Shifter Secrets

by T K Eldridge

  The sound of vehicles entering the yard over crushed shells and gravel interrupted our chat.

  “They’re heeere,” I intoned like the little girl from the horror movie we’d watched the night before.

  “Behave,” Grams chided, trying to not burst into laughter at my commentary.

  She opened the door and the first two of the entourage came in and proceeded to open every closet door, look into every room, including the bathroom, before coming back out and announcing, “All clear”.

  The two men stood facing each other on either side of the door as Queen Maggie stepped inside. She was dressed in a pair of white linen Capri pants, a sky blue silk top and a blue and white embroidered linen jacket. On her feet? White and blue flip-flop sandals. She carried a Coach bag in white leather over one arm and had a bunch of gold and gemstone jewelry on her fingers, wrists, throat and ears. Her pure silver-white hair was braided around her head from brow to nape, wrapped so that there were four strands all twisted together.

  Maggie paused to hug and kiss Grams, then she glanced down, read the shirt, and chuckled. “I’ll have to find out where you get those. I’m sure the next time I sit before the council, it’d really rile them up if I had something like that on.”

  Grandma blushed and laughed, then said “I’ll show you my favorite online shops next time you come for a meal. We’ll order you some.”

  Then the Queen’s gaze landed on me. My hands went to the blanket so I could stand and she hurried over.

  “No, don’t get up, Siddie. No need to be formal here, in your home.” Her hands reached for my face and she leaned in to kiss my forehead, just like Grandma did. “I’m so glad you reached out to Finn so I could finally come see you. I’ve been so worried.”

  Speak of the devil, and he appears. Finn stepped inside, gestured to the two guards to go outside, and gave Grams a hug. “How are my favorite Fortin ladies?”

  Grams patted his cheek and Queen Maggie took a seat on the wing chair next to me.

  Finn finally got a look at me and the expression of shock on his face was there long enough for me to see it before he schooled his expression. “Sidonie Boudreau, you are looking radiant.”

  “And you’re still a lying sack of shit, Finn, but I love you anyway,” I replied.

  Grams groaned and shook her head, Queen Maggie stared at me in surprise, and Finn burst out laughing, the fear that had been in his eyes washed away by my typical sarcasm.

  He came over to crouch near my chair and took one of my hands in his. “If I had known…”

  “If I had wanted you to know, you would have, dear cousin. I’m on the mend, it’s just slower than I’d like. By the time we knew what had happened, I was already very sick. My split heritage saved my life. If I were a pure shifter, I would have died. However, since it targeted my shifter side, it also impacted my shifter healing. Witch and fae healing, we know, works faster than human, but not as fast as shifter, so I just need some time to rebuild my strength.”

  The Queen reached for her purse and opened it. “Since we’re discussing your healing, I have something for you,” she said, then handed me a small leather pouch. “I’d ask you to please wear it all the time, even while you sleep, or in the shower. It will protect you, and help enhance your fae and witch healing side.”

  I opened the bag to find a gold bracelet with a hinge and clasp chain. Etched into the narrow band were sigils and Ogham, the Celtic tree language. Colored stones were set into the slightly thick metal with vines and leaves wrapped over them to hold them secure.

  “It’s beautiful, Your Majesty, thank you,” I replied.

  “When we’re here, in your home, just call me Grandma Maggie. No need for ceremony and formalities here.”

  “Well, then, thank you, Grandma Maggie. Could you put it on for me?” I held out the bracelet and my arm and she gently clasped it, then whispered a spell word that locked it in place.

  “This way, it can’t be removed unless you say “oscailte” and put a bit of your power into it. It is a very rare piece, very valuable. There aren’t a lot of creations left that were made by both fae and mythic magic.”

  I pulled my arm back and turned the band on my wrist. I wasn’t sure if it was the magic of the bracelet or just the suggestion of it, but I was already feeling a bit better.

  “I feel like I just woke from a nap,” I said to her. “I will treasure this. Shall I return it to you when I’m healed?”

  “No, Sidonie. It’s yours. A gift from your long lost great-grandma.”

  “Thank you, Grandma Maggie. And thank you for coming. I don’t pretend to understand all of the politics of your Court yet, but I am willing to learn. I am sorry for snapping at you at the wedding. Looks like you might have been right to be suspicious after all.”

  “I accept your apology, and I also will apologize for choosing your brother’s wedding to confront your lover so publicly. That was poor choosing on my part, and I’m sorry.”

  I blinked at her in surprise, then smiled. “It gave me the reputation of being a real badass, facing down the Queen of Faery at my brother’s wedding.” My smile faded a bit. “I’m just sorry you were right to mistrust Nico. I wish…”

  “Don’t, Sidonie. You followed your heart, then had your free choice taken away with that pheromone drug. It’s not your fault,” Grandma Maggie replied.

  Finn got to his feet. “Would you ladies like some refreshments?”

  Grams pointed to the door to her house. “I have a tray of pastries and such just inside the doorway, Finn. You can grab that and I’ll get the drinks. What would you like to drink, Mother?”

  Maggie hesitated, then grinned like an impish child. “I don’t suppose you have any of that beer you kids had at the party? I got a sip of one and would love to try a whole bottle for myself.”

  I cracked up laughing. “Gaelic Ale, there’s a case in the fridge. If you really like it, you can take it home with you. I can always get more.”

  Grams shook her head and chuckled as she got three beers and a ginger-ale for me. “I even had the nice teapot washed out and ready to go,” she said as she handed her mother a beer.

  “Oh, gods, some days I am so sick of tea, I could scream. I’m not the Queen of bloody England. I can drink other things,” Maggie replied.

  Grams handed her a bottle of beer, and Maggie tipped it back and drained about half of it in one go. A soft ‘ahh’ and then a rather loud burp had us all chuckling.

  “Yes. That is just too good. I’m going to need to get some of this to have on the island,” Maggie said.

  I could feel myself relaxing as I watched Finn and Grams interact with Queen Maggie. I sucked in a breath and blurted out my question in the middle of their discussion about which herbs worked better for a hangover.

  “What is it about the Lamontaine’s that had you so upset, Grandma Maggie? What did they do?”

  Maggie sighed, looked at her bottle of beer, then drained it before she started to speak. “They were pains in the ass. All of the aggravating crap that happened in and around town, could usually be tied to a Lamontaine. A horse runs through the farmer’s market, upsets carts and stalls – it was a Lamontaine’s horse that ‘got spooked’. Yeah, by one of the Lamontaine boys poking it with a pin. Or when Jess Nyland’s haystack caught fire, it was a Lamontaine boy who’d been smoking near it and tossed his burning ash into the stack to see how long it took to burn.”

  “So, they were assholes,” I said.

  “Yes, exactly. Arrogant, always acting as if their shit didn’t stink. They spoke down to everyone and anyone that crossed their path. The only person they were respectful to – face to face, at least – was Liam Walsh. His being a shifter and an alpha in his own right, they were careful to not directly antagonize him. He could’ve called a challenge to their alpha and taken over the pack, and they knew it,” Maggie replied.

  “Grampa Walsh was alpha at one point, wasn’t he?” I asked.

  “Yes, but you’re getting ahe
ad of my story here, child. Patience,” Grandma Maggie teased. She accepted another bottle of beer from Finn and he handed me a fresh ginger-ale.

  “The Lamontaine’s were some of the first settlers here. Pierre’s father, Jean-Paul, came from France to try his luck at the fur trade. He staked his claim in the area that is now Belle Cove. He married a native woman and had several sons and daughters, but only one stayed local as times changed. That was Pierre. His sons, Pascal, Philippe, and Piers were The Three Devils as far as the town was concerned. Your Nicodamas is Pascal’s grandson through his daughter, Richelle.”

  “She’s the one that my Micah married,” Grandma Fortin said.

  “Yes, and that poor girl was bartered more than a feather pillow at a tent village. She had six husbands before your Micah, and all of them died at the hands of her father, brother, or uncles. The fact that Micah is alive and Richelle is dead, gods bless her soul, is probably a temporary situation unless we can get these Lamontaine folks to leave once more.”

  “It seems like a lot of stuff from back then is bubbling to the surface now,” I mused.

  “Speaking of which, I’d like to thank you and your brother for finding out who was behind my Marcel’s death. I owe you my gratitude for that bit of peace,” Grandma Maggie said.

  “Well, when we did it, we didn’t know you were alive to appreciate it,” I replied.

  Grams sucked in a short breath and gave me the ‘behave yourself’ glare.

  Grandma Maggie chuckled and patted my knee. “You’ve got fire in you, girl. That’ll help you go far.” She took another sip of her beer and leaned back. “I’ll tell you this, if I’d had your fire and the chance to be independent when I was younger, I would’ve taken it. Oh, no, I don’t regret my life with Marcel or any of my children, but I did chafe at the way things were done in the world. When a woman had no rights or power of her own, no ability to own land or keep her own children if a man said otherwise.”

  Her gaze shifted to the window and Grams leaned over to take her free hand. “You know they understood, Mama. Papa’s death broke so many hearts.”

  I looked on in confusion, but Finn shook his head ever so gently.

  Grandma Maggie, however, didn’t miss the exchange. “I had two children that were teenagers when Marcel was killed. I checked out of life and left them to fend for themselves. Oh, Lissa did her best to step in and help, but she had her own houseful and her own grief. Anyway, Marcus and Marina decided to try and come find me in Europe. The boat they were traveling on, went down in a storm, and they were killed. But, loves, that was nearly a century ago. Life has moved on, as they say.”

  “Good gravy, people. How many secrets does this family have? I mean, a grand aunt and uncle that I didn’t even know existed? They’re not written in the grimoire. They have never been spoken of, that I can remember. What the hell?” Yeah, I was pissed. Lies and secrets are what nearly got Sin and I killed a while back, and did end up in the death of our Boudreau grandfather.

  “I never spoke of them because of my own guilt for their loss,” Grams said. “I felt responsible for their deaths because while I took them in, I didn’t mother them. I was too busy with the four babies. They were nearly adults, they could fend for themselves. I didn’t think about all they’d lost – we’d lost – and how it would impact them.”

  Grandma Maggie reached over and hugged Grams. “It was all on me, a leanbh. Not on you at all. The loss of my Marcel shook the foundations of my world and I lost who I was – my purpose, my reasons, all of it. I barely ate and if breathing took thought, I probably would’ve forgot that too. I wanted to die to be with him. I have never loved like that again, and I never will.”

  “I didn’t think I’d ever know love like that, but life is strange,” Grams said and I giggled. “Don’t laugh at me, Sidonie Marie. Liam Walsh is a fine man to spend my time with.”

  “Oh, Grams, I’m not laughing at you. I think it’s wonderful that he makes you happy. You make him happy, too. I can see how much he’s changed since the two of you started hooking up.”

  “Hooking up?” Grandma Maggie asked.

  “He’s my beau, Mama. He spends time here, sometimes overnight.”

  I giggled again because Grams was blushing. It was adorable.

  “As long as you are safe, my girl, and he treats you well, then all is good,” Grandma Maggie said, and I gave her a thumbs up.

  Finn had been silent for the majority of our conversation, and he rose then and turned to Grams. “Madame Fortin, would you do me the honor of showing me your still room? I’d like to see how you set it up. My future bride is also a witch who likes to work with herbs and simples, and I’d like to set up a space for her as a surprise.”

  “Of course, I’d be happy to. Will you be okay if we leave?” Grams asked, but she looked at me.

  “I think we’ll be fine,” I replied and smiled at Grandma Maggie when she nodded in agreement.

  Once they left, Grandma Maggie sighed. “I was thinking he’d never get off his ass and give us some one on one time.”

  I arched a brow at her and leaned back. “Why, is there something you need to say to me that you don’t want Grams to hear?”

  “Yes, my dear. Your grandmother is an amazing woman who built her life around her children. I will not disparage her life or her choices. However, I wanted to talk to you about your life choices. Falling in love, having babies, sharing your life with someone – that is all well and good, but it is not the only way to live your life. Not having children and staying independent is a perfectly valid path to choose. I love my children and my descendants, and that is the life choice I made. But you can choose otherwise. You can live independently, loving as you wish, avoiding children without shame or ridicule. I will support you in that choice if you go that way.”

  I think my jaw dropped because she chuckled and kept talking.

  “A husband was once necessary in order to have some status. That is no longer the case. You can stay single, loving whom you desire, when you desire, with no legal ties. You can have children alone, or with a partner, or none at all. The problem with us supernatural types is we don’t always grow our beliefs and mindsets with the times, so you will likely get some push-back from people who don’t understand. Just tell them I approve and that should help ease some of the pressure. I haven’t been around for you children, and for that I am truly sorry. Let me at least offer the weight of my current situation as a benefit for you.”

  I had to chuckle at that. “Don’t pick on me, my great-grandma, the Queen of the Faeries, will come curse your ass.”

  At that, Grandma Maggie laughed out loud. “Okay, that does sound a bit silly, but I was thinking more along the lines of, “If you have any issues with my choices, go talk to my Grandma Maggie and she’ll straighten you out.”

  “Same difference, Grandma Maggie. But I appreciate what you’re saying,” I said, laughter still bubbling up in my words.

  “Also, my dear. Be careful. Those Lamontaine boys are not done with us yet.”

  “How do you mean? What did they finally do that got them banned from town?”

  I watched Grandma’s face pale and she looked down at the bottle in her hands. “First, the visiting minister lost his mule to a pack of wolves that, he said, were the size of small ponies. He was convinced otherwise after some spell work and a potion or two, but it was a near thing. The council chastised the Lamontaine boys, and that just made them more angry. They started harassing their neighbors and other townsfolk.

  “One of the boys, Philippe, went after my Marina. She was fifteen and a pretty little thing, but shy as a woodland violet. He wooed her properly one minute, then called out to her in public places – which, back then, was exceedingly rude. He’d laugh at her blushes, and give her flowers and little gifts. Marcel stopped him from taking more than a kiss from her when he walked into the barn and saw Philippe had Marina pinned against a stack of hay bales and she was struggling. Marcel beat him unconscious, tossed him
over the back of his horse and dumped him in his own family’s door yard. Told them if any of them ever laid a hand on his daughter again, he’d take that hand and nail it to our barn door.”

  “Whoo, great-grampa wasn’t messing around, eh?”

  “No, considering Marina was so terrified after that assault, she refused to leave the house alone, even to go to the privy. One of us had to stand outside and talk to her so she knew we were there. It scarred her for the rest of the time I knew her, but it did ease up once the Lamontaine’s were banished.”

  “Knowing what I know of those times, that doesn’t seem sufficient to get the whole family banned.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was their persistent behavior that skirted the edge of exposure for all the supernaturals in the area. Remember, many could still remember the Witch trials and the persecution of anything that seemed Other. This behavior went against all of our rules and understandings of acceptable behavior. But it was when they killed our whole herd of cattle and gutted our bull in the barnyard – as wolves – then ran through town – as wolves – covered in blood and howling, that was the final straw. The loss of our herd was devastating, both financially and in food stores for the winter. That is why their land was given to us, to try and compensate somewhat for the loss. We harvested their crops and kept their few livestock as ours and it got us through that winter. The house and barn went to Gretchen and Agnes Hutchins, along with the kitchen garden, a mule and two goats. Their home had suspiciously burned to the ground a week earlier, killing George and their boy Junior. There were lots of wolf and human tracks around the house, and George had chased the Lamontaine boys away from his still two days earlier. He distilled a pretty decent whiskey for drinking, and alcohol for use in medicinal potions and such. “

  “Agnes Hutchins, Gram’s friend? The one that runs the B&B?” I asked.

  “That very one. That house that’s the B&B? That was the Lamontaine’s homestead,” Grandma said.