A frown crossed Maeve’s face. “We know I can pull people into a dream, but I don’t want anyone else to do this. I want to get Connor back, but you can’t all risk your lives to do it, too.”
“Don’t talk such bollocks,” Flynn said, shoving the book back into my arms. “This is the first piece of serious magic our complete coven will perform. I want to see what we can do.”
“I’m in,” Arthur said.
“And me,” added Rowan.
I glanced around the room. A surge of pride coursed through me to see the determined faces staring back at me.
Our coven.
It took me seven years for find them all and bring them here to Briarwood. When it came down to it, every one of them had no problem risking their lives to do the right thing and I loved them for it.
I stood up and threw my arms around Flynn and Maeve, bringing them together into a group hug. Maeve wrapped her arm around Rowan and drew him in, and Arthur’s thick arms nearly encircled us all. My grin stretched ear to ear as I yelled, “lets kick some fae ass.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
MAEVE
“Whatareyou doing?”
I squealed with shock, dropping my end of the couch. The leg landed on my foot, sending a shooting pain up my leg. On the other end, Arthur winced as the opposite leg slammed into his shin.
We both whirled around. Dora stood in the entrance to the great hall, casting her frown around at the furniture pushed up against the walls and the rolls of tapestries propped up in the corner. She folded her arms across her black dress and tapped her orthopedic shoes against the stone floor.
“Just um…a little spring cleaning.” I winced, rubbing my foot.
“It’s not spring,” she snapped. “AndIdo the cleaning. Those tapestries are over four hundred years old, young lady. You don’t know how to properly handle them?—”
“That’s why we’ve left them for you to take care of,” I gestured to the tapestries.
“How kind of you,” Dora said in a voice that implied it wasn’t kind at all.
The two of us stared daggers at each other until Arthur coughed awkwardly. “Hey, um…Dora, there’s some mold on the curtains in my bedroom. Shall I help you lift them down?”
“Certainly, Arthur, that will be lovely.” She turned on her heel and stomped off toward the staircase.
Arthur sighed and set down the end of the couch. “I’d better go help her.”
I nodded. “Looks that way. I don’t know why she doesn’t like me.”
“I’m sorry about Dora. She’s been cleaning Briarwood for Corbin’s family since he was in diapers. Most of us don’t have families or don’t see our families, so I think she sees herself as kind of a grandmother. She doesn’t like it when we bring girls here. Corbin even had a girlfriend for a while, and Dora would only refer to her as ‘that woman’.”
I shrugged. “Hey, my father was a preacher. I know overprotective parents when I see them. She thinks I’m a bad influence on you boys.”Although, it would be nice if she got to know me first.
My mind flashed back to last night, to Corbin pounding into me, to Rowan and I moving together on the kitchen stool.
On second thought, bad influence is damn right.
Arthur kissed my forehead. “You can be a bad influence on me any time.”
He darted off to occupy Dora. I tried to shove the couch toward the middle of the room myself, but it was too heavy. I poked my head out into the courtyard and yelled, “Corbin!”
Footsteps clattered across the ramparts. Corbin’s head appeared over the railing around the covered walkway, his dark hair mussed up as though he’d been bent over a book. “You rang, m’lady?”
“Help me!”
A few moments later, I leaned my shoulder into the couch arm, trying to throw my weight behind it, but the damn thing barely shifted an inch. I cursed at it, and a deep voice behind me growled, “I don’t see what the problem is. My view of the situation is brilliant.”
