Page 53 of Hexes & Heartstrings (Shifters of Bastion Keep #2)

With two of the guardians keeping them in sight but maintaining a polite distance otherwise, Russell led the way up the steps and to the front of the castle, making sure he kept to a shorter stride for the man who still experienced sudden bouts of fatigue.

Most importantly, he kept his sense of smell alert; the first couple of times he'd escorted Lord Kerry, the man had only made it partway down the first couple of halls before weeping at what he saw of the castle, needing to be taken back to his bed.

But today smelled like a good day, and if Lord Kerry was happy, that made Russell happy.

Once they were out the front doors, Russell took off his kilt and shoes and left them in an alcove, then shifted into his larger wolf form. It was just the right height that Lord Kerry could rest a hand on his back, his hand gripping Russell's red fur.

It was something the man often needed, according to Rosemary and a therapist that had been brought in from Town.

They'd told Russell that the lord needed constant reminders that he was in the real world, and not in a timeless void of a dream…

but not too constant, so as not to overwhelm someone that had spent most of a century with only himself and unpleasant spirits for company.

Russell snorted. He could have told them that! Lord Kerry was like someone who had been put in time out for a long, long time, and he needed to remember how to be around other people, even if it was scary. But like his smart boyfriend said sometimes, even tiny steps are forward progress.

"I enjoy these walks of ours, good Russell," Lord Kerry said.

Russell wuffed a single note response; Lord Kerry usually only needed a listening ear, and was still prone to being startled when his audience spoke back.

"The days are so quiet, the nights moreso.

I'm used to a dozen voices prattling on in my head, constantly bickering or shouting or demanding that I do this or that.

Sometimes I miss it, and when I do, I fill the silence with words from the books you bring me, and it helps.

But mostly, I am glad for the silence.I am finally able to hear myself again. "

Lord Kerry stopped talking, letting Russell guide him in a circuit around the front of the castle, between the winterized fountains and the snow-covered bushes.

"I loved him, you know," he said, picking up from a conversation he'd ended the day before.

"My promised mate.I wish I could have told him that I forgave him.

Told him it was my fault, too.One of the things that keeps me going in this new world is the hope to see him again one day and tell him that. "

Russell continued padding along silently, but briefly pressed his side into the lord.Lord Kerry had said all this before, though in different words.

Russell hoped that they could see each other again, too.He knew his own Ma and Da had their issues, and even if they weren't together, they still loved each other.Lord Kerry and Dafydd were probably just the same.

"Listen to me babble like a courtesan with the latest gossip, my deepest apologies," he said, stopping beside one of the fountains that decorated the front of the castle.

"But Russell, there's something I need to tell you.

Now that I'm in my right head again, some of my memories over the last century are returning. "

Lord Kerry took a seat on the edge of the stone fountain, patting its smooth stone.

"I wasn't always within the dream of Bastion Keep, what I've heard the guardians now call Hallow.There were many times when the spirits would take full control, and we would leave. Sometimes we would visit the deepest parts of the Umbral Realm, other times, we visited other planes.

"Deals were made, Russell. Deals that might be moot, now, with the absence of the spirits.

But more to the point, whomever the spirits spoke to, they were told about Bastion Keep and its anchors, about the inverse ward that surrounds the keep, and how the Wayiyi Valley is a weak point for the veil.

"Good Russell, I think… I think I remember that there are bigger things coming, older things that might have designs upon our fair land."

Russell tilted his head, and decided that this called for an acknowledging bark.

"Ah, thank you.I'm glad to have told someone. I'll try to remember more of the specifics, but my mind is still a foggy mess, pray forgive me."

Russell bobbed his head, then retook his position at Lord Kerry's side while the man headed back indoors.

He thought about what he'd been told.Other realms?

Other spirits?This wasn't something that he really knew how to handle.

His job at Bastion Keep was straightforward.

He helped his da, and he helped the witches.

His job was to fix things so that people's lives were easier.

Things like cribs, and chairs, and parched throats, and empty stomachs.

But he didn't know how to do everything, and he certainly didn't know how to solve Lord Kerry's problem.

However, Russell did have a wonderful, clever mate for a warlord, so that's what Russell would do!

He'd tell his mate, and trust him to do the right thing that needed to be done, and if it had to do with spirits, well, Da was an expert on them, too.

And if it had to do with the Umbral, Bruin had shown that he could do clever things there, which meant he and Ser could keep each other safe, which made Russell feel better.

Russell nodded to himself.Yes, between Ser and Bruin and his da and the other witches and guardians, there wasn't anything that Bastion Keep couldn't handle!And, having come up with a plan, he firmly put it out of his mind so that he could focus on the present.

Shaking a bit of falling snow off of his fur, Russell followed along beside Lord Kerry, helping the man to mend what he'd lost over the last century.Just doing his own, straightforward duty for Bastion Keep.