“Just because you have no magic doesn’t mean you haven’t been magicked,” Meg says. “Now, you’re going to need your strength, given the Brag is in rut, so take a seat and let me feed you.”
She pushes gently on my shoulder until I do as she requests. Almost immediately, Warden is by my side, the bench creaking under his weight.
“My lady,” he says, his deep, velvety voice sending a shiver through me. “Forgive me. I promised never to leave you.”
“I don’t think embarrassment kills, so I do forgive you.”
“The males had some suggestions for where we might want to mate,” Warden says, reaching for a platter of steaming vegetables and swiping plenty onto his platter and mine before grabbing a loaf of fresh bread and breaking it in half for us.
“Suggestions?”
“It is considered lucky to have a Brag mate on your land. Brings good harvests or some such,” Warden says, his cheeksbulging. “I said I’d mate you anywhere because your cunt was so fine and wet.”
My jaw drops.
“What is it?”
I try to say something, but honestly, there are no words for this situation.
“Nothing,” I say eventually. “I guess this is my new normal.”
“Mating is normal. Talking about it is normal,” Warden says, taking a huge bite from his hunk of bread. “And our desires assist our friends who are providing us with this meal. I like being a mated male.” He grins at me.
I honestly don’t think I can argue with his logic. More witches and warlocks join us at the table, goblets filled with fragrant wine are passed around, and the air fills with happy chatter. Sat next to Warden who towers over everyone, I am infused with his warmth and with his good cheer.
I can’t say I disliked being the landlady at the Dark Gibbet, and we had our moments, but this is different.
This feels like home.
HAZEL
“Ihave sent word to the Bluecap we will be joining him soon,” Warden says, stuffing a sack filled with apples into his saddlebags.
He thinks I haven’t seen them. But I know Warden and apples, which is why I also have some in the pretty embroidered backpack one of the witches has given me.
Our stay here, for the last week, has been nothing short of amazing. I can’t remember the last time I felt so…happy.
I want to get to my sister as well as wanting to get back to the tavern, but knowing they are all out there is enough for me to be able to relax, to enjoy my time with Warden, my big bad Brag who has been more than happy himself to indulge not just me, but the locals in their suggestions for places we can be intimate.
Fortunately, they are happy to know we are doing the act, so we don’t end up with an audience. Even if there is occasional applause as we re-enter the castle ruins.
Or rather the fully functioning castle which looks like a ruin. The Night Lands didn’t seem to have so much in the way of magic, and it’s taking a bit of getting used to. Meg is, according to the other witches, extremely powerful as her magic is oldearth magic, not derived from having a Faerie parent like most of them.
It would seem they all have their specific specialities. The witch dressed in green, Bethany, is fantastic at making cures for just about any ill. The witch who seemed to be a fifties throwback, Mary, has a talent for making clever machines powered by the wind or water to make all of their lives easier.
All of them use their magic to benefit the community, and at the very heart is Meg of Maldon. A witch I know has answers and who is not yet ready to impart any of them.
“What binds you is ancient,” she said. “It will unravel in its own time.”
I want to say I’ve had more than enough surprises for the time being, given I have regained my memory and my sister, as well as collected a large, monstrous mate in the form of Warden.
However, I do not respond.
Warden and I enter the courtyard, and there is a considerable crowd to see us off. I absolutely should have got used to the attention by now, but my cheeks still colour, as if no one knows what we’ve been doing for the last few days and I’d like to run away and hide.
But Lady Ryle, landlady of the Dark Gibbet doesn’t run away and so I channel who I thought I would be as Warden takes my hand, gives me an indulgent smile, and we walk out of the open gates into the farmland beyond.
“We should reach the Blucap’s lair by nightfall,” Warden says. “Providing we get over the moors and avoid the armies.”
