The Earl's Childe (25 page)

“I turned fourteen this past spring.” His voice was low, and he was looking very much Not at Me.

“Lily turns fourteen in two weeks; we're planning her a surprise party. The rest of her friends mostly hang out with me because I'm her sister, and,” I rolled my eyes, “as you saw, by extension, their baby sister, too.”

“Oh…” He paused. “None of your friends come to the camp?”

I looked away. One friend was on holiday with her two dads, due to the two of us getting into so much trouble last year. The other…was Joe. I closed my eyes, willing the sting of tears away. I had no idea how he was, except that he was in major danger. And there was nothing I could do to help him.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to pry,” Max said. “I guess that's why I wanted to hang out with you, though. I really don't have a lot of my own friends, either.” I felt his hand brush my arm and then pull back, with a soft breath of a word I couldn't quite make out.

Ermie did, though, and he had a much harder time masking his laughter. I couldn't help it. I elbowed his shoulder this time. Which, of course, only seemed to amuse him more.

What?! What is so funny?

I never realized how entertaining humans were
.

I elbowed him again.

“Is something wrong with your horse?” Max asked.

Deciding that it would take too much effort to explain the kelpie was an arrogant git, I settled with, “I don't know. He does this thing. It hasn't killed him yet.”

Ermie turned his laughter into a cough.
Stop! I thought you wished me to pass as a horse!

“Is your horse okay up there, Heather?” Coach David asked. I looked over my shoulder to see him quickening his step to catch up.

“He's fine,” I answered.
You said it was not easy for you to talk-talk like, well, a human, but you totally can't
not
laugh like a…a non-horse?

Blood and brine, I have never been in a situation to test that until now
. He shook himself, getting out more whuffling laughs.

And you're not even going to tell me what's so freaking funny?

If you can get them to leave us, I will tell you. I have a feeling you'll prefer an explanation in private
.

I felt a familiar jolt of discomfort in my stomach, which Ermie seemed to be able to read.

I promise, I am not entertained at your expense
. He obviously couldn't help but add,
Not this time, anyway
.

“We should pick up the pace,” Coach David said, walking with us now. “It's getting dark.”

It was. I felt a shiver down my back.
Do red caps prefer the night?
I asked Ermie.

Actually, they prefer twilight and dawn because most of their prey have the worst sense of vision at those times
.

I looked sideways at him, feeling that shiver turn into icy fingers grasping my spine.

I was under the impression you still preferred honesty
.

I do. I just don't like the news
.

Ermie bobbed his head in a shrug, but now that I was really looking at him, I noticed his eyes and ears alert and scanning.

A text from my phone made me jump. “Everything OK?” my mum had written.

Draping Ermie's lead rope over my elbow, I typed, “Np. Inside soon.” Glancing over to where the coach was giving me a look, I said, “Just telling Mum we'll be inside soon.”

Ermie's stable was in sight and, fortunately, from the direction we approached, you couldn't see the pen with his pond.
That
would make any horse person question us, because
normal
horses most certainly do not prefer the wet and muddy conditions Ermie kept.

“What's this?” Coach David nudged Mum's clay pot with his toe. I'd just walked around it, not thinking, as had Max, who was still quiet and now seemingly too distracted to talk.

“Um.” Seriously, did he have to notice
everything?
I'd avoided the salt lines as best I could, and I was so glad he hadn't mentioned
those
yet! “For these weird bees that Mum found. It's a new stable and, supposedly, the smoke from certain twigs and stuff keeps out these bees that build in the rafters or something. And Ermie's allergic to all regular bug stuff, so we had to go the all-natural route.”

“Stormy broke out in a rash when I tried spraying him once, too,” Max offered.

Cool, backup for something I totally had pulled out of my butt.

“What was it your mother burned?” the coach asked. “It'd be good to know for other horses with sensitive skin.”

“I don't know. You'd have to ask her.”
Because she can totally be the one to make more crap up. She gets paid for that sort of stuff, and I'm getting tired of it
.

Ermie managed to keep his laughter to two good snorts. I hadn't intended to send him the thought, but I hadn't actively been covering my thoughts either.

“Anyway, would you mind waiting out here. I…” Of course, I needed to make something else up, anyway. “I…need to use the stall, and we didn't build a water closet in this stable.” I crossed one ankle behind the other to clearly demonstrate my point.

I appreciate the fact you are making this up
.

I shot a glare at Ermie while the two guys moved outside the stable.

“Thanks.”
I'll keep in mind you won't share your space despite the fact I'm the one who keeps it clean
.

I didn't get a response to that.

When we were to his run-in stall door that led to the outside pen, I figured I could at least talk if I whispered. “So. You have a son.”

He lowered his head.
I did not realize
.

“So, now what?”

I don't know. He is not like me. He's more horse
.

There was a lot of emotion going on in Ermie's head. More than I would have expected, and more that I knew he was keeping to himself. “I'm guessing kelpies aren't like regular horses where the stallions don't do much about their kids?”

My father raised me and taught me to hunt. I do not know if that is “normal” for our kind or if it was because my mother was killed
.

“I'm…sorry. I don't mean to dig up bad memories.”

He snorted at me, but he made it clear it wasn't in offense.
Seeing a child of mine brings up the memories
. There was no need for him to repeat what he'd said to Mum and me several times—he didn't know of any other kelpies.

“Do…do you think, maybe…?” I didn't know how to phrase my question tactfully.

I didn't need to. With a toss of his head, he responded,
It has crossed my mind. That I may be the last. Granted, I have not left these islands, specifically. And the world is big. But I have seen no other like me, nor even like my son. I know the animal fey can have half-breed children that are more animal than sentient. However, to say things, as you humans seem to prefer, delicately, I had not seen any other evidence that
I
would end up with such offspring
.

We were quiet a moment. I reached out my hand, and he touched it with his nose, so I rubbed him gently.

He seemed to recognize me as kin. I could sense…he would not have attacked me. Which, from your coach's words, is not normal for mortal horses
.

“Well, geldings often form their own herds and get along. It's not like it'd be in the wild, with them all ready to fight for the mares…”

With another snort, Ermie pulled his head away from me and trotted in a circle.
I cannot even begin to address
that
in a delicate manner!
After a few more chuffs, he returned to me, nudging my fingers again.
As for my more recent entertainment…
He let loose a soft rendition of his actual laugh.
Your companion, Max, fancies you, and is terribly upset that you are still of a child's age and too young for him to pursue
.

“Max
likes
me?” I barely kept my voice above a whisper.

Ehrwnmyr barely kept his laugh from being heard.
More than “like,” clearly
.

Embarrassment flooded my cheeks, which were probably bright red. My mind was a jumble of being glad Ermie had
not
tried to explain this to me where Max could see me blush and trying to figure out how to define “like” as in
“like
like” to a four-hundred-year-old kelpie who was as amused at that concept as he was of swallowing a spoiled child whole. Literally. Finally, I managed, in a hissing whisper, “He can't
like
me. You must have it wrong. I mean, everyone thinks I look like a boy, anyway. I'm not, like, Lily or anything!”

Ermie tilted his head, regarding me for a moment.
I do not believe he looks at you as a boy, unless his preference is boys. But I don't see much similarity between you and the human boys I have seen
.

I didn't have anything else to say because I was too worried my face might actually burn off.

Have I offended you? Do you prefer to look like a boy? Your tone didn't seem to support that
.

He was honestly, actually, trying to be nice. I got that. “I'm…not offended. Just, a lot of people called me a boy, or not a
real
girl, or…well, other things, to hurt me. So…I'm a little sensitive about it.”

He nuzzled me again.
Well, the human boy finds you attractive and was extremely disappointed when he discovered your age. That much I can assure you
.

“And…you find that entertaining?”

Extremely
.

I shook my head. “Why?”

Ermie paused, stepping back.
Because he is hardly more than a child himself, yet he was so upset that you are
so
young. And his emotions were…
The kelpie shook his head.
Extremely strong about the whole affair. To a ridiculous degree. It was very entertaining. But…there is something else to be wary of
.

“What?”

I don't know. Something in his scent, but I cannot bite upon it. Just…you and your mother were concerned about knowing such things
.

“Is he…not human?”

He
smells
human. Perhaps it is still the scent of…my son. I cannot tell
.

Before I could say anything else, there was a knock on the stable wall and I heard Coach David call, “Heather, are you okay in there? It's getting dark.”

“Fine. Be right out.” Looking past Ermie, I saw the dusky sky and bit my lip. There were just the three of us, and while the paths were salted…and Ermie had checked them…I was the only one of us with an iron knife. A very small iron knife. My heart hammered almost painfully with the memory of the evil giggling from this afternoon.

“Ermie…” I swallowed. “Is it possible…um…”

If you leave the gate unlatched, I can follow you at an unseen distance, but be available should anything happen
.

“And then come back here and stay here? Like Mum said to do?”

He nodded and sent an affirmative sense to my head.

I patted his nose one more time. “I'd appreciate that.”

True to his word, Ermie followed us unseen. If I hadn't sensed him in my head, I wouldn't have known if he had stayed in his stable. And I felt his presence move away once we'd gotten in the castle.

At least, I think I did. I was a bit distracted by Max's coughing fit upon walking through the doors.

“Are you all right?” both Coach David and I asked.

It took several minutes for Max to get control, and he was still wheezing a bit when he finally said, “Fine. Fine. Maybe…”
cough!
“…maybe there's just some candle I'm allergic to? Or a room spray?”

I thought of what Ermie had said in the stable, but wasn't sure how to bring it up “delicately,” as the kelpie would have put it. At least, not in front of anyone besides Mum.

And Coach David had her just about cornered the rest of the night talking about natural methods of bug control in stable management, so my conversation with her just wasn't happening.

Mum did manage to offer Max a cup of tea to help and had Miss Eliza go around and remove all the candles and check the ingredients on the sprays and stuff. We couldn't find anything and, eventually, Max just wanted to go to bed. I waved “goodnight” to him as he went up the other staircase by the kitchen, to the cots that we separated into boys' and girls' quarters in the northeast side of the castle. There used to be barracks there or something, so it hadn't been a hard conversion to what Mom had wanted for the camp.

When I got to the room I shared with Lily, it was already dark, so I tried to stay quiet.

My sister wasn't asleep. I wasn't even five steps away from the door before I heard her roll over and click on her bed lamp.

I hissed, blinking my eyes. “More warning next time?”

“Phht!” She huffed. “Sooo! I want details!”

“About what? I told you everything in Mum's office. And no one showed up tonight, which you ought to know because Mum and I aren't in the middle of trying to figure out some treaty—”