Dane (28 page)

“What?”Eva sputtered. “I can‟t believe it! Alexa could never keep such a secret to herself.”

“I doubt she knows, but her mother claims others do. Don‟t worry, I‟ll ferret out their names and it will all be taken care of soon enough.”

“But,” she said in bewilderment. “Then why marry Alexa?”

“Because I want the grove, and her mother wants to fight me on it.

You knew I would wed at some point. What does it matter to whom?”

“But you‟ll make her miserable.”

He flashed a grim smile. “I assure you I will not.”

Eva gasped, shrinking away. The image of him with Alexa. In that way. She couldn‟t bear it. She looked across the lawn, wanting to grab his hand and run from their obligations. But wherever they went, they‟d be faced with them again. Some things could not be outrun.

“And what of you?” he demanded. “Is that why you agreed to wed her brother? In a fit of pique over my engagement?”

“Fit of pique?” she echoed in outrage.

“Choose someone else. I won‟t see you marry that ass.” Dane folded his arms, insufferably confident in his ability to get his way. “ Or better yet, let me find someone for you, as I suggested before.”

“So you would dictate my choice of husband, but I—a counselor charged with finding you a wife—will have no say in your choice?”

“Gaetano Patrizzi is old enough to be your father.”

“He‟s no more than thirty.”

“He‟s forty, if he‟s a day.” His expression went pitiless. “But how perfect that will be—the father you‟ve always wanted. And him tied to his mother‟s apron strings. The three of you will make a fascinating triangle.”

Eva made as if to slap him, realizing too late that he‟d been goading her and hoping for such a reaction. He pulled her against him, his hands stroking down her back. Oh, Gods, it was heaven to lie against him, the swine.

“There, that‟s more like it,” he murmured into her hair. “I thought I‟d lost you.”

He hadn‟t lost her, he‟d pushed her away. “Alexa is my dear friend.

I won‟t sleep with her husband.”

“I‟m not—“

“Or her fiancé ,”she said pointedly.

Dane stared at her in consternation. She recognized that look by now. Arrogant as always, he assumed that if he found just the right key, he could open her heart and mind to him again. But she would be strong.

“Our original intention to betray our marriage vows seemed far less objectionable when your wife was a nameless, formless specter. Now I can see that such an arrangement would never have suited.” She sighed shakily. “It has only been days, but already I care for you too much.”

“Then don‟t give up what we have.”

As if it were so black and white! Eva looked him directly in the eye so he would see her determination. “I‟ve had few enough friends in my life and won‟t throw one away. Let Alexa be the mother of your children.

Something I can never be.” Though she‟d lied about having the Sickness, what she said was still true in a sense. The Council required unwed fertile females to register themselves as such and to breed with a succession of partners they selected. An intolerable prospect, and it also involved more tests and the risk of exposing what she was. “The Council—“

“Fuck the Council. I won‟t let them stand in our way.”

She stepped back, bumping a table of clean linens behind her. No, they were the coats and cloaks of the guests, and had been stored by the servants here out of sight on a long table. Only then did she realize that servants had used this as a temporary staging area, for it was stacked with boxes along one side as well.

“Alexa stands in our way,” she insisted. “And an entire country will be between us as soon as I get permission from the Council to relocate to Paris or Tuscany. I won‟t wed Gaetano, but I still intend to wed a human, one who can provide for my family.”

Dane took her shoulders. “No. Eva, no. I‟ll worry about you if you‟re so far away. Worry the day will come when your husband will discover you‟re not human. Things could turn ugly between you. If you remain in Rome, at least I‟ll be near enough to help—“

“Human men are easily tricked. I‟ll bespell my husband when the full moon comes. He‟ll lie in his bed and dream of what we do together and never know any of it happened.”

He gave her a small shake as if trying to instill sense in her. “Even a weak man is physically stronger than a woman.”His mouth firmed with new determination. “Why not forego a husband completely? I doubt the Council will pressure an infertile woman into marriage. You could live in lodgings I provide instead of theirs.”

“As a whore like my maman? And cry into my pillow on the nights you are with Alexa? No, I watched my mother cry over a man on too many bleak nights. I won‟t be like her. I have obligations. To protect and provide for Mimi and Lena and Odette and Pinot. They all depend on me.

I won‟t let them down.”

“Then kiss me farewell,” he demanded bitterly. “And remember what you‟ll be missing when you lie in your human husband‟s bed.”Hard hands pulled her close and hard lips fell on hers.

“Dane.” It was a cry for leniency, a breaking of a heart, a woman pushed against a wall with none of her choices agreeable. “Please. We shouldn‟t.”

“You taste of your tears,” he murmured, unmerciful.

Eva gripped his shirtfront, greedy for this one last kiss. But one kiss turned into more, each more desperate than the last. A touch, a gasp...

Hands cupped her bottom and he pulled her over him as he half sat on the table, drawing her thighs up on either side of him. Her knees dimpled the cushion of furs, silks, and satins, and he dragged her against him so his manhood stroked her privates through layers of fabric. Their lips clung, moist. All was surreptitious need and quick gasps and muffled moans, and she would stop it in a minute. Just another minute.

“I‟ll give her up,” Dane gritted against her mouth. “Wed you instead. I don‟t need my own children. We‟ll have your nieces. They are enough.”

She shook her head. “But not human. Not what the Council wants for you. Wed Alexa. She is what you need. If our world is discovered by this one, a human wife and children will strengthen your hold on your land, your future, all your brothers have worked for. You must—“

“Eva? Oh! Lord Satyr! What?”Alexa‟s voice diminished to a horrified squeak.

Eva pushed away from Dane in a swish of skirts. Alexa stood a few feet away at the edge of the bosk. Behind her were Gaetano, her mother, and others with shocked faces, avid ones. A group that had been leaving the festivities and come for their wraps.

Alexa‟s complexion turned a ghastly white as she looked from Eva to Dane and back to Eva. Tears welled in her eyes. “How could you?”she asked miserably.

“Alexa, I—“Eva took a hesitant step toward her, but what excuse was there for this?

“Come, darling,” said Serafina, gathering their wraps and tugging at her daughter‟s arm. And then Eva‟s dearest, only, wonderful friend was gone.

Gaetano shot Eva an angry glance. Dane stepped closer and put his arm at her waist. She looked up at him and intercepted the obnoxious challenge in the hard stare he sent Gaetano, almost begging for an altercation. She stepped between the two men and put a hand to each of their chests to defuse their antagonism.

“I‟m sorry,” she told Gaetano, but he only sneered and pushed her hand away, and then left in the wake of others who had already secured their belongings and gone.

“Go after Alexa,” Eva told Dane. “You must repair the damage between you. It‟s the right thing for everyone.” She could see that now.

But why couldn‟t her heart?

He shook his head slowly.

“Your family is in danger of being revealed if you do not!”she insisted.

Dane remained obstinate. “I‟ll visit her, but only to break off our engagement.”

“Then do as you must, but don‟t visit me again,” she told him, making to go. “I-I need time to think.”

He grabbed her wrist, his face tough and almost brutish in a way she‟d never seen it. “You won‟t disappear to Paris, or through the ElseWorld gate?”

She pressed a hand to her lips and shook her head, afraid that if she spoke, she‟d burst into tears.

“Promise me.”

She nodded and pulled away, fleeing to her carriage and wondering how all had gone so wrong in so short a time.

16

“I must tell you something,” Eva said as Odette helped her dress the following morning. “Last night, Gaetano Patrizzi asked me to wed him, but—“

Delight shone from Odette‟s eyes. “Glory! Our dreams are coming true, bebe!” She made as if to hug her, but Eva forestalled her.

“Wait. Let me finish. I won‟t be wedding him.”

“What? You refused him?”

“No, listen, will you? I never got a chance to reply to his offer before I was caught in an indiscretion with another gentleman.”

Odette‟s face suffused with angry color. “With Satyr? It was him, wasn‟t it? That one that came here for a wife and found you instead.”She pointed in the direction of Eva‟s study, where Dane had first taken her.

Eva nodded, blushing. “Signor Patrizzi saw us together last night.

His mother and sister saw us. Others did as well. Our plans must change as a result. Gaetano won‟t want me any longer, and I can‟t just meld into the upper circles of society now to find another like him to wed.”

“Let me think. We figure something out.”Odette stood on a stool and lowered a pin-striped skirt over Eva‟s head.

Eva was shaking her head when it appeared again. “There‟s something else you must know. An even bigger difficulty.” She gestured to the mortar in which Odette had prepared her morning draught. “These powders I‟ve been taking. They don‟t seem to be working as they used to, at least not during Moonful.”

Panic filled Odette‟s expression. “What?”

“Four years ago, when I began taking them, the moon was slow to affect me during the monthly ritual,” Eva explained. “Its effects began gradually and peaked only when the moon was highest in the sky, and then eased off well before dawn. My need was far less overwhelming than it is now. When the full moon came a few nights ago, I felt it within the hour. And it was a difficult night to pass alone.” She held up a hand before Odette could interject. “Shimmerskins aren‟t enough anymore. Do you understand?”

“I told you, you just need a husband,” said Odette, adjusting the skirt around Eva and then helping her slip into its matching jacket.

“A human husband isn‟t going to be enough for me. Not ever.”

Odette‟s voice rose. “But Satyr is? What you think he‟d do if he find out what you are?”

Eva deflated slightly. “I don‟t know.”

“You stay away from him and he won‟t find out. That‟s the only way.”

“I can‟t. He owns the grove now,” Eva argued. “He won it from Gaetano Patrizzi, gambling. We‟ll have to ask him for the olives now and then.”

Odette began to pace, her uneven gait becoming more pronounced in her agitation. This wouldn‟t do, she thought. All had been so perfectly arranged in her mind. If she could only come upon a solution, all could be so again. Ownership of the grove must be returned to the Patrizzi scion.

Eva would win him as her husband and have access to the grove to hide what she was from him. It was how things were meant to be. How they must be.

“If I‟m to wed someone from this world, we‟ll have to leave Rome.

Get permission from the Council to relocate to Paris. It‟s where they wanted to station us in the first place based on my facility with the language. But we asked to come here, where Maman wanted me to find a husband. And where I hoped to find my father. Well, that‟s not going to happen now.”

“Satyr‟s not gonna let you go. Not easy. I know men like this. If he finds out what you are, there‟ll be trouble.”

“If I‟m careful, he won‟t find out.”

Odette raised her eyes to the heavens as if seeking divine guidance.

“He‟s a Tracker! Of course he will. What you think will happen then?

He‟ll turn you in to the Council, that‟s what. What about Fantine? Your promises to her. And me. You throwing all that away? What about your girls? How you going to protect them if you‟re exposed? And maybe that Satyr will decide to keep you in his own private harem or sell you to his friends instead of telling the Council. Who knows?”

“That‟s ridiculous,” said Eva, fluttering a hand in the air to dispel her foolish notions. Fully dressed now, she headed for the stairs. “Dane doesn‟t wish me harm. If I‟m determined to go, I‟m sure he‟ll be reasonable and provide us with enough olives every autumn to keep me safe. He was to wed Alexa, but now—“

“The Patrizzi girl?”

Eva nodded, looking fretful. “That‟s a long tale, and I haven‟t the heart for it now. Suffice it to say that since she has seen me with him, I‟m not sure there will be any wedding between them.” Suddenly heavy with grief, she drew on her gloves and opened the front door. “I can‟t talk about this anymore. I‟m going out. Please watch the girls.”

Eva moved down the garden path. With a screech, the gate opened under her hand and then banged shut behind her.

“Wait.” Odette followed her and clutched at the gate‟s grill, gazing at her through it. “Never told you before. But you need to know now.

This leg,” she said, slapping a fist on the damaged thigh that caused her to limp. “A man gave me this leg in his anger years ago. A man who say he love me. You be careful, bebe. I worry for you.”

“I know you do,” said Eva.

“Where you going?” Odette called after her.

“To mend a friendship I hope,” Eva called softly, and then she was gone.

Odette paced the sidewalk, rubbing the scar on her thigh where her abusive lover had lamed her years ago. She‟d still loved him even after that. But he‟d found another to love. And so she‟d had no choice but to make him sorry for his defection. Very sorry.