Endless Magic (30 page)

Deven Joel, a lifelong bachelor and avid hunter bonded with Kiran as soon as dinner began. They seemed to be identical on every opinion, except the desire to get married, which I understood to be a little out of the ordinary for one of Lucan's diplomats. The other Regent, also unmarried, was not nearly as easy to be around. Immediately I disliked him, simply for the fact that Lucan promoted him as Amory's replacement, the North American Regent. Dmitri Terletov could not even claim American or Canadian citizenship. But I supposed Amory couldn't at one point either, although Lucan could hardly have sent him to be the Regent of the Roman Empire.

I thought it strange though that Dmitri now governed North America after spending his entire life alternating between the Baltic countries. Lucan's usual protocol called for his dignitaries to be sent back to their home countries, or near their home countries, at least in the same region. I pushed my nerves aside though remembering that Jericho's dad held the South American Regency and they were American. So maybe it didn't matter.

I decided to ignore the quiet man with his thin mustache and thick, dark hair that curled just at the ends. Well-built and not bad looking, something about his calm presence and the way his pale blue eyes leered over his wine at me sent the hairs on the back of my neck standing up and hot flashes of warning surging through my blood.

I leaned into Kiran, instinctively, hiding behind him to avoid Dmitri’s probing eyes. I didn't want to alert Kiran over nothing, so I brushed the hair behind his ear so that he turned toward me. He looked down at me, distracted by my touch and our eyes found each other. He lost track of his story, mid-sentence and then exhaled unstably instead of delivering his punch line. I batted my lashes, smiled from true embarrassment and played the part of blushing bride to perfection.

“You were saying?” Deven prompted, anxious to hear the end of Kiran's hunting story.

“What was I saying?” Kiran asked, laughing off his bad manners.

“You are quite the charming couple,” Dmitri commented from across the table. The large formal dining table had been replaced with a more intimate mahogany rectangular one. Kiran and I sat side by side with his mother occupying the end of the table and Deven to her right. Sebastian sat in between Deven and Dmitri, Amelia sat directly to my left, while Lucan watched us all from the head of the table. “It's rare love this strong is found in some so young,” he finished, raising his wine glass to us in acknowledgment.

Kiran looked down at me with an “I told you so” expression and I forced my lips into an adoring smile in return although I bristled with the insinuation that we were actually in love.

“We're very lucky to have found each other,” Kiran never took his eyes from mine and his face softened from self-righteousness to endearing, although fake, sincerity.

“Or at least you are lucky to have found her,” Dmitri joked, and the table laughed in unison.

“Very true,” Kiran consented, putting a protective arm around me and rubbing my shoulder blade.

“Will you return to Kingsley for your schooling?” Dmitri asked casually. I realized, somewhat in alarm, that if we did, he would be very involved in our lives.

“No, father has graciously brought school to us. We will remain here for the rest of our education,” Kiran explained.

“That
is
gracious, Your Majesty,” Dmitri addressed Lucan humbly and received a benevolent nod in return.

“With the wedding quickly approaching and so much to be done, it only made sense,” Lucan admitted, conveniently leaving out the fact there was no way in hell he would ever let me that far out of his sight.

“Besides,” Analisa spoke up, turning to her son with loving eyes that glistened with the threat of tears, “it's hard to imagine that soon our only son will be married and off on his own adventure.”

Kiran reached across the table and laid a comforting hand on his mother's, reassuring with silent affection.

“What is it that they say?” Deven asked facetiously. “You are not losing a son, but gaining a daughter.” And then he smiled at us as if this family would actually see the idea of me joining their family as a blessing.

“That we are,” Lucan agreed, his smile turning up in shadows of sinister evil.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, tipping my chin down, pretending to be embarrassed rather than near laughter at Lucan's admission.

“And her magic,” Dmitri turned his eyes back to mine with an intense expression of some secret knowledge that I was starting to believe was not all that secret. “Kiran will also gain her magic, which I understand is quite unprecedented.”

I saw Lucan squirm just the slightest, with his hand fidgeting nervously on the bottom of his wine glass and for a moment, I gloated watching him be so uncomfortable. But then my eyes flickered to Dmitri's menacing glare and I quickly lost any thoughts of misplaced pride.

“She is extraordinary,” Kiran sighed, pressing his hand firmer against my back. “Although, I must confess that I fell in love with her long before I knew what she could do. She bewitched me the moment I laid eyes on her.”

“And was it the same for you?” Deven asked of me.

I opened my mouth to answer, remembering for a moment how Kiran's eyes transfixed me in the middle of the Administration building. How he held my gaze and my electricity instantly burst to life before we even knew each other’s names. And while I paused, Kiran answered first, “Absolutely not! She made me work harder for her than anything else I have ever had to work for in my entire life. She drove me half mad, trying to get her attention and win her affection. But some things, or at least one thing in this life, are worth risking everything for.”

A shiver tingled down my spine as I had the ominous feeling Kiran wasn't talking about our past anymore. Feeling me bristle, Kiran's hand slid from my back to my side and he pulled me toward him to gently kiss me on the cheek and then released me from under the protection of his arm.

“But weren't you betrothed to Van Curen's daughter at the time?” Dmitri inquired. I wondered if anyone else felt as nervous with his inspection of my past.

“Yes, we were betrothed, but we hardly knew each other. It was arranged,” Kiran snapped defensively.

“Isn't Van Curen taking over the headmaster position at Kingsley?” added Deven, sensing the dangerous territory we were headed into, diverted conversation.

“Yes, he is,” Lucan agreed. I flinched at the idea of Seraphina's father occupying the same office as Amory. “He's had his eye on the job for quite a while, but we're all acutely aware of how long it took that old man to step down.” My eyes found a knot in the table to concentrate fully on, while Lucan and Dmitri laughed at the joke and the rest of us fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Speaking of Amory,” Deven spoke up bravely. I lifted my eyes from the table and noticed his hand trembling slightly as he clutched his napkin to quell his fears. “I don't remember hearing of a memorial service for him.”

“There was not a memorial service for him,” Lucan snarled, looking over his Regent with new found contempt.

“Oh? Then where was he buried? I don't remember his death ever announced formally, but Southeast Asia is desperate to pay their respects,” Deven explained carefully, his courage building with every word and his head bobbing methodically with each syllable.

I smiled at him, this man with wire-rim glasses, and felt a surprising kinship. He obviously respected my grandfather enough to brave incurring Lucan's wrath. His desire to honor Amory's death touched me.

Since the night on the farm when my grandfather died, not one person asked me what I did with his body. Not one person even asked me to take them to him. Immortals were obviously upset over his death, and they murmured words of encouragement to me; some had even felt his pain enough to cry with me or hold me while I lost my senses in grief. But, only one other person besides Deven, had worried enough about Amory’s body to do anything about it. And that was Angelica, after I healed her from near death with the blue smoke. When she felt strong enough, she showed me a place in a snow covered field at the back of her property where he could be laid to rest. The ground was frozen solid and the wind had whipped across our faces as we used our magic to not only move Amory's forever-sleeping body, but upturn the ground in which we placed him carefully down into.

No marker announced his presence, and with every piece of dirt and snow replaced from where I removed it from, I wasn't even sure if I could find the precise place where I buried him. But together, alone in that wintry field, we honored Amory's memory and paid tribute to the greatest Immortal that ever lived. That was his memorial service. That was the formal announcement of his death.

I opened my mouth to say something to Deven, to explain what happened, how Lucan murdered Amory in front of me. I wanted to tell him that the evil king left my grandfather's cold, empty body in the wake of his destruction as he reveled in the last Oracle's stolen magic and kidnapped my brother and everyone that I held dear. Kiran's strong arm fell across my shoulders gently and pulled me into a side hug in an effort to comfort me. His touch stopped me from lashing out angrily, and brought me back to my senses. He surprised me with his gentle protectiveness. His hand curled around my shoulder wanting to shield me from the pain he instinctively knew pounded against my heart.

Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

“I'm glad you brought this up, Deven,” Lucan lied with an air of benevolent patience. “The circumstances of Amory's death are still lacking precise details and until my investigation is concluded I hesitate to bring what little exact evidence I do have before our people. However, my intention is to hold a memorial service for him during the Winter Solstice. I thought about the All Saint’s Festival approaching, but I think Amory deserves time where only he is honored. There, the entire kingdom can pay tribute to his memory and life.”

I nearly choked on the bile that rose quickly in my throat. I sat back heavily in my chair, knocking Kiran's arm off my shoulder, and bumping the table with my knee, clattering wine glasses and delicate china. A memorial service for my grandfather? For the same man that Lucan murdered in cold blood without remorse?

How dare he.

“Eden, is everything all right?” Dmitri asked from across the table, where I got the feeling he had been waiting for a reaction from me. “You look as pale as a ghost.”

As the ghost of my dead grandfather?
I tried to respond verbally to him, but if I opened my eyes the floodgate I struggled to keep in place over my tears would be ripped open and I knew I would not be able to stop the torrent of tears that spilled out. I nodded instead, indicating that everything was fine and held up my hand to wave it off, but instead I held it awkwardly midair, asking Dmitri to stop.

“Eden was very close to Amory,” Kiran explained, trying to cover my emotional response. “Amory pulled her out of the human world and brought her into our society. He recognized her ability and knew she belonged with us. He was a mentor to her.”

“Almost like a grandfather,” I spat, finding my voice in the anger that washed over me. If Lucan really expected me to play pretend about my grandfather too, like it wasn't obvious who my mother was, he had a different thing coming.

“He was your grandfather, wasn't he?” Dmitri asked pointedly and I was both unnerved by his brazenness and in awe of the defiant way he flaunted it at the same time.

“Yes, he was,” Lucan agreed, not looking at all pleased. Although, when one dissected the inflection of his voice, he made it seem like he deeply cared about me and sounded worried because I seemed upset. “Although, unfortunately, Eden didn't find that out until after he died. I think Eden is so upset because she was robbed of what could have been a very special relationship for them both.”

“Robbed?” I choked, narrowing my eyes at Lucan and daring him to defy me. “Oh, I think it was something much worse than that.”

“Eden, if you're too upset, I would be happy to walk you to our room,” Kiran whispered into my ear, warning me not to go too far.

I stretched my neck away from Kiran, not wanting to heed his warning. In fact, I wanted to do anything besides listen to his careful words that would keep me out of trouble. Across the table Sebastian smiled gently at me, his eyes nervous and intense. Amelia patted my knee from under the table and I breathed slowly, finding restraint, praying for undeserved grace to offer Lucan.

The servants came to clear dessert from the table and their interruption allowed some necessary moments for me to find my composure. By the time the conversation could appropriately resume I teetered on a very precarious precipice between blind rage and careful calm.

I leaned into Kiran, releasing the magic I habitually kept restrained from his and prayed he could quiet my nerves and slow the frantic pulsing of electricity in my veins. I lifted my face to his and kissed the hard line of his jaw, desperate for the touch of his skin that could take away the raw inhumanity of it all.

Lucan looked on with deranged amusement. I avoided his eyes, his cocky stare and his violent, ugly magic with every ounce of strength I possessed. I even pulled from Avalon who sat in the back of my mind incensed with strangling vengeance.

I avoided Dmitri too, whose expression had turned into something like ravished hunger. I lived in the most dangerous scenario of my life; I
lived
in it. Day in and day out. My life and the life of others were at risk, and still Dmitri caused a chill in my blood that turned my electricity to ice and stopped my heart from beating in a regular rhythm. I felt convinced that he and Lucan were cut from the same evil, tyrannical, dangerous cloth.

“Eden, you are quite full of surprises, I think,” Dmitri broke the silence, his eyes never moving from me. “One never knows what quite to expect with you.”