Chapter Thirty-five
“DON’T worry, kitten,” King said over supper a short while after the power was restored. “I don’t plan to go to jail, but let’s not worry about that unless we have to. My lawyer thinks we have a case. I gave him the name of the woman you stayed with, so he can question her, by the way.”
“Daddy, don’t let Mom have me.”
“She hasn’t been worried enough to call me over the last three years, so that’s not likely to happen.”
“I don’t want to go back.”
“I won’t let you go. My lawyer will fight for us. But we’re straddling a legal tightrope. You need to know that. I want you, Regg, and I want Jake. Whatever happens, remember this: I’m here to protect you from dead East Coast witches and living West Coast ones.”
“Hey,” Harmony said. “You’re implying that witch starts with a b. Cut that out. The two are not interchangeable.”
“My apologies. You’re right.”
After supper, King took a walk around the castle. His family was in danger—his family, meaning: Harmony, Reggie, and Jake. Damn. His feelings for Reggie and Jake were normal. What he felt for Harmony was . . . indefinable. He was running scared without moving, when usually nothing scared him. Or nothing used to. Now three people, no two . . . no three . . . mattered more than his own life. Two, he could claim. One he would have to let go . . . eventually.
Right now, keeping them safe was all that mattered. He was thinking of getting them out of the castle.
The crew needed to go, too. He’d pay them to stay away for a week or so. Not their fault Gussie was running amok.
“King!” Harmony, her hair blowing in the wind, stood on a cliff above him. She made a motion for him to come. “Jake’s in trouble,” she shouted.
KING died a thousand deaths at the sight of Jake crawling along the beam suspended over the great hall by flexible pulleys. “Raise a net,” he shouted to the crew. Thank God they kept safety netting on site.
Jake’s knee slipped before they got the nets up, and King, and everyone else, gasped . . . but something, or someone, stopped him from falling, and he managed to regain his balance.
“Where’s Reggie?” King asked.
“I don’t . . . oh . . . she’s up in the gallery.” Harmony pointed, and King’s heart sank again. His daughter hung from the gallery rail, trying to reach the end of the beam, while it rose up and away from her as Jake’s weight tipped it downward at his end.
The crew had the nets beneath Jake now, but there was none beneath Reggie.
King ran, climbed the rail, caught his daughter around the waist, and hauled her to safety. Jake fell and screamed, and King got distracted, lost his balance, and did the same. He broke his ankle, he thought, flat on his back, his head going muzzy, people running his way when they should be taking care of Jake.
Reggie broke through the crowd with Jake in her arms, and King released his breath. “Thank God.”
“Grampa! That was fun! Can we do it again?”
King blacked out.
“It’s just a sprain,” Curt said from a distance.
When King opened his eyes, he wasn’t in the great hall but with Harmony in the dorm.
“Does it hurt terribly?” She sat beside him on his cot.
“Screw that. How’s Jake?”
“Not a scratch on him, which is more than we can say for you.”
“It doesn’t hurt that bad. Ouch!”
“That’s what I thought.” She handed him a glass of water and a couple of aspirin.
He downed them in one sip.
Harmony stroked the hair from his brow, which he liked. “I don’t think the fall made you black out, I think terror for your family did.”
“Tell my crew that.”
“What do you care what they think?” She cupped her hands over his throbbing ankle, and King felt an escalating warmth that eased the pain somewhat.
“I’m the boss. I’m supposed to be invincible.”
“Any of their kids or grandkids hangs from the ceiling, they’ll black out, too. They know that. Curt and a couple of others looked pretty green.”
“I gotta get back down there. Help me up.”
“Sure, but can you fly without a helicopter?” He let her hold him while he tried to put weight on his ankle, but no go, not without her support. Wonderful. That’d make him look like the boss.
“Wait a sec,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
She brought him an old, gold-tipped cane he’d seen over the years. “I got such a sense of the ring when I took this from the cane stand,” she said. “I took everything out, and dumped the stand upside down, sure the other half of the ring was in there.” She shrugged. “But it wasn’t.” She raised the cane. “Look familiar? I think it’s the cane Nicodemus is using in the mural.”
King swore. “I’ll let you in on a secret. That mural makes me want to black out, too. I’ve got to get my family out of this place.”
“How about we get Gussie out, instead?”
“I’m listening,” he said, “but so is she, right?”
“My sisters and I have been talking about—” Harmony put her lips to his ear, and he cupped her head because he liked her this close. “A ritual,” she whispered.
“Which means?”
“Either we go for a bike ride, or you trust me on this.”
“When?”
“In a week and a half. We have to wait for the summer solstice to tap into the sun’s strength and vitality.”
He understood then that she meant a witchy ritual, and damned if he wasn’t grateful she had an idea, any idea, witchy or twitchy, or moon magickal. He’d take anything right now. “Think we can hang on that long?”
“My sisters and I have been casting protection spells all over the house for the past couple of days, rather blatantly now that we’ve been outed, so you might have some explaining to do.”
“How the hell do I explain that?”
“Tell them we’re fighting fire with fire. They’ll get it or they won’t, but they’re men. They won’t ask for directions.”
King barked a laugh. “Is that witch wisdom or feminine intuition? Help me up.”
She tried, and he got dizzy. “What kind of pills did you give me?”
“Pain pills from Curt’s first aid kit. He said you wouldn’t feel a thing after you took them . . . oh, oh.”
King shifted from his cot to her bed, fell into it, and pulled her down with him.
“Are you getting friendly or woozy?”
“Woozy friendly?” He traced the letters over her breasts. “Licensed to Thrill. Care to give me a demo?”
“Let me lock that door so I can take your mind off the pain.”
“People are gonna come knocking.”
“No, they’re not. The crew’s left for the day, and everyone has their own bedroom as of an hour ago.”
“Oh, Sunshine, get over here, so I don’t fall asleep before the main event.”
“I can come fast.”