The woman-who-might-be-the-housekeeper smiled at me, and I could suddenly hear her more clearly. She did work for the Brooks, but she was also a distant family member. And Rafe had told her about me...actually, he had told her quite a bit about me. My mouth fell open slightly as I looked at her more closely.
“It’s a perfectly good time, Tasmyn. I’ll just let Rafe know you’re here.” She turned toward the sweeping staircase, but she didn’t climb the steps. Instead she stood quite still with one hand on the wooden newel post. Before I could figure out what she was doing, Rafe appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Tasmyn!” He sprinted down the steps to meet me, taking both of my hands in his. “Are you okay?”
I wasn’t okay. I was mystified and more than a little thrown off. But before I could answer him, Rafe began laughing.
“Oh. So Lucie was showing off for you, huh?”
“Lucie?” I managed to find my voice.
“Yeah. Tasmyn, this is my cousin, Lucie. She works for my grandparents, you know, kind of social secretary, housekeeper, whatever. And she’s pretty much your opposite.”
Lucie laughed. “Rafe, that’s a terrible way to put it.”
I looked at the two of them, realization dawning on me. “So Lucie, you can...communicate without talking?”
“Yes. I can speak telepathically. Unfortunately, I can’t hear what people are thinking, though. Caroline—Rafe’s grandmother—thinks my branch of the family had that power once, but I guess they lost it over the generations. I work to make sure that doesn’t happen to me.”
I nodded. “I’ve wished more than once that I had your talent. One way communication can be pretty frustrating.”
“Yes! People don’t get that. I’m so glad to finally meet you, Tasmyn, and I hope we can get to know each other better.” She glanced at Rafe, and even if she couldn’t hear what he was thinking, it was obvious from his expression. She smiled again and backed away from us.
“I’ll leave you two alone. Nice to meet you...” Lucie’s voice trailed off as she disappeared down a hallway. A few seconds later I heard a door close.
Rafe was still holding my hands, and I pulled them free. “That wasn’t very nice, what you were thinking.”
He laughed. “So it’s a good thing Lucie can’t hear my thoughts. That was for you alone.”
I fisted my hands on my hips and pinned him with what I hoped was a steely glare. “I’m not here for fun and games, Rafe.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, it seemed too much to hope that you just came by to see me. You know, maybe you missed me and decided to report in person? Come on, let’s go into the sitting room. No one will bother us there.”
As I followed him into the pretty room, I remembered walking through it last year, when Rafe had led me outside to see the garden decorated for some fancy charity party. It was just as welcoming and comfortable today, although the light coming through the wall of glass doors was dimmer. It was nearly sunset.
Rafe flopped into a big overstuffed chair and grinned up at me. “I guess if I invited you to sit here with me, you’d turn me down.”
I perched on the edge of a loveseat that was across the coffee table from Rafe’s seat. “You’d be right. I told you, I’m not here for—for that. I’m mad at you, Rafe. Really, truly angry. And hurt.”
For the first time since I’d gotten there, Rafe lost his glad vibe and frowned. “Why? What did I do? I thought we straightened out everything this afternoon.”
“Yeah, so did I. But then I found out-” I drew in a deep breath. “Rafe, how could you do that to me? You promised me you’d never use your mind power on me, not again.” I was getting really upset, and I became aware that the silver urn on the coffee table was shaking slightly.
“Whoa. Hold on there. What are you talking about?” Rafe was either honestly bewildered or he was playing a very good game. He wasn’t blocking me, and I could hear and feel his confusion, which only added to my frustration.
“I know what you did. This weekend, I mean. You—messed with my mind somehow, so I would be more...more open to you. To what you wanted to do. What you wanted me to do.”
Now there was no disguising the anger rolling off Rafe. His eyes glittered, and he jumped to his feet and came to stand over me.
“That’s a lie. I don’t know where you came up with this, but—oh.” Realization suddenly swept over him and I could hear him connecting the dots.
He leaned over me, one hand on the arm of the loveseat and the other on the back of it. I was trapped in that space beneath him, and I shrank back into the cushions.
“It was her, wasn’t it? The witch. She fed you this bunch of lies.” His face was so close to mine, and my heart was pounding. I could hardly breathe. I wasn’t sure if it was out of fear...or something else.
Abruptly Rafe straightened up and wheeled away from me. I felt his seething anger, mostly aimed at Marica. But he was upset at me, too. When he spoke, it was through clenched teeth.
“You’re right. I did promise. And I keep my promises.” He turned again and pinned me with those blue eyes. “Tasmyn, you may doubt my ethics because I use the powers I have, but I don’t lie. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep. I never did anything to you, not since that day last fall.”
I was confused. It had been so easy to believe Marica, to vindicate myself at Rafe’s expense. I dropped my head into my hands and tried to make sense of everything.
A moment later, I felt Rafe’s hand on the back of my neck. There was a dip in the cushion, and I knew that he was sitting next to me. He sighed heavily.
“Tas...I’m sorry. Tell me about it. Tell me what she said. Let’s talk about it calmly.”
I leaned back against the loveseat, and Rafe slid his arm around my shoulders. He brushed the hair away from my face, and I felt a surge of tenderness replace his earlier rage.
“I went over to Marica’s house this afternoon, you know, like we talked about. When I got there, she was. . kind of weird.” At Rafe’s snort of derision, I shook my head. “No, I know what you’re thinking—I mean, I really do know what you just thought—but it was more than that. She was all suspicious, and then she asked me what I had done this weekend. And I told her I’d had a date. She knew I’d been with you. She said...” I closed my eyes even as I felt the heat rise to my face. “She said I reeked of you.”
Rafe brushed his fingers lightly over my cheeks. “There’s worse things to reek of, I guess. I can think of a few.”
“And then she told me I was naive and that you had used your power to make me more receptive to you, that you had manipulated my mind. She said she could see the traces of it still on me. And. . and it sounded logical. I can’t hear her, you know, unless she wants me to. But she said it would explain why I would do something so out of character for me.”
Rafe blew out a long breath. “Yeah, I can see now how you could buy that. It made it all much easier, didn’t it? Us, I mean. It would let you off the hook if I had messed with your mind, made you want to. . to kiss me. To touch me.”
“You block me sometimes, too. Like she did. I know you do. I know you can. You only let me hear you when you want me to. So. . yeah, it was pretty easy to accept what she was saying. It seemed pretty rational at the time.” I swallowed hard against tears that threatened. “I’m sorry, Rafe. Really. I shouldn’t have come storming over here, ready to attack you. You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you, not since last fall. Can you forgive me?”
Rafe’s mouth twisted into that half smile that was so familiar to me. “I don’t know. Is this going to happen again, the next time you go for a play session with the witch? Or will you finally accept that she’s a danger to you and quit messing with her?”
My eyes slid away from Rafe’s. “I can’t stop, Rafe, not yet. I’m learning so much. But I’ll be more careful. I promise.”
Rafe touched my chin to turn my face back toward his. “I get that. At least I’m trying to understand.” He ran a finge
r down my nose and traced my lips. “Can I kiss you right now? Just to prove a point, if nothing else?”
I frowned slightly. “What point are you trying to prove?”
“I’ll open my mind completely to you. If I were doing something, you’d hear it. Look at this as a test. If it feels the same, you’ll know you can trust me.”
“Rafe,” I protested. “I already said I believe you. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
His smile this time was the sweet and open one he saved for me. “Humor me.” And with that, he took my face in his hands and kissed me.
He was tentative at first, gentle, and then, when my arms came up to circle his shoulders, he deepened it, coaxing my mouth open as he slid his hands down to my shoulders.
I could hear his mind the entire time, echoing the words he had said to me earlier. Trust me, Tasmyn. I promise I won’t hurt you. This is right. Can’t you feel how right it is?
And then across the soft murmur of his thoughts cut a louder mind voice. Rafe, your grandmother is on her way to the sitting room!
We both jumped, startled, and Rafe began to laugh.
“Lucie,” he said softly. “I can always count on her for a heads-up.”
I struggled to sit up, to smooth my hair back away from my face and look respectable. Rafe only laughed harder and to my utter dismay, pulled me onto his lap.
“What are you doing?” I whispered furiously. “Your grandmother! What will she think?”
Rafe shook his head at me, still amused. “You haven’t met my grandmother. She already knows exactly what we’ve been doing and why you’re here. So we may as well not try to hide anything.”
I heard the sharp clicking of heels on the wooden floor outside the sitting room and then a tall woman with beautiful white hair appeared in the doorway.
It was apparent that Rafe had gotten at least some of his height from Caroline Brooks, but what struck me even more than that were her piercing blue eyes, so like her grandson’s. Her face was smooth and unlined, lovely. She was lithe and trim, and the deep blue cotton skirt she wore showed off a pair of legs that were still in excellent shape.
She smiled at us, although I sensed reserve in her manner, and she was quite pointedly blocking me from hearing her thoughts.
“Rafe, why didn’t you tell me we had company?”
I squirmed from Rafe’s lap and jumped to my feet, smoothing damp hands over my jean capris. I suddenly felt very underdressed.
Rafe was still laughing at me, but he managed to get to his feet and take my hand. “Gram, as you already know, this is Tasmyn Vaughn. Tas, my grandmother, Caroline Brooks. Now Gram, will you stop giving her the deep freeze? You’re freaking her out.”
To my amazement, Caroline broke into a laugh not unlike Rafe’s. She shook her head. “Rafe, you’re incorrigible. You know, some sense of decorum wouldn’t hurt anybody.” She turned to me and extended a hand. “Tasmyn, dear, I’m so happy to meet you at last. Rafe’s been talking about you since—well, I think since the first day of school. And you are every bit as lovely as he said.”
I felt Rafe’s pride as he squeezed my hand, and my sense of discomfort ratcheted up a few notches. So it appeared that Grandmother Brooks wasn’t going to freeze me out, but on the other hand, she seemed to have some misconception about the relationship between Rafe and me.
As I struggled with how to set her straight, though, it occurred to me that I wasn’t even sure what was between Rafe and me at this point; I was hardly qualified to explain it to his grandmother.
“Tasmyn, Rafe seems to have forgotten his manners in his—preoccupation with you. Won’t you join us for dinner? We’re sitting down in about thirty minutes.”
“Oh—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stop by at dinnertime. I didn’t intend to stay this long. I’ll just be going-”
“Nonsense.” Caroline leveled that blue gaze at me. “We had hoped to enjoy your company at dinner this weekend, but we will take advantage of this happy unexpected opportunity tonight. Would you like to call your parents, dear, to let them know where you are?”
I knew Rafe had never mentioned that his grandmother possessed mind hearing ability, but she somehow anticipated my every objection. I found myself out on the terrace, using my cell phone to call my mother. She was surprised to hear where I was, and I detected worry in her voice, but it was easier to convince her that I had to stay to have dinner with the Brooks’ than it was to persuade Caroline Brooks that I had to go home.
“All set?” Rafe asked when I stepped back in through the open glass door.
“Yeah. I told her I’d stopped over to drop something off for you, and your grandmother insisted that I stay. Partly true, at least.”
Rafe grinned. “Yes, Gram doesn’t take no for an answer—not often, anyway. So we’ve got a half hour to kill before we eat—what should be do?” His eyes were bright and teasing, and I clearly heard the direction of his thoughts.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Now that I know how observant your grandmother is? No, thanks. I think I’ll sit far away from you.” I chose the chair Rafe had vacated earlier.
“Then I’ll just sit with you.” He nudged me over and sank into the deep cushions, pulling me with him. I sat up and gave him a reproving glare, but he only laughed at me again and shook his head.
“Okay, how about conversation? Why don’t you tell me what you learned today? What did you practice with the witch?”
I decided to ignore his jibe, since he probably had every right to dislike Marica after her accusations this afternoon. I was still confused about Marica’s motivation there, but I’d deal with that issue later.
I smiled at Rafe, realizing I was excited to tell him what I’d done. It occurred to me that he was the only person who might actually share my sense of accomplishment.
“Rafe, I cast fire. We were out in the clearing by Lake Rosu, and I made a triangle out of stones, and I made a fire! At first just a little smoke, but then a real one, with flames and heat and everything.” Just remembering the energy gave me a new sense of exultation.
“You did? Really? By yourself?” Rafe was duly impressed, and if I detected a little doubtful worry, I pushed it aside.
“Yes. Well, pretty much. Marica gave me a little push—she said it was more a steadying than anything else. I couldn’t believe it.”
Rafe ran a hand along my spine, and I shivered. “Could you do it now?” he asked.
“Now? Here? You mean in your grandparents’ yard?” I twisted to look out through the doors. The sun had well and truly set now, and I could only see the shadows of the trees and bushes outside.
“No, here in the fireplace. See, right over there.” Rafe pointed to the corner, where a white marble mantle topped a bricked fireplace. I looked at him doubtfully.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to miss and burn the house down.”
“You won’t. Come on, I want to see.”
There wasn’t anyone else in the world besides Marica who appreciated and understood how much this meant to me. That Rafe was eager to see me demonstrate my new talent endeared him to me all the more.
“I’m going to need stones, I think,” I told him. “Three. And I hope this works. You know, the spot at Lake Rosu has the mystical convergence thing going for it, so maybe that’s the only place I can make it happen.”
Rafe waved away my concern. “If you can do it there, you can do it here,” he told me. “Come on. There are some decorative rocks right on the edge of the patio.”
I found three stones that seemed to be the right size and arranged them in the fireplace. I stood back, about six feet away, and I glanced apprehensively at Rafe.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? What will your grandparents think?”
Rafe laughed. “They’ll only be mad they missed the show. Believe me, Tas, stranger things have happened in this house. Don’t worry.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating. I focused on picturing the fl
ames I’d created that afternoon, feeling their heat, hearing their pop and crackle, smelling the smoke...when I felt that the energy had built up sufficiently, I gathered it in my mind and cast it toward the fireplace, as hard as I could.
I opened my eyes, and Rafe was still looking at me expectantly. I made a face at him.
“See, maybe I can’t do it...okay. Wait a minute. Marica said emotions were a big part of casting fire, of anything elemental.” I thought for a moment and then made a decision. “Rafe, come here.” When he was standing next to me, a quizzical expression on his face, I moved him so that he stood between me and the fireplace.
“Hey, wait a second, I don’t want to be between you and where the fire is supposed to be.” His genuine alarm made me smugly confident in what I was about to do.
“Don’t worry. If this works, the fire will be in the right place, and you’ll be...fine.” I glanced up at him through lowered eyelashes. “Kiss me, Rafe.”
“What?” I felt his incredulity and suspicion in equal measures.
“You heard me. Kiss me. The emotion will help me build up enough energy.”
Rafe raised his eyebrows at me and grinned. “Okay. Anything for a good cause.” He tilted my face up and covered my lips. This time there was no tentative beginning; this time there was only an explosion of our senses. I struggled to pull everything I felt—my rapidly beating heart, my spinning head—into the focus of the fire. I pictured the fire in the fireplace this time, I saw it, felt it, smelled it—
“Gah!” Rafe released me abruptly and jumped away. “What was that?” I took a step back to regain my own balance and caught my breath. When Rafe looked at me with one raised questioning brow, I merely pointed.
In the pretty white fireplace, a fire burned merrily.
Hi, Tas. I was thinking about you all day. Do you know how hard I’m trying to stop that? Everyone is telling me to move on. But everyone doesn’t know how much I love you. And I always will. Call me, Tasmyn.
King Series Box Set Page 63
