Page 18 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

I hope that he takes Draith up on his offer, I think he would be surprised about how freeing it is to have his magic free. Plus, the keep is fucking awesome, I love it there. I think it’s really interesting that demons and dragons used to be so closely linked, and I know that Draith called Reed a demon, but I feel like he’s probably a lot more than the standard demon. I’m not going to ask him that right now though. He has enough to think about right now, and I don’t want to add to it.

Chapter Six

Neith

“Is everyone ready to head home?” Evander asks.

“Actually, I didn’t get a chance to ask Sully those questions,” I say, making everyone pause and turn back around since they were already heading out of the door.

“What questions?” Sully asks.

“I have a couple, actually. The first is about kelpies,” I start, and Sully’s eyebrows dip into a frown. I quickly tell him about Mael, and the kelpies trying to drown me and how the guys all seem to have a personal kelpie too. The more I talk, the higher Sully’s eyes raise on his forehead.

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Sully starts to asks, “you saved a kelpie that was trying to kill you and it gave you its name, but seemed surprised you knew it, and then you saved the herdfrom Scavengers and now the same thing has happened with your men?”

I choose to ignore the fact that he called them my men because, erm, what?

“Yeah,” I reply. “Oh, and when I got on him outside the house, well, when he launched me onto his back again, he had a bridle on. It was really pretty and studded with gemstones, too.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Sully replies, his shocked expression turning into a broad smile.

“What?”

“They have bonded to you. The entire herd will now be bonded to you until they or you die. It’s an incredibly rare bond, and in fact, only those who . . .” Sully’s sentence cuts off, and his eyes darken with anger as he growls, “Seriously, I can’t fucking tell them that!”

It’s silent for a moment until I say, “It’s okay, Sully. I know there are things that you can’t tell me, and I know that you would if you could. Just see what you can tell us?”

Sully’s expression softens, “You know, we are all extremely lucky that you are the person that you are, because if I had lost you because of what I couldn’t tell you, then heads would have fucking rolled. Consequences be damned.”

I grin, “Thanks, Sully, that means a lot.”

“Okay, so offer violence on Neith’s behalf and it makes her go all gooey,” Doc mutters behind me, and I glance over my shoulder, he winks, “I’m just taking notes.”

I chuckle and turn back to face a smiling Sully.

“Okay, so they are now bonded to you and that is a really big deal. The whole herd will come when called, but you can also call your individual kelpies. The ones that have given you their name. They are a force to be reckoned with, and were always supposed to be bonded,” he looks at Evander, “I’m surprised that you all moved onto a property that has a herd of kelpies,most people avoid them like the plague, for understandable reasons.”

Evander shakes his head, “We didn’t know that they were there. Otherwise, we would have warned Neith, and this whole thing probably wouldn’t have happened.”

Sully’s big, bushy eyebrows rise again, “Oh, so they sought you out then. I’m not surprised they have, but I am surprised that it’s happened this early. I’m not sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing.”

“I would ask you to elaborate, but I have a feeling that you won’t be able to,” Griff says.

Sully shakes his head, “I’m surprised I got that out. Let me see, what else can I tell you.” He pauses a second, “Oh, to a certain extent, you will be able to power-share with them and them with you. Not to the extent that they will be able to access all of your magic or that you will be able to turn into kelpies, but enough so that you can work coherently and consistently as a team. Having them on your side makes you formidable.”

“Wow, that’s pretty fucking cool,” I reply.

“Do we need to do anything to take care of them?” Raiden asks.

I honestly hadn’t even thought about it and now I feel bad that it didn’t occur to me to ask whether we needed to do anything.

Sully shakes his head, “Not in the sense of needing to house them or feed them or anything like that. They are independent in that way, and they are not pets, so you don’t need to treat them as such.”

“Okay, so what do we need to do?” River asks.

“Strengthen the bond between you,” Sully says. “The stronger the bond, the more likely they are to come when called and to assist you in situations that require it. They still have free will, and whether they help you or not is their choice. You are off to areally good start because you all came to their aid and prevented the Scavengers from killing them, but if you now ignore them, then if you were to call on them. They won’t come.”

“I don’t think any of us planned to ignore them. They are amazing creatures,” Ransom says.

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