Witchling (Curse of Kin) (3 page)

I sat up and brushed off the nausea that threatened. Shaking my head, I struggled to control my thoughts before I turned to Jasper. “Are you going to tell me, or is it a secret?” I hugged my hands around my stomach and willed my body to do what I wanted it to.

“No, girl dear, I will tell you.” His gaze dropped to his hands that were twisted together on his lap. “I just need to find the right words, but before I do, you must realize, all of you, that your life will never be the same.”

Jasper stood and paced the room in front of the fire while we grouped together on the couch, confused by his words. I stared at him blankly while Brie grabbed onto Sully for support. We waited for him to continue.

“You talk in riddles, Jasper. Get to the point.” I lifted my chin, terrified that his answer would be my undoing and I was going to fall apart in front of him. I held my breath while I waited for his answer.

“This is a truly dangerous situation, Nera. I think that I’ll make another pot of tea while I gather my wits about me. Won’t be a minute,” he said, he hurried out of the room before we could say anything to him.

“Nera, what on earth is going on? I’m scared.” Brie tucked herself under Sully’s arm and looked at me with wide blue eyes.

“I don’t know. I’m so confused and pissed off! I don’t know what to think. Too many things have happened lately. I can’t seem to get my head around it all. I think if he doesn’t give us a decent explanation, we are out of here. Sully, look at me. Do you want to stay?”

“If you think I’m going to go now things have started to get interesting, you are sillier than I thought,” he replied and grinned with excitement.

I looked Brie. “Brie, what about you?”

“Like you even needed to ask.” She rolled her eyes, then sat up and patted her hair back into place.

I jumped up from the couch and headed down the hall to the kitchen. The sound of Jasper’s voice slowed me before I walked into the kitchen. The urgency I heard made me hesitate, and I lay my forehead against the wall and listened.

“She knows something is going on. I think we have to tell her now, but how much is up to you.”

There was a pause before he continued. “I know we only have one shot at this, but I don’t want to frighten her away from it.” There was silence again. “Yes, I suppose we have to hope that her inquisitive nature will be tempted, will do.”

My heart jolted when I heard the
click
of the receiver on the phone, and I hurried to the library. Jasper came back into the room carrying the tea tray. Cups rattled against each other and he rearranged them before pouring each of us a mug of tea.

“Quit stalling, Jasper, and let’s get on with, and just the facts. No bullshit or fairy tales.”

“Tsk, tsk, girl dear, if your mother could hear the way you talk.” Jasper frowned, pouring the tea.

“Well, she can’t,” I retorted. I felt guilty for being so mean to him, but I was so close to having a stress attack over this. “Let’s have it.”

He began as he passed the drinks to us. “Do you remember your father telling you about your ancestors, the O’Reilly’s?”

“Wasn’t she the witchy one? I thought that was just folk legends.”

“Yes and no.” He pulled on his chin. “Family history has it that Edrith, the family matriarch, had a feud with the neighboring landholders. Her husband had died in suspicious circumstances. Some even say it was Edrith herself that killed him, but it was never proven.

“She had tried to make the bordering neighbors sell her their land for ages and reportedly killed off their stock and poisoned their wells to encourage them to move on. She slowly managed to buy up or steal all the surrounding holdings, making her one of the biggest land owners in the county. There was only one landholder that would not give in to her.” Jasper looked over our heads, a quick shadow passing over his face before he continued.

“To make matters worse, Edrith’s youngest son fell in love with the landholder’s daughter, Pria Pembroke. Obviously it was not a match that made Edrith happy, and she forbade her son to marry the girl. You have seen her picture in the gallery upstairs.”

“Have we? I don’t remember.” I looked at Brie and Sully and raised my eyebrows, hoping they could enlighten me.

“The girl that looks a lot like you, painted when she was about seventeen years old. Anyway, Leona Pembroke, Pria’s mother, was helping them plan to elope, and Edrith got word of it.” Jasper paused for breath, his mouth tight. “One day when the men were out collecting rents the castle was relatively unguarded. That was the day Edrith decided to attack. She killed them both, first Pria and then tortured Lady Leona before hanging her in the garden to die a slow and painful death.”

“That’s awful, Jasper, but what has that got to do with us here and now?” I shook my head, impatient to see why this had anything to do with me and my problems.

“Let me finish, girl dear. Lady Leona was no ordinary lady. She was the youngest sister of Mari, Queen of the Witches, who was married to Maju, the God of Thunder.” He held his hands up to stop me from interrupting. “When they found out what had happened to Lady Leona, they let fly with their combined forces. They destroyed Edrith’s house and lands, sparing only the servants that lived there. Edrith was taken back to Mari’s home where the council decreed that even though she was a distant cousin to the queen, she was to die by their hand. She cursed them with her last breath.”

“How could she curse them?” Brie’s face lit up. “Was she really a witch, Jasper?”

“She was originally a god, Brie. She had been stripped of her god powers and banished to earth for betraying the trust of those in the high council. She relied on her beauty and sex to entice the wealthiest man she could to marry her and give her powers of a kind once again. But that wasn’t enough for her. She called upon demons for more. In exchange, she gave them life on earth to do her bidding, rather than be caught in the Otherworld.” Jasper stopped pacing and turned to face us.

“As farfetched as it may sound to you, I know it happened,” Jasper informed us as he met my gaze.

“How could you possibly know, Jasper?” Sully asked him.

“I was there. I know what happened because it is I who has been cursed. The curse to remain alive and watch my family die around me, with no hope of moving on myself…until now.”

“What do you mean ‘until now’?” The warning bells were going off in my brain as his story sunk in.

He watched me process the information. “I was there, Nera. I am Lord Pembroke, Leona’s husband.”

C
HAPTER
T
WO

“I don’t believe it. You cannot be nearly 800 years old. That isn’t possible.”

“Come with me, girl dear.” Jasper sighed and reached out to take my hand. “You two come as well.” He motioned to Brie and Sully and pulled me from the library.

Jasper held my hand tight in his on our way up the staircase to the gallery. He pushed me in front of him when we stopped in front of paintings that I rarely gave any thought to.”Pria, my daughter.” Jasper motioned to a face that I was vaguely familiar with.

Big gray eyes looked back at me. We both had the same shaped face and a high forehead. The only difference was Pria’s hair, which was a much richer brown than mine and long as was the fashion then. Both of us were tall and slim, and I could deeply identify with the look on her face—I saw it in my mirror daily.

“You can see yourself in your long deceased ancestor,” Jasper said after a few minutes, allowing me time to register what I saw before me.

“So what? This means nothing except that we look alike and she’s dead.” I turned back for another look. Jasper would have to come up with more than this to convince me.

“Come with me and look at another painting.” Jasper touched a panel to the left on the wall. A secret door slid open.

“Oh my God,” exclaimed Sully as he jumped back. He peeked through the door before glancing at Jasper. “You never told us you had secret panels in this place. That is so cool!”

“No, I didn’t. I have good reasons not to tell anyone, but we won’t go into that just now. Come this way. I want to show you something.” He stepped through the opening into another room. There was a heavy desk in the center. A collection of old maps rolled up on shelves against a wall and a large display of weapons adorned another. Jasper stopped in front of a big family portrait. “This is what I wanted to show you, Nera.”

“No, no,” I moaned, “it can’t be you. It looks like you, but it can’t be, Jasper. It just can’t.”

I sunk to the cold stone floor, my gaze riveted on the faces of Jasper, his wife Leona, two sons, and his daughter, Pria. Brie dropped to my side, and we clung to each other. My breath came in short gasps, and I struggled to remain calm. I counted quietly in my mind to slow my erratic heartbeat. The ringing in my ears seemed to be tangled with the sweeping rush of chills that raced over my back bone. The noise was loud and pounding; then it hushed to a barely noticeable vibration in my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself not to faint before glancing up once more.

I looked over at Brie and saw the horror I was feeling mirrored in her eyes. She was pale, and a film of sweat was covering her top lip. I wiped my hand over my face before I wrapped my arms around her.

“It can’t be true. There is no way this can be happening!” I leaned my head on Brie’s shoulder and shuddered under the onslaught of information that seemed too out there to be true. “You are making this up—but why? What could you possibly gain from doing this to me, and what does it have to do with my dreams?” I closed my eyes and fought back the sudden onslaught of tears. When I opened them, Jasper was standing in front of me

“Girl dear, let’s go back downstairs. I can explain it better down there.” Jasper held his hand out to me. “Let me help you up.”

Jasper led us back downstairs to the library where we all sat together on a couch and faced him. I desperately wanted some sane remarks to come out of his mouth.

“Everything I have told you is true. I know it may seem strange and unreal, but I really am 800 years old. Witches did and still do exist. You know that wherever there is good there must also be evil to balance it out.” He paused, took a deep breath, then continued. “That can take many forms, witches only being one of them. Not all witches are evil obviously, but Edrith O’Reilly was very evil. When Pria planned to elope with Edrith’s youngest son, she placed a curse on them. She cursed me, and she cursed her own son. I know this is a lot to take in, Nera, but what I have told you is true. That is exactly what happened.”

“Come on, Jasper. You really don’t expect me, us, to believe this, do you?” It couldn’t be true, yet parts of his story were settling into my heart and mind already, as if the words had been waiting to find a resting place within me.

“Yes, girl dear, I do,” Jasper replied, gazing at me.

“How did your daughter die, Jasper?” Sully asked, obviously remembering the other dream that I had constantly.

“Edrith slit her throat with a sword, Sully.”

I felt the bile rise in my own throat and pressed my hand to my mouth in an effort to stop it.
Breathe
, I told myself,
just breathe
. I squeezed my eyes tight and fought for control. I could feel a hand on my knee, and when I looked up, Jasper was kneeling on the floor in front of me, his gaze full of pain.

“Was that the other dream you were having?” His beautiful blue eyes were shadowed and troubled.

I nodded my head. The words stuck in my mind, the bile forcing its way up my throat. I pushed past him and ran for the downstairs bathroom in the hallway. I leaned over and retched into the bowl. I gripped onto the sides to stop myself from collapsing to the floor. My knees had gone weak, and cold sweat was running down my face. I couldn’t control the shaking and was past caring. Neither my body nor my mind could accept what I had heard.
It wasn’t possible
.
How could it be that Jasper is 800 years old and I am reliving his daughter’s death on a nightly basis. No, it is not possible.

There was a light tap on the door, and Brie tiptoed in with a damp cloth in her hands. Her mouth was set into a grim line. She watched me as I struggled to stand and then handed me the cloth. I leaned against the basin, unsteady on my feet. I wiped my face and hands and looked up at her, my gaze searching her face for any trace of sympathy.

“I’m really going crazy, aren’t I?” I hung my head, suddenly not wanting to see the pity in her eyes.

“I don’t think you are,” she replied, her voice gentle. She ran her hand down my arm before I pulled away. “I think what Jasper is saying is true. Why don’t you come back into the library and we can discuss it more.”

“You’re kidding, right,” I scoffed at her, ignoring the shocked look on her face. “You don’t seriously believe this stuff. Does he look that old to you?” I leaned on the basin until the ground stopped moving under my feet.

“No, he doesn’t.” Brie brushed her hair back from her face and then licked her lips at the reflection in the mirror over my shoulder. “But he said that was part of the curse, Nera. Just listen to him before you decide you’re crazy and he is lying.”