Violet patted his tanned hand before turning back to Giles. “I sense your heart, and it is good. I know that my daughter is in good hands, but I will give you both words of caution.”
“But will they succeed, Mother?” one of the men piped up—the one with the skunk stripe in his hair. His voice was still young, but he was well on the cusp of manhood.
Giles realized he was older than all of them with the exception of Ewan and Violet, who were ancients even by his standards. Shifters matured quickly, freezing into their prime form on their eighteenth birthday, so it was never easy to gage a shifter’s true age just by looking at them.
Which made him wonder just how old Lilith actually was. The last thing he wanted was to be saddled with the body of a woman who had the brain of an immature whelp.
Lilith rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at her brother. “Will I succeed? Uriah, you’re all kinds of a fool if you’d even doubt it.”
Ewan glared at them both. “A little humility, Lilith. And Uriah, never interrupt your mother.”
“It’s all right.” Violet patted Ewan’s arm. “The boy meant nothing by it. Uriah, I cannot tell them the outcome, for there are several. Some end in success, others do not. It’s simply dependent on the choices they make. But,” she said, turning to Giles, her blue eyes piercing, “I will give you a bit of advice that shouldn’t alter the outcome by much. Trust—that is the key to success.”
He cocked his head. Attempting to decipher the impossible.
“And Lilith, it’s okay to be weak. Being willing to expose a flaw to someone you trust isn’t weakness, but strength. Remember that, dear.”
Ewan and the brothers all lowered their heads, almost as if in a show of respect. Old as he was, Giles must confess that he knew and understood very little of the world outside of his castle.
It’d never bothered him before now.
“Yes, Mother,” Lilith mumbled beneath her breath, plucking at her fruit with a distracted frown on her rosebud lips.
The rest of the meal was eaten mostly in silence with one of the brothers occasionally offering an anecdote. Once their repast was over, Ewan pulled Giles aside and threatened to cut his balls off if anything untoward happened to his daughter. Each of the brothers did the same at different points during the night.
He nodded gravely each time one of them mentioned stuffing his jewels down his throat, understanding that it came from a place of concern. They needn’t bother, though; for him this was a job and nothing more.
Violet gestured to a curtained-off room. “That is the guest bed. You may have it for the night.”
“I thank you, Heartsong, though I think I shall sleep above ground.”
“I figured you’d say that.” Her smile was kind. The rest of the clan had turned in for the night and it was now just the two of them. “There will be many dangers and pitfalls along the way. My daughter is headstrong and wild, but I think she could learn much from you and you from her.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded slowly.
To deny that he was curious about how Lilith had gotten herself entangled with Rumpel would be an untruth. But how her family could be so willing to accept her fate—that he could not understand.
She sighed. “We accept it, Giles, because we have no choice.” She cocked her head. “Lilith will do as Lilith wants, oftentimes with no thought or planning.”
He jerked as she once again seemed to read his thoughts. “Are you sure—”
Her smile was sad. “I’ve lived a long time and I can read emotions well. She’s incredibly smart and lovely. Which can be an interesting combination. I would like to ask a favor of you before you go above ground.”
He nodded. “I will try.”
Her lips narrowed. “As I considered the many paths your journey could take, I realized that all of them share one similar thread.”
“Yes?” he prompted when she stopped speaking, sensing that she grappled with her next words.
“You are a gentleman—it is why Ewan hasn’t ripped your throat out. Believe me, the meal this night could have gone much worse. It took many weeks of feminine wiles to convince my dear wolf not to kill you when you finally came to our door. He does not care for what is about to come, but I know that unless you listen to your heart and not your reason, you cannot succeed.”
Those words literally made no sense to him. Heart and reason were one and the same for him.
She shrugged. “I’m sure that you think it is the same, Giles, but it is not. I sense a great conflict will happen for you both during your quest. It is why Rumpel sent you to her. For there is a lesson in this for you both.”
“My prince?” He shook his head. That was not Rumpel’s way, to try and teach Giles a lesson. And what that lesson could possibly be, he hadn’t a clue. Rumpelstiltskin was a man of action, not of teaching.