Ellida (2 page)

“Practically in your backyard,” Jack said and
kissed Astrid’s hair, “is our house. Yours and mine.”

Astrid’s heart skipped a beat.

“Jack, did you tell Astrid how our clan is
organized?” James said as the plane made another circle over the
town.

“Didn’t come up on our agenda, Dad.”

Astrid shook her head. “I know almost nothing
about Red Cliffs. I’m sorry.”

Betty patted her knee. “That’s okay, Astrid.
Nobody will hold that against you.”

“How could you know, sweetheart, when we all
did our best to keep you in the dark? You’ll learn, don’t worry,”
her uncle said. “See, our clan is formally divided into twelve
Houses. Every Red Cliffs resident belongs to one of them. Heads of
the Houses are called Captains, and with the Einhamir, they
constitute our government, which is called the High Council. As an
Ellida, you preside over the Council and you hold nominal, legal
and constitutional power.”

“Dad, don’t scare her,” Jack said and
tightened his grip around her waist.

“So, you’re saying you’re, sort of, prime
minister, and I’m, sort of, Queen Elizabeth,” Astrid joked.

“Not really. Her role is ceremonial. You’re a
real boss.”

A bubble of hysteria rose up in Astrid’s
throat. She swallowed hard and blinked several times.

“James, for heaven’s sake, stop it!” Betty
snapped.

“Dad!”

“What? What did I say?”

Betty unscrewed a bottle of water and pushed
it into Astrid’s hands. “Don’t pay attention to your uncle. He is
over the moon—his niece is coming home—and on top of that, she’s
the clan’s Ellida.”

“Didn’t mean to scare you, sweetie,” James
said. “It’s a piece of cake, you’ll see.”

How would you know
? Astrid took a sip.
“Tell me something else, Uncle. Are all the members of a House
related?”

“More or less. Division into the Houses has
its practical reasons—marriages. We’re not numerous. Marriages
within one House aren’t uncommon, but only the Einhamir can approve
them, after the Council compares the family trees. We have to make
sure that relatives from close genetic pools don’t end up
married.”

“Which House do I belong to? Mohegan?”

“The Mohegans belong to House Canagan,” her
uncle said simply.

Astrid searched for traces of wounded pride
or jealousy in his voice, but couldn’t find them.

“You and Jack are bond-mates, there’s no
barrier to your and Jack’s marriage, though, because—”

“Close relatives cannot bond.” Astrid
finished with a smile. “Jack told me that. Who’s the head of House
Canagan, then?”

“James,” Jack said in the same matter-of-fact
tone James had used a moment ago.

“And you’re above us all,” James said.

Astrid took another swig of water.

“Dad,” Jack said in an attempt to divert
James’ attention from Astrid and her future role, “I met a doctor
in Rosenthal, Ahmed Demmir, Astrid’s colleague. He’s one of us.
He’ll probably soon move to Red Cliffs.”

It worked, at least for a moment. “His name
sounds Turkish. There are several werewolf clans in Turkey, but no
Demmirs among them. A loner?”

“Yes. Born as a human. He was a young Ottoman
yüzbaşi
—a captain—in the Battle of Khotyn, 1621. He was
badly wounded and left to die. Woke up as a werewolf. The donor’s
unknown. Somebody probably tried to save him.”

“Or somebody got interrupted at the beginning
of a feast. So when is he coming?”

“Soon, I hope. He’s been a loner by
circumstance, not by nature, and he’s tired of it.”

“Good. Of course he’s welcome.” He turned to
Astrid, but before he could say a word, Betty rubbed her arms and
said, “It’s chilly here. James, will you please go and fetch my
orange sweater? I think it’s in my big black suitcase.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Jack whispered after James
went to the back of the plane. He pulled Astrid against his chest.
“Are you okay?”

Astrid closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. The warm current ran over her body, relaxing her tense
muscles. “I’m fine,” she said with a tiny smile.

The plane tilted slightly to the right and
began a slow turn. As they neared the ground, Astrid saw a
patchwork of hotels, lodges, cabins, chalets, souvenir shops,
cafes, food stores…

“The resort is family-oriented, see the
gentle slopes and long trails,” Jack said. “There’re quite a few
challenging trails, as well, on the opposite side. I remember you
saying you’re a good skier. We can try them together.”

Jack pointed to the various department
stores, food stores and home-improvement warehouses near the
outskirts of town. Then he turned her attention back to the
picturesque town centre with its numerous family businesses:
bakeries, butcheries, ethnic grocery stores, pastry shops, printing
shops, cafes, restaurants and post office. Everything a town of
that size was expected to have.

“Where’s the medical centre?” Astrid
said.

“That split-level building with all the
windows… there, at the base of the mountain. It’s a small but quite
modern medical facility. We have lots of tourists here during
ski-season and injuries are common. Our people also need medical
attention from time to time, particularly children.”

James came back with a sweater draped over
his hand. He helped Betty to put it on. “Here… Took me forever to
dig it out. It was at the bottom of your red suitcase, not the
black one.” He turned to Astrid. “As for your job, don’t worry,
sweetheart. You’ll have plenty to do,” he said, taking his seat
beside his wife. “Although, if I were you, I would take it easy.
Consider the next couple of weeks as a vacation. You’ll have
Morgaine and young Nakamura breathing down your neck. That’s more
than enough, you’ll see.”

Before Astrid could answer, the Baron 55
dipped down toward the runway and soon touched the ground.

“I hope you enjoyed the flight, Miss
Mohegan,” said Andy, the pilot, as Astrid thanked him.

“Very much, Mr. Rogers. Thank you for showing
me the town.”

He smiled. “Please, call me Andy. It was my
pleasure. Welcome home, Miss Mohegan.”

“Thank you, Andy. And please call me
Astrid.”

ASTRID STEPPED out of the plane right into
the arms of a tall young man with tousled ruddy hair and dark-blue
eyes. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her from the
ground.

“Here is my singer! Welcome home,
cousin!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eamon! Easy, man! Don’t
scare her or she’ll ask Andy to take her back,” Jack said.

“C’mon, Jack, you had your chance in the last
two weeks. No need to throw a fit, she’s my cousin.” Keeping his
left arm around Astrid’s shoulder, he reached out his right hand.
“Good to see you, man.”

Jack shook his brother’s hand. “Good to see
you too, Eamon. Now, may I have my girlfriend back?”

Eamon winked at Astrid. “Don’t worry, coz.
We’ll get him out of our hair soon,” he said and kissed her
cheek.

When she realized nobody was going to snatch
Jack away from her, at least not right away, Astrid relaxed for the
first time since this morning and Ella’s tears, Arnaldur’s tight
grip, and the Blakes’ put-on encouraging smiles.

The lights were on when they arrived. Alec,
Drew and Drew’s sister Lily were waiting for them.

The Mohegan home was a large, comfortable and
welcoming place, well-lit and high-ceilinged. It smelled homey, of
pine wood and citrus peel. Although the house was evenly warmed
with some sort of central heating, a cheerful fire was burning in
the fireplace. The family and their friends gathered around it
before dinner was served.

The big sitting room was furnished with
functional and cushy sofas and armchairs in warm, herb-and-spice
tones of dark-orange, cinnamon and cardamom-green. The antique
coffee table, side tables, chests and drawers were made of rare and
elegant reddish-brown East Indian rosewood, almost impossible to
obtain anymore. Vanilla-yellow walls, dark parquet floor, thick
Oriental carpets in sage-green and rich red completed the relaxing
and harmonious interior. A wide, curved staircase led to the second
and third levels.

The house had two dining rooms, both adjacent
to the kitchen. The huge rectangular space that probably took up
one third of the ground floor was used for frequent formal
occasions involving a large number of guests. The much smaller
family dining room was an intimate, casual place, with its cherry
wood round table that seated eight people in comfortable chairs
upholstered with soft cushions.

Drew and Lily had prepared supper: roast beef
with potatoes and vegetables, spinach in béchamel sauce, red bell
pepper casserole and sautéed mushrooms.

“We heard you liked lemony desserts, so I
made lemon soufflé,” Lily said as she placed a yellow bowl in front
of Astrid.

“Oh, lemon is my catnip.” Astrid took a
spoonful and closed her eyes in delight. “Oh, this is the best
lemon soufflé I’ve ever tasted! Thank you!” She smiled at tall,
dark haired and hazel-eyed Lily, so different in appearance from
blond, blue-eyed and petite Drew.

After dinner they continued sitting around
the table in the dining room. Jack sat beside her holding her hand
and playing with her fingers. Every once in a while, his knuckles
would brush her cheeks, sending warm shudders throughout her body.
The physical sensation of their bond, already familiar, hadn’t lost
anything of the thrill and excitement she’d felt the first time she
and Jack had touched.

“Andy’s picking up Morgaine and Takeshi from
Denver tomorrow afternoon,” James said. “You’ll soon be very busy,
Astrid.”

“We’re expecting heavy traffic here in the
next couple of days. People will come to welcome you,” Betty said.
“I know it’s a lot of new faces, but don’t worry, we’ll be
around.”

“I’m sure it’s going to be fine.” Astrid’s
voice didn’t sound very convincing, but she smiled bravely. “I’ll
get used to it eventually.”

Jack put his arm around her shoulder and
kissed her temple. “Just be who you are, Miss Spock.”

Astrid sighed. As if there was any other
way.

“Bah, don’t you worry, Astrid. You are our
Ellida, you could be spoiled rotten and you would still be ours, as
we are yours,” Eamon said. “Besides, it didn’t take you too long to
steal some hearts.”

Jack laughed. “With all the resistance I
could muster, it took less than twenty-four hours.” His fingers
continued to stroke the nape of Astrid’s neck, easing her
anxiety.

“There’ll be mostly girls, women and children
coming tomorrow, just to say hello,” Betty said. “When James and
Jack are back, we’ll have dinner here for the Captains, and James
will formally introduce you to them.” She turned to her husband,
“Can we plan it for next Saturday, James?”

“Saturday’s fine. Astrid, about your house …
We weren’t sure what you wanted to do with the furniture, so we
moved everything to the basement, to make room for your stuff. Alec
decided to take as much as he could put in the truck, so pretty
much everything from the Rosenthal house is here now.”

“Really? Oh, thank you, Alec,” Astrid said,
touched.

Alec shrugged and smiled. “I thought you’d
like to have your things here. It might help you a bit with the
transition. You can always deal with whatever you don’t want
later.”

“I hope you didn’t change your mind about
staying here with us,” Betty said. “We don’t want to put you under
more pressure, but if you don’t mind, please stay with us. This is
also your home, Astrid.”

“Of course she doesn’t mind, right, sweetie?”
James said and patted her hand.

Astrid eyes filled with tears and she blinked
several times to push them back. “No, not at all. I want to stay
here with you,” she said. “I don’t think solitude is what I need
now.”

And she meant every word she’d said. Jack
would be coming and going, and they couldn’t stay in either her or
his house anyway. Not before her next change, at least. Staying
close to Jack’s family would help her cope with his absence.

ASTRID’S PHONE buzzed somewhere in her purse
in the sitting room and she excused herself. It was Liv, calling
from Seattle. Astrid spoke to her, then to Tristan, then to her
grandparents, giving them a brief account of her day so far.

She heard Liv’s voice again. “Darling, here’s
somebody else who wants to talk to you.”

“Hi, Astrid.”

A wide smile lit Astrid’s face. “Hi, Ingmar.
What are you doing there?”

“Attending a wizard-slash-Tel-Urugh strategic
meeting. This time we outnumber them. How are ya?”

“Fine.”

“Does that boyfriend of yours treat you
well?”

Astrid was quite sure that out of respect the
rest of the family was tuning out her telephone conversation. The
boyfriend in question apparently didn’t care about privacy issues,
and he didn’t find Ingmar’s inquiry amusing.

“Can’t complain,” Astrid said as Jack
magically appeared behind her and closed his arms around her.

“You find yourself a girlfriend, Ingmar, and
leave mine to me,” Jack said, laughing.

“Except that he’s possessive and
jealous.”

“Well, nobody’s perfect,” Astrid said and
giggled as Jack’s fingers found a ticklish spot on her belly.

She continued talking to Ingmar in Swedish,
his mother tongue.

“You sounded like you were talking
backwards,” Jack said, laughing, when she finished.

“Don’t eavesdrop next time. Ingmar said
hello, by the way. He’s at Liv and Tristan’s. They invited
him.”

“Traitors!” He turned her around. “I want to
see what you’re wearing under this,” he whispered on her lips,
parting them, as his hands disappeared under her sweater and gently
squeezed her breasts.

“That’s not going to make things easier,
Jack,” Astrid whispered back and locked her arms around his neck,
leaning her head against his shoulder for a moment. “Let’s go
back,” she said and towed him toward the dining room.