Her mouth twisted. “Great.”
Louisa came in then, laptop tucked under her arm. “What was that about the Montoyas?”
“They’re not going to help,” Rafe said tersely. “Which means that we need to find Simon Escobar as quickly as we can.”
“Well, let’s see what Miranda can do.” Louisa set the laptop on the bed, opened it up, then placed her thumb against the scanner to unlock the device. Working efficiently for someone who’d just been in a coma for more than a day, she opened the browser and then navigated to a map of the La Cienega area, switching over to satellite view once she’d gotten the object of their search more or less centered in the screen. “What can you tell me about the property?”
“It definitely backed up to the creek,” Miranda replied. “And as far as I could tell, the lot the house was built on had to be around four or five acres, maybe a little more. No fences, but there were rows of trees on either side that I think marked the property boundaries. The house itself was two stories, which I guess is a little unusual for Santa Fe, right?” As Louisa nodded, Miranda went on, “It was pueblo style, though, with at least one chimney. I didn’t get to see the whole house, though — just the kitchen and family room, and the room upstairs where I slept.”
Even though Miranda had assured him nothing had happened between her and Simon, Rafe still couldn’t keep himself from feeling relieved at those words. It sounded as though Simon had put her in a secondary bedroom. Why, he wasn’t exactly sure. Maybe the dark warlock had been more focused on using Miranda’s powers for his demon summoning, and had figured he could get around to the fun stuff after he had the Lord of Chaos in his back pocket. It was definitely good to know that none of those plans had panned out.
Louisa was using the touchpad on her laptop to maneuver around, looking for a property that matched Miranda’s description. She paused for a moment. “What about this one?”
Rafe peered over both their shoulders to look at the place in question, an expansive piece of land with a sprawling house on it and several outbuildings. Although trees crowded around on all sides, it did look as though it backed up to Cienega Creek.
Expression thoughtful, Miranda stared down at the screen for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. I know you can’t see property lines on something like this, but I got the feeling that the piece of land Simon’s house was built on was longer and narrower than this one, which looks almost square, judging by where the trees are and where the road curves past the house. Also, I don’t remember seeing any sheds, or whatever those little buildings are, and I did get a chance to walk around the yard a bit.”
Disappointed flitted over Louisa’s face, but she only nodded and went back to moving around the map, following the line of the creek, since it was the most easily distinguishable landmark in the area. On the other side of Miranda, Cat, too, was looking down at the screen, although probably just because she wanted to be involved in some way and not because she had anything terribly meaningful to contribute to the conversation.
“Oh, wait!” Miranda said suddenly. “Scan back to the right a little bit.”
Louisa obliged, and Miranda stood there for a long moment, arms crossed as she studied the satellite image that now filled the screen.
“I’m pretty sure that’s it,” she said. “It’s the right orientation, and the house looks like it’s the right size, too.”
“Fourteen Los Gatos Lane,” Louisa read off the screen. “That’s easy to remember.” But instead of looking pleased, she straightened up and took a step back from where the laptop sat on the bed. Her gaze moved to Miranda and became even more brooding, as if she wrestled with an idea she didn’t want to acknowledge, even though she knew she had to.
“What’s the matter?” Rafe asked. He didn’t like seeing that expression on his sister’s face, mostly because he knew it meant she was about to bring up a topic none of them wanted to hear.
At first she didn’t answer, only stood there, this time not seeming to look at anything or anyone in particular. When she spoke, her voice wavered a bit. “You’re going to have us go up against Simon Escobar.”
“Yes,” he replied, wondering why she would be questioning something so obvious. If a rabid dog moved onto your property, you didn’t debate what to do with it. You got a gun and you put it out of its misery. Or, he supposed, you called animal control, but there was no “animal control” the Castillos could bring in to handle their particular problem. They had to take care of this one themselves. “We don’t have much of a choice, do we?”
“I guess not,” she replied.
“We’re going to need as many people in your clan with defensive capabilities as we can gather quickly,” Miranda put in. Unlike Louisa, she didn’t appear listless or conflicted, but rather charged up and ready to go after Simon Escobar so they could put an end to all this and get on with their lives. “He has to know that the Lord of Chaos brought me to you…or at least, he can probably guess, since he must realize that pissing off a demon lord is a good way to get him to do the exact opposite of what you were hoping for by summoning him in the first place. And that means we need to strike fast, before he has a chance to try something else to increase his strength and improve his chances.”
“You see?” Louisa said, this time speaking directly to Rafe. The two of them might have been the only people in the room. “Miranda knows what we need to do, and she has the strength to back up her plans. I don’t think I’m capable of that. I’m not some warrior witch.”
“No one expects you to be — ” Rafe began, but Louisa held up a hand, stopping him.
“That’s exactly what a prima needs to be if she’s going to lead her clan effectively. And that’s why” — she stopped, as though attempting to gather herself, then drew in a deep breath, obviously steeling herself for what she needed to say next — “that’s why Miranda should take over from me as prima.”
16
Changing of the Guard
Miranda
About all I could do was stare at Louisa, aghast. What in the world was she trying to say? I couldn’t be the Castillo prima — I hadn’t been born to it. Hell, less than two weeks ago, I hadn’t known I even possessed any real magic.
Judging by their stunned silence, it seemed clear enough that Rafe and Cat were thinking just about the same thing.
“I know it sounds crazy —” Louisa began, and Rafe cut in,
“Yes, because it is crazy. Miranda’s a powerful witch, but she’s not our prima. She — ”
“She’s the most powerful witch I’ve ever seen,” his sister cut in. “Definitely more powerful than anyone else in our clan. And Simon Escobar is probably the worst threat we’ve ever had to deal with. You really want me leading you in a fight against someone like that? I couldn’t even face a few of his demons without falling over in a coma.”
“Louisa,” I said carefully, “I know you’re trying to do what’s best for your clan, but this can’t work. I mean, everything else aside, I’m not even a Castillo.”
“You will be,” she said, her gaze moving from me to Rafe, “if you two get married today.”
“Today?” Rafe and I demanded in a single shocked voice.
Our combined response only made Louisa give a rueful chuckle. “You see? You two were meant to be together. Your getting married was only a matter of when, not if.”
I glanced up at Rafe. His jaw was set, his warm brown eyes hot with emotion. Yes, Louisa was right about us knowing that we were going to get married soon, but like this?
“You can’t get married like you’re ordering a pizza or something,” he said.
“Yes, you can,” she responded, unruffled. Now that she’d stated her worst and gotten it over with, she sounded more relaxed, more like the Louisa I had first met. “The courthouse doesn’t close until four-thirty. You can go over there right now and get it taken care of. They’ll waive the blood test if you submit it within thirty days of getting your license.”
“You s
eem to know a lot about it,” Rafe commented. Now his arms were crossed, tension radiating from every inch of his body.
Louisa smiled. “You think I didn’t help Mom arrange a few quickie courthouse marriages for those Castillos who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and weren’t responsible about birth control?”
“I never heard about anything like that,” Cat put in, sounding offended that she’d been left out of the loop.
“Exactly,” Louisa told her. “That was sort of the whole point. Anyway, if you two get married, then Miranda is officially a Castillo, and I can make her prima.”
“You can’t just ‘make’ someone prima,” I argued. “The gift is only passed down — ” And then I stopped myself, because everyone standing in that room knew how you became prima — the former prima had to die. That was how it had always been, since we witch clans first began keeping any kind of records.
“I know that,” Louisa said. Her tone was firm, her expression calm but resolute. In that moment, she looked very much like her mother. “And no, I don’t plan to commit suicide in order for Miranda to take over, so you can all wipe that look off your faces. There is another way, something I read about in one of our former prima’s journals. She lived in the early 1800s, and apparently she had some kind of terrible cancer that their healer couldn’t cure. This prima worried about what would happen to her clan as she became more and more ill and began to waste away — back then, the world was a less civilized place, and the threat from other clans was much greater than it is now. She came up with a way to pass her gifts on to her daughter, who was young, only nineteen and so two years away from finding her consort. And that was what she did — her daughter became prima and took over the clan, even though the mother lingered for another few months after that.” Louisa stopped there and looked around at all of us, dark eyes glittering. “I know what I need to do. And you know what you have to do.”
For a long, terrible space of time, none of us said anything. Worry — yes, and a good measure of guilt — were both churning away inside me. And beneath all that was a sort of horrible understanding, one that had just begun to awaken in me.
This was what Isabel Castillo had seen all those years ago. She’d seen that her clan would be in danger, and that their prima would be of no use to help protect them. And she saw the child my mother was carrying, and realized it was that very girl who would come to this clan and help save them.
My fingers were cold, but I still slipped my hand into Rafe’s. He took hold, his grip strong, reassuring. “We have to do this,” I said. “I understand now. It’s — it’s what your grandmother wanted.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, and then comprehension flared in his eyes. “I understand, too.” His mouth lifted in a crooked smile. “It’s what we were planning anyway. I just thought we’d have something besides a courthouse quickie.”
No doubt that was what everyone had expected, but we didn’t have time for elaborate ceremonies now. “It’s all right,” I assured him. “The important thing is for us to be together.”
“Then go,” Louisa said. “You have less than an hour before the courthouse closes.”
“I’ll come with you,” Cat offered. “You’ll need a witness.”
Right. I vaguely remembered hearing something about that part of the ceremony, although knowledge of courthouse weddings was not exactly my forte. I’d always known I would marry Rafe Castillo, but I’d imagined a big church wedding, full of the sort of pomp the marriage of the Castillo prima’s only son required. Well, I’d almost had one like that, except one of Simon’s horrible spells had interfered.
So Rafe and Cat and I hurried out to the driveway, where we got in Rafe’s Jeep and set out for the courthouse. As we were turning onto the main road, Oscar’s Subaru passed us. I could just barely see him staring at our vehicle in confusion — no doubt he was wondering why the hell we were all leaving now that Louisa was awake — but we didn’t try to roll down the window and offer any explanations. Louisa would be able to fill him in on everything that had happened once he got home.
Within fifteen minutes, we were downtown. Fate smiled on us, because someone was pulling away from one of the meters on the street right in front of the courthouse just as we approached. Rafe slid into the open parking space, and then we all got out and hurried into the building.
“Upstairs,” Cat said after quickly reading the directory.
The three of us headed up to the second floor, where we obtained the necessary paperwork, got our names added to the list, and hurriedly began filling out the forms, which to my surprise were paper and not an electronic file that could be sent to our phones. At least Rafe and I had gotten there before the cutoff, and so didn’t have to worry about not making it in time.
My writing was cramped and messy; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had to fill out anything by hand, rather than having a form autofilled on my computer or phone. But as long as the clerk entering the information could read it, I supposed it didn’t matter all that much whether the paperwork was neat and clean.
Most of the other couples waiting their turn had tried to dress up for the occasion. I saw men in suits or at least in ties and dress shirts, women in cocktail dresses or actual wedding gowns. Looking down ruefully at my sweater and jeans, I said to Rafe in a murmur, “Sorry about my clothes. When I got up this morning, I didn’t think I would be getting married this afternoon.”
He offered me a flash of a grin, the kind that always managed to make my knees weak. “It’s all right,” he replied. “I’m not exactly dressed up, either.”
No, he wasn’t, since he had on a long-sleeved T-shirt, faded jeans, and scuffed hiking boots. But he looked so handsome, I really didn’t care one way or another. The important thing was that very soon he would be my husband, although under circumstances I could never have imagined.
We’d just finished filling out the paperwork when our names were called. Almost at once, my heartbeat began to speed up, and I could feel a sort of eager, nervous tension fill my body. No, I wasn’t worried about being married to Rafe — not so very long ago, that prospect had filled me with trepidation, but now I knew he loved me and I loved him. I knew what it was like to have our bodies joined in ecstatic union. We were meant to be together.
What worried me was the prospect of becoming the Castillo prima. Louisa had sounded sure of herself, but was this even going to work? And if it didn’t, what then?
Although maybe I should have been more worried about what would happen if her crazy plan did work. I wasn’t sure what frightened me more — having to confront Simon and somehow prevail, or facing the Castillo clan and trying to explain that I, someone not even of their blood, was now their new prima.
One step at a time, I told myself as Rafe and I went to stand in front of the judge, Cat a little off to one side. Louisa hasn’t transferred her powers to you yet.
In a way, it was almost reassuring to hear the familiar words of the wedding ceremony spoken by the judge. He was a balding Hispanic man, probably in his early sixties, with friendly brown eyes and a way of speaking that made it seem as though this was all new and exciting, even though he must have performed hundreds of these ceremonies over the years.
When we got to the part about the ring, however, Rafe looked blank for a moment, right before his features became a study in consternation. “We didn’t think about that,” he murmured to me.
My hands were bare. I wasn’t even wearing a ring on my right hand that could have stood in for a wedding band.
Cat stepped forward, pulling a garnet ring off her finger. “Here,” she said. “You can borrow this.”
“I’ll get you a real one,” Rafe promised me, “as soon as all this is over.”
I nodded. “It’s fine.”
He took the ring from Cat and slipped it on the ring finger of my left hand. Luckily, it fit pretty well. “With this ring, I thee wed,” he said quietly.
A little shiver went through me. We
hadn’t made it this far in the abortive ceremony in Loretto Chapel, because Simon’s terrible spell had kicked in and forced Rafe to say all those awful things to me. This time, though…this time I knew it would be real.
I didn’t have a ring for Rafe, either. We sort of fumbled our way around that part of the ceremony, and then at last got to the part I’d been waiting for.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the judge said. “You may kiss the bride.”
Rafe bent and touched his lips to mine, and a welcome warmth moved all through me. How I wished we could go straight back to his house and make love again, reaffirm our connection to one another! Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury at the moment. Once this was all over….
If we succeeded. That was what frightened me the most. Louisa was willing to relinquish her prima power to me, but what if it turned out that wasn’t enough?
I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on such defeatist thoughts, however. The only way to make this work would be to trust in myself, in the powers that had been awakened within me, and trust that combining Louisa’s prima gift with those powers would be enough to beat Simon.
Even as we thanked the judge and left the courtroom so the next lucky couple could slip in before the four-thirty cutoff, I couldn’t prevent my brain from churning away at the confrontation that loomed. Would I have to kill Simon? Could I, despite everything he’d done?
The whole way back to Louisa’s house, Rafe drove one-handed so he could hold my left hand in his right. I could tell he was nervous, too, wanted to stay as connected with me now as he could. Despite his obvious tension, it was reassuring to feel his fingers entwined with mine, to look over at his fine profile and know that he truly was my husband now. Simon hadn’t been able to prevent our joining, despite all his machinations.
I could only hope his defeat would be just as inevitable.
When we got to the house, we could hear raised voices inside. Oscar and Louisa, quarreling. I didn’t have to guess what they were arguing about, although they stopped as soon as Rafe rang the doorbell. Oscar answered the door, his expression tight with anger.
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