"Thank you for coming, Mistress Lyonetta."
She chuckled. "Please call me Adele. There is little time for formalities these days." She pulled away from me and swept her arm across the conference room. "You will see that we are not alone, Kain. Lucian will not succeed."
I took in my surroundings. Adele brought ten powerful Council members and international clan leaders to the house. Troy had gathered all of the protectors nearby, and Julian called back his selkies. Brendan stood next to Carissa along the side wall, both of them giving me a slight nod when I made eye contact. It probably would have disturbed me more, seeing them side by side, but now was not the time to dwell on such things. I was fairly certain there wouldn"t be anything I could do or say to stop Brendan from being a part of this.
"There are several more on the phone," Adele said while walking back to the head of the table. "All of whom are willing to fight back tomorrow."
"This is great," I said. "But do we have a plan?"
Adele smiled at me and the Council members. "We have more than a plan. We have secret weapons." The other leaders nodded in agreement while the rest of us tried to figure out what she was talking about. "Julian has offered the selkies, and we are antic.i.p.ating you securing the sprites."
"Me?" I asked and then immediately felt like an idiot. "I...I don"t know if I can do that."
"Kain, you are the only one who can do this." Carissa stepped forward and my breath caught in my throat. She was so beautiful, and the way she commanded attention was awe inspiring. "My entire clan, along with most of those in France, Italy, Spain, and j.a.pan are making arrangements to send their most powerful leaders to Lucian"s tomorrow. The a.s.sistance of the selkies is much appreciated, but the merfolk partic.i.p.ation was solidified when we promised them the sprites too."
"Well, maybe you shouldn"t have done that," I panicked. What if Abhainn and Isabel didn"t agree? They were the only sprites I knew. Carissa"s faced registered shock for a brief moment before she hid it behind a stoic facade. "I"m sorry," I added quickly. "I just don"t know if I can guarantee this."
"Abhainn will do it," Daniel said. I hadn"t realized he was in there.
"He will, Kain. All you have to do is ask him." Marisol stepped up next to Daniel and continued to encourage me. "He will do it for you and Eviana."
I looked around the room at all of the expectant faces, waiting for me to agree to this. Instead, I told them the truth. "Abhainn was nearly killed last night." Daniel and Marisol let out a gasp, and several other leaders looked around the table at each other trying to determine if anyone knew about this. "He didn"t die," I continued, "but he"s not in good shape."
"What about Isabel?" This time it was Brendan who spoke up. I watched him silently ask Julian for the privilege to speak, and when he nodded, Brendan continued. "She is a queen in the ratchet society," he explained to everyone in the room. "You should have seen her in Mexico. She saved a lot of lives by taking control back from Lucian. They listen to her."
I froze. Adele hadn"t known about our little rescue mission, although when I glanced at her, she didn"t seem like this was new information. If she had learned anything about me in the last few months, she knew where my loyalties stood.
"Who is this Isabel?" someone on the speaker phone asked.
"She is Abhainn"s partner," I answered. "She is a ratchet." Most of the leaders took that news in stride. I remembered when Eviana and I met with the clan leaders in this very room not too long ago. We had been surprised that they"d all known about the existence of sprites. It seemed they only left the children out of the loop.
"And they are our friends," Daniel added.
"Is this true?" Adele asked me.
"Yes."
"So will you deliver them to us?"
"I can"t deliver anyone, nor would I ever command a sprite to be at our beck and call. They are afraid of our water control abilities. We are the only creature that can harm them." Another look around the room told me that these leaders already knew of the threat we posed to the sprites. I sighed. "I will not command them, but I will ask for their a.s.sistance."
"That won"t be necessary, lad." Without a sound, Abhainn and Isabel had entered the room and startled us all. Abhainn must have fed well, as he was now in a six foot plus tall, muscular human form that wouldn"t have been more than twenty five years old. He"d given himself an expensive dark blue suit and Isabel complimented his style with a skirt and jacket fit for a boardroom. I think it was the first time I saw her fully dressed.
I jumped to my feet and walked over to shake Abhainn"s hand. He smiled down at me then took in the room. "Ye will "ave our a.s.sistance. This is as much of an attack on us as it is fer ye. We cannot let him practice The Legacy, and we must act now."
He pulled Isabel closer. "This is Isabella Angeline Fontaine. The queen of the ratchets and our most powerful ally."
Isabel tilted her head in acknowledgement as the others in the room bowed in respect. It was a great feeling to see so many different groups of water creatures getting along. It was exactly what Lucian wanted to avoid.
"And I understand that we have the selkie leader as well?" Adele asked, looking at Julian.
He stepped forward and bowed his head. "Mistress Lyonetta, I am honored to meet you and although we do not have the same social structure amongst our kind, I can a.s.sure you that the selkies will fight for me. For us."
"What about those already under Lucian"s control?" Troy asked while looking at Malcolm, whether on purpose or not. Troy was still scarred from Malcolm"s attack at Lucian"s hand.
Julian cringed. "Once they are under the spell, it is difficult for me to call them back. I may need help in those matters."
"Done," Adele said. "Marianne, Andrew, you will a.s.sist the selkie leader with your skills. Do what you can to break Lucian"s hold and give them back to Julian." The Council leaders agreed.
We spent the next several hours discussing strategy and dividing up duties. By the time everyone left, I felt like we might actually have a chance to beat Lucian. Nearly half of the leaders attending the meeting tomorrow were against Lucian"s decree. And now that we had the selkies and the sprites fighting along with us, it would tip the scales in our favor.
Besides, we didn"t have another option.
Twenty.
Kain Since we were going to the Bahamas and Lucian only gave us one day to make plans, each clan decided to charter their own plane, and share seats where necessary. With my real home base just a few hours away in Los Angeles, I managed to procure two larger planes to accommodate me, Marisol, Daniel, and all of the selkie"s. Abhainn and Isabel were offered seats, but they said they preferred to travel via water and not thousands of feet in the air.
The plan was relatively simple. Show up and act like we are fulfilling our requested duty, and once everyone was in place, we"d attack. The selkies and sprites would remain in the water, out of Lucian"s sight. I didn"t doubt that he"d have a patrol guard in the sea, and told Adele as much. She gave Abhainn, Isabel, and Julian the freedom to act as they must to subdue our enemies. Isabel seemed a little too happy about that declaration. Once again, I was thankful she was on our side.
The cross country flight seemed to last forever. Especially when somewhere over Kansas, Brendan decided to move to the seat next to me. I pretended to sleep, but it was futile.
"I can hear your heart beat so I know you"re not sleeping," he said without looking at me.
I rotated my head against the seat. "That"s really creepy."
He laughed. "I know."
"What do you want?" I tried not to sound annoyed.
"You have to save her, Kain. She needs to get out of this alive." He ran his hands through his hair. It was still hanging in his face, but he used that as a barrier between the two of us. "She deserves to be with you."
That caught me by surprise. It wasn"t that I disagreed with him, I just never expected those words to come out of his mouth.
"I am fully prepared to die for her tonight," he continued. I almost told him how melodramic that sounded. "But you have to live. You have to marry her, and love her, and give her a wonderful family..." his voice quivered. "You have to make her forget about me."
I selected my next words very carefully. "She will never forget you, Brendan. But I promise you that I will love her more than anyone else in this world ever could."
He huffed and stared directly at me. "I don"t know if that"s possible, but thank you for trying." I a.s.sumed he was referring to his own feelings for her, but I decided to take the high road and remain quiet.
"Graham Forrester has to die," Brendan said after several moments of uncomfortable silence.
"I agree."
"That should be our job," he continued.
"Okay."
"Okay." It was all he said. We probably should have schemed up some sort of grand plan to take him out, but we didn"t. A thousand plans and scenarios were running through my mind and I couldn"t come up with one more. We"d just have to wing it.
Brendan moved back to his old seat with the selkies and I endured the rest of the flight suffering in silence. Every minute we got closer, the excitement and fear grew exponentially. The fighter in me, who I recently discovered, was eager for the battle. To conquer one that means to do harm to so many...it would be satisfying to say the least. The Legacy was the old way of doing things in our world centuries ago. Now was the time to move forward.
The clan leader in me feared the deaths that were bound to occur tonight. Lives would be lost, but I had to believe it was still worth it. And lastly, the man in me, the part that loved Eviana and all she stood for, antic.i.p.ated what our life would be like tomorrow. When this war was finished and we could go back to our homes and our clans, what kind of life would we have? Would she want to get married? Go to college? Our positions somewhat limited our options, but there were always ways around that. Eviana had taught me that much.
I must have fallen asleep thinking about what tomorrow held, because when the plane bounced into the ground, I jumped awake in my seat. Daniel and Marisol, who sat in front of me, turned around and laughed.
"What?" I asked.
"You scream like a little girl," Daniel said. "You must have been having a good dream for that landing to startle you so much."
I glared at him. Had I actually screamed? I kicked the back of his seat, but smiled. I worried about the two of them more than anyone else on this plane. Their skills had yet been tested, but I couldn"t force them to stay behind. If I were in their position, I would have wanted to come too.
We walked off the plane and piled into the limousines waiting for us. Julian and the selkies disappeared through the tiny airport hanger presumably to take up their position in the ocean before too many eyes spotted their arrival. We knew that Lucian had spies and a.s.sumed we wouldn"t be able to keep the selkies a secret forever. But we also had the sprites.
Lucian had cleared out an entire resort on the western side of the island overlooking the calm Caribbean waters. Sunset was only a couple of hours away, and already the pinks and purples were starting to develop on the horizon.
The first thing I noticed when we approached the central area of the resort, was the gazebo decked out in colorful flowers and twinkling lights. This must be for the wedding. Eviana and Graham"s wedding.
It wasn"t going to happen, but it sent a slice of fear through me anyway. I couldn"t stomach the thought of all our planning and coordination failing tonight.
"We will save her." I jumped at the sound of a female voice and the faintest touch on my hand. I turned to see that Adele had sidled up next to me. "Lucian should enjoy his final sunset of this world, for very soon, he will take his last breath."
I"d never heard her speak like that before. It was so cold and calculated. Exactly the way a Council member should be, yet frightening none the same. "What did he do to you?" I asked.
"Do you mean besides stealing Graham out from under my nose?" She shook her head. "I took that boy in when no one else would. I raised him to be good. Not the lackey of some disturbed merman. But Graham is an adult and he chose to go down this path. I sincerely hope he won"t lose his life for it tonight."
I swallowed hard, remembering the conversation with Brendan on the plane. I seriously doubted that Graham would make it out of this alive.
"But if you"re asking what Lucian threatened me with, it was William."
"Who?" I asked.
"My dear, sweet William." I followed her gaze to an older man standing between several selkies on the far side of the gazebo. He wore a dark green cloak, symbolizing his membership on the Northern European Council. As though he felt our focus, he looked up and caught Adele"s eyes. They exchanged a look so intimate, I knew that this was her weakness.
She squeezed my hand hard and whispered to me. "He said that he would kill him if I didn"t oblige. My first husband died five years ago, and although it was an arranged marriage, we"d grown to love each other. With no children or grandchildren, I thought I"d lost the ability to love when he died. Until I met William. He reinvigorated me. Gave me a reason to enjoy life again." She wiped away the tears in her eyes. "I do believe Graham told him about us. Not many people know." She suddenly stopped speaking. I think it was all too much for her.
"They threatened us, too. Both Lucian and Graham," I added.
"I figured as much," she said then looked up at me and smiled. "I am glad to see that you two finally found your way to each other."
I couldn"t help but reciprocate with my own delighted grin. I"d waited so long to have Eviana by my side. There was no alternative, we had to get through the evening.
"There he is," Adele spat and I saw Lucian enter the gazebo like a super star. His long blond hair wafted in the breeze as well as the white silk shirt that hung open at his chest. The man really loved to show off his body. It was gross.
More of his merfolk supporters began to gather around the gazebo. Someone had blocked off a center aisle with that girly stuff used in weddings and bright red flowers. There were no chairs, typical for Lucian to ignore comfort in favor of submission. It seemed to be a thing of his.
"We should prepare," Adele said, then raised up on her toes high enough to kiss my cheek. "I wish you luck."
Before I could thank her, she disappeared amongst the crowd. I found Troy and Palmer in the back of the celebration area. Tonight they wore a business suit in order to blend with the rest of the leaders like myself. We had trained protectors interspersed amongst the Council members as well, hoping that no one would suspect them too soon.
"Did you spot her yet?" I asked Palmer.
"No. But I heard some others saying that the wedding is going to happen first."
"What?" This was not the way we planned the attack. We were going to wait until the meeting was well underway so that Lucian would think everything was going as well as it could. If we waited until after the wedding, then Eviana would officially be married and we may miss our chance completely.
"So you want me to spread the word?" Troy asked, already knowing what was going through my mind.
"Yes, please. We can"t let the wedding happen." The surge of excitement turned to apprehension again. This had to work.
"Welcome everyone. Thank you all for coming," Lucian said as though we all had a choice.
"Do it now, please Troy," I whispered and then moved to the aisle. I needed to let Eviana know that we were here.
"Tonight we shall begin with a celebration of a new union and a new way of life." His supporters clapped and yelled and glared at those who weren"t. "I am honored to wed my daughter to one of the most promising young men our kind has ever had the privilege of knowing."
Lucian lifted his arm to the side and Graham climbed up onto the gazebo to join him. He smiled at his almost father-in-law. "Graham and Eviana will lead us into a great new revolution. Their abilities far surpa.s.s the rest of us, and their children will only be that much stronger."
My stomach dropped. Children?
"So without further ado, let"s make this union official." Music began to play from somewhere and I picked up the pace to reach the center aisle. We were packed on the patio like sardines in a can, and even though I tried to be polite at first, by the time the band reached the chorus of the cla.s.sical wedding song, I was throwing elbows left and right to get through.
I"d almost reached the last row when I saw her. Gliding down the patio stairs was the vision I"d replayed in my head over and over for years. Eviana in a white wedding dress, walking toward me. Although in this case, her face was wrinkled in consternation and her eyes were puffy from crying. I still found her beautiful and it was that beauty which prevented me from saving her.
"You!" Someone yelled behind me just before I felt a hand slam into my mouth and an arm wrap around chest. I tried to fight it, but soon three more sets of hands held me still. "Say one word and she dies," the voice whispered into my ear.
Wasn"t anyone witnessing this? Didn"t they see me being attacked? I tried to turn my head but it was held too tight. The guards dragged me backward through the crowd who now cleared a pathway for me. I caught a glimpse of Palmer out of the corner of my eye, and tried to convey that he stay hidden. We still had numbers on our side. It wasn"t worth giving that up just yet.
I stopped struggling with the protectors. Lucian was smart. He knew I couldn"t control our own kind or the selkies very well. It was a win win for him.
Someone punched me in the stomach, surprising me and p.i.s.sing me off in the same instant. But I didn"t fight back. It wasn"t time yet. I fell to my knees, effectively offering my surrender. After one more kick to the ribs, all except for one of the protectors left, leaving me alone on the ground listening to Eviana"s wedding progress.
Twenty One Eviana Where was Kain? I looked over the crowd a hundred times trying to find my strength. I needed him to be here. I needed to know there was a plan to stop this nonsense. And I was running out of time.
After my visit with the nereid, Lucian and Graham brought me back to the house where I"d slept through the night and late into the next day. My dreams were vivid and colorful that evening, and I wasn"t sure what was real or make believe when I woke up in the morning.
Lucian didn"t waste any time. He forced me to practice on the protectors first to see if I could compel the mermen. It was almost as easy as the selkies. I barely had to force the command, and could instead whisper it in my head to have them succ.u.mb. In one visit with the nereid, my life had changed dramatically. I became my father.
Graham worked with me and the water control. On several instances he laughed when my tendrils attempted to squeeze his throat. He thought I was playing around, while I was really fine tuning my aim. I had no desire to be married to Graham. And if the wedding did happen, I wouldn"t stay married very long.
By four in the afternoon on the second day, Lucian demanded I stop practicing and get ready for the ceremony. I refused to call it my wedding. He"d ushered me into a private villa at the resort complex, where three human women were waiting to serve my every request. It was obvious that Lucian had brainwashed them into thinking this was a joyous occasion, and when they finally left, I watched him perform another round of compulsion.
It was too much pressure for me to keep pretending this was a perfect day, so I had asked the ladies to leave before putting on my dress Still, Lucian had done it again. The gown was perfect for someone who wanted to get married, and just what a doting father would buy his daughter for her special day. A simple spaghetti strap top with a fitted bodice flowed into layers upon layers of chiffon. Tiny crystals were sewn into the dress all over, so that when the light hit it just the right way, I sparkled like the stars. The women had curled my hair into ringlets and let it fall naturally all around. It hung past my waist now, which meant it could almost cover the single black orchid I was being forced to carry.