The Eye of the Wolf (47 page)

“Now, Victoria, I want you to walk towards the door
of the church. We’ll just head over to the castle and find Inspector Harrison.”
Mikayla gestured slightly for Victoria to start moving. She took careful steps
over Will as she followed Victoria into the darker part of the church. The door
just steps away.

Victoria paused in front of the door. Her hand
rested on the door handle. She breathed shallowly, waiting for Mikayla to be
within striking distance, and flexed her fingers. As Mikayla got closer,
Victoria whirled with an inhuman shriek, nails at the ready. She launched
herself at Mikayla, a blur of blue in the darkness.

The flash of light and resounding boom that
followed filled the cathedral, echoing back and forth even after the Crown
Princess lay crumpled at Mikayla’s feet. A crimson flower blossomed on the
belly of the perfect ice blue satin dress, spreading quickly, soaking the
fabric.

The hand clutched the stone, another part of its
deadly history as the fingers relaxed, allowing the Eye of the Wolf to fill the
darkness, a predator claiming another victim.

His hand was too dark of a contrast against the
white blanket that was tucked in around him. His breathing was shallow but
regular. His heart was slow but there. Lines of pain etched his handsome
features as he fought his way through a nightmare. A nightmare where the good
guys never finished first.

Mikayla traced the lines in his hands, soothing the
clenching fist as it crushed her hand. He whimpered in his sleep and tossed
from side to side, trying to break free of the evil that gripped him. She ran a
cool hand over his feverish brow and murmured words of comfort until he settled
again, his breathing regular, his heartbeat slower.

Through the window, she could see dawn just
breaking over the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Gulls cried and wheeled in
the brilliant blue sky, diving and feasting as the world continued on as it had
for millions of years. The waves were gentle on the rocks below the window; all
seemed peaceful despite the tragedies that had befallen the royal family of
Amor.

Mikayla sighed and crossed the room to the window.
She leaned against the cool glass and watched a solitary runner on the beach
below. He splashed through the waves that rolled onto the sand and moved on,
feeling at peace with a paradise that others would envy when he returned with
stories of kings and queens, murder and mayhem.

She turned her head and looked at the sleeping
figure in the bed. He seemed so small compared to the canopy of navy blue that dwarfed
the bed and the royal seal above his head. A sea of midnight spread out from
his sleeping form as monitors beeped next to him, reassuring through the night
that although he hadn’t opened his eyes, he was still there, still fighting as
he had fought that night, just one week before. His blond hair was a stark
contrast against the blue ocean around him, mussed by sleep, reminding her of
sun-filled ocean breezes and laughter.

Mikayla leaned against the wall and watched him
sleep, wishing the world worked differently. Wishing her chartered flight
wasn’t leaving that afternoon. Wishing he would open his eyes one time before
she exited stage left. She sighed and rubbed a hand across eyes that hadn’t
slept in a week as she had kept a silent vigil beside him, watching, waiting.
Searching for some sign that he would be the same person. Hoping that when he
did awaken, he wouldn’t blame her for the death of his sister.

A slow tear trailed down her cheek as images of
that horrible night filled her memory. Maniacal laughter. The gleam of that
mystical sapphire in the night. The deafening explosion of the pistol in her
hand. The horrifying realization as Victoria slid bonelessly to the floor that
she had pulled the trigger. The wonder that accompanied the knowledge that she
had killed someone.

Mikayla shuddered as she remembered the sickening
smell of ozone in the air and the sound of her own inhuman screams that had
echoed through the cathedral. She had no idea how long she had screamed and
cried, but someone had heard. Someone had come to find her standing over the
body of the dead princess with a gun in her hand. Someone had gently led her
from the scene and hidden her from the onslaught of the press.

Now, the world had returned to its own place. The
press had abandoned Amor like a sinking ship. They would return once the
Dauphin awakened to tell the whole story, but they had their headlines. She
shook her head at the horrible headlines that had graced the covers of the
world’s newspapers within days. “Eye of the Wolf claims more victims.” Pictures
of the royal family had filled all front pages around the world. Pictures of a
princess’s funeral, so soon after her grandfather’s. Pictures of an unconscious
prince who had yet to regain consciousness after numerous blows to the head.
Somehow, her name and managed to stay out of the papers. She didn’t understand.
She didn’t want to.

          Mikayla crossed
the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She ran a gentle hand down the cheek
of the man who lay there, deep in his slumber. She pressed a gentle kiss to his
forehead, inhaling the scent of ocean breezes and summer afternoons as one
gentle tear dropped from her lashes onto his cheek.

          “Je t’aime.” She
whispered softly before rising. Her fingers trailed along his cheek as she crossed
the bed chamber away from the bed and the rising sun to the guard who held the
door for her. As she stepped through the door, she paused and took one last
look at the sleeping prince. “Good-bye, William.”

          Mikayla followed
the guard down the grand staircase, the marble reflecting her stony face.
Silent tears ran down her cheeks, cutting through the faint make-up that dusted
those cheeks. Her heels echoed on the marble as she made her way across the
foyer for the last time. She stepped through the heavy mahogany doors into the
early morning light and breathed in the scents of a tropical paradise. She
smirked slightly at the word paradise knowing that there really was no such
thing as paradise.

          The guard
gestured for her to follow him to the gates outside the Secluded City, to the
limousine that would take her back to the runway where her plane awaited her
return to the real world, a world that had seemed so far away for so many
weeks. She paused at the steps leading to the front gate, remembering a walk
taken down those same steps just one week before. Only then there had been
darkness and a gun pressed against her rib cage. This time there was only
sunlight and the smiling servant.

          Mikayla shook her
head briefly. She gestured for them to wait as she crossed the courtyard and
walked out onto the parapets of the ancient castle. Her feet crunched along the
stone as she moved along the wall. She finally stopped at the guardhouse and
stared into its dark depths. She smiled slightly at the thought of the ancient
ghost stories that said King Henry haunted those depths, seeking revenge on his
killer. She wondered briefly if he ever found that revenge. She turned from the
guardhouse and stared out at the endless blue of the sea. Tiny sailboats winked
in the distance as the rich and famous frolicked in the sun. It was the sound
of gravel crunching that forced her to turn.

The Queen stood beside her, severe in her black
mourning dress. Perfect pearls glowed at her neck. She held her head high,
pride evident even as her grief was written in each feature of her face. Though
her grief was heavy, she was still the Queen. The women stood side-by-side in
silence as the morning grew brighter, watching the never-changing sea.

It was Mikayla who broke the silence. “Good morning,
Your Majesty.” Her voice was soft; it had lost its authority that it once had
held when she had been just a professor. It was now the voice of someone lost
and alone.

Queen Elizabeth smiled slightly and fingered the
pearls around her neck as its twin slid down her wrist. Her eyes never left the
waves of the ocean. “Mikayla, you know you can call me Elizabeth. I think our
circumstance warrants it.”

Mikayla smiled slightly and turned back to the sea.
“I apologize, Elizabeth.” There was a lengthy silent pause, both lost in their
own thoughts. “I didn’t expect to see you this morning before I left. I thought
you would be with Will.”

Elizabeth nodded slightly. “I checked in on him
earlier. He is resting comfortably still, but you know that since you stayed
beside him all night.” She raised a perfectly groomed eye brow in Mikayla’s
direction. When the other woman didn’t respond, Elizabeth merely turned her
attention back to the ocean. “I feel I owe you an apology.”

Mikayla turned her body slightly and stared up at
the older woman. Her eyes old despite the agelessness of her features. She said
nothing, simply waited for the Queen to continue.

“Mikayla, there were many things that occurred here
that involved you that should have never involved you.” She gestured to
Mikayla’s sling that held her wounded arm close to her body. “I feel you
deserve to know the truth, even if it won’t change your mind about leaving.”

Mikayla shook her head and began to walk away.
“Your Majesty, I would prefer to not know what was going on. I would prefer to
think of it as some horrific experience, but that there isn’t some sort of
explanation.”

“Mikayla, please, before you leave, let me tell you
about the Wolf. Let me tell you about a world where women are the forgotten
ones.” Elizabeth laid a perfectly manicured hand on the arm of the other woman.
Her eyes pleaded for one moment to explain those things that she hadn’t been
able to say before.

Mikayla sighed and nodded. She leaned against the
stone wall of the parapet and stared up at the windows of the Secluded City.
Her thoughts hidden even as her heart ached.

“I loved my son, Jonathan. Now, don’t get me wrong,
a mother loves all of her children, but the first…” Elizabeth sighed. “A
mother’s love for her first child is different somehow from the love for the
later children.” She twisted the pearls around her fingers. “When Jonathan was
killed, I had to have someone to blame and William was the best choice. He was
responsible because he took them out on that fool boat of his.” She smiled
slightly at Mikayla. “I know that that was wrong, but I was heart-broken when
Jonathan died. The sight of William, who looked so much like his brother, was
more than I could bear. I told him to leave and to not return.”

Mikayla’s eyes remained cool as she stared at the
mother of the man she loved, confessing her worst sin was not loving her son.
She wondered how a parent could be so cold as to prefer one child over another
and to act on that preference. “I can’t offer you penance, Elizabeth. You’ll
need to see a priest for that.”

Elizabeth nodded her head and turned back to the
ocean. Her eyes focused on something on the horizon, a son that Mikayla
couldn’t see. “I made my peace with my choice a long time ago. It was a
mistake, but it was a mistake I made. If that was the only mistake I made as a
parent, than I would be fortunate. However, I made one other mistake.” She
fingered the pearls and held Mikayla’s stare. “I created my daughter.”

Mikayla’s forehead screwed up in confusion. “I
don’t understand what you mean.”

Elizabeth laughed slightly. “No, I don’t suppose
you would. There were many things going on here behind the scenes that you
couldn’t possibly have known about.” She turned from the ocean and began to
walk along the parapet towards the Secluded City. Mikayla trailed in her wake,
listening to the anguish in the older woman’s words. “Jonathan had a strong
drive to find the Eye. I encouraged, even helped him. It was something we did
together, mother and son. After Jonathan died, I was so desperate for him that
I took up his hunt for the Eye of the Wolf where he had left off. I retraced
the steps of the children. I even dug up the same cellar floor that they had
dug up. I thought that if I found the Eye of the Wolf I would have Jonathan
back with me, at least a piece of him. Victoria was so desperate for love at
that point. Her father and I were mourning Jonathan, and William had been sent
back to England with the directions to remain there until we recalled him.” She
glanced at Mikayla as they walked into the courtyard. “It’s surprising that it
would be twelve years before I would call for him.”

She seated herself on the edge of a stone bench
amidst flowers in vibrant colors. The scents created a heady mixture that made
Mikayla’s head swim as she sat beside the Queen.

“Victoria was so desperate for my love that I
believe she began to search, innocently at first, and then later with greed in
her heart for the Eye of Wolf. As time passed, my wounds healed somewhat and I
gave up looking, but Victoria continued. She enlisted the help of Antonio and
Monsieur Dejeune to help her with the hunt. She hired you to keep the rest of
us off the scent.” Elizabeth patted Mikayla’s leg gently before continuing with
her narrative.

“Victoria was educated here on the island by a
master teacher. He was very knowledgeable about the history of Amor and from
him, she learned a great many things that, I suppose, a princess shouldn’t
know. She continued her hunt for the stone and her greed grew. She knew that
once her grandfather and her father passed away, William would become king. She
also knew that my anger with him had faded. I was considering recalling him
from England. She wanted to be queen. She wanted to rule. Perhaps she believed
the only way to do that was to find the stone that her brother had sought so
desperately.” Elizabeth’s delicate shoulders rose in a shrug of confusion and
misunderstanding.

“I knew there was something going on. Servants
talk. There were rumors of the Wolf’s spirit haunting the parapets. I’ve known
those ghost tales since I first met Andrew and he brought me to Amor, but there
was more to the tales. Stories of fires buring and voices talking. People,
long-time servants began disappearing. Victoria seemed obsessed with finding
the Eye of the Wolf. I feared something sinister was afoot. It was then that I
called William and asked him to come home.” She plucked a blossom from a nearby
bush and twirled it absently through her fingers. “I needed his help. I was
afraid of my daughter, of what I might have made her. I needed to stop her
before anything more happened. I told him to get close to the historian. I
never guessed how close that would be.” She smiled slightly even as she began
to cry.