Lia stared at him, eyes wide. “You are my brother!” she exclaimed softly, then looked at her father. “Why am I here?”
Albert frowned and slapped her. “You know why you are here.”
“But he is my brother! You said I would be serving the risen one.”
Vamar stepped forward and grabbed her chin. “This is your brother’s body, but I am not your brother. I am your Master, and you will do as I tell you or suffer the consequences of your impudence.”
Five years ago
Chapter Four
Christopher “Chase” Ralston gripped his white dress cap in his white-gloved left hand as the West Point chaplain gave the benediction over his graduating class. The week had seemed endless with receptions, reviews, banquets, and parades...all of which he participated in with pride. Pride in his and his fellow cadets’ accomplishments over the last four years. He was proud to lead this group of newly commissioned Second Lieutenants in the United States Army.
A small smile appeared on his face as his heart swelled with emotion, then began to ache. He stood in the same place his father had twenty-three years earlier. Had he still been alive, Chase knew his father would be so proud of him. As it was, he saw his mother and younger brothers sitting in the stands. She’d also been here twenty-three years ago, watching her fiancé graduate with honors. It had been a bittersweet week for both of them.
When the chaplain finished speaking, Chase looked up at the serious face of the Commandant of Cadets, but he could see the delight in the older man’s eyes as he looked out on the graduating class. At the appointed time, Chase replaced his dress cap and received the order to dismiss his class. After a crisp about-face, he looked out on his classmates, his chest swelling with emotion once again.
“Class! Re-” He gave the customary pause, “-cover!”
The class replaced their caps, and Chase felt the excitement build.
“Class!” he shouted in his deep, baritone voice, then grinned. “Dis...missed!”
Immediately, the sky above the almost one thousand cadets darkened slightly as caps were thrown high in the air in celebration, as had been done for well over a hundred years. Chase contributed his own cap, tossing it toward his left where the children in attendance rushed onto the field to win their prize for surviving the tedious ceremonies of the week: a cadet’s cap.
The mass of humanity pressed in around him as parents and loved ones hurried in behind the children, searching for their sons and daughters, fiancés and friends, brothers and sisters, granddaughters and grandsons.
Chase was hugged and his back patted for twenty minutes before he finally located his mother.
Placing her hands on his cheeks, she gazed up at him, love in her eyes. The tears streaming down her face mirrored his own. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said, his voice cracking. He gathered her into his arms for a bear hug. She laughed and hugged him back.
Chapter Five
Sixteen-year-old Sabrina Mansfield and her friend, Beth, giggled as they hurried through the crowd at the dance festival in Western Massachusetts. Music sounded up ahead, announcing that they were late for the outdoor performance of the local dance school. Sabrina clutched the program in her hand and dodged around an older couple to keep up. She stopped short when she saw the dancers on the elevated stage. They wore elaborate, brightly colored costumes and danced in unison to the beat of the drums from the corner of the stage.
Her mouth opened in awe at the intricate gymnastics and enthusiastic rhythm. She’d trained as a classical ballet dancer since she was four. While she preferred the strictness of the Russian heritage she’d been taught, she couldn’t deny the excitement of the music and drums surrounding her. Feet stomped, hands clapped to the heavy beat. A female dancer jumped from the shoulders of a tall man, the audience letting out a collective “Ah!” as she executed a perfect, nearly soundless landing.
After the music came to its thrilling conclusion, Sabrina joined the hundreds of other people around her with cheers and applause.
“They were amazing!” she exclaimed breathlessly to Beth, who stood next to her. Beth, a fellow dancer of the same age at the Boston ballet company’s summer program, looked as astonished as Sabrina felt. During the past two weeks, they had connected over the shared experience of their first time in Boston. Both had danced most of their lives and been top of their classes back home, though Beth was from Oklahoma and Sabrina from Arizona.
“I know!” Beth agreed, her pale blue eyes sparkling with excitement. Her fiery red hair shined in the sunlight as she nodded enthusiastically.
Sabrina grinned and continued clapping as the crowd cheered for the lead dancers. She gazed up at them, wondering if she’d garner the same enthusiastic applause someday.
As the noise began to die down, she started to turn away, but something...or, rather, someone...caught her attention. A young man stood on the other side of the stage staring at her. He was tall, wearing the uniform of an Army officer, and he took her breath away.
*****
Chase sighed as the performance of the African dance troupe began. It wasn’t that he didn’t like dance, or even that the performance was likely to be dull. He sighed because his leave after graduating from West Point was almost up and the last place he wanted to be was at a dance festival with his mother.
Grace Ralston was an avid supporter of dance programs. Since his father died, it had become a tradition that he attend the summer festival with her. She was a patron of this particular dance school, since she performed here as a teenager. She’d met her husband here and continued to attend every year, even after he was killed in combat eight years ago.
Chase had grown up attending all things dance, especially ballet, which was his mother’s favorite. He wondered if she hoped he would meet a woman here who would capture his attention for longer than a few dates, but Chase wasn’t interested in marrying. Not yet anyway. Even Richard, his father’s best friend since childhood, had been after him the last few weeks about getting married. Chase had managed to avoid the conversation before by reminding Richard that he wasn’t allowed to have a wife while at school, but now that he’d graduated and been commissioned, the conversation was inevitable.
“You have a duty, Chase,” Richard told him several times in the last year of school. “You are my heir and it’s expected.”
Chase would frown. “You agreed to let me walk this path,” he’d remind Richard, which displeased the older man.
“That was before my position changed.”
“I have to do this,” Chase would say. “To honor my father.”
And Richard understood that...most of the time.
Chase had dreamed of being an Army officer as far back as he could remember. He wanted to be like his dad, an honorable officer...minus the dying in his mid-thirties during a combat mission. Maybe his fear of doing exactly that kept him from settling down with a girl. Did he really want to put someone through what his mother experienced after his dad died? Wasn’t it unfair to ask a woman to marry a man who wanted to become a Green Beret and risk life every day to protect his country?
Richard had agreed to allow him to serve out his military commitment, but Chase didn’t know if he’d be able to stay in much longer. He hoped so, but he also knew he had a lot to learn from Richard, a path Chase had agreed to when he turned twenty last year.
Chase watched the dancers move about the stage, then his gaze was drawn to the audience. Directly across from him, the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen seized his attention and wouldn’t let go. She was young, maybe sixteen, and Chase scolded himself for being attracted to someone five years younger than himself. That was just asking for a court-martial. But he couldn’t stop staring at her.
Her long, dark hair was thick and framed her face, flashing golden fire when the sun moved out from behind the clouds to shine on it. H
er cheeks flushed as she watched the dancers, her eyes widening and her lips parting as they moved. Her neck was long and shapely, and the skin of her upper chest and cheeks had been kissed by the sun. She looked both delicate and strong at the same time, a quality Chase liked in a woman.
Woman. He shook his head. She wasn’t a woman. Not yet. But in a few years...
Loud applause broke his train of thought and he looked up to see the dancers taking their bows. He glanced down at his mother, who smiled brightly, then looked back at the girl across the way. She was looking at him. It made his heart pound in his chest harder than when he’d been preparing for his first parachute jump.
“Chase?”
His mother’s voice made him jump. Reluctantly, he turned away from the girl to give his mom his full attention.
“You okay?” she asked, head tilting slightly.
Chase nodded. “Yeah. Why?”
Grace looked to where Chase had been staring, then looked back at him with a knowing smile. “You look as if you’ve seen something...interesting.”
Chase purposely didn’t look and raised his eyebrows. “It’s nothing.”
“She’s pretty.”
He frowned. “She’s young.”
Grace laughed. “So was I.”
Chase knew she referred to when she’d met his father. “I know,” he said softly, then looked back at the girl. She’d turned away, looking at something in her hand and talking with a shorter girl with orange hair.
“Go talk to her,” Grace said, nodding in the direction of the girls.
“Why?” Why would his mother encourage him to go talk to a stranger? Okay, he didn’t have to worry about “stranger danger”. She was a young girl and he was a grown man.
A grown man. Exactly why I shouldn’t go talk to her.
“Because I’ve never seen you look at a girl like that before.”
He growled, making his mother laugh again. She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I’m going to go find Richard and Kathy, then get something to drink. You go be the charming young man I know you can be.”
At a loss, Chase watched his mother walk away. He often wondered if Grandma and Grandpa changed her name after she was born or if they instinctively knew she would grow up to be a graceful woman.
He took a deep breath and straightened his jacket before turning toward the two girls.
They were gone!
*****
Sabrina’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the man across the stage, who stared back at her. Why? She couldn’t deny that the idea of being watched by a handsome Army officer gave her a strange sensation in her stomach. His face was inscrutable beneath a black beret, but it was very handsome...high cheekbones, sensuous lips, and a slight dimple in his left cheek that made her heart flutter. She suspected his hair was dark brown, but it was hard to tell since it was cut so short. His chest and shoulders were broad beneath his black service coat, and when he moved, the sunlight flashed off the pins on his lapel.
An older woman stood next to him. When she spoke to him, he looked away. Sabrina felt...released somehow. Once he broke their gaze, she was able to look away, giving Beth a nervous giggle.
“Omigosh. He’s hot,” Beth whispered, a smile on her face.
Sabrina tried to shrug nonchalantly, but couldn’t suppress her own grin.
Beth squinted, then gasped. “Wait!” She grabbed the program out of Sabrina’s hand and flipped through the pages. “I thought he looked familiar. Look!” Beth held up the program. Sabrina blinked as she stared at the picture on the page of donors. It was the man, along with the woman who stood next to him.
“Grace Ralston and her son, Christopher,” Sabrina read aloud, then smiled. Donors to dance schools always made her thankful.
She glanced back over at the man and saw him talking earnestly with the woman Sabrina now knew was his mother. His mother laughed, making her whole face light up, and Christopher’s cheeks darkened. Mrs. Ralston looked like a very nice woman, making Sabrina long for her own mother back home. She’d only been gone for two weeks of the five-week session, but already missed her dear parents.
Sabrina sighed. “C’mon. Let’s go find the others.”
*****
Later that evening, Chase plopped down on the barstool next to his best friend, Jayson Reynolds, and nodded to the others around the high-top table. Most were dancers from the Boston ballet company where Jayson danced, but there were a few friends from high school, as well.
“Happy twenty-first,” Chase said, patting his friend on the shoulder. He gave a broad smile to the others around the table, taking note of a girl from high school who had changed from geeky academic to sexy woman.
Maybe she’d be able to get my mind off that girl.
After he’d lost the girl at the festival, he’d spent the better part of an hour looking for her, but the crowd was immense. Even with his above average height, he couldn’t find her. Feeling dejected, he eventually located his mother and they headed back to Boston. She seemed amused, which irritated him. The entire way home, he’d tried to forget about the girl, unsuccessfully. Perhaps a night of drinking and debauchery to celebrate his best friend’s birthday would help. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t get her face out of his mind.
Jayson grinned and held up his beer in greeting. “Wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”
Chase waved his hand to get the attention of the waitress, who winked and sauntered toward him. “I told Mom it was important for me to come, especially since I missed the last four.”
His friend punched him in the arm. “No kidding.” He held up his hands. “No present?”
Chase laughed. “I’m just a poor soldier.” When the waitress appeared, he ordered a microbrew.
Jayson rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh. Army officer and son of one of the oldest families in the city. Not getting away with that, buddy.”
“Hey, those royal families in Britain are all broke.”
“You’re not British.”
“Somewhere along the line, I am.”
“You’re not royalty.”
“You got me there.” Chase laughed and slid an envelope across the table. “Happy birthday.”
Jayson grinned. “Thanks, man. Honestly, I’m just glad you’re here.” He gave Chase a side hug. “You’ve been playing soldier too much.”
Chase could see the concern in his eyes, so he gave him a wry grin. They were as close as brothers. He knew Jayson worried about his choice of occupation. “I’ll be okay. Besides, I’m not the one who got hurt on the job.” He nodded toward his friend’s wrapped foot. “How’s it feel?”
“Getting there. Wasn’t on the job, though, as Martin likes to remind me.” Jayson shrugged. “You’d think I’d be more graceful when showing off for a girl.”
“You’d think,” Chase agreed with a laugh. The waitress set his beer in front of him and he raised it up high. “To my best friend.” The others at the table followed suit. “Happy birthday, buddy.”
“Happy birthday!” everyone shouted.
Chapter Six
Chase sighed as he stood in front of the mirror, straightening his uniform jacket. The gesture made him remember doing the same thing before losing sight of her.
“Still thinking about her?” came his mother’s voice from the bedroom doorway.
He performed a smart about-face and grimaced. “I don’t understand it, Mom. I only saw her for a moment...”
Grace walked into her son’s room and smiled gently. “We don’t always understand why things happen, but they always happen for a reason.”
“I’m at such a loss as to how to find her,” he said in a low voice.
She tilted her head and gave him a warm smile. “Honey, if it’s meant to be, you’ll find her. At the most unexpected time, you’ll find her.”
<
br /> Chase shook his head with a frown. “You’re such a romantic.”
Grace laughed. “How could I not be? It’s how I met your father.” The pain in her eyes when she mentioned him wasn’t as poignant as it used to be, but Chase could still see the loss in her expression.
He ached for the loss, as well. He reached for his mom and hugged her. “I’m sorry I have to leave so soon.”
She leaned back in his arms and looked up at him. “Don’t apologize, Chase. Duty calls. I’ve had you home for almost two months and have enjoyed every moment.”
“I feel bad leaving you.”
“Bah.” She swatted at his chest. “I have friends and plenty of activities to keep me busy. Richard and Kathy will look after me, just like they always have. I’ll be fine.” She tilted her head. “I’m glad we have this last night before you go off to training.”
“You know I’m only going to the ballet school’s gala because I love you, right?” Chase remarked with a wry smile. “I hate these things.”
Grace laughed. “But you love the ballerinas.”
He snorted. “These are students, not professionals. They’re too young to have any fun with.”
“Ah, but you’ll be admired and ogled over. You love that. And by the time you get back, they’ll be all grown up.”
Chase rolled his eyes, but couldn’t deny it.
A twinkle appeared in his mother’s eyes. Chase narrowed his suspiciously. “What?”
She raised her eyebrows and turned to walk away. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
*****
Sabrina smoothed her hands down her pink chiffon dress as she waited to board the huge yacht where the students of the summer dance program would celebrate the end of the session. It had been a magical, albeit long five weeks, and tonight’s celebration would be bittersweet. She’d loved every moment of being here, but was homesick and couldn’t wait to see her parents again.
She felt she’d proven her dancing abilities and could return home confident in a future of dancing, especially since she’d been invited to join the pre-professional program here in Boston. They’d even offered her a hefty scholarship to sweeten the deal, but Sabrina didn’t want to move away from home just yet. She’d talked it over with her parents, who’d been unbelievably encouraging. They wanted her to be happy, but she wasn’t ready to be on her own. Sabrina suspected they were grateful for her decision.
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