King 03 - Restless (13 page)

Hey, Tas. Rough day. I don’t really know what else to say. If I start talking, I’m going to say more than I should. So I’ll just say… I love you, still. Call me.

Rafe lived with his grandparents in the oldest section of King, among the largest homes in town. I’d been there twice, and I had a vague idea of how to find the house. I knew it wasn’t far from Lake Rosu. Once I was in the right neighborhood, I cruised the streets slowly until I recognized the stately home, perched slightly above the others around it. 

Rafe’s car was at the top of the driveway, so I assumed he was home. It was almost dinnertime, and I remembered his threat to drive to my house if I didn’t call to report. Maybe dinner was served later at the Brooks home. 

Before I could lose a good grip on my mad, I pulled my car up next to his and strode toward the huge front door. Heavily carved, it was obviously very old, though it had been carefully maintained through the years. I knocked as hard as I could.

And waited. I didn’t hear anything from within, which I decided didn’t really tell me anything; the thickness of the door would have kept all noises within. I saw the button for the doorbell, hidden discreetly within a side panel. I hesitated only a moment before pressing it.

This time I wasn’t kept waiting. The door swung open silently, and a woman in an understated gray dress stood in front of me. Her guardedly pleasant expression didn’t change, but I knew her eyes were moving discreetly over me.

“May I help you?” Her tone of voice, as careful as her expression, and her relative youth confirmed to me that this was not Rafe’s grandmother; her thoughts backed this up as well. A housekeeper, maybe? Did people still have those? 

“I’m a friend of Rafe’s. Is he home?” Normally I might have been somewhat cowed by this woman, but today, I was angry enough at Rafe that I was barely hanging onto courtesy.

Her eyes widened in a combination of surprise and recognition. “You must be Tasmyn. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were expected. Please, come in.”

That she knew my name surprised me, and I stepped into the huge foyer without noticing much. As the lady in gray closed the door behind me, I hastened to correct her.

“I’m not really expected. I mean, I just stopped by to see Rafe on my way home. If it isn’t a good time…” What if they were in the middle of dinner? I might be mad at Rafe, but I didn’t want to be rude to his grandparents, who might be perfectly lovely people.

The woman-who-might-be-the-housekeeper smiled at me, and I could suddenly hear her more clearly. She did work for the Brooks, but she was also a distant family member. And Rafe had told her about me… actually, he had told her quite a bit about me. My mouth fell open slightly as I looked at her more closely.

“It’s a perfectly good time, Tasmyn. I’ll just let Rafe know you’re here.” She turned toward the sweeping staircase, but she didn’t climb the steps. Instead she stood quite still with one hand on the wooden newel post. Before I could figure out what she was doing, Rafe appeared at the top of the stairs. 

“Tasmyn!” He sprinted down the steps to meet me, taking both of my hands in his. “Are you okay?” 

I wasn’t okay. I was mystified and more than a little thrown off. But before I could answer him, Rafe began laughing.

“Oh. So Lucie was showing off for you, huh?”

“Lucie?” I managed to find my voice.

“Yeah. Tasmyn, this is my cousin, Lucie. She works for my grandparents, you know, kind of social secretary, housekeeper, whatever. And she’s pretty much your opposite.”

Lucie laughed. “Rafe, that’s a terrible way to put it.”

I looked at the two of them, realization dawning on me. “So Lucie, you can… communicate without talking?”

“Yes. I can speak telepathically. Unfortunately, I can’t hear what people are thinking, though. Caroline—Rafe’s grandmother—thinks my branch of the family had that power once, but I guess they lost it over the generations. I work to make sure that doesn’t happen to me.”

I nodded. “I’ve wished more than once that I had your talent. One way communication can be pretty frustrating.”

“Yes! People don’t get that. I’m so glad to finally meet you, Tasmyn, and I hope we can get to know each other better.” She glanced at Rafe, and even if she couldn’t hear what he was thinking, it was obvious from his expression. She smiled again and backed away from us.

“I’ll leave you two alone. Nice to meet you…” Lucie’s voice trailed off as she disappeared down a hallway. A few seconds later I heard a door close.

Rafe was still holding my hands, and I pulled them free. “That wasn’t very nice, what you were thinking.” 

He laughed. “So it’s a good thing Lucie can’t hear my thoughts. That was for you alone.”

I fisted my hands on my hips and pinned him with what I hoped was a steely glare. “I’m not here for fun and games, Rafe.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, it seemed too much to hope that you just came by to see me. You know, maybe you missed me and decided to report in person? Come on, let’s go into the sitting room. No one will bother us there.”

As I followed him into the pretty room, I remembered walking through it last year, when Rafe had led me outside to see the garden decorated for some fancy charity party. It was just as welcoming and comfortable today, although the light coming through the wall of glass doors was dimmer. It was nearly sunset.

Rafe flopped into a big overstuffed chair and grinned up at me. “I guess if I invited you to sit here with me, you’d turn me down.”

I perched on the edge of a loveseat that was across the coffee table from Rafe’s seat. “You’d be right. I told you, I’m not here for—for that. I’m mad at you, Rafe. Really, truly angry. And hurt.”

For the first time since I’d gotten there, Rafe lost his glad vibe and frowned. “Why? What did I do? I thought we straightened out everything this afternoon.”

“Yeah, so did I. But then I found out—” I drew in a deep breath. “Rafe, how could you do that to me? You promised me you’d never use your mind power on me, not again.” I was getting really upset, and I became aware that the silver urn on the coffee table was shaking slightly.

“Whoa. Hold on there. What are you talking about?” Rafe was either honestly bewildered or he was playing a very good game. He wasn’t blocking me, and I could hear and feel his confusion, which only added to my frustration.

“I know what you did. This weekend, I mean. You—messed with my mind somehow, so I would be more… more open to you. To what you wanted to do. What you wanted
me
to do.”

Now there was no disguising the anger rolling off Rafe. His eyes glittered, and he jumped to his feet and came to stand over me.

“That’s a lie. I don’t know where you came up with this, but—oh.” Realization suddenly swept over him and I could hear him connecting the dots.

He leaned over me, one hand on the arm of the loveseat and the other on the back of it. I was trapped in that space beneath him, and I shrank back into the cushions.

“It was her, wasn’t it? The witch. She fed you this bunch of lies.” His face was so close to mine, and my heart was pounding. I could hardly breathe. I wasn’t sure if it was out of fear… or something else.

Abruptly Rafe straightened up and wheeled away from me. I felt his seething anger, mostly aimed at Marica. But he was upset at me, too. When he spoke, it was through clenched teeth.

“You’re right. I did promise. And I keep my promises.” He turned again and pinned me with those blue eyes. “Tasmyn, you may doubt my ethics because I use the powers I have, but I don’t lie. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep. I never did anything to you, not since that day last fall.” 

I was confused. It had been so easy to believe Marica, to vindicate myself at Rafe’s expense. I dropped my head into my hands and tried to make sense of everything.

A moment later, I felt Rafe’s hand on the back of my neck. There was a dip in the cushion, and I knew that he was sitting next to me. He sighed heavily.

“Tas… I’m sorry. Tell me about it. Tell me what she said. Let’s talk about it calmly.”

I leaned back against the loveseat, and Rafe slid his arm around my shoulders. He brushed the hair away from my face, and I felt a surge of tenderness replace his earlier rage.

“I went over to Marica’s house this afternoon, you know, like we talked about. When I got there, she was… kind of weird.” At Rafe’s snort of derision, I shook my head. “No, I know what you’re thinking—I mean, I really do know what you just thought—but it was more than that. She was all suspicious, and then she asked me what I had done this weekend. And I told her I’d had a date. She knew I’d been with you. She said…” I closed my eyes even as I felt the heat rise to my face. “She said I reeked of you.”

Rafe brushed his fingers lightly over my cheeks. “There’s worse things to reek of, I guess. I can think of a few.”

“And then she told me I was naive and that you had used your power to make me more receptive to you, that you had manipulated my mind. She said she could see the traces of it still on me. And… and it sounded logical. I can’t hear her, you know, unless she wants me to. But she said it would explain why I would do something so out of character for me.”

Rafe blew out a long breath. “Yeah, I can see now how you could buy that. It made it all much easier, didn’t it? Us, I mean. It would let you off the hook if I had messed with your mind, made you want to… to kiss me. To touch me.”

“You block me sometimes, too. Like she did. I know you do. I know you can. You only let me hear you when you want me to. So… yeah, it was pretty easy to accept what she was saying. It seemed pretty rational at the time.” I swallowed hard against tears that threatened. “I’m sorry, Rafe. Really. I shouldn’t have come storming over here, ready to attack you. You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you, not since last fall. Can you forgive me?”

Rafe’s mouth twisted into that half smile that was so familiar to me. “I don’t know. Is this going to happen again, the next time you go for a play session with the witch? Or will you finally accept that she’s a danger to you and quit messing with her?”

My eyes slid away from Rafe’s. “I can’t stop, Rafe, not yet. I’m learning so much. But I’ll be more careful. I promise.”

Rafe touched my chin to turn my face back toward his. “I get that. At least I’m trying to understand.” He ran a finger down my nose and traced my lips. “Can I kiss you right now? Just to prove a point, if nothing else?”

I frowned slightly. “What point are you trying to prove?”

“I’ll open my mind completely to you. If I were doing something, you’d hear it. Look at this as a test. If it feels the same, you’ll know you can trust me.”

“Rafe,” I protested. “I already said I believe you. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

His smile this time was the sweet and open one he saved for me. “Humor me.” And with that, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. 

He was tentative at first, gentle, and then, when my arms came up to circle his shoulders, he deepened it, coaxing my mouth open as he slid his hands down to my shoulders. 

I could hear his mind the entire time, echoing the words he had said to me earlier.
Trust me, Tasmyn. I promise I won’t hurt you. This is right. Can’t you feel how right it is?

And then across the soft murmur of his thoughts cut a louder mind voice.
Rafe, your grandmother is on her way to the sitting room!

We both jumped, startled, and Rafe began to laugh. 

“Lucie,” he said softly. “I can always count on her for a heads-up.”

I struggled to sit up, to smooth my hair back away from my face and look respectable. Rafe only laughed harder and to my utter dismay, pulled me onto his lap.

“What are you doing?” I whispered furiously. “Your grandmother! What will she think?” 

Rafe shook his head at me, still amused. “You haven’t met my grandmother. She already knows exactly what we’ve been doing and why you’re here. So we may as well not try to hide anything.”

I heard the sharp clicking of heels on the wooden floor outside the sitting room and then a tall woman with beautiful white hair appeared in the doorway. 

It was apparent that Rafe had gotten at least some of his height from Caroline Brooks, but what struck me even more than that were her piercing blue eyes, so like her grandson’s. Her face was smooth and unlined, lovely. She was lithe and trim, and the deep blue cotton skirt she wore showed off a pair of legs that were still in excellent shape. 

She smiled at us, although I sensed reserve in her manner, and she was quite pointedly blocking me from hearing her thoughts.

“Rafe, why didn’t you tell me we had company?”

I squirmed from Rafe’s lap and jumped to my feet, smoothing damp hands over my jean capris. I suddenly felt very underdressed.

Rafe was still laughing at me, but he managed to get to his feet and take my hand. “Gram, as you already know, this is Tasmyn Vaughn. Tas, my grandmother, Caroline Brooks. Now Gram, will you stop giving her the deep freeze? You’re freaking her out.”

To my amazement, Caroline broke into a laugh not unlike Rafe’s. She shook her head. “Rafe, you’re incorrigible. You know, some sense of decorum wouldn’t hurt anybody.” She turned to me and extended a hand. “Tasmyn, dear, I’m so happy to meet you at last. Rafe’s been talking about you since—well, I think since the first day of school. And you are every bit as lovely as he said.”

I felt Rafe’s pride as he squeezed my hand, and my sense of discomfort ratcheted up a few notches. So it appeared that Grandmother Brooks wasn’t going to freeze me out, but on the other hand, she seemed to have some misconception about the relationship between Rafe and me.

As I struggled with how to set her straight, though, it occurred to me that I wasn’t even sure what was between Rafe and me at this point; I was hardly qualified to explain it to his grandmother.

“Tasmyn, Rafe seems to have forgotten his manners in his—preoccupation with you. Won’t you join us for dinner? We’re sitting down in about thirty minutes.”

“Oh—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stop by at dinnertime. I didn’t intend to stay this long. I’ll just be going—”