She looks me up and down. “It doesn’t look like you are missing anything.”
I feel embarrassment tint my cheeks. “But there’s not enough of it!”
She tips her head with a smile. “There are undergarments and a robe. What else do you require?”
I stand up, wobbling a little until my remaining dizziness passes. “Oh, I don’t know… some trousers? A gown? And how about some shoes and stockings? Or am I supposed to go barefoot?”
“Lia…” I startle at the use of my name. “Oh, may I call you Lia? It’s so much less stuffy than Amalia.”
I nod and she continues.
“I will provide you with sandals when we leave the room, but while you are here at the Sanctuary, you don’t need anything else. Besides,” she says, raising her eyebrows, “I took your clothes to the laundry, and there are quite a lot of them! Is it not uncomfortable to be so encumbered all the time?”
I cannot help feeling a bit indignant. Here I have thought myself an independent young woman, ever freer since my days at Wycliffe, yet Una has turned that notion on its ear.
Ignoring her question, I straighten my back and try not to sound like I am sulking. “Very well. But I would like my own clothing back in case I should require it.”
She heads for the door. “I’ll fetch it while you take breakfast.”
I call out just before she closes the door behind her. “I’ll have you know I wear breeches instead of skirts when I ride!”
I catch her knowing smile as she shuts the door and have the distinct feeling that she is quite amused with my puritan ideals.
“Luisa will be happy to see you,” Una says. “As will your guide, Edmund, though he is attending to business, as I understand it.”
We are walking the length of a long stone hallway exposed to the elements save for a roof. It reminds me of the palazzi I saw when traveling in Italy with Father.
I notice that Una has not mentioned Sonia, and though I imagine she is trying to be tactful, it is Sonia who weighs most on my mind.
“What of my other friend?” I turn my head to her as we walk, hoping to catch a nuance in her expression that will tell me something her words do not.
She sighs, appraising me with her eyes. I wonder if she will be honest or gentle. “She is not well, Lia, but I will save the details for Brother Markov. His position is such that he will likely know more than I would anyway.”
Brother Markov. I wonder about the title and the veiled reference to Dimitri’s position, but Sonia is foremost in my mind.
“May I see her?”
Una shakes her head. “Not today.”
There is such finality in her tone that I do not bother arguing. I shall ask Dimitri instead.
Una looks up as a gentleman, full-lipped and sporting a devilish grin, approaches us on the walkway. His breeches are snug, his white tunic fitted through the shoulders.
“Good morning, Una.”
“Good morning, Fenris,” Una answers. It is quite obvious she is flirting.
Once we are a safe distance from the retreating gentleman, I turn to look at her. “Who was that?”
“One of the Brothers. One of the more… notorious among their rank, actually. I have no intention of seeing him, but he has such a reputation that I quite like giving him a taste of his own medicine.”
“Really? I’m impressed!” I laugh. “And who are the Brothers?”
“The Brothers are exactly that — our Brothers.”
“Fenris is your brother?”
She laughs. “Not my brother. A Brother. That is, he was born to one of the Sisters and has not yet decided if he will leave to make his way in your world or stay and serve the cause of the Sisterhood.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
Una stops walking, placing a hand on my arm so that I stop as well. “The Sisters are not bound to Altus. We may make a life in your world, as your mother and aunt did, if we choose. But even staying on the island does not mean our lives cease moving forward. We still fall in love, marry, and have children, and those children must also choose their own paths when they come of age.”
I still do not understand where a gentleman such as Fenris enters into the equation. “But who are they? The Brothers?”
She raises her brows. “You do not imagine the Sisters give birth only to females, do you?”
I think of Henry and know that they do not. “The Brothers are the male offspring of the Sisters who choose to have children.”
It is not a question, but she nods in answer anyway. “And the male descendants of the Grigori who, if they remain on Altus, are only permitted to marry from the Sisterhood. They are all our Brothers, really, and they may stay to serve the Sisterhood or even the Grigori, if they are so chosen.”
I am still standing in one place, contemplating her answer, when I realize she has started moving again and is now a few steps ahead. I have to walk quickly to catch up and feel myself tiring though I have been out of bed for less than an hour.
A few minutes later I grasp the question at the back of my mind. “Una?”
“Hmmm?”
“Do the Brothers live here on the island with you?”
“Of course.” She does not seem surprised by my question. “They live in Sanctuary, where we all reside.”
“Under the same roof?”
She smiles as she looks over at me. “It is only in your world, Lia, that it is uncommon for men and women to live together in mutual respect and honor. That it is unnatural for men and women to express feelings for one another outside of marriage.”
“Well, yes… but we do so after marriage, of course.”
She tips her head as her eyes grow serious. “Why is marriage a requirement for mutual respect and honor?”
She does not seem to require an answer, and it is a good thing. Her questions crowd my already overwhelmed thoughts until I am forced to push them aside.
Una turns down a wide hallway and places her hand on the knob of a door to our right. When she opens it, waving me in before her, I feel at home instantly.
The room is a library, and though the walls, like the rest of those at Altus, are crafted of stone, they are lined with books just like those in Father’s library at Birchwood. And if the atmosphere is not enough to put me at ease, the company certainly is, for Luisa looks up from one of the tables near the back of the room. Her face lights up when she sees me.
She rushes over. “Lia! I thought you would never wake up!” She squeezes me tightly and then draws back to look at me, her lips tightening in an expression of worry.
“What?” I ask. “I’m fine. I simply needed to sleep, that is all.”
“You do not look fine! I have never seen you so pale. Are you certain you should be up and about?”
“Quite. I’ve been asleep for nearly two days, Luisa! I simply need to walk in the sun a bit and my color will be back to normal in no time.”
I smile to reassure her, not wanting to tell her that I am, in fact, still quite tired. That I do still feel very weak despite having eaten, washed, and dressed.
“Yes, well. It is lovely here.” She is breathless with excitement and looks healthy and well-rested in her own light purple robe. “I cannot wait to show you the grounds! Rhys has shown me so many amazing things!”
I raise my eyebrows. “Rhys?”
Luisa shrugs, trying to seem casual while she flushes crimson. “He is one of the Brothers who has been showing me the island. He has been very helpful.”
I grin, feeling a little like my old self. “I’m quite certain he has!”
“Oh, you!” She slaps my arm playfully, followed by another quick embrace. “Goodness! I have missed you, Lia!”
I laugh. “I should like to say I’ve missed you as well, but since I have spent the past two days in the deepest sleep of my life, I’m afraid I did not miss much!”
“Not even Dimitri?” she asks with a sly smile.
“Not even Dimitri.” I am happy to have su
rprised her, if only for a moment. “Until the moment I awoke, of course. Now I miss him terribly!”
She laughs, and it carries through the room like a strong wind just as I remember. I suddenly notice Una standing at my side and feel terribly rude.
“Oh, I am sorry! I haven’t introduced you!”
Puzzlement crosses Luisa’s face. She follows my gaze to Una and breaks into a smile. “Una? We met days ago, Lia. She has been keeping me company and assuring me of your good health.”
“Wonderful,” I say. “Then we are all acquainted.”
I am about to ask Luisa about Edmund when the door opens behind me. Turning to the sound, the sunlight is so blinding from the half-open door that the figure standing within its frame is at first only a golden burst of light. When the door closes and the room is once more shrouded in semidarkness, I cannot stop myself from running across the room in greeting.
I throw myself into Dimitri’s arms in a terribly unladylike manner. I don’t care. Not for a moment. It feels like forever since his dark eyes have stared into mine.
He laughs into my hair. “I’m happy to see I am not the only one who has suffered.”
“You suffered?” I ask against his neck.
He laughs. “Every second you’ve been asleep.” Leaning back to get a better look at me, he kisses me on the lips without seeming to mind that Luisa and Una are right there in front of us. “Are you all right? How are you feeling?”
“A little weak, maybe, and still a little tired. But I will be fine with a bit more time and rest.”
“Altus is the perfect place for both. Come, let me show you some of the island. It will do you good to get out of doors.”
I look at Una. “Is it all right?”
I don’t know why I ask her permission, but it seems an odd thing to go wandering about the island when I am meant to find the location of the missing pages.
“Of course.” She waves away my question, answering as if she can read my mind. “There is time yet for you to speak to Lady Abigail about the purpose for your visit, and she is still sleeping, in any case.”
I turn to Luisa. “Do you mind?”
She grins. “Not at all. I have plans of my own.”
Dimitri leads me to the door, and I resolve to ask Luisa later about the seductive new purr in her voice.
“Does it ever rain here?”
Despite the fact that I have been coherent less than twenty-four hours, it seems impossible that the weather on Altus could be anything but warm and gentle.
“We wouldn’t have so many trees if it didn’t.”
He smiles down at me as we make our way farther up the stone path, and I see him as if for the first time. His skin glows with good health against the same brown trousers and fitted white tunic Fenris wore when Una and I passed him in the outer hallway. The white is brilliant against Dimitri’s dark hair, and it is impossible not to notice the taut pull of fabric across his shoulders. When I meet his gaze, a slow smile spreads from his eyes to his mouth and he raises his eyebrows as if he knows exactly what I am thinking.
I smile into his eyes, oddly unembarrassed.
Glancing back the way we came, I get my first real look at the building in which I have spent the last two days sleeping. Seeing it from the outside is considerably more impressive than seeing it from within, though it is not at all tall or imposing. Crafted entirely of a bluish gray stone, it sits low and long on the top of the hill I attempted to climb the day we arrived. The roof appears to be copper and has mellowed to a mossy green that stands in subtle contrast to the sprawling lawns and deeper emerald of the leafy apple trees.
It is beautiful, though that hardly seems an adequate description. As I look at the ocean stretched below, the building they call the Sanctuary, and the smaller structures surrounding it, I feel the greatest sense of belonging. The greatest sense of peace. I wish I had known sooner that I was a part of the Sisterhood. Of Altus. It is as if I have been missing a piece of myself for a very long time — a piece whose loss I did not feel fully until reclaiming it.
We pass several people on the path, and Dimitri says hello to each of them by name. He smiles with characteristic charm, though they seem strangely immune to his friendly nature. He reaches down to take my hand as we pass a lovely older woman who glares openly in answer to his greeting. I imagine she is simply aged and cranky, but I can no longer stay silent when a young woman responds angrily to Dimitri’s greeting by saying, “You should be ashamed!”
I stop walking and stare after her retreating back.
“How rude! What is the matter with everyone?” I turn to look at him in bewilderment.
Dimitri hangs his head. “Yes, well… not everyone is as supportive of our journey as we would like.”
“Whatever do you mean? How can they not be supportive? We seek only to find the missing pages in order to end the prophecy. Is that not what the Sisters want?” He doesn’t answer, and I begin to understand that I am not seeing the whole picture. “Dimitri?”
“They don’t know you as I do.” His face colors either with shame or embarrassment, and I feel how hard it was for him to say aloud.
It is so simple, really, that I cannot believe the possibility has eluded me until now.
“It’s because of me.” I stare at the ground for a minute before looking up at Dimitri. “Isn’t it?”
He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. “It doesn’t matter, Lia.” I cannot hold his gaze, but he touches my chin with his fingers and turns my face to his so that it is impossible to avoid his eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.” I don’t mean for it to sound harsh, but it does. I turn away from him and continue on the path, this time avoiding the eyes of any who pass.
It takes only seconds for Dimitri to catch up to me. He does not speak right away, and when he finally does, I get the sense that he is treading very carefully.
“I am not defending them, but try and understand,” he says.
I do not want to hear opinions that others have formed in their ignorance without even knowing me. But Dimitri needs to say it, and so I will hear it.
“I’m listening.” I say it without looking at him and try to keep my focus on the path ahead.
He sighs. “You are the only Gate to ever come to Altus. To ever be welcomed at Altus. It is just… well, it is just not done. Has not been done in the past. Until now, the Gate has always been an enemy. An enemy of the Sisters, though one of them, as well. Perhaps more an enemy because she was one of them. Your mother and father escaped judgment, at least the open judgment of those on the island, by residing elsewhere.”
“Is it not proof enough that I’m here? That I have risked my life and the lives of those dear to me to make this journey?” I am aware of a building anger. It is not the fury I felt when learning of Sonia’s betrayal, but a slow simmer that threatens to build and build until it has nowhere to go but out.
“Lia… Until you find the missing pages and use them to end the prophecy, the Sisters have no way of knowing if that is truly your intent. Your mother — ”
I stop walking, glaring at him. “I am not my mother. I love her, but I am not her.”
The breath seems to leave his body in a rush of defeat. “I know that. But they don’t. All they have on which to base their judgment, their hope, is the past. And your mother tried to fight the Souls. Wanted to fight them. But in the end, she was not able to hold them at bay. That is what the Sisters of Altus know and what they fear.”
I start walking again, this time more slowly. He follows, and for a time, we walk without speaking. It takes me a while to form the words I know I must say. To ask the question I fear most. When I finally do, I find I must steady my voice.
“And you are shunned because of your… involvement with me?” He doesn’t answer right away, and I know he is trying to soften his response. “Just answer, Dimitri. What do we have together if we cannot speak plainly?”
“Shunned is a bi
t harsh,” he says softly. “They don’t understand. I have already been summoned to the High Court for saving you from the kelpie. That is scandal enough for someone of my…”
“Station?” I finish for him.
He nods. “I suppose. And now there is the matter of my romantic involvement with a Sister clearly designated as Gate, and not just any Gate, but the one with the power to finally bring about the return of Samael.”
“You sound as if you’re defending them.” I cannot keep the bitterness from my voice.
“No. I am simply trying to understand them, and to be fair in my own judgment even when they are not.”
It is impossible to be angry. With every word Dimitri says, I know he speaks the truth. Most importantly, I learn more about him and become more certain that he is a good man. How can I fault him for such qualities?
This time I reach for his hand. It feels so large in mine, and yet I have the strongest urge to offer him the same protection he has offered me. I don’t know how effective I would be in shielding him from anything significant, but I suddenly know that I would do anything to try to keep him from harm.
“It seems there is only one thing to do then.”
“What is it?”
“Prove them wrong.”
And in this moment, as I smile into his eyes, I am certain that I will.
22
We walk hand in hand toward the other side of the island. The path slopes downward toward a grove of some kind, and I realize we have not come upon anyone else for quite some time. I am astounded at the absolute quiet.
“Come,” Dimitri says. “I want to show you something.”
He pulls me off the path and toward the grove. I have to run to keep up, and I try not to trip on the field of grass and wildflowers.
“What are you doing?” I laugh. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see,” he calls out.
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