“And what does that prove?”
“It proves Felipe intended to rob us,” he said, walking over to the portrait.
Francisca rolled her eyes at her husband.
“This painting is far too heavy for you to have moved it. Our servants were all downstairs. Alejandro has no idea what’s behind the painting. Felipe is the only one who knows what’s hidden behind this portrait. He has one of the three keys. You and I possess the other two.”
Tomás walked over to a side table and opened the bottom drawer, pulling out a burlap sack. “Look what I found lying at the door of the vault,” he said, wagging the sack in front of his wife’s face. “Francisca, our son tried to rob us blind. All so he can run off with that whore of his. I tell you, Zaybeth has bewitched him! Well, if Felipe tries anything tonight, I shall have him arrested.”
“Arrested? On what grounds?”
“Treason.”
“Oh, Tomás,” she scoffed.
“Francisca, I would rather have our son rot in prison than to be with that wretched girl.”
* * *
The day after Christmas. Early morning.
Lilith and her parents finished saying their goodbyes and were escorted by servants to the awaiting carriages in the courtyard. Felipe, who had tried to be strong, began to give into his emotions as his mother came to him with a tearful hug and kiss.
“I knew one day you would leave, but I’m not ready to say goodbye. I love you, Felipe.”
“I love you too, Mother.” His lower lip quivered.
Felipe looked for Zaybeth, but she was not standing in the courtyard with his family. He looked up at her bedroom window. He knew her anguish because he felt it, too. He touched the cross she had given him and gave a half smile.
Felipe hugged Maria. “Give Zaybeth my love.”
“I will, Felipe. May God hold you and keep you safe,” Maria said, kissing Felipe on the cheek.
Eduardo gave Felipe a hug, while Gertrudis handed him a basket packed with his favorite foods.
Alejandro walked over to where his Felipe was standing.
“I shall miss you, big brother. Here, I want you to have this.” Alejandro said, tossing Felipe a worn out leather ball. “Remember all the games of catch we played with this old thing?”
“I remember the time we were playing catch in the house and I broke Mother’s favorite vase—”
Alejandro laughed. “Yeah, and you blamed me because you knew she wouldn’t punish me,”
“Alejandro, I can’t take this.”
“I insist. When you have a son, you can teach him all of our games.”
“Thank you, dear brother, I shall cherish it,” Felipe said, giving Alejandro a brotherly hug.
Tomás walked up to Felipe. He cleared his throat.
“Felipe, I know you share my passion for fine wine. So, I took the liberty of packing a few crates of my most expensive port.” He pulled Felipe close. “Now, I know your in-laws do not drink wine, but there’s no reason you should not,” he said, patting Felipe on his back.
“Thank you, Papa”
“Son, whatever you do, make me proud.”
“I promise, Papa.”
“God bless you, Felipe and keep you and Lilith safe.”
Felipe gave his father a manly pat on the back before being ushered into the lavish, gold-laden and bejeweled carriage that awaited him. Felipe gave Lilith an unsteady smile as he was about to leave the only home he had ever known.
The once unseasonably warm air was being replaced by an unnatural chill that settled over Toledo. The sunny sky gave way to rolling grey snow clouds that blotted out the sun. Tiny snowflakes began to fly through the air.
AND BABY MAKES THREE
23 February, 1456. Granada, Spain Palacio del Sol.
“Dinner was delicious, but I thought Felipe would be joining us this evening,” Nashiema said.
“He’s busy traveling with the sultan,” Lilith replied.
“Poor dear, you must be lonely. Well, I’m glad you invited me. I’ve been lonely, too. Your father has been away on business for the past month. Luckily, you live nearby—” Nashiema stopped talking. “Lilith, you barely touched your dinner, aren’t you feeling well? I know that you are an immortal and immortals do not need food or get sick, right dear?”
Lilith was about to answer her mother, when a wave of nausea sent her scrambling toward the door. An alert female servant quickly grabbed a porcelain basin and a towel. The servant put the basin right to Lilith’s mouth just as she vomited. The servant waited patiently for Lilith to finish, holding a towel for her to wipe her mouth.
Lilith steadied herself and returned to the table. She felt a second wave of nausea returning. She waved to female servant for the basin.
“Farah, could you please clear the table? I can’t stand to look at this food any longer,” Lilith said while holding a napkin up to her mouth.
“Sí, Señora, right away,” Farah said.
While the female servant cleared the table, Nashiema sat there smiling at Lilith.
“There’s only one reason I can think of that would make a woman sick, to the point of vomiting at the sight of food. My darling, Lilith, I don’t know why I didn’t notice it earlier, you certainly have that glow—”
“Yes, Mother, I’m pregnant,” she said.
“How exciting, my first grandchild! Felipe must be very proud.”
“Felipe doesn’t know.”
“What? Why haven’t you told him?”
“The sultan has been keeping him busy in Seville and when Felipe isn’t away, he’s working late. We have only been intimate once since we moved here. I hate to admit this, but our coupling was by magickal means. It was January six, the night of my birthday. We celebrated, but I wanted something more. I wanted Felipe’s child.” Lilith reached for her mother’s hand. “Mother, I’m so ashamed I used magick in order to lay with my own husband.” Her face saddened.
“Oh, Lilith,” Nashiema said, holding her daughter’s hand tightly. “I am so sorry.”
“I love him so. Felipe has a good heart. Once I have the baby, he will be a good father and husband.”
“Yes, but Felipe is weak, too weak to be the husband of an immortal, and much too weak to become an immortal. You know that now.”
“Mother, please do not say such things. Felipe’s just homesick. He’ll come around, you’ll see. In order to make him feel more comfortable living here in Granada, I have agreed to have his family visit here for their Holy Easter celebration.”
“Was Zaybeth invited?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“I see. Well, Lilith, far be it for me to tell you anything, especially when it is concerning Felipe, but if I were you, I would keep a close eye on those two. Zaybeth and Felipe mustn’t be alone together.”
“Mother, I trust my husband implicitly,” Lilith declared, hoping to conceal her fears of Felipe’s infidelity.
“Of course, you do, dear.”
BEWITCHED
Francisca moped from room to room, day after day, barely eating and bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. She finally settled down at her vanity, brushing her hair vigorously. Francisca stared at herself in the mirror and burst into tears. Winter had brought heavy rains and at times snow, which was unusual for Toledo. Normally, wintertime was sunny and had mild temperatures. The unusually gloomy days had worsened Francisca’s melancholy. The last time she felt this level of despair was when she’d lost her daughter, Victoria.
“Francisca, my love, please come to bed,” Tomás said, kissing her on the nape of her neck. “It has been a long time since we’ve made love.”
Francisca squirmed away from her husband’s touch.
“Not another insufferable night of this,” he bemoaned.
“I can’t help it, Tomás, I miss Felipe and Lilith. I was just getting acquainted with her when she was taken away from me.”
“Francisca—”
“I miss laughing and talking
with her, Tomás. We’d made plans to go shopping in Toledo and take in the city’s festivities and go to the market. She stopped brushing her and turned to Tomás with an angry frown. “For the first time, I had a daughter and you took her from me!” Francisca stood up on the verge of tears.
“What was I supposed to do, Francisca? Allow Felipe to carry on with Zaybeth in front of Lilith? I could not allow such blatant disrespect to go on in this house.”
“No, I don’t suppose you could have allowed that.” Francisca could no longer hold back her emotions and burst into a violent flow of tears.
“Oh, you don’t understand because you had sons to mold into men,” she said, in between sobs. “You were too busy teaching Felipe about wine and politics to notice I longed for a daughter. You and your greed took both Felipe and Lilith away from me!”
“Francisca, Felipe is a young man and would have left this house eventually to make his mark upon the world.”
“Perhaps,” then a thought occurred to her. “You could have allowed Felipe and Zaybeth to marry. They were in love. At least they would have lived here, along with our grandchildren,” she said simply.
“What? Marry Zaybeth? Woman, have you gone mad? That redheaded harlot has bewitched you.”
“Zaybeth has done no such thing,” Francisca shot back.
“She’s the reason our son had to leave, not me.”
“No, it was you that sent our Felipe away, not Zaybeth.”
“You’re blaming me?”
“Yes! You chose gold over your own flesh and blood.”
“What I did was in the best interest of our family. As I recall, I did not hear one single complaint when I gave you the very gold upon your ears and around your neck, or bought the exotic foods on your plate, filling your gut. That was all made possible by Felipe’s and Lilith’s arranged marriage.”
“Since you love gold so much, here, take them! I don’t want them!” Francisca took off her earrings and yanked off her necklace, throwing them across the room at Tomás.
“Francisca! Come to bed. We can make love and I can give you the daughter you’ve longed for,” he said, reaching for her.
Francisca’s eyes welled up at her husband’s insensitive remark.
“You know very well after the birth of Alejandro, I was left barren.” Francisca tore away from Tomás, going into the main bedchamber room, slamming the door and locking it.
“Francisca!” Tomás yelled while banging on the door. He began shaking the doorknob.
“Go away!” she shouted through the closed door.
“Francisca, stop this nonsense!”
“Not until you bring Felipe and Lilith back home.”
“Damn you, woman!”
* * *
Tomás banged on the door hard, but Francisca would not unlock the door. Tomás left the bedchamber enraged. He went down to his study, and did something he’d never done before inside his home—drank until he was intoxicated. Occasionally, he and his comrades would visit a tavern or a whorehouse and he would get drunk and have his fill of women, but never did Tomás get drunk in his own home. He considered it disrespectful to his family.
It was late and Tomás had already made several futile attempts to stand, but he never successfully made it up from his chair. With each attempt, he fell backwards into his chair, with his feet shooting straight up in the air. Tomás made one final attempt, this time he managed to stay standing.
He wobbled out of the room, staggering up the staircase with a jug of wine in each hand. One jug slipped out of his hand and bounced, landing at the foot of the stairs. Remarkably, the bottle remained intact. Bleary-eyed, Tomás stopped and looked back, glad it was empty. He gave a chuckle and put the other jug to his lips, taking a long sip before stumbling up the stairs.
Finally reaching the top landing, Tomás staggered down the hall, gripping a now-half empty jug of wine firmly in his hand. He wandered past his room, down the hall to someplace he knew he had no business going—Zaybeth’s room. He stopped and stared at the door. He could feel his contempt for Zaybeth rise. He turned the doorknob and propped opened the door with his foot.
Peering through the crack in the door, Tomás watched Zaybeth sleep. He opened the door a little wider to get a better look. He took a deep breath and he stepped inside the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He walked unsteadily over to Zaybeth’s bed and stood quietly, watching her.
He, too, missed Felipe, although he would never admit it to his wife. The longer Tomás stared at Zaybeth, the more his anger grew into curiosity. Just what did Felipe find so fascinating about this girl anyway? Was Zaybeth an enchantress? Had she bewitched Felipe with a love spell? Why else would he would risk losing a fortune in gold and his beautiful wife. Tomás put the jug to his lips and drained the very last drop of wine from it. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Tomás leaned over Zaybeth. He breathed in deep. Her sweet perfume permeated his nostrils. Still holding the empty jug tightly in one hand, Tomás’ desires grew from curiosity to lust.
The moonlight streamed in from the window, it revealed the outline of Zaybeth’s breasts through her nightgown. Zaybeth wiggled in bed, her gown gapped open to reveal even more of her cleavage. Tomás put the jug to his lips only to discover it was empty.
“Dammit!” He threw the jug on the floor, breaking it.
Zaybeth woke. She was about to scream.
Tomás quickly covered Zaybeth’s mouth with his hand and pulled out a dagger from its sheath. He held the blade to her throat. “If you scream, I will slit your throat!”
Zaybeth nodded.
Tomás withdrew the blade and straddled Zaybeth, kissing her roughly on the lips. He held her wrists above her head tightly.
“Tell me what is so bewitching about your cunt, so that Felipe would betray his family and turn his back on his wife? Tell me!” He shook Zaybeth violently.
Zaybeth started crying.
“What enchantment did you place on him?” Tomás demanded. He unbuttoned his breeches. “Let’s see if my cock becomes spellbound by your cunt.”
“Por favor, Señor de Hayos!”
While Tomás struggled with his breeches, Zaybeth managed to get one hand free. She slapped Tomás hard.
“You insolent bitch!” Tomás struck Zaybeth hard across her face. He ripped opened her gown. He smiled lustfully as he pulled down his breeches.
“No, please don’t...” Zaybeth pleaded.
The room began to spin. Tomás grabbed his head, rubbing his throbbing temples. Overcome by drunkenness, he collapsed on top of Zaybeth.
Zaybeth broke free from Tomás, shoving him aside, and making a dash to the door.
Tomás awakened, clawing at an empty bed. “Come back here, whore!”
Zaybeth opened the door and ran out of the room before Tomás could get out of the tangled bed linens. He passed out once more. Zaybeth ran down the dimly lit corridor to her mother’s room, clutching her ripped gown.
“Mother! Mother!”
Maria sprung out of bed and lit a candle. She looked at Zaybeth’s tussled hair, torn gown and bruised face.
“My God, Zaybeth, what happened? Who did this to you?” she asked, running over to Zaybeth, leading her to the bed.
Zaybeth collapsed in her mother’s arms crying hysterically.
Swaying back and forth, Tomás stood in the opened doorway to Maria’s room. To keep from falling backwards, he grabbed both sides of the doorframe to steady himself.
Maria gingerly moved her daughter to the center of the bed. She walked over to Tomás and slapped him hard across the face. “How dare you!”
He staggered backwards into the hall, catching himself on the edge of the doorframe. Tomás rubbed his stinging cheek. He looked directly at Zaybeth. “Not a word of this to Francisca, from either one of you,” he said, shifting his eyes to Maria.
“I would never hurt Francisca,” Maria said.
“See that you don’t,” he replied, in a threatening
tone.
“You reek of alcohol, Señor. You should leave.” Maria turned and walked back to Zaybeth. “Shh, Zaybeth darling, don’t worry. You can share my room. You’ll be safe in here. I’ll have your things moved in the morning.”
“Maria,” Tomás said in a surprisingly sincere tone. “There’s no need to move Zaybeth’s things, I would never harm her.”
Maria gave Tomás an angry stare. “See that you don’t.”
He apologetically nodded. “Buenas noches.”
Gently Tomás closed the door and staggered down the hall to his darkened bedchamber. Barely making it inside the room, Tomás’ knees buckled underneath him. He collapsed faced own on a swooning sofa in the sitting room.
THE INVITATION
“Zaybeth, why aren’t dressed? Breakfast has already started,” Maria said.
“I’m not hungry, Mother.”
“Now, Zaybeth, listen to me, you mustn’t let that brute get the better of you. Get dressed and come to breakfast.”
* * *
Zaybeth held her head up high as she locked her arms tightly in the crook of her mother’s elbow and walked into the great hall.
Francisca looked up from her cup of coffee and could not help but notice the long, bluish-red bruise on Zaybeth’s right cheek. “Zaybeth, what on earth happened to your face?”
Tomás coughed and stared directly at Zaybeth. Quickly, he cut Maria a look.
“Oh, Señora de Hayos, I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I had a terrible dream last night and I fell out of bed, striking my face on the bedside table,” she said, hoping to sound convincing.
“Maria, you should ask Gertrudis for some of her special ointment to put on that awful bruise. It will fix Zaybeth up in no time. We certainly can’t have a pretty face like hers looking like that, now can we?”
“Thank you, Francisca, I’ll speak to Gertrudis about it after breakfast,” Maria said.
Eye of Saturn (The Daughters of Saturn Book 1) Page 16