Give Me (Wyrd and Fae #1)(24)

“She didn’t come to Dumnos for that business. Maybe she won’t be gone.”

“And maybe she’s the one. Did you think of that? Don’t give your heart to someone who can never share hers.”

“You don’t buy into that bollocks.”

“Maybe I don’t think it is bollocks.” She set milk and sugar in front of him. He was on his own there. “Maybe I’ve learned a few things in the years I’ve been going out to Glimmer Cottage when no one else would.”

He shuddered. “There’s something horrible about that place.” Sometimes, especially when he was younger and especially when the moon was full, he’d had the strong sense of the wyrding woman up on her roof, thinking about him.

“She puts on a glamour to make people forget it’s there.”

“Until now.” He’d never forgotten it was there. Not one day.

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to cross the threshold. I’ll maitre d’ the ceremony.”

“You’re a real enthusiast for this Handover scheme.”

He’d never had the slightest desire to see Glimmer Cottage. He’d wager it smelled as rotten as it looked. As for the Handover, he went along with it like he went along with Christmas and expected the wyrding woman had as much magic in her as Santa Claus. But if a crazy old woman wanted to give away her property and bolster the local economy in the bargain, he wasn’t going to stop her.

Moo handed him his cup and sat down across from him. He poured the milk for both of them. “I’ve watched it, you know, the cottage.”

Moo looked at him sharply.

“From here,” he said. “The roof. You know what they say about clear nights.”

“You don’t buy into that bollocks.”

They laughed together. The tension between them dissolved and was gone.

“When I was a boy, when the full staff were still here. I’d go up with a couple of them. They believed if they saw the northern lights—”

“They’d have a safe winter.”

“Yes. I’m here to report that the northern lights shine this far south as often as fairy lights shine in the woods behind Glimmer Cottage.”

“As often as there is a new wyrding woman?”

“Stop, Moo. Lilith isn’t the one.”

“Listen to me.” Moo slung her bag over her shoulder. “You can have any girl you want. Don’t fall in love with Lilith Evergreen.”

But I want Lilith. “If you’ll wait for me to put on my shoes, I’ll drive you down.”

“You know I like the walk.”

“You know I’ll always offer.” He bent down and kissed her cheek, and she was out the door. He watched until she disappeared around the peonies at the bend in the drive then went upstairs to finish dressing. He had a busy day ahead, as usual, and a few extra things to put in order before tonight. He couldn’t oblige his aunt. He was already past danger where Lilith Evergreen was concerned.

He opened his sock drawer and paused when the blackthorn box caught his eye. It had belonged to his mother. Mostly he forgot it was there, but sometimes it called to him. It called to him now. He traced the dandelions carved into the wood then slid the top open and took out the necklace made of black cord woven with beads of jet and glass. At its center was a chunk of Dumnos steel. Bright cut, it rivaled the best marcasite jewelry.

Cade remembered two things about his mother. First, she was beautiful. He’d never forgotten her face. The photo at the Tragic Fall helped, of course, but he remembered her differently than in the picture. Sadder.

The second thing was the only real memory he had of her, from just before she went away. At some point over the years, he’d realized it must have been the last time he saw her. She was in her bedroom looking out the window at Glimmer Cottage. The box was open on her dressing table, and she was holding the necklace to her cheek. She had jumped when she saw him watching her.

“Cade.” She’d squatted down and shown him the necklace. “This is mama’s special necklace. It’s a tether, and someday it will be yours. But you must make a solemn vow never to wear it even then when it comes to you.”

He had been only five, but he’d never think of wearing it. Necklaces were for girls. “I promise,” he’d said.

“No, Cade. Not a promise. You must vow. If you break the vow, all the fairies and wyrders left in the world won’t help you, and neither will the Earl of Dumnos.”

And she’d begun to cry.

“I vow, mama.” He remembered her eyes bright with tears, her kiss soft on his forehead.

“I believe you, my darling boy.”

The last words she ever spoke to him. Maybe that’s why he always felt her presence when he touched the black cords, like now. He had kept his vow. But when he touched it, he believed she saw him from heaven and loved him still. No matter what anyone said, he knew his mother had been about as good as an angel. If there was an afterlife, she was in the right place.

Enough! He put the necklace away, shook off the nostalgia, and went down to the garage. The carriage was gone to shuttle the Tragic Fall’s guests to today’s sight-seeing destination, but the DB5 was more practical for today’s errands anyway. And much more fun to drive.

He finished by afternoon tea time and stopped by the Tragic Fall, but no one was there. Driving back up the hill to the End, he happened to glance at Igdrasil. His heart nearly stopped. A lone person stood beside the tree looking out on the bay. Lilith’s ghost. Cade drove past the turn to Bausiney’s End and on to Igdrasil, expecting at any second the ghost would disappear.