Betrothed

by Lola White

  Exchanging a surprised glance with Adam, Georgie asked, “You and Amelia were close?”

  “Until her wedding. I wasn’t able to make it as I was ready to have my own child and we were in Okinawa at the time.”

  “Okinawa?” Georgie felt as if her head were whirling, trying to follow Millie’s rambling explanation as it derailed from the original topic. She couldn’t seem to get a handle on the conversation and steer it in the direction she needed.

  “Hank was in the United States Navy. But after the wedding, I lost touch with my Amelia.” Millie cast a sad look at her husband, who was beginning to doze in his chair. “I’d practically raised her, you know.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “The children don’t look like her.” Millie frowned and dropped her project into the basket. “They look like the father’s Family, don’t they?”

  “Yes, the Lovaszes all look very similar.”

  “Hmm, nothing of my Amelia. Pity.”

  Georgie and Adam both jumped up to help as Millie heaved herself to her feet. The light fell more fully across her face and Georgie blinked, recognizing her. “You were in the hallway earlier, when Alexandru had his…moment.”

  “Yes, child, so terrifying. From what I hear, that man hasn’t changed in all the years of his life.”

  “No, probably not.”

  Georgie watched as Millie shook her dozing husband gently. “Hank, my love, come now. We’ll never make it through dinner without a little rest.” The old woman smiled over her shoulder at the Davenold pair. “Remember this when you get old. You won’t sleep a wink at night, but you’ll waste all the sun with a hundred naps a day.”

  Adam reached out to help the old man to his feet. Hank placed the ball of yarn in Millie’s basket and took his wife’s hand in the sweetest gesture Georgie had ever seen. They were adorable.

  She waited for the elderly couple to totter out of the parlor before she looked at Adam.

  He sighed. “Robert and Sera, then?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Eliasz

  “What do you mean, you can’t find him?”

  Silviu was the only one in the room who didn’t flinch at Eliasz’s tone. The man stood calm, resolute, obviously multitasking with the thoughts whirling behind his molten eyes and the cool explanations falling from his nearly immobile lips.

  “I spelled him, but he still managed to get up from his bed and leave the room without any of us hearing him go.”

  “How?” Eliasz was livid, anger eating him from the inside out. His muscles felt twice their normal size and hewn from granite. He couldn’t seem to uncurl his fists or lessen the battle-ready posture he held—arms akimbo, legs braced wide.

  Silviu shrugged. “He’s the Father. He has great deal of power at his disposal.”

  “So do you!”

  Eliasz saw Costel flinch, saw Vasile close his eyes briefly. At his side, Ileana grabbed his fist and squeezed, but he remained unrepentant. He didn’t care what secrets he was giving away. He’d seen Silviu’s strength with his own eyes and wanted that strength to make a showing, immediately, to track the old man down and incapacitate him.

  Silviu lifted an arrogant eyebrow. Only a niggling whisper of self-doubt kept Eliasz from smashing his fist into the man’s face.

  “There’s only so much I’m willing to do against my own grandfather.” Silviu tipped his head. “For now.”

  “I want him out of my house!”

  “Costel is going to take him home,” Silviu said. “Father and I will stay here to complete the negotiations.”

  “Today!” Eliasz stabbed the air with one rigid finger.

  Costel glanced at the window, blazing red with the dying of the sun. “You can’t kick him out in the middle of the night.”

  Eliasz’s body jerked forward, muscles beyond the control of rational will. Magic heated his shoulders. His knuckles itched to bury themselves in the other man’s nose. He’d had enough self-preservation to resist hitting Silviu, some deep part of his psyche warning that the youngest Lovasz was the most dangerous. But Costel was a different matter entirely and Eliasz needed to hit something.

  Ileana threw herself at his back and held on. Only her soft weight reined him in, only the sweet, slightly musky scent still clinging to her after their lovemaking held him back. They’d no sooner stepped from their privacy than they’d been corralled into this meeting and told the news of Alexandru’s disappearance.

  Silviu eyed Eliasz thoughtfully. “As soon as we find him, he’ll be packed up and sent off.”

  “It won’t go over well,” Costel cautioned. “I suggest everyone remain out of his sight while we depart.”

  “Whatever.” Eliasz drew in a breath hard enough to make his nostrils ache with the strain. Ileana stroked his arm until he grabbed her fingers, squeezing them in silent support. But he didn’t know who was supporting whom, just then.

  “We’ll have to split up.” Silviu turned to his brother. “Costel, where is he most likely to be found?”

  “Anywhere.” The eldest Lovasz cast a mildly apologetic glance at his host. “He’s been thorough in his tour of the house.”

  Eliasz waved away the man’s false remorse. “We need to find him. He’s too dangerous to leave alone for long.”

  “He won’t kill Family,” Costel scoffed. “He just lost his temper.”

  They all turned to the Lovasz heir with a variety of stunned expressions. Eliasz lost his voice as anger strangled him. It was probably for the best.

  “Costel,” Silviu said in a soft voice that set Eliasz’s hair on end, “if you don’t think Grandfather is more than capable of killing each and every one of us, then I’d suggest you not go home with him at all, and run to the farthest ends of the Earth instead.”

  “Capable, yes, but he won’t go that far.” Costel’s face folded into stubborn lines.

  Eliasz could only shake his head.

  Silviu tried again. “You will be asking Grandfather to give up the only thing that has ever mattered to him in his arrogantly miserable life. If you don’t think he’ll try to get even with you in some way, you will die. If only because you won’t be prepared for his attack.”

  “You’re the one who thought I could talk him into it.”

  Silviu closed his eyes briefly. “That was before. Now I have no way of predicting what he’ll do. If he agrees to step down peacefully, we can all rejoice and breathe a sigh of relief. I highly doubt that will happen now, however.”

  “If he won’t give me the power, how do you expect me to take it?”

  “If he refuses, I’ll force the issue.”

  Ileana gasped in Eliasz’s ear and he suddenly knew Silviu could do it. The troubling knowledge of the youngest Lovasz’s strength sprang to the forefront of his brain.

  It was theoretically impossible to take the power from a living Mother or Father. They held the magic of the entire bloodline and an individual’s ability couldn’t prevail against such a force. It was a natural safeguard against revolt or murder. A safeguard to prevent the Family from dissolving into anarchy as every witch in the coven fought for the power.

  Costel went completely still. “You’ll force… Shit.”

  Silviu’s face darkened, his temper snapping the air around him. “I’ll give you a chance to talk him into it. If that fails, I’ll force him to give you the power.” He slid toward his brother, backing him against the wall as he leaned close and lowered his voice to a hiss that brooked no argument. “But so help me, if you turn on us—me, Ileana and Father—I’ll take the magic for myself and damn the Family to civil war!”

  Ileana pressed her forehead into Eliasz’s shoulder, her arms tightening around his waist. Vasile went rigid. Costel’s face flushed, his ragged breaths audible in the sudden, grim silence. “The Family expects me to inherit.”

  “I would gladly give the power to you, if you help.”

  “If you try to take it,” Costel warned, “they’ll turn on you. I am the he
ir, and the Family will not sit by and watch you take the position! Especially if Grandfather is still alive.”

  “Many will.” Silviu smiled and Eliasz’s skin crawled. “But neither Grandfather, nor you, will be alive long enough to see the conflict reach a head. Do you understand me?”

  Costel paled. His eyes dulled, his mouth worked before his jaw tightened and he nodded. “I’ll take the power.”

  “Don’t double-cross me, or you die.”

  “I heard you!”

  Silviu slid back, tugging at his shirtsleeves as if he hadn’t just promised to kill his brother. Vasile did nothing, only stared at his eldest son sadly. Eliasz’s anger faded under the shock of the words and the cold slide of fear that came when he suddenly realized he’d be Silviu’s brother-in-law.

  The man would make one hell of an ally, and a deadly enemy.

  Silviu turned to the door. “We’re wasting time. We need to find him before he finds Georgie.”

  “Why?” Eliasz watched Silviu closely, wondering how such a cold man, in such a potentially lethal situation, could say a woman’s name so warmly.

  Silviu’s hand tightened on the doorknob and fierce emotion cracked the rigidity of his features. “He’s trying to kill her. Now he knows his magic won’t do it.”

  “All right.” Eliasz tried to get his inner shaking under control. “Ileana and I will—”

  “No.” Silviu spun. “You won’t go together.”

  In spite of the threat the Lovasz man was, Eliasz’s own dominant male came out of hiding. “You are the second Lovasz to tell me no in my own home.”

  “Grandfather’s proven he won’t hesitate to kill either of you. He’s too angry at you both and neither of you can stand against him. Eliasz, go with Costel, Ileana with Father.”

  “And that will prevent our deaths?” Eliasz didn’t think so.

  “It will slow him down.”

  “And you?”

  “Once I find Georgie, the old man won’t have a chance against me.” With that, Silviu left the room.

  Eliasz looked at Vasile with raised brows, surprised when the man deigned to answer the unspoken question. “Costel is…was correct. My father preferred not to kill those whose magic bolsters the bloodlines. But if he sees you with Ileana, he’ll be reminded that she’ll no longer be his Family, her magic therefore expendable.”

  “You aren’t a Lovasz.” Ileana shook her head against Eliasz’s back. “With the mood he’s in now, he’ll kill you without hesitation.”

  “Costel will be the only one he might listen to,” Vasile added.

  Eliasz looked at the eldest Lovasz son, taking his measure. He hadn’t had a chance to have a real conversation with the Family heir, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to anyway. Silviu and Ileana both spoke as if the man were devoted to Family, but Eliasz had heard the rumors—Costel was a weak link in the Lovasz bloodlines.

  He admitted that it was for the best to keep the heir in sight. “Fine. Let’s go, Costel.”

  The Lovasz heir stalked out of the room on Eliasz’s heels, quickly catching up as they moved through the halls of the house. For a good ten minutes, neither spoke as they checked room after room.

  Finally Eliasz voiced his thoughts. “Obviously you’ve already searched the house, right? When you first realized your grandfather was missing?”

  “Of course,” Costel agreed. “But only a fool doesn’t double-check.”

  Surprising wisdom from a man Eliasz didn’t have much use for. “Where would he go?”

  “Could be anywhere.”

  Eliasz stopped walking. “Are you hiding him?”

  “No.” Costel drew himself up, facing Eliasz with a spark of heat in his cold silver eyes. “I want this match between our Families. I want this match for Iley.”

  “I won’t give up the Slovakian lands. That’s what pissed your grandfather off in the first place.”

  Costel shook his head, checking another room. “Grandfather said you wouldn’t compromise.”

  “He wants all the land in Slovakia. Ridiculous.” Eliasz stomped to the next door and threw it open, noting the emptiness of the room beyond with a sweeping glare. “As I have Family on the property Alexandru is demanding, I offered the Ukrainian lands instead.”

  Costel paused, his head cocking as he met Eliasz’s angry stare. “He couldn’t possibly expect you to give up land you have people occupying.”

  Frustration plucked at his brain. “That’s exactly what he expects.”

  They searched another three rooms before Costel sighed heavily. “He’s wrong to do that. Family members need their homes.”

  Eliasz turned to Costel in surprise. “I know, especially since four of the families in that area have been there since before Rome fell.”

  “When I hold the power, I’ll accept the Ukrainian land and let you keep the Slovakian territory.”

  Eliasz was strangely offended. “How generous of you.”

  Costel quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t deserve that tone. After everything I’ve done—”

  “Like what, lick Alexandru’s boots?”

  Something wild flashed in the man’s eyes. “Do you think it’s easy to be the Lovasz heir? Do you think it’s easy to be the eldest when your two younger siblings are set on doing everything they can to anger the man wielding all the power? It’s all I can do to keep him from… Neither one of them knows—”

  Costel’s lips snapped shut. Withholding the rest of his statement, he stormed down the hall.

  Eliasz stomped after him. “What?”

  “Family is important to me.” Costel came to a stop at the end of the corridor, his face contorting in the reflection from the massive window overlooking the gardens below. Beyond the pane, night was falling and the hallway overheads gave Eliasz a perfect view of Costel’s expression in the glass.

  The man was torn. Clearly excited about his future prospects, he still carried more than a hint of regret at what was to come. He wanted power and he wanted to protect his Family. Alexandru was part of his Family, just as his brother and sister were.

  Eliasz felt his rigid dislike of the man ease. “The Ukrainian land is rich in resources, no matter what your grandfather thinks.”

  “I know.” Costel sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “I’m going to take the power and rebuild the Family from within. I’ll pass my Council Seat to Silviu so he can help rebuild our reputation in the wider witching world. I’ll find a way to contain my grandfather and keep us all safe.”

  Sympathy slid through Eliasz at the defeat in Costel’s tone. Neat as a pin, all loose ends tied up, Silviu would get everything he wanted. Eliasz could only shake his head at the manipulations of the youngest Lovasz son, and wonder where he and Ileana fit into the tapestry the man was effortlessly weaving.

  “And your sister, Costel?”

  “Your marriage will help the other covens see that the Lovaszes no longer break their promises.”

  Eliasz squinted down at the gardens, though the glare of the hallway lights kept him from seeing much. He weighed his words carefully, but he didn’t want to miss this opportunity. “You can get more from me than just land. No one asks for land anymore. I can help you repair the relations you have with other Families.”

  Costel’s lips moved in a curious way. “Grandfather was raised on stories of when the Gholami Family rode west with the spread of the Ottoman Empire.”

  “The Iranian Motherhouse?”

  “They took all the Lovasz land south of the Danube in a series of bloody battles. We’ve never gotten them back, so Grandfather—”

  “Has a need for land,” Eliasz finished for him. “And a hatred of matriarchal covens that goes beyond the distrust the rest of us hold.”

  “Yes.” Costel blinked. Blinked again and leaned forward, pressing his nose to the window until it fogged. “Grandfather’s out in the garden.”

  “Where?” Anxiety coursed down his spine. Eliasz pressed close, scanning the grounds.

  “Son of a bi
tch!” Costel turned and sprinted down the hall, toward the steps. “He’s with Georgeanne!”

  Giving up on his own search of the gardens, Eliasz ran after Costel. The two men pounded down the stairs, Eliasz’s longer legs gaining the advantage. Costel fell a few paces behind, but Eliasz didn’t dare slow.

  “Where?” he screamed over his shoulder, fear warning him not to wait for the Lovasz heir.

  “In the rose garden beyond the fishpond!”

  Eliasz put on more speed than he’d thought himself capable of. He tore through the ground floor, flinging himself through the rear door, angling for the paved path winding through the bushes toward the fishpond. Once in the clearing, he hurdled the fountain, the sounds of shouting and whistling energy reaching his ears. He heard Ileana’s shrill scream and Georgie’s sharp reprimand.

  Silver light cracked the night. Eliasz dove into the shrubbery, uncaring of the thorns that tried to claw him and hold him back, not even feeling their quick bites as he pushed past them. He swatted the decayed tips of roses out of his face, the last of the summer’s yield, their lives lengthened by his mother’s magic.

  He burst into the small clearing, purely ornamental in the midst of wildly overgrown rose bushes. His mother’s untamed retreat from the rest of the orderly gardens. Across the square of unkempt grass, Georgie stood in front of Adam, her arms outstretched and her face set with volatile fury. Adam was on his knees, head hanging, back quivering, silver sparks of magic still zipping down the length of his spine.

  Another blaze of silver had him flinching. Ileana screamed. Eliasz flashed a glance her way and saw her being held back by her father. Vasile was shifting sinuously, keeping his daughter behind his shoulder. The silver arc flew at Georgie’s head, slammed into a shimmering resistance and slid past.

  Georgie was wrath incarnate, her curses rising above Ileana’s shrieks.

  “I’ll kill you where you fucking stand, you bastard!” Georgie launched forward.

  Alexandru snarled and charged her. Silver streaked around his body like a halo, electrifying the air until it snarled as loud as he did. Vasile shoved Ileana at Eliasz and jumped into the fray.