The Bride of the Immortal (53 page)

“We should take a photo,” Vivian suggested, earning a few reprimanding looks that tried to convey that it wasn’t the right time for a joke like this. Despite his humorous attempt to lighten up the mood, Mairin reckoned that he was the last person to enjoy the irony of the moment.

“Thank you for coming,” Änlin von Kirchberg greeted them. “Alfred? Would you come here, please?”

The butler soon appeared between the statues, slowly following Änlin’s request that Mairin thought had sounded more like an order, rather conveyed by her demeanour than by her choice of words or her loud voice. Wasn’t it right to be frightened by this beautiful and self-confident woman?

“I’m here, Madam,” Alfred announced firmly. Mairin noticed that he had tucked a fairly big piece of folded linen under his arm, perhaps a table cloth or a bed sheet.

“I’ve finished setting up the table for breakfast, Madam.”

“Thank you, Alfred.”

Mairin was wondering why the elderly servant had agreed on taking orders from her.

“Now, before we proceed to the table, let us reveal the purpose of our presence here.”

“That was easier than I thought,” Adrijan mumbled behind her. Vivian chuckled quietly.

Änlin’s face darkened and forced both of them into an awkward silence.

“To do so, we need the hour glass that is in your possession, Vivian,” she continued.

“How about starting with an explanation?” he suggested without trying to hide the hostility in his voice.

“We’ve been scanned for weapons before entering. Don’t you think it’s time to trust us scary women just a little?”

The master of
Mondstein
castle threw a glance at Adrijan. Standing in front of him, Mairin couldn’t see his response but she could hear his sigh as he stepped past her to simply deliver the item to Änlin.

Unbelievingly she wanted to stop him but the longer she thought about it the less she could find a reason for doing so. After all it was a child and slender woman, standing against all of who were gathered here. Adrijan alone was certainly ample to ensure everyone’s safety.

“I don’t want it,” Änlin said. “Give it to Engelin.”

Everyone else seemed to be as confused about this as Mairin was but with Vivian’s consent Adrijan handed the life-giver to the girl.

“Don’t assume you can force her into submitting energy to you,” the master of
Mondstein
castle warned her. “I will not allow it, not even if you’re snow white’s step-mother.”

Änlin von Kirchberg laughed as if his words hadn’t been directed against her.

“Oh, very clever. I’ve always thought that your qualities were limited to your looks, Vivian.”

Vivian shrugged. “Who are you going to use it on?” The question was directed towards Engelin who gazed at them understandingly like a grown up.

“I will use it on Alfred – with your permission of course.”

“I’m not sure-“

“You have used it on him before,” Änlin interrupted him.

“Alfred too?” Mairin asked surprised.

“I haven’t given him much,” Vivian replied grumpily. “Perhaps a decade over the years.”

He sighed.

“Well, if Alfred wants to do it I won’t hinder you. Let me warn you though: Do not give up too much of your life-energy. Just before, you transferred the right dose to take away my fatigue. I cannot tell if this was out of luck or skill, but please be aware that the use of this instrument could prove fatal.”

Vivian shook his head. Perhaps he was considering Engelin’s age when he repeated the gist of what he had said.

“If you transfer too much, you will
die
.”

Engelin nodded. “I know,” she said calmly.

Mairin was searching for the mischievous child within the precocious girl in front of her. Why did she seem so different now? Was it another one of her acts?

“Alfred?”

The girl’s voice invited the servant to join mother and daughter. He handed Änlin the white linen cloth and stepped back to let the two of them proceed. Engelin undressed behind the improvised curtain and Mairin couldn’t help but wonder just how much of life energy the girl was planning to transfer.

Adrijan tensed behind her, most likely ready to jump between them if Änlin should command the girl to give up her life for her mother.

“Well then…” Engelin said, wrapped into the linen fabric. “You can come here now, Alfred.”

“Very well, Miss.”

He positioned himself between Engelin and them and the only way Mairin could see that the transfer had begun was the blue light that had started to spread on Alfred’s skin. She recognised it as the same luminescence that had accompanied the death of Mrs Crouse two eternities ago.

Adrijan observed the process with mixed feelings. Alfred was blocking his view just as much as Änlin. The girl had vanished behind them and he was vigilantly watching that the energy wasn’t relayed to the wrong person.

Part of him was looking forward to seeing Alfred’s much younger version again. The other part screamed at the thought that a child as young as Engelin was giving up her life energy this very moment. Whatever the point was they wanted to prove, he and Vivian would make certain that the girl was going to regain her youth.

At least the fact that Alfred was the receiver was comforting, considering that he as a trusted person was closely overlooking the whole process and that it would take a much larger amount of energy to turn him into an infant, making it therefore more difficult to accomplish without anyone intervening beforehand.

Despite the graveness of the situation he was sidetracked by his longing to touch Mairin. She was standing in front of him, as lovely and irresistible as ever. The night they had spent together still felt as unreal as the first moon-landing.

“Adrijan,” she whispered and reached back to take his hand.

“I’m here,” he answered, forcing himself to focus on the transfer again. Meanwhile Alfred’s ashen hair had darkened and almost unnoticeably grown.

“It’s quite enough now,” Vivian sternly said next to him.

Änlin turned to glare at him. “Soon,” she said. Adrijan guessed that she had to dislike seeing her daughter grow up this fast after all.

A few more seconds passed before the blue glow subsided and Alfred turned around.

“Amazing…” Mairin mumbled, arousing Adrijan’s jealousy. Now he remembered that Alfred had indeed been quite handsome two decades ago. He gently pressed her hand to remind her of his presence and he was relieved when she answered in the same way.

Finally Alfred stepped aside to make room for Änlin who kept the weakened Engelin on her legs.

“It cannot be…” Vivian gasped.

It was as if stone had turned into flesh yet at the same time she recognised the angel that had descended from the skies and started to wander among them. She was as much Engelin as the perfect likeness of the statue, that was still in its usual place. Only the blackness of Engelin’s hair drew a fine line to separate them. Mairin was looking at the young woman in awe.

Vivian, first as stunned as she was, now jumped to her side and took her from her mother’s arms. He embraced her keenly, then put his hands on her cheeks and raised her head to be able to look at her face. Engelin’s legs were shaking but it remained unnoticed by her admirer. The master of
Mondstein
castle was lost, caught in a spell of insanity.

Mairin knew that he would kiss the child who was caught in a woman’s body if she didn’t prevent it.

“Vivian, stop at once! It’s Engelin not-“

“Magdala…” he breathed.

His hands slid down to her shoulders and he drew Engelin close to kiss her.

Mairin shrieked. Why didn’t anyone stop them?

Anxious to separate the man from the girl Mairin tried to get between them but it was Engelin’s hand that weakly stopped her.

“Engelin is dead,” she said.

The child in a woman’s body was smiling.

“Dead?”

“Let’s sit down at the table Alfred has prepared for us and I’ll explain.”

Vivian guided Engelin there without being asked and the rest of them followed. Mairin would have remained where she was if Adrijan hadn’t gently pushed her forward, telling her that it was alright. Reluctantly she chose a seat at the breakfast table and watched Vivian take Engelin to the nearby pillow-bed. Mairin gazed at the white grand piano to her right. Perhaps she was still caught in a dream.

“Engelin was my daughter’s name.”

Again it was Änlin who had started to talk, not the woman who seemed to have lost her identity.

“She died young, soon after her husband, leaving her daughter to me.”

“So you are the beast who sacrificed her,” Vivian gnarled and Mairin thought that if the angel next to him hadn’t put her hand on his, he would have jumped at Änlin’s throat.

“Indeed it was me,” Änlin von Kirchberg admitted smiling bitterly. “It was me who gave Magdala to that man.”

Mairin frowned. “But Magdala is dead,” she remarked, gazing at the young woman on the pillow-bed who was just about to remove the brown contact lenses from her eyes.

Änlin chuckled. “Isn’t she?”

Mairin shrugged. She was tired of the woman’s secretiveness. Adrijan seemed to have had enough of it too.

“Magdala?” It was a question, as well as an attempt to address Engelin’s adult person.

“Yes, Adrijan?” She replied to him, confirming what couldn’t possibly be true.

“Who was the woman you warned me about? Was it her? Are we still in danger?”

Magdala was leaning against Vivian. She had given up two decades and it had left its mark on her.

“I thought she had sold me to that man, that she hated me and that she couldn’t be trusted.” She paused and Vivian caringly confirmed that she was able to continue.

“I’m alright now.”

Magdala comforted him with one of her angelic smiles. There was no trace left of Engelin, the brat. She was a lady through and through.

“To spite her I removed an item that was in her possession. I knew it was important to her. She kept it locked away at all times and when she insisted that I married that man, I decided not to do so without having my revenge.”

Vivian looked worried as she continued.

“At first I tried to destroy it. You see, the hour glass is only part of it. The device as you know it now is very much incomplete.”

Mairin noticed Adrijan’s and Vivian’s surprise. Änlin of course knew about it and Alfred’s handsome face remained – as it was demanded of a servant – expressionless.

“Grandmamma, won’t you let me demonstrate?”

Änlin sighed and handed a sturdy ring to Alfred, who reverentially delivered the item to Magdala.

“Thank you,” Magdala said and held up the ring as well as the hour glass. Mairin noticed that they were out of the same dark, silvery material. The ring was about ten to twelve centimetres in diameter – about the same as the height of the hour glass.

“I was unable to destroy my grandmother’s treasure. Instead the hour glass came lose and being in a hurry as it is common for one acting in secrecy, I decided to take it with me. I put the ring back into its rightful place and hoped that my plan wasn’t going to be discovered until it would be too late.”