“I’m sorry. What?”
Duncan just laughed and turned when three women came into the room with them. They were beautiful beyond compare, but Grant thought all women were beautiful. Once he was introduced to them, shaking all their offered hands, he started to join his mom. She’d taken the opportunity to escape from the chair she’d been in and move to the couch.
When Duncan cleared his throat, Grant looked to where he was looking.
“Holy Christ.”
~*~
Piper stared at the man who was staring so intently at her. “I have to go as soon as we’re finished with dinner.” Taking her eyes off the man while she looked at Duncan was harder than she thought it should have been. “There was an explosion in Kentucky. They’re saying it is larger than the one they had back in seventy-seven at the supper club.”
“I remember that. There were a lot of people killed there because of something to do with doors.” She said they’d not opened in the way that was now law. Duncan told her the name of the place. “The fire broke out in the kitchen, and when people rushed to the doors, they were crushed because they couldn’t pull the doors to open inward due to the crush of people behind them.”
“Yes. That’s it. Over a hundred and fifty people were killed. More were injured. The man that called me to come to the fire said this one is worse. That there might be as many as three hundred dead. I have to head there right after dinner. I’ll probably be gone for a few days.” Duncan introduced her to the man. “Hello.”
Piper wanted to back away from him. Not that she thought he’d harm her, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it when he touched her. When he left his hand out there, she had no choice but to shake it. The power surge that ran over her body had her falling back on the floor, the same for Grant. When he sat up, his nose was bleeding, as well as his lip. But he didn’t move anymore after sitting there.
“Mom knew the two of you would be mates.” Taking her eyes off Grant to look at Duncan, Piper wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up for a minute. “She said that great things would come from this union. As well as great power.”
“I don’t know what to think about any of this.” Grant agreed with her. “I’m not going to be all sappy around you either. I will nip that shit in the bud if you try it. I’m not a romantic type, and I don’t want you fawning all over me either. It’s gross.”
“Since we’ve only just met, I’m thinking you can take it down a notch or two. My head is spinning from being knocked on my ass, and I have a headache that beats all.” Grant stood up. “I’d like to say I’m happy to meet you, Piper, but so far, all you’ve done is tell me what you’re not going to do. Do you have the slightest bit of happiness about finding me?”
“I don’t know.” Piper looked at her sisters, then back at Grant. “I don’t know what to think, to be honest with you. I have so many questions right now that I don’t even know where to begin. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
“Thank you for that.” He put out his hand and asked her if he could help her up. “I don’t know how the power we felt from each other has changed us, but I think I’m even more than I was before. Fae, for the most part. A little of other things as well.”
Piper took his hand. Standing up, she was startled by how tall he was. He had to be over six and a half feet tall. She, in her bare feet, was six-two. Not letting go of his hand right away, she looked into his eyes. They were almost a clear blue—icy, she thought. Taking a step back from him, she felt the warmth of him leave her too. Piper was tempted to move closer to him again but decided there were things she needed answers to.
Dinner was called a few minutes later. No one had spoken to her since she’d gotten up from the floor. Not that she thought she could have answered anything asked of her. Her mind was still a mess. She knew some of the things going on in her head were his memories too.
It was just too much for her, and she stood up. But she’d not meant to draw attention to herself and sat back down. Looking down at her plate, her embarrassment making her angry, Piper wanted to take flight right at that minute and never return. But something happened, and her anger as well as her thoughts, seemed to calm a great deal. That was when she noticed that Grant had simply put his hand on her shoulder.
“I’m not being pushy, Piper, but you seemed ready to jump out of your skin.” She nodded and thanked him. “No worries there. I’m hoping that when I need it, you can do the same for me.”
Piper must have eaten. Her plate had little bits of food on it, and her fork was dirty. However, she couldn’t tell anyone, if asked, what it had tasted like. The others around her were talking about the summer plans. All she could think about right now was the man beside her. And what he would expect from her.
Not that any of the other men in their family had done that. All three of the others had been there for her sisters but never made demands on them. It was one of the reasons she loved them so much—they treated their wives like they needed. Soft and pampered at times, but letting them do their own thing when that was necessary. It occurred to her then that Grant was older than her.
“You’ve been around a long time.” He told her he’d been born before the king had taken Dante as his wife. “I didn’t know him. I heard a great deal about him. He was a cruel and mean bastard. I don’t think I ever even know how he died. I know it wasn’t Dante that did it.”
“No. She had nothing to do with his death, which I suppose was a good thing. That would have perhaps made the king of the lands come to her sooner. He died in a war, defending his brother’s castle. They were both killed the same day. His brother, I don’t remember his name at the moment, killed his wife and children when it was obvious he was losing the war. I think that is part of the estate Duncan now owns. As the only living descendant of the brothers, he would have inherited those lands as well.”
“It doesn’t sound as if his brother was any better than Dante’s husband was.” Grant said he was right in killing his family. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”
“Had he not taken their lives as he did, quickly and without much in the way of pain, he saved them from being tortured as well as raped. He had two little girls, and they wouldn’t have been spared anything that the person that eventually took the castle would have done to them.” She said she’d not thought of that. “There wouldn’t have been anyone to hide them away either. As you pointed out, he wasn’t much different than his brother. He had no loyal people, such as Dante did. Nor did he have much in the way of ships to send them away. When the brother was killed, the people of the land celebrated for days afterwards. Then I think they too were killed when the man who won the castle took over. Dante made sure the lands were seized back for Duncan some years before her death.”
She noticed that everyone at the table had gone quiet. Looking at Mercy when she asked for more stories, Piper realized that more than they did, Grant would have a lot of stories about living in the castle before and after Dante. Grant smiled at her when she asked him about the other lands.
“They’re still there, as far as I know. I believe they abut this land.” Duncan confirmed that it did, and the castle was still intact. “When your father was brought home to be buried, it was thought he’d been killed by his own men. There are still a few of the old guard left in New Town. When I was younger, I would sit with them, and they’d tell me stories of the cruelty of your father. I won’t tell them if you’d not like to hear them.”
“He was dead before I was born. I know from my mother’s books that he wasn’t considered a good king. Nor did he stop from putting my mother in her place at times.” Grant told Duncan he was sorry for that. “Don’t be. There are ways she got around him, mostly because of her magic. But he was a drunkard too. From what I was told, not only did he drink entirely too much, but—my mom’s words here—he whored around too. Still, he never had a son by anyone but my mom.”
“There were others born to the women he raped. They’re all dead now, I believe. I can show you where they’re buried if you’d like.” Duncan told him he’d like that, then asked Grant what he meant by there being other children. “The women of the castle were raped daily by not just him, but anyone that came to the castle. Three of them and one that lived here had daughters. But they were killed when they were born. The mothers as well. He wanted sons and nothing more. There we
re no second chances if someone he’d raped had a daughter.”
“I didn’t know that. I wonder if my mother did.” Grant told Duncan she had known about the ones born within the walls. She’d taken care that the families of the murdered were given money. “She never mentioned it in the books. Not even a little bit of that sort of information.”