Abandoned (Book Two of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel

by Hazel Hunter

  “Ha, I should have known you were a flyer,” she said to him.

  “Oh? And why’s that?”

  “Everyone knows that witches and warlocks gifted with flight are unpredictable and wild,” she retorted. “All the old books say so.”

  “Hmm, and what do the old books say about mouthing off before you’re back on solid ground?”

  “On that they are silent,” she responded with affected dignity. “But you better take good care of me. You can’t rough me up too much before I see the coven master.”

  “Rough you up. You know that doesn’t sound like exactly what I want to do with you.”

  There was a definite flirtatiousness to his voice this time, and Hailey found herself blushing. She was saved from having to respond, however, when they found themselves at a window in one of the Castle’s many towers. Piers entered, and easily set her down on her feet inside.

  The room was small, but incredibly luxurious. The tower’s round walls were lined with books of all kinds, and the floor was covered with a thick, plush carpet that looked like it had been knotted by hand. Off to the side was a large traditional wooden desk, and on top of that, unexpected amidst the traditional furnishings, was a sleek, little laptop.

  Hailey wondered what kind of man kept this library. She wondered if he was kind or stern, if he would see her as a person or as a tool. She turned around and to her shock realized that Piers was perched on the edge of the coven master’s desk.

  “Um, should you really be doing that?”

  “Why shouldn’t I?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

  “Because you’re…because the coven master will…”

  Under his patient eyes, she stuttered to a stop, and then she frowned.

  “You’re the coven master, aren’t you?”

  He grinned, and she realized that he didn’t need to be classically handsome. When he really smiled, he was gorgeous.

  “I am. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. It was simply too good a chance to get to know you.”

  Hailey was torn between feeling incredibly angry or amused about the situation. On one hand, he had taken advantage of the fact that she was new in order to play a prank on her. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure that she would have been able to be as open and as easy with a man who she knew immediately as the coven master of one of the most beautiful places she had ever been. She decided that since she had tried to drain him and set him on fire when she first laid eyes on him that she would settle on amused.

  “I’ll call it even if you forget about me thinking that you were going to harm those kids. You weren’t, right?”

  He shook his head.

  “No, that was me just doing my part for training the children. Eventually, they would all have latched on to me and I would take them for a little flight.”

  “And what does that train them to do, exactly?”

  “I don’t know, to hang on, perhaps? You did quite well yourself.”

  She flushed a little, thinking of their brief flight.

  “Well, I can fly too. I’ve done it before.”

  “And it takes more to impress you than that, I’m sure. Hopefully, you’ll find things at the Castle that intrigue you and encourage you to stay, even if you were unimpressed with me.”

  Hailey started to protest that she wasn’t unimpressed. Then she saw the laugh lurking at the corner of Piers’s mouth and gave in.

  “All right then, impress me,” she said challengingly. “Show me what makes this place so very special.

  Something new lit up Piers’s face, and she realized that it was an immense sense of pride and pleasure that he took in his home.

  “We strive to please. I’ll show you around the Castle, and at the end, you can decide for yourself. Come along. We can just take the stairs down this time.”

  Hailey followed behind him as he led the way, and she wondered what in the world she was getting into.

  CHAPTER TWO

  BEFORE SHE HAD come to the Castle, Hailey had previously lived with the Angioli coven in the cold reaches of the Amato Valley in Italy. The Angioli coven had made its home in a monastery, and though it was quite beautiful in a stark kind of way, it was also foreboding. It was a severe place for ascetic men who wished to spend their lives in prayer and repentance.

  Where the Angioli monastery had had a certain solemnity, the Castle was entirely different. It was built using local stone, Piers proclaimed proudly, and it was designed to be a mixture of Renaissance French castle and modern wonder. There were tall windows everywhere, and the light gave the Castle an air of graciousness that enchanted Hailey.

  “How beautiful it is,” she murmured wonderingly, looking up at one of the stained glass windows. It was perfectly clear leaded glass, and the design was cut to resemble a compass rose. “The designer must have been very proud to see their efforts come out so fine.”

  “Thank you, I am,” Piers said promptly, and she turned to look at him.

  “You’re teasing me again,” she said dubiously. He shook his head.

  “No, not this time. I like a good joke, but the Castle, well, it’s one thing that I don’t joke about. It’s my dream made real, and every aspect of this building, from the floors to the ceilings to the wireless satellite connection to the kitchens, I decided on. It took me ten years, give or take a few, to see it grow to what it is today.”

  Looking at Piers and seeing the laser sharp focus in those dark eyes, Hailey could easily believe that he was the man behind all of this.

  “What is this place for?” she asked quietly. “No one was quite able to tell me that. All I know is that the coven master of the Castle heard of my talents and then sent a member of the Magus Corps looking for me. You went to some trouble to make sure that I arrived here, but I still don’t understand why.”

  Piers looked at her thoughtfully, and it occurred to her that this man was much more dangerous when he stopped joking. There was an intense focus to him. She looked at where he stood, underneath an arch of stone that rose a dozen feet above his head. In an odd way, he matched the space. It reflected him. In some ways, they were standing inside his soul, his spirit.

  “I think it would be easier to show you. Come with me.”

  He offered his arm, and she was too startled to refuse. It should have felt showy and old-fashioned, but the courtliness of the gesture felt right. Underneath her fingers, she could feel how muscled his arm was.

  The first place they stopped was a door that was marked with a mysterious symbol. Piers pointed at it.

  “It’s the alchemical symbol for iron,” he said. “We’re not exactly dealing with iron here, but it’s close.”

  He opened the door, and Hailey blinked. It was like she had gone from a fairytale French castle to an ultramodern machine shop. There were three women and a man working at various machine stations, and as she watched, the man straightened up and waved at them.

  “Hey, Piers, perfect timing. Want to come over and check this baby out?”

  Piers sauntered over to the warlock’s side, bringing Hailey. The lanky warlock who had called them over had a small device in his hands. It was a small cube that rested easily in his palm, and it was completely black. It was perfect, with no joins that she could see, and after a moment, a brilliant orange sheen crossed the surface.

  “Pretty, Stephan,” drawled Piers. “Are you looking at getting into interior design?”

  Stephan snorted.

  “Teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Dayton. What I have here is a reservoir for firecrackers. That’s witches and warlocks that use fire, sorry.” He addressed the last to Hailey, who felt a little startled for being noticed at all. “See, when it comes to fire users, they tend to blow themselves out quickly. Big bonfires, and suddenly they’re done for the night. As you can imagine, that might be risky when there’s danger around and when things are tough. It’s one of the reasons why you don’t see many firecrackers in the Magus Corps. Anyway, when things are going well, they can us
e this little gadget to pull away some of their power and to store it. When they need it, like in an emergency, they can set it off and send the fire flying.”

  Piers picked up the little cube, weighing it speculatively in his hand before handing it to Hailey. It seemed to her that it was far heavier than it looked, and warm as well.

  “The offer stands you know,” Piers said to Stephan. “I can give you all the workspace that you need and the best tools as well.”

  Stephan grinned, but shook his head. It had the feel of an old argument between them.

  “Sorry, Dayton. I’m a company man, and there I will stay until they bury me.”

  Piers shook his head regretfully, and handed the cube back to Stephan’s protective hands.

  “He may not look it, but he’s a major in the Magus Corps,” Piers told her. “He had some leave, and I invited him out here to work with our team. That cube’s just the tip of the iceberg of what he could do if he had everything he needs, but he just won’t see it.”

  As Piers led her on, Hailey thought again about Kieran. He was a member of the Magus Corps as well, and she knew it was Magus Corps business that called him away from her. She knew that the members of the Wiccan’s paramilitary force were notorious loners, and she wondered if she would spend more time missing Kieran than she did knowing him.

  The next door that they stopped by did not have an alchemical symbol on it. Instead, it had a sword.

  “Swordsmanship?” she asked as they entered.

  “Not exactly.”

  The room was enormous, and there were obstacles placed all over it. As Hailey looked on curiously, she heard a loud bell, and suddenly, a young woman who had been standing unobtrusively in a corner burst into motion. She leapt over some of the obstacles and ducked low to slide under other ones. She never stopped running, she never stopped moving forward. Entranced, Hailey watched as the young woman came to a halt just a few feet away.

  “How’s it going?” asked Piers.

  The girl shook her head.

  “Not bad, but not great either. Can’t seem to beat my best time.”

  “Well, it’s your best time for a reason.” He turned to Hailey. “This is Erin. She’s putting herself through a course on parkour and free running. Erin, this is Hailey.”

  Hailey shook hands with this decisive young woman, who eyed her up and down.

  “Are you interested in getting started with either? You’re small. You’d probably do terrific.”

  At just a hair over five feet and skinny as a teen boy, Hailey had never heard of her size being an asset before.

  “You think?”

  “Oh yeah. I can’t always slide under things so easily because my shoulders are so broad. I have to go under on my back or my stomach when I can at all. You could just slide under, I bet.”

  “Is it related to your power?” Hailey asked in curiosity, and Erin shrugged.

  “I’m a weather witch. I’m pretty good at that, but I’m sure I’m better at this.”

  “Parkour and free running keep you safe when you’re out in the world,” Piers explained after they left. “You can’t always fight back, but if you’re on your feet, and even sometimes if you’re not, you can get away.”

  The next place that they stopped was a bay window that overlooked a deep natural spring. Hailey realized that it must have been where the Castle met the cliff face of the mountain. The spring was bordered by natural rock, and its depths were black.

  As she watched, a young witch, the girl with Bantu knots from before, stood on one of the rocks on the shore and lifted an enormous geyser of water into the sky. Her small face intense with concentration, she lifted the geyser higher and higher, letting it thin to a thread.

  Hailey watched, enchanted, as the girl made the thin rope of water dance at her gesture, letting it switch back and forth. The little girl kept it up until her thin limbs were shaking. Then with a shout, she let the water fall back into the pond with an enormous splash. A tall black man clapped wildly for her, and she turned to him with an enormous grim.

  The small scene made Hailey’s heart swell with happiness even as it hurt a little. She had never thought about children before, but she very much remembered her own childhood. To have her gifts nurtured as that girl’s were, to be raised as part of a community that cared about her, it was like a fairytale.

  They passed by a window that looked out over a snowy cliff face. Across the hall from the window, there was a bench seat cut into the wall. Hailey and Piers sat down.

  “You’re giving people tools,” she said softly. “That’s what this place is about. Everything I’ve seen since I’ve come here, you’re trying to give people the tools that they need to survive and thrive.”

  Piers nodded, his face serious.

  “I am. Do you know what the biggest cause of death for Wiccans is?”

  Hailey shook her head.

  “It’s other people. Templars specifically, but I’m old enough to remember when some of the witch mania spread through Scandinavia. Wiccans who had never done a bit of harm in their entire lives were hunted and killed in the most brutal ways possible. Many people died, but some of those that survived became monsters. They lost the people that they cared about. They had no place to release their grief, so they turned it to rage. That led to more killing and more pain. We are safe if we are quiet. That’s what I was taught, and for many years, I felt the same way. I taught others that the best thing we could do was hide. Then I learned that no matter how well you hide, it’s not always good enough.”

  There was something about the way that he said the last part that made Hailey shiver. There was an old pain, an old hurt there. It went deep, she could tell. Impulsively, she reached out and took his hand. He looked surprised, but after a moment, he relaxed and continued.

  “That’s when I realized that a place like the Castle needed to exist. I wanted a place where people can learn to defend themselves, and a place where we can work towards protecting each other. That’s what the Castle is a part of, and that’s why I wanted you.”

  “Me?” Hailey blinked.

  “You look surprised.”

  “Well, to be perfectly honest, my skill isn’t often considered one of the ones that people think will protect others. In fact, I would say that when you get right down to it, it’s one of the most selfish skills out there. I literally take energy from other people and use it for myself.”

  Piers laughed.

  “I suppose I could see how you might think that, but that’s not what I’ve seen.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The first time I saw you use your power, you were doing exactly what I wanted you for. You were taking power from a willing person and using it to protect the Wiccan community. The most vulnerable among us, I might add.”

  Hailey frowned.

  “I wasn’t doing anything that anyone else couldn’t have done.”

  “You’re wrong. What if you were just a mindreader or someone who could read auras? What if you were someone who turned into a small animal like a ferret or a cat? Mindreaders and shapechangers are amazing for espionage work and information gathering, but their offensive and defensive capabilities are very poor. No, you’re something special.”

  “Tell me what you have in mind,” Hailey said.

  Even she could tell that he was right, but there was a missing piece here. There was something he wanted from her. She didn’t know what it was, and that made her nervous.

  “I’ve always been someone who dreamed big. I always wanted more, and a temporary solution never pleases me as much as a permanent one. What I think we need, both at the Castle and at the other covens worldwide, is the ability to protect ourselves. We need to be able to hide. That means more than just one person becoming invisible. That means that I want to find a way to shield an entire coven from Templars and non-magical humans.”

  Hailey blinked. She had known many other Wiccans, and for the most part, the effects of their spells could onl
y affect themselves. A witch might be able to turn herself invisible, but she could not make someone else invisible as well. She could read minds, but she could not give the skill to someone else.

  “You’re thinking of something entirely new,” she said hesitantly.

  Piers nodded.

  “What I believe it comes down to, and many other people agree with me, is power. Our capabilities are nearly limitless, but where they start to run into problems is power. Each person, witch or warlock, only has so much power to work with. We do what we can, but our sphere of influence remains small. I believe that you’re different.”

  Hailey frowned at Piers.

  “So what are you suggesting? That you run a lot of power through me and see if you can perform enormous spells?”

  Piers nodded.

  “I’m not saying it’s entirely without risk. I couldn’t lie to you like that. However, no matter what the risks are, I believe that the rewards could be immense as well.”

  Hailey was silent. She could see what Piers meant. Back at the Angioli convent, she had been close with a young boy named Luca and a lively teenager named Beatrice. Both had been orphaned by Templar attacks, and Beatrice still woke up some nights screaming in fear and pain. She realized that Piers wanted to give her the opportunity to do something about that, to make sure that it never happened again. No more crying children. No more broken families.

  Piers must have interpreted her silence as reluctance.

  “This isn’t something that you have to decide now. Even if you should decide that the risk is too great, you would have a place here. There are ways to hone your abilities and to learn more about what you can do. Perhaps you’ll change your mind, or perhaps you won’t, but at the end, you would absolutely know more about yourself.”

  Hailey shook her head, brushing his words off.

  “I’m definitely going to do it, that’s not a question. I’m just thinking. I don’t know how it will turn out, but yes. Yes, it is something that I want.”

  Piers’s smile was small, but it still pleased her. With a start, she realized she’d been staring at his lips.