Abandoned (Book Two of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel (2 page)

“That was amazing! Can you do that whenever you want?”
 

Instead of glaring at her, the man’s face was lit up with curiosity. He stopped short of touching her, but she could see that he wanted to know everything about her. It wasn’t the beating and expulsion she had been afraid of, but it was still startling.

“Can you do that again?” he asked expectantly.

Hailey gave a tiny nod.

“Could you do it again right now?”

Before Hailey could babble something in response, someone’s low laugh echoed through the courtyard. Everybody turned to see Julie striding out of the entryway, an amused smile on her face.

“I think you’re terrifying the poor girl, Piers. Did you forget your manners again?”

The man shook his head in chagrin.

“You know, I did. I’m sorry.” The last was offered to Hailey, along with a large hand in greeting.

Tentatively, she shook it, still aware that everyone was watching.

“Still, you must be Hailey Devereaux.”

“I suppose I must be,” Hailey said, a small smile tugging at her mouth.

There was something about this man that she instinctively trusted, much as she had trusted Julie. He was lean but built, more a runner than a wrestler. He was tall with blond hair that was tied back in a small ponytail. In the bright summer light, his eyes were a deep and chocolatey brown. His face was perhaps a hair too severe for traditional good looks, but his smile made up for it.

“I should let you go to your rooms so you can decompress and rest up, but I confess I’m curious.”

“Are you? Was the sample of my powers not enough?”

Hailey was surprised that a bantering tone had come into her voice. She wondered if it was just the adrenaline wearing off.

The man Julie had called Piers shook his head.
 

“Not even a little. So far, all I know is that you can surprise me when I’m playing with little children. I want to see what you can really do.”
 

Hailey bit her lip. She knew that she should go find the coven master and present herself, but the confinement on the long flight and her hurt heart needed a little bit of recklessness.

“All right,” she said. “What do you want to see?”
 

“Well, I’ve seen your fire, what about the opposite? Can you do ice?”
 

Ice and cold had been Kieran’s power, but she didn’t have time to flinch. She didn’t allow herself to think about it at all. Instead, Hailey reached out her hand. Without a single moment of mistrust, he rested his hand in hers. Once again, she could feel his power pulsing like a world of light, and this time, she could feel that it was freely given.
 

She had done this with Kieran as well, but she had to shut that pang away.

Hailey pulled the power from him as easily as scooping a cup of cold water from a pool, and she let it fill her. She concentrated on the opposite of heat, the way warmth could be pulled from a space. She spread her hands a foot apart, and between them, ice crystals started to form. She wasn’t interested in showing off sheer power at that moment. She wanted precision, and the crystals formed layer by layer. Soon there were a dozen glittering pieces of ice dancing between her hands, melting slightly in the bright sunlight.
 

“Beautiful,” Piers murmured, and she could see that he had stepped close to watch.

Hailey could not say whether it was an imp of the perverse that whispered in her ear at that point or not, but she couldn’t resist. With just a flick of her finger, she sent one of the ice chips darting down the neck of Piers’s loose shirt, making the man yelp with surprise.
 

“That was a dirty trick,” he said with a grin, and she shrugged.

“I think you’ll find that I’m full of them. Now have I sated your curiosity enough?”
 

He shook his head, an amused glint in those dark eyes.

“Never. But I suppose I should offer you something in return. What would you like?”

Hailey wondered if there was a shade of flirtation in his tone.

“I need to find the coven master of the Castle,” she said reluctantly. “I should let him know that I’ve arrived.”

“Easily done,” said Piers. “I’ll take you to his library.”
 

Hailey nodded. “My bags…”

“Someone else will see to that. Come here.”
 

To Hailey’s shock, she found herself clasped tightly to the man’s chest. Distractedly, she realized that he smelled of juniper soap.

“What are you–”

“Hang on!”

Piers leapt into the air, and in a matter of seconds, they were high above the courtyard. She was looking down at the people far below, watching them watch her. She should have been afraid or upset, but instead, all she felt was a reckless glee.

“Ha, I should have known you were a flyer,” she said to him.

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Everyone knows that witches and warlocks gifted with flight are unpredictable and wild,” she retorted. “All the old books say so.”
 

“Hmm, and what do the old books say about mouthing off before you’re back on solid ground?”

“On that they are silent,” she responded with affected dignity. “But you better take good care of me. You can’t rough me up too much before I see the coven master.”

“Rough you up. You know that doesn’t sound like
exactly
what I want to do with you.”
 

There was a definite flirtatiousness to his voice this time, and Hailey found herself blushing. She was saved from having to respond, however, when they found themselves at a window in one of the Castle’s many towers. Piers entered, and easily set her down on her feet inside.
 

The room was small, but incredibly luxurious. The tower’s round walls were lined with books of all kinds, and the floor was covered with a thick, plush carpet that looked like it had been knotted by hand. Off to the side was a large traditional wooden desk, and on top of that, unexpected amidst the traditional furnishings, was a sleek, little laptop.

Hailey wondered what kind of man kept this library. She wondered if he was kind or stern, if he would see her as a person or as a tool. She turned around and to her shock realized that Piers was perched on the edge of the coven master’s desk.

“Um, should you really be doing that?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

“Because you’re…because the coven master will…”

Under his patient eyes, she stuttered to a stop, and then she frowned.

“You’re the coven master, aren’t you?”
 

He grinned, and she realized that he didn’t need to be classically handsome. When he really smiled, he was gorgeous.
 

“I am. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. It was simply too good a chance to get to know you.”
 

Hailey was torn between feeling incredibly angry or amused about the situation. On one hand, he had taken advantage of the fact that she was new in order to play a prank on her. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure that she would have been able to be as open and as easy with a man who she knew immediately as the coven master of one of the most beautiful places she had ever been. She decided that since she had tried to drain him and set him on fire when she first laid eyes on him that she would settle on amused.
 

“I’ll call it even if you forget about me thinking that you were going to harm those kids. You weren’t, right?”

He shook his head.

“No, that was me just doing my part for training the children. Eventually, they would all have latched on to me and I would take them for a little flight.”

“And what does that train them to do, exactly?”

“I don’t know, to hang on, perhaps? You did quite well yourself.”
 

She flushed a little, thinking of their brief flight.

“Well, I can fly too. I’ve done it before.”

“And it takes more to impress you than that, I’m sure. Hopefully, you’ll find things at the Castle that intrigue you and encourage you to stay, even if you were unimpressed with me.”
 

Hailey started to protest that she wasn’t unimpressed. Then she saw the laugh lurking at the corner of Piers’s mouth and gave in.
 

“All right then, impress me,” she said challengingly. “Show me what makes this place so very special.

Something new lit up Piers’s face, and she realized that it was an immense sense of pride and pleasure that he took in his home.
 

“We strive to please. I’ll show you around the Castle, and at the end, you can decide for yourself. Come along. We can just take the stairs down this time.”

Hailey followed behind him as he led the way, and she wondered what in the world she was getting into.

BEFORE SHE HAD come to the Castle, Hailey had previously lived with the Angioli coven in the cold reaches of the Amato Valley in Italy. The Angioli coven had made its home in a monastery, and though it was quite beautiful in a stark kind of way, it was also foreboding. It was a severe place for ascetic men who wished to spend their lives in prayer and repentance.

Where the Angioli monastery had had a certain solemnity, the Castle was entirely different. It was built using local stone, Piers proclaimed proudly, and it was designed to be a mixture of Renaissance French castle and modern wonder. There were tall windows everywhere, and the light gave the Castle an air of graciousness that enchanted Hailey.

“How beautiful it is,” she murmured wonderingly, looking up at one of the stained glass windows. It was perfectly clear leaded glass, and the design was cut to resemble a compass rose. “The designer must have been very proud to see their efforts come out so fine.”

“Thank you, I am,” Piers said promptly, and she turned to look at him.

“You’re teasing me again,” she said dubiously. He shook his head.

“No, not this time. I like a good joke, but the Castle, well, it’s one thing that I don’t joke about. It’s my dream made real, and every aspect of this building, from the floors to the ceilings to the wireless satellite connection to the kitchens, I decided on. It took me ten years, give or take a few, to see it grow to what it is today.”

Looking at Piers and seeing the laser sharp focus in those dark eyes, Hailey could easily believe that he was the man behind all of this.

“What is this place for?” she asked quietly. “No one was quite able to tell me that. All I know is that the coven master of the Castle heard of my talents and then sent a member of the Magus Corps looking for me. You went to some trouble to make sure that I arrived here, but I still don’t understand why.”

Piers looked at her thoughtfully, and it occurred to her that this man was much more dangerous when he stopped joking. There was an intense focus to him. She looked at where he stood, underneath an arch of stone that rose a dozen feet above his head. In an odd way, he matched the space. It reflected him. In some ways, they were standing inside his soul, his spirit.
 

“I think it would be easier to show you. Come with me.”

He offered his arm, and she was too startled to refuse. It should have felt showy and old-fashioned, but the courtliness of the gesture felt right. Underneath her fingers, she could feel how muscled his arm was.
 

The first place they stopped was a door that was marked with a mysterious symbol. Piers pointed at it.
 

“It’s the alchemical symbol for iron,” he said. “We’re not exactly dealing with iron here, but it’s close.”

He opened the door, and Hailey blinked. It was like she had gone from a fairytale French castle to an ultramodern machine shop. There were three women and a man working at various machine stations, and as she watched, the man straightened up and waved at them.

“Hey, Piers, perfect timing. Want to come over and check this baby out?”
 

Piers sauntered over to the warlock’s side, bringing Hailey. The lanky warlock who had called them over had a small device in his hands. It was a small cube that rested easily in his palm, and it was completely black. It was perfect, with no joins that she could see, and after a moment, a brilliant orange sheen crossed the surface.

“Pretty, Stephan,” drawled Piers. “Are you looking at getting into interior design?”

Stephan snorted.

“Teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Dayton. What I have here is a reservoir for firecrackers. That’s witches and warlocks that use fire, sorry.” He addressed the last to Hailey, who felt a little startled for being noticed at all. “See, when it comes to fire users, they tend to blow themselves out quickly. Big bonfires, and suddenly they’re done for the night. As you can imagine, that might be risky when there’s danger around and when things are tough. It’s one of the reasons why you don’t see many firecrackers in the Magus Corps. Anyway, when things are going well, they can use this little gadget to pull away some of their power and to store it. When they need it, like in an emergency, they can set it off and send the fire flying.”

Piers picked up the little cube, weighing it speculatively in his hand before handing it to Hailey. It seemed to her that it was far heavier than it looked, and warm as well.

“The offer stands you know,” Piers said to Stephan. “I can give you all the workspace that you need and the best tools as well.”

Stephan grinned, but shook his head. It had the feel of an old argument between them.

“Sorry, Dayton. I’m a company man, and there I will stay until they bury me.”

Piers shook his head regretfully, and handed the cube back to Stephan’s protective hands.

“He may not look it, but he’s a major in the Magus Corps,” Piers told her. “He had some leave, and I invited him out here to work with our team. That cube’s just the tip of the iceberg of what he could do if he had everything he needs, but he just won’t see it.”

As Piers led her on, Hailey thought again about Kieran. He was a member of the Magus Corps as well, and she knew it was Magus Corps business that called him away from her. She knew that the members of the Wiccan’s paramilitary force were notorious loners, and she wondered if she would spend more time missing Kieran than she did knowing him.