Happy October, friends! I’m so happy and excited for spooky season. My kids and I have been watching Over the Garden Wall and the house is half-way decorated (I own three bins of Halloween decor…) What have you been watching and reading this season so far? Share your book and watch recs in the comments!
In other news, I’m partnering up with the lovely Xpresso Book Tours to reveal the gorgeous cover for Heartless Beauty (Wylder Tales 4). As always, I’ll be doing a fun giveaway you won’t wanna miss. Any of my book blogger and bookstagrammer/booktok friends, you can sign up to be a part of the tour over at this link:
Meanwhile, I’ve been deep diving into my draft of Annwyn Park and falling back in love with the Borderlands again. Want to read a sneak peek? Keep reading to find out what Jo has been up to since Blackbriar Cove…
*spoilers ahoy*
WENDERDOWNE, SILVER HOLLOW
Jo hadn’t planned on remaining near the stables after Amie’s flight or accepting Fredrick’s offer for a cuppa. She felt ill at ease with the too familiar smells of horses and feed, of the unique blend of magick and fire that emanated from this corner of Wenderdowne.
She had a letter to her twin to finish, and more research to do besides. And there were other duties she had taken up in the months since their return. Elisedd Underhill was expecting her help with arranging the castle menu over the coming weeks. A trip to the nearest village needed careful planning with Dameri.
Worst of all, the Unseelie who had followed her, a grandchild of Boruma, to Silver Hollow, wanted a personal audience. The last duty she could foist on Amie, at least. Jo was far from ready to face her distant kin when she refused to touch the nixy lying dormant beneath her skin. Everyone knew Unseelie only respected those who possessed great knowledge or power.
“Jo?” Fredrick’s gruff voice called from far away.
“Oh!” Jo blinked and the cooling cup in her numb hands nearly tipped over, tea sloshing onto her fingers.
A nearly scalding hand covered hers. “Easy, lass, I’ve got you,” Fredrick said as his other hand briefly pressed against her lower back, then retreated once she stopped shivering.
“Sorry, I don’t know where my head was at.” An unsteady laugh that sounded ridiculous to her ears followed, too hollow to be believed. “Damn,” she cursed under her breath, and wiped her wet fingers on the edges of her sleeves, adding her collection of ink stains.
They had taken tea on the go, at her request. The ghost of his long-dead wife lurked in his home beneath the earth, in the simple feminine touches that remained. Far safer to return to the open air of the stables where she could breathe. Yet somehow, Jo hadn’t made it past the holding pen of the waterhorse.
Fredrick’s too-warm hand lingered a steady weight over hers until her fingers twitched. Though he released her, he remained close, and his closed-lipped smile was kind. “I ken your meaning. I tend to lose time as well in the stables. Hard not to with such lovely beasties around.”
Jo found her lips turning up at the corners in return as she lifted the cold tea for another sip. Still sweet as honey. James had planned to help her start her own bee hives… before Amie was attacked and ran away to Silver Hollow.
What would our lives have looked like if Henry hadn’t interfered? Would you still be here, James?
Fredrick’s hair glowed like autumn leaves in the dying sunlight, the same shade as his furrowed brows. His blue eyes burned with compassion, with knowing.
“I lost my wife to a war not of our making,” he’d once told her.
Jo grimaced and turned to face the kelpie racing about the paddock. “Do you think…I might come back tomorrow? To visit her?”
Fredrick faced the half wild beast and his shoulder brushed hers in unspoken solidarity. “Of course, lass.”
Jo’s smile returned and she took in the sleek lines of the mare. The distant rush of waves teased her ears with the salty sweet smell of the sea.
You need a name.
“Would you like to help me bring her back to the stable? Eclipse is nigh and I’d prefer all our charges safely tucked away.” Fredrick’s lilting brogue washed over her, warm as kindling coals.
Jo lifted her gaze to the sky, the shadow was already bleeding into the dying sun. She grimaced and wished again she’d paid better attention. Amie shouldn’t have left Wenderdowne vulnerable on a night like this.
“Joelyn?” Fredrick pulled her back from traitorous thoughts.
She finished her tea quickly and slipped the cup in her skirt pocket. “Right, so tell me how we lead a waterhorse?”
Fredrick chuckled, the flash of white teeth transforming his grim face to something surprisingly handsome. “No sudden movements, and keep your hands away from her teeth,” he replied with a solemn mien. But his blue eyes danced with humor as he opened the training pen and took hold of an enchanted silver rope.
“That’s reassuring,” she deadpanned, but she savored the unexpected thrill as they approached the mare.
Jo had learned horses on her own, during the long years they were forced to live as humans. She loved horses but hadn’t allowed herself to study their magical kin since coming to Silver Hollow. All beasts that dwelled in the Borderlands long enough drew upon the magic teeming in the land.
Jo mirrored Fredrick’s easy approach, uncaring of the mud quickly coating her skirts and shoes.
“Whisht, easy lassie. I bear you no ill,” Fredrick spoke in a low, rumbling croon to the kelpie. The mare tossed her black mane and released a mournful keen of distant waves crashing upon the shore.
Jo closed her eyes as her vision blurred, then opened them as the kelpie reared and brought her fore hooves down with a thud.
Fredrick cursed and stumbled back, arm outstretched as though to ward Jo. “No sudden moves, lass,” he warned.
But the mare tossed her head and once again dark eyes of deepest indigo met Joelyn’s, and she heard the song of the sea. “It’s all right,” Jo said, uncertain if she was reassuring Fredrick or the mare. Or herself. “It’s going to be all right,” she said softly, as the mare shifted and then with a low rumble like distant thunder, stepped calmly forward.
Fredrick drew in a sharp breath beside her but barely moved as the waterhorse pressed her nose to Jo’s neck.
Jo’s eyes fluttered shut as the mare breathed her in, and found her lungs filling in turn with the scent of salt and brine. Slowly, carefully, Jo slipped her arms around the kelpie’s neck, and a small piece of the broken thing inside her snapped back into place.
Fredrick murmured low nearby, his hand brushing her arm as he met her gaze from the other side of the horse. “A lead will only upset her. Think you can work your magic and convince her to go to the cave?”
Jo bit back the overwhelming feeling bubbling up in her throat. She wasn’t sure if she would laugh or cry, but the feeling eased as she nodded and whispered in her first tongue, urging the kelpie to follow.
Fredrick opened the gates and kept a careful distance, a hint of a smile and the same kindness in his gaze as he offered her a warm nod.
Jo kept an arm around the mare as she led them along the path from the paddock, through the front stables, then through the larger door leading to the more secured holding for more dangerous beasts.
Fredrick spoke low as they walked, the same soothing tone he had used with the waterhorse. “My clan settled here long ago, but we soon found the caves reach far beyond Wenderdowne. Some dens we disturbed, then chose to keep watch and guard the realms above from the fell beasts that sleep below.”
Jo cocked her head and teased, “Like a balrog?”
“If by balrog you mean a creature of shadow and malice, then aye,” Fredrick replied, perfectly serious.
Jo shook her head with a smile as they approached a pen which held a small underground stream at the back. A trough filled with what looked like seaweed awaited the kelpie. Presented with her favorite food, the mare took little convincing.
Fredrick closed the pen and they leaned against it side by side, shoulders barely brushing. “I do nay pretend to know your pain, Joelyn. Only you can carry your burdens.”
His words sank deep into her stomach, rattling about the yawning pit she struggled to fill. A month ago she would have been angry, she had been angry. A part of her would always be furious at James for giving up the life she gave him.
“But I hope you know you are always welcome here, though we do be dragons,” Fredrick offered with a warm smile.
Jo found herself miraculously smiling back, and something about his blue gaze brought the tip of confessions to her tongue.
I’m so tired of being afraid…
to be continued…
Escape to Silver Hollow…
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