Midnight Soul (27 page)

Truly, wouldn’t anyone be annoyed by all
this?

“I bid you all good day,” I stated, turned
and began to flounce from the room, and I felt no shame whatsoever
flouncing.

If ever there was a flouncing moment, that
was it.

“We’ll see you at the sled to go for liquid
chocolate,” Kristian called as I continued to do just that.

I made no reply even if I fully intended to
go with them.

I’d spent no time with my nephew at all since
they’d arrived.

But it wasn’t just that.

I had a strict life edict I never broke.

I didn’t turn down chocolate in any form.

Ever.

* * * * *

Valentine

Once bathed, attired and her hair arranged,
Valentine nodded to her maid who left her and then she wasted no
time moving through the house to her sphere resting on its bed of
velvet. She called up a vision of Franka in its depths, ascertained
her location and she spirited herself right there.

Sitting in a chair in her bedchamber,
appearing like she was trying to read the book in front of her but
her mind had wandered, Franka started in her seat as her eyes flew
to Valentine.

“By the gods,” she whispered, “you’re
here.”

“I am,” Valentine replied, smoothly moving to
the chair that was angled opposite Franka in front of the toasty
fire. Without invitation she sat, her eyes never leaving the lovely
woman in the room with her. “I’m pleased to note you’re in a much
better state than when we last saw each other.”

“I’m pleased as well,” Franka replied, having
swiftly gotten over her surprise at Valentine appearing, her regard
was steady as she flipped shut her book with a snap.

“I’ve been informed that they’re taking good
care of you,” Valentine noted.

“You would be correct, as annoying as it’s
been,” Franka returned crisply.

Valentine smiled her small smile.

“Kindness is, of course, kind, even if it’s
often most irritating, that being when it’s intrusive and
unceasing.”

A quickly hidden look of relief flashed
through Franka’s remarkable blue eyes, an indication she felt
soothed to be in the presence of a kindred spirit. This came before
she nodded smartly.

“I’m told you’ve been invited to journey to
my world,” Valentine remarked.

“I have,” Franka confirmed.

“Have you made your decision to come?”
Valentine asked.

“I have not.”

Hmm.

“May I ask why not?” Valentine pressed.

“Because I fully intend to do it, but I also
fully intend not to let on that’s been my decision because everyone
is being so damnably insistent about me doing it. And you can take
that to mean they feel the decision has been made without
me
making it, and I intend to make clear that when the decision is
official, it was
my
decision that was made.”

“I approve of this course of action,”
Valentine murmured and watched Franka lift her chin.

“With respect, I don’t care if you do or
don’t.”

“I approve of that too,” Valentine replied
and at that she watched Franka’s lips twitch. With no ado, she then
announced, “You have magic.”

Franka was not able to hide her response to
that, quickly or otherwise. She stiffened visibly and her
expression went guarded.

“Calm, my sister,” Valentine said softly. “It
is your secret and as your sister, it’s also mine.”

Franka didn’t calm immediately. She studied
Valentine warily and it took her some time before she nodded her
acceptance even if Valentine sensed she didn’t fully give it.

“I have your mother’s magic, as you know,”
Valentine continued.

“Pardon?” Franka asked.

“Your mother’s magic. I have it,” Valentine
explained. “I could absorb it, such as it is. I don’t need it,
though one can never have enough magic. However, I’ve not done
that. I’m waiting on you to tell me what you wish done with
it.”

It took a moment for Franka to answer but
then she did.

“In honesty, as I didn’t know such could
occur, I cannot say what you should do with it except that I want
no part in whatever is done.”

As Valentine suspected, Franka Drakkar held
magic but she did not use it or even understand it.

“You have options,
chérie
,” she began,
deciding to ignore the last of what Franka said. “I could give it
to you, augment the power you have. I sense your power is
significant especially as you inherited it from your mother and
haven’t used it, so it grows inside you in great stores. Your
mother’s was used often, randomly and for ill. It wasn’t meager but
it is no match to yours.”

This was not welcome news, clearly causing
Franka to wonder if she knew how to use her power if she could have
done so to save herself, her brother and her lover from harm.

Franka shared all of this with Valentine by
looking to the fire.

“That wouldn’t have helped,” Valentine told
her sympathetically. “It’s an assumption but I’ve seen others of
little experience make such attempts with much less at stake. They
backfired and made matters far worse. So do not concern yourself
with that, sister. There was nothing you could have done, not for
you, your brother, but most particularly, for your lost lover.”

Franka lifted her chin but said nothing.

Therefore Valentine carried on, “You should
have been trained. It should have been something beautiful,
something precious, time spent together with your mother that you
didn’t look on fondly, you looked on lovingly, remembering the
beauty she shared with you as she taught you to harness and wield
your power. Much like every moment I shared with my mother and my
grandmother when they guided me in how to wield mine.”

Franka turned back to her.

“This, she did not do.”

“I know,” Valentine replied. “But it would be
my honor to do so, sister.”

A flash of interest quickly buried before she
returned, “I want nothing of hers.”

“It’s the only good she’s given you,”
Valentine retorted. “And no woman should eschew any power she holds
rightly, or that she’s earned, or even that she’s wrested from a
defeated foe. Your mother was a waste to this world. But your magic
should not be wasted, and magic is sacred, so what’s left of hers
shouldn’t either.”

“What are the other options for her magic?”
Franka asked.

Although she admired the trait, at this
moment Valentine found Franka’s stubbornness frustrating.

“I could expel it into the earth,” Valentine
answered. “Close to an adela tree, which would assist all of them
across Lunwyn in growing.”

“As the adela were nearly made extinct during
the war, they hold great beauty and provide the same when their
power is used, and they take decades to grow, I think that’s the
better option, don’t you?”

“Although it would hasten growth, it would
not shave decades off, but only perhaps a few months,” Valentine
replied.

“A few months are just that and that’s
something.”

Valentine was not pleased with how this
conversation was going.

It was time to take another course with the
willful witch.

With that in mind, abruptly, she declared,
“In my world, when you are with me there, I not only wish to train
you to use your magic, but I wish for you to join me as I perform
the services I perform for my clients in order to eventually take
on your own.” She leaned closer to her witch-sister. “I can assure
you, the intrigues in which I’m enlisted are often quite
delicious.”

Finally, she’d caught Franka’s attention.

“Indeed?” she asked.

“Indeed,” Valentine said as she sat back. “In
fact, I have some meddling I intend to do. And it would assist me
greatly if I had a partner.”

Franka made no reply, she simply continued
studying Valentine.

“I would like you in my world. I think it
would suit you. I think you’d blossom there. And I hope you’ll also
blossom under my tutelage,” Valentine coaxed.

“That decision has been made, as I’ve
shared,” Franka reminded her. “I’ll be journeying to your
world.”

“It has, I’m talking about your magic and you
absorbing your mother’s.”

Franka started to shake her head but
Valentine spoke again.

“You are aware there are twins of nearly
everyone in both worlds.”

“Yes,” Franka affirmed.

“And Dax Lahn’s twin lives in New
Orleans.”

Valentine was satisfied to see a slight
widening of Franka’s eyes and a definite look of heightened
attentiveness in them.

“As does this world’s Circe, of course,”
Valentine carried on.

“My,” Franka whispered, her sister-witch far
from dim, Valentine had to explain no further.

Instead, she shared, “I’ve paid some
attention to him. I’ve decided they’ll suit.”

It took a moment but after that moment
Franka’s lips curled in a way Valentine found very familiar for
she’d felt that same curve on her own lips many a time.

“My,” she repeated.

“It may take some time, it’s important for
you to be comfortable in your magic, but do you fancy some
meddling?” Valentine invited.

Franka took another moment and this one was
longer.

Valentine waited.

It was worth the wait when she received her
answer.

“Absolutely.”

* * * * *

Franka

“I would like for you to put that down and
come here,” I said to the child.

My nephew looked up at me but did not do as I
said.

Instead, he put what he was holding right in
his mouth.

“I’ll repeat,” I carried on speaking to the
child, “Please put that down and come here.”

Timofei just stared at me.

Then he let out a giggle that made the
precarious purchase of steadiness he had on his own two feet
disappear. He wobbled, fell, and the bangle Josette had given him
to attract his attention from his parents leaving him with me (this
being right before Josette left him completely alone with me) flew
from his hand only to roll on its thin side under a couch.

I sighed.

Timofei adjusted himself so he was on his
nappy-covered bottom, looked where the bangle had disappeared,
looked to me, his face started to crumple, and I knew what was
coming.

Thus I stood swiftly and stated commandingly,
“Do not even consider weeping.”

He blinked up at me.

I bent with only a small pang of pain,
experiencing another one as I picked up the toddler who was barely
a year and a half old but who was also a very big boy (he would
grow straight and tall, like his father, I was certain) and planted
him so one of his legs was hitched on my hip, the rest of him was
wrapped around my belly.

“There will be many times to weep in life,
child,” I declared as if I was a tutor giving a lesson to her
pupil, one that was much older than the one who was staring up at
me with wide eyes that looked like mine, and wet, rosy lips that
were more endearing than I cared to admit. “I can assure you, a
lost bangle is not one of those times.”

He slapped my chest and I decided to take
that as his agreement to my declaration.

“Quite right,” I stated, and moved with him,
instinctively bouncing him on my hip.

I took him to the mantel, pointed at a rather
unattractive, but I knew nearly priceless,
objet d’art
resting there and instructed, “If this were to break, no
weeping.”

For some reason he was smiling up at me now
so I bounced him higher and that produced another giggle.

Odd.

Oh well.

I pointed to his chest and pressed in, saying
in a softer voice, “Now, if this were to break, you should weep.
And don’t let anyone tell you differently. I don’t care if you’re
male. A broken heart deserves tears. In truth, I do believe it’s
the only way to mend it.”

“Think you’re right, sugarlips.”

I jumped at Noc’s teasing voice coming to me
and whirled with my nephew to face the door.

His voice had been teasing.

As he regarded me across the room by the fire
holding my nephew, his face did not say playful.

It said something quite different and I
blocked it before I could come to an understanding of just what it
said.

“Can I assist you with something?” I
queried.

“You comin’ home with me?” he returned my
query with his own.

Dear goddess, I wish he’d cease referring to
it like that.

Home.

With him.

“I’ve not decided yet.”

“Bull,” he decreed.

I looked down to Timofei, “It’s quite coarse
and rude to speak this way, nephew. I know you’re young but it’s
never too early to bear that in mind.”

He looked up at me and bounced himself on my
hip. I took my cue and gave him a hearty spring and he giggled
again.

I found that quite pleasant.

“Babe,” Noc called.

I turned to him and arched my brows.

“I’m also here to tell you they’re ready to
take off for Esmerelda’s.”

“Ah,” I looked down to Timofei. “It’s time
for chocolate.”

He knew few words but I learned he knew that
one for he let out an excited shriek, bounded in my arms
repeatedly, banged my chest with his fist, and once done shrieking,
screeched, “Choc choc!”

“Come on, sweetheart, get your cloak. You’re
riding in my sleigh with me,” Noc said.

I looked to him as I moved to him. “Will you
be vexing me with your attempts to encourage me to go to your world
in said sleigh?”

“Probably.”

“Then I shall ride with my brother,” I told
him as my nephew and I arrived at him in the doorway, a position he
didn’t move from when we did.

“His sleigh is full, baby.”

“Tosh, he can fit me.” I looked again to
Timofei. “Can’t he, nephew?”

“Choc choc!” was his answer.