Yield (27 page)

It seems odd to call someone my grandmother with such ease.  If doesn’t roll off my words too well yet.  She sat me down and proceeded to give me none other than a sex talk.  I was appalled and highly embarrassed.  Turns out, she was well aware of my past and just wanted to make sure I was doing right by Emma.  I couldn’t help but be thankful she cared. 

She also mentioned that she talked to Emma about the Goblin
’s Kiss.  I wasn’t too happy about her talking to Emma about any of this, but once again, I was glad someone cared enough to ask.  As far as the magic in that kiss, it was powerful and sealed Emma to me in an unnatural way that only an heir to the goblin king could.  It was one of the many traditions of our people that couldn’t be changed.  Magic could be removed from a witch, but goblin magic was innate.  Besides, a kiss couldn’t go in reverse.  She knew more than my own people, but assured me it was all facts she knew from various coven members who’d been connected to the goblin world before.

Mrs. Clark made it sound like she was troubled by it.  Like she was contemplating how to reverse it.  When I asked her why she was so concerned that it had already taken place, she shrugged and said it would have to wait.  We would see.

I remembered her mentioning it the night I drove back to her house and in front of everyone at the fake wedding display.  Now I was on edge with the fear of why she wanted to know so badly. 

Then she asked me if I could convince the elders to release the law books in either or both realms.  I laughed to myself and told her, “I probably can
’t, but Emma can.  She could convince a bull to give up his horns.”

To end our conversation, she brought up
the looming decision to take my post over yet a second group of people.

The coven leader thing was an altogether different bird to learn.  I told Emma all about what I did know, and what I didn
’t would have to come later.  I told my grandmother I couldn’t just hop up and start.  She patted my hand like a grandma would and made some kind of cliché like “I understand.  Don’t want too many eggs in one basket”.  I laughed, but smiled at her believing in me enough that I could become this leader.  I actually halfway considered it only because Emma seemed supportive of it.  Mrs. Clark jumped in with her urging me on.

Emma was just as ready to not talk about the parental version of the birds and the bees from our two grandmothers as I was.  So we skipped right over it and moved to the safer subjects.  Convincing the elders to let us borrow the law books.

Emma snorted at me.  I’d not heard her do such a thing, but coming from her it was kind of cute. 

“That was classy.  Great come back.”

When her eyes went wide with mortification, I kissed her forehead and reminded her even mud and grimy half-torn t-shirts look sexy on her. 

She beamed.

He grinned well...smugly.  He liked to tease me in any way possible.  I guess I’d know every single day he still likes being around me despite my adherence to trouble.

“So these law books, are they just a bunch of rules or are they like a goblin codex or something?”

“What is a co-dex?”

He might have been in the world, but he wasn
’t completely worldly. Who hadn’t read enough in school to not have heard of a magically written code of everything called a codex?  A goblin king is who.

“
Never mind,” I laughed.

I left him in the courtyard where he found me reading and went straight to Katelyn. She and I formulated a plan.  I changed into the needed spy wear.  Ames was opposed, but he never said he had to like how I retrieved these law books.  He told me what I was looking for and who would be guarding them.  Apparently, it had always been this way.

Half an hour later, we were standing before twin gray headed elders who seemed to sense we were up to something.  Katelyn asked the first one, whom I’ve learned is Elder Page, if he could help her with one of the books from her classes.  When he asked why he could ever be of assistance, I wanted to shout out a big, fat “NEVER”, but instead I heard her tell him something about how he was the oldest and wisest of the realm and would know the answers better than anyone.  Arrogance won him out.

That left the other one. In swooped Cahn right on time.

“Elder Marron needs your assistance in the main room.”

Ames gave me a wink and a once over
and followed the man out saying he would grab Elder Rone to take over.

Three minutes later, I was back in the courtyard reading my book.  Mission accomplished.  I was just thinking I should be a spy with little gadgets to help me when Ames snuck up beside me.  Stinking lack of magic and inability to read his lusty emotional wheel of love was such a downer.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“
See.  See.  Not fair.”  I folded my arms.

“What happened?” his eyes darkened. 

“Nothing.  It went perfect.  I can’t freaking read you right now, but you can read me.”

“And that bothers you?”

No, duh.  “Just because I can’t read you.”

He leaned in and kissed my forehead.  This was the second time he missed my lips.

“You aren’t going to kiss me today I see.”

Ames chuckled. 
“Just enjoying the idea of what is to come.  I want everything to be perfect.”

Now, I wasn
’t a cussing kind of girl, but this was one of those moments I wish I could shove him in the chest like the movies and say something daring and mouth-openingly witty.  Then walk off and wait for him to follow me yelling my name with longing.  I pictured all this.  I saw it all in my mind’s eye.  But I told him how sweet he was and that his requests were hidden under his bed.

“How did you get them by the guards at my door?”

If he wanted to play hardball, I would play too.  “I have my ways.” I batted my eyes.

If anger was bottled, I
’d have a lot to sell being in love with the jealous bear beside me.

“Emma,” he said to clarify what he didn
’t have to say otherwise.

I gave in. 
“I just told them I needed something from your room.  They are used to me, Ames.”

He looked me over, eyeing my long flowy skirt.  “They would have recognized two bright green books the size of Texas.”

He’d seen these books.  Well, well.  I pointed to my skirt and raised it just above my ankles.  “Skirts have great secret compartments.”  Oh, how his eyes swirled.  “My creative side.”

Little Miss Daring pokes her head out again.  Ames choked on something invisible and slid over on the bench.  I was afraid I messed up again
like my little act from before.  He shook his head side to side and said huskily, “I thought you were a jeans girl.”

Not what I thought was coming.  “Maybe I
’m a skirts girl now.”

“Where did it come from?”

“Katelyn.” 

He rubbed his chin.  “I will take you shopping.”

Now I was the confused one.  “Why?”

He
patted my knee and smoothed the skirt over my leg hiding my feet under them.  “Maybe I’m a skirts man now.  I like knowing what’s under there is just mine.”

Gasping for air, he left me like that.  And he said I was daring.
 

This girl was going to kill me.  Since her recent taking to talking dirty to me, I was a little miffed and didn’t like it.  But when she tried it out again to gain a reaction out of me, I realized something.  She is innocent and only trying to please me.  She wasn’t one of those girls who threw themselves at boys for years and made her look like a tramp.  She was really just as attracted to me as I was to her.  She didn’t hate me for my past.  She loved me for who I am to her.

  So I bounced it back.  And it left her in a puddle of mush.  I
’d never made a girl react like that.  I liked it...a lot.

The law books were right where Emma said.  I called my grandmother and arranged for her to come visit.  We decided it would be better so that we could get them back in the room by tomorrow night.  I was still thinking on how to get them back but I knew without a doubt it involved a skirt.

Emma, Mrs. Clark, and I spread out the books before us.  My grandmother looked disinclined to have Emma there with us, but I insisted.  The books were over a foot long in length.  I couldn’t help but wonder how she held them under that skirt.  I vowed to find out.

As if reading my mind, Emma winked at me adjusting the same skirt from the morning.  Hmm!

Mrs. Clark cleared her throat.

Damn!

She raised her one vulture eye that always seemed very mom-like.

“Stay out then.”

“Doesn’t always work that way.”

Emma didn
’t know what we meant, but her scarlet color told she might be close to par.

The first book opened with a crack in the way old paper does when it hasn
’t been opened in a while.  Caution made me wonder if the elders had even read them before or after my father’s death.

Emma watched over my shoulder while Mrs. Clark started on the other.  Pages and pages of really old laws I
’ve heard about and never seen for myself were lined up.  I felt like maybe I’d let the people down a little by not stepping in earlier.  I had to wait for a girl to change me.  No, I couldn’t think that way.  It’s not fair to Emma.  It’s my fault I showed up in the last inning.

By the fifth page or so, I was seeing just a clash of words.  I lifted my chin to see her face and she was reading like it was the best novel she
’d ever read. 

I went back to it. 

Tenth page.  Twenty. 

And then I saw it.  Midpage near the end of the book, I caught the word kiss.  Unsure of what it might say, I shifted back and whispered to Emma, “Do you need a break?”

“No,” she said all too peppy.

Great.  I searched for some distraction and found that the delicious skirt was covering where she sat on her feet. “Are your legs hurting?  You could move to the sofa.”

“I’m fine.”

Super.  I was out of ideas.

“You young ones can go on so easily.” My grandmother stretched her arms up.  “These old bones can’t.  Would you be a dear and get me some tea.”

Emma
’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Earl Grey sounds divine. But if you two were just trying to get rid of me for a minute, you could have just said so.  I don’t mind grandson/grandma private talks.  Lord knows I got a good one earlier.”  She stood and bent her legs showing she really was stiff from sitting so long.  Then her finger shot down into my face making me square my shoulders back and land on my hands.  “For which he better have the entire sex talk if I got one.  Embarrassingly descriptive conversations with your grandmother about acts she shouldn’t even remember knowing how to do are not fair for just the x chromosomes.”

Man, she was feisty. 

“I beg your pardon on the insult.  Age doesn’t take away your love or desire for someone.  One day you will see that.  Now give me the moment I need with my grandson.”

Mrs. Clark
’s eyes came to mine, dread hovering in all in their silence.  She wasn’t saying yet, but she knew something I didn’t.  I had a feeling she was just here to confirm it.

I didn
’t like the feeling I got from Ames and his grandmother sharing secrets.  It wasn’t that I felt betrayed or anything like that, but that they were hiding something ominous from me for my own benefit.  I wasn’t one to pry into things when it was someone I trust, but this bothered me.  Something was wrong.

Upon reentering the room, they both were huddled into a corner of the sofa sitting with the book in Mrs. Clark
’s lap.  Ames was pointing to the page in the book.

At quick glance, the other book was left open on the floor.  The one
Mrs. Clark had before was left unattended.  They both smiled tentatively and started to close the book before them.  Thinking whatever they were hiding must be very important, I made my way to the book on the floor.  Putting my back to them, I said over my shoulder that I would continue on in that book.

I heard the ruffle of pages and knew they were back in
their
book.  Ames smiled once more in my direction before I closed them both off.  I was feeling sick to my stomach.   Not long after, I snuck into the bathroom to text Katelyn about their whispering.  I stayed in there forever.

When Emma was gone, I showed Mrs. Clark the undecipherable message about the Goblin
’s Kiss.  She read it and explained what I couldn’t guess.

“You already know about the kiss.  You know that it creates an awakening between the king and his chosen bride.  When consummated, things change.”

I nodded at her whispers turned to regular speech now.

“But did you know that it forces her to remain in the goblin realm.  That she can
’t leave.  If she’s not of full blood.”  Somehow, she knew this before today.  This was her plan all along.  I knew she wasn’t helping us for our benefit.

I followed her index finger down to the page.  It was all there.  And more.  It also said that if she is full blood, no inconsistences can be found in the match and no wars took place during those reigns.  That history showed that every goblin king who married within lived an exceptionally long and prosperous life with his wife by his side the entire time.   That
’s the theory behind not letting us marry outside the realm.  At least their thinking was well founded even if it wouldn’t change the current time.

Below that
something was added.  It was a different handwriting and newer ink marks like the old might have been written with a quill and the later with a ball point pen.

The second part had a name below it in an almost unreadable scribble, but I recognized the name.  It was my father
’s.

But in more recent decades, the king had taken a human wife and all have died an untimely death.  Therefore, the law needs to stand that if the king takes a human wife and the cycle happens again, the offspring need to marry within to severe the curse these female humans have put on our realms. 

I looked up at my grandmother.  Mother to my human mother.  She knew all this before now.  “You gave Mrs. Ryman the idea of the curse.  My father didn’t intend for me to marry Emma either despite all the curse talk.  He made his own curse.”

I wish I could say this woman beside me, my only real family, looked shocked.  She didn
’t. 

“I think this is a lie.  I think it was put there to confuse the masses.  Between all the lies me and Mrs. Ryman put into our daughters heads, we warped the whole of your existence.  I will make all this right, but first I need to weed through to find a solution to our problem. There isn
’t a curse and Emma isn’t going to die, but I think if I reverse the spell it will only stall out.  I need a magical entity to ignite the reversal.”

“
I don’t get it.”

The lady was patient.  I
’ll give her that. 

“Once you are married, she is bound to the realm.  I had every intention of bounding her here when I took her magic hoping it would make you more apt to take on the role you should away from here.  I won
’t pretend that I have any regard for her other than she stays where she belongs.  I never pretended to be a loving grandmother.  But once she is bound, I now know you will bound yourself here too.  I can’t let that happen.”

I wanted to toss her across the room.  She read me well enough, she stopped her whispers to watch Emma come out of the bathroom and return to her book. I knew she was hiding in there for my benefit which only made me feel worse.  She told us she would be right back and didn
’t say where she was going. 

  “No one can give someone magic.  It
’s within us.  It is still buried deep in Emma.  If I release it, she will have her magic to force the ability to leave only because she is half goblin.  She just needs a reason to...jumpstart it so to speak,” her wrinkled mouth twisted up.  Her face held a smile for a brief second before switching back off.

“My daughter didn
’t see me again after I banished her from me, but her husband did.  Ares came to see me almost a year after they married.  He told me that he was sorry and that he didn’t know she was a witch when he fell in love with her and what that might mean.  He told me about the goblin’s famous mojo kiss and how it linked her to the realm forever without return.  My own research gave me the reason to take Emma’s magic, but now I know I made a mistake.  I can’t risk losing the coven leader for her.”

This was never about me.  She just wanted me to give her godforsaken rest or something.  Talk about evil.  “Why does this matter?”  I didn
’t want to read into the fact that my father grew a backbone and apologized for not asking my mother first before he kissed her.  I’d known this most of my life.  It’s why I wouldn’t have kissed Emma unless she wanted it.  In the end, it wasn’t enough.  I didn't know all this would come with it.

“So you knew beforehand and when Emma
’s grandmother thought she lost her child and you found her, you neglected to mention to her that it might be a good idea to move her to the other side of the earth so I couldn’t find her.”

She smiled sadly.  “I tried.  She wanted her close by even if she couldn
’t know her.  And Joshlin stood in my way.”

Joshlin? 
“How?”

“He threatened to hurt you.  I couldn
’t tell him about the curse or anything else.  I had to hope you would never want her.  I may have stood up at Emma’s realm the other day and appeared like I had any charge over the group there, but I am a coven mother of witches and warlocks, not a goblin king or queen.  Your magic is much stronger than mine will ever be.”

Is not.  “But you are a telepath and can...what else
can
you do?” I wasn’t sure now that I thought about it.
              “That’s just it.  I don’t.  I have the power of knowledge.  Being a coven leader allows you access to much history and creations of our kind.  I can make myself interfere into human affairs and alter their decisions but not by any amount of great magic.  By reading their mind, I can anticipate what or where they might go next.  Each one of us has our own defense mechanism.  But you grandson, have the ability to alter a mind with illusion.  With that you can move actual mountains, endure great strength, win any fight with a human or your own kind, and now read emotions.  I didn't know you developed that one.”

“Then how did my father die?”

“Greed to be precise.  Otherwise, the two kings killed each other.  It was an unfortunate...accident.  When Emma’s father thought he’d lost the two women he loved, he left a kingdom in chaos.  He killed the other king and left them for the same fate.  With all dead, the other realms in the country just made sure the elders appointed stand-in’s until you were of age.  No one thought you’d run from your obligations.”

Huff!  I knew all this, but strangely, I wanted to know if she did. “I should have a say.”

“And you do.  But now, because of that kiss, Emma does not.”

My heart froze up.  “What do you mean?”

“Look here,” she said.  She pointed to the paragraph written by my father.  “Your father placed this here for a reason.  It was a warning.  While Emma’s mother was busy trying to save her, your father was too.  I’m guessing that is why they all agreed so readily on the treaty.”

Wait a minute.  “You knew all this at the wedding.  It
’s why you said you could help her.”

“No, and yes. I needed to read the law book for myself before I could judge what to do.  The arranged marriage, I think we
’d established as over with. I’m just not sure it is a risk I’m willing for you to take to bring back her magic.  You are both at risk now that you let that kiss happen.”

  “You mean for Emma to take. She
’s the one who has given up her magic to be with me.  Now you say she’s in danger to bring it back.  Forget it then.  WE both stay here.”  I slammed my fist on the sofa.  “You can take my magic away before I let you hurt her anymore.”

Just then, the door opened and Emma was face planted into the tray of tea mugs.  I quickly rei
gned in my anger and pretended to point to the page.  Then I realized I had the very page open for her to see so I began to close it.  Staring at her like we were plotting to steal the American Declaration of Independence, I forced a smile at her.  She took it in stride and sat the tea down on the table by the door.  Emma nervously moved to the book in the middle of the room and sat.  She didn’t even mention the tea.  And we never asked.