The Day Human Way (21 page)

‘
You gonna survive?’
he asked. Asking a warrior if he was in pain was practically insulting his manhood. Devin knew that well enough.

‘
Yeah, I’ll be around to make sure you treat Nessa right,’
Liam replied.

That answer was enough for Devin to know that his injuries weren’t life-threatening.

“Stay here with Liam and keep him safe,” Devin told Nessa. She wanted to help find the witch, but she was safer and more useful helping their latest ally. “Tell me when the healer gets here, and I’ll drop the barrier around him.”

Nessa peered up at him through her now thoroughly messy curls. She was scared. Devin hated to make her feel like that. He would do everything to keep safe, and it was always foremost on his mind. It forever would be. Nessa was his life now.

“Stay safe,” she whispered.

He could feel the dread in her statement. She was honestly worried about Devin. He wanted to assure her that he was safe, but it wasn’t true. He was as much of a target as Liam was. This witch sidhe didn’t want anyone else to marry Nessa.

Devin bent down to Nessa on the floor and cupped her face in his hands. He tried to reassure her as best he could, but even he wasn’t infallible. The old king, who had given him the powers, had died. All the power in the world couldn’t make one live forever. Nessa’s eyes had tears in them as they gazed at Liam. It would take a lot to heal the sidhe that had only wanted to help them, and he might never be the same, no matter how he was staying strong now. But that was what people like Liam and Devin had to do, something inside of them made them want to protect people. That drive would carry Devin through. He needed to protect Nessa. He needed to protect the sidhe. Turner was right, it was time to go witch hunting.

“I will come back to you,” he told Nessa.

Nessa bit her lip and nodded. No matter what he did, the moment felt like good-bye. He hated that his need to protect everyone took him away from her. Since they had entered the village, he had done everything with Nessa. It was a bit hard to go away from her now.

“Done?” Devin asked Maria as she finished her protection spell while still watching Nessa.

“Yes,” Maria replied. “This will keep her from dying, but I can’t keep her from getting hurt like you can.” Devin placed the sidhe protection barrier back on Cassie. Maria looked at Cassie and reached out to touch her. She couldn’t get any closer than two inches away from her.

“I’ll be fine,” Cassie tried to reassure Maria.

“Fine isn’t what I expect,” Maria replied. “I want you back here better than fine. You’ll keep her safe, Devin?”

“With my life,” Devin replied.

Maria nodded and walked back to Turner.

“If you find something, or we do, we will contact each other,” Devin said to their small assembled group. All three faces staring back at him nodded. It was time to find the witch sidhe before he could hurt someone else.

Devin and Cassie made their way to the backside of the room as they moved to leave. Devin looked one last time at Nessa on the floor. She wanted to be beside him helping, but they both knew that they owed Liam to stay by his side to see him healed. If Nessa didn’t stay behind, Devin wouldn’t know when to lift the barrier, and that could cost Liam his life if he had to wait too long. Devin regretted leaving her behind, but it was for the best. She was safer beside Liam since the witch sidhe was on the run. Devin wanted her protected more than anything.

Just past the ballroom doors, Devin stopped and turned to Cassie. No one inside could see that they had halted.

“Did you bring your spell with you?” he asked.

If it came down to it, Devin didn’t want Nessa to get hurt by the careless witch sidhe. He was prepared to break the bond now if he needed to. He hoped to have time to explain to Nessa that he was going to break the bond, but if they didn’t have time, he would break it to save her life.

“Yes,” Cassie replied, seeming shocked by the turn in the conversation.

“I need you to promise if I get mortally hurt, you’ll do that spell as quickly as you can,” Devin told her.

She stared back in surprise. “I thought you were going to talk to Nessa about it first.”

“I will if there’s time, but there’s one more thing about this bond. When one of us gets hurt physically, so does the other. Do you understand?” Devin replied.

Cassie’s eyes widened in shock. “It’s more than just an emotional link?”

Devin nodded. Cassie nodded, too. She understood.

“If I get stabbed, the same stab wound will appear on Nessa. If I take a life-ending blow, so will she. There’s a short time before the wounds transfer. We will have to act quickly if I’m dying. I don’t want her to die, too. Promise me that you will break the bond if I get hurt too bad, and I’ll promise to hold on long enough for you to break it.”

“I promise,” she said, following Devin outside the walls of the palace to the courtyard. Maria and Turner had gone the other direction. They were alone completely, as most the palace guests had been trapped in the ballroom and the ones that fled were safe back in their rooms.

‘
Every sidhe is to stay inside their homes until notified they can leave,’
Devin spoke mentally to all the sidhe at once. He wasn’t sure how he did it, but it just came naturally. It was safer for them to stay in their homes.
‘Lock your doors and don’t let any strangers or non-strangers in your home. There
was
an attempted assassination and the assassin fled. Don’t let anyone inside your home, and do not leave until I tell you it’s safe.’
Devin didn’t want to give away how much they knew about the witch sidhe, but he wanted everyone to stay safe and out of their way as they hunted for him.

Cassie stood still as Devin watched her and took inventory of their surroundings.

“That way,” she said, pointing to a door that left the palace. “I feel magic that way.”

“Did you find a trail?” Devin asked, anxious to call Turner for backup.

“No. The witch didn’t come this way. It’s more that I feel magic in that direction,” Cassie said. She shrugged. “My powers are a bit different from Maria’s. I don’t sense witches, but magic. Your magic is different than witch magic, and I’m sure there’s witch magic right now in that direction.”

Devin nodded. He needed to leave Maria and Turner looking for the witch their way, and he and Cassie would search Cassie’s way. It would have been stronger to be two witches and two night humans against whatever they’d find, but he would make do with just him and Cassie if he needed to. He had to hope the young witch, along with himself, would be enough to battle a witch sidhe. Cassie had already proven she knew more than the average teen witch. They had no idea how long the sidhe had trained to be a witch, but they were about to find out.

“This way.” Cassie pointed ahead, and Devin took a few steps in front of her. They had no clue what they would find, but they had to work fast. They hadn’t caught a trail of the witch sidhe since they arrived, and now the guy was active. Something was going on, and they needed to be there to stop it from escalating.

Devin glanced back once at the palace. He could feel Nessa inside. She was worried about Liam as he sat in pain, but she was even more worried about Devin. Her concern made him want to go back to her, but his will to protect everyone won over. He had to go and find the witch. Devin began to go the direction Cassie had told him. He hated to leave Nessa behind, but he had to be confident for the both of them. He had to find the witch, and he had to win. There were no other options.

Nessa sat holding
Liam as his breath continued growing shallower than she wanted to hear. He had been hit hard, but he was more than lucky that he hadn’t drunk the actual liquid. It would have burned him alive from the inside out. There would have been no healing from that. Now he at least stood a chance. Nessa was thankful for the witches and Cassie’s quick save.

Nessa looked up as Uncle Rolf and Ronan returned with the healer. Right behind them was Liam’s bonded night human, being carried by family. Her face was badly burned to match Liam’s, and her breath was just as shallow. Nessa hated to see that connection—it would be the same for her and Devin. What happened to one would happen to the other. Lele was set down next to Nessa and Liam, as close as she could with the invisible shield still around them. The hurt girl reached for Liam’s hand but was stopped by the barrier.

Rolf seemed upset as he glanced around the room.

“Where’s Devin? How could he leave you alone?” Uncle Rolf was distressed, much more than Nessa expected. “It’s his job to keep you safe.”

“They found a trail to look for the person who did this,” Nessa replied. She was still unsure how much secrecy they needed, but it seemed like Ronan must have filled his dad in on a little bit.

“They did?” Ronan asked hopefully.

“Yes, but I had to stay here to tell Devin to release the barrier,” Nessa explained her own presence.

The healer stood beside her and waited for her to do as she said. Uncle Rolf looked impatiently at her.

‘
Devin, they are here,’
Nessa said across the bond.

The barrier around Liam shimmered a little bit and then faded away. When it was gone, Lele finally could grasp Liam’s hand. For the first time, Nessa saw what the bond looked like from the outside. A faint shimmer wove around Liam and Lele. When their hands touched, the shimmer responded like it was happy. Even through their pain, they reached for each other, as did the bond.

The healer stared at the two sidhe lying side by side. Liam had been severely burned across most of his face, but now with Lele taking some of it, they looked a little more normal. The healer assessed them from above before leaning down to place his hands on them.

“No,” yelled Maria as she entered the room with Turner close behind.

The room full of sidhe who were immobilized at their tables all turned to see the day human running into the room to stop the healer from healing Liam. Faces all froze in shock at the sight of her, but Maria didn’t stop or let it even faze her.

“There’s a spell on the girl,” Maria explained to the shocked healer.

He paused long enough to look down at Lele again. He nodded to Maria and then turned to Nessa.

“In my haste, I had missed that. She is correct. There is magic on this young girl. I’m not sure if it’s safe to heal them at this moment.” The healer bowed his head, awaiting punishment.

Nessa looked up at Maria and nodded. The sidhe in the room all took a breath of astonishment. Some of the larger sidhe were straining at their restraints as most of the people came to the realization that if Maria said there was magic, she then could see it. None of them were happy to see Maria, and most of them distrusted her. The man that had brought Lele in moved to attack Maria as she approached. Turner stepped in and stopped him.

“She is here to help,” Turner told the man, but his assurance fell on deaf ears.

None of the sidhe really even glanced his way the whole time he’d been visiting. Turner waited, ready to defend Maria. Fur grew on his arms and legs as he began to partially transform.

Nessa stood up and stepped beside Turner, trying to stop the escalation. She didn’t need Turner taking on the sidhe and making a rift between his own lycan clan and her village. They distrusted all outsiders; Maria wasn’t an exception.

“She’s here to help,” Nessa said, exactly what Turner had told them. “I invited her here.”

“You’re defending the witch that did this?” Uncle Rolf asked in shock, though he didn’t move to hurt Maria.

“She didn’t do this,” Nessa replied. Why did they always assume everyone else was at fault? Why couldn’t the sidhe see that they were the best at killing each other themselves? “And she’s already helped once to bring Liam back from death.” Nessa looked around the room. “Liam and my suitors were not hurt by Devin. They were hurt by witch magic. Maria came here to cure Liam and assist me in finding this sidhe that is practicing witch magic.”

Uncle Rolf’s mouth hung open. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that explanation.

Nessa looked around the room at the shocked and still angry faces.

“As you can all tell this was done by witch magic, but not this witch. She came here to help when we found out the three suitors were all poisoned with witch magic only a day ago.” Nessa tried to explain again, and begged everyone with her eyes to believe her.

“No. That was your day human pet. We all saw that. He attacked them,” one man, who was still angry, shouted out from the crowd.

“Yeah, he should be held responsible for all of this. We should kill him,” another man agreed.

Nessa rubbed her forehead and then remembered one of the weirder aspects of everything. The people still didn’t know that she was bonded to Devin.

“Devin isn’t my pet,” Nessa began. No one seemed to believe her.

“No. He’s the old king’s pet. We all heard that the old king somehow convinced you to bring him here,” the first man said.

“He’s no one’s pet. He’s one of us now,” Nessa tried to explain. It was like talking to a brick wall. They didn’t hear a word she said.

“He’s no sidhe. He’s a day human,” the second added with a bit of disgust in his voice. “The only magic he could possibly know is witch magic.”

“He’s as much a sidhe as you and me. He can do sidhe magic. All of it. He has my grandfather’s powers inside him. Didn’t you wonder how you all got trapped here when he ran out? That wasn’t me. That was him. Devin is as much a sidhe as anyone now. And he’s my bonded,” Nessa added, and all the fussing immediately stopped. No one expected that.

Nessa turned to her uncle and nodded to him. She needed someone else to agree with her to drive home her point.

“Yes, she is bonded to the day human,” Uncle Rolf admitted like he was defeated. He turned his back from Nessa as he hung his head.

“And he’s got your father’s powers?” a random person asked.

“Yes.” Was the only reply before Nessa noticed the healer was standing still, close to Liam and Lele, peering down at them. When her uncle turned back, he bumped into the healer, who stumbled and placed a hand on Lele.