by S. J. West
My duty to the alfar is the last thing I want to think about right now, so I decide to concentrate on eating my food instead. After I finish my tenth and final plate, Julian asks for the check and gets out of his side of the booth to pay it at the cash register.
“Why don’t you go speak with Nadia?” he suggests. “You can let her know we’ll be heading home now.”
“Do I have to?” I ask. I know I sound like a petulant teenager whining about having to do something I really don’t want to do, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to talk to Nadia or have her follow us home.
“I understand your desire to not have her watch your every move,” Julian sympathizes, “but unless you’re able to work some miracle and talk Shael into calling Nadia back home, you’ll need to develop a relationship with her. Whether she becomes your friend or your foe is totally up to you. Just remember that she’s only following orders and doing her duty. It’s her responsibility to keep you protected, even at the expense of her own life. For that, she deserves a little bit more respect than you’re showing her, Sarah.”
I sigh in resignation, because I know Julian’s chastising words are well founded. I might not like the idea of having Nadia around, but I can’t fault her for simply doing the job she was assigned to do by her queen.
“Okay,” I begrudgingly say as I stand from my seat in the booth. “I’ll go play nice with her, but I won’t lie and pretend that I like having her around.”
“She’s here to serve you,” Julian reminds me. “Just tell her that you would appreciate it if she kept her distance as much as possible. I think she’ll understand that you need some space to breathe every once in a while.”
I sigh. “I’ll tell her, but I’m not sure she’ll listen.”
“It doesn’t hurt to try.”
I turn away from Julian and make my way to the booth Nadia is sitting in. She lifts the white cup on the table to her lips and steadily watches my approach as she takes a sip. I notice that she no longer has on the military style vest with all the pockets she wore when I first saw her. She’s simply dressed in a black leather jacket, pants, and a T-shirt. I don’t visibly see any signs of a weapon on her, but I feel sure she has at least one or two hidden on her person somewhere.
“May I sit with you?” I ask her when I reach her booth.
Nadia sets her coffee cup back on the table. “You don’t have to ask, Your Highness.”
I take the seat across from her and say, “It’s politer to ask than to assume.”
“I’m here to serve you at your leisure,” Nadia replies. “You should always assume my answer will be yes, unless you ask me to do something stupid.”
“And what would you consider a stupid request?”
“You would be very stupid if you asked me to leave you unprotected,” she replies stubbornly. “Is that what you’re about to ask me to do?”
“It might be what I want to ask you to do for me,” I admit. “But you’re right. That would be an idiotic request. I know you won’t leave, and whether I like it or not, I’m pretty much stuck with you for the time being.”
Nadia smiles at me, tight-lipped. “As long as you understand that my answer to a question like that will always be an unequivocal no, I think you and I can find a way to get along.”
“I’m actually here to ask you to do something else for me,” I tell her. “As you can imagine, I don’t know much about the alfar. Up until I met Shael at the party, I didn’t even know the alfar race existed. I need you to teach me about your people. Julian said that Shael is head of the controlling house and that she’s used her political prowess to maintain that control. If I do end up having to take her place one day, I need to know more about the world you come from. All I know right now is that there are five alfar houses. The only one I know the name of is House Moonshade. Why don’t we start with you telling me what the names of the other four houses are?”
Nadia tilts her head as she considers my request. “I think that’s an excellent idea,” she tells me, sounding pleased with my quest for knowledge. She clears her throat slightly and continues. “I’ll tell you the name of the other four houses in order of their importance in alfar society. Moonshade is the most important, of course. Then there is House Firestorm, House Icefall, House Draconid, and House Nysas.”
“Why in that order?” I ask.
“The more mages a house has, the more power they control. House Firestorm has been trying to recruit mages from the other houses for years now but hasn’t been successful in obtaining as many as House Moonshade.”
“Why haven’t they been successful?”
“Shael has been playing a very delicate political game between all the houses,” Nadia says, sounding impressed with her queen but also worried that Shael may not be able to maintain control forever. “None of the other houses trust each other, and she’s used that natural distrust for years to keep things in balance. Since House Firestorm hasn’t tried to hide its intention of recruiting from the other houses, they’ve made it easy for Shael to keep all the houses in check with each other. No house wants to lose mages, so they do whatever they have to in order to keep the ones they have happy.”
“So has House Firestorm been able to recruit many mages from the other houses?”
“A few, but not enough to rival Moonshade. We still maintain the majority of mages within our ranks. Although our mages could be richer if they went to Firestorm. Shael doesn’t treat them any better than anyone else within her house.”
“Then why do her mages stay?” I have to ask. “Most people would go where they can make the most money.”
“They stay with her because she offers them loyalty and trust. Everyone in House Moonshade knows that if they need help, Shael will send it—no questions asked. That’s the type of leader she is, and we all love her for it. Most of the other house leaders are more concerned about themselves and their own self-interests. We all know Shael would give up her life if it meant saving us. You can’t buy that kind of loyalty.”
“Her shoes sound too big for me to step into,” I say, wondering what the hell my aunt is thinking considering me as the next heir to the throne.
“They are,” Nadia agrees without even sugarcoating her words. “But hopefully, in time, you will prove to be someone who can take her place. She has faith in you, and all I can do is have the same faith. We’re all counting on you to stand up and be the leader you were born to be.”
I feel like the fate of the world has suddenly landed squarely on my shoulders.
“And if my father was still alive,” I say, “would he be next in line to the throne?”
“No,” Nadia replies without even having to consider the question. “The moment he left to be with your mother is the moment he became dead to us.”
“Dead to you?” I ask. “That sounds a bit harsh.”
“He abandoned us,” Nadia says. Beneath the contempt for my father I see in her eyes, I also notice a touch of sadness. “A true leader never deserts his people and his birthright. He chose your mother over us, and for that, we will never forgive him.”
“Then why do you want me?” I have to ask. “I’m the result of him leaving you and the others. Shouldn’t you resent me just as much as you do him?”
“Some do,” Nadia reveals. “But Shael is trying to soothe the concerns of those who believe you are just like your father.”
My back stiffens involuntarily. “My father was a good man who loved me and my mother very much.”
“We know that,” Nadia snaps back. “He loved you both so much he willingly turned his back on his responsibility to his own people.”
“Since Shael is such a great leader, he probably assumed that you would all be taken care of, and from what you just told me about her, it sounds like he was right.”
“He knew before he left that Shael is unable to conceive children. Even with that fact known, he chose to leave us, opening the way for the other houses to think they might have a chance at taking contro
l after she dies. Now that they know you exist, their hopes have been completely dashed.”
“Wait,” I say, thinking through this new piece of information, “are you telling me that finding out I exist has caused a problem among the houses?”
“Yes.” Nadia sighs, sitting back farther in her seat. “Shael was playing them off one another, assuring them all that she would give her blessing to one of the houses on her deathbed and urge her mages to enter into their house. Now she has to rescind that promise because Moonshade has a rightful heir to assume control.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better if I just stayed out of all things alfar and relinquished my inheritance?”
“No,” Nadia says rather stridently. “It would not be better. You’re the last Moonshade left who can give us an heir from the royal family’s lineage. If you refuse to take on the responsibility of becoming our queen, the other families within House Moonshade will begin to fight for control amongst each other before Shael dies and tear our house down from the inside out. Eventually, House Moonshade will cease to exist, and everyone will be absorbed into one of the four remaining houses. So no, Your Highness, it would not help us in the slightest for you to give up your right to the throne. Doing such a thing would only tear us apart that much faster and be a sure death sentence for some of us.”
“Death sentence?” I ask breathlessly. “Why?”
“I, and the rest of the Valengard who serve House Moonshade, would never be able to serve any other house. We’ve devoted our loyalty and lives to your family, and the leaders of the other houses know that. Their only recourse would be to wipe us out of existence to ensure that we never interfere with their affairs or try to resurrect House Moonshade by some other means.”
“That’s awful,” I say, aghast.
“If you don’t want to see us massacred, then I suggest you stay true to your birthright.”
But that’s the last thing I want to do, I think to myself.
“I’ve settled the bill,” I hear Julian say as he comes to stand beside us. “Are we ready to head out, or do you need a moment more?”
I look back at Nadia and tell her, “We’re heading back to Pecan Acres now. Is your helicopter somewhere nearby?”
“Yes,” Nadia says, standing from her seat while reaching into her jacket pocket. For some reason, I think she might be pulling out a weapon, but instead, she just pulls out a five dollar bill and tosses it on the table to pay for the coffee and leave a nice tip. “I had the pilot land it in an empty parking lot not too far away from here. We’ll follow you home.”
I know there won’t be any talking her out of coming back home with us, so I don’t even waste my breath.
We all walk out of the diner together, and Nadia escorts us to Julian’s car. I have to admit that I’m envious of her statuesque form. She’s at least three inches taller than me and nearly as tall as Julian. I can only wonder what criteria the alfar use to choose the children who attend Valengard Academy. How do they know each child they pick has the potential to become a warrior?
When we reach Julian’s Vanquish, I pull out the key fob for it from the front pocket of my shorts.
“Is your home large enough for me to stay in, or will I need to make other arrangements?” Nadia asks Julian.
“I have plenty of room,” he assures her, looking the part of a gracious host. “You’re more than welcome to stay with us.”
Nadia inclines her head in his direction as her way of saying thank you non-verbally.
“I’ll see you there then,” she tells us before turning around and basically walking back the way we just came.
After we get inside the car, I look in the backseat to check on Viktor, only to find him still sound asleep. When I turn back around, I notice Nadia is nowhere to be seen. Just as I start the car up, I spot her helicopter rising above the Waffle House and hovering there, waiting for me to leave the parking lot.
I sigh and place the car into drive. As I make my way back onto the highway, Julian asks, “Would you mind me taking a nap while you drive home? I feel tired for some reason.”
“You should rest,” I say, chancing a glance at him and noticing how exhausted he looks. “You’ve had a rough couple of days. Get some sleep. I’ll be fine. It’ll give me some time to think about what Nadia told me.”
“What did she tell you?” he asks through a yawn.
“Nothing important,” I say, even though I would actually like to discuss matters with him. “Just get some rest. I’ll wake you up when we get home.”
Thankfully, Julian is too tired to argue. He promptly lays his head back on the headrest and seems to almost instantly fall asleep.
I keep my eyes on the road, listening to the rhytHmmic hum the tires make against the concrete. The sound soothes my mind until my thoughts return to what Nadia just told me about the unrest between the alfar houses.
How did my life get so royally screwed up so quickly? And how am I going to find a way to keep Julian in my life while preserving my family’s legacy?
There has to be a way. I just need to figure it out.
After three hours of driving, I discover that I’m no closer to solving my problems than I was when I started this trip. I can’t see a way to help House Moonshade, because I can’t give them the heir they so desperately need. At least, not at the moment anyway. It’s possible that I can hide that fact from them for a few years, but eventually they’ll begin to pressure me into assimilating into an alfar way of life. There’s really only one thing I can think of that will partially solve my dilemma, and that involves finding a solution to Julian’s curse first.
I keep thinking about his words to me on the beach.
“I love you, Sarah Marcel,” he had whispered to me. “My heart is yours to nourish or to break. For as long as I live, I will love no one else, because no matter what happens, my life is now forever connected to yours. You are my last companion, because death is preferable to life without you in it.”
I didn’t ask Julian to clarify his last sentence at the time because, well, who wants to screw up a great romantic gesture like that with questions that can wait to be asked?
If Julian intends for me to be his last companion, that means I can’t have a child. If I did, my son or daughter would inherit my family’s connection to him and continue this mad cycle of companions. The only way to solve that conundrum is to figure out how to break the curse he’s under and hopefully make him human again. I hold onto that thought like a lifeline thrown to a drowning person. It’s the only means by which I can have a normal life with Julian. If we can have a child together, then House Moonshade will gain an heir. It might not be wholly alfar, but in desperate times, people will take what they can get. I don’t see why this situation should be any different.
Just as I turn off the interstate to head towards Pecan Acres, I glance over at Julian. His head is still resting on the back of his seat, but his eyes are completely open and staring straight at me.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” I say with a smile. “Did you have a good nap?”
Julian continues to stare at me with a completely blank expression on his face. I return my attention to the road for a few seconds before looking back at him. When I do, his eyes are closed again. Did I just imagine they were open? No. I don’t think so. I’m not blind, even though the only light in the car is coming from the dim ones in the dashboard. I shiver slightly as a cold hand presses against my soul. I have a horrible feeling that the entity I just spoke to was that of the girl haunting Julian, not Julian himself.
Yep. The sooner we get her the hell out of my man, the better, as far as I’m concerned.
When I turn onto the driveway of Julian’s home, I hear him ask, “Did I end up sleeping the entire way home?”
I look at him and breathe out a sigh of relief. The smile on his face as he looks at me with eyes filled to the brim with unquestionable love is a sure sign that my Julian is back in control of his body.
“Yes, you did,” I repl
y, deciding not to mention what happened a few minutes ago. I’m not exactly lying. Just withholding information that would only cause him distress. That seems like a justifiable reason to refrain from saying anything about what I saw.
“I guess I was more tired than I thought,” he replies, sitting straighter in his seat and running a hand over the back of his head to comb down any stray strands.
“Your body needed the rest. It’s good that you slept.”
“You must be tired as well,” Julian says, reaching over to lay his hand on my right thigh comfortingly. “I’m not the only one who had a rough day.”
“I’m fine,” I assure him with a smile. “Having you back safe and sound made sure of that.”
“It seems a little odd that you ended up being my protector.”
“Odd? Why?”
“I come from a very old-fashioned time, Sarah, when the man was supposed to be the protector of the family. Yet, you’ve saved my life three times now.”
“Three?” I ask. “I think you mean two. Once at your sister’s party and today. There wasn’t a third time.”
“Having you love me has saved my soul,” he tells me. “I finally have a reason to fight for its salvation.”
“Okay, seriously, you’re going to have to stop saying things like that if you intend to make me wait very much longer to make love with you. If Helen wasn’t already standing on the porch waiting for us, I would take you directly to my room and not let you leave until morning. Maybe not even then.”
I hear Julian chuckle just as I catch sight of Helen waving at us and smiling happily.
If I didn’t love her too, I would just bypass the perfunctory greetings and do what I said to Julian. As it is, we’ll end up spending some time explaining at least a few things to her about what happened in Destin. I only gave her the briefest of details when I called her earlier. I knew she would want to know Julian was safe, so I told her that much and promised to explain what happened in more detail when we got home. In hindsight, that was a stupid promise to make. I should have just told her to not wait up for us and that we’d explain everything in the morning. Oh well, not much I can do about it now. Besides, I can’t be mad at a woman who’s holding a plateful of cookies for me in her hands.
