Colin looked down at his clothes. “We’ve been bringing pigs into the world. You should try it sometime; it’s really quite exciting.”
The other two men jumped down from their horses, looked at each other, then burst into laughter. “We didn’t believe Jamison when he told us you’d been living on a farm, but that’s all the proof I need,” one of the men finally said when his laughter had died down.
“And this must be the woman responsible,” the other said, stepping up to Darby. “I’m Keaton. I’m supposed to be Colin’s best friend. That’s Reese, his cousin, who has another home but just keeps hanging around here.”
“You try living with my parents,” Reese said, then bowed to Darby. “It’s a pleasure to meet the woman who finally managed to tame Colin. What’s your secret?”
Darby was a bit taken aback, but she managed a smile. “Uhhh, it’s nice to meet you,” she said. “Would you like to come inside for some lunch?”
“That sounds wonderful,” Keaton said, then turned to Reese. “Maybe it’s her cooking.”
Reese was studying Darby. “I think it’s more than that,” he said.
“Okay, you two, that’s enough,” Colin said. “Come inside and make yourselves at home while Darby and I get cleaned up.”
“Lead the way,” Jamison said, his voice tight, his expression unreadable.
When he came out of his bedroom showered and in clean clothes, Darby was still in her bedroom, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Heading for the kitchen, he found the men camped out, sandwiches in front of them, in an animated discussion. He looked at them, then shook his head and joined them at the table.
“Nice to see you making yourselves at home,” he said, grabbing a plate and making a sandwich. “Did you bring it?”
Keaton patted his pocket. “Right here, but I think you’ve lost your mind.”
“Keaton’s right, Colin; have you thought this through? You could lose the crown, or worse,” Jamison said.
His answer was cut off by the sound of Darby’s door opening, then the sound of her footsteps coming down the hallway. The room fell silent, and they all turned to the door, waiting for Darby to appear. When she walked into the room, Colin beamed, Jamison scowled, and the other two men could only stare. Showered and dressed for a day at the store, her hair hanging loose to her waist, eyes sparkling in the sunlight coming in the window, she looked beautiful.
“Okay, now I see it,” Keaton said, elbowing Colin. “She cleans up pretty nice.”
“You should have seen her last night,” he said, making her blush.
***Darby***
It was strange to see her kitchen full of men, but once the teasing stopped, she discovered that it wasn’t so bad. Jamison was still watching her with an expression that conveyed nothing but distrust, and she didn’t blame him; she would have felt the same way. But Colin ignored him, got her a chair, and made her sit down with them, then put his arm around her shoulders, making it clear that she was part of the discussion.
“What did you find out?” he asked Jamison, who was still eyeing her suspiciously.
“It looks like some of what you said is true,” he said, finally taking his eyes off Darby. “But no one has even whispered about a storm demon or anything like that.”
Colin sighed. “I knew it wouldn’t be that easy,” he said. “You probably didn’t go to the right places.”
Just then, the front door flew open, and Eli came striding inside, looked around the room, and said, “Okay what’s going on here? Who are you and what are you doing to Darby?”
She jumped to her feet. “Eli, calm down,” she said, walking over to him.
“Someone told me that there were three desperate-looking men headed up here, so I came as soon as I could,” he said, his eyes sweeping around the room, but not finding what he expected. “Darby, what’s going on?”
Colin got to his feet. “You are a hard man to track down, Eli,” he said. “Won’t you join us? We need your help.”
Eli looked at Colin, and then at her. She smiled. “Please, Eli, Ballentine is in trouble.”
“And you think he’s going to fix it?” Eli asked, still bristling with anger.
“Just sit down and listen to us, please, Eli,” she hated to beg but sensed that Eli was their only hope. “We need someone who knows this town, all of it.”
As he listened to Colin describing what they’d overheard in the harbor, Eli began to relax, but when he heard about the water demon, the tension returned. “Honestly, I’m not surprised to hear that Samuel is behind this; he’s been trouble for the town for a long time, but I guess he’s decided that fleecing us isn’t enough.”
“You know Samuel?” Darby asked, a bit surprised.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that I know him, but most of us know about him. He’s behind the higher taxes, the extra payments to the guards, and just about everything evil that goes on in town. He spends a lot of time hanging around one of the bars on the other side of town.”
“You’ve seen him there?” Jamison asked.
“All the time, and I’ve heard that there are several other places that he runs around town. Places not even I would dare to go into,” Eli said. “Now that I think about it, there is one guy he always hangs out with, a really ugly-looking man who has a reputation for dealing in black magic.”
There was silence around the table, then Darby said, “That has to be him.”
“But where does that leave us? How do we get our hands on this water demon or whatever it is?” Reese asked.
“Can we even get our hands on it?” Keaton asked.
“You can’t hold the demon,” she said, swallowing when all eyes turned to her. “But it can be held in something made of glass, a bottle or a jar maybe. It’s released by taking the top off and reciting a spell, and once it begins, it won’t stop until it’s done all the damage it can.”
“So, Samuel or someone else had to release it and say a spell?” Jamison asked. “How do you know that?”
Darby got up from the table, went to the pantry, and reached up on the highest shelf. When she came back, she had a book in her hands. Wrapped in ancient fabric, it gave off the slight scent of age and decay. She set it on the table, and the men all leaned back a little.
“This book belonged to my great-grandmother; she was a witch,” she said, then unwrapped the book and stood back. “It’s been passed down from generation to generation. My grandmother made me study it every day. She wanted to make sure that when the time came, I’d know what to do with the magic inside me.”
“You are a witch,” Jamison said, getting up from the table and pointing his finger at Darby. “I knew it. You’ve put a spell on him, turned him into a farmer.”
Colin laughed, but Darby was frightened by Jamison and started to back away. “She hasn’t put me under any spell but the spell of love. Darby’s made me a better man because of the Fae in her, not the magic, but she is going to use that magic to save Ballentine, and we’re going to help her.”