Page 20 of My Haven (Bewitched and Bewildered #16)

When they arrived, the children converged on Nigel and Neil, calling their names.

Nigel scooped up a little girl and Neil was talking to a trio of boys.

“Are you back now?” one boy asked.

Neil shook his head. “Just visiting. We wanted to show our sister where we grew up.”

“You have a sister now?” a girl asked.

Nigel pulled Meryn forward. “She looks after us.”

“Nigel and Neil Morninglory! How could you visit and not let me know you were coming!” a warm, but irate female voice complained.

“Sorry Nan, it was last minute,” Neil explained.

“Nan?” Meryn asked.

“Nanette Hedgeflower, we can her Nan. She used to live a street over and would help us out when she could. When the former orphanage director..uh… expired, she took his place,” Nigel said, setting the girl down.

“I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but may he rot in hell,” Nan said, folding her hands in front of her chest. Around her the children did the same and said ‘Amen’.

“That was freaking awesome,” Meryn said, laughing.

Nan stepped forward and took Meryn’s hands. “May you be twice blessed, once each, for both boys, for taking them in. They deserve a good family.”

Meryn looked over at the boys. “They’re not hard to love.”

Both boys blushed furiously.

Neil to turn attention away from them, introduced Pip. “This is our little brother Pip, he’s from Noctem Falls.”

Nan took one look at Pip and pulled him into a hug. “Such a fine young man. I bet you’re a big help to your brothers.”

Pip bobbed his head up and down, then leaned in. “I’m older, but I like being the little brother,” he whispered.

“It suits you,” she agreed.

Genevieve was watching the children closely. It wasn’t obvious, but to her trained eye, she saw multiple signs of malnutrition. “Nan, what do the children eat?” she asked.

Nan sighed. “Better now, than before, but still not much. We don’t get a lot of support from the Witches’ Council,” she admitted.

Genevieve looked up at Caiden. “Can’t we help?”

Caiden shook his head. “Private funds are not allowed to be used for public endeavors. It’s one of our oldest laws.”

Meryn groaned. “We ran into the same problem trying to update the clinic in Lycaonia.”

Genevieve took in the gaunt faces and skinny legs. “What if I were to ask for volunteers to test meals I create for nutritional value?”

Nan stepped forward eagerly. “No money changing hands?”

Genevieve smiled and pointed to her chest. “I’m going to be moving to Storm Keep, so I’ll need work to keep me busy. My mate here will buy the ingredients and we can drop the food off for the kids to test.”

Nan had tears in her eyes. “Aye, that could work.”

Caiden picked her up and swung her around. “You’d be willing to do this? What about your videos?”

He set her on her feet. “I can take what I’ve learned on the road and help the kids.”

“What about Arlo?” he asked.

“I have a feeling Arlo will be wrapped up with Troy for the foreseeable future, but I’ll discuss this with him when he comes up for air,” she said, taking in his jubilant expression.

Caiden turned to Nan. “What she’s not saying is that she has a degree in nutrition. The meals will be healthy and taste amazing.”

She looked at him. “You know about my degrees?”

Caiden flushed. “When I found you, I went back and watched all your videos, maybe repeatedly.”

She paused. “This is probably one of those instances where you don’t mean to sound creepy huh?

Meryn cackled behind them.

Caiden’s eyes grew wide. “That was creepy?”

She held up her fingers an inch apart. “Just a little.”

“I wanted you to know that I enjoyed your videos and support your work,” Caiden said, looking alarmed. “Does that mean liking all your videos was bad too?”

“It was a bit funny to see my older videos getting so much attention,” she admitted.

“You always said, ‘Hit like and subscribe’ so I did,” he explained.

“Thank you, for the support.”

Nan touched her arm. “Are you sure this is something you want to do? It’s a big undertaking.”

She nodded. “It feels right.”

“As the Goddess wills.” Nan dashed at her eyes. “It will help more than you will ever know.”

“It will be infinitely more satisfying to ensure the children are getting healthy meals, than impressing hipsters online,” she said, taking Caiden’s hand.

Nigel, then Neil gave her a big hug.

“Can we help, while we’re here?” Neil asked.

“Sure, you know the area better than I do. I can send you out for groceries,” she suggested.

Caiden looked at his watch. “Let’s head up to the Inner City, then we can start to head home.”

Meryn waved to the kids, making faces at them. They laughed and made faces back.

They walked up Market Street again, passing through the gates to the Inner City.

Immediately she could see the difference.

The buildings were bigger, more elaborate, with more wood and carpentry involved.

Fabrics used brighter colors and it had a more open feel to it.

Where in the Lower City the buildings seemed almost on top of one another, here, there were alleys and wide awnings.

“Wow,” she murmured.

“The Inner City was meant to be more of merchant plaza. There used to be more houses along the gate so there wasn’t a big difference between the Inner City and the Lower City, just the distance you had to walk to go shopping.

Over time, those buildings were torn down so that the distinctions between the two districts were stark.

Merchants and the higher ranked witches who moved here began to pour money into their homes, creating an upper middle-class zone,” Caiden said, pointing to stones that aged differently than the others. “Those used to be foundation stones.”

Meryn looked around. “Where do your Founding and Noble families live?”

“In our history, there were four Founding Families. The Ashleighs and Ironwoods were the sword and shield for our royalty. Then we had the Silverwoods and the Goldenleafs. The Silverwoods lead the Air Temple.” He smiled.

“My mother is a Silverwood.” He sighed. “The Goldenleafs, unfortunately died out over time. Father said that the Bayberrys will be elevated due to Kincaid’s new powers. ”

“Holy cow, does he know that?” Meryn asked.

Caiden shook his head. “I haven’t received any frantic texts or emails from Kincaid, so I can only assume he thinks he has that rank superficially.”

“How so?” Genevieve asked.

“Thane said he overheard Kincaid telling Kendrick that having three powers would be equivalent to being a Founding Family member, not that he actually was one,” Caiden explained.

“I’m so gonna tell him,” Meryn said, smiling to herself as she held up her phone.

Caiden continued. “Next, we have four Noble Families. The Primroses, the Appleblossoms, the Mandrakes and the Elderberrys.”

“Wasn’t Troy’s name Primrose?” Genevieve asked.

“Yes, and yes, he is a Noble Family member,” Caiden confirmed.

Genevieve squinted. “But, you also mentioned Temple Heads and an Elder Council.”

Caiden rubbed the back of his neck. “Since the city began to align more with the Academy and the Witches’ Council, less importance was placed on being a Founding or Noble family member, but there were other ways to lead in the city.

The Temple Heads are usually inherited because that particular family exceeds in that elemental magic.

The head of the Fire Temple is now Mikel Appleblossom, the head of the Water Temple is Troy, the head of the Earth Temple is my father, the position being held in proxy by Luka Mandrake and the head of the Air Temple is Celeste Silverwood, a cousin on my mother’s side. ”

“Man, all y’all are related,” Meryn remarked, watching her phone like a hawk.

Caiden nodded. “The more powerful bloodlines tended to want to have children with each other to produce stronger witches.”

“But not forced matings, right?” Meryn asked.

“No. Each couple came together in an almost business-like meeting. It was wanted on both sides,” he said.

Genevieve felt her head spinning. “The Temple Heads are also Founding or Noble family members?”

He nodded. “It makes sense that the more powerful families are also the ones with the highest elemental affinities.”

Meryn stopped and looked around. “But the Ironwoods and Ashleighs don’t have Founding Family houses.”

Caiden pointed up to the castle. “Technically, all four Founding Families have estates on either side of the castle. They have been taken over by the Witches’ Council family members.

Every few years the Witches’ Council tries to remove the Ironwood and Ashleigh steles that stand on either side of the main gate leading into the castle.

” He smirked. “It was installed by an Ironwood earth witch, so they haven’t been able to budge them.

They do however, have wear and tear around the edges, showing the many attempts to remove them.

” He then pointed to the four larger estates surrounding the castle, separating the Founding Families from the Inner City.

“Those are the Noble Family houses, they’re being used by the Academy. ”

“Dafaq?” Meryn said, glaring at the castle.

Caiden leaned in. “Most of us didn’t want to be near the towers,” he whispered, then straightened, continuing in his normal voice. “The estates are on lease. They can be reclaimed whenever we want.”

“Where do Auntie and Uncle Marsh live then?” Meryn asked.

“They built an estate equidistant from the three-unit house that myself, Kyran and Tristan serve in,” he replied.

“And Amelia was raised in the Nu house?”

“Yes. When Amelia was a baby and growing up, Nu was a very popular place to hang out. The men absolutely adored her.” Caiden was about to continue when his phone rang. He looked down and saw Kincaid was calling. He looked to Meryn, who was smiling at him innocently. “You gonna get that?”

Caiden answered. “Hello?”

“What does Meryn mean I’m a Founding Family member for real?” Kincaid said, nearly shouting the words.

Caiden stared at Meryn. She stuck her tongue out.

“Kincaid, I thought you were told once you acquired your third power, you would be eligible to be elevated to Founding Family rank,” Caiden began.

“Yes, but I thought that was just an equivalent rank thing, not an actual thing,” he wheezed.

“Then I probably shouldn’t tell you that your family inherited the Goldenleaf estate.”

“What!”

Meryn laughed, as they all clearly heard Kincaid’s panic.

Caiden’s expression turned thoughtful. “I’m out with Meryn right now, why don’t you call Kendrick, and he can go over the particulars,” he suggested.

“Right. Kendrick. He’ll know how to fix this,” Kincaid said, then hung up.

“That was bad!” Meryn said laughing.

Caiden tucked his phone away. “Kendrick needs to earn his keep every once in a while.”

“I forgot that you two were close. What was Keelan like as a kid?” she asked.

“Kee?” Caiden smiled, his expression softening.

“Kee was as kind and as thoughtful as Kendrick was sarcastic and rude. He was constantly helping people and of course worshiped the ground Kendrick walked on.” His smiled faded.

“I remember the day Kee told Kendrick that was going to Lycaonia to serve in Alpha despite many premonitions saying it was dangerous. It was the first time Kee had ever told him no.”

Meryn pat his arm. “He’s okay. We’ll figure out how to stuff him back in his body.”

Genevieve stared. “Huh?”

Meryn waved off the question. “Tell ya later.”

“Caiden Ironwood, what a surprise!” a voice boomed.

“Bingo,” Caiden whispered, then eyed Meryn.

The small woman shrunk on herself and leaned on Ryuu.

“Thad Broadleaf, it’s rare to see you outside of the council chambers. The weather proved to be too tempting for you?” Caiden asked, in a lazy cadence.

“It has been lovely today.” Thad eyed their small group. “May I beg for introductions?”

“Of course, old boy. The beautiful woman at my side, is my newly found mate, Genevieve Taylor. Nigel and Neil, I know you’ve heard of before.

Pip Maverick is a Founding Family son from Noctem Falls, and last but certainly not least, Meryn McKenzie, mate to our commander, Aiden McKenzie, her squire Ryuu Sei and her guard Pierce Alamarez,” Caiden said, pointing to each person.

Thad gave a slight half bow to Genevieve, inclined his head at Pip, then turned his full attention to Meryn. “I have heard more of you, than your esteemed mate. You have been very busy since coming to our world.”

Meryn nodded shyly, staying quiet.

Thad’s eyes went first to the ring on her hand, then to her bracelet. “Interesting pieces. Did you acquire them in éire Danu?”

Meryn nodded. “Kinda.”

He looked her up and down. “Caiden, am I mistaken, or does she have a bit of empathy and premonition?”

“You would be right. As she wasn’t raised in Storm Keep, she has been getting instruction from Kendrick Ashwood and Thane Ashleigh.”

Thad’s eyebrows rose. “Why those two?”

“She met Kendrick first, when he went to Lycaonia to ascertain Keelan’s condition. She later met Thane as he is her athair ,” Caiden explained.

“ Athair ?” Thad asked quickly.

“Yes, her father was Eamon Vi’Eirlea, and a close friend of Thane’s.”

“How interesting,” Thad murmured, then broke into a broad smile. “Where are my manners? Lady Genevieve, Lady Meryn, would the two of you like a tour of Stormhart castle? My fellow council members are there, and I know they would love to meet you.”

Genevieve, looked up at Caiden who was all smiles, and nodded slowly. “That sounds fun.”

Thad turned to Meryn.

“Could I get some tea, maybe some of those little sandwiches? The Water Temple head said my sugar was low,” she said, looking wan.

“Of course, my dear! Come right this way, I will take you directly to our sitting rooms. There you can rest, and our squires will bring you only the best,” he said, placing a hand over his heart then opening up his other arm in welcome. “Make yourselves at home.”

Genevieve tried to give her best haughty, head nod and followed the dazzlingly polite man.

Please don’t let me screw anything up , she prayed.