Titan Magic

by Jodi Lamm

  Marcus glared back at him.

  Maddy pretended to yawn at the pair of them, rode off at a gallop, and laughed triumphantly when she saw they were no longer behind her. But the moment she entered the stables, she regretted having won the race.

  13: Confessions

  Eli Mahler threw a saddle over the rail of his horse’s stall, glanced at Maddy in acknowledgement, and then returned to his task. “I hope you had a productive lesson.” He smiled and slid a brush over the animal’s shining coat. Maddy walked in a half circle around him to avoid coming too close. The man didn’t even look at her. He never seemed to look directly at anything. He could have been blind, the way he went about his business without the use of his eyes. But every once in a while, those silver scales caught the light and flashed as though he actually saw through everything.

  “I meant what I said at dinner, last night,” he continued, as Maddy led her mare to its stall. “Together, we can restore James to his human form. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. I could do it myself, you know, but it would endanger his life. With you, there will be no question of success. James will react… predictably.” He chuckled. “You’re probably wondering what I’m going on about, aren’t you? I’ll tell you a secret, little one. Only James can cure himself. It was Titan magic he used to curse himself, so only Titan magic can release him. He just needs the proper motivation. It will be the ultimate test of trust, I suppose. But I hope, when the time comes, you will have enough trust in me to do what must be done.”

  Maddy flinched at the words what must be done. She could still hear the voice of the priest hissing them at Jas like some biting fly. To her, doing what must be done for a person was as good as handing him a death sentence.

  Eli put a finger to his lips as the voices of Jas and Marcus drifted in with the fog. “This is our secret, little one. Remember that.”

  Our secret? Maddy narrowed her eyes. Everyone had secrets, and didn’t they all just expect her to keep them. She shook her head.

  “Don’t be so rebellious, child. Now is not the time.” Eli’s eyes glittered in the dull light.

  From outside, Maddy could hear Marcus’ voice. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s plain to anyone you’re just scared of your own humanity. You’re only fooling yourself, you know. It’s pathetic, really.” He laughed.

  “Do you ever stop talking?” Jas growled.

  Maddy wanted to cover her ears with her hands. Instead, she slipped out the back to avoid having to face her dueling guardians again. “Oh, Madeleine can keep a secret,” she said, imitating what she felt was the general tone of everyone around her. “She can’t talk; she can’t disobey; she won’t tell. Don’t tell His Grace now, Maddy. Don’t tell the Titan. Don’t tell anyone now, baby-doll-puppet-little-one.” She’d worked herself into a mini-rage by the time she kicked open the servant’s entrance door.

  Will’s voice chattered on in the kitchen. “So I told him, I said, ‘I’ll be back in the morrow to pay you, kind sir.’ I said it just like that: ‘kind sir.’”

  “But you never went back.” Lotte finished the story for Will and they both broke into hearty laughter over it. Maddy entered the kitchen just as her mother gulped down another mouthful of wine. “Baby!” Lotte swooped down on her daughter and whirled her around in her arms. “You’re back! Did you have a good time with your brother? I know you did.” She kissed Maddy again and again before putting her down. “We’re playing Confessions. It’s a game I haven’t played since I was a girl.” She laughed and leaned her elbows on the counter, swaying from the wine. “You’ll have to forgive your mother for playing games with your fiancé. Have you heard his stories, though? Your darling has swindled just about every fat-bellied noble in town! I think I’ll need a tissue if this goes on much longer.” She laughed again and slapped Will on the shoulder.

  Maddy scratched her head and muttered, “Well, it looks like you two are getting along, at least.”

  “What’s that, Maddy dear?”

  Maddy sighed and opened her writing book. The only two people in the world who can hear me do nothing but argue with each other. It’s like I’m not even there. After Lotte read what she had written, Maddy scribbled it out. Another secret to keep.

  “Don’t you worry about that, dear,” Lotte said, patting her daughter on the head. “That’ll change in time… one way or another.” She winked. “Just be glad you’re in a house full of people who love you.”

  On cue, Marcus burst through the door. “Mother! What do you mean by telling that animal he can stay in the house?”

  Lotte refused to look at her son. “I won’t have him spending his nights in a dirty stable.”

  “But, Mother…”

  “Not another word, darling. I made my decision.”

  “I don’t trust him, Mother.”

  “Odd.” Lotte smiled. “I do.”

  Marcus turned to Will. “Then I hope you weren’t planning to sleep tonight, Taylor. You’ll be on nightmare watch unless you let me take your place.”

  Will saluted, and then doubled over, giggling.

  Marcus looked from his mother to Will, his eyes growing wider when he saw three mostly empty wine bottles on the counter between them. “Oh, this is just what I need!” And he stormed out.

  “That boy needs to relax,” said Will, when he’d caught his breath.

  Lotte poured herself another glass. “It isn’t his fault, the poor thing,” she said. “He was different when his father was alive. He was noble and proud. He was happy. It’s all my fault.” She stopped smiling.

  “Lotte.” Will put an arm around his new friend.

  She dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of Will’s shirt. “I still miss him, you know—my husband. I wish I could have given him a child before he died.”

  Will and Maddy both looked at each other, communicating their mutual shock without saying a word.

  “Marcus isn’t General Lavoie’s son?” Will finally asked.

  Lotte shook her head. “The game is called Confessions, isn’t it?” She sobbed. “He wasn’t either of ours. He was a slave my husband found during a raid in Persia. Surely you noticed the lack of family resemblance.”

  Will shrugged. “I assumed he looked like his father.”

  “Not in the least.” Lotte glanced up from her glass. “My husband had the complexion of a ghost. I used to tease him about it. He couldn’t have fathered a boy like Marcus. No, my husband first saw Marcus bent over the body of his dying master. He was so moved, he brought the boy home and wrote his name in our family book.” Lotte sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “The last time I saw my husband, we argued. I didn’t want Marcus to live as a soldier. I didn’t want to lose them both. So I begged him to let the boy stay home with me. I was selfish. Sometimes I think, if only I hadn’t asked… maybe…”

  “Mother?” Every face in the room turned to see Marcus standing in the doorway, his expression a tangle of shadows.

  Lotte continued crying into her glass of wine. “You came back. Forgive me for sharing your secret, darling, but it’s my secret, too. And it’s been far too heavy for me to carry all these years. I never said a word about it to anyone, even when strangers accused me of adultery.” She turned back to Will. “I didn’t want anyone to know. Marcus was all I had left of my husband. Then His Grace brought me a girl, saying my husband’s excellent military reputation gave me the honor, the sacred task of keeping her. He wouldn’t say more, but he didn’t need to. I knew what it really meant. It meant my husband had given me a daughter, even after he was dead. He gave me a daughter so our son wouldn’t have to be alone.”

  Marcus gulped. “Mother, please…”

  Will winked and tightened his arm around Lotte. “Well, I’m holding her captive for you, Lavoie. Hurry and hug her before she gets away.”

  Marcus took a few tentative steps toward his mother, but stopped when he reached the place where Maddy stood. “Come with me,” he whispered.
r />   Maddy had never seen her mother cry so much. She and Marcus leaned into Lotte, who enfolded them in her arms and continued to weep.

  “Mother,” Marcus said, “why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

  “Because you already knew.”

  “I didn’t know you blamed yourself.”

  Lotte nodded into her son’s hair.

  “If I had stayed with him,” Marcus said, “I would have been killed, too. I don’t think I could have stopped the assassination. You saved my life by keeping me with you. You should know that.”

  Lotte squeezed them all the harder and wailed.

  ***

  The rest of the evening passed without further conversation on the matter. At dinner, no one cared that Lotte’s eyes were still ripe and puffy, or if they did, no one asked about it. She laughed like she always did, and that was what mattered most. Marcus and Maddy rarely looked at each other. Maddy was afraid she would give something away by eyeing her brother. Too many people in this company read her far too well. Jas lay like a giant, awkward dog at one end of the room.

  Will and Lotte were the only two who bothered to converse at all. Eli occasionally added a word or nod, but it was obvious to everyone that a bond had formed between Will Taylor and Charlotte Lavoie, one even the Duke of Silence was not brave enough to trespass upon.

  After the meal, Will followed Maddy to her room, confident enough in his relationship with her mother to forego sneaking around.

  Marcus followed right behind them. “I won’t be sleeping tonight, Taylor. So you’d better be on your watch because if I hear her scream and she isn’t awake by the time I break down the door, you’ll suddenly find it difficult to breathe.”

  “Settle down.” Will opened the door for Maddy. “I’m not going to hurt your sister.”

  “I know you aren’t.” Marcus made himself comfortable in Maddy’s boudoir. “It isn’t you who concerns me. It’s the four-legged nightmare engine you came here with. So, as I said, you’d better be a light sleeper tonight. I want her awake at the first sign of distress, and if she’s not, if you’re working with the Titan, I’ll kill you.”

  Will slapped his forehead and pretended to be horrified. “Threats!” He gasped. “This is just too shocking. I’ve never ever been threatened before, you know?”

  Marcus grinned. “You’ve never been threatened by me before.”

  “Fine. I accept your death threat, and I promise to take it very, very seriously.” Will bowed before he closed Maddy’s door and turned to her. “Does that boy ever settle down? I can’t go on much longer without punching him.”

  Maddy ignored Will and readied herself to sleep. At the foot of her bed, her blanket still hung over the Titan’s head like a child’s makeshift tent. She pulled it onto her bed and moved the body to the farthest corner of the room while Will continued chatting away.

  “Now your mother is another story altogether,” he said. “What an amazing person! Did you know she was so precious? I adore her. I don’t think I’ll ever give her back to you.” He laughed.

  Maddy crawled into bed, spreading her greatcoat over herself—a final layer of protection. She pulled her book and pen from its pockets and began to write to Will. She seems to like you.

  “Yes, I hope so.” He made himself comfortable beside Maddy and nudged her with his elbow. “She wants me to stay indefinitely, you know. That’s what she told me. I can’t imagine why. But all the same, I never knew my own mother, so why shouldn’t I borrow yours? That would make us family, too, wouldn’t it?” He laughed. “That brother of yours won’t like it at all.”

  He’ll get used to it, Maddy wrote, trying to smile.

  Will patted her on the head. “You don’t seem convinced.”

  I am nervous because Jas will meet me in my dreams tonight, which is also why Marcus is waiting outside my door.

  “He really doesn’t trust James at all, does he?”

  She shook her head and wrote, Neither do I. You heard him talking to the priest. Can you tell me I shouldn’t be afraid?

  Will’s smile faded. He waited several seconds before shaking his head in a weighty confession, and then rose to extinguish the lamps.

  Maddy understood. Though she didn’t plan to let Jas near the mark, he seemed to have complete control, even in her dreams. She wondered whether her strength alone would be enough to keep him away. “Stay alert,” she told herself, when the room was finally dark. “Watch him closely and don’t be fooled. He doesn’t know what you know. He doesn’t know anything.” She knew Marcus would be right outside her door, but she wished he were in Will’s place beside her. As much sincerity as she saw in Will, she knew he would choose Jas over her. Jas was an old friend, after all. The only people who would truly fight for Maddy’s life, no matter what happened, were her mother and her brother.

  All along, she’d been in the safest place she could be, and she hadn’t even known it. She wondered whether Eli Mahler was aware of the protective cocoon he’d given her when he chose her family. Perhaps going with what felt right only led her to trust the wrong people. Her creator was convinced he might have to kill her one day. His best friend probably agreed. Even Father Androcles just wanted to make use of her before her time was up. And all the while, her false mother, her cold-hearted brother, and the Duke of Silence had done everything in their power to protect her. Perhaps, she thought, her instincts had been dreadfully wrong.

  Over an hour later, Maddy still had not fallen asleep. Too many worries buzzed around in her head. Finally, she made a decision. She slipped out of bed as carefully as she could without waking Will, and taking her greatcoat with her, she left her room. Marcus slouched against the wall just outside her door.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” he whispered.

  “No,” she said. “It’s terrible. He’ll know I’m afraid. He’ll come looking for my dreams, and they won’t be there.”

  “Come with me.” Marcus took her hand and led her down the long hall to a linen closet. He pulled several extra blankets from it, and then led her down the staircase and into the family library. “This always helps you sleep.” He folded the blankets into a bed at the base of the grandfather clock.

  “How do you know…”

  Marcus shrugged. “I used to see you napping. You would try to read here and never finish a single book.” He laughed under his breath. “This clock always puts you to sleep.”

  So Marcus had kept a more careful eye on Maddy than she ever dared to dream. She slipped into the little bed he’d prepared and spread her greatcoat over herself. “Are you nervous?” she said as he sat cross-legged beside her.

  “Yes.”

  “Me too.” She laid her head on his knee. “Would you…” She suddenly felt stupid for asking.

  “You want me to tell you a story?”

  Maddy smiled. At any other time, she might have been uncomfortable with the way he could read her, but more than anything in the world, right now, Maddy wanted to be someone who could be known. “Tell me the one about the juniper tree.”

  “Only you would pick a wicked story to hear before you sleep.” He chuckled. “Don’t you want to hear about the dancing princesses? Or maybe the one about the slave boy who was rescued from the river and became a prince.”

  “I want to hear about the juniper tree. It’s my favorite, and I want to hear you sing.”

  So Marcus told her the story of the juniper tree; of the murdered brother and mournful sister; of the bird, the spirit of the boy, who sang a song about how his mother killed him and tricked his father into eating his body. And the bird’s song so enchanted the villagers that they gave whatever the bird demanded just to hear it one more time. Maddy thought her brother sang so beautifully she would give almost anything to hear it again and again. She remembered how she used to sing to herself thinking no one could hear her, and all the while Marcus listened. For the first time, she felt ashamed of her own, mediocre voice, but she couldn’t dwell on it long. Before the third repetit
ion of the bird’s song, she drifted off to face her challenge.

  14: Fire

  Maddy stood waist deep in Jas’ meadow. The hot wind swirled around her, laying the grass in waves at her feet. The ground itself seemed to rise and fall, panting like an overheated animal.

  “Madeleine.”

  She heard Jas’ voice before she saw him. Her shoulders dropped at the sound. Her body relaxed. By the time the golden footman stepped out from the shadows of the forest, she had almost completely surrendered to him, though she hated herself for it. Only the chill of her brother’s voice, still echoing through the dream, kept her aware. It was a cool breeze that cut through the heat of the Titan’s influence.

  Jas stopped walking toward her and listened. “What’s this?” he said.

  Maddy did not take her eyes off him. “My brother.”

  “What is he doing?”

  “Singing.”

  “I can hear that much.” He cocked his head. “But why is he singing?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. He’s telling me a story.”

  “Sounds like a pleasant story,” he quipped.

  “I like it.”

  “You do? Why? A woman murders her husband’s son, and it sounds like the father had the boy’s corpse for supper.”

  “I like it,” she repeated.

  “Then your brother knows you better than I do.”

  Maddy lowered her eyes. The face of the Titan broke her heart. She wished she could escape his pain because, this time, mingled with his feelings was a burning fire that ate her from the inside.

  “Madeleine,” he said, “why are you afraid of me?”

  Maddy kept her gazed focused on the ground, wondering how she could lie to him. She decided it was impossible. “You’re going to kill me.”

  Jas shook his head. “No, I’ll do anything to save you from it. I won’t let it happen.”

  “But if you fail… If I can’t be saved…” When she spoke those words, she felt the heart of the Titan stutter in her own chest.