Betrayal Foretold: Descended of Dragons, Book 3 (11 page)

“Was. Yes,” Gaspare said heavily. “Talbot Gresham was the purest form of evil. How Rowan emerged from that hell I will never understand.”

“But how did you survive?” I asked, enthralled in the story’s ending. “I assume once Talbot learned about you he came for you.”

“You’re right, he did. But we’d taken protective precautions. Wards for safety, for example. He tried for years to get to us, but we evaded him. Gabrio, Father, and I worked our way through the ranks of politics and power together. And Rowan was right there with us.”

Abia cut back into the conversation. “They gained powerful positions as leaders on the side of good, and were known as the primary opposition to Talbot’s evil reign. Of course, Talbot wouldn’t stand for that and continued to try to take them out.

“As s, the boys were stronger than their father.” Abia’s strong face was suddenly vulnerable. “The boys were more powerful. Resistant to attacks.”

“It came unexpectedly,” Gaspare said. “We had just left a dinner together, Gabrio, Father, and I. We all had the same wards, but what only grazed Gabrio and I, was a critical blow to our father. We rushed him to safety, but it was too late. It was then he made his dying wish that Gabrio defeat Talbot and lead the people of Thayer.”

“Yes,” I said, nodding sadly as I recalled the conversation. “You told me my father had always made it clear he didn’t want the role, but his father insisted he’d make the better leader. You said that was the night my father disappeared.”

Gaspare nodded silently, his gaze cast toward our feet.

“He was wrong,” Abia said. “He was always wrong about that. Gabrio was sharp, and kind and charming, it’s true. But he was too carefree. What Thayer needed then—and now—was strength, skill, brilliance, and a sense of justice. You’ve all those qualities, and more, son.”

Gaspare smiled, only love reaching his eyes, not pride.

“So, it was you.” I said and shook my head in wonder. “The vision foretold was true. An omni
did
kill Talbot.”

“So it was,” Gaspare snapped. The edges of his mouth grew white from the pressure of teeth biting into them. I had the feeling he didn’t like discussing the subject at all.

“Gaspare righted the wrongs done our people for so very long,” Abia said proudly. “He works toward it still. As does his sweet Emelie.”

“Right.” He stood and dusted off his pants. “That’s enough for today. Time to head back to Emelie.”

“But,” I sputtered. “We didn’t even discuss why we came.”

“Oh, she knows why we’re here, Stella. She knows all. The moment you opened your mouth you also opened your mind to her. This is where I learned to read minds. You’ll learn telepathy, too, and much more.”

My gaze shot to Abia, who didn’t look ashamed of her impertinent invasion at all. In fact, she seemed to be daring me to object.

No way was I baiting that bear. “So you agree to teach me?”

“I do,” she said slowly.

My grin was contagious, and her face lit with anticipation, too.

“
Y
ou’re doing it wrong
,” she said for the fifth time in an hour.

Abia’s sharp tone zapped any tranquilizing effect the soothing ocean waves made. But we weren’t there to relax. We were working. I was learning. Abia had instructed and corrected me mercilessly for nearly a month, and I’d made great strides. Or I thought I had. Abia seemed less than impressed. As with all things magical, my abilities began within my chakra, the window to my soul. I knew this. I was familiar with it. Practiced, even. But I was still a novice, and, I suspected from observing Abia’s frustration day after day, a bit slow.

“I’m sorry,” I said for the fifth time in an hour.

Abia and I had gone over the basics of everything she intended to teach me: telepathy, telekinesis, spell-casting, ward-building and breaking. There were others, I was sure, but my brain was fried. We had worked every day for weeks. I had ingested massive quantities of information, and—I thought—was doing a fair job of putting the knowledge into practice.

“The key to entering another’s mind, Stella, is seduction.”

The talk of chakras and seduction was all too reminiscent of a similar conversation I’d had with Rowan Gresham. He was my first teacher, the one who helped me find my animal forms. He had been someone I trusted very much.

I still felt the sting of his betrayal. The wiser I grew, the more I realized I should never have placed that much trust in Gresham in the first place. It was naive to let myself fall for him. The moment I met Rowan Gresham my internal radar shouted
Warning! Danger!
And I had heeded my gut feeling.
I’d been cautious.

But somewhere over the course of our relationship the line between wary and want had blurred. If I’d been older, I probably wouldn’t have been so surprised to learn he had an ulterior motive to get close to me. If I’d had more experience with men, I might have suspected something like that from the beginning. Instead, I was flattered that a man like him—cultured, powerful, and mysterious—wanted me like I wanted him.

I wondered how Gresham fared after discovering the truth about his wife’s death. I wondered if he still missed her. I wondered if he still missed me, though I knew I shouldn’t.

When I first entered Thayer, I depended on him for nearly everything. I knew nothing and no one else. I was young and stupid and snarky. But I had grown—away from him, into the arms of another. I had grown as a woman, and as a citizen of Thayer. I victoriously found, and then tragically lost, family. I faced unimaginable challenges and fears. And I had conquered them all.

I now faced another set of challenges. The first was growth as a magical being, embracing and mastering my inherited abilities. Due to my unique heritage as the child of an omni father and dragon mother, I had access to greater magical ability than the standard Thayerian. Than the standard dragon, even. But Abia Pike had been alive for more than three thousand years, if I was to believe her tale, and she knew every trick in the book.

“Seduction,” I repeated and huffed a breath. “Got it. May I try again?”

Getting into Abia’s head was difficult. She was intentionally blocking me; I knew that. Attempting to read her mind was like trying to crack an egg without getting shell into the bowl. Was it possible? Certainly. Those who were practiced could do it with ease. But unpracticed, my efforts were jerky and heavy handed. Delicacy was required but I had a giant’s hands.

With eyes closed and mind cleared of any distraction, I sent a probing vine toward Abia’s mind. The imaginary vine twisted and slithered toward her, a light but purposed dance. Her mind was closed shut. It would be impossible to force my way into it, but using her advice I asked, I caressed, I persuaded my way in.

“
There you are
,” she said, opening her mind to mine. “
You did it
.
Can you see the utility of such a gift?”

“I can. It’s like your mind is my oyster
,” I said and felt her pleasure at my reference to diving.

“
Clever girl. Let’s see if you can find a pearl
.
Telepathic talents are all related—speaking wordlessly and mind reading are similar, but not everyone has the gift. And clairvoyance is even more rare
.”

“
I know a clairvoyant,
” I said. “
But she calls herself an augur. She helped me. She’s my friend’s mother. I miss them all so much.
” Though I wasn’t speaking aloud, my emotions were hard to miss. A tear slid down my cheek, but I swiped it before it could get too far.

“I see that you do. I’m so sorry. I know what it means to lose someone. Everyone.”

Abia and I had more in common than I’d considered, and I suddenly felt like a real turd for whining about my problems when she’d lost her entire family and been sentenced to life alone on an island for…forever.

I cleared my throat and attempted to get in a better headspace. I thought of Bay, who had lost much but recently found happiness in the discovery of old friends. One friend in particular was keeping her very busy. She and Forster were spending a lot of time together, which was fantastic. And adorable. She deserved a little happiness after the loss of Eiven and Stryde.

The passing thought of Stryde took my mind to that particularly awful night of his death, when he’d assumed his dragon form and chased me from Ewan’s party. His thoughts were—

Abia let out a surprised noise.

“
What is it
?” I’d forgotten she was in my mind too, seeing everything that flashed across it.

“
You’ve read a mind before. When you heard Stryde’s thoughts
.”

“
But. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even try
!”

“
Fear and desperation are often catalysts for developing abilities
,” she said with a laugh.

“
I guess so
.” I shook my head and pulled back from her brain. Mind reading was hard work.

“Tomorrow we continue ward-making,” she said in a tone that indicated I’d been dismissed. “And Stella?”

“Yes?”

“You did well today. I’m proud of you.”

My smile spread so quickly from one side of my face to the other I had to school it back down from beaming. But I quickly abandoned the effort. I mean, it’s not every day your newly-discovered, super-secret castaway/madwoman grandma pays you a compliment on your hard work as a magical being.

G
aspare and Emelie’s
home had become my favorite place on Pearl Isle. Located just yards from a lush, serene lake, their boathouse held the overflow of Emelie’s eclectic collections. Perusing the knickknacks and finding my own treasures among her bounty had become a favorite pastime.

Three hand-carved canoes hung overhead, primitive and worn. I wondered whose hands had worked so diligently to carve them, and ran my palm along the smooth wood.

I was lost in thought when Gaspare’s voice bounced across the water, alerting me to his presence. Emelie was finishing up inside the house, and I could faintly hear the two speaking. I replaced an art glass wine stop in its home and traced to the patio just outside the dining room.

“Poor kid’s in terrible shape,” I overheard Gaspare say. “Really self-destructive behavior. Hasn’t been sober in weeks, not showing up for class, and his friends are worried sick.”

I threw my palm against the door frame, leaning toward the door as my body folded in half. I knew who he meant. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. Truly. But the damage had been done, and at that moment, propriety was the very last thing on my mind.

I pushed through the patio door into the house. “You’re talking about Ewan, aren’t you?” I looked at Gaspare, whose shocked expression morphed quickly into its usual cool mask. “Oh. My God. My sweet Ewan. He doesn’t deserve this.”

My heart melted within my chest. Melted, and ran down into my guts, which turned and seized at the thought of Ewan’s suffering. Gaspare didn’t answer me; wouldn’t meet my gaze.

I couldn’t contain my anger or repress my heartache when hearing of Ewan’s.

“You’ve done this to him!” I shouted. “All we had to do was get him a message I’m okay. He could deal with a secret. He’s the most trustworthy soul I’ve ever met.”

Gaspare started to argue with me, but held his tongue.

“What?” I snapped.

His eyes closed and he forced a breath through his nostrils. “I’m sorry, Stella. For you. For him. For your friends—everyone. You know I hate this situation. But there’s nothing to be done. It’s the only way.”

“The only way, hell.” I snarled, betraying the petulance I felt. “You could trust me. Trust him. Give us a chance.”

“Give you a chance? And what if you fail? What if, even by accident, either of you revealed our island? It’s not just you who’s at risk, you know. It’s this whole community. Families. People I love.”

His words left me feeling hopeless and empty because I knew they were true.

“Please,” Emelie said and touched both of our arms. “Please, let’s not get into this again. It always ends the same, with you two nursing hard feelings for days afterward.”

Gaspare and I both
hmph’ed
and crossed our arms. I could see the identical reactions were comical even through my anger. I threw my arms to my side and tried to shake off the grudge, but I feared I never would. Not so long as we continued to disagree on something so vitally important to me. Not so long as he had the power to ease my friends’ pain and wouldn’t use it.

“Let’s eat,” Emelie said. “I made tabbouleh and kebabs.” She was an adventurous cook and prided herself on mastering new dishes. Sometimes her efforts were well received, sometimes not, but this one we all liked, and the mood lightened considerably.

“So,” Emelie asked minutes later when neither Gaspare nor I had spoken, “What did Abia teach you today?”

My lips pushed up at the thought. “Today was a good day. We worked on telepathy, and I was able to do it. I got into her head. I strongly suspect she took it easy on me, but that’s okay. For now.”

“Wonderful,” she exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. “I’d let you practice on me, but that’s no real challenge. I’m a lightweight when it comes to innate abilities. Gaspare’s a tough nut to crack. You should give him a shot.”

“No,” I said, not really in the mood for further interaction with my uncle. It would have been rude to leave before eating Emelie’s meal or I’d have already left.

“Why not?” he asked and quirked an eyebrow. “Scared?”

“No.” I finished chewing the bite of juicy tomato.

“Well then, give it a go.” Gaspare extended his arms wide. He was unafraid and welcomed my attempt. His expression said he didn’t think for one second I’d ever get into his head. And that really pissed me off. It didn’t bother me when strangers underestimated me. Fine. I would continue to surpass expectations. I was a cute girl from the South, after all. My intellect and scientifically-geared brain had been taken for granted most of my life. I’d learned to use their miscalculations to my advantage. I could deal with that.

But my beloved uncle’s doubt hit me hard.

I sat up straighter with an infusion of false confidence. “All right. But just remember you asked for it.”

I put everything I had into seducing Gaspare Shaw’s powerful mind.

It was clear the moment he realized he’d misjudged me. The same eyebrows that mocked me moments before flew toward his hairline. He wheezed a breath as I slithered my way past his hasty and inadequate barrier.

Let’s see
, I thought.
What do I want to know
?

For me, reading his mind was like flipping through a mental version of one of those hanging poster displays.
Flip.
No, not there.
Flip.
Not that one.
Flip.
Ah. There it is.

I could see Gaspare’s memory from earlier in the day like it was my own. It was as if I was looking through his eyes, but I knew I wasn’t. Ewan sat slumped in a corner booth at Sabre Bar. He was alone. Two fingers of whiskey sat in front of him. From Gaspare’s vantage point, through his eyes, I could see Ewan’s haggard face. He hadn’t shaved in days, maybe a week. His dark curls were messier than usual, too messy, and the neck of his black T-shirt was stretched and unkempt. He looked positively miserable. His brown eyes, usually playful but sharp, were now dull, the bags beneath them physical indicators of his sleeplessness.

I gasped at the pain so evident on his face and feared he’d heard me. Then I remembered I was only perusing a memory.

A slender girl in a flowing pink halter-top passed in front of me. She smelled of honeysuckle and sunshine, and her white blonde hair glinted as it swung across her back.
Emrynne
. She slinked toward Ewan and sat next to him in the booth.
Too close. Much too close.

I moved toward them to tell her to find another seat, another man, but of course, I wasn’t really there. My heart pounded within my chest and sent a rush of blood straight to my head. I ground my teeth in frustration, and in jealous fury.

I felt a push on the peripheral of my consciousness. Gaspare was attempting to eject me from his mind, but I wasn’t finished. I dug deeper, pushed harder, and stayed within the memory.

When I returned my attention to them, Emrynne was speaking to Ewan. “Let’s go upstairs,” she said. “I’ll make it all go away.”

She took him by the hand and led him from Sabre Bar up the wide central staircase. My racing heart stopped as dread, disgust, and acute pain sent a signal that something was broken, something was about to blow.

“No!” I screamed, though Ewan couldn’t hear me. The two ascended the stairs, one of his hands in hers, the other trailing along the wooden banister as if at any moment he might cling to the railing and turn around. As if he might choose me. “No!” I crumbled to the floor, my hand flying to massage the crushing pain of my chest.

I released Gaspare’s memory and slammed the metaphorical poster display closed. Like a taut rubber band set free, I snapped out of his head and back into the couple’s dining room.

Neither of them said a word. Emelie watched my face for a reaction, her own etched with concern. Gaspare was furious. I expected steam to hiss from his ears at any moment. But I was the angrier of the two of us. This was all his fault. He’d injured Ewan that night in the forest and swept me away without revealing the
essential
details that I couldn’t return or let my friends know I was okay. Gaspare was the one to blame that Ewan was a heartbroken mess. It was Gaspare’s fault Ewan had slept with Emrynne. All of it lay at his feet, yet his blue eyes squinted in my direction.

“Oh, don’t
you
look at
me
like that,” I seethed. “You tricked me to get me here, you won’t let me leave, you’ve let my poor friends believe I’m dead, and now you’ve caused
my
Ewan to screw that celestial bitch. I hate you for what you’ve done to me.”

Gaspare scoffed, fists flying to his sides. “I had nothing to do with Ewan’s infidelity, and you know it.” But then his face softened as anger faded and was replaced by sympathy. “But I am sorry it happened. I’m sorry you’re hurting. I never want to see you unhappy, and I hate that this situation has made you so.”

I didn’t reply. An angry tear fell onto my cheek and I swiped it away.

“Perhaps this is a sign you two weren’t right for each other,” he continued. “Perhaps it’s a good time to move on. Make a fresh start here in Pearl.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I drew my lips together in an angry snarl. “We
are
meant for each other. I saw it in the well in Caliph.”

Gaspare’s eyebrows drew together before he tried to respond, but I cut him off. “No. I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say. I can’t stand to be here anymore.”

I traced away from Gaspare, from Emelie. But I couldn’t outrun my breaking heart.