Harlequin E Shivers Box Set Volume 4: The HeadmasterDarkness UnchainedForget Me NotQueen of Stone

by Tiffany Reisz

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  That night, shooting stars lit up the African midnight sky while on the ground bright-orange flames sent cinders swirling into the darkness. Close by, crickets sounded a shrill alarm. Farther away a lion roared. Vulture wings rustled like paper in the flat-topped acacia trees. The whole village had emerged to witness the ceremony, and the sounds of voices raised in song, dancing feet shuffling on the dusty ground and children’s excited chattering jarred oddly with the occasion.

  “When the night covers our land and the nightmares seize our minds, we see you, our forefathers, by the moon’s eternal light. And we sing our sacred song of thanks for a world made beautiful once more by the rising sun.” The sangoma’s chant rang out to the roof of the heavens and, as if in a dream, I heard Jabu telling Nicca what the words meant. The sangoma stepped into the circle of fire and gestured for me to follow her.

  “I will be here the whole time waiting for you,” Nicca told me, pulling me into his arms and kissing me. I nodded gratefully, drawing strength from his touch. Reaching out, I gripped Rudi’s hand tightly. His face was white and drawn, but I was relieved that, this time, he agreed to accompany me without hesitation.

  “I can’t go with you,” he had said earlier that day with a touch of unaccustomed petulance in his voice. “I’m ill. You’ll have to do it without me.”

  “You must come,” I had insisted. “The sangoma said that those of us in the true Jago line must be protected from the spirit while Uther’s body burns. If you do not join me in the circle, you are in danger of being claimed by Arwen Jago’s spirit.”

  “Annie, you cannot really believe all of this is true.”

  “Yes, I do! Sies tog, Rudi, are you forgetting what Uther tried to do to you? What he did to Rory? Think of the pictures of the castle. This is real, broer, and we have to make sure that it ends now. Do you want to live happily ever after with Finty, or spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder and fearing the shadows?”

  Finty had caught his hand and held it against her cheek. “Don’t be afraid, my darling,” she had said. “Annie is right, you know. Let’s lay this horrid Jago curse to rest once and for all, and then we can go home.”

  He had studied her face and then nodded. “Very well, I still think it’s all nonsense,” he had said with a frowning look at me. “But since it means so much to you both, let’s do it.”

  We sat cross-legged inside the flickering circle and the sangoma grasped our hands. Closing her eyes, she began to chant, rocking to and fro until it was clear that she had entered a trance.

  Flames frayed the night sky and the snapping of burning logs seemed to keep time with my heartbeat. I tried not to think of the other circle of stones and the fire that consumed Uther’s body. Of a life that had ended too soon and so far from where it started. Opposite me, Rudi looked uncomfortable; his palm was damp in mine, his eyes wide and restless. I realised that Finty had been right. He was afraid.

  High above my head, a winged shadow lurked. I forced myself to ignore it. Darkness was not the only part of my legacy. I thought of my grandmothers. Of the one I knew. Of my Ouma, raised by voortrekker parents, widowed in her twenties, carving a life for herself and for us in the harsh shadow of the Dragon Mountains. I was also the granddaughter of another strong woman: Dita Varga was someone I knew only by reputation. Forced to flee her Hungarian home, she had made a life for herself, despite being stalked across Europe by a ruthless murderer. She found love and blossomed into Bouche Jago. I focussed on her, on her determination to keep her family stable despite the awful pull of Tenebris. Her sons had been untainted. My unborn child must be, too. I thought of Nicca and the power of my love for him. A love that was strong and true and pure. There was no darkness clouding my thoughts when they were of Nicca. I needed to let that truth shine out into this night in the same way that Bouche’s devotion to Cad had been the guiding light in her life.

  The dark shape above me shifted slightly, forcing my attention back down to earth and into the circle. All too late I understood. My fears had been concentrated in the wrong place.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I was mesmerised by the sensation of the golden eyes of a centuries-dead man watching me from my brother’s face.

  “Annie.” The word was a caress. Arwen Jago twisted Rudi’s fine lips into something that might almost have been a smile.

  “Let him go,” I whispered through my own lips, which were made stiff and unfamiliar by fear.

  “Why? Rudi wanted me. He welcomed me, accepted me most willingly. Unlike you, Annie.” I thought of the look on Rudi’s face as he held Finty close and stared down at Uther’s dead body. I had been struck then by the curiously triumphant cast of his features. Now I knew why. Arwen had found a way back through the true line after all. That was why Rudi had not wanted to come here tonight. He didn’t want to let go of the sensation of power that Arwen could bestow on the Jagos.

  “You don’t want Rudi.”

  “That’s true. I want you. You are the one I have been waiting for. And it’s been a long time. But you have made it bloody difficult for me. Look what you’ve done to poor Uther.” He jerked his head toward the funeral pyre. “Shot through the head by that bitch and now burned to a crisp. All because he loved you, Annie.”

  “No.” I tilted my chin defiantly. “Those things happened to him because of you.”

  “Let’s not split hairs. It’s the same thing. We are the same, Annie. You and I. The only truly strong Jagos. Accept it.”

  “Never.”

  I was vaguely aware of Nicca standing just outside the circle. I knew he would be watching me. To him it would look like Rudi and I were chatting, whiling away the time, as we held hands across the mound of stones. I felt the matchless depth and passion of Arwen’s gaze on my face as he probed my mind again. Claws of insanity attempted to lock on to my heart. I prised them away and he grimaced.

  If he was right, if we were the same and our strength was equal, did that mean I could play this Jago game, too? The thought was repulsive. Did I want to see what was inside Arwen Jago’s head and heart? Could I survive—and would I get Rudi back—if I did not? I stared defiantly into those haunted, tiger-flecked eyes and knew the answer. Leaning forward, I pressed a kiss to my brother’s lily-pale brow and sat back to await my fate. His eyes closed as he tried to shut me out, his hands convulsed in mine, but the sangoma was right. I was stronger than either of us knew. I was stronger than Arwen Jago.

  The images were faint at first. Veiled figures of ages long departed. Haunted plumes within enchanted mists of mortality. Gradually, beauty and colour began to emerge. This was not what I had expected. No howling goblins or grinning ghosts. No blood dripping like curdled light. Proud Tenebris emerged clearly in my mind. A place of safety, love and family. I saw the riches of yesteryear and thankful toasts drunk to a returning king. I saw Arwen, young, laughing and heartbreakingly handsome. He was Uther as he should have been. The familiar golden arrogance was there, of course, but it was softened by something I had not thought to see on his face. Tamed by love. Then I saw him older, knelt in prayer, hands covering his face as candles wept white serpent tears that slithered silently onto the altar.

  I heard his voice pleading in my mind. “Halt this descent into darkness from which there can be no return.”

  My vision shifted to Lucia’s Glade, where a graceful figure stood poised for flight. A lone owl hooted a misplaced daylight song, and trees with barbed, outstretched arms worshipped a suddenly druid-dark sky. I sensed a presence so foul it could have only one master.

  “Annie.” Arwen’s voice sighed my name, there in that long-ago forest and echoing again within this strange, still African night. I heard his harsh, indrawn breath and the thud of the crossbow bolt. I saw blood on English clover. I saw it all.

  “I know why you killed Lucia,” I whispered.

  His eyes fluttered open again. “It was always about you, Annie.”

  He was no longer the darkne
ss inside me. I had left that behind me at Tenebris. The only darkness that had possessed me since then was my own fear. But now I had faced and defeated it. I was made of both dark and light, and it was my choice that I allowed to define me. Darkness—wild and savage—had invaded my body, but light had found and filled my heart. Finty’s words came back to me. Does an evil spirit seek out an evil person? The dark wings of my heaven-sent nightmare began to fade. I knew for certain that I would never again dream of that great, birdlike creature. I looked into the bright gold of Arwen Jago’s eyes without fear this time. Something, almost a smile, lit their depths. His hold over me, over the Jagos, was at an end. But we were both glad.

  Rudi drew a shuddering breath. His eyes returned to their familiar light amber. “Is it over, Annie? Has he finally gone?” And with a sound between a laugh and a sob, I nodded. Because, at last, he was.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  “Annie, I don’t remember much from when we were in the circle. But you said something that struck me as strange,” Rudi said. Cautiously, I waited. “You told me you knew why I—why Arwen—killed Lucia. And then, just after that, he let me go. What did you mean?”

  I thought of the images that filled my mind as I faced Arwen Jago in that shared, never-to-be-forgotten trance. I saw a forest glade, a young woman lovely as the day and Arwen with his crossbow raised. I had to tell Rudi something, but what could I say when the reality would destroy him?

  I chose my words carefully. “He killed Lucia because he had no choice.”

  He opened his mouth and I knew he wanted more than that, but Finty dashed down the steps and threw herself into his arms. Over her head our eyes met, and the message I sent him was clear. There was no more. There never would be more…for him. But it wasn’t over yet.

  I was bone-tired, but I couldn’t sleep that night. I waited on the stoep with the rifle across my knees, and it was nearly dawn when I finally heard footsteps coming toward me. Nicca’s step was unmistakable. He came and sat opposite me, and his eyes were sad as they scanned my face.

  “Why, Nicca? How could I have been so wrong?” I asked, and my voice quivered. I took a breath to get it back under control.

  “It was easy to fool you, Annie,” he replied, and his voice was gentle. “There was so much else going on.”

  “All this time—at Tenebris, on the journey, here at Sonskyn—how could I be such a fool as to allow myself to trust…” We sat in silence for a minute or two.

  “When did you know?” he asked. I was glad he didn’t want lengthy explanations.

  “I saw it. I could see into Arwen Jago’s mind. I saw what happened in Lucia’s Glade all those hundreds of years ago.” I looked into the blue eyes I loved so much. “You?”

  “Only tonight. I thought if it was truly over, that we could finally be together. I waited for you to come to me. When you didn’t, I knew there could only be one reason…that it still wasn’t over. But I still don’t know what ‘it’ is this time.”

  “That’s what I’m waiting to find out.”

  “What will you do when you know?”

  “What I always do. I’ll fight.”

  He drew me to him then and some of the tension went out of me. “We’ll fight together, Annie. Side by side,” he murmured, and his lips were warm against my temple.

  A light step on the wooden floorboards made us both turn quickly. A slender figure was outlined in shadow against the white wall of the house. “I’m sorry,” said Finty, drawing the shawl she wore tight around her shoulders as though it was cold. I put the gun aside. Instinctively, I knew I wouldn’t need it. I gestured for Nicca to go inside the house, and although he threw me a questioning glance, he did as I wanted. Knowing him as I did, I expected he would remain within earshot.

  “What are you sorry for?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “All of it, I suppose. Then. Now. Not being honest.…” She sighed and turned her head to look directly at me. “I tried to tell you on the ship, but how could I say those words aloud, Annie? Do you realise how utterly insane I would have sounded?”

  “Oh, believe me, I know exactly how you felt,” I said with a soft laugh. “Lucia.”

  “Don’t call me that.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “Don’t think for a minute that I want this, want her inside me. She wasn’t what legend has made her into.”

  “Tell me about it, then,” I invited, holding out my hand and drawing her over to sit with me on the bench that ran the length of the veranda wall. “Who was she? Who are you, Finty?”

  “She wasn’t good or pure.” Finty kept her hand in mine as she spoke. Her eyes stayed focussed on the horizon, which became clearer by the minute as the sun made its morning journey above the mountain tops. “Oh, she was beautiful, incredibly so, I think. I can’t see these things, Annie, I can only sense them. Almost as if they are dreams I’ve once had. Somewhere between dreams and nightmares. Lucia was a witch.” She turned toward me, but seemed unable to fully meet my eyes. “I mean a fully-fledged, burn-at-the-stake sorceress. When Arwen first saw her, she was already centuries old, and she had been called upon by one of his enemies to destroy the Jagos. She almost succeeded, too. Arwen was utterly captivated by her. But that was what she intended, of course. The legend is wrong, Annie. Yes, Arwen took Lucia to Tenebris and locked her in a tower. But she seduced him. She used her body—and my God, how she used it!—to ensnare him, so that he couldn’t get enough of her. Arwen was her prisoner. It was never the other way around. It was from Lucia that the legacy of darkness came. One by one the Jagos succumbed to the curse she had placed upon them and, in time, Arwen understood what was happening. Even though her powers were great, Lucia knew he would come for her, so she fled back to her glade. When he found her, he had no choice. While Lucia lived, the Jagos were doomed. But by that time, Arwen’s mind was completely unhinged and, well, you know the rest.” She sighed, her slight frame relaxing as though telling me had relieved some enormous tension within her. “The pact he made with Satan, the sacrifices, the searching for her through the centuries…he didn’t do those things because he loved Lucia. He wanted to find her again because he had sworn vengeance on her.”

  “Did Lucia send you to Tenebris?”

  Her grey eyes were wide as she turned them to me and looked at me at last. “I’ve often wondered that. Could she have deliberately killed my parents, knowing that Boo, with her big heart, would take me in? But I don’t know. It’s not clear enough, this connection between us, for me to know something like that.”

  “What does she want from you?”

  She smiled serenely. “She wants me to finish what she started and destroy the Jagos.” She started to laugh. “Oh, Annie, I’m sorry! That was irresistible, but it was worth it to see that look on your face.”

  “Is that why you killed Uther?”

  “Good God, Annie, no! I killed him because I thought he was going to murder Rudi. Lucia does want to destroy the Jagos and, yes, she is part of me, but I can fight her. I do it every day. All the time.”

  I thought of the agony I had borne for a brief time as I battled my own dark demons. “How do you stand it?”

  “I have to,” she said simply. “Or I would go mad, wouldn’t I?” A dimple danced briefly at the corner of her mouth. “And since I’m not a Jago, I won’t do that. What now? Will you tell Rudi?” The bright smile vanished at the thought. “I do love him you know, Annie. I would never let Lucia hurt him.”

  “It wasn’t me, was it? The snake and the flowers and the chicken didn’t die because I touched them. They died because you touched them.”

  “Because Lucia touched them,” Finty corrected. She bent her head low. “To show me what she would do if there was ever another Jago child.”

  A cold shiver of dread touched my flesh at the words. I studied her face. It was as sweet and flowerlike as the first day I saw her on the Port Isaac quayside. But we couldn’t go back again to that time. “What do you want to happen to Lucia, Finty?”

  “Oh,
I think Arwen Jago had the right idea. She should burn in hell where she belongs.”

  “Then we have to go to the sangoma.” I rose to my feet and held out my hand. “Come, let us find Jabu. As for the sangoma, she will be expecting us.”

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  I gazed out at the awe-inspiring view that had been the backdrop to my whole life. A slight sound made me turn my head, and Nicca’s arm was warm as it slid around my shoulders. I smiled and pressed my cheek against his forearm.

  “You love it here, don’t you?” he asked, and I nodded.

  “I love you more,” I said simply.

  “Rudi and Finty are making plans to leave in a few days.”

  I was unable to speak for a moment because of the constriction in my throat. “They have to.” I said at last. “And I suppose we should start preparing, too.”

  “Perhaps.” He was silent for a long time, lost in thought as we both looked at the ever-changing mountain scene. “Ouma is getting old. She could use some help around here.” The thought of leaving Ouma again, and this time for good, made my heart ache. “She told me she wished she could leave Sonskyn to you, Annie, now that Rudi will have Tenebris, but she can’t because, if you marry me, you will have to go away, too.” He turned me so that I was facing him. “Remind me…what are we going back to England for, Annie?”