by Brenda Drake
All my best, Marietta *
The woman lit a match, set the letter on fire, and dropped it in the planter beside her. The flame gobbled up the white paper until it was ash. A twig snapped behind her, and she turned. Her eyes widened with surprise when a shadowed figure skewered her with her own sword. My breath hitched as her expression froze when death took her, and she collapsed to the ground.
“Gia,” Bastien said grasping my shoulders. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. This woman”—I read the name from the plaque—“Jacalyn Roux. She died sixteen years ago. Who is she?”
“She was a Sentinel. She died when she was almost twenty-three.”
“How did she die?”
“In the gardens of Couve,” Bastien said. “The guards found her pierced through the heart with her own sword.”
“Why would someone kill her?”
“It isn’t certain. Some think she committed suicide by falling onto her own sword, but those who knew her believed she was murdered.”
“Oh, she definitely was murdered.”
He glanced over to me. “Why do you say that?”
“I’ve been having visions ever since I came to the havens,” I said. “I had one just now of her murder.”
His hand on my arm startled me, and I drew my eyes away from the statue.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s not linger on such morbid events better left in the past.” He ticked his head toward the hallway. “Shall we join the others?”
“Do you know what happened to her baby?”
He gave me a confused look. “She never had a baby.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m certain.” He led me to a door at the end of the hallway, and we eased inside the room. Arik and the others were already sitting at a long table with silver trays piled with sandwiches, fruits, and cakes spread across its center. Their faces were somber as they ate in silence.
My mind spun as we crossed the long distance from the door to the table. Who was Jacalyn? What did my mother have to do with her? And what was up with that letter she read? What happened to the baby?
There must be a connection. I just couldn’t piece it all together. A thought struck me: If Jacalyn had lived in Couve, maybe some of her belongings still existed.
Bastien escorted me to an empty seat beside Demos, and before he left, I leaned toward him. “Are there any personal items of that woman’s around? Like old photographs or letters?
“She was my mother’s dear friend,” Bastien said. “Her room has been untouched all these years. My mother is sentimental like that.”
“Do you think after we eat, you could bring me there? It’s really important.”
He gave a slight nod. “Certainly.”
I slid into the chair, and he strolled down to the end of the table, settling in at the head.
Arik sat across from me. His usual mischievous grin was a straight line of disapproval. I redirected my attention to the food tray in front of me, mindlessly adding a sandwich, vegetables, and fruit to my plate.
“You seem lost in thought, Gia,” Arik said from across the table.
“I—guess I am.”
He still wore a scowl. “Not to worry. Since Couve is stable, we’ll join the others at the shelter after our meal.”
“There’s something I have to do before we leave,” I said.
“Do you care to tell me what?”
“Come with me. I don’t want to talk about it here.”
“All right,” he said.
After dinner, he followed me to the French Sentinels’ Hall of Honor. “What are we up to?” Arik asked as we waited in the hall for Bastien.
I walked over to Jacalyn Roux’s statue. “Do you know this woman?”
Arik studied the statue.
I grew impatient. “Well, do you?”
“I don’t believe so, why?”
“She died the year I was born, and before that, she was missing for a year.” I paused to catch my breath.
Arik crossed his arms. “Why does it matter?”
“I had a vision of her. She read a letter from my mother telling Jacalyn her baby was doing well. Jacalyn’s baby. The baby was with my mom. With me.”
“I still am unclear of the importance,” Arik said.
“Really?” Frustration boiled inside me. “Why would someone want to hide a baby? And with my mother who was in hiding herself? What happened to this baby? Who’s the father? Bastien said she never had one, so why does my mother mention she had? And even more important, why am I having visions from people I don’t even know?”
“All right. It does sound suspicious,” Arik said. “But I’m not certain we’ll find any answers to your questions.”
Bastien came up behind us. “What questions?”
“The mysterious baby questions,” Arik answered.
“So, you told him.” I detected annoyance in Bastien’s tone. “Sorry I kept you waiting. I had to get the key to Jacalyn’s room. The room was thoroughly searched when she died, so I doubt there will be any answers there, but I’ll take you anyway.”
Bastien brought us to a room deep within the castle. A gust of dusty air punched our faces when he pushed the door open. Arik and I moved into the middle of the room as Bastien switched on the blush-colored porcelain lamps draped in cobwebs.
The warm light illuminated the dust floating in the air. The room was a young woman’s forgotten sanctuary. There was lots of white painted furniture, a light-pink comforter, pink drapes, and white-lace pillows, all seemingly antiqued under layers of dust.
Arik tugged open drawers of the nightstand. I crossed over to the vanity and picked up a hairbrush. Strands of dark brown hair were caught in the bristles. I placed the brush back, making sure to put it in the same exact spot. It wasn’t hard to do, since there was a clean silhouette of the brush in the dust. I eased the top drawer on the left open and sorted through the miscellaneous items thrown haphazardly into the drawer. The middle drawer held hair ties, makeup brushes, emery boards and the like. I sighed. “Find anything?” I asked the others.
Bastien riffled through the bottom drawer of the bureau by the window. “Nothing here.”
“Nor here,” Arik added as he peeked under the bed. “It might help if we knew what you hoped to find.”
“I don’t even know–a diary or something?”
Bastien pressed his face against the floorboards as he peered under the bureau. “How about letters?”
“You found letters?” I dropped down beside Bastien. He smelled good, like expensive cologne. His arm brushed mine, causing my skin to go goosepimply. I jerked away from him. What the hell was that?
Shaking it off, I strained my neck to see under the bureau. Behind it, a wooden panel in the wall had slipped out of place. Several letters stood in a line within the gap. Bastien and I got up from the floor and pulled the bureau from the wall. I removed the panel and tugged each letter out of the opening, dropping them on the floor.
After plopping on to the area rug, I pulled my legs into a pretzel, picked up the nearest letter, and opened it. Bastien and Arik sat down on either side of me.
“Oh. My. God. This is a love letter from—” I read the sender on the envelope.
“Who’s the letter from?” Arik asked, impatiently.
“It’s from Professor Attwood.”
Bastien picked up a letter and read it. “This one is from Marietta to Jacalyn. She mentions her excitement over Jacalyn’s news and says she and Carrig are hiding out in Ireland. Marietta is twelve weeks along.”
“Does it mention what news?” I asked.
“No, but Marietta finishes the letter—I can’t believe this.” Bastien looked at me. “Friends in motherhood.”
“See,” I said. “I told you so.”
Arik stretched his legs out in front of him. “So they both were pregnant at the same time.”
“Listen to this,” Bastien said. “I cannot imagine how it must feel to give birth alon
e. I feel it is your beloved’s right to know the father. He will understand your mistake. Dearest cousin, fear not for your baby, for it is my baby with the price upon its head. I shall send for you when I am settled. Always, Marietta.”
I gasped. “Omigod. What does that mean? And how are they cousins?”
“They can’t be cousins. It must be a term of endearment.” Bastien folded the letter and slipped it into the envelope.
“How about this one,” Arik said. “We must never tell of our discovery. A grandfather like ours is one to be admired, and I fear the scandal would bring him shame.”
“Who wrote that?” I asked.
“Marietta did,” he answered. “She also says she was sorry to hear Sabine was distraught over the news. Who is Sabine?”
“My mother,” Bastien said.
“We should ask her,” I said.
“I always knew she hid letters ’ere someplace,” Bastien’s mother said from the opened door.
“Maman,” Bastien said, scrambling to his feet.
She waved him away. “Please sit down, Bastien.”
Bastien obeyed.
She stayed in the doorway as if it was too painful to enter Jacalyn’s shrine. “Jacalyn and Marietta,” Sabine said. “We all met at ze Sentinel’s school in Asile. After Marietta returned to her own ’aven, we all exchanged letters. Zey became Sentinels and I became ze wife of a High Wizard.
“A few summers afterward, Marietta’s mother died, and Jacalyn went to Asile to console ’er. Since Marietta’s father was expired as well, it was up to Marietta and Philip to sort through zair mother’s belongings. They discovered the unpublished memoir of Marietta’s grandfather, Gian. He admitted to ’aving an affair with Jacalyn’s grandmother, and conceiving a child from zat union—Jacalyn’s mother.”
She sighed. “I did not realize zat Jacalyn and Philip fell in love. I wish I knew—”
“Wouldn’t that make Jacalyn and Professor Attwood cousins?” Arik asked.
“No,” Sabine said. “Marietta and Philip share ze same father and ’ad different mothers. Jacalyn is related to Marietta through her mother.”
My legs were falling asleep, so I adjusted them. “Did you know about Jacalyn’s baby?”
Tears pooled in Sabine’s eyes, and she left them there, until she blinked, and they fell onto her cheek. “No. I do remember seeing ’er a few months before she disappeared. She hardly spoke. If she’d ’ad a baby, well, I did not know. My poor Jacalyn—”
Sabine pulled a lacy handkerchief from her bodice and dabbed at her eyes, then continued, “Jacalyn ’ad spent time training Sentinels in Esteril and met her betrothed, Conemar, there. ’E was obsessed with ’er. After realizing how evil ‘e was, she brought her case to dissolve their betrothal promise to the Wizard Council. I believe ’e murdered ’er because of it. But it could not be proven.” She covered her mouth with the hanky, muffling a sob.
Bastien jumped to his feet. “I should see my mother to her chambers.” He turned to me. “You should come with us.”
“No. I have to hide the letters.”
“With the recent attack, I don’t want you to be alone in the castle.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Arik’s here.”
Bastien looked from me to his mother, then to Arik. “All right. Will you guard her?”
“I kept her safe before you were in the picture,” Arik said, sounding irritated.
Bastien ignored Arik’s statement and steered Sabine out the door.
Arik hopped up. “So there’s wedding bells in your near future.”
“Really?” I shoved him lightly before picking up a handful of letters. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not engaged to him.”
As if. No one is going to make me marry anyone. Besides, I’m only sixteen, and there’d be time to figure that crap out.
I glanced at him gathering envelopes with one hand and dragging the other one through his hair. He caught me staring, and the corners of his lips lifted. He had the hottest smile I’d ever seen. But we were friends, and it was all we could ever be.
Sirens went off somewhere in the castle. “What’s that for?”
“I’ll see what it is,” he said, dropping the letters in his hand and pulling out his sword. “You stay here and hide the letters. Lock yourself in.” He stormed out the door.
I shut the door and bolted it behind him.
Back and forth I went, snatching up letters and slipping them into the opening in the wall. When all the letters were back, I secured the panel, moved the dresser into place, and waited for Arik to return.
The window flew open, and the drapes rose like pink airfoils in the wind. Between the flapping of the drapes, a dark shadow crouched on the windowsill.
“Wh-who’s there?” I stammered.
“A Sentinel with your skills should not fear the shadows, Gianna.” A young Latin man with extremely long legs, a broad chest, and a thin waist hopped down from the window and sauntered into the room’s light. He wore a dark suit with a white T-shirt under the jacket and his dark hair slicked back from his forehead. “Do not fear me,” he said as he neared.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I said, gulping my fear back and standing my ground, though I desperately wanted to back away.
A smooth smile spread over his lips. “You’re a horrible liar.”
“Who are you, and how do you know my name?”
“I am Ricardo.”
“Faith’s ex?”
“She spoke of me?”
I drew the Chiave from my scabbard and held the blade high for him to see. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll decapitate you.”
He stopped and held up his hands. “Now, you wouldn’t want to do that; it will make such a mess.” He chuckled under his breath.
I tightened my grip around the hilt of the Chiave. “Touch me and I’ll kill you.”
His laugh unnerved me. “Did Faith say I was on the bad guys’ side? She may be a guard for Merlin, but I am his oldest friend. This castle is under attack as we speak. We haven’t time to argue whether you will go with me or not.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and reached it out to me. “I won’t hurt you.” He crossed the distance between us. “Merlin has a message for you. Just play the video.”
“You mean Merl,” I said, trying to give him my best death stare.
He grinned. “I’m the only one allowed to call him Merlin.”
I took the phone with my free hand. He had it already on the video. Before I pushed play, a knock came from the door. I stared at Ricardo, wanting to open it, but worried what he’d do if I tried.
“Gia!” Arik pounded harder on the door.
“Are you going to get that?” he asked.
Not sure he could be trusted, I wouldn’t take my eyes off him.
The door splintered from its hinges and crashed to the floor. Arik rushed in, with Lei and Sinead on his heels. Several more Laniars flew into the room from the open window behind Ricardo and landed on either side of him. One of the female Laniars snarled at Lei, who stood unmoved.
“Ricardo?” The tension in Arik’s shoulders relaxed.
“Arik, you’re just in time to hear Merlin’s message.” Ricardo slowly exposed his long, sharp canines.
“How were you able to get a message from him?” Arik asked.
“I was in Asile when it was attacked. My pack pushed Conemar’s men back so Merlin could reset the wards.”
“Watch them,” Arik directed Lei and Sinead, pointing at Ricardo and his gang of Laniars. Then he leaned over my shoulder to view the video. “Go ahead, push play.”
My finger shook as I did. Merl flashed to life on the screen.
“I’m sorry for having to use this technology, but I didn’t want to risk lowering the wards to use my window rod. Thanks to Ricardo and his friends, Asile is safe, for now. The wards surrounding Asile are holding, but we need help before Conemar breaks through them. Ricardo has gathered our allies from the Mystiks. I appoint Arik as lead. You mu
st alert all the havens. Have them send as many Sentinels, wizards, and guards as they can afford. Gia is to go with Ricardo. He will see to her safety from here forward. Be careful and may Agnes guide you.”
I pressed the screen, and it went dark. “How do we know he’s not being forced to say this?”
“The password, May Agnes guide you,” Lei replied. “She’s the patron saint of Asile.”
Agnes? That was the silver woman’s name that formed from my globe. Did the saints have something to do with the Chiavi?
I faced Ricardo. “How did you know I was here?”
“The werehounds tracked your scent from a shirt Katy…excuse me, your Nana…gave us.”
“Can your pack help us save Couve?” Arik asked him.
“They will, but Gia must go with me.” He noticed the protest forming on my lips. “Merlin said no exceptions. I’m to get you to the shelter.”
From the corridor came yells, scuffles, and the continual wail of the warning siren.
“I can’t go with you,” I said. “I have to fight with them.”
“She can’t fight with us,” Lei said, glancing at the door. “She almost killed Kale.”
I turned to Sinead. “You know what I can do.”
Sinead gave me a pity smile. “Yes, but you have no control over it. Let Ricardo take you to your father and friends.”
I thought of Kale lying motionless, near death, and I hated that she was right. As much as I wanted to stay, I might be more hindrance than help. I caved. “Okay,” I said, defeated.
Lei flew out of the room with the Laniars on her heels. Sinead hugged me, then rushed after them. Arik moved over to me and cupped my face gently in his hands. His eyes held the intensity that always drew me to him.
I swallowed my breath in anticipation. All the sounds around us went silent.
He bent and lightly brushed my lips with a kiss. His lips were soft and oh, so tender. Butterflies swooped and curled inside me, and it felt like the ground disappeared from beneath my feet. He pulled back a little and said, “Regardless of the fact that you’re a royal pain in the arse, I fancy you. Listen to Ricardo and don’t do anything rash.” He gave me another kiss and rushed out the door. My heart twisted in my chest as he disappeared. I touched my mouth and exhaled. He liked me. It was against the laws, but he told me he fancied me. Maybe we had no future, but we had now.
