When I went back to the room and picked up the silver tunic and grey leggings I’d thrown to the end of the bed when I fell asleep, I was surprised to notice a fine layer of dust on them.
Isolde must have more clothes than I could ever imagine if she lets designer duds lie around long enough to get dusty.
I’d also picked out a fancy vibrating toothbrush and some makeup items and deodorant, and I took them into the ensuite bathroom to change. I hadn’t taken any jewelry—I’d chosen the outfit to match the silver bracelet Daley had given me. As I smoothed the tunic over my hips and fluffed some curls into my hair, I thought about leaving Excalibur behind, but I’d grown used to its weight on my hip. Though it had once seemed too long and heavy to carry around easily, it now fit me in a way I couldn’t explain. With its spell of invisibility, the only sign of it was some creasing on the side of the tunic. When I threw on my jacket, even that was masked.
As we travelled down to the lobby in the elevator, my head was still a little sleep-muddled. When I caught Isabelle re-adjusting the knapsack on her shoulder and rubbing her neck, she gave me a rueful smile. “I fell asleep reading and I can’t get the kinks out.” I was glad she hadn’t left the Grail alone and unguarded in the hotel suite, but it bothered me that she seemed to have taken ownership over it.
The Grail is mine.
Titania had changed into a black halter top and wide-legged pants in flowing silk topped with a cropped jacket that looked like it was fabricated from silver feathers. The halter was cut deep and a silver chain draped even deeper, ending in a slim pendant that reached her waist. She’d painted her eyes silver to match and had sleeked down her mohawk into controlled red waves framing her face—the bright bird was gone and a queen was among us.
The men stood as she approached, all but Daley’s eyes widening appreciatively. I felt plain and unnoticed, but when Peter smiled shyly at Miko, I didn’t care anymore—I was just happy to see her smile back, even though the faint blush in her cheeks only pointed out how unnaturally pale they’d become.
At the same moment I noticed, Peter seemed to as well and the smile slipped off his face. I felt Miko stiffen. Her expression became cold and she sidled closer to Titania.
As the others passed us, Isabelle surprised me by commenting, “The boy needs to learn to not telegraph his every thought on his face.”
She was right, but it bothered me to hear her say it. “That’s just who Peter is. He’s honest and open. He doesn’t need to change.” When the ginger-haired woman murmured an apology and put some distance between us, I felt a little ashamed.
But it’s none of her business.
As we passed the front desk and went outside, I was surprised to see snow on the ground and slush on the edges of the street. “When did it snow?”
Tynan was looking up and down, frowning. “It must have come down hard during the day while we were napping.”
I hung back with him as we crossed the street. “You guys all slept too?”
“Deep. My father thinks our Guide was inexperienced. Even with the illusion of the train bringing us here, we may have all been on the edge of becoming brain-lost. You should have heard him yelling at Goodfellow. He’s never used a cell phone before, but he soon got the hang of it, I can tell you that.”
Daley knocked my arm as he brushed past, but the electricity that always seemed to be between us was dampened. Everyone looked tired and out of sorts, even Arthur. Isabelle was holding the card from the concierge at the Waldorf and speaking into her phone. She listened for a moment and then nodded, pointing for us to cross the road to the Russian Tea Room. “He got us in,” she said as she disconnected the call.
We dashed through traffic to the red canopy above the brass-edged doors, and entered an older, more opulent world. People were standing waiting for a table, but Isabelle pushed past them to the hostess. Ignoring the angry looks from those still waiting, we followed and the hostess ushered us over to two half-moon shaped booths with red leather banquettes. Arthur and the two older women immediately took the one furthest in and the rest of us took the second, all except Miko who hesitated between them, clearly not wanting to leave Titania. The fairy smiled indulgently and patted the space beside her. Miko happily climbed in, sitting too close from what I could see, but Titania seemed intent on treating her like some sort of pet. When I noted that Peter was also watching, I checked on his emotional state through our bond, but the connection between us was muted and blurry.
Our dinner proceeded as a quiet, sedate affair, while all the other patrons in the packed restaurant seemed to be in a lively, celebratory mood. The place was packed and I realized that the Waldorf Astoria’s concierge must have pulled some major strings to get us two tables. It was a bit embarrassing to be treated like royalty, but after the food began arriving, I was glad that at least one of us actually was royalty. We’d arrived just barely in time for the post-theater menu and the Blinchik—a crepe filled with mushrooms, goat cheese, and lingonberries—followed by Boeuf à la Stroganoff soon picked me up. By the time I was finishing it all off with chocolate mousse, I almost felt like celebrating too.
I was so intent on the chocolate goodness in front of me that I hadn’t even noticed that Peter was talking on the phone with someone until a complicated mixture of wariness and sadness seeped through our bond. He was sitting on the other side of Tynan, but I was able to catch snippets of the conversation.
“It’s all such a mess, isn’t it?” When he noticed me watching, he lowered his voice and turned partly away.
Who is he talking to?
Peter’s pale eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What? What happened?” A pause. “Are you sure? We’re going to see her. Taliesin thinks she can help us find Rhi’s mother.” His voice was loud enough now to rise over the din and we were all paying attention. When he stood suddenly, staring at something near the entrance, I felt him go into full Protector mode. “They’re already here.” My best friend was gone and a warrior stood in his place.
“Who’s here?” I hissed, but he ignored me.
“You should be here, Lacey.” I went cold as I realized who he was talking to. There was another pause as he glanced at me. “You’ve given us intel. That means something. I’ll talk to her.” Cold turned to heat as I realized he and that witch Lacey McInnis were now talking about me. I could just barely pick out her voice on the speaker of Peter’s phone.
“I don’t belong there.” I had to admit she sounded sad.
“None of us do.” There was a bitterness in Peter’s voice that shocked me. He disconnected the call and looked over my head at Arthur. “We’ve got company.”
As if on cue, one of the waiters yelled, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time! Ten, nine, eight . . .”
As the entire restaurant began to count down to midnight, shocked realization clicked into place—the dust on the clothes, the strange and heavy sleep—we’d been taken out of Time for almost a week. Morgause must have rigged up the magic in the rooms she’d arranged for us. Then I remembered the strange painting of poppies on the wall and how it was so obviously out of place.
As the waiter screamed, “Happy New Year!” and the crowd exploded into revelry, a tall man with red hair and a young girl with tattered blonde hair spilling out from under a newsboy cap walked silently towards us. As the strains of Auld Lang Syne filled the restaurant, I realized who they were. They’d come to see Cleo at the Bellagio before heading to New Orleans. The girl now sported a red and purple bruise on one cheek and the man held his head stiffly as if it hurt. A peculiar ring covered in twisted symbols glinted on his index finger.
The girl stopped in front of me. “Listen, don’t shoot the messenger—and I mean that literally ‘cuz I’m the Messenger—but Morgause told me to tell you that she wants the Grail.”
“She took us out of Time,” I stated flatly.
“Yeah. She kind of went a little overboard with it, but the guy she hired to set the spell was some newbie she took a fancy to. He
thinks he’s some sort of artist.” Daley and Tynan shared a look and I guessed that they’d had a poppy painting in their room too. “We’ve been waiting for the wards on the rooms to alert us that you were up. She only meant to put you out until we got back. Frankly, you’re lucky to be alive.”
“Why did she do it?”
The man rolled his eyes. “Oh for pity’s sake, get on with it.” His British accent only heightened the disdain in his voice.
“Shut up, Bel,” the girl hissed. “The only reason I’m doing this is to try to prevent any of us from getting killed. I’m still the Messenger, at least for now. Do you think I like being stuck between Morgause and Arthur-bloody-Pendragon?”
“What’s a ‘Messenger’ then?” I asked, but it was Arthur who answered as he slipped out of his booth.
“The Messenger is Morgause’s creature. If I recall correctly, the current occupant of the position is named Chloe and she is not our friend. She must obey her mistress’ commands until her term of service is up. Even before I was sleeping, Morgause’s mice were notorious as spies.”
The girl shrugged. “I just pass messages back and forth, and as for my mistress’ commands, I’ve always got a little wiggle room if I look for it.” Grabbing her companion’s hand, she held it up to the light. “And I don’t have to obey this guy at all. Right now, this ring is holding him and giving me some leverage with the Seer, but not much. If I don’t bring the Grail back with me soon, all she has to do is make a couple of calls and some not so friendly dudes will come looking for us.”
“The Grail isn’t going anywhere without me.” I injected every ounce of my firm intention into my voice.
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Then I guess you have to come along. It’s what you were planning to do anyways, isn’t it? I just thought I’d give you the chance to get yourself out of this mess." I shivered as she echoed Peter’s words to Lacey.
Now that the singing was done, the patrons and staff were beginning to notice our altercation. The girl jerked her chin towards the table, making her hair flutter around her shoulders. “Why don’t we dial this down a bit before things get messy?” Tacitly agreeing, Arthur sat and the rest of us followed, but the addition of extra bodies at one table made for a tight fit so Miko and Titania remained standing. Bel leered at me as he settled in comfortably against my right side, pushing me against Peter. The heat pouring off the man was incredible and I could feel myself beginning to sweat through the delicate silk of my tunic. I gripped Excalibur’s pommel under the table.
I caught Isabelle’s eye as I tried to surreptitiously pull the knapsack containing the Grail under the table towards myself, but Bel surprised me by laughing. “I know exactly where the earth totem is, dear. Fire calls to fire. You might as well put it out in the open.” He leaned forward. “In fact, just so we have everything on the table, so to speak, I highly recommend it.”
Arthur frowned. “Only address my people through me, Belenos,” but he nodded for Isabelle to comply. She cleared a space in the center of the table and put the knapsack down on it.
The man smirked. “I must say, Arthur, I’m gratified you remember me, but it’s Bel, if you don’t mind.”
Arthur snorted. “Why should I mind what a second rate fire demon calls itself? You were all always running around calling yourself god of the sun—Alaunus, Étaín, Sulis, not to mention the ruffians who plagued the rest of the world like Helios and Ra. If I remember you, Bel, it’s only because you were the weakest of the bunch.”
As the heat against my side increased, Chloe looked back and forth between the two men. “Steady on, Bel.” She pointed to her index finger. “I’ve still got you on a short leash. Besides, you’ll roast in here the same as the rest of us if you decide to turn this place into an oven. Even you have your limits.”
Bel ignored her. “Oh Arthur, you always were a self-righteous bastard. And I mean that quite literally given the stories about your mother.” He turned his head and winked at me. “Igraine was her name. She had a most scandalous reputation.”
Arthur’s face never changed expression, but when I opened my senses to his magic, his aura was blazing. Immediately hungering for it, I blocked my awareness of it. With all the practice blocking the pain in my head and my sensitivity to both Tynan and Peter, I was getting pretty good at it. There was only a little resistance then I was able to look at Arthur and only see a handsome man in his early forties.
The Earth King leaned back and crossed his arms. “You know that the Grail belongs to Rhiannon, not me. Why has Morgause drawn me into this?”
Bel shrugged. “You need its waters to save Morgan le Fay.”
I was holding myself as far away from the man as I could, but my skin felt like it was being seared. “And I’ve agreed.”
“And Morgause and I are equally happy to let you proceed, but not without a little quid pro quo first. It’s the reason she was waiting for me to return. The Seer’s powers aren’t attuned to an object like the Grail, but mine are.”
A piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “You want its fire.”
“Precisely. Unfortunately, Arthur, you’re quite right in your judgment of my abilities. All that remains are a few parlor tricks, but when you woke up, you changed everything. The realm of magic is in flux. When it comes to a rest, a new world order will have emerged.”
“With you at the top?”
“With the Seer, of course.”
But I knew he was lying. “So if you’re just Morgause’s lackey, what were you doing with Cleopatra?”
The man stared at me for a moment and I thought I read real surprise on his face before it was hidden beneath a sneer. “Cleopatra is just a means to an end.”
Chloe sighed. “Let’s get this over with. Morgause will be freaking and you know it.”
When Bel grimaced, I caught the sense that returning to the woman wasn’t something he was looking forward to. “Everyone out then, but don’t forget the bill, Arthur. And do tip well.”
As we exited the restaurant, the cold seemed to freeze the air in my lungs, but at least it shut Bel up and cooled my skin where he’d leaned against me. We crossed the street and went back inside One57 where the man at the desk waved Bel and Chloe past and an elevator door opened as we approached. The elevator took us to the top floor and opened onto a private vestibule. The shade of Loki the trickster god was waiting for us. He bowed low and I saw that he’d combed his hair over the top of his head to hide a bald patch. When Chloe turned the knob on the condo door, he disappeared.
The apartment was a Hollywood version of heaven. Everything was white, from the polished marble tiles on the floor, to the walls, to the huge chandelier above us. The chandelier wasn’t lit, but two lit corridors ran out on either side of the foyer, providing a little light to see by. Ahead of us was an open concept living space that was at least a few thousand square feet just on its own—the apartment had to cover the entire top floor. White furniture sat on white rugs which sat on white tile. Anything that wasn’t white was glass. Floor to ceiling windows bounded three sides of the entire space, showing a view of dark skies and the lights of the city below. It was like standing in space looking down at the stars.
There was movement and a figure was silhouetted against the pinpricks of city light. A woman was dancing in front of the windows to some music that only she could hear. Her red hair was the brightest thing in the room as it cascaded down her completely naked body like tongues of flame.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AMARANTH
“For crying out loud, Morg, put on some clothes. You’ve got guests.” Bel huffed impatiently as he flicked a couple of switches and flooded the room with artificial light. The Seer of New York flinched as if she’d been hit, but she didn’t turn.
“Bel, darling, is that you? You took so long. I’m lonely, and everything hurts so, so much.” The woman seemed almost addled, but when Arthur began to edge down one of the corridors, she hissed over her shoulder, “Loki!” The trickster appea
red, blocking the way. Arthur surprised me by hesitating, but the look on his face said he wouldn’t be stopped for long.
When Chloe picked a filmy robe up off the floor and draped it over the woman’s shoulders, I could feel Peter relax. He was raised in a home where R-rated movies were forbidden and even his comic books were inspected to make sure they didn’t cross the line. But then Morgause turned and I could feel his anxiety go through the roof. The thin fabric of the robe did almost nothing to hide her full breasts, tiny waist, and curving hips. She had creamy, almost luminous skin and the over-full lips and vacuous expression of a porn star. The only thing that marked her as sister to Morgan and Viviane were her pale, pale eyes.
She held out her hand to me. “Come, daughter of my brother, the horned god Merlin, and of fair Guinevere.”
Chloe motioned for me to obey. As I approached, I put out my hand to take hers, but the Seer pulled back in alarm. “No, no,” she whispered, “can’t do that. It hurts too much. That’s why I live up here in the sky where all their grubby little fingers and grubby little brains can’t touch me.” She cocked her head at me. “Your brain is loud, but not as loud as it once was. It’s now empty, empty, empty.” Morgause laughed.
Morgause is crazy.
“Empty now, but not for long, Child of Blood.” She frowned. “Why do you recoil from your rightful title? Blood is life. Blood is magic. And spilling it is a natural consequence of mortality.” Her eyes narrowed and her expression became sly. “I could tell you what it all means, but I know you came to me with another question and I will only answer one.”
“I want to see Morgan,” Arthur interrupted.
The Seer waved her fingers at him. “Yes, but does she want to see you, Arthur?”
The king strode towards her, backing her up almost to the window as she attempted to avoid him touching her. Bel threw himself down on the couch looking bored, as if he’d seen this scene or one like it played out many times before. Even Chloe was busy picking at the split ends in her hair.
Sword of Elements Series Boxed Set 2: Bound In Blue, Caught In Crimson & To Make A Witch Page 41
