Dane (30 page)

“With Dane?” Eva‟s voice softened with confusion. “I—I don‟t know.”

Alexa sighed, as if she‟d expected as much. “At least you won‟t marry my brother. I couldn‟t have borne it if you and I had been forced to share the same household.”

As Alexa ascended the stairs, Eva looked so bereft that Serafina gave her arm a pat. “Don‟t worry. She‟ll forgive you. I already have, and Gaetano as well. We still hope to welcome you into our family.” She turned and took the stairs, leaving the girl staring after her openmouthed with shock.

The moment she entered the house, Alexa pounced on her. “I heard what you said to Eva, Mother! How dare you? This is my business.”

“You know how I hate raised voices,” said Serafina, removing her gloves in quick jerks. “But it‟s propitious that you should mention business—“

“What‟s going on?”asked Gaetano, coming downstairs.

“I‟m glad you‟re here, Tano. I‟ve decided it‟s time your sister learned the truth about the workings of our little family business.”

Gaetano‟s eyes shifted between them. “Why?”

“Because the other Daughters and I have agreed it‟s time. Shall we go?”

“You‟re coming down, too?” he asked.

Serafina nodded. His surprise was understandable. She rarely visited the labyrinth—usually confining her visits to the annual ritual when she and the other Daughters descended together without the men.

In the interim, whenever they secured new victims for the cells such as little Nella, it fell to her son to escort them into the bowels of the earth.

“Down where?”Alexa asked blankly. “What business?”

“Our cosmetics, of course. Haven‟t you ever wondered how they were made, and where?”Serafina asked.

“Well, yes, I‟ve asked you many times, but you said young ladies were not to concern themselves with matters of finance and manufacture.”

“Ah, but you‟re grown up now, and one day you and Tano must carry on for the family when I‟m gone. It‟s time you learned your heritage.”Serafina led her two children into her elegant salon, the one where she held her ladies‟gatherings. Along a far wall, she pulled a lever that turned the bookcase filled with jars and vials, and Alexa gasped. An opening had appeared behind it, leading to a tall, crude tunnel hewn from rock. Serafina stepped inside and lit a decorative lantern with a matchstick.

“Why didn‟t I know about this?”said Alexa, moving to peer inside.

“It‟s rather gothic. Frightening, actually.”

“You haven‟t seen anything yet,” murmured Gaetano.

“Come along.”Serafina nodded to Gaetano, who lit another lantern and gestured for Alexa to precede him through the labyrinth. “The first thing you must understand,” Serafina went on as she led the way along the serpentine corridor, “is that there is a world beyond ours, accessed through a gate in Tuscany. Your friend Eva is from that world, as is Lord Satyr.”

Alexa stopped short, and Gaetano bumped into her. “What?” she asked faintly.

“Why does she have to know?” Gaetano demanded in frustration.

“But how adorable,” cooed Serafina in surprise. “You, playing the protective older brother. That will work nicely into my plans, for your sister is to be inducted into womanhood soon. And you have been chosen by the Daughters to stand in for your father with her.”

Gaetano shook his head, stunned anew by his mother‟s brand of casual cruelty.

“What are you talking about?”asked Alexa.

“She wants me to act as Faunus with you,” Gaetano gritted angrily. “A man who sought incest with his own daughter Bona Dea—as in our own Bona Dea Cosmetics. I‟m to get you drunk, then bed you.

They‟ll likely drug you as well so you won‟t remember afterward.”

“No! Stop it!” Her face blanching, Alexa put her hands over her ears, then turned to run back the way they‟d come.

But Serafina grabbed her wrist, drawing their faces close. “I know it seems strange now, but you‟ll grow used to it. It‟s a tradition in our family.” She smoothed back a stray lock of hair that had fallen across Alexa‟s brow. “My father bedded me when I was your age. But your father is dead, so Tano is my choice for you. Better he than one of the bloated husbands of the other Daughters.”

Alexa shook her head, her eyes terrified. “This is all too heinous.

You can‟t mean it! Either of you!”

“We‟re descended from Gods, Alexa!” Serafina exclaimed. “Bona Dea and Faunus dictated long ago that a mating has to occur among family before you can wed. It‟s a divine rite of passage. Be proud.”

“Proud? I‟ve never been more ashamed!”Alexa began backing away.

“Wherever you‟re leading me, I don‟t want to go. I can only hope I‟ll awaken tomorrow and find this was all a nightmare of some kind.”

Serafina sent a speaking glance toward Gaetano. “Stop her!”

But he didn‟t budge, allowing Alexa to escape in the direction of the house. “I‟m not going to let you hurt her. She‟s my sister, for pity‟s sake. I don‟t mind all the rest.” He gestured toward the tunnel farther ahead. “But I‟d rather go on as we were before. She doesn‟t have to know everything.”

“Oh, stop your hysterics. It‟s time she grew up and shouldered her share of the work. Aren‟t you tired of doing it all? After all, you‟re to be a husband soon, with more responsibilities.”

“And who exactly am I to marry?”

“Evangeline Delacorte, of course. Nothing has changed there.”

“As easy as that?” he scoffed. “You wish it and it will happen?

She‟ll leave her lover and return to me?”

“Have no worries on that score,” she said smugly. “Dane Satyr will soon meet an untimely end.”

His brows rose. “How?”

“Not by my hand. Her maidservant visited me this afternoon. She is conveniently determined that Eva wed you and has agreed to poison Satyr. I only tell you this because your assistance may be required in disposing of him afterward. And the maidservant as well. She‟s repugnant, and I don‟t want her left around blackmailing us.”

Considering the matter settled, Serafina glanced toward the depths of the labyrinth. “Is all well down there?”she asked diffidently. “I depend upon you to take care of things, you know.”

His gaze narrowed and he gestured toward the pit of hell made for him by his mother. Where she‟d intended to take Alexa. “Why don‟t I show you around? You can get to know some of our guests.”

She shivered. “No, I‟m afraid it‟s a little too unsavory down there for me to visit more often than I must. And we should find Alexa and calm her.”

Her nervousness pleased him. He stepped closer, intimidating her.

“Yes, you prefer to pretend that none of that exists. Yet you banish me to these dungeons every night to maintain order. To live among your victims.”

“It‟s the way things have been done in our families for centuries, dear. The women upstairs, the men down. Why object at this late date?”

She pushed past him in the direction of the house and he let her leave him behind.

“Why?” he whispered when she‟d gone. “Because I hate this. Hate you for making me live like this.” He stood there, thinking of Eva as he often did now, as a way of escaping reality. She represented a fresh start.

If he could have her, he had a feeling he could find his way out of this hell.

Thoughts of her made his prick stir. He put a hand over it and squeezed, relishing the small sexual pain. Yes, if anyone could, Eva would save him.

17

It was twilight by the time Mimi and Lena returned home, looking disheveled and exhausted.

“Where have you two been?” asked Eva, ushering them inside.

“We‟ve been so worried! I‟ve been roaming the neighborhood searching.

Poor Pinot is out looking for you still.”

Mimi shot a mutinous look at Odette. “We—“

Lena spoke over her, drowning out the rest of her words. “We wanted to see the ruins, so we walked there on our own.” She sent Mimi a warning glance, thoroughly confounding Eva.

“Don‟t you understand how dangerous that was? You must never ever do such a thing again,” said Eva, hugging them to her. Mimi cuddled close and Lena shivered. “You‟re chilled, and dusty. Odette, help me get them into a hot bath.”

But when Odette came near, Mimi drew back and Lena stepped in front of her in a protective maneuver. “We can undress ourselves.”

“What‟s going on?” Eva demanded, looking from them to Odette.

“Girls are growing up,” Odette supplied, her lips forming a creaky smile. “Wanting to do things for themselves. That‟s good, si?

Independent.”

“I suppose.” The girls were obviously angry with Odette about something, but they weren‟t in a mood to say what. “Go on, then,” Eva told them. “You both look exhausted.”

“Can we sleep here tonight?”Mimi asked.

“With me?” The girls only asked to sleep with her when they had the occasional bad dream. “Well, of course,” said Eva. “If you‟d like. But not when you look like little chimney sweeps. Get to your baths.”

The girls were unusually quiet and made quick work of bathing.

Once they were in their nightgowns, Odette gave them some chocolate, their customary bedtime drink. Then Eva tucked them in her bed, gave them each a kiss, and at Mimi‟s urging also bestowed a kiss on her doll, and they both fell into exhausted slumber.

“What happened between you and the girls?” Eva asked quietly when Odette returned from dropping their filthy clothes in the laundry.

“Truth is, I took them to the market,” Odette murmured, handing her a mug of hot chocolate. “They ran off to the ruins when my back was turned.”

Eva took a sip. “Why didn‟t you say anything earlier when Pinot and I were looking for them?”

“Thought it best they learn a lesson for their waywardness, having to make their own way home.”

Just then they heard the creak of the gate and Eva went to the window. It was Pinot. “The girls have come home,” she called softly down to him. “They were wandering the ruins on their own, can you believe it?”

He shook his head over their foolishness, then said, “They‟re all right?”

She nodded.

“I‟m off then, to Capitoline, unless you need me.”

“What‟s on Capitoline?”asked Odette, coming to the window.

“That‟s my business, old lady.” He winked at Eva and walked off, whistling.

“Got a new love, that one, and I can never find him when I need him,” Odette groused.

Eva smiled. “It‟s good that Pinot is making friends. The girls should be encouraged to do the same. Maybe it would stop them from wandering off in search of entertainment.”

Going back to sit at her dressing table, Eva set down her mug and began taking the pins from her hair in preparation for bed.

Odette came behind her and took over the job. “Don‟t forget, those girls are comfortable roaming the streets. It‟s where you found them.

Nothing‟s going to happen to them out there.”

Eva‟s brows rose. “This from the woman who‟s always giving me such dire warnings about safety, and how I‟m going to be found floating in the Tiber? No, that part of their lives is over. They‟re our family now and we must look after them, do you understand?”

Odette nodded grudgingly.

“I‟ll arrange to find some children their ages in the neighborhood.”

“Think that‟s wise?” Once Eva‟s hair was unbound, Odette began brushing it. “If anyone finds out they‟re fey, it‟s trouble for us. Little girls have big mouths.”

Eva caught her eye in the mirror. “I want them to have friends. I didn‟t as a girl and I sorely missed them .”

“It was for your own good that you were kept from the other young ones in ElseWorld. Might‟ve guessed what you were.”

“I know.” Eva sighed. Growing up, Fantine and Odette had always kept a close eye on her, waiting for signs of her blood to will out. On her eighteenth birthday, the signs they‟d awaited had finally shown themselves. Her menses had finally begun—far later than it had in the few other girls of her acquaintance—shocking her body with cravings she didn‟t understand or know how to cope with. Her nights had turned restless and she‟d begun to awaken from sleep, her thighs clenched tight, trying to hold on to the pulses of pleasure that spontaneously visited her body high between her legs.

She had withdrawn from the company of other young ladies then, finally understanding what her mother and Odette had tried to explain all those years. That she was different. That something about her was shameful. That it was dangerous to get too close to those who might expose her for what she was.

“Umm that feels nice,” said Eva, enjoying the feel of her mother‟s silver brush running through her hair. “Just like when I was a little girl.”

“You still my little girl. Always will be,” said Odette. “Your maman, she had an angel‟s hair, but you got the hair of a witch. Just like your father‟s.”

Eva frowned, laying a hand over the brush to still its stroke.

“What?”

“Oh, my mistake,” said Odette, smoothing a hand over her hair.

“Just thinking too hard about the wedding.”

“What wedding?”

“Yours with Patrizzi, bambina, what else?” She began braiding Eva‟s hair for sleep, something she hadn‟t done since Eva was in her teens.

Eva‟s frown deepened. “Didn‟t you hear what I said last night? I was caught out, in Dane‟s arms. Gaetano Patrizzi saw us. The very last thing he must want now is a wedding with me.”

“It‟s gonna be all right with your Gaetano, you‟ll see.” Odette patted her arm.

Eva pulled away, an unsettling feeling filling her. “You have blinders on if you think Signor Patrizzi would take me to wife. I‟ve as good as cuckolded him before all of society. I‟m only glad he didn‟t announce our engagement before it happened.”