Judith (Queen's Birds of Prey 3)

“Oh, Mother.” The room, for this was a room, expanded by magic as he stood looking around. The others came into the room, and it grew again, making the room look as large as the living room they’d only just left. But it was nothing like a living room with the items that were in the place. “Look, Mercy, this has your name on it. There are trunks with each of our names on them. Including Miley.”

Piper started laughing, and he asked her what she’d found. “It’s a trunk for my mate. It hasn’t a name on it, but it says, ‘to the man who loves my bird, Piper.’ I wonder what this could be? Surely it’s not money, do you think?”

As soon as Esme touched her fingers to the box that had her name on it, it disappeared. The note under it explained the trunk was now in her room in the house. So they’d not have to carry them down, Duncan supposed. Each of them did the same, touching just a finger to the top of the trunk so it too would be in their room. The trunks, however, were not the only things in the room.

There were pieces of art covered in waxed cloth—sacks of seeds with the names and how to grow them on each bag. Duncan handed Miley a sack that had her name on it, and she laughed when she poured the gems, all of them worth a fortune, into her hand. There was an entire wall with swords leaning against it. They, too, were wrapped up in cloth with their bejeweled pummels showing.

“How do you suppose she was able to stash all this here? It must have taken her years to do this.” Joel picked up one of the larger handwoven baskets and saw it was filled with saplings. Trees he was sure no one had seen in centuries. “How does this even work? I mean, to look at these, you’d think they were only just pulled from the ground. But they’ve been in here for at least as long as Dante has been gone. Your mother, she must have been more powerful than we even guessed her to be.”

“I think you’re right.” Duncan looked at the unframed paintings that leaned against one of the other walls. “I know some of these artists. They were here and gone long after Mom died. How did she do that?”

“She wanted you to have a nest egg.” Grandma picked up a smallish trunk that had her name on it, and Duncan was glad she’d thought of her parents too. “Oh, Charlie. Look. They’re our eggs. The ones we had to sell off when it was needed. All my little eggs.”

They were beautiful too. Each egg was handmade, the opening covered in gold and diamonds. There were a dozen or so in the chest she had, and Grandda opened his to show the rest they’d had at one time. Duncan felt his eyes fill with tears at how his mother had taken care of them all, even after all this time. But what he wouldn’t give to have her there with them today.

The room’s contents emptied to their separate bedrooms as they touched each of the pieces. He noticed that Miley had somehow found herself a cane covered in gems and stones. Some of the things, like the crates of eggs, were sent along too after his grandparents put them on the floor. As he was making his way to the lower levels of the magical place, he wondered why his mom hadn’t just put it away someplace they could all have it. As soon as he stepped into the very lower level of the hidden rooms, he understood everything.

There in the corner was the very thing he’d been hunting for since he’d started working on the castle, what he thought was his mother’s jewels. There were a great deal of them too. More than he thought there would have been. Mercy took a look at it and smiled at him.

“It’s from the raids we were on. She never said what she was doing with the jewels we took. Being birds then, I guess it never occurred to us to ask. But this is it, all of it, I’m sure. Not only is it the jewels, Duncan, but I’m sure if we were to look around a little more, we’d find all the stash from all the raids we were on. She’s hoarded it for all of us. Your mom, she was a gem of all gems if you ask me. I miss her more every day.”

There weren’t names on things here. It was just piled up, some of the piles as tall as he was. Gold coins, too, spilled out of the trunks they were in and onto the floor. The sparkle of diamonds made the room bright—gems of all kinds laid in large pools of like gems. There was silver too, dinnerware sets of it, and urns that seemed to be full of other things, such as chain mail and gloves for jousting. He thought it funny to find his mother’s armor, standing tall in the corner of the room. Duncan wondered what they were to do with such a bounty when his grandda spoke up.

“You’re going to have to bring this out a little at a time, I’m thinking. If you hit the market with all this, nothing will be worth anything. Just a little of it at a time should keep the market high. As for what to do with it, I’m sure it will be told to us. Dante, she would have had a plan and a place for this all.” Grandda nodded at him and smiled. “I knew my girl was going to save us all. Didn’t you?”

“I knew too.” He looked for Judith, who was sitting on one of the ugliest chairs he’d ever seen, reading something. Going to her, he took the book she handed him and knew it was his mother’s handwriting. He read only a couple of lines before he cleared his throat to speak. “She said she would like for you all to live here. Not in the castle, she goes on to explain, but here on the land.”

“Dante said she wanted her family here, all of us so that she can rest in peace. It’s her wish too that we take the bounty here in this room and make sure it’s used for goodness. The people who had hoarded this much wealth didn’t use it for anything but taking up space in their castle.” Jude stood up and went to his grandda. “There is a message in the book for you as well. She said to tell you that you and her mom were forever in her heart and that had she been able to, she would have made sure you were forever taken care of. She is sorry from the bottom of her heart that it came to the point you were in before someone could rescue you. But it was more important for her to have you live out your life with her son and her birds than anything else she could have done for you.”

Grandda blew his nose and thanked Jude for that. After he hugged her, Grandda went to stand with Grandma. Duncan was thrilled to be able to have them here with him. Now he just hoped he could convince the others to stay close too.

The things in the lower level were left there for now. He wasn’t sure what they could do with the seeds and saplings she’d left for them at this time of year, so they all agreed it would be the perfect place to keep them. The other things, the trunks from the upper level, would be gone through too after tomorrow. It was exciting to him just to think how much his mother had done for everyone before she passed away. Duncan couldn’t stop wishing she was here with them right now. It would have been the most perfect holiday ever, he thought. Not just for him, but for

everyone here.

At dinner, he decided to try and see what the thought was on having everyone move here. There was plenty of room for as much space as any of them wanted. Good schools and he’d been able to put in a landing strip when he’d purchased his jet a few years ago. Everything a family would need was right here. Standing up when they were all seated, he cleared his throat to have his say. Before he was able to even say the first word, Mercy cut him off.

“Yes, we’ll stay if that was what you were working up to ask us. We’ve all been talking it over since we arrived here. We realized from the very first day that we needed to be here where our magic is stronger. We also understand you’ll have to have Jude here, as your mate. All of us decided that we, too, would love to live here with everyone close by.” Mercy winked at him. “Also, you should know we’ve taken a vote, and we’re all right with you being king.”

“Well, thank you so very much.” They all laughed, and so did Duncan. “I’m happy to hear you’ll be staying. It’s been wonderful for me to have you all close to hear about my mom in a way I’d never been privy to before. I thank you for that. My mom was...I miss her every day, but with all of you here, it’s been more bearable, less lonely, and easier to see why she gave up her life so that the six of you could go on and do her work for her. I thank you for that.”

When he sat down, he felt, for the first time, what it was like to have a family. It had only been him and Mary and her son for so long he didn’t know what to expect when the others arrived. Now, having them here, it was as if it was supposed to be like this. Loud. Fun and loving. Yes, Duncan thought, his mother had had the right idea when she’d told them to all live here. They would depend and lean on each other when necessary. But for the most part, they’d be happy.

By the time he was ready for some downtime, having never had to sleep before, Duncan wished all of them a good night as they went to the upper floors to their bedchambers. There were a few things he still wanted to take care of. Mostly it was to plot out the land surrounding the castle. Somehow he knew they’d want to be here, but not close. Privacy was something he depended on as well.

Entering the room, Duncan was surprised to find Judith still in the living room working on a couple of more packages when he went in to turn off the tree for the morning. Seeing her on the floor, leaning against the couch, all he could think about was that he belonged to her. When she turned to look at him, her eyes bright with happiness, Duncan made his way to her without, he was sure, touching the floor once.

Chapter 4

“I’m in love with you.” Duncan didn’t say anything back, and Jude felt her temper snap. “When someone says that to you, Duncan, you should at least acknowledge it in some way. Not sit there like a bump on—”

“I love you. I was, in my own way, trying to figure out a way to say it so it would be the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard.” She grinned at him and told him saying it at all was romantic to her. “Then I love you to the moon and back. I love you more than there are stars in the sky. I love you with every beat my heart makes, every drop of blood that runs in my body.”

“That was perfect.” She leaned back against the couch again, looking up at the tree. “This is beautiful. I’ve said it before, I know, but with the house quiet, the tree here lit up like it is, it’s so nice. I know I’d get bored with it sooner rather than later, but there are times when I would love to have the tree up all the time. Just for moments like this one. Will you make love to me?”

“No. I’d rather we made love to each other.” Jude turned her head, just enough to look at Duncan. “What are you thinking right now? I’d like to know you better.”

“I’m not thinking about much of anything, really. Just marveling how much I’ve come to love being in the castle. Knowing too, I guess, that the others are going to be close enough to speak to. To visit. Miley and I have a good relationship too. I think, sometimes, that I’d love to skip over having an infant and having a child her age. However, I’m guessing that not all children are like her at her age.” Duncan told her it was doubtful any child was like Miley at any age. “You might be correct on that too. She’s a delight.”