Chapter Four

The light in the room was slowly growing stronger, but the golden glow around Nicole hadn’t changed in intensity. Kiki blinked and sat back in his chair; the aches from sitting, unmoving, for hours now landed on his back and shoulders with pounding intensity. He glanced out the window and saw the sun just starting to rise over the horizon. Kiki knew it meant it was time to start his day; he had to go take care of the children, to deal with his responsibilities, and yet, all he wanted was to stay just like this.

Kiki thought he had a grasp of some parts of the spell, but they were all muddled together. Gabriel’s spell of sleep mixed with Nicole’s spell of protection. Kiki had to figure out where one spell ended and the other began, which would allow him to isolate only the parts Nicole had inadvertently added to the spell. Somewhere in there was the key to waking Nicole.

But the children needed chasing out of bed and breakfast had to be served.

Kiki reached out and gently rearranged Nicole’s hair so it fell to the side of his face rather than over his forehead. He really was beautiful, even asleep. Still, Nicole had been pulling away lately. Kiki knew it was only a matter of time before Nicole moved to his own suite of rooms, rather than sharing Kiki’s, or Nicole left the manor entirely. At least Nicole would be alive and awake to make that choice, Kiki told himself as he got his feet underneath his body and levered himself up.

If he had been hobbling at two in the morning, it was nothing to now. His joints burned, the scars pulled, and it seemed even his bones ached. Every step was a challenge, but Kiki ignored the pain and forced his body to move. He found Gabriel and Sean curled together on one of the long couches in the sitting area, no doubt where they had gone when they’d realized they couldn’t help Kiki unravel the spell. He left them to sleep, instead, going into his own room to find clothes for the day.

Twenty minutes later, he made it down to the kitchen. The magic was slow in coming this morning, but the massive pot he needed, as well as the bag of oats and the bag of sugar, did eventually come to him. Kiki measured out the correct amount into the pot, added water, and set it to slowly come to a boil. Kiki popped the bread he had left to rise overnight into the oven before sending his still-sluggish magic toward the dining room where the table began to set itself.

“You know exactly how to break the spell on yourself, don’t you?” Sean said softly from the kitchen doorway. “You figured it out almost immediately after you were cursed.”

Kiki gave Sean a crooked smile full of self-deprecation. “I didn’t need to look. Your Zel told me when he cursed me. Someone had to be able to look past all this”—he waved a hand down his front—“and fall in love with me. I double-checked, of course, but Zel is considered a genius wizard for a reason. He must have known the spell would never break.”

“But your Nicole?” Sean asked leadingly.

Kiki let out a rude snort and pushed past Sean to head to the dormitory part of the manor. “He doesn’t need to know how I feel about him. One day he’ll find someone better than me and move on with his life. He’s still here because I raised him when everyone else had thrown him away, and I’m still willing to provide for him now.”

Sean followed Kiki, but he was shaking his head as if he disagreed. He would learn better soon enough, Kiki knew, so he ignored Sean and marched into the boy’s dormitory.

“Time to get up,” he called. Kiki fought with the heavy curtains for a moment, before he was able to draw them back and let morning sunlight fall onto the boys. He heard some groans, some of the boys rolled over so they weren’t facing the sun, and only a few slowly began to sit up. Kiki went to each bed and started yanking blankets back. “Up!”

Robbie was thankfully one of the boys willing to wake easily. He wandered in the direction of the washroom and came out a few minutes later dressed and ready for the day. He joined Kiki in prodding the rest of the boys up and out of bed. Only once Kiki was certain all the boys were going did he head for the door.

“Make sure your beds are made and your bedclothes are put in the laundry,” Kiki called after them.

He hurried down the hall to the other dorm, where he went through the same routine as before. The girls were just as irritable as the boys for being woken, but there wasn’t an older girl to take charge of them so Kiki stood over them as they slowly emerged from the washroom in fresh clothes. He made sure every bed was made and everything cleaned, before urging them out into the hallway and down toward the kitchen. They met the boys on the way, and Kiki nodded his thanks to Robbie. It wasn’t fair to keep Robbie here much longer, but for today, Kiki was glad for the help.

The kids rushed into the kitchen, grabbing their supplies, before hurrying outside to complete their morning chores. The animals needed to be fed, including the donkey and cow in the stables, which would also need to be mucked out. The cow needed to be milked and the chickens fed and eggs collected. Somewhere in the manor their mouser was skulking, and the kids refilled her water and food bowls without being reminded. Kiki just had to watch and to make sure they all washed their hands when they finished and went to the dining room for breakfast.

Kiki’s timing was perfect. The oats were cooked and the bread soft and crusty. Sean and Robbie helped Kiki fill bowls and bring them out to the kids, and then Kiki filled his own bowl and actually joined them. He took a seat in Nicole’s usual spot and saw Sean and Gabriel had taken seats at the other end of the table.

Once everyone had a chance to eat for a few minutes, Kiki rapped softly on the table with the heel of his hand.

“Nicole’s sick this morning,” he said when he had everyone’s attention. “He doesn’t want to get any of you sick, too, so he’s staying in bed.” If only it were that simple, but it was an explanation the kids would understand. “I’ve called in some friends to help out,” Kiki continued with a wave toward his guests. “Gabriel will take over your morning lessons. Sean’s a knight. If… If,” he repeated pointedly, “you do well in your lessons this morning and all your chores are completed, Sean will teach you some knight lessons this afternoon.”

That brought on an excited clamor. “Can we play with swords?” Margo asked eagerly.

Sean shot Kiki a sharp look, as if asking what hell Kiki had just volunteered him for, but he smiled at Margo.

“Not for a first lesson,” he told the room. “We’ll start smaller today, but only if you pay attention to your morning lessons.”

That got the kids moving. Dishes were brought to the kitchen and washed. Even Kiki, Sean, and Gabriel’s dishes were grabbed. There was half the usual bickering, and all the kids were sitting in their seats in the classroom in record time.

Kiki dug Nicole’s notes out from the teacher’s desk at the front of the room and handed the day’s lesson over. “The kids know where they left off. Yell if you need me.” Kiki shot the room one last warning glare before heading back to the kitchen. With the kids suitably distracted, Kiki called on more magic. He needed double bread for lunch and a good-sized loaf for dinner. Magic wasn’t the best way to knead dough, but it was the only way Kiki could manage it. He was planning to use the rest of the chicken from the pot pies for chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and there was more than enough leftover stew for dinner tonight. He just needed to give the bread enough time to rise.

Only once the bread was set aside did Kiki do what he had been craving for what felt like forever. He hurried back to Nicole’s side and the unravelling of the spell keeping him captive. Kiki set an alarm for forty-five minutes before lunch, sat down at Nicole’s side, and got to work.