The Queen of All Magick: Elizabeth (12 page)

“Did I happen to mention that I’ve met this lovely young woman?
Her name is Kim. Not Kimberly like you’d think, but simply Kim. She’s a sweetheart and makes me yearn for another daughter. I don’t think that’s going to happen, do you?” Elizabeth laughed, and the tree shifted its branches. “I’m not as full of sorrow as I was yesterday. Yesterday, I cried at everything. Today, only about half.”

She supposed it was her way to joke about things.
Today was no different than yesterday, only she had one less day. As she watched Draco make his daily trip to the lake, she thought about the first dragon she’d seen. He was spectacular, and Draco was no less so as his son.

“Drake was such a man. I thought for a time he was my mate
, but he was too much of a ladies’ man to stand still long enough for me to figure it out. But he knew. We had such times together. I would become a dragon just to fly with him. And we’d soar over the mountains and touch our wings to the water as we sped by. He taught me a great many things about magic and humans.” She thought about her first encounter with a human that didn’t live on the grounds. They’d been having a picnic in the earth realm when a couple came upon them. They’d been fighting, and the woman had been crying.

“She said that she’d fallen
, but both Drake and I could see that he’d hit her. The man looked as if he wanted to do so again. But I took her under my wing so to speak, and had her sit with us while Drake took the man away.” She smiled. “I’m not sure what he did to the man, but I believe he was a changed man when he returned. The anger that he had was gone, and his face looked younger for it. I asked Drake what he had said to him, and he’d fobbed me off. It wasn’t until years later that I looked for them again and found that they had four children, all of them boys. The woman remembered me and told me what had happened.

“
’He said to him that I was with child. And that the baby would be bigger by far than him and a good deal smarter. And he would love me more than life itself.’” The woman had smiled. “My oldest is a head taller than his sire and is a good deal bigger all around. My husband has not laid a hand on me since that day. I owe both so much.”

“She’d given me a cup of tea.
I know that sounds so small, but it was the best I’d ever drank.” Elizabeth smiled as she thought of the memory. “Okay, it was the first time I’d drank tea, but it was the best. And I’ve been brewing it from her recipe since then.”

Elizabeth had seen many such people in her lifetime. Most of them not human
, but the few that she’d encountered along the way had been special. A few at least. She thought of one such unpleasant man.

“Sherman.
You remember him. He was…well for lack of a better term, he was a prick. Did you know that I’d told Mellie that he wasn’t for her?” Elizabeth thought about how little she’d actually tried to tell her granddaughter, but had gone to the fade instead of staying there to help her. “He killed so many people. And hurt so many more. There were times, so many times in the beginning, that I could not believe that Mellie would listen to him. But she did, and I felt as if I was no longer needed.”

It had been more than that. She’d felt as if she’d failed her granddaughter
, and still did to this day. Tess had caught her thinking about it once, the way things had fallen apart because she’d been too stupid to make Mellie see reason. And Tess had a good deal to say about that.

“You think I would have met my mate? You think that Shamus would have become her mate after all this? No. He would have continued to sit on his ass
, and I would have still been angry at the world. You did what needed to be done. Besides, I’m pretty sure that the Sisters Three would have turned it all around so that all of it would have happened anyway. They have a way of making things work out.”

Tess had stood up when she’d said her piece and looked out over the
then dead field. “Someday someone will come along and see this and say, why the hell haven’t we fixed this? You know what I’ll say to them? I’ll say we’ve been waiting for you to come along and start it. We’re too busy protecting the rest of the kingdom. What are you doing but sitting here on your ass and doing nothing? You’ve waited long enough.”

Elizabeth had sat in her chair for a long moment before she threw back her head and laughed.
She looked at the tree now and smiled. “There are days when I’d gladly strangle the girl. What do you suppose she’d say to me today? I’m betting it would be to get up again. She won’t be able to do it all on her own.”

Moving toward the living field
, she thought of all the magic that had been given to Rythen to do this. She also wondered if he knew that had all of the vampires in Aaron’s kiss and every wolf in Bradley’s pack not pushed him at the last minute that it would never have been as far along as it was.

“I suppose the arrogant ass thin
ks he did this all on his own. Well, I have news for him. He’s going to learn what it’s like to have your power sucked right from you. As of today.”

Chapter 1
2

“We’ve been given the okay.” Aaron looked up from his computer when Bradley flopped down in the chair across from his desk. “Elizabeth called on me an hour ago and asked if what we had planned would really work.”

“Do you think it will?” Bradley shrugged
, and Aaron leaned back in his chair. “You really don’t know or you’re afraid to commit?”

“If everyone in my pack stop
ped shifting, and you don’t do whatever it is you do, then I’m thinking it will put a big dent in the magic they all have. We both know that our magic is more powerful when they are around. What if the reverse is true? That they need us much more than we need them.”

“I don’t have magic.”
Aaron no longer believed this, but he’d been saying it for years, so that now it was as if it were a requirement to do so. And Bradley, like he knew he would, rose to the bait.

“How the hell after all these centuries can you still
believe that? Christ man, you live with a woman that has so much in her body that plants grow faster when she simply walks by them.” Aaron laughed, and Bradley calmed down. “You drive me nuts, have I told you that lately?”

“You have
, and I love you too.” The rest of the morning consisted of them gathering the other leaders in the area and telling them the plan. It still amazed Aaron how many people loved him. He knew that each and every one of them would do whatever he would ask of them regardless of any harm to them. Colin sat back when they had finished the plan.

“You think a day will be enough?”
Aaron nodded. “It’s going to be hard on the younger vamps, but we’ll make it work for them too. No magic, huh, and no shifting either? We can make a difference. If not, we might have to start a war to feed us all when it’s over.”

“I don’t think it will come to all that.”
Colin looked at Bradley when he spoke. He eyed him in a way that Aaron knew that whatever Colon said next was going to piss the wolf off.

“You gonna turn over your virgins to us for food when we come knocking, man?
I hear that you have a few of them in your own household. Nine daughters and counting last I heard.”

“You stay away from my daughters and I won’t have to tear your throat out.”
They all laughed, but each knew that if anyone came near any of their families to cause harm, they would gather together like the war that Colin mentioned and kill whoever dared touch what was theirs.

It was set. Tonight
, when the sun went down, every paranormal they knew and some they did not would not use magic. Aaron wasn’t really sure how much it would affect the castle, but he was willing to bet it would be something. As the rest of them went to their homes, he started for his lair and heard loud voices in the kitchen. He went there to see what was going on.

“What do you mean
you are going to get this thing between us taken away? You cannot do that. I forbid it.” Rythen would have to learn to take that word out of his vocabulary if he ever thought to have his mate treasure him. Right now she looked as if she wanted to stuff him in a treasure chest and bury him deep in the ocean.

“You
can’t forbid me to do anything, you childish ass. Where do you get these insane rules of yours? No one in their right mind thinks like that anymore.” Kim huffed at him as she sat down and continued snapping the green beans on the bar. “I tried to tell you yesterday and you wouldn’t listen. I’m finished trying to talk to a person who is ten times the most stubborn man I’ve ever met. You, sir, are dismissed.”

“Dismissed?
What the hell does that mean?” Kim didn’t even look at him as Rythen started pacing the room. “If you want to know stubborn, you should look in the mirror. You are the queen of it. All I said was for you not do kitchen work. Why does everything I say to you have to be met with anger?”

“
Because you never ask, you demand. I’m sick to death of men demanding crap of me. I’m a person.” She looked up at him when he opened his mouth to speak. “And I swear to you if the next words out of your mouth are not ‘I’m sorry,’ I will have someone put a hex on your dick.”

“My dick. Why is it that every woman I meet want
s to do something to that part of my body?” Aaron heard Kim mumble and nearly lost it when Rythen asked her to repeat herself.

“I said
it’s because that is where your tiny brain is. It’s the only thing you seem to ever know how to use.” Aaron cleared his throat so they’d see him, and they both looked toward him. Kim flushed a bright red when he winked at her.

“I
couldn’t help but overhear you. I’m reasonably sure the neighbors were able to overhear you now that I think of it.” He sat down across from Kim. “Do you know where Duncan and my wife have gone?”

“Duncan had an appointment
, and Mrs. Mac said she had to go and gather the troops. I think it has to do with the fact that I’m not going shopping with them, but I’m not sure.” Aaron looked at Rythen when Kim did. “He seems to think that he’ll pay for everything I want, and I think I should earn it.”

“As you should.”
Rythen growled, but Aaron ignored him. “I’m not sure why he’s here. I think I told him never to return. But that’s not what matters. I should like to give you some money.”

Before she could protest, which he was sure she would, he raised his hand.
Rythen was not put off. He blustered about his mate this and that, and Aaron snapped his fingers, sending Rythen to the castle.

“You can’t give me money. Though I’d be glad to pay you if you showed me how to do that trick.” Aaron felt his anger for this woman soar. She’d been told nothing of what she could do
or how to do it. And Rythen had been ordering her around. Much like he’d done to Sara all those decades ago.

“You’ve been cooking for us. And if I don’t miss my bet, having a good time at it.
And Duncan said he is learning a great deal about cooking from you.” She nodded and smiled. “He told me about the measuring cups. I nearly had to leave the room. There are times when I swear that he sits in here making things up just to see if he can make me laugh.”

“He’s a wonderfully
naive little man, and I adore him. And the measuring cups. That was…he actually thought that he could use any cup and it would do. Some of the mugs you have in your cabinets are quite large. He said that Aric made them.” Aaron nodded. They had a great deal of her things. “And the measuring spoons too. I nearly fell off my chair when he told me that he thought the capital ‘t’ was for a serving spoon and the smaller one for anything else. Poor man. How long has he been working the kitchen for you?”

“Since well before I can remember.
Either of us, for that matter. I think someone told you how old I was.” She nodded. “With my age comes great knowledge. Not all of it relevant, but most of it. And I’ll tell you now that I was no different than Rythen when I met my Sara.”

“I don’t believe it. You love her so much
, and it shows in everything you do with each other. I’m…well, it’s very heartening to know that there are men like you out there. Mac is much like you and Mr. Wolff. He and his wife are amazing together.”

“I once told Sara she’d beg me to beat her butt.”
Kim laughed as he’d hoped she would, but he assured her it was true. “We were so mismatched, I thought. And because of my ignorance, I nearly lost her. And my children. Because without her, there would be no kiss, and I’d have died without her.”

“I doubt Rythen would allow death to take him. He’s so stubborn.”
Aaron didn’t point out that she seemed to be holding her own in that department, but only nodded. “He’s going to murder Elizabeth, and he thinks that I’m going to somehow try to talk him out of it. I want to, with all my heart I want to, but I know that he’ll do it anyway, and I’ll be hurt by it.”

“He claims that
because he has a contract that it makes it unbreakable. I think he’s just afraid if he doesn’t follow through on this, people will believe him a failure somehow.” She snorted, and Aaron laughed. “Men have done stupider things in the name of a good contract.”

“So he’s going to kill her simply
because it’s written down?” Aaron nodded. “I suppose you have a plan to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’d like to help if I can. I love her so much.”

“You
cannot, my dear. One of the things about being a mate to someone is that you cannot harm them or be harmed by them. And this will hurt you in ways I can’t explain.” She nodded. “But as for me giving you your wage. You’ve done a fantastic job for my household, and the boys said they’ve never eaten better. So for this I will give you what I consider a good wage.”

Money appeared between them
, and she didn’t touch it. He knew it was a great deal of money. Though he had no use for it really, he knew the value. And giving her ten thousand dollars was way overboard. But he liked her and wanted to piss off Rythen a little more.

“He
won’t like this.” Aaron said nothing. “I’m going to take it for that reason alone. But it’s more than I would earn in six months at my old job.” The phone ringing gave him no opportunity to answer her. She got up to answer it just as Duncan and Sara came into the house. He was kissing Sara when he heard Kim cry.

“I told you to leave me alone. I didn’t have anything to do with the death of your son
. And to be honest with you, I think he got just what he deserved.” He moved up behind her and put his ear to the phone. The man on the other end was spewing all sorts of comments and nasty things to Kim when Sara appeared in front of them.

“Hang up.” Kim held the phone to her ear and stared at Sara when she repeated herself. “Hang up, love. Nothing he says to you will matter in about five
minutes. Because I’m going to kick his ass myself.”

Kim put the phone on the cradle and wrapped her arms
around Sara. As she cried, Aaron turned to Duncan. The man looked as if he had been hurt by the words too. When Aaron said his name twice, he looked at him.

“Call Elizabeth and Mel. Tell them what’s going on. Have Pete change out the number here and make sure that that call is traced.”
Duncan nodded. “And make sure that Rythen is made aware that his mate is being threatened.”

“I will
, sire, but you should know that I had Miss Pete put a device on this phone yesterday. I had Lady Kim give the number to that horrid man so that we may track his behind.” Aaron hugged the man to him. “Well, sir, had I known how happy that would make you I would have done it sooner. You look, if you do not mind my saying so, as if you have swallowed the robin.”

“
Canary, and yes, I think I might have.” Aaron went to his lair knowing that as soon as he woke, things were going to be hot. Laughing, he contacted Bradley and asked him to double the guard around the estate.

“Done
, and Pete said to tell you that she’s got him, whatever that means. She also said to tell you that you’re to stay out of this. Kim and the women are going to take care of this. She said Kimmy needs it.”

Aaron agreed.
She did need this, and Aaron nearly skipped to his bed. Yes, sir, things were about to take a very nice turn.

~~~

Rythen wanted to smash something. Or kill someone. He’d never been so angry in his life. And considering his age, he was doubly angry. He paced the room several times before he came up short. He’d never heard Elizabeth enter. She sat down and asked him to have a seat as well.

“
What’s happened?” She only patted the seat, and he wanted to refuse her but knew that if he didn’t do as she said, he’d never hear what she had to tell him. “I don’t think I like this new you. I would very much like it if you were to go back to the way I made you.”

“Too bad.
Now, I need for you to remain calm when I speak to you.” He nearly left her to find someone who would give him the answer correctly, but three guards walked in fully armed, and he sat back down. “Are you going to behave or do I need to have them hold you?”

“I want you to know that I’m not at all happy with the way things are going here
, and I’m sick to death of being treated like an infant. I’m a grown man, you know.”

“
Then I would propose you start acting like one.” She sat there for several seconds waiting for him to answer. He nodded once, and she started talking. “Kim has been threatened by the father of the man you killed. Aaron said that he told her he was going to get her and make her pay like his son should have. Aaron also said that he has a plan.”

“And this plan, do I get to help my mate or has that right been taken from me as well?”
He flushed when he thought about what he’d said. In the past hour since Aaron had sent him here, he’d been doing a lot of thinking. “I’ve been somewhat overbearing to her.”

“Somewhat?
From what I’ve heard you’ve been no less a bully than the man you killed. She told us that at least with Josh, she knew the rules. If she messed up she’d get hit. With you it’s not the same.” Rythen stood up and started to pace, but one of the guards drew their sword, and he sat down. While they wouldn’t be able to kill him, they would hurt him. And of late, he wasn’t so sure they wouldn’t be able to kill him. Things were not the same as when he’d left them.