by G. K. DeRosa
Celeste made a move toward it, but Alek snatched it away, tucking it into his pocket.
“Enough with the games, Alek—what do you want in exchange for the potion?” asked Stellan, who had thus far remained strangely quiet during the conversation. He was feeling oddly annoyed for being unable to figure out the antidote himself over the past few months.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he answered.
“Well we can’t really sit around here and wait for weeks for you to make up your mind,” snapped Roman.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t dream of it,” replied Alek. “Believe me, it’s not like I enjoy your presence in my city either.”
“So what do you propose?” asked Stellan.
Alek pulled the vial out of his pocket and held it up again. “I will give the potion to the Guardian as discussed with the Council, but the three of you will still owe me something in return.” His contentious gaze fell upon Roman, Nico and Stellan.
“Like what?” asked Celeste. She did not like the sound of that one bit.
“As I said, I don’t know yet.”
“You can’t just agree to giving him anything he wants in return,” said Celeste turning to the others. “You have no idea what he might ask for.”
“I understand that my terms are steep, so I will even throw in something a little extra for our dear little Guardian,” said Alek, clasping his hands on the desk in front of him.
“What’s that?” asked Roman, eyes narrowed.
“Why, some critical information, of course. I think she’ll find it quite valuable.”
Roman looked over at Celeste and squeezed her hand. She shook her head at him determinedly. “It’s not worth it, Roman. I don’t want any of you to be in Alek’s debt.”
Alek cleared his throat. “It’s about your father.”
Celeste’s gaze shot up to Alek’s as her eyes widened. “What do you know about my dad?”
“Don’t listen to him,” said Nico. “He’s just trying to get a rise out of you.”
“No, let’s see what he has to say,” interjected Stellan, sliding to the edge of his seat. “But I warn you, Alek, if you are wasting our time…”
“You’ll do what? Lecture me to death?” He laughed. “So do we have a deal—the potion and some pertinent information about Celeste’s long-departed father for a future favor to me in return?”
Roman and Nico glanced at each other quickly with a confirming nod and then back to Stellan. “It’s a deal,” Stellan said as he stood up and shook Alek’s hand.
The potion suddenly appeared in Celeste’s lap and she picked it up to examine the shimmering contents. She didn’t like this agreement at all, but Brazen needed to be destroyed and how could she pass up finding out more about her father? “So what is this valuable information you have about my dad?”
Alek’s dark eyes twinkled as he drummed his fingers on top of the desk. “It has recently come to my attention that you’ve been under the impression your father was killed by Magnus.”
Celeste scrunched her brows as she stared at Alek as he spoke. “Yes, Magnus admitted it to me before I killed him.”
“Well you know, after a thousand some odd years of slaying guardians, memories do tend to get a bit muddled.”
“What are you trying to say?” asked Celeste, attempting to keep the building tremor in her voice under control.
“I’m simply saying that perhaps the person really responsible for your father’s death is still out there, roaming free.”
Roman leapt to his feet and smashed his fist down on Alek’s desk. “That’s enough!” he roared. Alek jumped back, practically knocking the seat out from under him. “You don’t get to speak about her father, and you especially cannot make a loaded supposition like that.”
“I’m just telling the girl what I’ve heard,” he retorted as Roman’s hulking frame loomed over him.
Celeste had begun shaking, the darkness inside of her bubbling up to a fever pitch. She could feel it coursing through her blood, threatening to consume every inch of her. Roman suddenly turned back around and saw the hollow look in Celeste’s eye. He rushed to her and enveloped her in his strong arms. “Don’t listen to him. Everything is going to be fine. Push it back, you can control this, I know you.” She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, spewing out all the hatred mounting inside of her.
“Get her outside in some fresh air,” ordered Stellan, rising from his seat. “Both of you go, now.”
As soon as the threesome was out of earshot, Stellan turned to Alek and leaned threateningly over his desk. “If I find out that what you told us was a lie intending only to push Celeste over the edge, I will kill you myself. And believe me, don’t think for a second that my feelings for Lilliana will protect you.”
“I swear I only spoke the truth. I have no control over the resulting reaction,” Alek said calmly.
Stellan straightened up and took a step back, adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses. “I’d like to see Lilliana now.”
“Of course, follow me,” said Alek, standing and leading him out of the stuffy study.
Stellan followed him through the front of the house and to the sunroom off of the kitchen. Before crossing the threshold Stellan stopped and yanked Alek’s arm, holding him back. “I would like to be alone with her.” Alek frowned, but Stellan continued, “Fifteen minutes, that’s all I’m asking for.”
“Fine,” Alek retorted and spun away.
Under the bright rays of the late-morning sun, Stellan found Lilliana resting on a white wicker chaise lounge with vibrant floral cushions. She reminded him of a beautiful maiden who had fallen asleep in the middle of a flowering field. Her eyes fluttered open as he approached and a smile crept across her sleepy face.
“It’s been much too long,” he said as he crossed the distance between them.
Lilliana sat up and ran her hands through her hair. To her dismay, her neat bun had come undone and her untamed curls fell in wisps around her face. “I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep.”
“No need to explain,” he said with a shy smile as she motioned for him to sit down beside her. “May I?” He held his arms open toward her.
“Of course,” she said as she leaned into him.
He sat back and admired her face as he swept a stray curl behind her ear. “You look just as I remember you,” he said, “while the years have not been quite so kind to me.”
Lilliana’s bright blue eyes lit up with her smile. “That’s not true at all.” She looked lovingly at her dear friend. She barely remembered seeing him the day she was brought back from the dead, having been completely out of her mind then. “Stellan, I want to thank you for being there for Roman and Nico all of these years. I watched all of you whenever I could from the Abyss, and what you did for them meant the world to me.”
“I only wish I could have done more. I wish I could have saved you and Luka from Fabian’s wrath. I failed in protecting you.”
“But you protected my boys, and that’s more than I could have ever asked for,” she said.
“Lilliana, I want to continue to protect you and I cannot do that if you stay here with Alek. You must come back to Oak Bluffs with the boys and me.”
She let out a long sigh, heavy with the remorse she’d held in for months. “I wish I could, but I have promised Alek to stay with him. I owe him at least that for all the years he grew up without me, under Fabian’s tyranny.”
Intense feelings of guilt gripped at Stellan as he wrestled with the knowledge that it had been largely his fault that Lilliana never knew that her son was alive all along. If only he hadn’t chosen to protect Dalla and told Lilliana the truth back then, everything would be so different now. “I know you want to do right by him, my dear, but those years with Fabian have damaged him irreparably. I don’t know that there is anything you can do to save him.”
“I must try, Stellan. He is my son, my first born.”
Stellan gritted his teeth and gathered his nerve for the co
nversation he had been dreading for a lifetime. He had promised himself he would tell Lilliana the truth if ever given the chance. She deserved to know that he and Dalla had known all along and had been cowards not to stand up to Fabian. “Lilliana, there is something I need to tell you—”
Before he could continue, Nico bounded into the room, whizzing by him and wrapped his arms around his mother so exuberantly that he lifted her right off of her feet. He spun her around in a few circles before finally setting her back down on the ground. She laughed breathlessly as he began peppering her with questions.
Roman and Celeste walked in right behind him and Celeste took a seat next to Stellan as the boys lavished their attentions on their mother.
“Are you all right?” asked Stellan as she sat down beside him. He had that concerned dad look in his gray eyes.
“Yeah, I’m better thanks. I did some of those meditation exercises you showed me when I was outside with the guys.”
“And?”
“And the evil is in check, squished back down to the depths of my tummy,” she said, forcing a smile.
“Good,” he said squeezing her shoulder.
“Do you think what Alek said was true?” she asked with a perceptible gulp. “Could it really be that it wasn’t Magnus that killed my dad?”
Stellan shook his head slowly from side to side. “I simply don’t know, Celeste. But I promise that I will do everything in my power to help you find out. We can start with the old guardian journals when we get back home.”
“Thanks, Stellan,” she said as she turned her gaze back up to Roman. Seeing him and Nico reunited with their mother helped ease some of the anxiety she felt building inside.
“Come on then. Wait until you see the brunch I have prepared for us today,” said Lilliana leading the way back to the dining room.
Chapter 9
“Well, that went well,” said Nico from the back seat. Roman shot him a glare from the rearview mirror. “Sorry, Celeste, I didn’t mean—”
“No, it’s fine,” she said, turning around in her seat to face him. “Overall it was pretty much a success. We got the potion to strip Brazen of his immortality and you guys got to catch up with your mom.”
“Sure, everything should be fine until Alek calls in that favor,” said Roman.
Celeste’s arm hung out the open window and she watched as the wind went through her fingertips. Her mind wasn’t on the conversation going on around her. Instead, she couldn’t stop thinking about what Alek had said about her father’s death. Could his killer really still be out there? Nothing else mattered until he was found and punished for taking her dad away from her.
“Celeste?”
She turned toward the sound of Roman’s voice, which by the worried look on his face suggested it wasn’t the first time he had tried to get her attention. “Hmm?”
“Stellan asked if you were okay.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking,” she answered.
“What do you think about our mom coming to Oak Bluffs?” asked Nico.
She turned to look directly at Nico and could see the excitement in his face. Spending time with his mother would be just what he needed. He hadn’t been the same since Natalie’s death. She hadn’t either. “I think it’ll be great. I wonder if Alek will agree to it.”
“He has no real say in the matter,” said Roman. “She’s not his prisoner and should be able to come and go as she pleases.”
“Let’s hope so,” said Stellan glumly. He hadn’t spoken much since they left the villa. He was still upset that he hadn’t had the opportunity to tell Lilliana the truth. At least with her upcoming visit to Oak Bluffs, he would have more time with her and would be certain not to let another chance pass.
“So I guess we’re pretty much done here in Rome, huh?” asked Celeste with a sigh as they circled outside the main historic sights of the city.
“There may be one more thing we should stick around for,” said Nico with a knowing twinkle in his eye.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“I’m not going to ruin the surprise. I’ll let your aunt tell you when we get back to her place.”
Celeste arched an eyebrow as she spun around in her seat. “Is this a good surprise?”
Nico ran his finger across his lips in a zipping motion. “My lips are sealed. Maddie told me about it yesterday when you two were off on your romantic day trip. She wanted to wait and make sure that everything went well today before telling you.”
Everything hadn’t really gone okay today, but this surprise might at least take her mind off of her dad for a while. She turned her head back toward the window and retreated into her mind, watching the sporty Italian cars speed down the autostrada.
Before they reached the top stair, Maddie swung the door open of her apartment with Maks just a step behind. “Did everything go okay? You guys were gone for so long.”
“Yes, everything’s fine,” said Celeste as she gave her aunt a hug.
“And we got the potion,” said Stellan, pulling the small vial out of the hidden folds of his robe.
“That’s great!” cried Aunt Maddie as she led them inside. Then she took a closer look at Celeste’s face and the smile slid right off of her own. “Why am I not getting a happy vibe from you guys?”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” answered Celeste as she flopped down on the couch. She noticed her aunt was staring at her with an expectant look in her eye. She tried to perk up. “Oh, Nico mentioned you had a surprise for us?”
Aunt Maddie’s hazel eyes lit up as redness spread across her cheeks. “It’s no big deal, really. I had an idea, but I didn’t know if the timing was right.” Maks gazed at her reassuringly as he crossed the room to stand beside her, urging her on. Roman, Nico, and Stellan filtered in and got settled on the couch. Celeste noticed that Nico’s lively eyes looked almost as excited as her aunt’s.
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” demanded Celeste. “Spill!”
Aunt Maddie pulled her hands out from behind her back and flashed everyone her left hand. On her ring finger sat a brilliant diamond solitaire.
Celeste shot up from her seat and practically knocked her aunt down with a huge hug. “Congratulations!” she shouted as she wrapped her other arm around Maks. He looked a little surprised by her boisterous display of affection, but after a few seconds he relaxed and even let out a little chuckle.
Everyone was up on their feet now congratulating the happy couple and offering their best wishes. As Celeste saw the joy reflected in her aunt’s eyes she couldn’t help but feel the happiness spread throughout her as well. After all, she herself had helped in getting her and Maks back together.
“Wait, wait,” said Maddie as she took a step back, “that’s not the news.” Celeste looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Well, I mean, it is part of the news. What I’m trying to say is that, we thought maybe we could have a small ceremony tomorrow since you’re all here.”
“Really? Tomorrow?” asked Celeste, her eyes widening.
Aunt Maddie took a step toward her and picked up her hands. “I may have never found Maks without you, and I definitely wouldn’t have ever given him a chance if I hadn’t seen what you and Roman have. It would really mean a lot to both of us if you were here to see us get married.”
Celeste could feel the tears of happiness threatening to spill over. She quickly wiped them away and leaned into her aunt, wrapping her arms around her. “Of course I’ll be here!”
“Good,” Aunt Maddie said with a smile, “because I’m going to need a maid of honor.”
Celeste let out a high-pitched squee! as she took her aunt’s hands and danced around in a circle. “Do you have a dress? What am I going to wear? How are you going to find a church in such short notice?” She kept peppering her aunt with questions as she led her back into her bedroom to discuss all the details out of earshot from the men, whose eyes were already beginning to glaze over with all the girl talk.
Later that e
vening, after all of the wedding details had been discussed, Celeste crawled onto the pullout couch to lie next to Roman. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing softly. To her right, Nico sat in the armchair already half asleep as he watched the last few minutes of an Italian variety show featuring a white-faced opera singer and a dancing chimpanzee while Stellan snored soundly on an air mattress in the corner. As she checked her phone for messages and emails one last time before going to bed, an unknown number flashed on the display. Celeste recognized the Italian country code and wondered who could be calling her at this late hour. She quickly slipped out of bed so not to disturb the others and went out into the corridor to answer.
“Hello?” she whispered.
“Ciao! Celeste, dear, how are you?” came the familiar baritone voice of Mr. Caccia, Marco’s dad, over the phone.
“Oh, hi. I’m good, thanks. Just a little surprised to hear from you.”
“I’m sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but I just stepped off of the plane and Marco told me you were here. I was hoping I could see you before you leave,” he said.
Celeste hated to say no to him. Marco’s dad had been so kind to welcome her in his home when they came to Rome last winter. Not to mention, he covered up for her with Dante when she attempted her rogue mission. She really didn’t have time to visit with him, though. They were planning to return to Oak Bluffs the next evening, right after the wedding. It had been difficult enough explaining that bit of delay to Dante. “I’m sorry Mr. Caccia, but we’re leaving tomorrow evening and unfortunately I have plans all day tomorrow.”
“Well now that is a pity. My wife, Isadora, and the boys were so hoping you could come out for a visit.”
“Maybe next time,” said Celeste. “It seems like I’ll be coming more often now that my aunt lives here.”
“Yes, quite so. Please give my regards to Maddie. And I hope that you were successful in whatever brought you here this time.”