He’ll never see the power in me because he’ll never look for it.
“They both drank a lot, Father. We didn’t want to worry you with this knowledge beforehand, but I guess we should have told you.”
“You’re telling me my first- and second-born sons were drunkards? They certainly hid it well.”
“Those with addictions often do.” Pietro made the story they’d just concocted sound reasonable as hell.
“Then I suppose it is fortunate that the second woman of the prophecy doesn’t live on the ocean—and that you and your twin are both men of a more sober bearing.”
“The second woman?” Mario tilted his head to the side, and his outward demeanor remained calm. But Roman could see the anger in him. It gave a red aura to his power, making it roil like a pot boiling on an overheating stove.
“I see your brothers weren’t the only ones to have been guilty of not listening to me.” Gregor Fortuna shook his head. “I didn’t realize I’d raised fools instead of men. The unification prophecy is real. If the prophecy is fulfilled then, in the very near future, there will be no more Warlocks. All that you hold dear—your power, your wealth, your comfort—all will be no more. The first three of the prophecy have already mated. There is nothing we can do about them because their destiny has been brought to fruition. They cannot be touched.
“I do not yet know who the third woman will be, but I know who the second is.” He grinned. “This one should be much easier to deal with because she’s already had a brush with public disgrace. It crippled her so that she ran away and even now lives the life of a social hermit.” He waved his hand, and a newspaper, an edition of the Indianapolis Star, appeared as a hologram. Dated five years before, the article was alight, and easy to read. It told of a woman humiliated before a gathering of the rich and famous, a woman who, her accuser said, claimed to have magic powers. Decried as a being a charlatan, accused of attempting to take money from those naive enough to believe her, she was run out of town in disgrace.
Roman felt everything go still within him. He couldn’t look, not without being in danger of revealing himself, but reading this paper, he sensed something not quite right. His father had omitted certain facts about Miss Ambrose last time. Roman could only think that he’d done the same again, with Miss Clark. He would have to examine the matter in private when he returned to his apartment in Chicago.
“This one should be easy for the two of you. The woman has become a recluse, huddled away in a small cottage in North Carolina. You must prevent her meeting with—and mating with—the men who even now are closing in on her.”
“If they’re already close...” Mario opened his hands, palms up.
“They’re men in the spotlight, so she will naturally shun them.” Gregor gave an insouciant shrug. “If you two wish to continue on in my good graces, you’ll go there and do what you must to achieve your goal.”
“Of course, Father. We’re happy to do what we can to please you.” Mario’s words sounded insincere, but Roman was sure his father didn’t hear that.
He was beginning to doubt his father heard much beyond what he wanted to hear. And that, all on its own, was likely nothing more than the harvest Gregor Fortuna had sown for himself.
Sown for himself with his past actions, and that leaves me with a very interesting question to answer, doesn’t it, especially after the role I played in my own brothers’ demise? What kind of a harvest am I sowing for myself?
There were always consequences for actions taken—or not taken. That was one of the many lessons he’d learned in the years he’d been away from his family’s influence.
Roman clamped down on his power, keeping it within its shrouding. His brothers had felt that small blip of his inattention. But of course, they didn’t look his way. Each set of twins distrusted the others, and each man only completely trusted in himself.
That was the fatal flaw that had blinded Vincent and Emilio and promised to be repeated in Mario and Pietro.
Roman knew they, too, would be given the chance to turn away from the path they walked, and given a chance at life. The choice had to be theirs to make.
And there wasn’t anything Roman could—or would—do to change any of that.
* * * *
Ryan and Jeremy had left her with their laptop, which was loaded with a library of this past season’s episodes of their hit series, Supernaturals Among us: Yes or No? They’d wanted to check into the bed and breakfast in town. Meghan smiled when she thought of the reaction her friend Kay would have to that if she hadn’t already left town for Raleigh. The men said they’d give her a couple of hours and had asked her to promise that, when they returned, they’d talk.
She’d given that promise because, no matter what she’d believed about them, the one thing she knew of them, without a doubt, was that they were her destined mates. She’d seen the power within them and knew it had already begun to grow. But more, it had grown at some point in their youths and then stopped.
Before she actually sat down to watch those episodes, the questions were already swirling through her mind. The main one frightened her because she couldn’t guess at the answer.
What would they do when they learned what they needed to know? The Concilium had warned her and her sisters not to be too open with their magic in this realm, but she hadn’t believed the warning. Soon after she arrived, she’d realized that a lot of people here didn’t really believe in magic or miracles at all. But she also knew—all right, she believed—that most people really wanted to.
It has to be their choice.
Meghan shook her head. That had been her mother’s voice. She hadn’t been able to hear it at all for the first five and a half years she’d been here. That had changed after that day in Colorado when she and Diana had gone to the cabin and seen Cheri with her mates. The First Mother had appeared to them there, along with the Sylph, and since then, every once in a while, she’d hear a message from her mother.
Megan sat, turned on the computer, and proceeded to watch an episode of Ryan and Jeremy’s program. And then she watched a second.
Daylight had begun to fade when they returned. She opened the door, wondering belatedly if she should have prepared a supper for them all. She hadn’t eaten since lunchtime.
Ryan carried in a bag that smelled like burgers from The Eatery, the restaurant in town.
“I hope you’re hungry.” Ryan grinned at her as he came into her cottage. Jeremy was right behind him. The two men made her cottage shrink.
Meghan nodded. “I am. I was just thinking I should have whipped up something for us.”
“The food is still hot,” Jeremy said. “If you show me where your plates and utensils are, I’ll set the table for us.”
“Or,” Ryan said quietly, “you could just wave your hand and make it so.”
The embers within them had already been bright, even brighter than she’d expected, and brighter than in any other descendants of the Chosen who she’d encountered since she’d been here. They were even brighter than the ones she’d seen in Max and Tony, Cheri’s mates, the day she’d met them.
But was it bright enough in them for them to have been able to recognize me? She recalled the first moment they’d arrived earlier that day. They’d mentioned Miss Bea and....the butterfly.
She created her glass figurines using magic, and these men had sensed the magic in it. That had to be why they’d sought her out. There was no sense in her pretending she didn’t know what Ryan had meant. And while she could have said waving her hand wouldn’t have done anything—the magic wasn’t, after all, in her hand—she chose to be completely honest. She didn’t know if they could handle the truth, but that wasn’t her problem.
“I don’t have to actually wave my hand.”
Both men exhaled when they looked at the kitchen table, now set for three, with a tall pitcher of sweet tea in the center.
“Let’s eat,” Meghan said. “And then we’ll talk.”
Meghan loved
the food at The Eatery. Whenever she didn’t want to be bothered fixing a meal for herself, she would take herself down the few blocks to the family-style restaurant in town. That was how she’d met Kay and, through Kay, so many others of the good people of Paisley.
Of course, sometimes she would use her magic to create something delicious. Once in a while, late at night, she’d conjure herself a piece of cheese cake, the same kind she’d sampled from the deli close to her sister, Cheri’s, apartment in New York City.
Her old apartment, that is, because she’s already moved her things into the large uptown apartment her men live in.
“I should have thought to grab us some dessert for later,” Jeremy said. He used a napkin to wipe some of the hamburger juice from his face. “I have a bit of a sweet tooth.”
“What’s your favorite dessert?”
She wondered about the wistful look that crossed his face. Then it was gone. “These days? I like just about anything. Apple pie is my favorite, followed closely by chocolate cake.”
She nodded and appreciated his look of surprise when an apple pie appeared on the table.
Ryan met Jeremy’s gaze then turned to her. “We knew you could do that. We felt your magic in the butterfly. We also felt it in the gazebo, but it’s not nearly as strong here in the house.”
“No, I used my magic to craft the butterfly and to build the gazebo. Here inside? I used a little to help get it in shape. It had sat vacant for a long time.”
“Because it was haunted? Or believed to be haunted?”
“The latter.” She had to tell them the truth, but even without the compulsion she would, anyway. She’d been prepared to face potential mates who were completely disbelieving of magic and things considered by the standards of this realm to be fantastical.
The men looked at each other again. Ryan nodded. “You’ve been very open with us, more open than we thought you would be. Does that mean you’ve changed your mind about us? About our intentions?”
“I’ve changed my mind about your show—and your attitude toward the supernatural—although you need to know when it comes to discussing the magic, for me—and for you—it’s natural, not ‘supernatural.’”
“So you know about us?” Jeremy didn’t bother to hide his shock.
“You recognized me. I recognized you the same way.”
“But we can’t do anything,” Ryan said. “And believe us when we tell you that we’ve tried. Except for that one time.”
“Tell me about that one time, please.”
She listened to the tale of two teen brothers, returning from a Saturday morning fishing expedition to the sight of something too horrible for them to accept—the imminent death of their father.
She listened to more than their words. While they spoke, they were taken back to that moment, to the terror that turned to wonder as they felt something come out of them and right the machine that was barely seconds from crushing a man to death.
Now I know why they do what they do. But I don’t know what they’re going to do when they learn the truth.
She recalled her mother’s caution of earlier. Yes, it was their choice to make, not hers. She had no choice in this instance. When they asked her questions, she would have no choice but to tell them the truth. Just as she was forbidden to use her magic to influence their decision when it came to accepting her as their mate, she could not lie to them. I wish I had known that rule came into effect as soon as we met instead of after we actually became mates.
Meghan refocused on the conversation. She gave them a moment to put their emotional memories back into storage.
“Can you tell us why we were able to do that?” Jeremy asked.
“And why we haven’t been able to do anything since?” Ryan frowned, a clear sign that his inability to access his powers bothered him.
“Yes. I can answer those questions for you. I think the easiest way would be for me to tell you a story.”
“We’re all ears.” Ryan sat back, and Meghan knew it wasn’t her imagination that he had been braced, waiting for her response.
Jeremy’s tension was even more visceral. He met her gaze. “Not a fairy tale, right? You’re going to tell us the truth.”
It was normal for people to fear the unknown. She knew that from firsthand experience.
“I promise the story I am about to tell you is true. And I will tell it to you as it was told to me.”
The two men shared a look. “All right,” Ryan said. “We’re ready.”
“In the beginning, two kinds of humans walked the earth. Those who’d been Gifted with magic and those who had not. Most of the Gifted believed it was their duty to protect their brothers and sisters from the harsh realities of the physical world, where they could.
“But because humans are flawed, some of the Gifted wanted more than just the role of guardian or protector. They believed their power entitled them to special privileges, and they conspired together about how they could become the rulers of the earth.
“So they planted seeds of distrust in the hearts of the ungifted toward their brethren with power. This distrust became deeper, and darker, and led in only one direction—to war. The greedy ones who wanted to rule knew the rest of the Gifted would never do anything to harm their brothers, and reasoned they would all die at the hands of those brothers, leaving the ones who’d plotted the only keepers of magic left on earth. Thus they’d be free to rule, as they believed was their due.
“But the Gifted decided to do something the others never anticipated. They caused a great separation between themselves and the rest of humanity. They created a realm of their own, what we call the homeland. Those who’d turned to the darker side of their natures became known as the Scorned and could never return to live with the rest of the Gifted.
“But some protested this harsh solution and volunteered to stay behind, to disguise themselves and use their powers in secret to protect as best they could. They became known as the Chosen.
“But always, when an action is taken or a decision is made, there are consequences. The Great Separation was permitted to take place, but the agreement that was made between the Gifted and the Scorned was that the day would come when there would have to be unification—for the day would come when all of humanity would face a threat that would need every bit of magic and guile to guarantee the survival of the species. And so the reunification prophecy was born.”
“And they agreed to that? The Scorned?” Ryan shook his head. “They probably believed they would take over the world and somehow rule forever.”
Meghan grinned. “Who knows what they thought? The truly greedy and self-centered don’t believe in planning for the future. They’re too consumed with the now. And, for the now at that time, they believed they would be left to do as they chose with the unpowered of human kind for century upon century.”
“Who are we in this story?” Jeremy looked at Ryan then focused on her.
“You’re both descended from the Chosen.” Meghan produced a pot of coffee and cups and began to pour it out. “Over centuries, the magic commanded by most who stayed in this realm weakened. Because the Chosen had to hide, they had to live as the humans around them lived, so most didn’t honor the traditions of their ancestors with regard to mating.
“The power of the Scorned also lessened, for much the same reasons. And while there are a handful of people today who have a good amount of magic within them, descended from both sides of the divide, mostly it’s so diluted that they’re just what you’d call exceptionally gifted people—artists, athletes, the cream of any profession—or, on the other side of the equation, those known as evil geniuses.” She leaned forward and met their gazes. “But despite the lack of overt magic, inside each of the descendants of the Chosen, there is an ember of power. This ember is usually quite small and only becomes activated when they meet someone who is of the Gifted.” Dicey ground here, Meghan thought. She didn’t want to tell them that she was destined to be their mate. If they asked he
r point blank, of course, she would.
Please don’t let them ask that.
She thought of the story they’d told her and addressed that. “Once in a great while, under extraordinary circumstances, those who have that ember, can, for a short time, tap that magic. I believe that is what happened to the both of you.”
“You said the power became diluted because of mating practices? If the Gifted are human, don’t they mate the same way as everyone else does?” Jeremy’s head was tilted at an angle, his focus on her, and Meghan wondered what he was thinking. Of course, she’d never look—not unless she was invited to.
“Yes, but there’s a difference. For the Gifted, there have always been twice as many male children as female born. So our family structures reflect this. I have two fathers and one mother.”
“You have ménage families.”
“Yes.”
“And all three members of that mating, as you called it, are people of power?”
“Yes.”
Ryan and Jeremy looked at each other. Ryan nodded. “I think you better tell us about the reunification prophecy.”
Chapter 4
Meghan looked from one man to the other. They were both focused on her with a kind of intensity she’d never experienced in her life. She felt the color rising on her cheeks. Well, there goes my plan to keep things to myself for a while longer.
“I only heard about it for the first time six years ago, and I only know of the first part of the prophecy. The first part of the prophecy states that, when the time is right, three women will come to this realm from the homeland and will each be met by two men who are destined to be her mates. The children born of these three triads will have more pure magic than the Gifted have ever known, and they will be in place, here in this realm, when they are needed the most—presumably when the planet faces its most perilous challenge and to prepare the way for unification. That is all I know of it.”
“Six years ago? How did you hear of it six years ago?” Jeremy’s voice had dipped. It was almost as if he knew what her answer was going to be. “Did something happen to you?”
The Gifted 2: Passions Aflame (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 4
