I nodded.
Silence lingered as I grabbed a pumpkin, cutting it into small cubes.
“So, what do you think of him?”
“He’s handsome, that I can’t deny, but then again, all of you are something to look at.”
“It’s a witch thing.” She smiled.
“Do humans always get dizzy when witches kiss them?”
“I never experienced it, but from what I saw tonight, I would say that it’s Marick’s essence that makes you dizzy.”
“He said it’s only in the beginning.”
“Then it’s probably something you have to get used to.”
“Why couldn’t I see this place? Why did he have to kiss me? None of you had to kiss me to make me see your place.”
“It was different. It was not the same magic as up here in the real world. This magic is stronger, and it takes a very experienced warlock, if not more, to create safe sanctuaries like this one.”
“Could other witches see it too?”
“They could, but we have a wisp. She can make this entire place vanish so that even Marick wouldn’t be able to see it.”
“She’s really that powerful?”
“They are.” She smiled again. “Only four are still alive.” Her smile started to vanish. “During the Salem witch hunt, they slaughtered most of them, thousands and thousands of year-old wisps, disregard them as if they were nothing.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said and looked at Minaut lying on the floor a few paces from me.
“You’re the first human though that she chosen. No other wisp has done that before.” Francine looked at Minaut too.
“What do you mean “chosen”?”
“She was Marick’s father’s first. She marks all her subjects as she sees them”—Francine smiled—“but never marked a human before. It’s what she was searching for when she checked you out.”
“Her mark on me?”
Francine nodded.
I looked at Minaut again. Why did she choose me? If they don’t choose humans, why did she?
It made me think about all the books we found in my grandma’s house, covered in thick dust, and my mother with her crazy search.
What did it all mean?
I still had to tell Marick, who was still a stranger to me, about Eva. She was his, all right. There was no doubt about it. Not to mention the kink in her hair.
And I disregarded her like she was nothing.
The Forgotten potion was also laying heavy on my mind. How on earth couldn’t I remember any of this? Was that potion really that strong?
I helped finish preparing the food. Francine was sweet and kind to me, not like Katia, but I guess I understand where she was coming from now.
We placed all the dishes in the oven when Francine saw my puzzled look.
“You okay?”
“If magic exists, why don’t we cook the food with magic?”
She laughed and my gaze snapped to her.
“Magic is too strong for cooking. It’s a different type of magic to be honest. A human kind of magic that we can’t manipulate.”
I smiled. She had great ways of explaining things, a quality I liked a lot about Francine.
“Ready to go back to the lounge?”
I nodded softly and followed her back into the living room.
Minaut was in a few seconds later, gliding in her own way, right next to me. Her long legs and humongous feline figure really made her look like a giant cat.
She purred as Francine scratch her head as we were about to enter the living room but snapped out of her peaceful demeanor. She became alert right before we entered and left my side.
Inside the living room, every person looked at Marick who was pacing in front of the fireplace with a phone against his ear.
He didn’t say anything, and I guessed everyone was waiting anxiously for him to reply.
It was a deafening silence, one that made my skin crawl.
I never liked this feeling. I got it most of the times sitting in front of Gaston. It was frustrating in a way and drowning in another.
Finally, as I was about to say something, Marick answered.
“I see. Then we have a bigger problem than I thought, Father.”
I froze. He was on the phone with his dad, the man that wanted Marick to kill us.
“Okay, speak to you soon,” he said softly, but then his eyes glazed over in cold horror. “No, I’m not going to come back. I know what I heard. You can’t expect me to believe that everything is okay. Give it a few days and give me some damn answers of what happened tonight before I’m going to bring all of them back.” He took the phone and placed it into his back pocket. He turned to the fireplace that was crackling with flames and touched his lips with both hands. It looked as if he carried all the worries of everyone’s burdens on his shoulders.
“What did he say?” Sebastian asked.
“That he wasn’t the one that spoke to me tonight.”
“Shifters?” Katia asked.
“I don’t know, Katia.” He looked worried and wiped his face hard.
“The food is almost ready. I suggest whoever wants to go and take a bath should do so in the next ten minutes,” Francine said, trying to change the subject.
“Thank you, Francine,” Marick said with a soft curve at his lip. He bent down and hunched in front of Minaut, sighing audibly as he scratched her.
“It must really suck not to hear her anymore.” Sebastian said.
Marick chuckled. “I never could. Just felt her emotions. I would give anything to feel it now.”
“Sorry,” a woman’s voice whispered, but it wasn’t anyone I’ve heard before. “I didn’t think,” it said again.
A cold shudder run up my spine as my gaze jumped back to the giant cat. Was I hearing her voice?
I snapped out of it fast. It couldn’t have been—but it was so clear.
I got up. “Do you mind if I go lay down? I don’t feel so great,” I said to Francine.
“You okay?” Marick asked me, and I nodded without looking at him.
Francine laid a hand on my arm. “You’re not hungry?”
“Not really.” I smiled back at her.
“I’ll keep a plate if you get hungry later.”
“Which room is mine?” I asked softly.
“Let me go show you.” Francine smiled as everyone said their goodnights to me, making our way to the intricate staircase.
“You sure you are okay?”
“More than okay.” I lied.
Was it really Minaut’s voice? I didn’t know.
I followed Francine to the last room. Minaut didn’t follow which, to be honest, was a great thing.
“Here we are. Yell if you need anything, but this house usually provides us with everything we need.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Francine.”
I closed the door, took a bath, and thought about the voice I heard downstairs.
Did I really hear her voice?
Around midnight I woke up with a grumbling belly. I opened the bedroom door to find that Minaut was sleeping soundly in front of it. Stepping over her, I looked down at her. No voices were coming from her this time.
I was seriously losing it with all this magic.
Shaking my head, I decided to go hunt down that plate of food that Francine kept for me.
Eva was still on my mind too. How on earth was I going to break this to my mother, tell her that witches really exist, and tell her that Eva wasn’t a psychopath’s child but the child of a beloved husband I didn’t even know I had?
I froze as I walked into the kitchen, finding Marick in a pair of flannel PJs with a shirt on, munching on crisps and typing away on his laptop.
He looked up and smiled softly. “You couldn’t sleep?”
“No, I did, but my stomach woke me up.” Already walking to the oven, hoping that Francine left my plate in there.
He chuckled as I opened the oven. “It’s in the microwave.” He said and was al
ready busy packing up his laptop.
I opened the microwave and found my plate of food. I warmed it up as Marick got up from his chair, ready to leave.
“You really don’t have to leave on my behalf,” I said.
He paused and looked at me. “Everyone can see I make you nervous, Danielle. It’s okay.”
“Please, stay. I don’t know this house, and to be honest, a magical house scares me a little bit.”
The look on his face was hard to decipher.
He smiled and came back to the table. “You want some coffee?”
“The normal kind?” He smiled at my joke. “Yes, please.”
When the microwave pinged, I took out my plate and found a fork and knife on top of a napkin with condiments on the table. I looked at Marick who was preparing two cups of coffee, and he laughed.
“This was what she meant by the house giving you the things you need?”
“Yup,” he said.
Skepticism filled my single-word response: “Okay.” I sat in the chair diagonally from him.
When he poured the water in the cups and put mine in front of me, I nodded my thanks as my mouth was filled with food.
He let me finish eating, and when I was done, he took my plate like a gentleman and put it in the sink.
“I can take my own plate to the sink, you know.”
“I know.” He spoke softly. “I miss doing things for you, Danielle.” He sat back down. “So, tell me, where were you these last ten years?”
“My mom’s, in Île-de-France, and then Paris.”
He huffed.
“You don’t know her, do you?”
He shook her head. “She was one of the people you had to give up in order to live in my world.” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry about that. It’s one of the things I regretted the most.”
“I see.” She didn’t know him, so of course he didn’t know her, but I thought that maybe he might have erased her mind like mine was erased. Was he the guy that I met and haven’t told her about? “So, who are Josh and Em?”
He smiled. “Josh and Emile, and I think it’s a story for another time. You’ve been through a lot.”
I didn’t like his words as I remember what the doctors said about me giving birth before. “Please, tell me.”
“Danielle.”
“Are they my children?”
Silence lingered for a few seconds as he contemplated answering me, and then he nodded. “Two thirteen-year-old boys, twins actually.”
“Twins?” My eyebrows rose.
He chuckled softly. “Wow, Sebastian didn’t tell you?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “How in the world does a mother forget her children?”
“The Forgotten potion can make you even forget your name if that was its purpose.”
“Am I ever going to get back these memories?”
Marick looked at me softly, the same way Eva does, before he shook his head. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. Just know whoever gave that to you is going to pay for it.”
I nodded, still thinking that Eva has two brothers.
“How old were they when you thought I died?”
“Three, almost four.”
“They have no idea who I even am?”
“No, they know who you are. Many made sure of it, Danielle. If I had known that you were still alive…”
“You didn’t. Please don’t apologize. To be honest, I’m glad this was my life and not the one I believed I went through.”
He frowned. “What do you believe you went through?”
“Ten years ago, I found myself in the police station. I knew what my name was, but I had no recollection of how I got there. There were others like me, sitting in blankets wrapped around them, coffee in foam cups in their hands. I was told that I was part of a psychopath’s victims.”
“What?”
“I guess whoever dropped me off had perfect timing. I’ve been seeing psychiatrists for almost nine years trying to remember anything, but it only left me with headaches, crazy headaches.”
“Don’t try that again. It’s the effect of the potion. The memories never come back, Danielle, and those who try, they usually end up killing themselves, exhausting their bodies. Just accept it, please,” he begged.
“Why did they do this to me?”
“I don’t know. I wish I knew, but it’s one of my questions too.”
I was getting slightly annoyed. “Speculate. Tell me the reasons why witches would give someone the potion.”
He stared at me.
“Sorry I didn’t mean…”
“I know you didn’t. Believe me, I feel a lot like you.”
“No, you can’t. You know who you are, you know me, I don’t. And I want to know why someone decided to give me a potion to make me forget a husband and two children.” I felt like crying.
“Danielle,” he touched my hand softly, but I pulled away. A reaction I was told was in line with someone who was a victim, but I wasn’t a victim. Or I was, only in a different way than I originally thought.
“Sorry,” I said as I clutched my hand in my lap.
“Don’t. I know it’s going to take time for you to know me. Other than being a witch that does magic, I promise I don’t have fangs.”
I laughed softly. I don’t know why I did. And then I stopped. “Do vampires exist too?”
He roared with laughter. “Sorry, and yes, they do, but they do not mess with us. You will be fine.”
“Holy shit, what other creatures exist?”
“Werewolves, but they don’t kill humans. They usually keep you safe from vampires. We have an alliance with them. Shifters usually crawl up vampires’ and the djinns’ butts.”
“Djinns, like rubbing the lamp kind of djinns?”
He laughed again. “No, they have a chalice.” He frowned. “Sebastian didn’t tell you any of this?”
“No, to be honest. They were more focused on their freedom than anything else. That place was scary. I tried to run away once, and it almost killed me.”
He huffed. “I should’ve known. He always had a gift for getting around certain things.”
Silence linger for a few moments before he spoken again. “I should’ve never doubted him.”
“Do you think that whoever wanted me gone, wanted them gone too? Like, is there a chance that what happened to them might be linked to what happened to me?”
He nodded, his eyes shifting to mine. My heart felt as if it was skipping faster in that moment. He was so beautiful. “It might, but whatever it was, it was before they could figure it out. Luke used to be my father’s advisor. It was a big responsibility, and Luke would’ve known or picked up on something.”
“He never did?” The confusion in my voice was evident even to me. Why were Luke, Sebastian, and everybody else being blamed for this?
He shook his head. “They keep saying they were innocent. But they had evidence in their house. Some of your things that I knew you took with you to Russia were found in their house. Sebastian told me you were not there, that he didn’t see you at the house. So many things went through my mind—I thought that maybe you two had something going on behind my back, and he didn’t want to tell me. It was a dark time, Danny. I was angry and hurt and didn’t want to believe. Your body was burned. They couldn’t do any autopsy—they told me it was you, which was a lie too.”
Damn it.
“I should’ve listened to him. I will get to the bottom of this, my father promised too. What happened tonight was a sign that this was done by someone close to him—close to us. How they got around Minaut’s magic for this long…” He paused and sighed. “She was broken hearted after your death. A wisp chooses the witch—you were the first human. Your death broke her as it wasn’t her choice to leave you for another.” He sounded defeated.
“So, they more or less wanted her broken too?”
He squinted.
“Sorry, I know my questions are frustrating.”
; “No, Danielle”—he got up and pulled his hands through his hair—“you are asking the right ones, ones we didn’t even think of.”
“Don’t, please. You thought I’d died ten years ago. Whoever it was that did this had you off guard.” I didn’t know why I said that. I guess I couldn’t handle the look on this man’s face anymore.
“That’s my point. It will never happen again.” He leaned against the back of the chair he sat on. “That is my promise. I will find them, and they will pay for this.”
I nodded. “Can I ask you another question?”
“Of course.”
“What did Sebastian mean when he was talking about hearing Minaut’s thoughts?”
He smiled. “You won’t. You’re human, Danielle, so don’t worry about it. You had a really great way of communicating with her. To be honest, I doubt that my father ever heard her voice. I suspect that it’s a myth.”
I started to laugh. “So, it’s a myth?”
“I don’t know. My dad said that his grandmother heard Minaut. She had been with her the longest, and their communication skills were so perfect that Minaut disappeared for almost ten years when she died.”
“Disappeared?”
He nodded. “Wisps do that when their witches die before a new bond is made. She disappeared for four years with you.”
I don’t know why but I wanted to cry when he said that.
“When she finally returned, she bonded with me. I never heard her voice though, but I did feel her emotions.”
“So, some witches hear them, and others don’t.” It wasn’t really the question I wanted him to answer, but I had to know.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know my father’s grandmother, and he never said that he heard Minaut’s voice. His communication with her was a lot like the way I communicated with her, through emotions. Every witch is different. The emotion I felt last from her was so overpowering when she found you.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “I actually feel a bit unbalanced without her, to be honest.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t. She loves you. She belongs with you. And, to be honest, it puts me at ease knowing one of only four wisps is on your side.”
I smiled. “She really that powerful?”
Playing With Fire Page 29