My Reaper's Daughter (33 page)

“No, milord,” the priest said, trembling visibly.

Mystery kept silent. Her happiness was dampened by the priest’s words but she

was determined not to let his pessimism and predictions run her Joining day. She was

now the legal bride of the man she loved and not just his lover. They were united for all

time and she was proud to be Lady Mystery Kullen.

Glyn reached for her hand. “Come, milady.”

He had not sealed their Joining with a kiss but once outside the priest’s rectory, he

pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. It was a kiss of promise that made her

toes curl. When he released her, her lips were swollen from the fierceness of that

possessive kiss.

“I’ll take you back to your cabin then I have to get back to Phelan’s.” His hands

were on her shoulders as he looked down into her beautiful face. “Will you be all

right?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “So will Valda. My sisters-in-law will spoil her so

rotten salt won’t even help.”

Glyn laughed. “I intend to spoil the bantling even worse than that.”

Tears gathered in Mystery’s eyes. “You really do love her, don’t you?”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Did you think I didn’t?”

“Of course not, but she can be a little brat sometimes,” she said of her child.

“You didn’t know me as a boy,” Glyn chuckled. “You have no idea what the word

really means!”

Reluctantly he led her to the horse and picked her up, swung her onto the saddle

then climbed behind her. With his arm circling her waist, he kicked the steed into

motion, feeling all was finally right in his dark world.

* * * * *

Enraged black eyes watched the Reaper as he dismounted and held his arms up to

the young woman sitting astride his horse. A low growl came from the sentinel when

the lawman let the woman slide down his body then encircled her within his arms and

lowered his mouth to hers.

“
Le bâtard blanc, vous paierez pour vos actions
!” the watcher hissed, calling the Reaper

a white bastard and warning he would pay for what he was daring to do.

163

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

John Dirk heard the man of color cursing Glyn Kullen and made no move to follow

when the lawman rode away. Smiling hatefully, the foreman knew there was his own

brand of vengeance and then there was that of the priest whose dark gaze flicked

disdainfully to his own. The white man held up his hands and shook his head, silently

letting the other magic-sayer know he had no intention of interfering.

“
Mon maître est plus puissant que le vôtre!
”

The foreman could have argued the point, believing his own master more powerful

than the man of color’s, but he said nothing. With two commanding demons going after

the Reaper, Kullen didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving the attack.

“Ne mêlez pas-vous de ma voie, Jean Dirk
,” the priest spat before disappearing behind

the cabin where Aunt Zettie’s body still lay upon its cooling board.

John Dirk had every intention of staying out of the priest’s way. Let the mighty

Kalfu send His minion after the Reaper. He’d simply tell Simmons a more dangerous

adversary had entered the fray.

164

My Reaper’s Daughter

Chapter Fifteen

“He’s burning up with fever,” Phelan said as he adjusted the quilt around Glyn.

“We need to get him into a tub of cold water to bring the temperature down.”

“There is something terribly wrong about this,” Phelan remarked. “He was fine

when he left here this morning. Now he shows up at the door with dirt all over him,

barely breathing.”

“Whatever is happening here is unnatural, Phelan. His hellion should be able to

throw off the illness. The queen doesn’t seem to be healing him.”

“You think?” Phelan sneered.

Kasid wet a cloth in the water basin beside the bed then began to gently Glyn’s face.

“Lord Kheelan?” he asked softly.

“We are aware of the situation,”
was the reply.
“His hellion seems to be in a state of

suspended animation, under whatever magic has claimed Kullen.”

“Have you any notion what caused it?”

“None at all.”
That came from Lord Naois.
“But Healer Desden is looking into the

matter. Your fellow Reapers are here at the Citadel. Should we send them down to you?”

Kasid knew Phelan couldn’t hear the conversation and relayed to him Lord Naois’

question.

“I don’t think so—yet,” Phelan replied. “Tell him to give us a few more days.”

“Rest assured, we are monitoring Lord Glyn and trying to contact the goddess—who seems

to have come up missing again—regarding his situation. As soon as we know anything, I will be

in contact with you.”

“That would be greatly appreciated, Your Grace.”

“One other thing, Lord Kasid,”
Lord Naois said.
“Rather a good news-bad news situation,

I’m afraid. The good news is the drones have been able to catalogue every inhabitant of Vircars

and are now moving into Flagala.”
There was a slight pause.
“The bad news is the primary

drone was not able to detect any cybots or super beings in that territory.”

“Begging your pardon, Your Grace, but that’s good news, isn’t it?” Kasid

questioned.

“Not if those cybots have not been brought online and are still somewhere within territory

waiting to be activated,”
Lord Naois responded
. “And that means the disappearances are not

related to the Ceannus situation but something equally as sinister—the reason behind which we

have yet to discover.”

165

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

“We believe a bokor is at work here for his own nefarious reasons,” Kasid stated.

“And if he is in league with Raphian, wouldn’t those reasons have something to do

with subjugating the Terrans of this territory?”

“Possibly,”
Lord Naois admitted.
“Keep us informed. At least your psychic ability to

converse with us hasn’t been altered as Lords Phelan and Glyn’s have.”

There was a light knock at the door and Phelan went to answer. When he returned,

Mystery was with him.

“Milady has come to care for Glyn,” Phelan announced.

“How did you know he was ill, milady?” Kasid inquired.

“I felt it,” Mystery said as Phelan helped her off with her rain gear. “I could not rest

until I came to see if he was all right. The closer I got to Lord Phelan’s house, the

stronger the feeling became that something was wrong.”

“Ah,” Kasid said with a slight smile. “He’s taken your blood.”

Mystery blushed and went quickly to the bed. “Aye.” Her face softened as she

looked down at her mate. “He’s unconscious?”

“With a very high fever,” Phelan replied. “No injuries that we could find though.”

He cleared his throat. “He’s…ah…naked beneath the sheets, milady.”

“I’ve seen him naked, milord,” Mystery said, and her blush deepened.

Kasid ducked his head. “We were discussing laying him in a tub of cold water.”

“That would be a very good idea,” Mystery agreed, and began unbuttoning the

cuffs of her gown and rolling up the sleeves. She looked to Phelan. “Do you have

eggs?”

Phelan blinked. “Eggs?” he repeated.

“At least a dozen?”

The Reaper nodded, his brows drawn together. “Aye.”

“Then will you please go break them into a bowl, carefully extracting the white

from the yolk. Put the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another. The yolks I can

make an omelet with for your lunches but it’s the whites I really need.”

“You’re going to make a meringue?” Kasid inquired, a perplexed look on his face as

well.

“I know this is going to sound silly to both of you but I am going to use those

whites to get his fever down. I want you to fetch two clean white cloths and soak them

in the eggs whites. Find me a pair of clean socks for him as well.”

The two Reapers exchanged a baffled look but they didn’t question her instructions.

Phelan went for the eggs and cloth, Kasid the socks. When they returned with their

objectives, they watched in amazement as Mystery wrapped Glyn’s feet with the slimy,

egg-white-coated cloths then worked a sock over each foot.

“This is an old mountain remedy from long before either of you ever came to

Terra,” she said. “The egg whites will draw the fever down from the brain to the feet.”

166

My Reaper’s Daughter

She smiled. “It doesn’t smell good and it makes a mess on the sheets but it really

works.” She straightened. “I don’t suppose you have any willow bark laying about.”

“No, but whatever you need, I can get it,” Phelan assured her.

“What I’d like are linden and chamomile flowers and dried thyme. There is an old

lady at Fox Hill…”

“Aunt Bernice,” Kasid said. “I know her.”

“She will have what you need, including the willow bark. Tell her you need

whatever else she suggests for high fever.”

“I’m on it,” Kasid snapped, and hurried away.

“What do you need willow bark for?” Phelan asked.

“To make a tea,” she told him. “It is nature’s fever medication.”

“Huh,” Phelan grunted. “Well, that tub isn’t going to fill itself, milady. Call out if

you need me.”

Mystery used the cloth in the basin to wash Glyn’s face as she waited for Phelan to

fill the tub. When it was ready, she peeled the covers back and the Reaper lifted Glyn

from the bed. Mystery held his feet as Phelan eased him into the water then braced

them on the rim of the tub to keep them out of the water.

Glyn didn’t make a sound or movement as he was placed into the cold liquid.

Phelan knelt on the floor, keeping his arm behind Kullen’s head so he would not slip

beneath the surface.

“I don’t think he’s as hot as he was,” Phelan observed. “Those eggs must be doing

their thing.”

“I hope so. Between them and the cold water, he should be getting some relief.”

Even as she spoke, Glyn’s eyelids fluttered open and both Mystery and Phelan were

shocked to see the strange look in his amber eyes, a red glint hovering deep in the

golden depths. The gaze was not focused—a blank stare that seemed to look right

through them.

“Glyn?” Mystery asked, touching his cheek but the Reaper did not move.

“I don’t like that,” Phelan said. He moved directly into Glyn’s line of sight. “Glyn,

can you hear me?”

There was no reaction from their patient at all. He continued to stare straight ahead

without blinking.

“Glyn?”

“He’s been hexed,” Mystery said, her voice quivering.

“More like hypnotized,” Phelan said, and used his free hand to firmly grasp Glyn’s

chin. “Glyn? Look at me, Glyn.”

Mystery put her hand on Glyn’s bare chest and her eyes widened. “Milord, I can’t

feel his heart beating!”

167

Charlotte Boyett-Compo

“Nor could we, but he’s alive. Don’t be alarmed.” Phelan shook Glyn but gained no

response. He looked up at her. “Do you know anything about zombies, milady?”

“Only the old legends told to frighten children into behaving,” she replied then

drew in a breath. “Is that what you think has happened to him?”

“I believe he’s run afoul of a bokor and it’s not the first time.”

Mystery shook her head firmly. “No, milord, no. Leilani doesn’t have that kind of

power.”

“It wouldn’t be her but a male magic-sayer,” Phelan told her. “One with powers he

is channeling from a very powerful demon. Remember he told you he remembered

nothing from when he left Sagewood? The housekeeper might have given him a drug to

render him unconscious but I doubt she had the ability to carry him to a cabin out in the

middle of nowhere. He’s a heavy weight when he’s out of it and it would have taken a

man to carry him.”

“You think she had a hand in this?” Mystery asked, her eyes narrowing to

dangerous slits.

“Perhaps or she could have sent Glyn on his way and someone else got hold of him

that night. They might have tried then to do what they seem to have accomplished this

time.”

“So the potency of anything that person gave him might have been lessened by

whatever else was already in his system,” she said.

“Very likely,” Phelan agreed. He tried again to bring Glyn out of his inactive state

but the Reaper was as still as a statue.

“But how would this unknown man gain such power over Glyn to force the
coupe

poudre
on him?” she asked.

“The what?”

“It is what the old ones call zombie powder. I have no idea what’s in it but it

supposedly turns a victim into a zombie.” Her lovely face turned infinitely sad. “I

thought it all an old wives’ tale. Never would I have imagined there could be truth in

such things.”

“We need to know what’s in the mixture and if it is indeed in Glyn’s bloodstream,”

Phelan said. “And I think I know a way to do that.” He cursed beneath his breath. “If

only I could contact the Shadowlords but we’ll have to wait until Jaborn returns.”

“Did this person attack Glyn on the road back from Sagewood? Knock him out?”

Mystery questioned. “Shoot him with a dart or something like that to render him

unconscious?”

“We looked all over him for wounds or puncture marks,” Phelan replied. “Kasid