Then Estelle smiled at her and Agata, slowly, nodded back.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad for the two of them.
Chapter 18
Estelle shut the door and collapsed on her bed. After two minutes, she roused herself long enough to get a glass of water, down it, and go back to bed.
All in all, it had been a not-terrible day.
This was unexpected. A rough start, absolutely. Did she like Agata? She wasn’t sure but she was going to try.
Vincenzo. She folded her arms under her head. It was extraordinary to think that the Ancient had spoken to her. Now that she’d had a few hours to ponder it, she’d decided she needed to go back soon. She’d go tomorrow and see if it happened again. Stranger things had occurred, after all. Best to keep it quiet for now.
She picked up her phone and scrolled through the messages. Quite a few were subtle and not-so-subtle versions on the “A lithu? WTF call me” messages she’d been getting all day. These she deleted outright. She wouldn’t defend Agata, as though there was something wrong with Wavena’s choice. Her job was to support her queen and she would.
The phone buzzed again. Raoul. She picked up.
“You didn’t tell me Felix was gone,” he said by way of introduction.
“Hello, Raoul.”
“You need to find him.”
She closed her eyes. “I know. My mother’s been calling.”
“No, you have to, Estelle. Immediately.”
Now she sat up in bed. “Why?” she demanded.
“We can’t afford to have it known that your brother has defected to the Dawning,” said Raoul. “Think of the damage this would do to Wavena.”
Estelle shut her eyes. “I don’t know where to start looking. We’ve been searching for Dawning bases for months. They’re well-hidden.”
“I’ll help.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “I know you find this hard to believe, but I like Felix. We’re friends. I don’t want him…” he trailed off.
“Do you think he went on his own?”
“I’m sorry. No.”
Estelle squeezed the phone. She and Felix had their differences—they had nothing but differences—but they were siblings. She didn’t want him hurt.
“Me neither.”
“I don’t think we should tell Wavena.”
She laughed. “You want me to leave with no reason?”
“I would prefer her not to know what an idiot I was to go with Felix the other day,” he said seriously. “It was a lack of judgement and she won’t take it well. She might also suspect that Felix went willingly to the Dawning.”
Wavena trusted her, but Felix’s actions would rebound on Estelle and the family, putting her in a similar situation to Raoul. She’d have to take care of this herself, and not delegate it to a team.
“This is a military operation,” she decided. No need to inform Wavena of minor details. She’d only be gone a day or two, enough to confirm Felix’s location once they scouted it out. Plus, they’d have valuable information on the Dawning.
She told herself it would be good training for Agata, who would have to be left in charge. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“Thank you.”
Raoul hung up.
She’d barely moved the phone from her ear, already hot from pressing the handset against her head, when it rang again—this time, her mother. She moved to decline the call and accidentally accepted it. Shit. Well, she couldn’t avoid her mother forever.
“Maman.”
“Estelle. You need to find your brother.” Her mother sounded calm, but Estelle heard the hysteria burbling underneath the surface. Helene was cool and collected during a professional crisis, but anything Felix-related would send her careening into the path of an emotional tornado.
“Has he not come home?” She knew he hadn’t but best to let her mother talk.
“No, and he’s not answering his phone. I’ve been calling all day.”
“He’s an adult, Maman. Give him a break.”
“I know my boy. Estelle, I want you to find him. Something’s happened to him. He’s been kidnapped. Those terrible lithu have taken my son.”
“I’m sure he’s fine, Maman,” soothed Estelle. She would send her mother into further hysterics if she confirmed that she and Raoul agreed that Felix had been taken, and by the Dawning.
“You don’t know that.” Her mother’s tone suddenly softened and she started to weep. “I want Felix safe, Estelle. Please.”
Estelle felt her hand tighten on the phone and she made a conscious effort to soften her grip. Her brother was useless and selfish, but she couldn’t let her parents suffer. “Okay.”
The sobs stopped abruptly. “You’ll find him?”
“I will.” If she had second thoughts about what she’d said to Raoul, those were gone. She was committed.
“Thank you, darling. Your father didn’t believe you would do anything, but I knew I could count on you.”
She hung up and stared at the phone. Felix. Everything was about Felix.
When the knock on her door came, it wasn’t completely unexpected. Stephan stood there, silhouetted by the light in the hall. She stepped aside wordlessly to let him in.
“Interesting night,” he said. His voice calmed her immediately. How could a man affect her so much that even now, when discussing serious topics, all she could think about was the rough palms of his hands?
“I need to find him.”
“What?”
“Felix. He’s my brother. I need to get him back.”
He regarded her. “This seems sudden.”
“My mother called.”
Stephan ran his hand along her arm. “Enough said. I suggest you sleep on it before you decide.”
“What’s to sleep on? He’s my brother.” She had to protect her family.
He came in and they sat on the couch. “I know. That’s why I said it. You’re in charge. Is it your job to go hunting for him? Or is it better to get a team to find Felix. I don’t think you should go.”
Estelle felt deep exhaustion creep over her. Was it? Perhaps. Maybe not. She said she would but maybe she should have given it the night to consider. Maybe Raoul was exaggerating how Wavena would react. She could barely tell anymore. Tomorrow. She’d think about it tomorrow.
For now, it was enough to lean against Stephan, who tucked her under his arm. They sat there for a long time, simply giving each other the comfort neither could get—nor wanted—from anyone else.
* * * *
Stephan’s flight left early the next day, and Estelle was up and ready with a cup of coffee to take him to the airport. He looked around at the lush green as she drove through a light morning mist. “I’ll be looking at snow in four hours,” he said.
“You’re coming back soon, though?” She didn’t take her eyes off the road, but reached out and laid her hand lightly on his leg before returning to the wheel.
That touch. Her small, unthinking caress made him lose his train of thought for a second. “What?”
“Coming back? You? When?”
“Right. Less than a week.” He wanted to report to Eric and talk to Caro and Miaoling about Raoul’s visit. Video calls were fine in a pinch, but he preferred face-to-face conversations. Call it old-fashioned.
“I might be gone.”
“You’re not seriously going after your brother.”
“I seriously am. I promised Maman.”
“That you’d do it yourself? You’re the seneschal, Estelle. That’s not your job anymore.”
She gave him a sideways glance. “If that was your brother, or Eric, would you assign a team?”
That shut him up, but only for a moment. “I think it’s a bad idea.”
“I can’t risk this getting out
,” she said. “To have it known that my brother is a traitor? Do you know how hard that would make it for me?”
“People will understand you are not your brother.”
She snorted. “Right. Send me the address of that nice, generous Utopia when you find it.”
They drove in silence and then she spoke. “I’m a little on edge here.”
“I’ll be back soon. Promise me you’ll wait to make a decision. You won’t go without me.”
Estelle took the exit. “We’ll see.”
“Estelle. Promise me.”
She grinned at the windshield. “I think I make a lot of promises to you, Stephan. At some point, it would be nice to not have to.”
“I apologize.” Selene’s voice again. Pull back. Be like water, gentle but present. “What are you doing after you drop me off?”
“Good topic change.”
“Thanks.”
When she laughed, the mood in the car lightened. “Agata stuff. More meetings. More briefings. More training.”
They were at the airport now. “Good luck with that.”
“I’m sure it will be fine.” She sounded unconvinced. “It will at least be amusing. Or horrifying. Not sure what. There’s your gate.”
She parked and Stephan pulled his bag out of the back before dropping it on the sidewalk and gathering her small body against him. A perfect joy spread through him and he bent down to kiss her. She cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him again.
Definitely he was going to shorten his visit back to Toronto.
“Bon voyage.”
One last kiss and then she was gone.
Chapter 19
Estelle stood on the threshold of the Ancients’ crypt. She’d come alone this time, and now that she was here, she wondered if it had been a smart decision. At least the crypt was monitored. If Vincenzo killed her, security would know.
Of course, she’d be dead but nothing was perfect.
The two were unchanged but the feeling in the air changed as she approached Vincenzo. You returned.
She’d replicated the experiment. She wasn’t sure if it was a positive or negative finding.
“I did. I wanted to see if I was dreaming.”
You may be. I wonder that myself, what is a dream and what isn’t.
“You said Cressida was closed to you. What of other seneschals?”
Most are closed. They do not want to see what they are not ready to cope with. You are young and unsure.
“Thanks.”
You are welcome. He didn’t seem to notice her sarcasm.
“What do you want from me?”
To talk. He sounded honestly surprised. My beloved and I need nothing. But company is welcome.
“Really?”
You may be young but you are suspicious. He sounded approving. Come, let us talk and that is all.
“You’ll enter my mind to try to escape, as Paulina did.”
You will try to kill us, as Cressida once did.
“She never did.” Did she? Cressida said nothing of this to Estelle.
She felt we were too great a risk.
“I don’t believe it.”
Yet it is true. I do not judge you by her.
“I shouldn’t judge you by Paulina. I get it.”
Perhaps there is one thing. There is a disturbance in the air that we don’t understand, my beloved and I, but it discomfits us.
“Yangzei? There is a masquerada Ancient out.”
A long pause. That makes sense. Thank you.
“Do you know him? Did you know him?”
Only stories. He was a legend when we were already old. A soul-thief and evil.
She left soon after that, not sure of what she was trying to accomplish in the crypt. Was Vincenzo luring into a false sense of complacency? Once her guard was down, he would attack?
He seemed calm, though, and happy with his lot, as long as Lucia was with him.
She was thinking about it when she arrived back at the library. Raoul met her with more information about Dawning possibilities. He’d been unusually helpful. She hadn’t realized how good a researcher he was. She had the Dawning’s location, or at least the one where her brother might be, narrowed down to three based on the details Raoul could remember from conversations with Felix and cross-referenced with other data he’d gathered. One was in Mexico and two were in Texas.
“What do you know about Lucia and Vincenzo?” she asked.
“They were lovers before the madness, I know that, and they chose to go to their underground rest together.”
“What about their lives before they slept? I know the legends.” Lucia had been a queen and Vincenzo her general-lover. “Are they true?”
He pointed to a shelf of books. “We don’t know. All of those are permutations of their story.”
She’d look later; now it was time to work. Estelle’s email had filled with messages from countless families clutching their pearls and complaining that Agata had not shown them the proper respect. When Estelle quizzed them further, the only think they could point to was a tone, or expression. She spent many hours soothing hurt feelings.
What it came down to, Estelle knew, was that Agata had the nerve to act as though she was equal, even superior, to the vampires who surrounded her. They didn’t like that. Neither did Estelle, for that matter, but if she had to cope with feeling insignificant, so did they. Not that any of the lithu’s rumored monstrous traits had appeared. Beside the hideous nails and not eating at all, there were very few differences between Agata and an everyday vampire. She deleted another message. The glass door opened before Estelle could even turn around. Agata marched in, her curly hair held back in a ponytail so tight it pulled the edges of her eyes to the side of her hairline. As usual her face was clean, shiny, and grim.
“You missed our meeting,” she said.
Estelle glanced at her watch and groaned. “I’m sorry.” She waved around at the objects covering the room. “I’m right in the middle of something.” As usual. Her calendar was triple-booked. It was totally possible she had decided to go after her brother simply to get away from the constant beeping of her calendar app.
“You will tell me what is so important that it consumes all of your time.” Agata sat bolt upright at the table and stared at the books strewn across its surface.
Having worked more with Agata, Estelle was no longer surprised that her deputy’s statements ended up sounding like a command from God. Agata was simply a very confident, very powerful woman who saw no point in wasting time with any sort of feel-good language. She also made no secret of her contempt for what she saw as vampiric weakness, frivolity, and superficiality.
Estelle tried to shove away the feeling of ineffectiveness Agata caused in her. “I am going after my brother and while I’m gone, you’re going to be in charge. Obviously, this is confidential and you are not to tell others.”
“No.”
“No?” What?
“No. You may not go. This is selfish. Your role is here and your purpose is to make decisions to benefit all of your people. Send someone for your brother.”
There was no one else she trusted to do the job. Her mother had been calling several times a day, wanting know why she hadn’t found Felix yet. Estelle shook her head. “He is my brother and my responsibility.” She couldn’t risk the damage to her family’s reputation if it was known what Felix had done.
“Your responsibility is to your queen and clan.”
“There is more at play than my brother.”
“Tell me.”
There was no point in getting into a back and forth about this. Estelle squared her shoulders. “No. You are my deputy and I gave you an order. You are not to question me about it. You are not to disobey. Am I understood?” She didn’t even bother to make it sound like a questio
n and it felt…good? Kind of cathartic.
Cords bulged out on both sides of Agata’s throat. “You do not command me.”
“Incorrect. I do.”
“I will inform the queen.”
Estelle bared her fangs. “You will regret it. This is my decision to make as seneschal.”
Agata bowed, resentment clear in every line of her body. There was a long silence.
Then the lithu simply left.
Estelle stared at the empty doorway. Damn it, this was why she didn’t want to be in charge. Just let her do her own thing, not responsible for anyone but herself. She chewed her lip, wondering again if she was making the right decision. Both Agata and Stephan thought it was a bad idea but that was evened out by her mother and Raoul on the other side. She fished around in her pocket, hoping for a coin to toss. She wasn’t cut out for this.
She shook herself. There would be enough time for that later. She’d promised she would get her brother and she wasn’t going to go back on her promise. She had a useless brother to find before Wavena found out and grounded her.
There was no time to wait.
* * * *
On his second morning back in Toronto, Stephan came down the stairs to find Caro with the door wide open to the snow, feeding a slender black cat.
“Good morning,” she said as she stood. The cat purred and did a figure eight around her ankles. “Congratulations on being ambassador,” she added. “I keep forgetting to tell you.”
“Thanks.” Stephan glanced down. “What’s up with the cat?”
“I’m earning its trust,” she said, indicating a bowl of cat food near the door. “It’s a stray and I want it.”
“I think a cat has to want you.”
“Thus the treats and the pets.”
“Makes sense. How was the island?” Caro had been up north for the last few days.
“In good spirits.”
They went into the kitchen where Cynthia was working. The cook pointed to the huge farmhouse table in the middle of the room. One side was covered with flour, sugar, and little scraps of pastry. Caro picked one up and nibbled at it absently while Cynthia put huge cups of coffee in front of them with some sticky cinnamon rolls.
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