Page 24 of My Haven (Bewitched and Bewildered #16)

Moments later a golden light filled the foyer.

A tall blond man walked through the shimmering light.

“Caiden, great to see you.” The man walked forward and clasped forearms with Caiden.

“I got tired of waiting for permission and decided to portal straight in. Luckily, the Nu estate is far enough away from the magic of Storm Keep, the portal worked just fine.” He wagged his eyebrows. “We can visit whenever we want now.”

“Thank you for the help, Darian, or should I say, Your Majesty?” Caiden asked.

“Majesty?” Genevieve whispered.

Caiden clapped a hand on the back of the tall stranger. “Genevieve, meet King Darian Vi’Alina, ruler of the fae.”

She felt her knees go and Caiden pulled her against his side.

Darian looked anxious. “Please don’t be nervous. Caiden told me how you’re taking care of Meryn, how could I do less to help your mating along.”

“You know Meryn?”

The man laughed. “Know her? That menace is my sister twice over,” he explained.

“You’re from her dad’s side of the family, aren’t you? She said it was complicated.”

Darian nodded. “It’s easier to just claim one another than explain how we’re connected.” He looked around. “Where is our little menace and our commander?”

Caiden pointed to the back of the house. “Aiden has been doing drills with the guys since this morning, introducing those goggles. Meryn is laying down after getting sick when she met the Witches’ Council.”

Darian’s face hardened. Suddenly, she could feel the weight of his station. One second, he was a smiling friend, the next an angry king. “What did those parasites do now?” he demanded.

“We might as well head to the palace, so I don’t have to explain things twice,” Caiden said, pointing to the portal.

Darian’s eyes turned to look in the direction of the city. “I’ll let it go, for now.”

Caiden held out his hand. “Ready?”

“I guess,” she said.

Caiden held her hand as they walked through the golden light. Between one step and the next, they went from Caiden’s foyer to a bright palace. “Where are we?”

Darian bowed. “Welcome to the new Winter Palace of éire Danu. Recently finished, you’re one of our first guests.”

“Caiden!” a female voice screeched, then a small woman launched herself at Caiden, bawling her eyes out.

Immediately both men were trying to get her to stop crying.

“Amelia, hun, you have to calm down,” Darian pleaded.

“I wanted to go to h-h-home to s-s-see him and c-c-couldn’t,” she wailed.

“What have you two done now?” a woman demanded, coming up with yet another two blond men.

“Amelia, you’re going to have my mate thinking we abuse you,” Caiden complained.

Amelia sniffled. “Oh dear.” She turned to face Genevieve and threw herself at her. “Thank you, for making him so happy,” the woman cried into her shoulder.

Genevieve rubbed the woman’s back soothingly. “Did they not let you visit? You poor thing,” she said, clucking her tongue.

“Genevieve, there are high tensions between Storm Keep and éire Danu right now,” Darian began.

Genevieve ignored him. “I bet you felt all alone after Meryn left huh?”

Amelia hiccuped and nodded.

“If my best friend Arlo were here, he’d say, ‘Girl, men are simple, just fuck ‘em silly and do what you want’,”

Amelia looked up suddenly, the shock at her words stopping her tears. She grinned wide. “I think I need to meet him.”

“No, you don’t,” Darian refuted.

“Quit smothering her Darian,” the woman countered, then stepped closer. “Welcome to éire Danu. I am Aleksandra EirDan, Darian’s mother. This is my mate Brennus and our squire, Cord.”

“Please to meet you. My name is Genevieve, I’m a traveling food critic,” she said, sticking out her hand.

The woman blinked, then smiled broadly, taking her hand. “No wonder your mate asked for a favor,” she said, giving her hand a squeeze before letting go.

“Was the favor for helping Meryn?” she asked.

Darian turned to Caiden. “Yes, you were going to explain what happened.”

Amelia’s eyes flashed silver, the same way Genevieve had seen Caiden’s glow. “What happened to my baby-sister cousin?”

Genevieve held up her hands in a ’T’. “Wait, I thought you said, you were her brother,” she asked, turning to Darian.

“Remember how I said it was easier to just claim one another?” Darian asked.

“Pull out your big boy words and try,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Aleksandra and Amelia both began to laugh at Darian’s expression.

Darian looked amused. “All the warrior’s mates are fierce.” He pointed to a door off to one side. “Let us sit down and I’ll try to explain.”

As they walked, she looked up at Caiden. “Is this my date?”

He shook his head. “This is a quick visit, then I’ll take you on your date,” he promised.

Darian led them to a smaller room, decorated in whites and blues. It felt homey and smelled of fresh pine. The furniture was carved wood with large cushions. It looked chunky and solid, not spindly like most antiques. Under her hands, the fabric felt soft and comforting.

Once everyone was comfortable, Cord walked around and served tea.

“If we go in chronological order, Meryn and Amelia discovered they were cousins. They declared themselves to be big and baby-sister cousins, so when I mated Amelia, Meryn became my baby-sister cousin. Later, Meryn gave my adopted brother her family name, making him her older brother, thus she became my sister, again.”

“Wow,” she said, trying to follow the logic.

“Then…” Darian started.

“There’s more?” she asked, causing everyone to laugh.

Darian nodded. “We found out that Thane, Caiden’s brother is Meryn’s athair , or godsfather.”

Genevieve sat back. “Is she related to Kendrick?”

Amelia nodded slowly. “Sort of. She adopted Nigel and Neil Morninglory as her brothers of the heart. We found out later that they are Kendrick’s cousins.”

“No wonder he looked pissed when she got sick,” she said, and literally felt the temperature in the room drop.

“What has happened to Meryn?” Aleksandra demanded.

“I was trying to get that out of Caiden when we came here, mother,” Darian said.

“Mother? As in former queen?” Genevieve asked weakly.

Aleksandra just waved her hand. “The only title I am concerned with now, is ‘Grandmother’.” She turned to looked at Caiden. “Report,” she said, in an imperial tone.

Caiden inclined his head. “At her insistence, Meryn wanted to meet the Witches’ Council.”

Brennus stood and began to pace. “She would.”

Caiden continued. “The meeting went smoothly for the most part. The council members were on their best behavior and even asked for advice on how to smooth things over with Darian.”

“What did she say?” Darian asked.

“She said that if they were worried about a breakdown in communications, perhaps they should fix their ‘crystal thingie’.”

Brennus barked his laughter.

Caiden smiled. “What we didn’t know was that during the entire meeting she was suppressing her empathy.

Once we left the castle, we took her to a safe location where she got ill.

We called for Kendrick because the images she was seeing, kept spinning in her mind.

It took Kendrick, Nigel and Neil to set her to rights. ”

“What did she see?” Darian asked.

“The council members on a stage, with rotating masks,” Caiden said.

Aleksandra laid a hand on Genevieve’s leg. “Is she well now?”

Genevieve placed a hand over hers. “She was laying down when we left. I made her a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup, it’s simmering as we speak.”

“Thank you, for looking after my niece,” Brennus said, walking over, giving her a half bow.

Genevieve felt her eye tick. “Your niece?”

Brennus smiled. “It is a bit complicated, isn’t it?”

Genevieve looked to Darian. “Doesn’t matter right? Family is family.”

“You got it,” Darian said, nodding his head approvingly. “That being said, welcome to this convoluted family.”

Genevieve stared. “Huh?”

Darian pointed to Caiden. “He is my brother through Amelia, making you, my sister. Which technically means you’re tied to Meryn now too.”

“I only have Mike and Arlo,” she said, looking around at the smiling faces.

“Who is Mike and Arlo, dear?” Aleksandra asked.

“Mike is Mikayla, my sister. She’s a Marine. Arlo is my best friend. He just found out he’s mated to the head of the Water Temple,” Genevieve explained.

“Marine? That is a human warrior, isn’t it?” Brennus asked.

Genevieve nodded.

“It is always a blessing to have warriors in the family,” Brennus commented.

“Even if she’s a woman?” Genevieve asked.

“Why would that matter?” Brennus asked, looking confused.

Caiden coughed, then pointed to Aleksandra. “The fae were ruled by a queen for thousands of years. Gender equality isn’t an issue here.”

“That’s amazing.”

Aleksandra. “Cord, let us prepare a basket of scones for Meryn that they can take back after their date. Meryn adores those.”

Cord bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

The former queen smiled at Caiden. “Don’t let us hold you up anymore. I have it on good authority that your request sparked quite a bit of excitement and competition.”

Caiden stood, looked from Darian to Aleksandra. “By your leave.” He held out his hand and Genevieve took it. He helped her to stand.

Darian rose. “Have fun. Call me when you’re ready to head back.”

*****

Caiden led her down from where the palace was situated on some sort of hill. They walked through a bustling marketplace, buzzing with conversations and shouts of things on sale.

The roads were ivory cobblestones with gold sand poured between them.

Each building looked like a work of art.

She marveled at the canopy of green growing from the rooftops of most of the buildings.

It was colder here, than in Franklin. She could see why he suggested boots over sandals.

As the people spoke, you could see their breath and their cheeks were rosy in the afternoon sun.

“This is so different than Storm Keep,” she said, turning this way and that, trying to see everything.