Read Online The Brethren Of Tavish [Vampire Coven Book 1] by C.L. Scholey - Free Book Online Page B

Tavish said with disgust. “Ryker,
have you posted the visuals?”
    “I did,” he replied. “Then took them down and
posted them again.”
    “Why?” Tavish asked.
    Ryker looked a bit sheepish. “I had them at my
height. I had to repost them at the child’s height. She had been with me when
she wandered away and her mother was busy. Every so often the visuals will need
to be checked as she grows taller.”
    “I found something we can use,” Tavish said.
“Remind me at dinner. I found a string of bells we can tie around her wrists.”
    Mercy lifted her eyebrows in shock. They would
bell the child? “Surely someone so young won’t run?” she asked.
    “She doesn’t run, she wanders,” Tavish
explained.
    “All children wander,” Mercy countered.
    “Yes, but not all children are deaf. This one
was used to being left to her own devices—‘out of
sight, out of mind’ can be learned early. This little one of Ryker’s and her
mother have been with us a month and still she has yet to learn her boundaries;
she’s only three. We need to know where she is at all times. Once, she wandered
beyond the perimeters and was lucky Lucile found her.”
    “Lucile?”
    “You’ll meet her soon enough.”
    Mercy understood now why the child’s mother
held back looking afraid. A child that young must have been born illegally to
the human race. Not given a name or any kind of acknowledgement. Mercy was
surprised she had been allowed to live. But her mother looked young; perhaps
her father had been as well. It wasn’t the child’s fault she had been
conceived. Perhaps the mother was shunned, the child ostracized. What a lonely
life. To exist in your ice cave but be ignored or treated like a villain just
for being born. Life was cold enough. Then hunted by vampires and brought here
wondering if these men would be even more cruel.
    Ryker held the child comfortably. He tickled
her under her chin, but the child didn’t laugh. Instead, she ducked her face
and cuddled closer to him. Ryker ran a hand down her hair and kissed the top of
her head. Perrin’s fingers slid over his chest in a self-sooth gesture. Mercy
could understand the child’s need for contact.
    Mercy had been denied close contact for as long
as she could remember. But at least she had been loved and wanted by her family.
What they didn’t show they said. Perhaps it was a blessing the child had never
heard any scornful words aimed in her or her mother’s direction. Yet she would
be twice damned. No words and no action. Mercy’s heart ached for her. Until
Ryker, obviously a persistent man, stroked the hair
from Perrin’s forehead and again kissed the child. His fingers tickled her tiny
ribs. A small fleeting smile curled the young one’s lips.
    Tavish took Mercy by the arm and led her away
in a new direction. Mercy wasn’t used to the warmth of the sun. She lifted her
face to bathe in its heat. It was heavenly. This new world was heavenly. To
wander almost nude without fear of retribution was so un-confining. To actually feel the ground under her feet. Mercy stooped
and grabbed a handful of the earth.
    “What is this?” she asked.
    “Earth, dirt.”
    She squeezed it between her fingers. It
crumbled and filled her nostrils with a delicious foreign scent that she could
have eaten. A cluster full of beautiful red buds caught her attention. Tavish
picked one and rid the green stem of two sharp looking points then handed it to
her. Mercy brought it to her nose and inhaled. She had never smelled anything
so wonderful. Tavish took it and tucked it behind her ear.
    “This is a flower, a rose, and if you like you
may pick some every day and bring them to my room.”
    “Am I staying with you?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Can I have your baby? Or do you not want
children that will be human? Or would they be born like you? A
hybrid child?”
    “I’m not a hybrid, no matter what your father
said. I’m a vampire, you’re human. I can’t give you a baby. It’s