Aggie pants while she waits for the next contraction. “We’re almost there,” Sabrina says. “It won’t be much longer now.”
Aggie nods and then turns to me. “Sylvia, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s been bothering me for almost three centuries now.”
“What is it?”
“I was so terribly jealous of you and Henri. You loved him so much and all I had were stolen kisses with farmhands. When he died, there was a part of me that was happy that you wouldn’t be happier than me.” Aggie screams as a contraction comes on. After the pain subsides, she begins to sob. “I’m so sorry. It’s such a horrible thing of me to think.”
“No, Agnes, it’s all right. I know you didn’t mean it. Not really.”
She nods, looking me in the eye. “I don’t care what you do, Sylvia. I just want you to be happy. You do know that, don’t you?”
“Yes. I know.”
“Good.”
Sabrina looks up from her position between Aggie’s legs. “Agnes, I’m going to need you to start pushing with the next contraction. Push very hard, like when Mathieu and Marcus were born. You remember that?”
“Yes.”
“Ready…now!”
Aggie squeezes my hand even harder, until I hear something pop. She pushes, managing to groan and scream at the same time. When she can’t do either any more, she sags back to the mattress. I wipe her forehead and dribble a bit of water into her mouth. She accepts this gratefully, nodding to me. “When you ran away,” she says through panting breaths, “was it because of me?”
“No,” I say, which is true. I didn’t run from Aggie; I ran from Alejandro. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was all my fault. I was young and stupid.”
After the next push, she asks, “Why didn’t you come back?”
“I was being stubborn.”
“You always were a headstrong little thing.”
I lean down to give her a brief hug around her shoulders. Then the next contraction comes and Aggie has to push with all of her might. “I see the head!” Sabrina calls out.
“You’re almost there, Agnes,” I tell her. “On the next one, push as hard as you can.”
She nods to me and as the next contraction comes on, she closes her eyes and screams loud enough to nearly shatter glass. “Go on,” I tell her. “Push!”
“He’s out!”
I turn and see Sabrina holding a blood-spattered infant. She slaps the child on the back and he begins to cry. It’s the most wonderful sound I’ve ever heard. I bend down to give Aggie another hug. “You did it,” I tell her. “You did it.”
Aggie sighs with relief and then sags onto the pillows. “Can I hold him?”
“Just a moment. We need to cut the cord,” Sabrina says.
“Allow me,” I say. I reach into a pocket and take out a silver hunting knife I used on vampires. This time it’s used for the much happier purpose of severing Aggie’s newest son from the umbilical cord. Sabrina holds the boy up so I can slice the cord.
Only then does Sabrina wipe the boy off and wrap him in a blanket. This she passes to me. I hold the squirming child in my arms and looking down at his face, I see that he has his mother’s blue eyes. His tiny face turns red as he begins to cry again, wanting his real mother. I pass him to Aggie, who takes him gently, tears in her eyes. She smiles at her son and whispers, “Hello, Luc. Welcome to the world.”
I wish I could warn Luc of the dangers of this new world he’s entered, but I know he’ll find out soon enough.
***
Besides having Aggie’s eyes, Luc also has Aggie’s blond hair, a fact that becomes clear after Luc is cleaned up. Perhaps because of this—or because she knows this is her last child—Aggie refuses to give Luc up, except to let Alejandro hold him. The proud father rocks the infant in his arms and says, “He’s as beautiful as his mother.”
I have to turn away as he bends down to kiss Aggie. While I’m happy for them having a healthy boy, I still find it hard to see them together. I step out of the room, using the flimsy excuse that I need to help Sabrina clean up.
Sabrina is outside, burning the placenta and stained sheets so they can’t be misused for any charms or curses. I sit on a log by the fire, staring into the flames. “She’s still doing fine,” I tell Sabrina before she can ask.
“She’s very strong.”
I nod at this. Aggie’s never been a warrior like me, but she’s strong where it matters—in her heart. She’s endured the centuries of loneliness and come out of it finding true happiness with her family. “Is the baby going to be all right?”
“They’re both very healthy,” Sabrina says. “What about you?”
“I’m fine.” I hold up my left hand. “My hand is a little sore.”
“You look tired. You should rest.”
“I don’t want to go to bed yet.”
“Then stay here and watch the fire. I’ll prepare some food for Agnes. She needs to keep her strength up.”
I nod and stay with the fire, watching the sheets burn. The closest I’ve ever come to a moment like in Aggie’s bedroom was helping Frau Braun with a new calf. Looking into those eyes that are so much like Aggie’s, I can’t help feeling a sense of awe, a magic greater than any I’ve ever known before. As witches we can turn people into toads or other animals, but we don’t really create anything. Mostly we end up destroying things—or at least I do. What would it be like to create a new life like that, to give birth to a child who will grow into a man and have children of his own?
I’m still thinking about this when I hear footsteps. I think at first it’s Sabrina, but then I turn to see Alejandro. He has a cigar clenched in his teeth; I can smell it despite the smoke from the sheets. “There you are, Mademoiselle Sylvia,” he says with a smile. He reaches into his pocket for another cigar.
“No thank you,” I say.
“Come now, it’s a tradition. To celebrate the birth of a new child.”
I shrug and then take the cigar from him. He shows me how to bite off the end and then I light it using the bonfire. The smoke enters my lungs and I double over as I cough. Alejandro claps me on the back, his laughter like music.
“They take some getting used to,” he says. He sits down on a log beside me, staring into the fire while my eyes water and my stomach churns from the cigar. “Another son. I am a fortunate man.”
“Yes,” I manage to whisper.
“Agnes is such a wonderful woman. An exceptional woman.”
“She is.”
He takes a puff of his cigar and then turns to me. “So, Mademoiselle Sylvia, how many suitors did you acquire on your journeys?”
“None.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
I look down at the ground, thinking of Uwe in Frau Braun’s village. “There was a boy, back when I was thirteen. He was very nice to me, but it didn’t work out.”
“That long ago?” He shakes his head. Time seems to stop as he brushes hair away from my face. “You poor girl. Such a beautiful young woman should be fighting off suitors with a rapier.”
“Stop,” I whisper as he bends down to kiss my cheek. “Please stop.”
“Since the moment I saw you, I wanted to do that.” He tosses the cigar into the fire and then smiles at me. “You’ve bewitched me, Mademoiselle Sylvia.”
I want to laugh at the irony of this, to tell him that I really am a witch and that if he doesn’t back off I’m going to hurl him into Paris. My body seems to have turned to ice, so I can’t move or speak as his lips brush against mine. “You are beautiful,” he whispers.
He kisses me on the lips for the first time. I know I should push him away; I should knee him in the crotch and then threaten to tell Aggie what a cad he is. Instead, I find myself kissing him back. His lips still taste like the cigar, but I don’t care. I close my eyes and for a moment I’m sixteen again and kissing Henri in the forest.
When I open my eyes again, I remember that I’m kissing Alejandro—Aggie’s hus
band. Aggie, who just gave birth to Alejandro’s son, and still loves him like a newlywed. I finally, belatedly, gather the strength to push him away. He tries to put a hand on my shoulder, but I bat it away. “Don’t you dare touch me!” I hiss at him. “Or I swear I’ll make sure you never father any more children.”
He nods at this. “Forgive me, Sylvia. I was merely caught up in the moment. The excitement of having a child—”
“Don’t lie. I’m not a kid anymore. I know what you were doing.”
“What are you going to do now?”
I think about this. I should go upstairs and tell Aggie what happened. Then I think of her cuddling little Luc, her eyes filled with joy. I can’t spoil that happiness for her, not after what she’s just gone through. “Nothing.” I wag a finger at him. “But this can never happen again.”
“Of course. I am very sorry, Sylvia—”
“Save it,” I snap. I go upstairs, slipping past the master bedroom, into my room. After locking the door, I collapse onto the mattress to cry for betraying my sister. I know that while I didn’t say it, that Alejandro could see in my eyes how much I enjoyed that kiss.
And I know that if he tries to kiss me again, I won’t be able to resist him.
Chapter 27
Despite the size of the estate, it’s difficult to keep from seeing Alejandro again. He’s sleeping just one room down the hall, in Sophie’s old bedroom while Aggie recovers from the baby. I nearly run into him the next morning when I emerge for breakfast. He nods to me and acts as if nothing has happened, saying, “Hello, Mademoiselle Sylvia.”
We eat breakfast in the bedroom with Aggie. The baby is taking his breakfast at the same time, suckling from Aggie’s breast. I turn my head away, not wanting to watch. “Don’t be such a prude, dear,” Aggie says.
“Your sister is only being polite,” Alejandro says.
I don’t want him to defend me. I don’t want him to act as if everything’s normal, as if nothing’s happened. At the same time, I know I can’t want him to kiss me again. I can’t want him to love me; not while Aggie loves him.
I lose what little appetite I have when Aggie passes Luc to his father. She leans in then to kiss Alejandro on the lips, just as he and I kissed last night. The kiss is far briefer, Aggie too tired for passion. She settles comfortably on her pillows, turning to me while Alejandro admires his new son. “How long are you going to stay?” Aggie asks me.
“I’m not sure. I might have to leave soon.”
“Where are you going to go this time?”
“I’m not really sure.”
“Wherever the wind takes you, I suppose. My adventurous sister.” Aggie sighs, probably remembering some of her own adventures when she was a young witch. “I hope this time you don’t stay away so long. The boys are dying to meet their aunt.”
“We’ll see,” is all I can say, looking across the bed at Alejandro. He looks up from Luc to flash me a smile that melts my heart. I have to turn away, gazing down at my feet as if I’m still an awkward teenager. In Alejandro’s presence I am.
Alejandro mercifully passes the baby back to Aggie and then excuses himself to take care of things around the estate. This leaves Aggie and I alone with her baby; Sabrina left sometime during the night to resume her other duties with the coven. “Do you want to hold him?” Aggie asks me.
I take Luc from her, noting how much more he looks like Aggie now that he’s cleaned up. I don’t need Aggie’s feelings to know that Luc is going to grow up to be very handsome. He’ll probably marry a beautiful woman like his father did and produce his own beautiful offspring. Will he then risk that perfect life for his wife’s awkward little sister?
Luc begins to cry as if he can read my thoughts—being Aggie’s child he probably can. I rock him gently and try cooing comforting words, but it doesn’t seem to help. He continues to bawl until his face is nearly purple. “I’m sorry,” I say and then hand him back to his mother.
She only has to smile at him and he quiets down, soon falling asleep. Aggie continues to rock him while she looks up at me. “It’s all right,” she says. “You just need some time to learn the knack.”
“I wish I could, but I’ll have to go soon.”
“Come now, I’m sure Glenda can spare you for a few weeks.”
“It wouldn’t be fair to Hisae and Tabitha to make them do it all by themselves.”
Aggie nods, continuing to rock her new baby. Then she says, “Is it still because of Mama and Sophie? That was over a century ago.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Is it Henri? I know how much you loved him, but maybe you can find someone else—”
“I don’t want anyone else,” I say more to convince myself than Aggie. I had always told myself that I would love Henri forever, and yet now it’s Alejandro monopolizing my thoughts. It’s his smile I see when I close my eyes and it’s his lips I taste on mine. But then Henri has been dead for nearly three hundred years while Alejandro is still living and breathing, his scent everywhere around the house.
“You can’t be alone forever,” Aggie says.
“I have to be.”
“Sylvia—”
“I’m sorry. I’m going outside for some air.”
“Please don’t run away again,” Aggie says with a tremor in her voice as if she’s about to cry. The baby must sense this as he wakes up and begins fussing again. She tries to calm the baby for a few moments to no avail. “Could you be a dear and fetch a diaper from the nursery? Somebody’s had a little accident.”
The nursery used to be a guestroom, despite that we never had any guests in the house. The bed has been pushed to one side to make room for a crib, where Luc will spend much of his time once Aggie feels comfortable enough to let him out of her sight. On the changing table are some cloth diapers that Aggie probably made herself.
I stand in the room for a few moments, my legs feeling suddenly rubbery to the point where I have to grip the old bed for support. What brings this on is the thought of my baby in the crib—mine and Alejandro’s baby. I imagine that this is our house, where we raise our children and I’m his cheerful, eager young wife.
A few minutes later I come to my senses. This is Aggie’s crib, where her child sleeps. This is her house now, where she raises her family. There’s no place for me here except as a visiting aunt. That’s the only place in her life or Alejandro’s for me.
I grab a diaper and return it to the bedroom, watching her change Luc with the efficiency of someone who’s done this for years—and she has. I sit silently by the bed, knowing that I’ll never get a chance to become that proficient.
***
While Aggie and the baby take a nap, I slip into my room for my jacket. I’m tempted to just vanish myself back to Edinburgh, but from our earlier conversation, I know it’s important to Aggie that I stay, at least for a little while. I promise myself that I’ll stay until my sister can get out of bed, when she and Luc should be in the clear.
In the meantime, I slip into the jacket and head out to the forest. I take the crossbow from its sling and load it with a regular bolt. Maybe I can give Aggie some fresh venison tonight. Killing something should help remind me of what I am, and what I am not.
The paths in the forest are as clear as when I left them. Seeing a crushed cigar on the ground, I realize why: Alejandro has been out here. He’s probably taken his young sons hunting or riding along the paths. Perhaps Aggie’s sons have been scampering along these paths like Henri and I used to when we were small children. This thought is almost enough to make me turn back, but I continue deeper into the woods, telling myself that I won’t be intimidated. This is my forest, not Alejandro’s or Mathieu’s or Marcus’s or Aggie’s.
After years of hunting vampires, I’ve honed my tracking skills enough that I can recognize the deer’s tracks despite that they’ve been all but obliterated by human ones. I can trace the path it took along the path and can be reasonably sure that it’s a ten-point buck. I’ve also relear
ned what Hisae taught me about moving stealthily, so I glide along the paths like a ghost.
I feel like a ghost as I part the brush and see the clearing where I first saw Aggie kissing—and where later Henri and I came for our own kissing sessions. It turns out that I’m slightly off: it’s a twelve-point buck standing there. I tighten my grip on my crossbow and line up my shot. I want to make sure that I kill the animal in one shot, so he doesn’t have to suffer. I’d also like to preserve the head; maybe Alejandro can put it on his wall as a trophy and think of me.
This thought distracts me enough to spoil my aim. My shot goes wide, hitting the deer in the neck. The animal screeches with pain and then begins thrashing around, trying to shake the arrow out. For a moment I’m frozen with horror for what I’ve done. Then without thinking, I charge through the brush, into the clearing. The deer could take out my eye or worse from the way he’s shaking his horns around, but I don’t care.
I use a Speech With Animals spell and then put up my hands. “It’s all right,” I mumble to the deer. He turns his head to me, staring at me. He snorts and paws at the ground as I take a step forward, but doesn’t attack. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I tell him.
He lets me pull the arrow from his neck. I toss the bolt aside to examine his wound. It’s deep, enough that without a Restoration potion he’ll probably die. I look into the creature’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” I tell him as I slash my knife across his throat.
I’m down on my knees beside the fallen deer, weeping uncontrollably when he finds me. He doesn’t say anything right away, kneeling down beside me and putting his arms around me. “It’s all right, Mademoiselle Sylvia,” he whispers into my ear.
“I didn’t kill him cleanly,” I mumble. “I hurt him.”
“It’s just a deer.”
“It’s not just a deer. He was a living creature. He deserved to die with respect.” That is something Hisae told me during my training. Monsters like demons and vampires long ago forfeited that right, but animals are innocent and pure. Even the most violent predator is only following its instincts—like me. I lean my head down, putting my lips to the deer’s velvety ear. “I’m sorry,” I say again.
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Call Page 111