Adamant Spirits, page 26
"Give me your hand," he said. "I have an idea."
He guided her to the Druid state, and with Suzanne's senses he scanned the walls of the house for something close enough to grow and big enough to make a difference. After a few moments of scanning, he found an acorn lodged in the old wall.
"Can you make it grow?" Rex asked.
She went into the place to communicate with the plants. "No. The acorn isn't responding to me. It's almost like it is asleep."
Maybe if he had more training he would be able to help her. Plants didn't sleep the same way animals did. They tended to have bigger cycles. Spring was their time to wake up. The plants might have started to grow already if the previous ceremonies hadn't failed. Spring. Heat. Was his heat related to the spring?
"Let me see if I can rouse the acorn." Rex fed warmth to the little life just like he had to the tree in the yard. The acorn woke up. It germinated and grew. He couldn't feel the plant any longer, but maybe Suzanne still could. "Can you get the tree to grow in such a way that we can get through this wall?"
She closed her eyes, "I think so. Stand back."
Rex could still feel Suzanne and through her he could sense the plant. The small seed became a sapling and then a tree. Roots dug down to the basement with a groan and limbs quested up and out for light. The wall cracked as the tree skyrocketed upward, and Rex and Suzanne pushed past.
The room they entered spread across the rest of the house and had vaulted ceilings which followed the slope of the roof. In the center of the ceiling was a star-shaped skylight and below it stood a stone altar. Hovering two feet above the altar was an azure sphere encased in a shaft of light. It bobbed up and down in the glow.
"I see you brought the girl," a deep, gravelly voice said. "How very thoughtful."
Five people in long blue cloaks and drawn hoods appeared around the altar. The hoods hid their features.
Cold engulfed Rex's arms as ice gripped his forearms from behind. "Who are you?" Rex demanded.
"There is nothing you can do to save her, Druid. She was born to this destiny." Two blue cloaked people stepped forward, grabbed Suzanne, and hustled her to the altar. They forced her to kneel before it.
"We have kept her fire magic suppressed." The one who spoke walked to Suzanne's side.
Suzanne twisted and broke the grip of those holding her. She darted up and forward, throwing back the spokesman's hood. "F-father?" Her mouth opened, and she fell to her knees with a gasp.
"You can stop calling me that. Call me Gary for the short time you have remaining." He chuckled, sounding evil and a bit crazy.
"I don't understand," she whispered.
"You don't have to." His gaze darted back to the rest of the group and then up at the skylight. "We have held sway over the seasons for over a generation. All it takes is sacrificing a Firebrand at the spring ceremony to make it permanent." He placed a finger between her eyes, and Suzanne slumped. "And that would be you."
"We blocked the Druids’ attempt at Imbolc and will do our own ceremony instead. Then our kind will dominate the land. One more Firebrand sacrificed on the eve of full power and we will bring about the next ice age." Gary raised his fist and his sleeve dropped. Frost caked his arms. He must be able to do with ice what Rex did with Little Red.
"And you, Druid." Gary sneered the last word. "You think we would not recognize your kind because of masked magic? I can feel the power within you."
Rex realized that Gary couldn't tell what powers Rex had, just that he had some.
Gary placed his hands on the floor, and the ice flowed and formed a statue depicting fire. Mark pulled back his hood, stepped forward, and ice leapt from his arms to create a well. He dropped a gold coin into the well. Meanwhile, Gary grew a tree out of ice. Mark lifted the well and dumped it on the tree, which sent the coin flying toward Rex's feet.
The outside wind grew silent. The fire in Rex’s belly warred with the chill spreading down his back and on his forearms where the icy hands still held him. He desperately tried to use what Lawrence had taught him and reached for the tree’s spirit, but it remained unresponsive. Arching his back, he twisted and bucked but nothing worked. No matter how hard he twisted, the hands held him tight.
Two people lifted Suzanne and tied her to the altar. Gary created a long ice knife and stepped closer. The men in blue all turned to the ceremony and ignored Rex.
The desperate thought that this was not the way it should end shot through Rex’s mind. He fed the fire in his belly and felt a barrier melt within him. An edge of a memory teased him. He closed his eyes to remember. The shiver of cold had woken him up from his nap. He had been five and all he had been able to think about was his new swing set. He’d crept down the stairs and waited until his mom's long, red hair covered her face as she bent to put laundry in the dryer, then he’d slid past the door. Once on the swing, he’d tried to go as high as he could. He was at the apex of his forward motion when the ice barrier encased the house. The spell sent him flying backward into the brush, and he rolled down the hill away from his home. The screams of his parents and the hiss of fire were the last things he’d heard before he landed hard. His tumble was the only thing that had saved him. Lawrence and a young Suzanne had found him alone and crying.
"You must both be brave. The Blues will come back, but they must find Suzanne or they will do terrible things to the world. Neither of you will remember this until the balance is restored." Lawrence shook when he hugged Suzanne and kissed her on the forehead. She slumped to the ground. Lawrence kissed Rex's forehead and backed away from his daughter, holding Rex's hand.
Rex was not a Druid. He never had been.
For the first time, he didn't seek balance, but embraced his inner heat. He awoke the fire dragon within. The heat pooled in his gut, heated his blood, flushed his skin, and then leapt into the ice on his arms which sublimated, going directly from ice to steam. His heart soared. Finally, he'd found something he was good at.
His freedom had happened so quickly, no one had noticed yet. They were about to.
Rex had to disrupt the ceremony in order to rescue Suzanne. He melted both the fire and tree with a wave of his hand. Then he set Little Red on a stick and told him to wait. He picked up the golden coin and dropped it back into the well adding enough heat to create water from the ice. Rex splashed the water on the tree he had grown. This was the perfect balance of elements needed for all seasons to exist—a bit of ice, a bit of fire, and nature.
The chill in the small of his back heated and the feeling of the sacred space shifted from lifeless cold to the peace of the Druid garden.
Rex leapt past the people and grabbed the azure sphere above the altar in his hands. His inner dragon roared. His hand burst into flame and shattered the blue ice around the sphere leaving a softly glowing orb.
The glass in the windows splintered. The wind howled in, ripping off hoods and revealing the startled expressions on the faces of the Blues. Then more flame roared to life, spinning in the light and coating the glowing orb. Red flames shot out and set the blue robes on fire. Figures wearing flaming robes ran out screaming or rolled on the floor in an attempt to extinguish the magic flames. Rex made sure Suzanne remained untouched by his flame.
The wild urge to consume everything in the room with his fire shot through him. He could burn everyone here to ashes and burn the house to the ground. But that would be wrong. Lawrence had taught him balance. It would be no better for the world to burn than to have the world freeze.
When most of the Blues fled down the stairs, Rex called back his flames and centered. The Imbloc ceremony still had to be performed to ensure spring came and to restore balance.
Five Druids shouldered past him and entered the sacred space. Only they knew what had to be done to restore the balance.
Suzanne was still tied to the altar. She was breathing, but her eyes were closed. He stepped into a puddle from one of the melting ice creatures to get closer to her. He would take her to Lawrence to get an explanation about what was going on.
From the opposite side of the altar, Gary staggered up. He was charred and smoldering and his eyes had a crazed, uncontrolled look to them. His gaze landed on Suzanne, and he snarled, "I will still kill the last of the Reds." He grabbed the melting ice dagger from the floor and ran toward the altar.
Rex's heart thumped, and he leapt forward to protect Suzanne with his body. There was no time for anything else. As he felt a push of icy cold on his back, his flames burst up.
Gary howled. A moment later silence filled the attic. A pile of ash was all that remained of Gary.
Suzanne hadn't moved. Her face was pale. He was reminded of how he'd found her earlier in the dining room. Rex untied Suzanne and then kissed her. She stirred against him. Relief flooded his chest. He pulled back and smiled at her. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "What the heck just happened?"
"I don't know," Rex said. He knew that the balance in the world had been restored, but he had many other questions.
"I have that irresistible urge to kiss you again." Her dimple showed.
He grinned and leaned over to make it easier for them to kiss. After the kiss, her aura colors merged and turned Druidic white.
A clap of thunder pushed Rex back and shook the room. With the Imbolc ceremony complete, balance was restored. Spring would come. Rex sagged in relief.
"Nice tree, son." Lawrence and four Druids stepped out of the sacred space.
Lawrence hugged Rex.
Rex jerked in surprise, and it took him a second to return the hug. He could feel the fine tremor of Lawrence’s body shaking. He stepped away. He surveyed the damage with an odd expression on his face, almost as if he were avoiding looking at Suzanne.
Rex looked between Suzanne and Lawrence and realized why Suzanne had looked so familiar. She looked like Lawrence. She had the same hair and the same color of eyes. Suzanne must be Lawrence's relative. "Suzanne, this is the Druid you needed to meet. Lawrence meet Suzanne."
Lawrence reached out a trembling hand and touched her hair. "I know Suzanne."
"You do?" Suzanne asked.
Lawrence kissed her forehead, as he had in Rex's memory. "You're my daughter," Lawrence said. His voice was husky with emotion.
"I am!" Her face lit up with surprise and hope. "I remember, but I don't understand."
"You'd better start at the beginning," Rex said.
Lawrence nodded. "The Reds are the spirit of summer incarnate. The Blues are the spirit of winter incarnate. In the days of old, the two clans would fight. Then, the Druids involved themselves. We helped to usher in the change of season to keep the balance."
Rex and Suzanne gazed at each other. Suzanne tilted her head, and Rex responded with a slight shake of his head. He wasn't sure what Lawrence was talking about either.
"There was a power play in your parents’ generation, and the Reds were all but decimated. You, Rex, were the last of the Firebrands. We were going to hide you away, but the Blues stole an ancient object. If they destroyed the object, the seasons would never change again." Lawrence pointed at the sphere rotating above the altar. "They would have hidden their ceremony if they had known the Druids were taking sides."
"That's why they called me ‘Firebrand.’ Not because of my hair, but because they thought I was a Red," Suzanne said.
"The Blues could see you were powerful, but didn't realize the power was Druidic," Lawrence said.
"I can never be a Druid," Rex said. The thought no longer filled him with dread. He'd just wanted to make a difference and have a family. He would still have Lawrence and, if he had any luck, Suzanne as well.
"I'm sorry, Rex. You don't have the talent and never have, but you are still the son of my heart." Lawrence seemed to brace himself and then turned his gaze to Suzanne. "Oh, my daughter. I had to give you up, or the world would have spiraled out of balance. I was the only one with a child with power who could be substituted for the Firebrand's child. You were both children of power born on the same day. The Blues would be able to sense the child's power, just not its source."
Suzanne was the reason Lawrence had been so invested and had wanted Rex to succeed. Rex's success meant being reunited with his daughter.
Lawrence took his daughter's hands. "Will you forgive me?" His voice was husky and the lines around his eyes and the frown in his face betrayed his worry.
Suzanne nodded, and Lawrence hugged her.
"What happens now?" Rex asked.
"That's up to you." Lawrence grinned and gazed at his daughter.
"I want to be a Druid," Suzanne whispered.
"Even though you didn't have traditional training, by growing a sacred oak on the night of your eighteenth birthday, you passed your test to be a Druid," Lawrence said.
"Rex helped me. We make a great team." Suzanne's dimple came back out with her smile.
Hope flared within Rex's chest. He offered his hand to her. Instead of taking it, she pulled him in for a kiss.
Rose’s Boys
Heat Level: ☕︎
Eva Chase
A Witch’s Consorts Prequel Novelette
Eva Chase is an Amazon Top 100 bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She grew up on a steady diet of magic, mayhem, and romantic angst, and brings plenty of all three to her stories. But no need to fear the dreaded love triangle—these days, Eva’s heroines never have to choose! Eva is a life-long Canadian and lives in Toronto with her husband, kids, and one very snuggly cat. She also writes gritty contemporary reverse harem romance as Eva Chance.
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Rose's Boys is a prequel novelette for Eva’s complete series, The Witch's Consorts.
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One
“She’s not a wicked stepmother, exactly,” I said. My hiking boots squelched over a patch of soggy moss. The trees around us hadn’t started changing their leaves yet, but the whole forest smelled like the verge of autumn, damp and earthy. “It just feels like things are changing so fast since she moved in.”
“You’ve got a new mom and two new sisters when it used to be just you and your dad.” Damon dashed up a log that was leaning against another tree at an angle. “That’s a hell of a change, Rose. I can’t imagine having a whole new family plopped in with me and my mom just like that.”
He jumped off the end of the log, the hem of his over-large leather jacket flapping. The breeze rippled through his spiky dark brown hair. When he hit the ground, he glanced back at me with a grin and a gleam in his dark blue eyes, as if he wanted to be sure I’d been watching his daring leap.
Seth rolled his eyes at Damon and moved to push a heavy branch out of my way, the muscles in his broad shoulders flexing. The shifting sunlight dappled his short, tawny curls. I could have just walked around that branch, but now that he’d gone to the trouble, I might as well take advantage of the cleared path.
“She’s not my mom,” I muttered, tramping onward. “And they’re not my sisters. And I don’t see why one of them got to take my room. It’s been mine since… since forever.” At least ten years. It wasn’t as if I could remember much from before I was three—including my real mom.
“And the new room you got moved to isn’t just as nice, Sprout?” Gabriel teased, glancing over his shoulder at me. With his dark red hair and bright blue gaze, he looked like autumn leaves and sky come to life. He strolled along ahead of the rest of us, more confidence in his lean 14-year-old body than most of the adults I’d met possessed.
He’d been calling me by that silly nickname since I was little enough that it’d made sense. Look at this rose I found sprouting up outside the manor, he’d told the other boys the first time he brought me over, and somehow it had stuck. No one else ever used the nickname, but I liked the affectionate lilt his voice took on whenever he said it.
“Not quite,” I said. “And that’s not what matters. It was mine.”
“Fair point. I guess the house just all looks pretty luxurious to me. Hell, I’d be happy living in that garage of yours.”
“Or the kitchen!” Seth’s twin brother Kyler piped up with his usual wide smile.
All the boys’ parents worked for my family one way or another. Gabriel’s dad maintained my father’s fleet of cars. The twins’ mom cooked during the day, and their dad patrolled our grounds as part of the security team at night. Damon’s mom was on the housekeeping staff.
I made a face at Kyler and Gabriel. “All I know is, anytime some interloper arrives and immediately starts changing everything in a story, it’s always a bad sign.”
“You and your books,” Damon said. “Just be glad you don’t really live in one.”
“Exactly why I stick to nonfiction,” Kyler said.
Technically Ky and Seth were identical twins, but Ky was slimmer and he let his curls grow a little longer, so it wasn’t hard telling them apart. What his brother had in teenage brawn, he made up for with an exuberant energy I’d never seen completely dampened.
He poked at a thicket we were passing. “You can make a tea with these leaves that’ll sharpen your eyesight, you know. I was reading about the local flora on the internet yesterday.”
“I don’t think your eyes need any sharpening,” I told him.
Ky laughed. “Good to know just in case, right?”
“Hmm. Roses for Rose,” Jin said behind us. “You can really be our Briar Rose now.”
He plucked a few flowers off the bush with his nimble fingers. In a few quick twists, he’d fashioned them into a crown. He gave me a playful bow as he offered it to me, his dark eyes twinkling and a pleased glow in his golden-brown face. Jin’s mom was part of our gardening staff, but he tended to approach vegetation with more of an artistic flair.
