you, you have no hope,” I point out.

Darwin laughs. “They already outnumber us. Gal can take out three of us with one temper tantrum.” He bounces his daughter in his arms. “Can’t you, tiny terror?”

Gal turns uncharacteristically shy, chewing on her teething knot and hiding her face in her father’s neck.

Her parents collectively “aww” and pat Gal’s back.

“Teddy, the Liusaidh’s asked for you and Kells,” Gabe says, as he flutters his long lashes against Nor’s cheek. The little boy squirms and squeals and grabs at his father’s face.

Teddy throws me an, “I told you so” look. I throw up my hands and resign myself to wearing whatever the scary, ancient fae lady thinks suits me.

There’s no one I’m trying to impress tonight anyway.

I feel him just before a deep voice says in my ear, “Dance with me.”

A strong arm wraps around my waist and pulls me against a firm chest. I twirl my finger between us, intending to push him back with a finger of Air, but the man snatches away my magic with two fingers and holds me close.

I look up at him in shock. I’ve never seen a mage do that before. I’ve never read a spell or incantation that allows you to pluck away magic like that.

Luca’s amber-lit eyes look back at me from within an ornate black mask that hides his face from upper lip to hairline. Above the mask, his hair’s a pale blond wave. Below the mask, he’s wearing a tuxedo with a red and green striped waistcoat.

I consider knocking him on his ass. He might be able to pluck away my magic, but I bet he’s not expecting an uppercut.

He narrows his eyes at me. “Don’t do anything that will ruin your friend’s party.”

Teddy would be extremely amused if I knocked Luca across the dance floor. Callan wouldn’t be, though, and he’s been very kind tonight, sitting and talking with Jane since we arrived.

“I should shove your ass through a gate back to Bevington,” I tell him. “You have no business being here.”

“I was invited, actually,” he says, his tone indolent, his body moving lithe and sure against mine as he steps once, twice, and we’re flowing into the stream of dancers.

“Let me guess. Those are the Holly King’s colors,” I observe. It doesn’t make sense that Luca’s wearing them, though. From everything I’ve learned about the Cait, they walk their own path. They’d never be part of another fae’s retinue.

“Good guess,” Luca confirms. “The Holly King invited us. Law’s over there. No one else knows we’re here.”

He nods over my shoulder to where his twin sits at the Holly King’s table, talking with a knight in golden armor.

“I assume Callan knows you’re here.”

“You’re right. Callan also knows we’re here. No one else. You can dance with me. You can talk to me. No one will know.” His arm tightens like I’ve tried to escape. “Don’t push me away.”

I soften, sliding my hands up to his shoulders, and let him lead me. The music from the group Gabe likes so much is slow and pretty. It makes me nostalgic for snuggler chairs, pink wine, and the weight of Whitey on my legs.

I try to push that thought away, but it won’t go.

“How is Rhodes?” I ask after we’ve danced in silence for a minute. “Larissa brought me a note from your mother saying he’s recovering well but is still on bed rest.”

“Ah. That explains where Larissa’s been. I should have guessed Mom would keep in touch with you.” Luca nods.

“So, how is he?”

“Recovering, but still on bed rest. Dying took a lot out of him.”

Clawing him back from the Mother took a lot out of me. I didn’t feel it immediately, flushed with righteous fury, but I have in the days since. I’m not sleeping well without Whitey, but I can barely stay awake for more than six hours at a stretch without needing a nap. I’ve stayed at Jane’s townhouse not just because she needs my support, but because the mere idea of doing anything more strenuous than cooking, cleaning, and reading is exhausting. Once they reach puberty, mages don’t get human diseases, but I’ve heard humans talk about this modern plague, this coronavirus. I know how they feel.

Luca continues, “As soon as he’s allowed out of bed, he’ll come see you. He wanted to come tonight, but the healers were clear that he’s not recovered enough yet.”

I chew on my lower lip. “You’ve explained to him why I haven’t been to Cait House to check on him?”

“I have,” Luca confirms. “He understands. Doesn’t change how he feels, though. He’ll be banging down your door as soon as he’s off bed rest.”

I roll my eyes. These boys and their lack of boundaries.

“I’m glad he’s recovering but I don’t want to see him. I have nothing to say to him. Or you. Or your brother. You lied to me?—”

Luca shakes his head. “No, I didn’t. I never lied to you. Stop saying I did. Did I withhold information from you? Fuck yeah. Wanna talk about what you withheld from me? I figured out who you were weeks ago. I knew your name and what it meant. I found the names of the other Crow Queens. I knew about the Court of Cold Mist and what it would want from you. You praise me for my research skills. You tell me I have talent. Why, why , Kellan, didn’t you ever ask me to help you?”

A response catches in my throat. I swallow with an effort. “Because I have to walk this Path alone,” I whisper.

Luca’s arm tightens around me until we’re nose to nose and he’s more carrying me than leading me. “No, you don’t. I’m your fated mate, too. I’ve proved my loyalty to you. I’m the first person you should have told. Instead, you confided in your fucking cat.”

“Don’t bad mouth Whitey,” I flare, then realize who I’m talking about. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with talking with my cat. It helps me think through things.”

“There is when your research assistant has to get everything second-hand from that cat,” Luca snaps. “Why would you keep something this important from me?”

“Luca, it’s not that simple. I can’t talk about it here?—”

“Yes, you can. Reach your hand out and you’ll feel my ward. No one can hear us. Say it, you didn’t trust me.”

I shake my head, because whatever he thinks, that’s not true.

“I didn’t trust me . I didn’t understand what I was becoming. I’m still not sure I do. But I know I put everyone around me in danger, Luca. I know you’re an adult. I know you’re smart and capable. But no one understands what I can do. Not even me. I know you think my rules about students are stupid, but you are a student and it’s my job to protect Bevington’s students, not put them in danger.”

A slow smile creeps across his face. “You’re terrible at your job.”

I slap the back of his head.

“Being dangerous isn’t going to keep us away, Kellan. Hells, it’s catnip to Law. You might as well wave a red cloak at him. I know you don’t understand what you’re becoming. Maybe I don’t, either, but if you’d told me about it, I’d have helped you figure it out. You don’t have to flounder around in the dark. I’m here for you.”

I don’t know what to say to that. He has shown me amazing loyalty. And his research skills are top-notch. Maybe I should have asked him to help me understand my past.

As I wonder whether I’ve been foolish to overlook him, we take a silent turn around the dance floor. With every step, I become more and more aware of him. I haven’t been this close to Luca before. I’m pressed against his body, feeling the shift of his muscles as he moves. My nose is full of his scent: fur and musk and blood like his brother’s but with a top note that’s as fresh as a breeze off a snowy hillside—that’s all Luca. Is it the seed Law’s planted in my mind about fated mates that makes my body slowly warm to him? Are they brainwashing my heart?

“Luca—”

“I know, just ignore it.”

I blink, then realize he’s talking about his erection, which has brushed me several times. He’s not grinding it against me the way Lawson would, but as soon as he mentioned it, it pops to the top of my awareness and won’t leave.

“I wasn’t, um, it’s fine. You’re not doing it on purpose. I know that. I wanted to ask, about the fated mates thing. You feel it, too?”

“Yeah.” His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “I found you first. Did Law tell you that? We were at an open day for Bevington. There were tents set up on Bodeman Main lawn. You were standing in one with Jane Serpa. The other professors were wearing suits. You were wearing your boots and a tank top and a white linen shirt. Your hair was braided back. You started laughing at something Jane said, and the breeze brought the scent of your skin and hair to me.” Luca’s voice softens, becomes reverent. “Law had to pick me up off the ground when I fell over, intoxicated by your scent. It was every good thing I’d ever smelled. I’ve loved Rhodes for years, but his scent’s nothing compared to yours. I knew right away who you were.”

That strange tendril in my chest grows a little more. “I don’t know ... I’m not sure what I feel, Luca.”

“I know. Law told me. It’s okay if you don’t feel what we feel.”

“I met my sisters, Kathu and Brangwy. They’ve found their consorts. They seemed to feel ... whatever you’re feeling.”

Luca nods. “I’ve read about them. Kathu’s wolves and Brangwy’s boar. What are they like?”

“Creepy, to be honest with you. They told me to bring my consorts the next time we meet, but this is just what I mean about being a danger to you, Luca. If you’re ... if you’re part of this, there’s no way I’d expose you to them. They’re half mad.”

Luca flashes his grin. “You can just expose me to the half-sane parts.”

I shake my head at him, but he pulls a real smile out of me. And maybe a small piece of my shattered heart fits back into place. I’m still furious at him—at them—but Luca’s not wrong that I kept things from him. He’s not wrong that he’s been loyal, more loyal than I ever expected. And every word he said about smelling me held a deeply-felt truth.

“I’m not just here because I’m desperate to see you, Kellan,” Luca says. “Although I am desperate to see you. So’s Law. He’s impossible and an asshole and you should make him suffer but please, fuck, take him back.” When I shake my head, he runs his hand down my back. He doesn’t squeeze my ass, but if his palm was a half inch lower, I’d be protesting. “Okay, I’ve made my pitch for him. The rest of tonight’s for me. I’m here with the Holly King because he came to us a few days ago and told us he intended to court you.”

“ Court me?”

What the Hells? Also, why ? I think he said five words to me at the V.I.P. opening. And he introduced me to his male lover.

“Uh-huh. Law wants you to tell him to fuck off. But I know you won’t do that. Whether you’ll do it to piss off Law or because you’re learning how to play politics, you’ll hear him out, entertain him, and suck him into being your friend. Just like you did with me.”

I lift my eyebrows—carefully plucked and shaped by Teddy’s sister-in-law Kathleen during our pre-party pamper session—at him. “Is that what I did? Or was I just trying to keep things between us professional despite you propositioning me?”

“Both. Other people may not realize how smart you are, Kellan, but I’ve never underestimated you.”

I scowl at him. “Stop trying to flatter me.”

“It’s not flattery if it’s the truth. I don’t need to lie to you. You know how much I think of you. I won’t tell you how to handle the Holly King.” He smirks. “I’ll leave that to Law. I’ll just ask that you share what he says with me. If he hasn’t already figured it out, he’ll quickly realize what you value most is knowledge. I have a hunch he’ll tell you things no one else knows to try to win your favor.”

Something stirs in me like a flutter of wings. “Things no one else knows ... like the Oak King’s weaknesses?”

Luca nods. “He was a knight of Ivywhile before he became Holly King.”

I consider that as we round the dance floor again, passing by the table where Law and the Holly King are sitting. Law’s eyes, brilliant within the shadows of his mask, track me like prey. I glare back at him.

“If he’s planning to, um, court me or whatever, why did he bring the two of you?” I ask, as I try to work through the ramifications of this bizarre turn of events.

“He didn’t want a war with the Cait. He didn’t quite ask for permission, but he did ask for Law’s terms.”

My eyebrows can’t shoot any higher. “Terms? What the fuck?”

Luca chuckles. “They’re not in step with the modern world, the high fae.”

“No shit. Look around you. What terms did your brother set?”

“That if you told him no, he would respect that. And that he couldn’t be with you without one of the three of us with you as well.”

The absurdity of it brushes over me. “Your brother, who has never given a shit about my consent, required it out of the Holly King? And how’s he supposed to ‘court’ me with the three of you hovering over us?”

“In a very old-fashioned way, I’m guessing. Expect lots of chaperoned walks.”

I laugh. “That’s ridiculous. And I don’t have time for it.” It hits me that without Rhodes and Lawson, my social calendar suddenly has more space in it. I wince. “Jane needs me.”

Luca bows his head. “I can’t approach her tonight for the obvious reasons, but please give her my condolences.”

“I will. We’re going to hold Carrie’s memorial on the fifth. I’ll send out the invitations when I get back to Bevington.”

“Will Cait House get an invitation?” he asks.

“No, Jane wants it to be people who knew Carrie, not a political event. But you’ll get one.”

“Thank you. I get why Jane wouldn’t want to make it political, but I think you should invite the Holly King.”

I frown up at him. “Why?”

“Because having him at public events with us will divert attention from Rho, me, and Law.”

“Who I won’t be attending public events with,” I point out.

“Good luck with that.”

“Luca, if I haven’t made it clear that I don’t want anything to do with your brother and your boyfriend, let me make it crystal clear?—”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know,” he says. “But you’ve met my brother. He puts the s-for-stalker in obsessive. And you probably haven’t seen this side of Rhodes yet, but he never loses. Not at anything. As a competitor, he’s a ruthless beast. And no matter what anyone says, he’s going to see the Holly King as competition.”

“Remind him I’m a person, not a prize.”

“You are a prize.” Luca shrugs. “But I will.”

“You don’t think it’ll make any difference?” I ask.

“I know my boy.”

Great.

“I have a few questions about that.”

“About what, Rhodes and me? I’ll answer every single one. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. But it may have to wait. Law’s patience is used up. He and the Holly King are coming this way.”

Luca tips his chin past my shoulder.