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“Cousin, you could have just said ‘meet me in my study,’ and I would have gotten myself here.” Kes sounded mildly perturbed, but Ciaran just waved him off and glared at him.
“Well then, let’s have it. Why do you look like you’re about to crawl out of your skin?” Kes asked. “I saw the human you captured in its cage down in the dungeon. While he does seem like a raving lunatic, and that is always such fun, I did manage to hunt a member of theDay Court.”
This gave Ciaran pause. “What was a member of the Day Court doing in the Human Realm when the veil only thins in our lands on the blood moon? They know this hunt is for the Night Court alone. The creature is lucky you found it; anyone else and it would have died in the Human Realm.” Ciaran’s rage was beginning to boil inside of him. He was completely done with the Day Court and their deliberate disregard for the Night Court and the customs of the realm, which ensured the balance the realm required. If he did not come into his powers soon, he would have to start looking at other possibilities to check the Day Court. Perhaps the witches would lend a hand.
“My thoughts exactly, so I asked her what she had been doing, and you will not believe her response!” Kes, ever the showman, enjoyed dragging out a story. He was gearing up to make the encounter far more entertaining than the event likely was.
“Get on with it already, Kes, for I have my own story to tell you of my hunt.” Ciaran’s rage was nearing the surface, and Kes smartly decided to deliver the important details.
“Fine, cousin… have I ever told you what lousy fun you are? After such a successful hunt, one would think you would be far more jovial.”
Ciaran made his frustration with his cousin clear as he scowled at Kes.
“Oh, hush – I caught a wood nymph. She says she was trying to escape our realm… the Day Court particularly. She was going to attempt to live amongst the humans, silly creature. She claims to have knowledge on how the Day Court’s power keeps growing, but will only divulge to you with a blood oath of protection.”
Ciaran contemplated this, and for one moment thoughts of the human two floors above ceased. “What do you make of this wood nymph, cousin?” he asked Kes.
“Honestly, she looked terrified while she was running through the woods, and then once I caught her, all the fight drained from her immediately. It was as if she had been thoroughly exhausted before the hunt even began. The most outrageous part of the whole ordeal is when she realized who caught her – she was surprisingly relieved! Oh, the blow to my ferocious ego, cousin! Am I not terrifying after all?” Kes bemoaned.
Ciaran arched an eyebrow indicating his patience for his cousin’s antics was wearing thin.
“I do think there is some truth to what the wood nymph claims. How helpful her information will be is yet to be seen, but I do not imagine it would hurt to find out. Though her power was fully exhausted when we met, I could feel the depth of her well. She is rather powerful – odd for a wood nymph.”
Ciaran considered his cousin’s words before saying, “Perhaps we can use other means beyond a blood oath to get the information. I do not enjoy being beholden to anyone, especially a Day Court member.”
It was strange indeed for a wood nymph to be as powerful as Kes led on. A small well of power and small earth magic to manipulate the woods they lived in was all they typically possessed. Who was this wood nymph, and why was she running from the Day Court?
Kes looked thoughtfully out the window into the night sky and the city below as if he had drifted off somewhere lost in thought. He quietly replied, “Yes, perhaps something could be worked out.” He turned and faced his cousin, snapping himself out of whatever had been plaguing his mind. Almost as if he knew where Ciaran’s suspicious thoughts had gone, Kes said, “I will enjoy questioning her and figuring out the puzzle of the powerful wood nymph who deathly fears her court.”
A devious smile split Kes’s face. “You should hear the absolute filth she spits from her mouth. It is positively enchanting. Now cousin, do tell me what has you on edge after such a successful hunt. I dare say while the look on your face is amusing to me, you seem to be troubled. Out with it.”
Ciaran growled his frustration again and Kes smirked. “It looked as though the hunt was going to be a complete waste of my time…”
While Ciaran told his cousin about the events of his hunt, he watched Kes’s face go from outright amusement to complete confusion.
“You mean to tell me, my cousin, the Prince of Darkness intervened? You stopped the human you have down in a cage from exacting violence upon a human woman, something we have watched with outright wicked glee in the past?” Kes laughed, likely at how ridiculous Ciaran’s behavior had been. “Where is this other human? I only saw one in your cage.”
He stopped to scrutinize Ciaran. “Are you ill cousin?” Kes asked. It appeared the only possibility for the dramatic shift in his cousin’s behavior.
“Yes, that is exactly what I have been trying to tell you. For some reason I could not stomach the violence against this particular human. It caused a strange pain in my chest to watch her be abused. When the man began to make his intentions clear he was going to take what was not his to take, my body took over. Suddenly the human man was thrown against the tree, and I couldn’t wait to bring him the pain he made her feel. Kes, she makes me feel. The only explanation is she must be the human for which I have been searching. I have never felt anything like this before – it’s quite unsettling.”
As Ciaran said this, he could feel the shock all over again. He gave his cousin an almost sheepish look when he said, “I didn’t know what to do with her, so I took her to my bedchamber, healed her, and sent her into a deep sleep.”
Kes’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “You did what?” And then, to Ciaran’s utter annoyance, he began to cackle. “You… have… a human… woman… in your… bed? That you have healed and cared for,” he said in between laughter. He took a deep breath, then said, “Oh cousin, have you found your mate in a human woman, of all things? Oh, I cannot wait until the council gets wind of this!”
Kes began laughing again, and Ciaran did the only thing he could think of; he punched his cousin as hard as he could in the face. This only made Kes howl with more mirth while Ciaran wore a deep scowl.
Kes was obviously joking with the mate comment. Neither of them even believed in such things since they had never met a mated pair. Ciaran didn’t know what this was between him and the human, but he hoped she was the human who would help him break the curse. He was willing to bet the Many Faced Goddess had her hand in this mess.
Kes sighed and glared at his cousin as he continued his dramatic mockery of Ciaran.
“Kes, enough of your antics. Finding your mate is nearly impossible, and the fact she is a human makes it even less likely. I am leaning towards being influenced by the Many Faced Goddess. Perhaps my search for that particular human is over. The entire time I was hunting, I felt a pull that I followed. It led me directly to the two humans,” Ciaran growled out, obviously still annoyed at Kes for mocking him.
At the mention of an unseen pull, Kes’s laughter quieted. “Hmm, perhaps this is the work of the Many Faced Goddess indeed. Do you feel the pull to her even now?” Kes asked in all seriousness.
Kes would not admit to also feeling a pull during his hunt that led to his nymph. He wondered what strange magic was at play, and if it was indeed the manipulations of the Many Faced Goddess. He had no control of the anger that came over him when he thought of that bitch.
She had been vague in her prophecy, and Kes could not help but feel she had done it on purpose as if this curse was a game to her. She always seemed to have her hands in everything. Kes grimaced at the thought of the goddess.
