Page 21 of The Fearless Witch

“Yes,” he replied with a polite smile. “I have seen to their needs and now I’m here to check on you, Master. You have been neglecting yourself and even they have noticed.” He tipped his head, giving me a reprimanding look, which I ignored until he added, “Mistress Celeste would be displeased if she saw you like that.”

A snarl rose in my throat, but I stifled it. I hated when he got so fussy because it meant I was losing control over my emotions. But how could I not with everything that was going on? Just a few months ago, I thought my biggest problem would be getting Celeste to stop running from me and admit her feelings. Now that concern felt trivial in comparison to everything else that was happening.

I picked up the human blood I had been forced to drink in gallons thanks to my activities down there and once I finished it, Chester took the pitcher back along with the towel. His eyes kept darting to the door behind me and soon I realized why. The wards stopped the sounds, but they did nothing about the smell. I was so used to the stench of death and gore that it hadn’t even registered until I saw him wrinkling his nose.

“Do you want me to clean that for you, Master?” he asked, just as I finished dressing. There was no fear or disgust in his eyes, and his heartbeat remained bafflingly unchanged. He truly was ready to do it.

“I’m capable of dealing with it myself.”

The edges of his lips twitched and for a second, he seemed like a normal human, not like the painfully controlled individual he molded himself to be.

“I’m aware that Master is capable,” he said softly. “That’s not what I asked. Do you want me to do it, Master? You have more important things to worry about.”

I rubbed my forehead. I was sure that if I were human, I’d be fighting the worst kind of headache in the world. “You don’t have to. This is not part of your job.”

“Neither is summoning demons part of yours. We all do things we must for the ones we care about.”

I didn’t reply; I wasn’t sure what to reply to something like that. Chester was the closest thing I had to a family, aside from Celeste, and while I treated him like a servant for most of his life, he had never left. I figured it wasn’t because of the benefits. Everything he knew was here.

“Do as you wish,” I sighed, turning my back to him and walking away. I had almost reached the other end of the corridor when I realized what he had said. “What ‘more important things’? Did anything else happen while I was down here?” I asked, feeling my chest tighten with dread. Chester’s nonchalance was the only thing keeping me calm.

“Everything is fine,” he replied as he wrapped his gloved hand around the door handle. “Miss Lily gathered Mr. Isaac, Mr. Malakai, and a few others in the library to appraise them of her latest findings. They wanted you present, but I informed them you were currently occupied.” He opened the door a fraction more before adding, “It wasn’t that long ago, so they should still be in the first-floor library.”

Relief replaced the heaviness, and I nodded, pushing the fake wall to exit the secret tunnel. Chester’s sharp intake of breath was the last thing I heard before I left him behind.

The moment I stepped out of the soundproofed dungeon and headed for the stairs, the noises of the mansion assaulted my ears. I was used to the silence and the stillness of this place since all of my staff had been trained to be quiet and efficient. But now the living, breathing, walking creatures in my home were not my servants. They weren’t friends or… family, but they weren’t quite strangers either, since I wouldn’t waste my protection on people who didn’t matter.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when something large and furry appeared around the corner, followed by another running figure. The dog froze in its tracks so quickly that the boy almost toppled them both to the ground.

“Caught you, you rascal! Didn’t I tell you to be quiet or we’ll wake Mom and Dad?” The boy didn’t notice me at first, but when his pet whimpered and hid behind him, he looked up. His eyes widened, but instead of the fear I expected to see, a smile blossomed on his face. “Hi there, Mister! Hey, Buddy, it’s alright. It’s just Mr. Roman. He won’t hurt us.”

I wanted to tell him that was still under question, at least as far as the furry beast was concerned, but his beaming smile made me reconsider. Even after what they saw in the Order’s dungeons, even after seeing me tear people apart, the Martens still showed no fear of me. They were jumpier and I could hear the boy having nightmares every night, but they didn’t fear me.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed, Jake?” I asked, trying my best to make my voice sound softer. The boy winced, and I noticed he was wearing his pajamas and slippers. Considering the hour and the smell of sweat and unease coming from him, he had probably woken from another nightmare. “Are you alright?”

He shrugged one shoulder, looking at the dog while scratching it between the ears.

“It’s nothing,” he murmured, getting to his feet while his fingers wrapped around the animal’s collar. “Please, don’t wake my parents, they’ll just worry. I’ll get Buddy back to my room and we’ll be quiet.” He moved to leave past me, urging his pet to hurry.

“Jake,” I spoke before he reached the corner. He looked back in question, his dark eyes drooping a bit. “You’re safe here. I won’t let them hurt you or your family again.”

The smile returned to his face, weak but entirely genuine, and I felt something stir in my stomach, something I hadn’t felt in centuries, not even with Celeste.

“I know, Mister,” he said with a trembling voice. “But there are some things you can’t protect us from. I bet even you have things that scare you, don’t you?”

“I do,” I smiled, and the tightness of his shoulders relaxed a bit. “But fears alone can’t hurt us.”

“Are you sure?” he laughed dryly. I fought to keep my smile on as he waved goodbye and disappeared down the corridor. He had no idea how right he was and I wanted to keep it that way, or his nightmares would never stop.

I headed toward the library on the first floor. Once I was standing outside the door, I shuffled through the scents in the air, trying to figure out who was inside. Lily was speaking and I could pick up on her father’s low voice. Malakai was there, and so were Isaac, his Beta, and Daniel, along with his son. No Nym—he had disappeared without a word a few days ago and I could only hope he was on his way to Hell. My mind had been so preoccupied with everything that until I noticed his absence, it didn’t occur to me that he was an infernal creature. I just hoped he found a way to free Celeste, or at least keep her safe.

I slipped inside, closing the door silently while Lily droned on. She was so focused on her lecture about the Castles, pointing at her board with all the lines that connected the pictures hanging from it, that she didn’t even notice me. Everyone else did, though, and for once their disgusted expressions didn’t seem to be because of my sheer existence.

Kevin gave me a tired smile before returning his attention to his daughter, while Malakai all but grinned as he patted the chair next to him. I would have ignored him under any other circumstances—his good mood was rubbing me the wrong way with Celeste still in danger—but the strange glint in his eyes made me relent. The others I ignored, giving a nod to Lily to keep going when she finally spotted me.

“So… uhm… as I was saying…” She cleared her throat, wriggling her fingers in front of her while her pale cheeks flushed. “The Castles are definitely the ones pulling the strings. With everything I told you, plus the information Roman found in that hunter’s house and what Isaac provided from the altercation with Regina, it’s safe to assume that this Mariam person is the one working with the hunters. She and her brother, who has to be the one who stabbed Celeste, must have been behind the disappearances of your people, the attack on the Fae grove, and probably the spell surrounding the city.”

Malakai pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his new pants, looking like he had been born in a suit even though I couldn’t remember a single instance where I had seen him in anything other than Fae-made robes. He didn’t bother with the vest or the jacket, his shirt was untucked and half-unbuttoned, and his long, blond hair was pulled into a low, messy ponytail, but it just… worked for him.

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