by Lola White
She shook her head in shock. “Even his son?”
“Fredrik was very methodical. They’re in alphabetical order according to Family branches.”
“So he can keep track of them all.”
“I would assume.” He searched her eyes, nearly impenetrable in the dark. “How far do you trust Eliasz?”
“Enough, so long as what I want benefits him or those he’s responsible for. He’ll do whatever he can to strengthen the position of his branch of Levys, even if that means putting the primary branch at a disadvantage. If our goals are ever in conflict, though, I’d watch him like a snake.”
That matched his own assessment of the man. “Eliasz has the magic of rumors.”
She dropped her gaze, sadness washing over her features before she smoothed them out. Her tongue rode her teeth, showing her frustration and reminding Silviu of his own.
“I don’t have magic, so I don’t fully understand the way it all works. You’ll have to explain what you mean.”
She clearly hadn’t wanted to admit that. The hollow loneliness in her tone had his heart clenching. For all that she tried to hide it, to make up for her magical lack by excessive strength in other arenas, she was still at a crucial disadvantage in their world. A dangerous weakness.
A witch without magic was almost unheard of, traditionally shunned or even killed. Bane witches were a thing of legend and myth, nightmares to scare the children. The absence of something so fundamental to their way of life must be a seething ache inside Georgie’s soul, setting her apart in all ways.
He lifted his fingers to her cheek, stroking the curve softly. She jerked back, denying his comfort.
He sighed. “Magic comes in many shapes and styles.”
“I know that,” she said.
“Shifting shapes, using familiars, astral projection. Growing things and running water and necromancy. Knowing things.”
She caught on. “Eliasz knows things.”
“Yes, but it’s not like others with clairvoyance or telepathy. The gift of rumors is rare and unreliable at best, and not usually bestowed on a male witch. It’s a form of knowing with no discernible source.”
“Oh, my God. How?”
He shook his head. “That I don’t know. It’s not my gift. But I bet that’s how he knew about my bid for the Council High Seat, and that your grandmother is helping me.”
“And now he’s going to exploit us before we can even get your plans off the ground.” Georgie turned and paced a short distance away, only to return rapidly, her skirt swinging against her knees. She retraced her steps a few more times, her frighteningly quick brain running over their options. “Clever, clever Eliasz.”
Silviu watched her, emotions rolling through him, warming him. “We can use him.”
“Of course, but we need to figure out the best way.”
“He’s already put the best way into motion, Georgie. He marries Iley and becomes our ally, helps us reach the High Seat and, in return, we strongly consider his Family’s needs.”
She stopped pacing to face him. “And when those needs are in direct opposition to what our other allies need?”
“That’s what I have you for, to find the best compromise.”
“Funny, I thought that was your forte.” Her lips twisted. “The Levys are influential.”
“So are the Davenolds,” he countered. “And your Family has a stronger magic. That’s the whole reason my father approached Madeleine in the first place, bartering my magic for your political standing.”
“I’m still vaguely surprised that she went for it.” Georgie rolled her eyes. “No offense.”
“She’s old. She’s got a finite time to sit in the High Seat, and the reigns matched up well.” Silviu shrugged. “And who else would take you, being Bane? No offense.”
Anger and hurt flashed in her eyes, but Silviu pushed his regret away. Georgeanne needed to hear a few facts and step down a peg or two. Otherwise, she’d try to walk all over him for the rest of their lives.
And they’d both be miserable.
Her chin lifted. “I know what I am, just as I know both my strengths and weaknesses. Grandmother has spent a lot of time preparing me for the political role I’m supposed to fill. I extend my Family’s influence through you, and you claw your way up the hierarchy through me.”
“An equal partnership.”
“Really? Seems like I’ll be doing most of the pushing and pulling around here. You haven’t even conquered the insurmountable hurdle of your own grandfather.”
Silviu crossed his arms over his chest, glaring. “The wheels are in motion. He doesn’t have the first clue as to what we’re trying to do.”
She grimaced and deflated, knowing the truth for what it was. Alexandru’s sole focus was on Costel, but Silviu preferred it that way. The manipulations of his father were enough to deal with, without adding Alexandru’s twisted world vision into his course of action. And it would make Ileana’s plan easier to accomplish.
“What do you know of the Levys, Georgie?”
She shrugged and studied the low heels on her feet by the light of the moon. “Big, powerful, widespread over North America, Eastern Europe and Israel. They’ve got a few pockets of strength in Africa, Australia and South America, but nothing like the stronghold in Illinois.”
“That’s basic bullshit. Everyone knows that.”
“Fredrik’s grandfather and Daniel’s great-great-grandfather were brothers. The Father chose one son over the other. Fredrik’s grandfather took over the tertiary branch and stayed in Poland when the main Family immigrated to America.”
Silviu tried to hide his shock. “He didn’t even get the secondary branch?”
“Nope, passed over for a cousin. You should have spent more time studying genealogy and less time dusting off old legends.” She shook her head, lips curving coldly. “Bet there’s a grudge being held here in Poland at the slight. Bet that’s why Eliasz is so set on moving up in the world.”
“But can he get past Daniel’s resistance? Or do we need to get more involved than what might prove to be comfortable for us?”
She lifted her gaze to him, thinking out loud. “I met Daniel’s father. He was a weak man, married to a weaker woman. Both magically and politically. The grandfather was iron-willed. Raised Daniel to be just like him. They’re generally honorable and honest, but ruthless in their pursuit of what they want. Family comes first, primary branch before anything.”
Silviu nodded. “That matches with what I know.”
“And what is that? How many of those files were you able to read?”
“Only Eliasz’s. I’ll go back later to see what else I can find, but…I was talking about my magic. I can read people, Georgie.”
“That’s not magic. So can I.”
Silviu’s lips quirked. “I know you can. You’re a great profiler, my love, but I meant I can see their magic, and Daniel has very little.”
“That magical weakness is the crux of the problem. Daniel will let the marriage to Iley go through, but appointing Eliasz to the Council is a different matter entirely. The Levys still benefit from Iley’s connection to you, so why should he hand over more power to a witch already more powerful than him? And in possible contention for Fatherhood? We’ll have to be smart about that. Don’t underestimate Daniel’s brain, Silver.”
“See? This is why we’re good together. Magic Matches.” A grin spread across his lips at the pet name and he couldn’t hold it back, even when Georgie’s face closed down with angry suspicion.
“No, I told you. You can’t be a Match if you have no magic.”
Every witch had a Match, somewhere in the world. Another, whose magic twined seamlessly with their own, adding to it, enhancing it. But, unless a coven was willing to scour the globe, they rarely found each other. Silviu knew that Georgie’s twin cousins were Matches, a fact she’d yet to share with him. Another secret she held back, irritating and frustrating him.
Georgie kept her cards clos
e to her chest.
He wanted her to tell him everything, to obey the pull of the magic between them, the fine shiver of tension that others surely must feel whenever they were within sight of each other. Her being Bane would confuse the issue to others, but not to Silviu. He had known his Match when he met her, felt the stirring of his magic, the way it reached out beyond the restrictions he’d always known within himself, and wrapped around her.
Testing her, Silviu stepped close, backing her against the side of the building as he pushed her limits. His magic sparked and flared, rolling from his body like an ocean’s tide, crashing over Georgie in a heavy wave. Slipping beneath the supple barrier the Bane energy coated her with, the magic blazed gold. Her lips pulled into a thin line.
“You may be Bane,” he growled, “but that’s not a lack of magic. All that magic is boiling inside you, ready to be passed on to your children in a concentrated dose.”
Her breathing was unsteady. “That’s just a story. No one knows what’s going on with me. There’s no precedent outside of mythology and—”
“Ask my father.” Silviu leaned down until they were nose to nose. “When word went out that your mother was expecting a female child, and speculation grew as to your birth date, he started going back over all those old stories he’d loved when he was a child.”
“I can’t be responsible for his disappointment. That’s his problem.”
“No, it’s my problem,” Silviu snarled, frustration breaking over him. “You know what it’s like, Georgie. You, of all people, know. It’s another element of our connection, another commonality between us. Raised to be special, different, our parents’ hopes and dreams weighing us down.”
He heard her swallow. “Don’t be dramatic.”
“Hours and hours, every fucking day of my life, I sat in a cold room with no windows and pored over those books. I learned the connections between Families, witching history. I learned the myths and the legends, the beliefs of the Bane Moon and the prophesies of the Reaping Moon.”
Where a Bane Moon left the inability to use magic, the Reaping Moon increased the talent. Her eyes flew wide, telling him clearly she knew about him.
“That’s right, Georgie. I was born in the Reap, the balance to your Bane, your Match in every fucking way. My father made sure of it and, later, so did Madeleine. I’ve had a much better education than my brother could ever dream, with the tutors she sent.”
“Good for you. She did it for herself, though, Silviu. For the Davenolds, not the Lovaszes.”
He shook his head, his voice lowering until it was a breath against the darkness. “She did it for you, because she believed, like my father, that the magic would pass on, making your line stronger.”
“Bullshit. She doesn’t believe any such thing. She wants magically powerful great-grandchildren and your father was willing to sell your sperm to the matriarchs.”
He didn’t try to hide his anger. “You’re right, and Madeleine will have my strong magic in her bloodline. Your children, our children, will be stronger than any witch in a hundred generations, your magic and mine combined into theirs.”
“You mean child.”
“We’ll have more than one, as only Matches can.”
“Don’t bank on it.”
He saw the stubborn disbelief in her eyes, the spark of frustration, and tamped down his own. He changed tactics and switched topics, not giving her a chance to argue further. “Do you ever think about the night I first put my hands on you?”
She froze, stopped breathing. She shook her head as her eyes flew wide. Silviu smiled and stepped closer, ever closer, until there was only enough room for their bodies’ heat to pass between them. He set his hand at her waist and sent it sliding up, following the line of her torso to her ribcage.
“You do,” he whispered wickedly. “You remember how it felt, when I ran my hands over your bare body, when I ran my thumb over your perfect little nipple.”
“Stop it. This is inappropriate at a Levy Family function.”
Her voice was too breathless to heed. He curled his fingers over her breast, craving shooting through him when he felt her nipple pebble under his touch. Her breath faltered, turning ragged, her pulse hammering in her slender throat.
“Do you remember when I put my mouth on you and kissed my way down, finally tasting your first flood of passion. How sweet you were, all innocent and fresh, lifting for me with a need you didn’t even bother to hide.”
“Silviu.”
He squeezed her nipple lightly as he licked across her lips, nearly giving in when her mouth opened for him. Instead, he ruthlessly held onto his lust and drew back, leaving her aching, needing. He hoped as needy as him.
Slowly, he moved away from her, gathering his control around him. “I think you’ll taste like that again, Georgie.”
“I’m not a virgin, Silviu.” She lifted her chin, chest heaving, the moonlight showing him the flush that washed across her cheeks and collarbone. “You’d better not expect innocence.”
Pain moved through him, bitter regret. He pushed it aside and lifted an eyebrow. “I took your innocence, Georgie, when we were just children. I’ll take your experience too, and teach you brand new things.”
“Bold words.”
“A promise, my love. Whoever touched you, they didn’t feel like me, did they? They didn’t feel as good, as right. You didn’t want them as much as you want me, and you damned sure didn’t find the pleasure you found with me.”
He lobbed his accusations blindly, but he’d hit his mark. The tightness in his chest eased as he saw the truth she couldn’t hide. He was right, and she knew it. Admitted it to herself, if not to him. That would make her surrender all the sweeter, when she finally came to him.
That would be soon. He’d make sure of it.
He held out his hand, forcing a soft smile for her. Hesitantly, she took his fingers and let him lead her back toward the bright lights of the reception room in silence. Entering the house, Silviu saw his father standing alone, just past the doors. Another scan of the room had him pointing toward an alcove and gently pushing Georgeanne in that direction.
“Christiana and Adam are over there, my love, if you feel the need for their comfort just now.”
A haughty glare was her response to his deliberate provocation, but she did as he suggested and swept off toward her Family. He took the opportunity to watch her go, hips swaying under the pink skirt, firm muscles shifting and bunching with each step.
Dragging in a breath, he aimed for his father.
Vasile looked pointedly toward the gardens. “How did that go?”
Silviu shook his head. “Where is Ileana?”
“Hopefully doing better than you. She left with Eliasz moments ago.”
“And Grandfather?”
“Is currently being ignored by all but Costel. He’s doing damage, Silviu.”
“So I hear. Apparently Georgeanne has been setting what she can to rights.” Silviu waved dismissively. “It won’t matter. Eliasz wants this match. Needs it, and his father is pushing hard. It’ll be fine.”
“Fredrik and I will meet tomorrow, after breakfast. We were discussing the bare preliminaries when Daniel found us and invited himself to the negotiations.”
Silviu lifted a dark eyebrow. “Will you need me there?”
“No.” Vasile snorted. “I can handle the Levy Father. You have your own tasks to see to.”
Chapter Seven
Georgeanne
“I don’t know how much longer I can refuse him.”
Adam lifted an eyebrow and chuckled. “Careful, Georgie, Madeleine won’t be pleased if you fail to follow her command to hold out on the wild, wicked sex you’re sure to have with your betrothed.”
“Is it very hard, then, Georgie?” Christiana grinned. “If it is, get creative. Grandmother said no sex, she didn’t mention anything else.”
Georgeanne turned to her cousin with a dark glare. “I meant to ask you, you’re not trying to
seduce Costel, are you?”
Genuine surprise flashed across the pretty woman’s face. “I doubt Milo would approve of his new bride, three months pregnant, I might add, hopping into bed with the brother of her cousin’s fiancé.”
Georgie blinked, confused as to where Christiana’s moral compass was currently pointed. Especially since she was fairly certain her cousin had murdered her first husband for his inability to give her a child. Milo was a brave man for agreeing to be the second.
Marriage was for life in the witching world. But life was a fragile thing when magic came into play.
“I hope we get to eat soon,” Christiana said blithely. “I’m starving.”
Adam checked his watch discreetly. “It’s almost eight. Surely they’ll start the dinner service at any time.”
Georgie cocked her head. “And have you found someone to sit with, Adam?”
“Not yet.”
Georgie scanned the room, barely taking in the tasteful décor. She’d seen better all her life, on all the Davenold properties. The Polish Levys had done well with what they had—the hardwood floors gleamed, the cream cushions were clean and plump, the crystal chandeliers sparkled—but it was clear they didn’t have the means of the primary branch.
“Ah, there she is.” Georgie nodded toward the far side of the immense reception room. A group had gathered on a small cluster of chairs, including a woman with all the fresh-faced beauty of a fairy-tale milkmaid. “Constance Gage-Levy.”
Adam followed her gaze. “She looks young.”
“Her mother is a Levy born to the secondary branch but married to a minor branch in…Germany, I think. It was an odd arrangement. I think Grandmother called it a punishment, although it could have been a love match, or something.”
“To Grandmother that would be a punishment.”
“She loved Grandfather. Well, as much as she could love any man.” Georgie’s lips quirked. “At any rate, I was speaking to Constance and her mother earlier, and she seems quite vapid, but there was a spark in those pretty blue eyes that let me know she was listening.” She gave her handsome cousin a meaningful look. “Maybe bored.”