“Go right ahead,” Zelda encouraged. “I'm hungry.”
“I get the distinct feeling,” he stood next to Alanna's sculpture, “none of you are here to help me celebrate my freedom.”
“We're here to ensure Alanna is safe. Where is she?” Beth walked towards the bedroom door, which he'd pulled closed to give Alanna privacy and prevent her from being disturbed, even though his spell would ensure she would not wake for some time.
“She's asleep.” Gregori said. “I'm about to go hunting and Rosa is going to look after the Gallery for the day.”
Rosa frowned and glanced towards Aden as if he might know the answer. “What exactly are you looking for?”
Zelda butted in. “I for one have no interest in what you're hunting. I just want to know Alanna is safe.” She twisted the bedroom door handle and the door swung open.
Everyone crowded behind her to look in. Beth laughed softly. “It's Sleeping Beauty.”
“Where's her prince?” Goran joked.
“I'm up for it,” Gregori grinned. “She's definitely a beauty.”
They observed the soft rise and fall of Alanna's chest. All but Beth could see the sleep enchantment floating about her. Gregori put a finger to his lips and signaled for Zelda to close the door although he liked the analogy of Sleeping Beauty. He also liked the idea of wakening her with a kiss.
“She was up all night,” he explained before being bombarded with questions on why he'd cast a spell to make her sleep. He signaled to the sculpture. “Working on that.”
They all looked towards the large piece of stone. Beth clapped her hands, pleased beyond words.
“She's sculpting again,” Rosa smiled. “That's wonderful news.”
“Who do you suppose it's going to be,” Beth circled the plinth. “It's definitely a bust, but the features are not defined enough for me to fathom who it might be.”
Zelda, though, had guessed. Gregori witnessed the recognition flare in her eyes. He took a more discerning look at the stone but couldn't glean anything other than it was a male.
“I don't know why you had to use an enchantment on her.” Rosa wasn't so easily diverted. “She often works through the night.”
“My arrival yesterday, the fact she worked through the night and was so exhausted this morning prompted me to craft the spell. She's going to be incensed when she wakes, but at least her aura and energy will be refreshed.”
Gregori was irked they didn't trust him. “I hope you're not all planning to appear every morning en masse to ensure I've not done anything dastardly to Alanna.” He was highly affronted and more than a little exasperated. “I can be trusted.”
Zelda zapped eyes of distrust at him. “I don't trust warlocks.”
“Well, I don't trust sorceresses!”
“Warlocks' Oath,” Aden protested. “Calm down everyone. Alanna is safe. You can all go home. Rosa will warn us if Alanna needs help.” He spoke to Gregori. “I can help you hunt. As can Goran.”
Zelda's lips tightened into a thin line. Beth
and
Alanna were intrigued.
“Everyone knows what Gregori is hunting except us,” Beth stated.
Rosa queried Aden. “What aren't you telling us?”
Aden indicated Zelda. “Ask her.”
In unison, Rosa and Beth turned to Zelda and chimed, “Well?
If looks could kill, then Zelda's furious glance his way would have done the trick. “It is not for you to know. Not yet.”
“Aden,” Rosa fixed her eyes on her husband. “Are you keeping secrets from me?”
“It's not my secret to reveal.” His voice filled with genuine regret. “I would tell you if I could.”
Gregori interjected before the conversation grew ugly. “Rosa. Aden will explain when I give him permission to. Not before. Go all of you. I have work to do. Aden, continue your search in the magical world. Goran, search Raven's Creek and ensure everyone's safety here, I will hunt elsewhere.”
What he deliberately neglected to reveal was he already knew where to hunt. With a wave of his hand he disappeared, leaving everyone standing in the studio, objections still forming on their lips.
⢠⢠â¢
Before following Gregori's instructions, Goran, Aden, and Zelda met at Lavender Cottage. Goran strode backwards and forwards across the polished floorboards of the lounge. Zelda sat primly in a chair, her hands crossed and resting in her lap, her lips pursed so tight you'd think she'd sucked a lemon.
“We must tell them,” Goran insisted.
“We must not.”
“They need to be able to protect themselves from Gregori.”
“He didn't do it.”
Aden emerged from the shadows. “Why? What do you know that we don't?”
Zelda spared him the briefest of glances. “I know nothing more than you. I simply believe Gregori is innocent of the crime he is accused of.”
Goran looked to Aden, a brief silent communication between them. The old woman was not telling them everything. Goran dared her to lie to him. “You're so sure about this.”
But the sorceress was crafty. She knew how to evade difficult questions. “It goes against everything I know about his character.”
Aden nodded. “Still. I can't keep it from Rosa. She may be new to Marylebone but she will find out somehow and then there will be real trouble. I'm barely bound to her a few weeks. This is going to cause a rift between us if we leave it much longer. As it stands, it's not going to be pleasant.”
“Tell her,” Goran suggested. “She's more resilient than you give her credit for.”
Aden wasn't so sure. “She carried the responsibility of her family for far too long. This is something that must be shared by all three sisters. At the same time.”
“No.” Zelda said. “Now is not the time.”
“How do you know what time is right?”
“Give us a really good reason why not,” Goran added. “I agree with Aden. Secrets only breed misunderstandings and grief!”
“I will not have them hurt,” Zelda shot from her chair so fast both men immediately created bubbles of protection about themselves. She might appear old, but she was the chosen leader of all the magic realms across earth. She didn't get there by accident. They were right to be wary of her.
“You're too close to them,” Aden insisted. “You're not thinking this through logically.”
The old woman turned on them, a fierceness to her stance that had them both immediately crafting additional protection spells.
“Alice was my best friend. She might have been mortal, but our friendship was a true connection. I never had a friendship such as the one I had with her. Now I have that same connection with her children. I won't lose them too.”
Goran smirked. He'd got under the old crone's skin. Aden blinked but said nothing, which told him he was bamboozled by her admission. Aden's tone gentled and he relaxed his guard. “They need to know the truth. Wouldn't it be better coming from you than from one of us? Surely it would be better for the sisters to hear the truth from you than from Gregori.”
Zelda put up a hand. “Stop. Granted, my heart rules my actions with these girls, but I'm also Wizardess of Winterbourne, Prime Wizardess of the Supreme Council of Magical Beings. If I say now is not the right time, then take heed.”
Both warlocks once again looked to each other. “So you
do
know something,” Goran spoke first.
Zelda shrugged. “I know lots of things. I don't have to tell you everything. The truth will come out and when it does, it won't be from you, Aden or me.”
Goran was well and truly convinced Zelda was hiding something. “Does Anton know there's more to this story you're not telling?”
Zelda palmed her skirt and then her fingers drummed on the material, as if she was considering what to say next. Finally, she lifted her head and fixed her gaze on both of them. “He has his secrets. I have mine. Right now, the most important thing is to get that replica dragon into the courtyard as soon as possible.” She looked to Aden. “Are you nearly finished?”
“All done, save a couple more spells to duplicate the ones surrounding it before Gregori broke free. Rosa is working on those in the Gallery right now.”
Zelda smiled her satisfaction. “In that case, my work here is done.” She stood, raised both arms and disappeared in a mini whirlwind before they could ask her anything else.
Goran turned to Aden. “You're right. She's sneaky and she's definitely hiding something.”
Gregori went home to his secluded villa in Cabasson on the French Riviera. His home had been cared for in his absence by a married couple and their now-grown children who lived in an adjacent villa. They continued to maintain the gardens and home, unconcerned he had not visited for so long. They knew who and what he was, and not once, in all the years they had worked for him, had they ever broken his trust. In exchange, he provided them and their family with a home and income, just as he'd done for their lineage right back for several centuries.
This particular villa was purchased in what Gregori would term recent times and when he moved here permanently, his caretakers had moved with him.
His private vineyard nearby was well managed and he had no desire to alert anyone he was back. Not yet. Not until he was sure he would remain. However, perhaps it was time to visit his lawyer to sign a few papers in case his future, as he wanted, didn't actually happen according to plan. He would do that in the next few days. But today he returned because his soul demanded it. There he would gain respite, avoid the barrage of questions from Alanna's sisters and work out how he was going to coax the very emotionally fragile Alanna into allowing him into her mind as well as her heart.
He tested his link with Alanna and was pleased that despite the distance between them, it remained sure and strong.
It was nearly mid-winter in Cabasson. The moon cast a beam of light across the Mediterranean and spilled in through the windows. Stars twinkled in the inky night sky above. He sighed deeply. Oh, how he'd missed his home.
Alanna would love it here. There were rooms aplenty with enough space and light for her to sculpt if she wished. He had always intended for this home to be where he would live with his beloved and raise their children. Alanna had the heart of a wanderer. She would be as at ease here as anywhere else in the world.
He opened the French-doors leading out onto the patio, locked them back and sat on a lounger and held out a hand. A steaming fresh coffee appeared in it. No wine for now. What he was about to do would require his full concentration and Villa Paradis was the perfect place for him to test what was going on in Alanna's mind, without being discovered or interrupted.
He called Lyzander, his familiar, even though he only needed to summon him by thought. “Come. I am home.”
In seconds, his familiar, his constant companion over the centuries, was at his side. It shocked Gregori to see his little friend had aged considerably. Immortal, Gregori might be, but Lyzander was not. Yes, dragons aged more slowly than most, but it was clear his familiar had been pining for him and his health had been affected.
“My friend,” Gregori said and conjured a sweet treat for Lyzander. “You're too thin. You need to take better care of yourself.”
Lyzander's eyes brightened considerably as he sat on Gregori's shoulder and skillfully sucked the juice out of the berries and discarded the shriveled skin onto the patio floor. “I have not required food,” Lyzander told him. “I sit in the Belfry and watch the comings and goings while I wait for your return.”
As he spoke, his leathery skin, which had at first been a dull, lifeless gray, began to take on the color of the deep purple berries on which he'd been snacking. Gregori conjured more fruit for Lyzander, leaned back and drank his coffee while it was hot and he took a few moments to inhale the unforgettable tang of the Mediterranean, only a few minutes' walk from where he sat. Oh how he'd missed not only his familiar, but also this place. Imagining coming home had helped him retain his sanity.
“I have a job for you, my friend,” Gregori told Lyzander.
Lyzander's skin was growing steadily darker and more youthful with each passing minute. His eyes whirled with interest. “Tell me.”
“I need you to go invisible and keep watch over Alanna. I am going mindwalking and I would ensure there are no interruptions while I undertake this task.”
“Invisible I go,” Lyzander nodded and for the first time in years, smoke erupted from his snout. “Protect her I will. I am happy to be working once more. Winking in and winking out.”
And Lyzander was gone, in a flash of purple light, reminding Gregori just how much he'd missed the presence of his little friend over the past few years.
Gregori placed his empty cup on the ground next to him, clasped his hands over his midriff, crossed his ankles, rested his head against the back of the lounger, closed his eyes and breathed deeply, quieting his mind, ensuring all thoughts were without bias and contained.
This was a hunt of an intricate nature. There were no others who could do what he could. Mindwalking was his specialty. It was dangerous to enter another's mind without changing or affecting the path of that individual. He'd chosen Villa Paradis for that very reason. He knew Lyzander would guard Alanna, but just to be doubly sure there would be no mishap, Gregori placed a circle of protection not only about the villa but also about Alanna's bedroom on the other side of the world. His magic ensured no one, not even staff, would enter either place. And then he travelled the link all the way back to Raven's Creek.
⢠⢠â¢
She slept peacefully. The spell enchantment ensured it was so. He looked down at her lying curled on one side, with her hands tucked under one cheek, a slight smile on her lips. Whatever she dreamed, it was pleasant enough.