A Chalice of Wind b-1 Page 13

  Petra looked around the room. "Where s Claire? Marcel?" Who else was missing? And our favorite rake?" she asked dryly.

  Axelle grinned, running her finger around the top of her wineglass. "He's out," she said, "Raking through the locals, no doubt,"

  "We can start without him," said Daedalus, "He knows all this anyway. And Claire and Marcel are on their way. Petra — we know about the twins, obviously. We know that you kept it from all of us for seventeen years. What do you have to say for yourself?"

  It was a measure of Daedaluss arrogance that he was most offended by her not telling him-Petra was sure that if he alone had known, he would have been content to keep the secret from the others if it suited his purpose.

  "I did as I thought best" Petra said calmly. "I honored Clemence's last wish, I honored the wishes of the twins' father. And truly, all this never occurred to me-" She waved her hand, summing up Daedaluss whole scheme. "Cerises descendants have always been my responsibility-none of you have offered to take on the burden. Why would I trouble you with these orphans when you couldn't be bothered before?" She shrugged, sounding eminently reasonable.

  "But surely you must have recognized the significance of twins!" Daedalus said coldly. "How many years ago did we start thinking about the possibility of a ritual? A ritual that all of us have wanted at one time or another"

  "Not all of us, Daedalus" said Petra…And frankly, after I had watched Clemence bleed to death, as I had watched Cerises other descendants bleed to death-instantly plugging her children into your grand plan never occurred to me." Petra let her voice take on an edge of steel. Daedalus was trying to extend his influence-she would draw the line where it would stop. "I found myself with two newborn, motherless infants. Their father had no idea of Clemences background or who I was. He was heartbroken at her death, barely able to function. He felt he could deal with only one child, if that, and begged me to take care of the other. We kept in touch for years, but gradually our letters became less and less frequent, and then he moved and left no forwarding address. I've had no idea of Thais's whereabouts for years."

  Petra was aware that the others were watching this exchange, back and forth like a tennis match. Some would agree with Daedalus, some with her, but above all else, each witch there was truly loyal only to him- or herself.

  'All that is in the past, and the twins weren't significant much before this, anyway," Ouida said. "The question is, what's happening now?"

  Daedalus moved to stand before the marble fireplace, striking a pose that Petra saw as rehearsed and theatrical. Really, did he think anyone would buy this persona? Didnt he realize that the years had stripped away all their innocence forever? None of them would ever regain a fresh perspective, ever trust anything at face value, ever truly let down their guard again. Not even Sophie or Jules, who had always been the most trusting of them all.

  "What's happening now is that we're working hard to put the rite together," Daedalus said pompously. "Jules, Richard, and I. And now that you're all here, we can move more quickly, with your help."

  Petra put disbelief and just a touch of scorn into her voice. "The rite? Deesse, Daedalus, is that still the focus of your being? Have you not branched out by now?"

  Daedalus schooled his face into calm, but Petra had seen the brief flash of rage in his eyes. She wondered if anyone else had. "Of course, Petra," he said. "You re not the only one who has pursued interests and achieved goals in this life. But yes, beneath all my business dealings, the companies I've founded, my pursuit of all of life's experiences, there has always been a strong interest in… recapturing the past, shall we say. Some of you may have let that desire go. Some of you may not agree with how urgently I feel it's necessary. But in my view, yes, the rite is imperative. I have never released that hope, never lost sight of that goal"

  He managed to make everyone else sound faithless and shortsighted, Petra acknowledged wryly. Point to him.

  "To what end, Daedalus?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

  "To whatever end we agree on," he came back. "That's the beauty. With this one rite, we could each achieve whatever personal goals we have. But more important, we could reclaim a treasure that was lost to us long ago, one invaluable to our ancestors. It has kept this famille alive. This treasure would give us, the Treize, incalculable power-and it's rightly ours. Surely you're not truly prepared to let it go forever? Does it mean so little to you, Petra? After everything?"

  Petra glanced around the room-his words had made people thoughtful, perhaps given new life to dreams that she thought had been left behind long ago.

  "This is all within reach again," he went on, "Now that we know Cerises line has produced twins. They will make twelve and thirteen: a complete Treize, Not that they are the only consideration" He gestured to Jules and Richard. "Jules and I have been trying to pinpoint the exact location of the source. The land itself has shifted. Richard is working on the rite. Perhaps Sophie or Manon could help him with that. Axelle has the four cups." Axelle nodded. "Ouida has the vial of water." Daedalus deliberately met Petra 's eyes. "And you have the twins. Its all coming together"

  "So I assume the twins are safe, then?" Petra said sternly. "No harm will come to them from any of you?"

  "Of course not," Ouida said, shocked, but Ouida hadn't been the one Petra was talking to.

  "The girls are quite safe," Daedalus said with a frown. "We do, after all, need them."

  Petra nodded, not meeting anyone's eyes. Inside her a feeling was rising that she recognized as panic. Ruthlessly she shut it down. Not time yet to panic, she told herself. After all, Claire was so unreliable, and she never could stand Daedalus. And then Marcel-Marcel would be a tough nut to crack. No. There was no reason to panic. Not yet. And before the time to panic came, she would have come up with a plan to save the twins, to keep them from being used in this way, in a rite that would surely kill one of them.

  Thais

  “I was afraid you wouldn't come back," Luc said, not looking at me.

  We were headed to the levee of the river-broad steps led to a sort of boardwalk. When I'd gone to the garden earlier, he'd been waiting for me, leaning back against the vine-covered wall, his eyes closed. When I'd gotten close to him, his breathing had looked so deep and regular that I'd wondered if he was asleep. But then his eyes had slowly opened, had met mine. He hadn't smiled, but I'd felt an alertness come over his body as I approached.

  I'd sat down next to him, not touching him, not saying anything.

  At last he'd stood, held out one hand, and said,

  "Come"

  I'd had no idea where he was leading me, and I didn't care. Now we were getting close to the river. I could smell the water and hear the tugboats moving barges downstream.

  We walked up the steps and all the way down the boardwalk, avoiding tourists taking pictures of each other in front of the mighty Mississippi. Luc led me to where the levee was just shorn grass and crushed oyster shells. Still we walked on, until we were far away from anyone else. The French Quarter was at our backs, the river spread before us, almost a mile across. We sat cross-legged on the grass, not touching, not talking, and watched the afternoon pass by.

  It was dusk before he spoke. "I was afraid you wouldn't come back." He pulled a long piece of grass out of the ground and started stripping it methodically.

  "You knew I'd come back."

  He turned to me then, his eyes the exact color of the darkening sky. Reaching out, he took my hand, twining our fingers together. "You're the most restful person I've ever known," he said quietly. "You have a… serenity, an ability to just be, without wanting anything, without needing anything. Its… remarkable. I actually feel almost peaceful when I'm with you." He gave a short laugh. "If you knew me better, you'd understand how amazing that is."

  I felt the same way about him. "Luc," I said. A question had been on my mind since the evening he'd kissed me in the garden, stunning me to the bottom of my soul. Nothing that had happened since then detracted from how dee
ply he'd touched me. "What is it that you want from me, and what is it that you're offering me?"

  His eyes seemed to grow darker, or maybe it just looked that way. A thick cloud cover had been moving over us, like God pulling a bedspread into place.

  Tm not mocking you," I said. "I really want to know."

  "I know." His fingers stroked my hand while he thought. "If you'd asked me that several days ago, I would have had one answer. Now, I don't know."

  I smiled, curious. "What would you have answered?"

  He gave me a mischievous look that was devastating on his handsome face. ”I would have said I wanted to get into your pants, and I was offering you a chance to get into mine.”

  I snatched my hand back. ”Luc!"

  He laughed, and I wanted to kiss him, hard. I blinked with surprise at that thought-not my usual kind of thing. But I felt fierce about him, as if I wanted to mark him as mine. I blushed, and Luc misunderstood.

  "Have I shocked you?" he teased. "Surely you've lost count of how many guys have said that to you?"

  I answered him seriously. "No, not really. I mean, people always knew that I'd say no, so they kind of quit asking."

  He went still, his eyes searching my face. I realized what information I had just given up, and I groaned to myself, mortified. Oh God, Thais, just tell him every embarrassing thing you can think of.

  "Thais" He sounded deeply shocked, and there was something else in his voice that I couldn't identify. I was smothering with embarrassment. I wanted to self-combust right there, just burst into flames and disappear into a puff of smoke.

  I covered my face with my hands.

  "You cant be saying-"

  "I don't want to talk about it!" Without looking, I kicked him. My flip-flops had fallen off, and now he grabbed my bare foot and held it.

  "Thais," Luc said, a velvet determination in his voice. He waited: as patient as time, he would sit there until I answered him.

  "Thais. You're saying you've never said yes? To anyone?" He leaned closer, his voice as soothing as honey, his breath barely brushing my skin.

  I gritted my teeth, pressing my covered face against my drawn-up knees, trying to make myself as small as possible-so small that I might disappear. Good luck.

  Luc put one hand against my shoulder and one against my knee and pushed, as if I were a bear trap he was unspringing. He was much stronger than I was, and, not for the first time, I regretted not having abs of steel

  Then I was on my back on the grass, and an oddly cool, rain-scented breeze blew against my heated skin. Luc pinned my legs down with one of his so I couldn't curl up again, and I could feel him pressed against my whole length.

  "Why do you want to know?" I choked out, pointlessly stalling for time-there was no way to recover from this.

  "Oh, I'm very interested, Thais," he said against my ear. "I'm very, very interested."

  I wanted to die. I wanted him to kiss me, I wanted…

  Again Luc waited-he had all night, wasn't going anywhere, I had no idea what time it was or when Axelle would be back-shed left shortly after lunch and hadn't exactly clued me in to her plans, I felt a raindrop hit my forehead. Time was running out,

  "Well, if you must know," I said in a muffled, ill-tempered voice, "Then no, I haven't said yes. There, are you happy?"

  I could feel him smile. He pressed his lips against my hands where they covered my face, kissing each finger,

  "Not yet," he said teasingly, and I groaned and took my hands away to glare at him.

  But his face, when he looked down at me, turned serious. "Why are you ashamed? It's a beautiful thing to save yourself. To not squander your beauty, your gifts, on pimple-faced, stupid boys who wont value you,"

  He sounded positively medieval, and I looked at him, puzzled,

  "I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said, smoothing my hair away. The one drop I'd felt had presaged a fine, warm rain as gentle as a breeze-hardly more than a mist. It formed tiny, tiny diamonds on Luc's hair and gave his skin a beautiful sheen in the darkness, "I'm just surprised. Its hard to believe that someone as beautiful as you has escaped the pressure of giving yourself away"

  "I got pressured," I said wryly, remembering a night when Chad 's predecessor, Travis Gammel, had actually kicked me out of his car and made me walk home at night because I wouldn't have sex with him. Bastard, I was still mad about it.

  "What stopped you?" Luc asked softly,'And don't tell me you never wanted to, I can feel passion flowing under your skin. You're made of desire,"

  Luc had a way of saying flowery things that sounded completely natural and sincere, even though out of anyone else's mouth they would have sounded stupid or artificial. And he was right, I had wanted to. Sometimes so much that I had felt almost crazy. But never enough to actually go ahead and do it. Now I shrugged, "Never met the right guy," I said.

  One dark eyebrow rose, giving me a perfect opportunity to say, "Until you," But I didn't-couldn't. After a moment, Luc leaned over and brushed light kisses along my jawbone, making my eyes drift shut and my bones go limp,

  T guess you've said yes to millions of girls," I said, and then swallowed as an unexpected shaft of poisonous jealousy pierced me so sharply I almost gasped. The thought of him with anyone else made me feel like crying. For a long moment he looked into my eyes, and then he sat up, leaving me cold,

  I realized our clothes were soaking wet from the light rain and felt many tiny drops come together to roll as one down my neck. Luc's shirt was translucent, sticking to his skin, I felt humiliated, gauche, like some stupid high-school girl. Which I was, of course.

  He turned back to me, a look of gentle regret on his face,

  "Not millions," he said, sounding almost sad, "But- a lot. And until now, I never wished it were different. But you, Thais-" He leaned back down on one elbow next to me. "For the first time, I wish that I could have no memory of anyone but you''

  I burst into tears, in that suave, woman-of-the-world way I have. In that moment I knew I loved him, and even more frightening, I felt he loved me. Then he was kissing me, kissing the tears in my eyes, my rain-washed face, my mouth, I smoothed my hands over his wet shirt, feeling the heat of his skin through the cloth. Our legs were tangled together, and for the first time in my life, no alarms went off in my head, no warnings told me to get myself out of there. In my mind, there was a peaceful silence, an acceptance. The warm, gentle rain drifted down on us, making me feel invisible, private, elemental,

  A line from an old song floated into my consciousness, and if I had been a real witch, I would have let it float over to Luc, all raw emotion and timeless melody. It went: I'm all for you, body and soul

  Clio

  I yawned and stretched, smiling as I relived some of last nights dreams, I had dreamed about Andre, how he looked as he came down to kiss me, I could practically feel him in my arms, feel his weight and his strength. He was perfection. It had killed me to have to leave him Friday night. Maybe today I could get away, and we could take up where we'd left: off

  But first, breakfast, I could smell coffee-excellent. I rolled out of bed and headed out onto the landing. Nans bedroom was separated from mine by a short hall that led to the one upstairs bathroom. Our house is called a camelback shotgun: you could stand in the front door and shoot a gun, and the bullet could go out the back door without hitting anything in the four rooms in between. And it was a camelback because we had only two rooms upstairs to the four rooms below. The only-two-bedrooms factor was one of the main reasons I hated the idea of Thais coming to live here.

  I had others.

  Glancing into Nan 's bedroom, I saw her standing at the foot of her bed. She was completely dressed, which was unusual: Sunday was our traditional laze-around, get-a-slow-start day. I wandered in, then stopped in surprise.

  Nan was packing a suitcase that lay open on her bed. Q-Tip was trying to climb into it-prime napping territory-and Nan lifted him out.

  "Good morning, dear" she said briskly, barely gl
ancing at me,

  "What are you doing?"

  "Packing. There's coffee made downstairs, but you're on your own for breakfast."

  "Why are you packing? Are we going somewhere?" A nervous flutter started in the pit of my stomach. Nan had been acting oddly since right before wed found out about Thais,

  "Not you-just me. ' she said, folding an Indian cotton top. She lifted Q-Tip out of the suitcase again and packed it.

  "What's going on?”

  Nans calm, blue-gray eyes regarded me. "I need to go away for a while. I'm not sure how long. While I'm gone, you need to be extra careful, completely on guard. Don't trust anything or anyone. If anyone gives you a message they say came from me, don't believe them. If I need to contact you, I'll do it directly"

  My mouth dropped open. "Where are you going? What's happening?"

  "I need to take care of some things.” she said. I saw that she had gathered some spellcraft supplies — crystals, small candles, essential oils, her copper bracelets. These she now put into a purple velvet bag and pulled the drawstring.

  "Tomorrow is Monday," she said. "I expect you to go to school this week, complete the metal-study course we began, and go to your tutoring session with Melysa Hawkcraft on Tuesday."

  "You won't be back by Tuesday?"

  "I'm not sure," she said. "I hope so, but I'm not sure. However, if I'm not back by Wednesday, I've left a letter for you in the? cupboard in the workroom." She gave me a wry, knowing smile. "Don't bother trying to open it before Wednesday. It's spelled-you won't be able to. But come Wednesday, if I'm not back, you'll read it and follow the instructions inside. Understand?"

  "Yeah, I guess," I said uncertainly. I hadn't told Nan about getting a knife pulled on me the other night-I didn't want her to say I couldn't go out at night with my friends or something. But now the fear of that night rushed back with all Nan 's cryptic warnings and instructions. I didn't want her to go like this.