Danielle was sound asleep after I used my gift on her. I, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. I kept wondering if the shifter was impersonating my father, what happened to my real one? Was he still alive? I didn’t want to think about that.
On Saturday night, Danielle begged me to come join them for a family game night. She said that I needed the distraction.
It was just me, my dad, her, and Sebastian. She asked my father so many questions about her life before the Forgotten potion. The stories that came out of his mouth made me forget that he was a suspect.
He loved Danny so much—he could never harm her.
Her laughter filled the billiards room as we played cards. She was good at cards and won time and time again.
Mila popped her head in through the open door. “What’s going on here? We can hear your laughter all the way from the west wing.”
“May I join?” she asked. Danielle pulled out a chair for her.
Theo, Mila’s husband, trotted in half an hour later to check up on Mila.
Huh, I never even suspected him, I though. They always say it’s the person you least suspect. What if it was Theo?
I watched him closely for the next few games.
“Marick, you okay?”
Danny kicked me discreetly under the table.
“Yes, just tired, but I really needed this.”
“The duties of the king—so glad they’re not mine anymore.” My father leaned back in his chair, tipping it slightly, a wide grin spread across his face.
“Well, you’re still freelancing,” I said, and everyone laughed.
Mila and Danielle laughed so hard their laughter spilled out of the room. Shania had come to investigate.
The game just became more interesting.
Shania joked with my dad a lot. I never realized that they were that close. I knew it must be putting thoughts in Danny’s head again.
At twelve my mother finally came in, wanting to know what the revelry was all about and to chide us that it was late.
“We’re having so much fun. Sit and join us for a while,” my dad begged.
“Why not?” she said and sat on the other side of my dad and Shania, opposite Danielle.
“She’s improving, Marick. Knows her duties as the queen. The laughter we have to work on,” my mom joked.
“I’m off duty,” Danny said and put out her cards.
“Another round?” my father asked, and we all laughed.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Sebastian said and excused himself.
We dealt another hand. Everyone was immersed in playing.
When that hand was won by me—a miracle!—and the next hand was dealt, Sebastian finally returned.
I looked at him and found a bottle of wine in his hand. “You remember this?” He showed it me.
“Oh, don’t start,” my mother said. She used to catch us many times with that wine when we were kids.
Mila and my dad laughed.
“I’ll definitely have some of that,” I said.
“You sure will.” Sebastian had already poured me a glass. “Who else would like some?”
“Why not?” my dad said.
“Your gout, darling.”
“I’ll just get Shania to brew me an elixir,” he joked.
“I will do that with a pleasure,” Shania said.
“One glass is not going to kill me, dear.”
“Fine, give me one too.” My mother officially joined the party.
“Finally!” Sebastian teased her and poured her a glass. We all laughed.
“Someone told me a long time ago, if you can’t beat them, join them.” She raised her glass and took a generous swallow for one so proper.
“So true,” Sebastian said, flirting.
“Bas—that’s my mother!”
“What?” He glanced over to my dad. “No disrespect, sir, but your wife is hot.”
Mom roared with laughter as Sebastian served the rest of us a glass.
“I want to know the story behind this one.” Danielle turned toward my mother.
Mom laughed as she looked off into the distance, probably remembering the mischief. We were about fifteen when she caught us drunk as skunks by the tree with two empty bottles beside us.
Somehow, Sebastian got us off scot-free, but that’s always been his gift, escaping punishment unscathed. She was so mad at him when she discovered how good he became using it against her.
It felt like so long time.
Shania couldn’t get enough of the wine, neither could Mom.
I felt Danny’s hand on mine, her smile soft, but there was worry in her eyes.
“What is it?” I whispered to her and gave a lopsided grin.
“I’m here. It will be okay,” she whispered.
I look at her with my mouth open. What? Why did she just… Then I remembered what she told me: that night that when I would discover who the culprit was, she would be there with me and that it would be okay. I looked at the wine and swallowed hard. This was the how.
Sebastian was in on this. I studied him. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes gave him away. He was shocked that whoever cursed his brother was sitting around this table.
Danny squeezed my leg again, signally me to stop looking at Sebastian.
“This wine is really good. May I have some more?” my mother asked.
Sebastian obliged. “Now you know why we finished two bottles that night.”
My mother let a laugh from her belly loose. He was good.
Danielle chatted with everyone around this table daily.
Wait? Where is Minaut? I looked around furtively. She wasn’t here.
“Minaut?” I asked in a whisper.
“Safe,” she whispered back. She took a deep breath and beamed as if having fun.
Everyone laughed again. Danny did too, but I wasn’t that great of an actor. This was hitting me harder now that I knew who the suspects were—my family.
I felt sick but I push it back as I needed to know who, though I already had a strong suspicion who. I raised my eyes slightly at him. He was laughing.
My heart was pounding, and Danny was keeping a lid on the secret. She was a fantastic actress.
Blood pounded in my head. I felt as if I was going to pass out.
“What is in this wine?” Shania asked. I scrutinized her as she reprimanded Sebastian.
“Excuse me?”
“What did you put in this wine?” She clutched her head and stifled a moan.
“I’ll be damned,” Sebastian said softly.
She stood. Everyone was looking at her. It was Shania.
Mila got up from her chair to help steady Shania. “You okay?” she asked.
No! She raised my sons! The contents of my stomach threatened to come up. How? She brewed elixirs—I saw it with my own eyes.
She grunted as the wine made its way through her system.
“Shania, what’s going on?” my mother asked.
“Don’t, Mom,” I said, glaring at Shania.
Shania screamed. Her appearance changed, and she slumped over. My mother ran to Shania’s side.
“We need to get her to a doctor!” she yelled while guiding a hunched over Shania to the door. “Why are you just sitting there?!” my mom shrieked.
“Wake up, idiots!” Mila yelled.
My father got up to go help Shania.
“Sit down!” I yelled at everyone. “No one is leaving.”
Mila looked at me baffled. “Marick, Shania is sick.”
“No, she’s not. Look at her, Mila,” Danielle said.
Mila lift Shania’s head up with a finger under the sick woman’s chin and saw her change. Mila gasped and let Shania fall to the floor.
“What is this?” my mother yelled.
“Mom, sit down, please,” I said. “Both of you.”
“What is the meaning of this, Marick? I don’t understand.” My mother looked bewildered.
“Shania is a shifter,” I said, and Dani
elle reached out to grip my hand. I looked at her, and she shook her head. I frown slightly.
“Your mother knew, Marick.”
“What?” I looked at my mother.
“What are you talking about?” my mom said to Danielle.
“What’s going on here?” Eli slapped the table, “It’s Shania son. She isn’t a damn shifter.”
“Dad, she is. Look again.”
He got up and looked at Shania who was on the floor, clutching her stomach and growling. He gasped and looked at her with horror. He turned to his wife. Betrayal replaced the horror in his eyes. He got up slowly and stepped away. “You knew, Magdel?”
“I didn’t know, Eli. I don’t know where Danielle got her information from. I swear. I didn’t know!”
“Danielle?” I begged her. My mom didn’t like shifters. She loved Eric. She wouldn’t betray him like this.
“I’m sorry, but this isn’t your mother, Marick,” she said, tears pooling in her eyes. Danielle turned back to my mother. “I don’t think she drank enough, or maybe it’s because of all the potions and spells on her that none of this affects her anymore,” she said.
“Drank what?” my mom yelled.
“Danielle, my mom isn’t a shifter.”
She just glared at my mother, squeezing my hand to keep me from leaping up. “Oh, you feel it busy working, don’t you? You had to use more magic to pretend to be her all these years. The brew is merely taking longer for it worked on you than it did for our fake Shania.”
“I’m not listening to this, Marick. Get this shifter out of my sight before I kill her.” She stalked toward the door, but the guards stopped her.
“No!” she yelled. “I won’t be treated like this!”
“Danielle?” I said. “It can’t be my mom. She isn’t a shifter. I’ve known her all my life.”
“Trust me, Marick. She’s not your mother, hasn’t been for the past thirty years,” she said gently and looked at my dad. “I’m so sorry.”
“What?” I sat back in my chair.
“How do you know this, Danielle?” my dad demanded.
“Danielle can hear Eric’s thoughts,” Sebastian said.
“He told me everything.” Danny glowered at my mother. “Eric saw everything. He was playing hide and seek and hid in a place that was forbidden. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be there, but he didn’t want to be found because he wanted to read a book that he knew Sebastian would tease him about. He had to be the big brother that Sebastian could look up to, but reading books didn’t fall in the category, so he went to the one spot where he knew nobody would find him, where he could read his book in peace.”
Sebastian had tears in his eyes.
“Then the door opened. At first, he thought it was Sebastian but heard soft cries and pleas. He knew something was wrong. He only saw the two witches who were terrified, servants who didn’t have the ability to save themselves because they had gifts like arranging shoes and being great at math.”
I knew which servants she spoke of.
“Someone that they could mimic to a T.”
“She’s lying!”
“Magdel, shush,” my dad snapped.
“He couldn’t hear what they were saying, until one cast a spell. She didn’t finish the spell as she yelled that she wasn’t a Caster. He heard then how one told her that she had enough magic in her to make this spell work. She just needed to read the words—so she did. He said the spell gave him the chills, and he knew that it was something forbidden, something that shouldn’t be used. The other one went into a trance and she did everything they told her to do. She brewed potions that afternoon and cast spells to hide them from ‘the one who sees all.’ Perhaps they meant wisps, or maybe Mother Nature herself—that’s why her wisps were affected. They killed them both and that was when he saw the shifters.
“His book fell, and the loud thud gave him away. The curse that was created for Eli was given to him, and she put his blood into the potion. He said that Luke found him in that attic already cursed. The queen tried to find out who did this to him. Her kind nature helped a lot too, and she discovered that someone was going to assassinate Eli. She found you, but she underestimated how good you were.”
“I am the queen.”
“No, you are not!” Danielle yelled back.
My mother laughed. “You’re seriously going to believe her?”
“Quiet,” I said.
Shania screamed, and we all looked at her. “I need the antidote please,” she begged.
“Where is the antidote?” I asked.
“Eric never mentioned the antidote.”
“No!” Shania screamed. “I won’t be able to shift again.”
I looked at my mother who stared at her in horror.
She can’t be a shifter.
“If she isn’t my wife, Danny, then where is she?” Dad asked, tears in his eyes.
“She died thirty years ago, Eli.”
“No.” My father grunted.
“The servant girl Magdel killed? She wasn’t the servant. That was your wife.”
“Danielle, I don’t have time for this,” my mother said.
“Why, are you going to run to get the antidote from your witch?” Danielle snapped.
“I’m not a shifter. Marick, please.”
“When I was seven, what was our dog’s name?”
“Don’t start with this.”
“What was my dog’s name, Mom?”
“Trixi!” she yelled.
“Trixi was my dog when I was twelve.”
“I can’t remember all our pets!” she yelled at my dad who looked at her with growing suspicion. “Eli, it’s me.”
“What was the vow I made to you on our wedding day?”
I groaned quietly. Dad, way too easy! I thought. You always tell her that on your anniversary.
She smiled. “You would die for me, over and over, if that’s what it took to keep me safe,” she said in a sweet voice.
My dad went quiet for a moment. “The other one, Magdel.”
Her smile vanished.
“The one I only said on our wedding day. What was it?”
“Sweetheart, it was a long time ago.”
“No,” he slapped the table. The force shook it. “Tell me.” Tears blurred his eyes.
“Eli, please, I love you,” she begged.
“The other vow, Magdel?”
“No!” Mila cried.
“Darling, Danielle is just confused,” my mother looked at Mila.
“You gave her the Forgotten potion!” she yelled.
“I’m your mother!” Suddenly, she grunted and clutched her stomach.
I took a deep breath and stood. “You’re not my mother. You’re going through the same change as Shania. I can see it with my own eyes.”
“I’m your mother,” she begged with tears in her eyes. She cried out in pain again.
She was on the floor next to Shania, clutching her stomach.
Sebastian silent, taking all this in. We really missed it back then, so badly.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to believe it the first time myself,” I heard Danielle say but she sounded so far away.
My mother. I remembered the crime scene. Sebastian and I were supposed to stay far away from it, but we were kids.
All I saw was the sole of her shoes and her skirt. The woman who I thought was the murdered servant. That was my mother.
I fell into my chair and started to sob.
Guards came in as the false queen screamed and took her away.
Chapter 21
DANIELLE
* * *
Everyone got called to the castle.
Marick, his dad, Mila, all of them were crying for the woman that died almost thirty years ago.
The shifters were taken to the dungeons.
How could someone do that to a family, pretend to be their mother when they knew they killed the real one?
We waited for the rest of the Coopers to return wh
ile I went to tell Minaut.
Minaut was beside herself, one of the reasons that my mother had to keep her and Philip closed off in the guest room.
“Minaut?”
“Don’t, Danielle. I was supposed to protect my queen. I didn’t.”
“You were not there the day Eric was cursed. They used a spell that made it so that not even Mother Nature could identify them. If she couldn’t, how could you?”
She glared at me.
“The one that gave them that spell really knew what she was doing, whether it was one she created herself through dark magic or found.” A shiver ran down my back. “You can’t blame yourself.”
“She pretended to be the queen for thirty years, Danielle.”
“I know. Your family wants answers, Minaut. Give your family that at least.”
She grunted.
Her brother rubbed up against her. “Danielle is right. You will regret it if you kill them now and they didn’t get the answers they needed. Please, listen.” I heard his voice through Minaut’s thoughts.
I could see in her mind that she was going to think about it.
“Thank you, Philip.” I gave him a pat on the head.
“You okay sweetheart?” my mother asked.
I shook my head. “She gave me the Forgotten potion, Mom. I don’t even know why.”
“Because you knew what they were, just like Eric. They cursed him because they had the spell handy. Giving you the Forgotten potion was easier. I don’t think it was that you were a witch. If they saw your true ability, Danielle, I bet they would’ve killed you.”
I sighed.
“Send hugs to Marick and his family for me.”
“You sure you will be okay, Mom?”
“Philip will take good care of her, Danny,” Minaut said to me. “Where are the shifters now?”
“Locked up in the dungeon. Marick said that no one can escape.”
“I hope for his sake. A dark witch like the one they used would kill to set them free.”
A knock came on my door. I scratched Minaut’s head and stood.
Everyone wanted to hear Eric’s story and what he knew. They needed me to translate.
“So how did you know that my wife, that shifter, wasn’t Queen Magdel, Eric?” Eli asked.
“Eric can only speculate.” I translate. “He thinks that the real queen must have walked in on them, plotting. She was a witch always prepared.” His tone was loving as he spoke about the real queen. “He has no idea who the shifter is that pretended to be the queen for almost thirty years, all he knew that it wasn’t Magdel the night after the servant died. He couldn’t feel Magdel’s gift coming from her and he saw the flaws that she hide so well these past thirty years.”
Playing With Fire Page 44