by HR Moore
As she turned, she spotted Cleo speaking animatedly with the man to her right and Henry trying desperately to get involved. Anita laughed inwardly. She also glanced in Bas’ direction, who was, ever the gentleman, doing his best to chat to Missy, although this appeared to be a struggle. Alistair, she noticed, still seemed like he wasn’t really in the mood for a party. Marcus was discussing the Chase with the girl to his left and on the other side of her, Alexander was talking in low tones with Helena. Anita sat for a moment, looking down at her food, following the ebb and flow of Alexander’s energy as he conversed with Helena. Surprisingly, she found this comforting.
Alexander became aware that he was being observed and turned a little to see who it was. The last thing he wanted was Austin watching him when he was speaking intently with Helena. He relaxed when he saw both Austin and Marcus deep in conversation and his energy picked up a bit when he realised it must be Anita. He didn’t bother to hide his reaction so she must have felt it, but she didn’t let on. Alexander focused on Anita and she felt a warm pressure at the edge of her energy field. She had never felt anything like it before and looked up cautiously to see what was happening, but Alexander had turned swiftly back to his conversation with Helena.
After three, enormous courses and a significant quantity of various types of wine, Anita decided it was time to open the dancing. In line with tradition, there would be no announcement, but Anita and Marcus would take to the floor at a time of their choosing, throwing a signal to the band and surprising the audience by launching into their dance.
Anita reached over and took Marcus’ hand under the table. She inclined her head in the direction of the open space between the banquet tables and he smiled in agreement. He led Anita round the top table, waving to the band as they passed. The band immediately sprang into life, striking up a jaunty number and the room quietened in expectant anticipation. Anita could hardly contain her excitement. She loved to dance and leaving Marcus by the edge of the tables, she spun her way to the middle of the dance floor. Marcus ran after her and caught her just as she stopped spinning, leant her backwards seductively, then restored her to an upright position in a slow, fluid, silky movement. They smiled at each other as they came back face to face, each reminded of their dance on the cliff, before Marcus almost violently spun Anita out and back in again. They tangoed around the floor, paying no attention to their audience, who watched open-mouthed at the display in front of them. They had all expected a polite waltz to start proceedings, and certainly no one had expected this.
After a couple of minutes of the borderline inappropriate spectacle, complete with too much body contact, a number of improper looks and all topped off by the suggestive backing track, the others eligible to join the first dance got up and made their way to the floor. All expect Austin, whose face was like thunder as he watched his son’s embarrassing exhibition with the girl he was beginning to hate. Marcus and Anita finished their opener with a flourish, Marcus spinning Anita round so they were back to back before lifting her high on his shoulders, her arms outstretched. He spun several times before letting her slide back to the floor, having masterfully positioned them to join the set laid out by the others in preparation for the formal dancing, kissing her hand racily and throwing her one last risqué look as they took their places.
This part was a group dance, where two couples danced a set routine together before moving round to dance with another pair. The band changed the tone significantly, launching into what was almost a jig. Marcus and Anita started with Alexander and his date, Anita still had no idea what she was called. First Anita and Marcus, and Alexander and his date danced a few steps with each other, then they all danced a few steps together, before they swapped partners for a couple of twirls. Anita took Alexander’s proffered hand when it came to the partner swap and immediately felt a tingle of energy run through her. If he felt it too he didn’t let on, looking her indifferently in the eyes for the whole time they danced together, Anita frustrated that she had no idea at all what he was thinking.
The music went on and Anita and Marcus cycled through many more couples, including Gwyn and her date (which Gwyn made sure was uncomfortable), Cleo and Henry, where Cleo threw Anita so many ‘meaningful’ looks, she presumed both about Henry, and Anita and Marcus’ dance, that Anita almost burst out laughing, and Bas and Missy. Not only did Missy look boring, she was also an uninspiring dancer and she moved in a stiff, uncomfortable way. Bas on the other hand danced easily and gracefully and lifted and twirled Anita when they came to dance together, embellishing the set routine and looking dashing whilst he did it. Anita beamed at him as they moved on.
The first dance came to a close when Anita and Marcus met up with Alexander and his date again. The band finished their jig with a flourish and the couples bowed and curtsied to each other. Alexander immediately led his date away and Marcus took hold of Anita’s elbow and steered her as far away from Austin as it was possible to be, Austin’s expression had not gone unnoticed, especially not by Marcus. He led Anita out through the doors of the great hall, across the lobby and into another very large room, with a bar that during the day had views over where Anita and Marcus had danced by the cliff edge. Marcus grabbed two glasses of Ginger Champagne from the barman, handed one to Anita and headed for the open door out onto the balcony.
‘You do like to ruffle feathers don’t you,’ Marcus said with mock disapproval, his eyes telling another story.
‘Me?’ Anita shot back flirtily. ‘I think you’ll find you were leading.’
‘Well we’ll just have to agree to blame the band then, who for some reason selected a raunchy number for the first dance.’ He said it innocently, over-emphasising the shrugging of his shoulders and the perplexed look across his face.
Anita’s eyes flew open, ‘that was you?’ she accused, punching his arm not quite hard enough to cause any harm.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he protested, raising his arms in surrender, confirming that he knew exactly what she was talking about. Luckily for Marcus, before Anita could launch a proper attack, a squeal invaded the air around them and Cleo bounded over to Anita and wrapped her arms around her.
‘You. Looked. A-MAZING,’ she sang. ‘You should have seen everyone watching you. I cannot believe you just did that. But the way your dress kicked out…definitely a great choice, and he isn’t a half bad dancer either,’ she gushed nodding her head in Marcus’ direction and squeezing his arm.
‘Thanks,’ replied Marcus, rolling his eyes and telling himself to be patient during the lengthy debrief of the night so far that he knew he was about to have to listen to.
*****
Alexander had finally managed to ditch his date. She had proven a great deal more clingy than he had expected, so it had taken a bit of work, but luckily Cleo seemed to have done the same thing to Henry, so Alexander had left her with him. He made his way into the library, where thankfully no one else had ventured and helped himself to a shimmering crystal glass full of Austin’s brandy. He sat down heavily in a chair by the open doors onto the balcony and contemplated the night’s events so far.
Firstly there was the conversation he had overheard two of Austin’s security guards having just before the procession. They had been talking about Austin’s hit list and it was clear from what he had overheard that Anita was at the top of it. Austin was always scouring for powerful people, to either recruit or get rid of, but this search seemed to be more frenzied than ever before. Alexander assumed it must have something to do with the bloodline; was Anita the girl Christiana had wanted to find? Austin obviously knew more about why Christiana had wanted to come to Empire than Alexander did, but Alexander couldn’t think of a way to subtly tap Austin for information. His trip to the Archives had left him with nothing to work with, meaning he had had to put his investigation on hold until he could come up with another place to look.
Then there was his conversation at dinner with Helena. She had pretty much tried to recruit
him into the Institution, a bold move under any circumstances, but downright dangerous under Austin’s roof and right under his nose. Austin hated the Institution and would no doubt hate them even more at the moment, with the controversy around the prophecy. And then there was Anita. Her energy was extraordinary, like nothing he had ever felt before. It had such a strong mix of Body and Spirit that he found it difficult to imagine that she could be a Body Descendant, not that there was any guarantee that was who Christiana was looking for. He recalled the tingle he had felt when they had touched, something he had never personally felt before; it was extremely rare. He had heard others talk about a tingling sensation, or a jolt, but had never known anyone that had experienced them and no one was entirely sure what caused them.
Anita fascinated him, and although he was trying to keep it firmly hidden, he found himself drawn to her. She was totally reckless. The way she had won the Chase, exposing her reader abilities to everyone and the way she had danced round the floor earlier were incredible, but would only serve to enrage Austin and she was already in an extremely dangerous position. Alexander was relying on Marcus to keep Anita out of harm’s way, but with stunts like this evening, that would be increasingly difficult. Austin hadn’t even tried to hide his fury.
Alexander’s thoughts were interrupted by voices on the balcony moving towards the library. ‘I’m looking for Alexander, have you seen him?’ came a winy female voice that Alexander recognised as his date’s. In one swift movement, Alexander got up from the worn leather chair and made his way silently to the library’s side door. He ducked through it, just as the voices reached the window, and headed for the stairs. Only Descendants and a handful of the senior Councillors would dare to go upstairs in Austin’s castle without permission, so he should be safe up there he reasoned. Alexander took the steps two at a time and turned left when he reached the top. He headed out onto a large internal balcony that wrapped its way around the four sides of a courtyard below. The courtyard would have been his first choice, but it would have been more difficult to get to without being seen.
This was his favourite part of Austin’s castle. The courtyard was exposed to the night sky, however the balcony was covered, with pillars all the way around holding up the roof. The pillars had climbing plants crawling all over them, with wispy braches covered in flowers falling down onto the stone benches below. This was the creation of Marcus’ mother Amelia, and in Alexander’s opinion was the perfect demonstration of why Austin and Amelia now lived separate lives. Whereas Austin was transactional and controlling, Amelia was kind with far-reaching openness, just like the plants she grew. Alexander walked round to the far side of the balcony and lay down on one of the stone benches, placing the brandy glass that he had luckily had the foresight to pick up during his escape on the floor. Hopefully nobody would find him up here. He found it wearing being around other people for too long, what with all the energy waves bouncing around. It was a relief to be on his own, where he could think without the interruption of the energy of others.
He had been lying there for only a few minutes, listening to the silence, with the occasional muffled screech from downstairs, when he heard the courtyard door below creek open and what sounded like two sets of cautious footsteps make their way though. Alexander easily picked up their energy, one anxious and the other angry.
‘What is it?’ questioned a fierce voice that Alexander recognised as Alistair’s. ‘I thought we agreed never to talk about this again.’
The anxious person didn’t immediately reply, pacing around the courtyard to make sure there was no one else there. They couldn’t see Alexander from the courtyard and as there didn’t appear to be anyone else present, the second person replied. ‘That was before Austin went on his most recent vendetta.’ Alexander was surprised to hear Peter’s thin voice and his interest was immediately piqued. What could shy, pathetic Peter possibly be wrapped up in?
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ asked Alistair edgily, surprise clear in his voice.
‘It means that Austin has put together a hit list of powerful girls of between about twenty three and twenty seven years of age. He is trying to track her down to finish off the prophecy for good.’ Alexander could not believe his ears. What could Peter possibly know about what Austin was looking for? Had Christiana told him? But at least it confirmed their being here did have something to do with the prophecy and therefore the bloodline.
‘But how does he know?’ Alistair spat.
‘Well he obviously knew she got away, but he always assumed that she would never resurface. When Christiana told him why she wanted to come to Empire, Austin went crazy. He ordered Amber to double her ‘researchers’ and gave her until we leave Empire to track the missing girl down.’
‘And?’ said Alistair. ‘He doesn’t know?’ The concern in his voice palpable.
‘No. Not for sure, but she is at the top of his hit list. Just her winning the Chase would have been enough to keep her there, but her reader stunt has wound him into frenzy, and he wasn’t exactly hiding his feelings about their display earlier. She is signing her own death warrant. You’ve got to do something.’
Alexander could not believe his ears. How did Alistair and Peter know anything about this? And more importantly, why was it Alistair’s responsibility to do something about it?
‘And what exactly do you suggest I do?’
‘Take her into the Wild Lands and keep her there.’
Alistair laughed. ‘Aside from the obvious difficulty of kidnapping someone as adept as Anita, how do you suggest I keep here there? Lock her up? Stay there and supervise her myself?’
‘Persuade her to go with you. Say you are going on a trip to record the energy or something.’
‘That would never fool her, or my son. And even if it did work, there is the obvious problem that Marcus seems totally besotted with her. You think he would just let her go? Never forget that he is Austin’s son, regardless of how much of Amelia he has in him. He will turn out to be just as ruthless and just as possessive. You can see that just in the way he looks at her.’
‘Well you have got to do something, otherwise she is going to wind up dead.’
Alistair turned angry, ‘we should never have got involved in the first place and anything we do now to try and save her will be the final nail in her coffin, exposing us along with her. Listen to me very carefully Peter. Do nothing. Absolutely nothing, you hear me? Do not so much as mention her name to anyone. Do not try and contact anyone who knows about this. And never, I repeat, never talk to me about this ever again, unless you want to wind up dead as well.’ A silent chill filled the courtyard as the enormity of the words sunk in. Alistair turned sharply and left, furious. Peter, now beside himself with worry, hung around for a few minutes pacing up and down, getting his emotions under control before following him out. Alexander lay there in shock; he couldn’t quite believe what he had just heard. Anita was a Descendant? That was the only thing they could have meant, unless there was some other way to fulfil the prophecy, and everyone knew there was only one way; the Descendants had to send back the relic. Either way, Anita was in serious trouble.
*****
Marcus endured a few more minutes of Cleo’s overexcited squealing before cutting past her, placing his hand firmly on Anita’s waist and drawing her away. ‘If you will excuse us Cleo, there is something I promised to show Anita.’
Cleo raised an eyebrow at Anita, her embarrassment causing her face to flush a soft shade of red, as she was guided back inside, past the bar and up the stairs. ‘You promised to show me something?’ Anita scorned. ‘Was that the best you could come up with?’
‘Does that girl ever get tired of talking?’ He ignored her come back, still reeling from their conversation with Cleo, if you could call it that.
‘Not that I’ve ever witnessed,’ Anita smiled.
‘And anyway, there is something I want to show you.’
‘Oh?’ Anita looked at him warily.
‘T
his way,’ he said when they reached the top of the imposing staircase, his hand refusing to leave her waist as he opened a vast door and ushered Anita through in front of him. They were in a large sitting room, with floor to ceiling windows and light curtains that wafted softly in the breeze, seeming to invite them out onto the balcony beyond. The balcony was directly above the one they had been standing on outside the bar. Anita looked at Marcus, her eyebrows raised expectantly. ‘This is my suite,’ he said by way of explanation. ‘I wanted you to have a good view.’
‘Of what?’ she asked exasperated.
He led her out onto the balcony just as the night sky lit up with an explosion of twinkling lights. ‘Of that,’ he smiled.
Anita walked open-mouthed to the stone railing and leant against it as the next release of energy hit the sky. It was beautiful. Anita had never seen anything like it, and not only could she see the smoky, shimmering lights, she could feel them as well. It was extraordinary, a series of small bursts that felt like popping candy on her skin.
Marcus couldn’t take his eyes off her; a light seemed to be radiating from her as she watched the display. He walked up behind her, placing his hands either side of her waist. ‘I thought you’d like it,’ he murmured as he bent his lips to the base of her neck and gently brushed them against her delicate skin. The movement sent delicious shivers of energy down Anita’s spine, all the way to her toes, then back up to rest where Marcus’ fingers lay on her waist. Could he feel that too? Not that she currently cared; she was too preoccupied with the display in front of her to bring it up. Marcus slipped his hands around Anita’s waist and pulled her back towards him. She didn’t fight him, leaning her head back against his shoulder, resting her hands on his arms. They watched the rest of the display in silence, Anita’s skin greedily drinking in this new sensory excitement.
