Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,32

need a lot when traveling so far. But the jewelry I was able to bring up is something else.”

“Jude and Duncan are going to divide up the things they brought up between the six of us first. She said that way we can use it for some project we can fund with it. She had four children by Tag. They sold them to others to have sex with.” He said he knew and was sorry. “Do you know what is going to happen to the other things that are brought up? I mean, from what I remember, there were bodies on the ship as well. I doubt they’d be there anymore. Not after all this time.”

“There were a few bones lying around. I found a few, but nothing much more than that. There were chain leggings in the bottommost part of the ship. Mercy said that was where the woman was.” Piper said she remembered that now. “Dante made sure that her family, what was left of them, was well compensated for their loss before she died. I never realized she could see into the future. The king, he killed the woman’s entire family to have her simply because she had sons and no daughters.”

“Dante figured he was going to come here, demand that she marry him, then kill her on their wedding night. The other woman, the one on the ship, was going to be his wife when Dante was dead. No one, it seemed, cared a bit for him dying. There was never a missive sent here to find out where he was.” Grant told her there had been an inquiry about his death, but nothing more than that. “They would have seen the castle and figured that a storm had knocked the boat off voyage and it was lost at sea. I have to tell Abe what Mercy and I have done.”

“He knows.” She looked at Grant. “Jude told him what the two of you had seen. Not a lot of details, only that you saw that he’d had siblings, and they were killed as a result of their parents’ actions. I think he might have an idea of what happened, but he didn’t say anything. Jude told us he was sleeping when she left him. Abe hugged her after she told him. He has not been sleeping well since he found out how close they were. I love you, Piper.”

“I’ve fallen in love with you as well. I wasn’t sure at first, I will tell you that. You were there for me a great deal, holding my hand or even just being near to me when I needed it. It occurred to me while sitting out here that you’ve never asked me for anything. Not that you would—everything I have is yours anyway. But right now, you could ask me for the world, and I’d make sure you got it.” She looked away before continuing. “I’ve decided I’m going to find a way to make sure sexually abused children have someplace to go. I don’t have a great many details right now, but I’ll work them out with you. If you’ll help me.”

“Yes. I would very much like to help you with that.” She nodded. “There are ways that we can keep kids safe, too, I think. As we’re both fae, we can have the earth tell us when a child is being hurt badly. I’m sure it happens a great deal more than we’d be able to take care of all the time, but with our magic, we can scoop them up and bring them someplace safe.”

“I love that idea. I know there are times when a child thinks they’re being abused when they’re only being taught right from wrong. That’s not abuse, but parenting. Somewhere along the line of having children, I believe we’ve forgotten that part of being an adult.” He told her he agreed with her one hundred percent. “Did you know that I can’t see into Jude’s mind? I never could read any of them, but it’s different now. I used to even be able to see things in Jude’s mind that weren’t blocked. Like something that was making her upset or happy. I can’t see a thing in her head, nor Duncan’s. It’s like a thick wall has been put up, and I can’t breach it.”

“What is it you were looking for?” She told him. “Ah. Yes, I can understand how you’d want to know how they felt about you