Gossamer (23 page)

She gave him a fierce glare, “Cut these stupid things off me or–”

“Or what?” He smirked. “You will harm me with witty insults and quick comebacks?” He laughed. “You’re staying right there until we find someone else willing to deal with you.”

“What about Patrick? He’s hurt.” Her voice suddenly filled with concern, but after everything I had just witnessed, I didn’t buy it.

“Now you are worried about your brother?” Grant asked.

Brother. Now
that
was a seriously messed up family, it almost made Lexie’s seem normal.

“Why did you do it?” Conor asked her.

“Like you need to ask,” she spat back.

“Liam?”

“Who else?”

Liam, the prince. The prince I was supposed to marry. My gaze darted to Grant and I knew right away he was in on it. He searched my expression, probably trying to gauge how much I knew, but as he stared, he seemed to understand I knew more than he’d like.

“Grant, you knew.” It was a statement not a question, and caused him to shift his eyes from mine. “
This
is why I’m important?” I asked dryly. “So I can marry some guy?”

He shook his head. “It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it?” I glared back.

“We need to get Conor and Patrick to a healer. We can talk after we know they’re okay.” He looked like it was a conversation he was none too eager to have and found the opportunity to postpone it a huge relief.

“Fine, let’s get them to a healer.”

Grant scooped up Patrick with ease. Conor still looked pretty banged up but he managed to keep up with us as we walked away, leaving Brighid screaming behind us and giving her the last words.

“You two are destined for misery,” she yelled as we continued to walk. “One of you is supposed to marry Liam and the other works for him, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on, it’s written all over your faces. You think Liam won’t notice?”

Grant had halted with these last words.

“I never figured you for a traitor, Grant.”

He closed his eyes. The muscles in his jaw tightened. His entire body tensed as he clearly became enraged. Shaking his head slightly, he took a deep breath, exhaled and walked, never once meeting my gaze.

Chapter 16

The walk wasn’t far, and led us to a small and unique, to say the least, village. It had several cottages spread throughout. It was like walking through a faery tale, seeing as nothing appeared modern, but at the same rate it had a lot of spunk.

The cottages were interesting, each with roofs coming to a point but never symmetrical. Sometimes it made me feel like I leaned too far to one side, but it wasn’t me that was crooked–it was the cottage.

A multitude of windows adorned each home, but no two frames were painted the same color. The cottage doors had uneven frames and several even had a smaller door within the larger door, painted pink and orange, nothing you would normally expect to find on a house. I felt like I had fallen down a rabbit hole instead of stepping through a portal.

We saw a few people while we walked. They nodded in respect to Grant and Conor and eyed me with curiosity. Finally, we arrived at a small purple cottage with one yellow and one green framed window and a pink door. Grant raised his hand to knock, but the door swung open before his hand made contact. He immediately cocked a grin at the woman standing in front of him.

“I wondered when you’d show up.” She smiled back at Grant, the corner of her eyes crinkling as she did so.

The woman wasn’t quite my height, but stood with her shoulders back and head lifted. Though she smiled, age lined her face and it looked as if she spent a fair amount of time in the sun. Her quick, sharp movements implied she didn’t waste any time and didn’t like for hers to be wasted in return. She seemed a force to be reckoned with.

“This must be Kyla,” she said with a smile as she gave me a once over.

I smiled back politely. She seemed friendly enough but I didn’t think many would cross her.

“Yes.” He glanced at me and introduced her in return. “And this is Nanny.”

She shook my hand, the softness of her touch surprised me. Underneath her firm grip lay silky skin were I’d expected calloused and rough.

“You can call me Kylie,” I said.

“Kylie it is then. Well, come in, come in. What happened to Patrick?” She moved to the side and motioned us in. Grant stepped in first, still carrying the young boy. Conor allowed me to pass then closed the door behind us.

“He fell.” Grant offered.

She gave him a knowing glance then shook her head, smiling.

“Fell, huh? Okay, and what about you, Conor, did you fall too?”

“No ma’am,” Conor replied. “Something knocked me upside the head. I hit a tree and was out cold.”

“Well then, take Patrick to that room and lay him on the bed. And Conor, you go sit down over there.” She directed him to a small two person couch. “I will see what I can do for Patrick then come take care of you. Grant and Kylie, feel free to clean up, get a drink, eat a snack, whatever you need. Make yourselves comfortable.”

I thanked her and looked at Grant for direction.

“If you would like to wash up, there is the bathroom.” He pointed to a small door near the kitchen. “Or I can get you something to eat and drink.”

“I think I will wash up first.”

“I will be in the kitchen when you get done.”

I headed to the bathroom, shut the door behind me, and discovered, instead of modern lock, a small brass key poked out of a keyhole. I debated on whether or not to lock it, scared–with my luck–I might get stuck. I decided to leave it unlocked. I walked over to a small white basin. I ran some cold water and splashed it onto my face. Against my grimy skin, the cool water soothed and refreshed. After I cleaned up, I smoothed my hair down and went to find Grant.

He stood in the kitchen with his back to me. My stomach bounced and my palms grew clammy just thinking about the conversation we were about to have. We needed to talk about the things I had discovered but I was unsure of where to begin, but knew he probably wouldn’t initiate this discussion especially since I had a feeling he would rather avoid it.

I stepped into the kitchen and the smell of blueberry muffins greeted me. My mouth watered. First, a muffin, then talk to Grant. As I approached him, I heard another voice and Grant laughed. He turned as I walked up, revealing a little girl sitting at the table eating a muffin.

I smiled and waved. “Hi.”

She waved back then hid her face behind her hair.

In a very tender voice, Grant spoke to her. “Hey now, don’t be shy. This is Kylie. Remember me telling you about Kylie?”

The girl’s head bobbed and she peeked out from behind her strawberry blonde locks. “Hi Kylie,” she offered quickly, in a tiny little voice.

“What’s your name?” I asked taking a few steps closer to her. She lifted her head to see me better. Most of her hair fell off her face, and the minute I got a good look at her cobalt blue eyes, I knew who I was looking at.

“Katelyn?” I asked Grant.

“The one and only,” he said, directing a playful grin and wink at her. It made me melt, and I probably would have just stood there staring at him had Katelyn not spoken up.

“Do you know me?” she asked, using the palms of her hands to push the remaining hair off her face.

She managed to get most of it, but a few strands still hung in front of her eyes. I reached over and brushed them aside.

Katelyn smiled at me. “You’re pretty. Will you be my friend and play with me?” She had a sweet voice. Her R’s came out sounding like W’s. Her adorableness made me want to scoop her into a giant hug.

“I’d love to be your friend and play with you.”

“Katelyn, do you remember what I told you about Kylie? She’s your sister.” The tone of Grant’s voice touched me. He was great with her. Was he as always this good with kids?

She gave him a very annoyed little girl look, “Yes, Grant. I know, she’s my sister, but I asked her if she would be my friend.”

I giggled and gave Grant a
she told you
look.

He also chuckled. “Sorry, Katelyn. My mistake.”

She let out a huff and hopped off the chair. “I’m going to get my dolly, and then we can play.” She scurried out of the room, and I turned to Grant.

“She looks just like my mom. The eyes, the hair–it’s remarkable.” I stared in the direction she ran off then back at him. “And she is healthy now? Nothing’s wrong, even if she goes back?”

“She is perfectly healthy, and as you can see full of life.”

“That’s phenomenal. When is she going back to my parents?”

“Soon, but I’m not sure exactly when.”

Just then Katelyn came back in the room carrying two baby dolls. She handed one to me and placed a muffin in front of me.

“You’re her mommy and,” she focused on Grant, “you’re her daddy. You have to take good care of her. She’s hungry so feed her a muffin.” She spoke in a no nonsense way, giving us clear and concise directions. It reminded me of Nanny, and I wanted to giggle watching this little girl imitate her so well. “Now, I need to go into town. I am going to leave my baby with her daddy.”

Grant arched an eyebrow. “Conor?”

Katelyn nodded.

“Got it. We will take good care of baby–” Grant looked to Katelyn for a name.

She rolled her eyes up in thought, then answered, “Pink Sparkle.”

“Got it, we will take good care of Pink Sparkle.”

Katelyn eyed us as if deciding if we were up for the job. Seeming satisfied with our competence, she walked out carrying her baby and a purse almost as big as she was.

“Conor?” I laughed.

“Apparently I have been replaced, I am usually the dad.” He feigned disappointment but then smiled. “Maybe she just thinks you and I make a better match.”

My heart thumped, and I suppressed the urge to scream
if a toddler can see it, why can’t you?

“You better get to work on that muffin. If Katelyn comes back and finds it uneaten, she may replace you too.” He grinned.

I obliged by eating the muffin myself.

* * * *

The rest of the day we played with Katelyn and relaxed, while Conor got to feeling better. Patrick eventually woke, though still pretty banged up. Grant spoke to someone who “took care of Brighid,” whatever that meant. I didn’t care, as long as I didn’t have to see her again. Hopefully now that everyone knew she was a psychopath, I wouldn’t have to.

When nighttime rolled around, he suggested we stay and the three of us would leave in the morning. Katelyn disappeared, getting ready for bed, finally giving me a private moment to talk with him.

“Grant, it’s been fun playing with Katelyn, but you do still realize we have things to talk about.” I met his eyes, hoping he would see my seriousness.

He sighed and raked his hands through his hair. “Yeah, I know. So how much did Brighid tell you?”

“She told me you worked for Liam, who is a prince. She also said you were bringing me home safely because my mom struck a deal with him.” I looked down. “I’m supposed to marry him.”

“It seems you have been filled in pretty well.”

I studied his eyes, searching for answers. “How could you know this and not tell me?”

“Would you have come with me if I had?”

I thought about that for a moment. My life
had
been in danger, and I
would
follow Grant just about anywhere, but would I be some bride, betrothed to a guy I didn’t even know?
No way
. “Probably not.”

“Now you see my predicament? I want you safe Kylie, and not just because it’s my job to bring you home. When they sent me to find you, I didn’t know what to expect, but that first time I saw you…” He paused and took a breath. “I can’t find the words for it. I immediately knew it was you. I felt the magic that had been dormant in you for so long come to life, but nothing prepared me for the way it would make me feel.”

“So, that’s normal, to feel other people’s magic?”

“Actually, no. You can usually
sense
others’ magic or just know they are otherworldly, but to
feel
it, that’s never happened to me before.” He looked down at his hands.

“Why do you think it happened then?” I asked timidly.

He shrugged. “I have a few theories, but nothing I am sure of.” Anxious, I waited to hear his theories, but just then a bouncing Katelyn entered the room. We both turned to her and my mouth pulled back. She seemed to light up the room.

“Guess what?” She said, barely able to contain her excitement. She sprang up and down. “Conor needs my bed since he’s sick, and I get to have a pajama party! With you!” She clapped her hands and danced around on her tiptoes. Grant and I exchanged confused looks. Nanny walked in just then with a smile on her face.

“I see you have heard the good news. I’m sorry, beds are taken, but I brought you plenty of blankets. You can sleep on the couches or make a pallet on the floor whatever you find most comfortable.”