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~*~
Duncan watched them as they moved in and out of the cave. He’d been waiting here for so long that he despaired of them ever coming. When he saw the younger man with them, he smiled. Mercy had found her mate.
He knew who was going to be mated to whom. His mother had left him a thick book of things that she’d seen in the future. She’d also told him about his own mate, and how she would make him happy.
“She will make you the king that I know you will become. The lands, all that I ever had, they are for you, waiting. Mercy will gladly turn them over to you. But do not allow her to think herself less than you. She will, because she is a good person. Her mate, he will make her feel things that she never felt when she was my bird.”
Duncan had seen the birds, of course. He had lived in the castle proper his entire life, as well as when the encampment had been moved for safety reasons. His mother had even known that Mercy would end the life of the king. It would be written that he was killed at sea from a great storm. So far, all her tales and stories had been right. But the mate for him, Mother had said she was pretty. Duncan thought her to be a vision.
Her name and what she did was lost to him. He thought perhaps it was because she was related to him, in a way. His other, she’d told him only that she was a bird and one of her six. Over the years he’d been able to narrow it down to which one, just not her name. Duncan had determined which one she was by knowing what the others were. Their names were difficult to get, but he was getting them.
Approaching Mercy would have to wait for a while longer. There was trouble coming, as there usually was around him, that would make Blaze a target of great wrath. And she would be harmed, as would her own mate. But it was his mate that he worried for. She too, he thought, would be injured.
Joel was trying to keep his load to a minimum. But the others, the other birds, were putting more into his pack than he would carry. The man did not know yet that he could carry much more than a human could, and would still be able to fly high, even as a small bird. He looked at the opening of the cave when a glint of something flashed over his eyes.
The sword of Duncan Castle. It had hung over the fireplace, he’d been told. Duncan had seen his mother from time to time. She would visit him when she made her rounds, and they’d talk about the way life was going to be for him and his Mary. Most of the time she would bring him food, some sweet treat. But as he grew older, she brought him books to read. Numbers to look over, as well as a great many other things.
Duncan could read and speak any language. His ability to work on a computer was known worldwide. He could also fight with a sword, gun, or even his fists as any great fighter of any time. His mother had made sure that he was a learned man. One that could have a conversation with his mate, or anyone for that matter, and not seem out of place.
When they were finished with their work, he waited until they took to the skies before he entered the cave as well. There were things that they’d taken that he was glad for, but now he had to leave behind the books.
Soon he’d talk to Mercy, and she’d have to come and get them to read. But for now, they were where she could find them—and he knew that she would. Mercy had his mother’s books now and was reading them over for information. Duncan wondered if she’d figured out that he had been born. More than likely, he thought. Mercy was the smartest of all the birds.
Putting the books near the opening, he walked around, not really seeing the things that he’d seen hundreds of times before. But he did find one thing that he thought to take with him this time. The ruby that was as big as his fist. It would be for his mate, his bride.
There were times when he needed to come here, to make it so he had coin, but of late it hadn’t been necessary. All the people that he was still caring for as king, he paid out of his own earnings. Money for them wasn’t that much, but he had made a promise and he would hold to it. Besides, there were only a few left, four at last counting.
Mary was like him, an immortal, and she would remain with him even after he took his mate. She was to be his cook first, then nanny to his children. She would teach them all the ways of a child of royalty, and he would love them with his wife as much as he could.
There was Jacob as well. He had been a maker of swords when he’d been younger. He still looked to be only in his mid-twenties, a skilled man well beyond the years he looked. The money that he made, it went back into his work. Jacob made decorative swords for people around the world. None of them, he promised, would ever be used to take a life. It was the magic that he put into each of them that made it so.
Cowell was also in his home. He served as his butler and best friend. They had grown up together, him being Mary’s only son. No matter how many times he begged the man to go out on his own, to be the rich man that he was, he felt that his place was with Duncan, and he would stay until Duncan’s children’s children had children. Smiling, he thought that to be a very long time indeed.
Leaving the cave the way he’d found it, Duncan leaned against the stone and could almost feel the warmth of his mother there. She’d not been like most of the queens he’d heard about in books, nor the ones that he’d encountered long after his mother was gone. Mom wasn’t cold like they seemed to be. Nor did she turn away from a hug. Mary told him that she had changed his dirty nappy and fed him when he was slinging his mush around the room.
It was her laughter that he could remember more than anything. Her face had faded away over time. Her soft hands he could no longer see. But her laughter and the smell of her skin, that would come to him forever.
Fresh linens. That was what she smelled like, with just a touch or rosemary for scent. Whenever he smelled that today, cooking or just growing in the gardens as it did around his estate, he thought of his mother.
Her laughter wasn’t soft like her skin, however. She brayed like a donkey. Great gulping gasps of air as she exhaled the most horrific sound. But she cared not what she sounded like, he began to think. For she laughed often and loudly. All the time.
Duncan made his way back to the area where he’d landed. He hadn’t taken flight as Mom’s birds had. He couldn’t fly, not yet. He had to wait for his mate, and she’d be with him soon enough. The small helicopter took off without a sound other than the swish-swish of the blades as they cut through the air.
Mary was waiting for him as he came to the front of the house. She would pepper him with questions, all of which she’d know the answer to, and he’d send her to the kitchen for either a cup of her tea or a glass of the same amber liquid. It was one of his true loves of food, tea.
“The invitations have gone out.” He turned and looked at Mary, asking her what she was talking about. “To the Christmas party that you said you’d host.”
“Yes, I remember. All the children, they have sent us their lists? We know what they will want?” She huffed. It usually meant that he’d told her already and she hated to be reminded again. “I just want this to be perfect, Mary, my dear. My future niece and my bride to be will be among the guests.”
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry, my lord.” Oh no, he thought, a my lord. He must be in deep trouble. “You should know that I have made you a list and have put it on that mess of a desk you have.”
“Have you checked it twice? Trying to find out who is naughty or nice?” She just stared at him, as she usually did when he made a joke that went flat. Duncan tried singing it for her. “You know the song—sing it with me, Mary.”
“I will not.” He’d gotten her goat, as she called it. “What is wrong with you these days? You’re acting like a child.” She huffed again and muttered all the way back to her kitchen.
Laughing, Duncan made his way to the library. Cowell was there waiting on him, smiling hugely. He asked him if he’d heard them.
“I did. What will you do when she takes a switch to your bottom like she did when you were smaller?” He said he thought he could outrun her now. “You might, but you’ll have to return, and she’ll be there waiting for you.”
