The Day Human Way (25 page)

Shouting from outside brought all of their attention to the open doorway behind them. Cassie glanced down at Devin, and then back to the clearing. Ronan was sitting and rubbing his head as Nessa ran down the road with Turner close behind.

“Please, Cassie, do this for me. I don’t want Nessa to die. I want her to live. All I’ve ever wanted was for her to have a happy life.”

Cassie nodded and took a vial from her bag. As Nessa got closer, she opened the cap. Devin reached up, and Cassie helped him drink the liquid. Nessa crossed the threshold to the barn, and the bond immediately broke.

Nessa dropped to
her feet as the bond snapped. She could feel Devin slightly when she approached the barn, but now it was gone. The warm feeling of comfort was gone. She felt empty after months of being able to feel him. Now he was lying on the ground, bleeding. Death loomed over him. She could smell his blood as she got closer and realized how much there really was. He was dying.

“Why?” she cried, looking at his beaten-up body that she could no longer help heal.

Devin gasped as the pain came, and he could no longer deny that the bond had been the last bit holding away everything.

“I couldn’t let you die. The sidhe need you. I need you to live. I want you to be happy,” Devin answered in a quiet voice. His strength was fading. “You can now make a choice of who to love. You aren’t stuck with me, and you can be free. You can be you.”

Nessa wiped the tears that were falling now. “You silly day human. I don’t want to live without you.” She tried to laugh, but just more tears came out. “Why would you ever think otherwise?”

Devin closed his eyes as he smiled through the pain.

“He asked me to make this potion soon after I got here,” Cassie told Nessa. “He wanted to unbind from you so that you didn’t feel his love through the bond. He wanted you to be able to choose who you wanted to marry without being affected by his feelings.”

Nessa leaned down with her forehead to his. “Silly, silly day human.”

Tears kept coming out of her eyes. Nessa missed the bond completely now that it was gone. She wanted to show Devin how she felt not just with words, but with her feelings. Even without the bond, she felt it. She loved him, and there would never be another person she would love like she did him.

Old Man Winters approached her slowly.

“Let me save him,” he said quietly. He was looking at Nessa and Cassie, but more at Cassie. “If you broke the bond the way I think, then I can bind to him now to take on all his wounds. Do you have more of your potion left?”

Cassie nodded, but neither she nor Nessa knew what the man wanted to do. Her potion wasn’t created to form a bond. And besides, the bond would only kill both people. Devin had already explained that he was hurt bad enough to kill twice.

“Let me bind to him and once I take on my share of the wounds, unbind me from him. If Nessa then binds back to him, they will both be fine,” the old man replied. Nessa’s heart pattered at the idea of being bonded to Devin again.

“But he said this wound would kill Nessa if he was bonded to her,” Cassie replied, confused by what the man was asking to do. It made no sense for anyone to bind to Devin at that point, or they would die as well. “If you bind to him, then you will die from the wounds.”

He nodded to her in reply, but didn’t say more. He was offering to die to save Devin.

Devin was now unconscious, which didn’t help things much. He would argue if he knew what Winters wanted to do. Awake or not, it still wasn’t an easy decision to make.

“He won’t like it,” Nessa replied.

She shouldn’t have been eager to take the old man’s offer, but she couldn’t just sit and let Devin die. If she rebonded to him, he would reject her. Her grandfather made it clear that the bond can’t be forced. Would Devin accept the old man’s offer?

“And should that stop us? If we do something the king doesn’t like, but it saves his life?” Winters replied. “As a sidhe, it’s my job to protect the king. That’s exactly what I am doing.”

Cassie nodded along with him, even though she wasn’t a sidhe. She seemed to get the idea of saving the king. Looking up at Winters, she pointed behind him. “And what will happen to that once you’re gone? Will the ice be gone, and he’ll go back to attacking us?”

Nessa finally looked up and realized her uncle was encased in ice.

“What is the meaning of that?” She stood up in anger. Her last surviving older relative was encased in ice. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t able to communicate either to tell her what was going on.

“He was planning to kill us,” Cassie replied, still watching the ice statue.

“Not my uncle,” Nessa retorted, still not moving from Devin’s side.

“Yes, your uncle. He and I have known for years that we both knew witch magic,” Winters replied. “He was trying to get rid of Devin because he’s afraid of the sidhe changing. But we don’t have time to discuss this. Devin is dying. Let me save him.”

Nessa couldn’t argue that, even though she really had no clue what was going on.

“He will stay that way until he thaws,” Winters told Cassie, who was still staring at Uncle Rolf. “And most people don’t move too quickly after being frozen. You’ll have plenty of time to deal with him.”

The old man finally made his way over to Devin’s dying body. Simultaneously, he touched the blood on Devin’s bleeding chest and dropped his own blood into Devin’s mouth. Devin gurgled a little bit, but the blood slipped down his throat. Nessa watched and waited. She was sure Devin wouldn’t accept the bond.

“Please let him do this,” Nessa begged, leaning in close to Devin’s ear. “Please let him save you. If you don’t let him, I’ll never forgive you.” She couldn’t help but threaten him.

Devin’s eyes fluttered open a bit, and he viewed Nessa through his now slightly open lashes.

“Please, Devin. I can’t do this alone. Please come back to us.”

Nessa didn’t stop the tears running down her cheeks. The warrior in her was gone. She couldn’t help but cry and show weakness. She
was
weakened. She couldn’t stand to watch Devin die. She really meant what she was saying. She needed him back.

Devin wanted to
die peacefully. He had spent his life protecting Arianna, his first love. He had given his life to save her only to be rescued by Nessa with a blood bond that gave his injuries to her to heal. They had survived, but they were bonded. Now he was dying for a second time, and all he wanted to do was go in peace and quiet. He looked up at Nessa and felt her pain. It was just himself assessing her, but he still couldn’t help it. Her eyes were warring with anger and sadness. He saw it even though the bond was gone. He didn’t need it to understand Nessa. He had been staring at her for weeks. He knew her perfectly, and the one thing he could never do was disappoint her. He was prepared to say good-bye to her once the bond was broken, but now he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave her alone.

Devin looked over to Winters at his other side. The old man waited to feel the pain of the bond hit him. He was completely ready to die for Devin.

Devin felt the ground beneath him. He felt the sidhe magic strongly again once the barn had been opened from witch magic. He felt everything all around him, and more than anything he just wanted time to stop. He wanted to freeze it all to give himself time to make a choice, a real choice. He wasn’t going to make a good judgment with Nessa there next to him crying. It was impossible to say no to her. He loved her too much. He needed time to stop.

Sidhe magic tingled out of Devin. Even with his wound, he could still do sidhe magic. The people around him began to slow down until he couldn’t even see them move. His wounds felt lighter, and he pushed himself up to a sitting position as the world froze. Winters stumbled back at the motion from Devin. He had been left unfrozen.

“What?” the old man asked as he looked around.

“Not exactly sure myself.” Devin took a breath and still felt the pain, but it was bearable now. “We have a few moments to talk now.”

“About?” Winters asked. He was still looking around the frozen world in wonder.

“Why? Why are you offering your life for mine? If I heard correctly, you want to bond to me to take my wounds, then unbind and die,” Devin responded.

Winters nodded. No one knew if Devin had heard the plan, but he wasn’t unconscious before, he was just too weak to open his eyes. He knew what was going on.

“Why are you giving up your life?”

“You mean what little is left of my life? I’m an old man. I don’t have much time left. This way, I can decide how to die,” Winters replied. Devin nodded but didn’t completely think that was the case. “Do you know what the punishment is for witch magic?”

“No.” Devin had no clue on any punishment.

“For a noble, they can be banished for a crime such as witch magic. For me? I’m just a commoner. My only punishment is death. At least this way I get to choose my death. Let me go the way I choose. I’m an old man anyway. Let my death mean something. Let me save you.”

Winters made a logical argument. Devin wanted to say he could save him and not put him to death, but he wasn’t sure how that would go over with the nobles. Devin needed to keep the village together for Nessa’s sake, and the promise he had made to her grandfather. He didn’t want to use someone else’s life to do so, though.

“I can see you don’t want to do this, but you need to. The sidhe need you. They have to change, even if they’re afraid like Rolf. At one time, he was a good man. He still is, he’s just afraid of change. He’s never lived a life of anything other than privilege. He heard your plan to get rid of the noble system, and he got scared. They’ll all be scared. They need you to keep them in line, and show them that it isn’t too bad. The sidhe need to change. You’re the one to do that. We need you. The sidhe need you. She needs you.” Winters motioned to Nessa. She was frozen with tears falling down her face.

“But I can’t take your life,” Devin replied. The frozen world began to slowly move again. He didn’t have the strength to keep the sidhe magic hold in place. He was finally coming to an end.

“You aren’t taking it,” Winters said as the world moved again. “I’m giving it to you. I’m offering you my life so that you save the sidhe. It is a present. Please accept this as my present to you.”

He stared hard at the old man’s eyes as the world moved faster, and the agony returned. Devin leaned back down as the pain forced him to. Winters was sure that he wanted to give up his life, but Devin had never intentionally taken the life of someone as pure as this man was. Devin could see it now that he had taken his blood. Winters’ life was as pure as the snow that covered his arms from using his sidhe magic. Winters stared at Devin until he was forced to close his eyes again momentarily. The old man was begging him with his eyes.

Devin relented and let the bond form between them. He didn’t want to do it, but something in the man’s eyes told him there was more to it. He needed to do it for him.

The world snapped back into a fast pace, and some of the wounds healed quickly while others continued to bleed. Winters dropped to his knees beside Devin as identical wounds ripped open on him. Winters held his kneel for only a few second before falling next to Devin.

‘
You didn’t say it hurt this bad,’
the old man complained, all hint of his accent gone in his mind. Devin felt the youthfulness he never saw in the old man as he entered the old man’s mind.

‘
It’s not too bad,’
Devin replied.
‘I’ve had worse.’
That was the truth.

Winters laughed through the bond.
‘I bet you have.’

‘
Why was this important?’
Devin asked as Cassie got ready to put the potion in Devin’s mouth again. The bond would be broken, and Winters would be dead soon. The close connection they now held would be gone. Cassie moved to place the vial at Devin’s mouth, but he put up his hand to stop her.

“Give me a second,” he said, sounding stronger than he had before. The wound was still going to kill him, but not as quickly now as he shared Winters’ sidhe healing abilities.

Cassie paused and questioned him with her eyes, but she didn’t try to force him to drink it. Nessa grasped Devin’s hand tighter as she worried.

“Did the bond not completely take?” she asked.

Devin gave her a small smile. “No, we are bonded. I just need one more moment to ask Old Man Winters a few more questions.”

Winters gave a grim nod like he knew it was coming.

‘
Why is this important?’
Devin asked him. He could see it in Winters’ eyes. There was more beyond the ‘saving the king’ speech he had given the girls.

Devin waited for a verbal reply and was given an image. Cassie. Devin was going to ask more as images of Cassie began to unwind, and Devin saw her age progressively backward until she was an infant in the arms of a woman.

‘
Who is she to you?’
Devin could feel the tenderness in the image.

‘
My love,’
he replied sadly. The dark-haired women looked familiar, yet Devin was sure he had never seen her before. She cradled the infant in her arms, and all Devin could feel from the image was Winters’ love.
‘Cassie is my daughter.’

Devin was shocked. How could that be? Cassie was only sixteen, and Old Man Winters had to be at least in his eighties.

‘
I’m not really Old Man Winters. My name is Cael Ferguson. Keaton is my little brother. I’m surprised you found him. I thought he was dead when Rhys took him away.
’

The image of Cassie and her mother remained. Devin saw it now. Her mother looked a lot like Maria. Devin didn’t doubt the man’s word. She had to be Maria’s sister and Cassie’s mother.

‘
I found
him as
an old man too in the outcast camp. Cassie and Maria changed him back to his original self. He had been cursed with witch magic, and I think I know who did it. What about you? Are you cursed? Did Rolf do this to you?
’