Free Abandoned (Book Two of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel by Hazel Hunter Page A

of her new home again. It was a foreign concept, but it was one that felt more comfortable with every passing moment. She could tell that if she were given the time, she would grow to love it just as Piers did.  
    The other covens she lived in had been good places, she supposed, but they weren’t the Castle. They had been communities, but they had lacked the focus of what the Castle offered. They had not had the tight bonds that the Castle gave her without let or reservation.  
    Hailey and Piers landed in the practice yard where people were exercising their bodies as well as their powers. Hailey hesitated. She wanted to say something to Piers, but she couldn’t think of what. She wanted to comfort him, and she wanted to push him away.  
    Piers looked like he could sense her confusion, and he nodded.
    “Things are difficult now,” he said gently. “I understand. I’ll make myself as scarce as I can for a little while. In some ways, it’s likely what I should have done in the first place to let you really see that the Castle is yours as much as it is anyone’s. When you are ready, come find me. I will always be happy to speak with you.”
    For one breathless moment, she thought that he was going to kiss her. Instead, he nodded at her, smiled a little wryly, and walked away.  
    Hailey went to the communal kitchen to find food. There was a large pot of barley on the stove. The round-faced man stirring it smiled at her, telling her that it could be eaten just like oatmeal. She gratefully took a bowl and added a handful of berries and nuts to it before making her way to the dining hall.
    Her schedule was slowly matching up to the rest of the witches and warlocks of the Castle. There was a steady stream of people trickling in, but it was still early yet. She kept an eye out for Julie or Erin, but neither of the women seemed to be around. She was resigned to eating by herself when she noticed a lone figure sitting on the far end of one of the tables. Though people were clustering two or three or more to eat, no one approached him.
    It reminded Hailey painfully of being the foster child at the table when she was younger. It stung of the rejection of the covens that she had lived in. A small, insidious voice asked her if she wanted to ally herself with someone who looked like an outsider right away. But if Piers’s new world order couldn’t deal with her sitting with someone less popular, that would tell her something as well.
    Feeling defiant, she pushed her shoulders back and strode over to where the lone man was seated. As she drew close, he looked up. She was startled to see that it was Stephan, the Magus Corps major that she had met in the machine shop the night before.
    She had met a few Magus Corps officers before Kieran, but Stephan didn’t look like any of them. He was lanky with a mop of curly brown hair and steel-rimmed glasses that gave him a rather bookish air. The smatter of freckles across his nose made him look like a college student. It was hard to imagine this man killing Templars or swinging a sword.
    “Do you mind if I sit?”
    His smile was slightly wry but genuine.
    “I’ll have to make sure to clear out my copious fan club, but I’m sure I can find the space. Thank you, I’d like the company.”
    She settled across the table from him, glancing down at the papers that were scattered around.
    “What are you working on?”  
    “More of my toys,” he said cheerfully. “I got the little firecracker gadget you saw finished enough that someone else can handle the testing. Right now, I’m working on a kind of cloaking technology.”  
    Hailey examined the plans more closely, intrigued.
    “Do you mean like the way that some witches and warlocks can make themselves invisible?”  
    Stephan laughed a little.
    “Yes, that combined with technology that I saw when I watched Star Trek as a kid.”  
    Hailey grinned.
    “I watched a few episodes on and off, but I know enough to ask who your favorite