No sound came from the rest of the house. A luxurious cream carpet covered the floor, heavy curtains framed the windows, and the opulent furniture screamed obvious wealth. The atmosphere gave Jewel a chill. She thought maybe her imagination was working overtime, but it seemed to her the air trembled with malevolence. She’d never been comfortable here, but she didn’t recall the ambience ever being this bad.
The door opened, but only the maid came through it, carrying a tray with a teapot and cups. She placed it on the table. “Madame Vargas will be with you shortly.” She kept her head lowered, sidling out of the room without looking at Jewel.
Jewel’s lungs tightened. She forced herself to inhale slowly. She’d always had difficulty breathing in her mother’s presence. For a while, they thought she might be asthmatic, and that had made her mother even shorter with her, as though it was a personal affront that any daughter of hers should have less than perfect health. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled as Kara walked into the room, dressed in a gray suit and heels. Jewel got to her feet, glad she hadn’t let herself sink into the comfortable depths of the sofa.
“Mother, how nice to see you after all these years.” No one could say her manners weren’t perfect.
Kara frowned. “Do sit down, Jewel.” She perched neatly on the opposite sofa. “Tea?”
Jewel sat down without answering. Kara had already picked the pot up, her attention on the teacups. She looked no older than the last time Jewel had seen her. Another chill shivered through her as she remembered her mother asking if anyone requested Jewel’s death in reparation for a non-existent crime. She was almost certain she’d seen a flicker of disappointment in her mother’s eyes when no one replied.
Kara gave the impression of being a large woman, mostly through attitude and the aura of authority that followed her. In reality, she had a similar build to Jewel, slender and small-boned. Her hair was in the same perfect chignon, the same dark red shade it had been nine years ago. The same arctic blue eyes skimmed over Jewel, leaving the same sense of inadequacy in their wake.
“What have you done with your hair?” Kara’s voice held distaste.
Once, Jewel would have cringed under it. To her surprise, the pettiness didn’t bother her. “I had it cut. Yesterday. Do you like it?”
Kara eyed her for a moment, shook her head, and passed her a teacup.
Jewel put it down on the table without tasting it. “How have you been?” She squirmed under her mother’s critical stare but forced herself to break the uncomfortable silence.
“Well,” Kara replied. “And have you enjoyed life on your island?” Her tone suggested that Jewel had spent the last nine years at a permanent party.
“Immensely.” Jewel struggled to keep the defiance out of her voice. She didn’t have to rise to the snide note in Kara’s voice.
“I’m surprised you left it,” Kara said, sounding as though she wished her daughter had stayed there.
Jewel sighed inwardly. “There was something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know anything about seawitches?”
“Seawitches?”
“We have a sick one. We brought her to London with us. We don’t know what to do for her.” Jewel wondered if she’d told her mother too much, but it couldn’t matter, the woman had never paid attention to anything she said anyway. And if she did know something, it could only help the seawitch.
Kara’s brows rose. “I thought they were extinct, but . . .” Her voice trailed off as the door opened. Her cold reserved features suddenly sprang to life, as though she was powerless to control her response.
Jewel followed her gaze. A man had stepped into the room. He was tall, he was handsome, and he was dark in more than a visual sense. Power rolled off him, and even Jewel, whose talents didn’t include awareness of auras, saw the halo of darkness surrounding him.
“Who have we here?” He advanced into the room and smiled down at Jewel. She resisted the urge to squirm away and forced her lips to return his smile.
“My daughter,” Kara said. “’I’ve mentioned Jewel, haven’t I?”
The man’s interest sharpened, and he studied Jewel closely. “I’m Alberic.” He held out his hand. Jewel reluctantly placed hers in it.
Heat seeped into her fingers as magic radiated from him, but she held his gaze as calmly as she could. Something told her it would not be wise to show fear. She pulled her hand back.
Kara interrupted with a feverish laugh, and Jewel’s concern grew. This must be why the coven is worried.
Kara’s behaviour was completely out of character. Her gaze rested on the mage with the fire of obsession. He smiled at her. The expression in her eyes made Jewel feel slightly sick.
“Jewel just asked about seawitches.” She swayed towards him. “I told her they were extinct. What do you think?”
“Probably extinct.” The mage stared thoughtfully at Jewel. His interest had spiked. “Why do you ask? What do you know of seawitches?” A pulse of magic enhanced the question.
“No reason.” The urge to tell him everything she knew almost took control of her, but she didn’t want Alberic to know anything about her or anyone she was connected with. His magic felt almost as powerful as Maya’s but nowhere near as clean. She fought his compulsion.
“Jewel has one with her. She brought her from the Indian Ocean.” Kara corrected her.
Jewel gritted her teeth.
“A sick one.” Kara added.
The silence stretched, while the shadows surrounding Alberic deepened. “You should let us see her.” He focussed his gaze on Jewel, and again the urge to please him thudded into her. “We might be able to help. The Indian Ocean, you say?”
“Thank you. I don’t know where she came from.” Jewel had no intention of letting this scary mage anywhere near the seawitch. She had a feeling that healing wasn’t one of his talents. “I’ll ring my mother and arrange a time.”
“Now would be good.” The dark eyes narrowed. “I’ll come back with you.”
“No.” Jewel forced a smile and hurriedly formed an excuse. “I have an appointment when I leave here.”
Kara stood up and touched the mage’s hand. “Would you like tea?”
“No, thank you.” Alberic patted her shoulder. “I just looked in to see who your visitor was. I’ll leave you to talk now.” He swung back to pin Jewel with his stare. “Let me know about your seawitch. Sooner would be best.” Again, his voice carried an undertone of command.
“But . . .” Kara watched him leave the room, her face soft with yearning.
Jewel followed her gaze. What’s going on? Has he cast a spell over my mother? She’s never behaved like this in her entire life.
Jewel needed to ask the coven as soon as she got a chance. Not that she meant to stay in London long enough to do anything practical. It was none of her business.
Her mother dragged her eyes away from the closed door. “Is that all you wanted?” She glanced at her watch.
Jewel regarded her thoughtfully. She was Kara’s only daughter. She hadn’t been home in nine years. Once again, she asked herself what was wrong with the woman. “Why don’t you like me, Mother?”
Kara’s head jerked up, surprise animating her features. She obviously hadn’t expected to be challenged; the old Jewel would never have done it. Her expression shifted back to glacial, and Jewel expected her to say nothing. Her face screwed up with something that might have been anger, might have been any sort of negative emotion. She collapsed back onto the sofa. “You were a disappointment. Nothing to do with like or dislike. Every time I look at you, I’m reminded that I failed.”
“Failed?”
“You were supposed to be a witch of immense power.” Kara’s voice rose. “I chose your father carefully. He was a mage of the highest lev
els. I’m the most powerful witch in the coven. You should have been better than you are.”
Jewel wondered if she should point out that Kara was well outclassed by Maya, but she didn’t want her mother to attack her physically. The old Kara would never have stooped to such impulsive behaviour, but the woman in front of her now was different. “It doesn’t work like that.” Even Jewel knew the Law of the Average. Every generation leaned towards the average. There were exceptions, of course, but they were exceptions, mutations, or something.
“Sometimes it does.” Kara glared at her. “Do you know why you were called Jewel?”
Jewel shook her head. Her palms were damp. She didn’t like this at all, but she had asked.
“You were supposed to be the jewel in the Vargas family tree. The next coven leader.”
What? She must be mad.
Kara’s face flushed with emotion, and a long strand of hair worked loose from her chignon. Her fists clenched and unclenched. “But it was obvious from the time you were a child that you’d never be worth anything. My father called me a failure when he saw what I’d produced.” Kara’s features twisted into bitterness. “He told me I couldn’t do anything right.”
Jewel kept quiet. She hardly remembered her grandfather; she had a vague impression of a scary old man, small and wrinkled, with fierce pale blue eyes.
“I never had another child. I’d given it my best attempt.” Kara regarded Jewel with contempt. “My grandmother was coven leader. My father was coven leader. It’s a Vargas position. Then you came along. Worthless.” She practically spat the words out.
“But why should I have been more powerful than you?” Jewel didn’t want to make Kara any angrier than she already was, but she really wanted to know.
“I chose your father carefully,” she repeated. “I knew I should have cast a ritual as well, but I’d used most of my reserves in seducing him.”
Jewel took a deep breath. “Who was my father?” She’d wondered for years but, because Kara became extremely annoyed whenever she asked, she’d given up. After the second beating, she decided that the knowledge wasn’t worth the pain.
“Fergal Redcar.” Kara stared at her triumphantly. “So you had every chance. You could have been great.”
Jewel struggled to draw breath. She’d stopped listening after the name. “Maya’s father?”
Kara didn’t answer directly. “Why did Maya get that sort of ability but you didn’t? Her mother wasn’t so great.” Her bitterness clouded her view of the past. Maya’s mother had been a powerful healer.
Jewel and Maya were almost the same age; only a few months separated them.
“He was going mad. Maya said his magic drove him insane. He disappeared before she was born. Are you sure that he was my father?”
Kara’s face adopted an expression of affront. “Of course I’m sure. I knew who my partner was. My father chose him. I spent months getting him prepared. Feeding him the drugs. Luring him into trusting me. And he was the only man who had me then. It had to be him. I was never promiscuous.” She narrowed her eyes at Jewel. “Not like you.”
“Fergal was married,” Jewel said.
“To that worthless healer.” Kara shrugged. “And what did that lead to? A weak empath.”
Is she talking about Lila?
“He should have been mine. With his power and my family connections, we might have ruled the city. Not just North London.”
Great. My mother has a world domination complex. Jewel would have to go and tell the coven and Maya that her mother had become a megalomaniac. She had a sudden thought. “Does Maya know?”
“Of course she doesn’t.” Kara’s eyes flashed diamond bright, and she rose from the sofa. She took a step towards Jewel. “She should have been my daughter. The healer should have had you.”
Jewel shot to her feet, glad the coffee table protected her. “What happened to Fergal?” The rumour that he’d been consumed by his magic had been generally accepted. Most people, including his wife and daughters, thought he died.
“The drugs sent him a little loopy.” Kara smiled to herself.
Jewel’s skin tingled with anxiety. It looked as though her mother had been mad for a while longer than the coven suspected.
“It was easy to get rid of him.” She tilted her head to one side and pursed her lips. “Although, if I’d known you were going to be such a failure, I’d have kept him around for longer. Maybe tried again.”
Jewel edged out from behind the coffee table and towards the door. She needed to get as far away as possible. If she had her way, she’d never return.
“Are you leaving?”
“Thanks for the tea.” Jewel watched her mother as carefully as she would have watched a predatory animal.
“Don’t come back.” Kara perched on the sofa, sipping tea in her old refined way.
Jewel sidled out the door.
“You aren’t welcome here.” The words flew after her.
The maid hovered in the hall, ready to show her out. Her legs shaking, Jewel asked if she could use the bathroom. Resting her forehead against the cool glass of the mirror, she waited for the weakness to pass. The pulse in her throat pounded in her ears, and she breathed slowly, counting from one to ten. After washing her hands in cold water, she looked round for her bag. Damn. I must have left it on the sofa.
The maid had disappeared, and Jewel hesitated at the door to the sitting room. The best case scenario would be that Kara had gone and the room would be empty. She listened. A slight rustle of movement came from within and then she heard the mage’s voice.
Muffled by the closed door, only the words “seawitch,” “daughter,” and “opportunity” reached her ears.
Heat washed over her body, leaving her forehead damp. She really didn’t want to go back into that room. Her bag would have to stay there. Turning away, she bumped into the maid.
“Miss Vargas? Are you all right?”
“I’ve lost my handbag.”
“I’ll find it for you.” The maid knocked firmly on the door, waiting a moment before she pushed it open.
Jewel got the impression she’d learned not to walk into rooms without a loud announcement of her presence. She returned, holding out the bag to Jewel.
“There you are.” She led the way to the front door and opened it. “Have a nice day.”
The door slammed closed behind her. Jewel stood on the front step, her handbag clutched to her breasts, heart thudding against her chest. Gathering herself together, she headed for the main gates, heaving a sigh of relief as they clanged closed, leaving her on the pavement. She lifted her head and caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. A figure, enveloped in baggy tweed, loitered on the opposite side of the road, his head drooping. A flash of blue from his eyes focussed on the house before he glanced at Jewel.
I’ve seen him before. She blinked, and when she looked again, he was gone.
Chapter 9
Jewel started to walk back towards Maya’s flat, but after a few steps, she slowed her pace. She turned round and squinted through the cast iron gate at the huge house where she had grown up. It looked sinister now. Contemplating her newly acquired knowledge, she decided not to go back to the flat. What will I say to Maya?
Trudging towards Hampstead High Street, she tried to make sense of everything she’d heard, but her mind wouldn’t focus, and she finally halted. She propped herself against a wall, legs trembling.
“Are you all right, dear?” An elderly woman touched her arm and peered into her face.
Jewel nodded. “I’m fine. Low blood sugar moment. I need to get something to eat.” She focussed on the woman’s concerned face. “I am all right. Really. But thank you.” She headed towards the coffee shop she’d been in earlier and ordered an extra creamy hot chocolate. Her seat by t
he window was still unoccupied, and she carried the chocolate over to it, sitting down with a huff of relief. She definitely felt peculiar. Everything had been going as she’d expected, until she’d asked Kara why she didn’t like her. She should never have stirred up that hornet’s nest. Confrontations were never a good idea.
She sipped her chocolate slowly and thought about what she’d learned. Why they’d ever thought Kara could be of help was beyond Jewel. Maybe nine years has distorted my memory of my mother. She’s not so great, and she knows nothing about seawitches.
They’d have to go elsewhere for help with the damaged seawitch. Although Alberic had seemed to know something and been keen to help, Jewel shuddered. They would have to be a lot more desperate before she would accept anything from him. She couldn’t figure out why he had displayed such an unhealthy interest.
Jewel knew she had always disappointed her mother, but she’d never understood why. As a child she’d been obedient, diligent in her lessons, and well thought of by her teachers and friends. She’d been told her spell casting and other forms of magic put her in the slightly higher than average range, but striving to please her mother had gotten her nowhere; nothing made any difference. At best, her mother ignored her. At worst, she became abusive. By the time Jewel reached the age of thirteen, she made a point of avoiding her mother, and by the time Micael came along, she was an easy target. She let out a deep sigh. Understanding why she was the way she was didn’t help her deal with it.
Children of Poseidon: Rann Page 8