“Special talent?” Estelle asked. Besides being an asshole?
“He has a very strong psychic ability, as do many of the others the Dawning has taken.”
“How do you know that?”
“I suspected while we were debriefing the ones we rescued from Cancun. They all do, of varying strength.”
“Were you planning to tell me?”
“I am now. I was unsure before. Felix increased my confidence in my hypothesis.”
“Tell me exactly what happened with Felix,” Estelle said. “What did you get from his mind?”
There was a cup of water to Agata’s left, and she took a sip before licking her upper lip. Somehow this little gesture made her appear much more relatable. “They kept him drugged most of the time.”
“What did he say?” She put up her hand before Agata could correct her. “Right. I meant, what did they say around him?”
“Again, this is not verbatim, but interpreted through a sleeping mind. They had decided they were going to try to put…” Agata considered how to phrase this. “…I suppose you could say elements, or components, of Yangzei into each individual they had in Cancun. Yangzei would diversify himself over multiple people.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. How does that even work?”
“I don’t know.”
“We didn’t sense Yangzei’s presence in any of the rescued arcana.”
“No. It might not work.”
Estelle frowned, remembering Gustav, and the feel of those minds in Cancun. “I think it might. Or will if Yangzei grows in strength.”
* * * *
Raoul took another cookie, murmuring in pleasure. “I’ve heard stories about Cynthia’s culinary abilities. They’re not exaggerated.”
Caro smiled. “She told me the secret is cinnamon. It’s an old recipe.”
Minh and Stephan hid grins. The ‘old recipe’ was Wookiee cookies from the Star Wars cookbook Minh had given Cynthia as a gift. Isindle, the fey scholar, looked unimpressed.
“Exquisite.”
For how long would this interminable politeness go on? Stephan took a sip of his coffee to try to restrain his questions. This was Caro’s show, and he didn’t want to interfere with what she had planned.
Raoul glanced at Minh. “Will the human remain?”
“The human is named Minh,” Minh said calmly. “He thinks if you can keep your rotted fangs in your face, we won’t have a problem.”
“Not a difficulty.” Raoul’s face was insultingly bland.
“What do you want to know from us?” asked Caro.
“I want a sharing of information,” he said. “What you have learned about Yangzei in exchange for what I can tell you of the vampire Ancients.”
“Did the Dawning ask about the Ancients when you met with them?”
“No.”
Raoul was good, but not good enough to deceive masquerada.
“That’s one lie down,” Caro observed. “I’d given you a one-lie limit, so the next one means this conversation is over.”
For once, Raoul looked abashed. “I meant to say yes, they did, at the restaurant. I played the fool.”
This was true. “Tell us what’s going on with them,” said Stephan. “If they were asking, Yangzei wants information and we need to know why.”
Raoul sighed. “I’d better give you some context. This is all confidential.”
Caro spoke for them all. “We won’t betray your confidence.”
Betray. Stephan forced his mind away from Estelle and brought it back to the conversation at hand.
“There are two vampire Ancients left. Paulina, the third, was killed when she took over one of our seneschals. We’ve been more careful now.”
“Do you communicate with them?” asked Minh.
“No. They’re like statues. They have no access to the outside world.”
“Do you think Yangzei can be in touch with them?” asked Caro.
Raoul shook his head. “There’s no way of knowing.”
“We know there is lithu involvement in the Dawning,” said Stephan.
A muffled meow came at the door and Caro stood up to open it. A little black cat sauntered in and ignored everything but her food dish. “You think Agata might be involved?” she asked.
“We know nothing about her,” said Raoul. “It would be easier to explain this all away by blaming it on Agata, but I do think we need to be open to other possibilities.”
They all stared at the cat crunching away in the corner as they pondered this. “They are the only Ancients we know of that we can use for the huiniun spell against Yangzei,” Isindle said. “The fey Ancients are in a half-land beyond the spell’s reach.”
“I am fairly certain they would not take kindly to being used as an intermediary to rid us of Yangzei, seeing as it will result in their own banishment,” said Raoul.
“Nor did we expect they would,” said Isindle. Like all fey, she was tall and stunning, with the same pale gold-and-silver coloring as her brother Cormac. Both had been exiled from their realm as a result of the battle with the Dawning. As well as a dedicated scholar, Isindle was one of the rare fey mages, and continued to be in contact with others back in the fey homeland.
“Does it have to be an Ancient?” asked Stephan.
“Yes. Only they have the capacity to hold the necessary power. It would take many arcana to achieve the same result. Perhaps hundreds.” Isindle pushed her book to the middle of the table.
“What’s the point of the Ancients?” asked Minh. “Do they protect arcana? Are they the first of each kind?”
The three arcana shook their heads. “No and no,” said Raoul. “They’re simply very powerful, old arcana.”
“Why are they hidden?”
“Before the arcane war, something happened to them. We don’t know what because we have only stories. They went crazy and began killing each other. Thousands died and the very few who survived went underground, hiding. Those are the Ancients.”
“Now they’re all in prisons? Or protected somehow?” Minh shook his head. “Having some trouble understanding this.”
“Probably because we don’t know ourselves,” said Caro. “We don’t share the information readily with each other because the Ancients are powerful and can be used as weapons. We also don’t know where they all are.”
“Yangzei, for instance, was a story for a long time. We didn’t even know he existed. We still don’t know where the hell he was hiding,” said Stephan.
“There could be more of these around?” Minh’s eyes grew large.
“Yes.” There was silence around the table. Stephan shrugged. “Right now our problem is dealing with the ones we know about.”
“And we might not even be able to deal with that,” added Raoul.
Chapter 33
This time when Estelle went to visit Vincenzo, she brought lilies with her, big blooms with a delicious scent.
“I thought you might enjoy these,” she said as she settled a few by Vincenzo and the rest beside Lucia.
The Ancient’s expression didn’t change, but his voice was pleased. Thoughtful.
“You’re welcome. I’ve been reading about you and Lucia.”
I am sure it is mostly lies.
“The books said you were a great general.”
That is at least true. I also served a brilliant queen.
“Lucia.”
She was renowned for her wisdom. My debates with her were always illuminating and they are to this day.
“Did you ever make the wrong decision?”
There is never a right decision. There is what works best at the time, nothing more and nothing less. True leadership is understanding that.
Estelle breathed in the heavy lily scent. “Let’s say you made a choice and others were angry.”
That happens. It happened with my beloved. We had a rare disagreement and I followed my own counsel. She was furious.
“What happened?”
What could happen? The action had been committed. We could only move forward or not at all.
“Then you worked through it.”
Excuse me as I discuss this with my Lucia. Vincenzo paused. She remembers the situation as well as I. We agree that it was not the action I took but the disregard for her own stance. She was the queen and as such, had a right to my obedience in matters of state. It was my disrespect for her which was the issue.
“Makes sense.”
Tell us about the current day. What is going on in the world that is yours?
Estelle chatted with Vincenzo for two hours, telling him about everything from cars to cell phones. Some he had heard from other seneschals but other advances floored him. What a world you have created. The Law exists?
“Yes, but the Dawning wishes to take it down.”
Never let that happen. We are creatures best suited to our parallel lives.
“I’m doing my best. You have no desire to experience outside of here?”
You asked that before.
“I guess I don’t believe it.”
We do not. We have each other now and the comfort in that is more than we can wish from any external stimulus. Safety, seneschal, and peace. Those are our only desires.
“That I can give you.”
We thank you. Now we wish to rest.
Estelle left, her doubts about the Ancients stilled. They weren’t like Paulina. She had nothing to fear from them. Her shoulders straightened. She might be a failure as a seneschal in other ways, but she could at least protect the Ancients and their long love.
* * * *
When Stephan picked Raoul up at his hotel for dinner, the vampire wasn’t waiting or answering texts. He bit back his frustration. Ten minutes really didn’t matter, not in the grand scheme of things, but his temper had been short lately.
Nonexistent, really. The emotional roller coaster he was on meant it was increasingly difficult for him to deal with the multitude, who felt more real to him every day. On the walk over, he could have sworn he heard a murmuring voice from behind his right shoulder, begging for help, asking to be let free.
If only he could. Estelle had taken that chance away from him.
He took a seat in the lobby, then popped back up to his feet and walked over to the windows. To the gift store. Back to the seats. He couldn’t keep still. Dinner was going to be a nightmare if he had to fight the need to march around every three minutes. He wished Caro hadn’t cancelled. He could have left her with Raoul and gone for a long walk around the city.
At the last minute she’d decided Stephan should go on his own. “You have more of a relationship with him,” Caro said. “I think he’ll open up to you in a way he wouldn’t if I was there.”
Stephan considered this as he walked back to the gift store and assessed the shelf of decorative snow globes. Caro was probably right, but it didn’t mean he wanted to be the repository of Raoul’s confessions. They might be allies—at least tentatively—but they certainly weren’t friends.
When Raoul stepped out of the elevator, he was dressed in jeans and a black sweater. Despite the deliberately casual look, he held himself like a man wearing a top hat and dinner jacket. Heads turned around the lobby and whispers started when Stephan went to meet him. He bit his lip when he heard the authoritative comment from one of the onlookers that they were movie stars filming in the city. Raoul, who must have heard as well, whipped out a pair of sunglasses and donned them with cool insouciance. The lobby denizens murmured among each other and a few took photos on their phones.
“Did you get my text?”
“My phone died,” Raoul said. “Just the two of us?”
“Problem?”
Raoul didn’t answer, but raised one of his eyebrows in a way that made Stephan feel uncouth.
One of Stephan’s favorite restaurants was only two blocks away and the two men strolled there in silence. Raoul huddled deeper into his thin jacket. “I forgot how cold it gets here.”
“Have you come to Toronto often?” More small talk.
Raoul laughed. “Please. I care about this conversation as little as you do.”
“Then let’s skip it.”
“Let’s do that. In fact, let’s talk about Estelle, whose name almost managed not to be mentioned all day, despite the fact that she is the seneschal and integral to any plan we put together.”
Estelle. Even hearing her name caused that burning sensation to descend over his mind, shaking his thoughts until he could barely make sense of them. He didn’t want to talk about Estelle, he didn’t want to think about Estelle…it didn’t matter. She was involved in this and he had to be a professional. The sooner he was done dealing with the Ancients, the sooner that woman was completely out of his life.
Too bad that thought felt like a punch.
He held the door to the restaurant and nodded Raoul in. Inside it was dark, warm and smelled of stale beer. Raoul looked around with satisfaction. “This is excellent.”
“I thought you would prefer something a little more high-end.”
“Then why are we here?” Raoul draped his coat over the back of his chair. It took only two minutes for the server to come up and slap a pitcher of pale beer down along with a couple plates and napkins.
“Usual?” she snapped. She barely waited for Stephan to nod before she left.
Stephan decided to ignore Raoul’s perceptive taunt. “What about Estelle?”
Raoul poured out two glasses of flat beer and drank. “It’s Agata, really.”
“What about her?”
“She is superlative military strategist. Do you believe Agata wouldn’t have known the consequence of attacking the Dawning base?”
“Perhaps. Even geniuses make mistakes.”
“Not that one. Agata is a machine. She and Estelle have trained for decades for these types of decisions and operations. They can make them in their sleep.” He paused. “Of course, Estelle acted for her family when she went to the Dawning. She hasn’t told Wavena that.”
“She protected you,” Stephan reminded him.
“She did,” Raoul said with aplomb. “My point is that Estelle would not have made the choices she did, unless she had assessed the consequences and decided it was necessary. Agata is the same.”
Stephan stared around the restaurant. There was an old jukebox in the corner playing “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell. He liked that song but it made him feel old, decrepit. His arm ached. Odd how a song from the eighties made him feel worse than old jazz.
“What are you saying?”
Raoul scratched his ear. “I’m merely pointing out that the people who made contact with Felix were lithu. Agata is lithu. We know little about her or why Wavena chose her as Estelle’s deputy.”
“Did you talk to Estelle?” Even her name made his tongue feel thick.
“Not tonight. We’re playing phone tag. She called earlier.”
He wouldn’t let that bother him. He wouldn’t. Estelle was no longer part of his life. “If Agata is working with the Dawning, why would she attack her own people, and with such success?”
“I don’t know that, but I do know it looks suspicious.”
Wings and nachos appeared and Raoul looked at them with delight. “Excellent choices.”
They shared out the plates and napkins and started eating. “Have you spoken to Felix since he’s been home?” asked Stephan.
“No. He’s shut himself off.” Raoul put his bone down. “Sad that it happened that way for him. You’d think with his ability, he would have known what they wanted.”
“What ability?”
Raoul knocked over a pint and beer spilled int
o the plate. “Damn it. Pass me the napkins?” He’d finished sopping it up and thanking the server, who slapped a wet, stained cloth in the middle of the table when the rest of the meal came.
Dinner itself was taken up with small talk but instead of dreading it, Stephan found himself enjoying Raoul’s company. He’d known Bernoff, and regaled Stephan with tales of how the artist researched each individual tile in his masterpieces. “They’re coded.”
Stephan loaded Raoul’s discarded jalapeño on his cheese-smothered nacho. “Like how?”
“Depends. Sometimes there are words or letters hidden. Sometimes it’s the order of the paintings. Although he was a were-cat, he joined Wavena’s vampires during the arcane war.”
Stephan thought. “Is that when you attacked the lithu?”
“After.” He looked down. “There is no excuse for that. The lithu are right to shun us.”
“They put that aside with Agata.”
“I know.” Raoul nearly purred it. “As I said. Suspicious.”
Stephan smiled and ordered a basket of poutine waffle fries. Something was suspicious, all right. Raoul hadn’t spilled that beer by accident.
He needed to find out what was going on with Felix.
* * * *
Estelle picked up the phone and put it down.
Up and down again.
She’d left messages for Caro and Raoul to call her—they needed to know about Agata’s transference hypothesis.
Perhaps Stephan would be able to pass the message.
She’d emailed him a few days ago to say hello but there’d been no reply. He was angry, she understood that, but there was more at stake now. She needed help and she didn’t know who to trust.
This time when she picked up the phone her hand trembled with the beating of her heart. Beating? More like slamming, jumping in her chest like a caged animal. She’d never been so nervous in her life. Not even the final seneschal test had caused her this much anxiety.
Down went the phone. She refused to believe she had screwed up so royally that what was between them was gone forever. They were connected, they knew each other, they enjoyed each other.
He’d said he loved her.
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