* * *
That following day.
Felipe left early, skipping breakfast even though he was not scheduled to work. When he didn’t show for lunch Lilith was furious. Fed up with Felipe’s unexplained disappearances, Lilith searched every room of the house looking for him. She decided to look in the last place Felipe would ever go, his father’s study. She was about to open the double hung doors, when she felt a warm hand on her shoulders. She smiled and turned around.
Her expression could not hide her disappointment. “Oh, Alejandro.”
“If you are looking for Felipe, you needn’t bother, he’s not here,” he said.
“Oh and where is my husband today?”
“Peculiar one, that Felipe. When we were children, he would run off and not return until dark, infuriating our father and worrying our mother half-to-death. Oh, my brother would slip past the guards and Gertrudis, but not me. I was always able to follow him. That is, except for when he would run off to his special place. Felipe made certain no one followed him there. I do not know if my brother climbed a tree or hid in the bushes, but I always managed to lose sight of him. I was convinced he had the ability to disappear. But these past few weeks, Felipe must have forgotten how to disappear. Why, a blind man could have followed him.”
“Alejandro, do you know Felipe’s whereabouts?”
“Yes. He’s at a clearing, just beyond the northernmost edge of our land.”
“Will you take me to him?”
“Oh, I do not think that would be a good idea.”
“And why not?”
“Felipe isn’t alone.”
“Oh, and who is keeping my husband company?”
“Zaybeth,” Alejandro said matter-of-factly.
“Zaybeth?” she asked, confused. “Well, what does that matter? Please, I need you to take me to Felipe, at once.”
“Lilith, I’m afraid you don’t understand. Zaybeth is keeping Felipe company—intimate company.” He leaned into Lilith and whispered. “I saw them wrapped in a lover’s embrace.”
“Zaybeth and Felipe? Are you sure?” The shock of the news caused Lilith stagger backwards.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” he said. “Zaybeth, you see, is the product of an adulterous affair. It seems the apple did not fall far from the tree…She and her mother came to live here after Maria’s husband discovered Zaybeth was not his daughter and threatened to kill them both. From the moment Zaybeth arrived, Felipe has been fond of her.” Alejandro reached into his pant pocket and took out the gold heart-shaped locket and placed it in Lilith’s hand. “Since you are my sister-in-law, I thought you should know.”
Alejandro paused. “Lilith, you seem upset. I hope I haven’t spoken out of turn,” he said, with a slight smirk on his face.
“No, not at all, I’m glad you told me. Thank you, Alejandro.” She blinked back tears. “Please excuse me.”
THE ULTIMATUM
The next evening, in the Great Hall.
Lilith looked nervously over at her in-laws. Felipe and Zaybeth were both absent from dinner. Overcome by embarrassment, Lilith rushed from the table and out of the manor.
Francisca ran after Lilith, finding her sitting on a bench in the garden, crying. Francisca tried to console a very hysterical Lilith in her arms.
“If Felipe is displeased with me, then he should say so.”
“There, there, Lilith. I’m sure Felipe is just working late,” Francisca said, trying her best to console Lilith.
Lilith looked tearfully into Francisca’s eyes. “No, he isn’t! Stop making up excuses for him. Felipe hasn’t been intimate with me since our honeymoon. He avoids me. I fear I have lost him to Zaybeth.”
“Zaybeth?”
“Alejandro told me that Felipe and Zaybeth have been sneaking off together. And he found this in the garbage,” she said, pulling out a gold heart-shaped locket from her pocket and giving it to Francisca. “It’s the matching locket I gave Felipe as a wedding present. To think he wrote such beautiful poems and letters, telling me how much he loved me, and how he couldn’t wait to marry me. In the morning, I will send word to my parents and prepare for my departure from this house.”
“Now, Lilith, there’s no reason to notify your parents. I am sure Felipe meant every word in those letters. He loves you,” Francisca said, taking the locket from Lilith. “I will have his father speak to him as soon as he returns this evening.”
“Thank you, Francisca,” she said, giving her mother-in-law a hug.
Once Francisca was out of view, she transformed into the high priestess. She called upon the bird of wisdom. The owl appeared before her, landing at her feet.
“Find Felipe’s secret hideaway and report back to me when you know its location.”
The bird nodded and flew away, returning moments later.
“Have you found him?”
The owl nodded and squawked.
“Show me.” Lilith and the bird vanished, reappearing at Felipe’s private hideaway, alongside the River Tajo.
Lilith hovered overhead, watching the clandestine lovers sitting on a log, talking. She clenched her jaw and pulled back her arm. A fireball formed in the palm of Lilith’s hand. She took careful aim about to hurl the flaming ball at Zaybeth, when the ethereal ball of fire extinguished itself.
“No, not like this. I have better plans for you, home wrecker,” Lilith said with a twisted smirk.
She vanished.
* * *
Lilith sat in a dimly lit corner on a floral brocade bench in the foyer of the great hall, playing a melodic, romantic tune on her guitarre morsica (Moorish guitar). When she looked up and saw Felipe propped up against the wall, admiring her music. She glared coldly in her husband’s direction as he approached her.
“What a lovely tune. I didn’t know you played a musical instrument.”
Out of spite, Lilith purposely stopped playing the guitarre. “There are many things you do not know about me Felipe,” she said coldly. “You missed dinner, what kept you this evening?”
“I worked late and when I got home, I went for a walk to clear my head. I must have lost track of time. I’m sorry.” He leaned over to kiss Lilith, but she turned her head away from him.
“Felipe, may I have a word with you?” Tomás bellowed from the study.
“Sí, Papa. Forgive me, Lilith. I shall only be a moment.” Felipe strolled casually into the library where his father stood with his arms folded.
Lilith continued playing the guitarre, but instead of a romantic tune, this piece of music embodied both her rage and sadness.
* * *
“Please, shut the door and have a seat,” Tomás said.
Felipe closed the door and sat down.
“Lilith came to your mother, crying, after she found this in the garbage.” Tomás dangled an opened, gold locket containing Lilith’s portrait in front of Felipe’s face.
Felipe’s eyes grew wide.
“Lilith knows you’ve been sneaking off with Zaybeth.” Tomás, who had tried to keep his composure, became furious. “Now, see here, Felipe, I will not have your wife crying to your mother. This childishness of yours will not be tolerated any longer. You are a married man and it is high time you started acting like one. No more sneaking off with that whore of yours.”
Felipe stood up, and for the first time, he towered over his father.
“Zaybeth is not a whore,” he shot back. “And you are a fine one to talk. As I recall, you’ve had plenty of whores.”
“Yes, but I have not bedded one of them in this house. I will not disrespect your mother, nor shall you disrespect Lilith.”
“You forced me to marry her. You cannot force me to love her!”
* * *
Lilith tried to drown out the yelling with music, but when she heard Felipe’s words loud and clear. Her heart sank. She ran down the hall.
* * *
Without warning, Felipe felt the sting of Tomás’ backhand, striking him hard across his face. Felipe stagger
ed back and fell against the wall. Blood seeped from the right corner of his mouth.
“You will not disgrace the de Hayos family name! I will not have Lilith reporting back to her parents that you have treated her horribly. This is about gold!” Tomás shoved the locket in Felipe’s hand. “And no one, not even you, will stand in my way.” Tomás tempered his booming voice, but kept his angry resonance.
“I did not spend a better part of my life befriending a Moor, whom I find even more abysmal than a Jew, only to have you destroy my ambitions with your childish antics. From this moment forth, do not even think about looking at Zaybeth. No more sneaking off with her and coming home in the wee hours of the night. No more holding hands, whispering around corners. Or, I swear I will send Zaybeth and her mother to the streets, where they will be nothing more than beggars. Might I remind you, they are only living here as a favor to your mother. At the risk of having your mother angry with me, I will throw them both out. Do I make myself clear?”
Felipe wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. He stared at the blood.
“Sí, Papa,” he said, gritting his teeth.
Felipe stepped into the hallway and searched for Lilith, but she was gone. He wondered if she had overheard the argument with his father. Reaching the bedchamber, Felipe turned the doorknob only to find the door was locked. He knocked softly. The door opened. He quickly fastened the locket around his neck and stepped inside the room.
* * *
“Do you love her?” Lilith asked quietly.
“Lilith, I am your husband and my affections are for you alone. I want you to know I would never betray our wedding vows. I would never hurt you in that way.”
Lilith opened her mouth to speak an incantation that would bewitch Felipe and make him fall hopelessly in love with her, but she hesitated. Instead, she looked into her husband’s soulful, brown eyes. She desperately needed to believe him.
“I guess I wasn’t ready for the responsibilities of being a husband. I can only imagine what an adjustment this must be for you. Having to leave your home and come live with people you don’t know and marry a man you barely know.”
“Oh, from your letters and poems, Felipe, I felt as though I’ve known you my whole life.” she said softly.
“Lilith, that’s just it, I...” Felipe stopped short. “Lilith, I meant every word in those letters. Please accept my apology.”
Lilith noticed the heart-shaped locket around Felipe’s neck. She gave him a big smile.
“Apology accepted, my love.” She leaned forward and kissed Felipe on the cheek.
Felipe reached for Lilith and drew her close. He leaned over and kissed her. Before long, Felipe and Lilith were wrapped in a passionate embrace.
LET’S RUN AWAY
Lying in bed with his wife’s head nestled on his chest, Felipe gently stroked Lilith’s long, silky black hair. His thoughts drifted to Zaybeth. How he wished it was her head resting upon his chest, instead of Lilith’s. Staying his distance from Zaybeth was proving far more difficult than he could have ever imagined. He missed her touch, her laugh, holding her in his arms. Most of all, he missed talking to her. Felipe hated the way Zaybeth looked at him, her eyes seething with anger. He knew she felt betrayed, but what could he do?
Lilith let out a soft moan, which caused Felipe looked down at her. He felt sorry for her. None of this was her fault. It was his father’s greed and his mother’s deceit that brought Lilith to their home and to his bed. It wasn’t right to deceive her. Felipe simply had to tell Lilith the truth, that he did not love her. They could get their marriage annulled. Then he and Zaybeth could finally be together, even if it meant disgracing his family and running away penniless. But where would they go? Italy perhaps. Zaybeth’s brother, David, lived in Florence. Maybe he would help them seek passage there.
“What if you stole the money?” Zaybeth’s words echoed in Felipe’s mind. He grinned.
Why not? He knew the risks, so his plan had to be foolproof. Stealing from a statesman would be viewed as treason and possibly punishable by death.
* * *
Alejandro tossed and turned, kicking the covers off him several times. He could not sleep. His eyes popped wide open. Finally, giving in to his insomnia, Alejandro got out of bed and headed out for a walk in the courtyard. He looked up into the moonlit sky, rubbing his eyes. He stretched and yawned, strolling through the courtyard taking in the midnight air.
* * *
Felipe slipped out of bed and eased out of the room. He quietly walked down the hall, stopping at Zaybeth’s room. He went inside.
“Zaybeth,” Felipe whispered.
She stirred in bed before waking. “Felipe?”
“Come, take a walk with me.”
Zaybeth got out of bed. She reached for her white, silk robe that hung on the bedpost, put on her slippers and hurried into the hall. She followed Felipe down the stairs and out of the manor.
Felipe waited for the guards to pass before he and Zaybeth ran across the courtyard, down the moonlit path to the garden. Felipe knew the guards would never patrol there, his mother had forbid it. She was far too concerned about her prize-winning flowers to allow careless soldiers to trample through her beautiful garden.
* * *
Groggy, Alejandro sat down on a bench at the edge of the garden and relaxed. He yawned and before too long, he was fast asleep. Moments later, muffled voices woke him. It was a man and a woman talking. Curiosity got the better of him and he followed the voices to the garden. Peering around a rose bush, Alejandro saw Felipe and Zaybeth wrapped in a warm embrace, kissing.
* * *
Lilith threw the blankets off her body and got out of bed. She was fully awake when her husband so cunningly crept out of the room. As an immortal, Lilith did not need sleep. She lit a candle and walked to the far side of the bedroom to a bureau, where she kept a small, hand carved, gelded chest made out of Larchwood. She sat the chest on the bed and opened it. There were three bundles of the love letters and poems, each carefully tied with red silk ribbons. Lilith took one of the small bundles and sniffed the parchment. The letters still smelled with the fragrant scent of roses. A tear slipped from the corner of her left eye as she pressed the letters close to her heart.
“Felipe, how could you write such beautiful words and yet, treat me so cruelly?” Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “It’s time to end this once and for all!”
In a fit of rage, Lilith transformed into the High Priestess and vanished in a wraithlike cloud of smoke, reappearing at Felipe’s private sanctuary, hoping to find the lovers there. Lilith hovered over the lush green meadow and chanted in Solsatihel. Her eyes turned dark and wild as a fireball formed in the center of her hand. With murder in her eyes, Lilith hurled the flaming ball at the patch of carnations.
Deer and other animals struck out, running for their lives. With a wave of her hand, Lilith froze the frightened animals dead in their tracks. She floated to the ground. She took her sharp talons and ripped ripping out the throats of animals. Once she was finished killing every animal in sight, she turned her attention to the riverbank. A fireball formed in the center of her hand and she set the ground ablaze.
“I curse this ground. Nothing shall grow here. Only death shall reside here. Lilith laughed wickedly as she destroyed what Felipe deemed so precious. “Now, it is Zaybeth’s turn,” she snarled, vanishing into a rolling cloud of smoke.
* * *
“Zaybeth, I cannot take being apart from you any longer. God, I want you more than air,” Felipe said, brushing Zaybeth’s hair back from her face. “In two weeks, we shall run away together.”
“Do you mean it?” Zaybeth asked.
“Yes, we shall leave here. Although I’m not sure where we will go where my father won’t find us, my father knows rulers in many lands—most of whom have known me since I was born. Undoubtedly he will have armies in every nation looking for us.”
“What about money, Felipe?”
“Don’t wo
rry. I’ll make sure we have everything we need. Zaybeth, tell no one of our plans, not even your mother—”
“But I have to tell her, otherwise, she will worry.”
“Your mother will know you are with me, and safe,” Felipe held Zaybeth closer to him.
“Just to think, Felipe, in a few weeks, we will finally be together.”
* * *
Waiting patiently in bed for her husband to return from his clandestine rendezvous, Lilith contemplated Zaybeth’s fate for her role in Felipe’s betrayal. She smiled.
“I’ll send Zaybeth to the Netherworld. That should take care of her.”
An hour had passed before Lilith heard the bedroom door open and shut. She felt the bed move slightly and the gentle tug of the blankets as Felipe eased himself into bed. He repositioned himself several times before finally settling comfortably.
Lilith heard Felipe breathing heavy, followed by snoring. He had finally fallen asleep. She gave a devilish grin and vanished and rematerialized in Zaybeth’s room, fuming with anger. Lilith raised her hands high above her head and began chanting in Solsatihel.
Dark clouds in the sky began to swirl as high winds picked up and sending a blast of cold air through the window. The silk curtains responded by fluttering wildly in the window frame. A frosty mist rolled into Zaybeth’s bedchambers.
“Zaybeth,” Maria said while knocking softly on her daughter’s door.
Lilith turned her head toward the door and then back to Zaybeth. The fog retreated and the morning sun burst through the dark clouds and shone brightly through the window.
“It seems, little home wrecker, that I will have to continue this at another time.” Lilith vanished in an ethereal cloud of smoke.
* * *
Just before breakfast Tomás paced the floor of his study, scratching his goatee. He had a worried look on his face. “Alejandro, are you sure about this?”
“Sí, Papa. I overheard Felipe and Zaybeth making plans to leave the day after Christmas.”
Eye of Saturn (The Daughters of Saturn Book 1) Page 13