Found (Book One of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel (4 page)

“If only I could fly away with you,” Hailey said quietly.

She closed the window and climbed in to bed. Dawn was coming very quickly, and she wanted some sleep before she had to face the major again.

MORNING CAME ALL too soon. When Hailey’s feet hit the stone floor, she wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed. Red was already streaking the sky, though, so she dressed hurriedly. She found a pair of comfortably worn jeans, and she stomped into the heavy boots that had served her so well in the Alpine territory. A thick hoodie finished her outfit, and as she trotted down to the courtyard, she hastily plaited her hair. Flyaway strands escaped her braid, but that was hardly unusual. When she was done, she opened the small gate that lead to the interior courtyard. It was a walled area that in times past had served as a meditation garden for the monks. Now it was the common training area for the Angioli coven, offering them an open place to practice their craft without worrying about interference or spies from the village.

The cold air took her breath away for a moment. She wished she had thought to put on at least another layer of clothing or bring along a pair of gloves. In the dim light of dawn, she could make out the figure of Kieran McCallen standing at the far wall, pulling what looked like long sticks out of a bag.

Warily, she approached him. To her surprise, he wasn’t shivering at all, despite his thin clothes. In plain black, he could have been a modern monk, but given his size and his obviously muscular build, it would have been a warlike order indeed. She let her eyes linger over how broad his shoulders were and how narrow his waist was before reminding herself of who he was and how very dangerous he could be.

Hailey had a defensive answer on her lips for why she wasn’t there and waiting for him, but he seemed unconcerned.

“There you are. Let’s get started, yes?”

At her wary nod, he gestured towards the bag.

“Are you familiar with quarterstaves?”

“You mean the art of hitting each other with sticks?” she blurted out.

He didn’t smile, well not exactly, but his eyes crinkled with something like amusement.

“Have you ever fought with one?”

She shook her head, and he handed her a thick length of wood that was just a little taller than she was. It was rounded and smooth, and she was surprised to see how comfortable it felt in her hand.

 
“That one will do for today. Quarterstaves are an excellent choice for a young witch or warlock who has had no training in martial arts before. It is innocuous because it looks like a walking stick, and it can defend you from most things that aren’t projectiles without the risk of carrying a sword.”

Hailey wanted to ask why a highly-ranked member of the Magus Corps was stopping to give her instructions on fighting, but she bit her tongue. He had a plan here, and whatever it was, she was going to have to go along with it.

To her surprise, Kieran turned out to be a patient teacher. He showed her how to hold the staff, and patiently corrected her stance every time.

“Let me show you why it’s so important,” he said, standing up straight. “Drop into your stance.”

She did as he said, standing with one shoulder towards him and spreading her feet to be a little wider than her shoulders.

“Do you see the difference between us right now?”

Hailey considered.

“You’re up higher than I am,” she said. “Your stance is narrow, and you’re relaxed.”

His smile was slight, and it took his face from being simply handsome to being something that could touch the heart. It shocked her, and it made her shake her head so that she could focus on what he was saying.

“That’s precisely right. When I stand like this, I can be knocked over more easily. I am not centered, I am not focused, and because my stance is so narrow, I can easily be surprised. You see?”

She nodded, and they continued. She took her stance more readily, and when she didn’t, he tapped her leg lightly with the butt of his own staff to remind her.

Hailey, who had never enjoyed any sport before in her life, was startled by what the instruction of a good teacher could do. Kieran seemed endlessly patient, and he was willing to explain things and demonstrate them until she got them right.

As the sun crept higher in the sky, she learned to block and parry, and soon enough, she was making small feints herself, attacking when he directed her to, and striking where she could. He looked pleased with her progress, but Hailey tried to remind herself that this had more to do with his mysterious purposes than it did with helping her.

Hailey was covered in sweat, and her fingers, unused to holding the staff, were sore, but she was oddly loath to take the break he offered. She sipped delicately from the water bottle he offered her, and she watched out of the corner of her eye as he shed his jacket.

Underneath, he wore a black tank top that showed her exactly what lifetimes of fighting would do to a body. He was as muscled as any career soldier, and the scars that criss-crossed his arms and his upper chest looked too innumerable to count.

Too late, she realized that she was staring, and he looked over at her with a wry grin.

“I’d ask if you liked what you see, but I think your expression tells me not to do that.”

Hailey’s eyes went wide. She could hear the faint note of self-deprecation in his voice. The thought that she had made him ashamed of his body, which was beautiful, and his scars, which after all were earned fairly, made her blush with shame.

“No, no, I do like what I see! I mean, I like all of it.”

She heard what she said and stammered to a stop, and instead of laughing at her, Kieran looked surprised.

“The scars bother many people,” he said with a shrug. “They used to bother me, but if you live long enough, I think you learn to be grateful for them.”

Almost without thinking about it, Hailey stepped a little closer. His skin was as pale as her own, and the scars were vivid against it. When she got close enough, she could see that they were raised as well. Some of them were as thin as the blade of a knife, and others were thick and knotted. She shivered to think what could have made them. She raised her hand to touch one that trailed over his bare shoulder, but she stopped short when he cleared his throat.

“Oh! Oh my god, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking at all.”

There was that slight smile again, the one that made her go warm to the depths of her belly, and he shook his head.

“Let’s put it this way. Any other time, I would be happy to have as lovely a woman as you touch me while making that face, but right now we have other things to do.”

What face?
she wondered, but he was picking up his staff again.

“You’ve learned very well for someone who has never picked up a staff before,” he commented. “Now let’s see what you can do with it.”

She was barely in the guard position before he was on top of her. When the first blow stung her upper arm, she couldn’t help but cry out. The blow had been lightning fast, far faster than she could defend against. She skittered backwards in shock.

Hailey looked up at Kieran wide-eyed, but he was coming again. She blocked the first blow, but not the second, and it caught her hard on the thigh.

“Kieran!”

“That’s battle, little fox. Defend yourself or suffer the consequences.”

She was nearly in tears with another few blows, and then he was driving her around and around the courtyard. She was able to fend off some of his blows, but most of them caught her. They fell like rain, and though few of them were as heavy as the blows he had struck at first, they all shocked her.

“Come on, is this all you have?” Kieran called, circling her.
 

He reminded her of a wolf watching its prey. She panted, doing her best to remain facing him while catching her breath.

“Yes it is,” she snarled, horrified to feel tears lumping in the back of her throat. “It is. I haven’t picked up a staff before in my life, so yes, this is all I have!”

Kieran snorted.

“The Templars won’t care. I don’t either.”

He darted towards her again, catching her hard against the side, and again she was standing under a flurry of blows. She was losing strength, her arms stung from holding up the staff, and her hands were almost numb from the grasp she had to take on it.

More than once he got close enough for her to touch, and more than once, her clenched knuckles brushed against his skin. Her power clamored to be used, but she fought it off.

He can’t kill me,
Hailey reminded herself.
He can’t even hurt me, and if he does, Anjelica in the infirmary will patch me up right away.

She hung on to the thought like grim death, but as he continued herding her to and fro across the interior courtyard, she began to wonder whether he knew that he couldn’t hurt her. Her entire body was shrieking with pain and panic, and she knew tears of pain and frustration were running down her face.

Hailey stayed on her feet, she kept fighting. It was all she knew how to do.

Suddenly she found there was nowhere to run. He had backed her against the wall, and with a blow that almost seemed careless, he knocked the staff out of her numb hands.

He was standing close enough to touch, and a distant part of her buried somewhere under a bone-deep layer of pain and nerves thought about how beautiful he was. He was a predator, and now he had brought her to bay.

“I expected more than this,” he said, and he raised his staff.

Hailey stared up at him, and then a scream rent the cold morning air. They both turned, and where before the courtyard had been empty, now there was an enraged teenager a mere few yards away.

Beatrice’s face was twisted with fury, and she lunged at Kieran with a feline quickness that shocked Hailey.

Kieran turned, and all Hailey saw was that staff coming up, the one that she knew could deliver such painful blows. A flash of that weapon striking Beatrice seared through her mind, and with an enraged snarl all her own, she threw herself at the far bigger man.

The moment her palm hit his bare scarred shoulder, she could feel her power twisting over his, pulling at it and wrenching it away. It was a terrible pleasure, it was heat driving through her and giving her exactly what she needed to defend the girl who had welcomed her with open arms.

There was a flash of copper light, and Kieran was flung back several feet. Hailey’s hands were in the air and between her hands and Kieran was a round, transparent copper shield. Through its haze, she could see his shocked face, and behind her, she could feel Beatrice trembling.

“Hailey, oh Hailey,” Beatrice whispered.

At first, Hailey thought that the teenager was afraid of what she had done, and her spirit shrunk in shame.

“Beatrice…”

“You must run away,” the teen whispered. “You should not have struck a major of the Magus Corps like that. You shouldn’t have!”

It took Hailey a few moments to realize that her friend was not horrified by her actions, and then she shook her head.

“He shouldn’t have struck you,” Hailey said firmly. “You’re a member of the Angioli coven. He has no right to raise a hand against you.”

“Actually, I have no right to raise a hand against either of you.”

They turned to see that Kieran was standing on the other side of the shield, gazing at it with frank curiosity. To Hailey’s surprise, he looked completely unperturbed by the blow she had dealt him.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded.

“I needed to see what your power could do,” he explained. “Do you think you could drop the shield?”

“I can, but I won’t,” she snapped, and he nodded, looking faintly chagrined at himself.

“That was completely unfair, and it was meant to be. Even with a little bit of training, you wouldn’t have been able to hold out against someone who has actually trained with a staff. I needed to see what you would do with your power if you were pressed.” He shook his head. “You wouldn’t turn it against me. We were at that perhaps three times as long as I thought we would be, and you never chose to use your power on your own behalf.”

He looked like he was going to continue, but Hailey dropped the shield, and stared at him with anger.

“It was another test,” she said. “It was another test, just like the book from earlier, wasn’t it?”

He nodded, and the rage and frustration that she felt boiled over. She could feel tears spilling down her cheeks.

“How dare you,” she choked. “How dare you. You could simply have
asked.
”

He opened his mouth to speak, and she couldn’t take another moment. It was a quick step to where he stood, and she could still feel the remnants of his power boiling under her skin. This time she used it to throw him back further.

Kieran fell back, barely keeping his feet, but Hailey didn’t bother to stay to see it. She stormed across the field, giving her fallen staff a vicious kick, and she slammed the door to the courtyard behind her.

• • • • •

Her blow was as powerful as it was unexpected. It was like some giant hand had appeared invisibly between the two of them and shoved Kieran back quickly and violently. He had seldom felt something so powerful in his long life, and when he righted himself, Hailey was disappearing back into the monastery.

Kieran shook his head, and as he bent to pick up his fallen staff, he remembered that he was not alone. The teenager who had interrupted their practice had murder in her eyes, and he frowned.

“You shouldn’t interfere with the affairs of adults,” he growled, and she narrowed her eyes.

“You should treat others the way you wish to be treated,” she retorted. “That did not need to go the way it did.”

“You know very little about the world, young lady, and I don’t have the time to teach you.”

“Oh yes? Well perhaps I have the time to teach you. I know very little about the world, but I know plenty about Hailey.”

Kieran paused, eying her warily.

“You were trembling in her shadow just a few minutes ago,” he commented. “What’s changed?”