Page 4 of Swords and Curses

"Do you always speak in riddles?" Rosa asked. "Why do you think I have magic?"

"You are Gwaed Teulu and have my blood. You will have magic." Eldon shrugged. "I'm going to have to wait and see if my theory is correct. I'll need some days to figure out the shape of it."

"So you will stay?" Eli asked, the hope in his voice tangible.

"For a time. Rosa will need advice and guidance, and I feel like I should be the one to be her teacher. I'm the only onequalified." Balthasar snorted, and Eldon's eyes burned. "She is my kin, boy. It's my right."

Balthasar opened his mouth, but Rosa was already on her feet.

"Enough! I'm done with all of your arguing. Come on, Wylt. We need to talk."

"Where are you going?" Balthasar asked.

"Eldon and I are going home. He's a Wylt, so the cottage is his. Besides, I think if he stays in this house, the bad tempers will cause the mansion to explode."

"Rosa…" Balthasar began, but she squeezed his fingers, a reassurance and a promise.

"I won't be long."

CHAPTER TWO

"Do you have to goad them like that?" Rosa asked as they entered the servant's passages, heading for the kitchen.

"Those boys are so full of piss and importance that anything I say is going to provoke them."

"You're talking about the man I love there, so watch it," Rosa warned. She pushed open the door into the kitchen. Taking a calico shopping bag from the pantry, she started to fill it with tea, sugar, a loaf of fresh bread, and a bottle of milk.

"The man you love…he must have one of those personalities that grows on you after a while," Eldon commented. He took the bag from her, and she opened the back door.

"A personality a bit like yours then?" she quipped. The cold winter air bit into her, and she huddled in her jacket. She'd thought that becoming Gwaed Teulu meant she didn't have to feel the cold anymore, but she was wrong. It was exactly like being human.

"Did you ever stop to think to maybe give Bal a break? He's been through a lot in the last few weeks. You can't blame him and Saul for your daddy going off to make a new family."

"That's too soap opera for my taste," Eldon replied. The frosted ground crunched under their boots as they crossed through the grounds. "I never heard of the Wylts having their own cottage before."

"They usually live in it until they retire, and Eli sets them up wherever they want to be," Rosa said, taking the heavy key from her pocket. Eldon paused as she opened the gate, his eyes scanning the hedges and garden.

"What's wrong?" Rosa asked.

"Nothing… It's just that I've never seen Bleddyn use this kind of warding before. He must've been really worried about you."

"You have your issues with him. I'm not going to pry into that, but he's been like a father to me. I treated him pretty badly when I didn't know what was going on here at Gwaed Lyn. He never took it personally. He saved my life. I know you don't like it, for whatever reason, but he did give me a choice, right up until the end."

Eldon's golden eyes glowed softly in the darkness. "Lead on, Rosa Wylt, otherwise, we'll freeze to death while you lecture me."

Rosa opened the front door, switching on lamps as she went. "You're going to have to excuse the mess," she said sheepishly when they went into the lounge room. Her research on the Wylts was still spread in small piles on couches and coffee tables.

"What is all this?" Eldon asked, picking up a bundle of letters.

"Well, it's us." Rosa waved her hands around the room. "The history of the Wylts. I might have gone a tad crazy trying to figure out why the Wylts and the Vanes were so caught up together. This might interest you. Eli gave it to me. It's about the Vanes and how he adopted Saul, Bal, and Lily." She handed him the book, and he studied it, turning it over with his long fingers.

"As for the rest, I'll clean it up for you and…"

"No, leave it," he said, placing the book down on a spare seat. "I was out of the world for too many years. I would like to go through and read it myself." Rosa took him upstairs and showed him where the bathroom was.

"Who is the artist?" Eldon asked, looking into the main bedroom. Rosa swore. She had changed the sheets that day, but she had forgotten about the portrait still hanging over the fireplace.

"Shit, I will just grab that…" Rosa mumbled. She pushed passed him to take it down.

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