Fruit of the Golden Vine (23 page)

Rafael smiled and touched her cheek. “Old roots wend deep.” He stood and straightened his tunic. “Let’s catch them while they’re still in the gardens.”

Silvana dressed, and together they left the manor and emerged into warm, perfumed morning air. A breeze tousled the plains grass, and pillars of white smoke puffed above the distant walls of the town.

“A beautiful day,” said Rafael, surveying the plains.

“Beneath a strange sky. Your counterpart is in full force today, Brother Sun.”

“And hopefully it means us well, Sister Earth.” Rafael grinned. “I saw that Ada is wearing a ring with a star upon it. Perhaps we can call her Sister Heaven.”

Silvana twisted the tree-marked ring on her finger. “And like heaven and earth, we were meant to kiss.” She sighed. “Come along. Every moment we delay makes this harder.”

The sound of barking intensified the nearer they came to the gardens. Silvana paused at the gate and watched as Mona flew from the bushes, her tail a frantic blur. Felise ran in pursuit, squealing laughter. Finally able to find a smile, Silvana opened the gate, and she and Rafael followed the delicate music of the fountain.

Adelina and Irena sat beside the fountain’s circular base, holding hands and conversing. Adelina looked up at Silvana and Rafael’s approach. Her eyes lit brightly enough to crush what little was left of Silvana’s spirit. “Silvana!”

“Don’t I get a welcome too?” said Rafael.

Irena laughed and jumped to her feet. “Rafael.” She took his hands. “How did you sleep?”

“An uneven slumber.” Rafael led her to the base of the fountain, where they sat together. Silvana remained standing, her eyes fixed on the jets of water. There were four, each spouting from the pool before breaking into trembling tears that spilled back into the frothing basin.

“Silvana, will you sit with me?” Adelina patted the vacant stone beside her.

“I have something to tell you both,” Silvana said. No lyricism of delivery would make this easier—the direct approach was best. “Rafael and I have deceived you.”

Irena’s eyes widened and her mouth opened, while Adelina immediately seemed sullen and mistrustful. One heart opening in mercy, the other closing in doubt.

“Deceived us?” said Adelina. “What do you mean?”

“We have no wealth.” Silvana forced herself to match Adelina’s angry gaze. “Our estate is impoverished. The manor, last we saw it, is half-collapsed. The fields haven’t been tilled for a decade. The village is abandoned and left to ruin.”

“Is that true?” Irena turned to Rafael. “It’s not true, is it?”

Rafael averted his eyes. “It’s true.”

Adelina took a step forward, her face ashen. “But that means—”

“Yes,” said Silvana. “We conspired to mislead your parents. With Irena’s dowry, Rafael intended to rebuild the estate and make it profitable again.”

“So you used her.” Adelina’s knuckles whitened. “You used all of us.”

“You have to understand,” said Rafael, a strident plea in his voice. “It wasn’t for the money but for the family I long to have. It was never…” His voice caught. “Ira, please hear me out.”

Irena stared back at him, her eyes flooded with tears. “Rafael.”

“I’m impoverished. That’s the truth. But I do have a title, and I do own land. With your dowry, we could rebuild. Raise a family. It wouldn’t be easy, and if your parents knew the truth, they’d never allow us to be together. And perhaps they’d be right to refuse.” Rafael kissed Irena’s hand. “If I were a wiser man, a better man, I would have rebuilt my home before courting you. But I didn’t realize the cruelty in it, not to begin with.”

“Rafael, I love you. It doesn’t matter to me that you’re poor.” Irena clasped Rafael’s hands to her chest. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I’ll confess, I’m frightened at the thought of poverty, but what use is wealth without love?”

“So you’ll just lie for him?” Adelina whirled on her startled sister. “You’re going to elope with him to some pigsty and grub in the muck while he wastes your dowry on drink and dice, is that it?”

“It won’t be that way,” said Rafael. “Adelina, I never intended to hurt—”

“Be silent, you sniveling, deceitful shit. I can’t stand the sight of you touching her. She doesn’t understand what you’ve done, what this means for her. She’s too simpleminded. Promise her a baby and she’d forgive you murder.”

“Ada.” Irena’s lips trembled. “That is cruel, so cruel.”

“I don’t give a damn what you do, sister, but you’d be stupid not to turn him down right now. He manipulated you! He looked at you and all he saw was money!” Adelina turned to face Silvana, whose stomach clenched into a painful knot. “And you…you…”

“Ada, I—”

“You wicked, treacherous bitch.” Adelina advanced, her whole body trembling. “You looked me in the eye and told me that you were speaking the truth. You took advantage of my heart. And seconds later, you took advantage of my body as well! How can I trust a single word you’ve told me? How can I feel anything other than defiled?”

“But I do love you.” Silvana’s voice broke, and her tears ran freely. “Ada, nothing else, nothing else was a lie.”

“You would have sold your ring too, I suppose. Gone back with your brother the kidnapper and pawned it.” Adelina’s chest heaved with her fervid breathing. “I trusted you. I trusted you, and you made me seem a fool.” She spun on her heel and stared at the fountain. “This well grants wishes if you give it silver, doesn’t it, Ira?”

Irena said nothing. Her face trembled, and she clutched at Rafael’s tunic.

“Well, let’s say it does.” Adelina took the ring from her finger and flung it into the fountain. “I wish that Silvana were dead.”

A cold fatigue crept through Silvana’s body, numbing everything it touched. She reached for the only words that she had left. “Your father intends to marry you to Orfeo.”

“Another lie!” Adelina gave a wild laugh and turned the full burning force of her eyes onto Silvana. “He would never do that to me. He loves me.”

“It’s true, Ada. He knows about us. He knows about you.”

Adelina took a sharp breath. “You told him.”

“No! He could tell from your—”

“It wasn’t enough to destroy my sister. You wanted to destroy me as well.” Adelina stifled a sob, grimaced and wiped her eyes. “No. I won’t cry. I won’t let you have the pleasure of seeing me cry.”

“I’m telling you, Ada, I love you.” Silvana held out an unsteady hand. “Please.”

Adelina slapped Silvana’s hand away, and Silvana touched the stinging skin to her mouth. “And I’m telling you that I hate you,” said Adelina. “Don’t you understand anything about me at all? I thought we would be bound together in mutual adoration, teaching one another, consoling one another, stirring such hopes and passions that life’s horizon seemed limitless to us. Instead you proved to be like anyone else, moving me like a piece on a board.”

“But it was all true. Each time my breath met your skin, it was a promise. Every time my fingers touched your cheek, it was a vow. Every time my lips met yours, it was an oath. I do love you. I want you. Come with me and we’ll never be parted. I’ll be your salvation and you’ll be mine, and even the stars will wonder at the sight of us.”

Adelina closed her eyes. “I can’t tell what’s true from false anymore. I love you and I hate you, and I can’t live with you and I can’t live without you…” She opened her eyes, and her face grew calm. “What we had is broken, and so is the union between us. Never come near me again.”

“Adelina!” Silvana took another step forward, and Adelina slapped her cheek. Silvana stumbled back, her face smarting, and struggled to breathe through the tight knot in her throat. “Ada…”

Adelina sneered at Rafael, who seemed equally frozen. “I won’t tell our parents for Ira’s sake, but I wash my hands of you too, Baron. I wash my hands of everything. From this day forth I shall cease to care or love. I have no ambition, only bitterness. No dream, only empty existence.” She strode away through the garden, her head held high.

“I have to go to her,” Irena said. “I’ve never seen her like this. Not ever.”

“Go.” Rafael let Irena’s fingers slip from his hand, and she raced into the trees. “Well, Silvie, so much for leaving her without hurting her.”

Silvana tried to speak, but her tongue had sealed itself to the roof of her mouth. She steadied herself against dizziness and took a deep breath. “It’s for the best.”

“For the best? God above, did you see the same reaction I did?”

“If she had reacted any other way, she wouldn’t be the woman I love, so full of pride and defiance. I can only believe that her forgiveness will come in time.” Silvana touched her stinging cheek. Perhaps by design, it was the same cheek that bore the silver tree.

Rafael stood. “I’m so sorry, Silvie.” He drew Silvana into his arms. As her head met his chest, the numbness reached her heart, and she wept.

“Adelina, unlock the door!”

Adelina pulled her blanket over her head. “Go away, Ira.”

“But Ada!” Fists hammered at the door. “Don’t you understand? She meant everything she said!”

“I said to leave me alone. If you don’t, I’ll tell everyone our new secret.”

The knocking stopped. After a moment of silence, a sob echoed in the corridor, followed by the sound of receding footsteps. Adelina pushed her face into her pillow and commanded herself to die. As if to prove her powerlessness, her body continued to stubbornly draw breath. How had it ended this way? This morning she’d woken in a rapture of love, and now…

God, had she really wished for Silvana’s death? What if it came true? Adelina shuddered and drew the blanket tight around her body. If only she could stay here forever wrapped in darkness.

Thinking of those sweet, lying lips.

She closed her eyes and waited. Finally, darkness filled her mind and tossed her senses into turmoil. And in that chaos, a dream bloomed.

Tipu was neither boy nor girl, would never become man nor woman, and was divine because of it. Tipu bowed to the princess, who smiled at her new friend.

“
You were not born of your mother, princess,” said Tipu. “You were born of the heavens.”

“
The heavens?” The princess frowned. “But how can that be?”

“
Some things in the cosmos simply are. There’s no need to ask how.”

“
There’s always need to ask how.”

Tipu laughed, a sound like a thousand bells chiming together. “I can’t answer you, but I can show you. Will you come with me?”

The princess pointed to her emerald-studded diadem. “I’m a princess. If I go, who will take my place? My mother and father will mourn for me. The children I play with will find new friends. The palace will be too quiet without the music of my wandering feet.”

“
Have no fear. Time will wait for your return.” Tipu took the princess by the hand. “Many are the suffering hearts that long for respite. They wait for you to bring peace to the world and water to the desert.” Tipu soared, and the princess trailed behind, her dress and its silk train billowing behind her.

A voice shivered, like something dead and old.

The blood will call.

Nightmare descended.

A tree rose before Adelina, its branches splayed like antlers. Silvana sat in its limbs. “Old roots wend deep, Adelina,” she said, and a many-fingered breeze tousled her auburn hair. “I feel this night will never end.”

Adelina approached the base of the tree. Tipu held her hand tightly. “Silvana, what do you long for most?”

“
That which we all do.” The wind snatched a tear from Silvana’s lashes. “Death.”

Adelina turned to Tipu. “Tell me, Tipu. What do I do? I don’t want her to die.”

“
Then let her live,” said Tipu. “Walk forever beneath the canopies, night wanderers swathed in starlight, lovers locked until time’s cessation.”

Silvana walked along one of the tree’s gnarled branches. At its end hung the silhouette of a noose. She crouched and placed her hand upon the rope’s hoary knot. “I give myself in sacrifice to be in your embrace.”

“
No!” Adelina stretched out her hand. “Silvana!”

Her beautiful dryad, those dark and knowing eyes…

Silvana lowered the noose over her head, as reverent as if she were being crowned.“I love you.”

Not the voice of a nightmare now, but the last breath of the woman she loved.

The silhouette fell…

Adelina woke, her body covered in sweat, as a torrent of angry knocking shook the door.

“Adelina!” Oh, God. It was Mother. “Explain why you refuse to answer your door!”

Adelina threw aside her blankets and unlocked the door. It opened to reveal a furious apparition in black. “Thank you, Adelina,” Mother said, her voice expressing far more menace than gratitude. “It is almost noon, and you’re still in bed. Why?”

“Noon?” Adelina looked at the window. Sure enough, a strong noon’s light passed through its open shutters. “I fell asleep, Mother, with the door locked.”

“Why in Creation would you lock it, girl? Do you not feel safe in your own home?”

“It’s open now, isn’t it?” Adelina tried to match her mother’s stare but ended up looking at her feet. “It’s not like I did something so terribly wrong. It is my room.”

“And your sister’s, so you have no right to lock her out of it.” Mother clutched Adelina’s shoulder with her thin hand. “Daughter, your father and I need to discuss a matter with you in his study. Follow me.”

“A matter?”

“Yes, girl, a matter.” Mother’s grip tightened. “Don’t protest. The sooner we discuss this, the better.”

Adelina nodded, and Mother released her. They walked together through the sun-soaked corridors, through carpeted hallways and into her father’s study. Father waited behind his desk, his face slack. Adelina’s entrance did nothing to lift his expression.

“Adelina,” he said. “Good afternoon.”

“Father.” Adelina tensed. When Father spoke so formally, it never ended well for her. “Is something wrong?”

Mother stood beside the desk. “You tell us, child. You’re the one who locked herself in her room.”

“Is that what this is about?”