Hyacinth (20 page)

Thomas
continued, “What we did to those clans, despite it being against our will, was
horrendous. Sending our people to negotiate peace will likely only result in
their deaths.”

Selene contained
a deep sigh and just barely restrained herself from drumming her fingers on the
table. “Are you suggesting that we just sit back and wait to be attacked?”

“Obviously there
are no easy answers here,” Thomas conceded. “I think that first we need to have
a clear leader.”

Selene paled. It
was as if Thomas had just slapped her across the face.

“Exactly!”
Xavier slapped his hand down on the table.

“Let me guess. You
nominate yourself?” Charlie, another Council member, spoke up, eyebrow raised.

“No,” Xavier replied,
but Selene knew he was lying. Smugness settled over him as he saw that he had
the full attention of the Council. “I suggest a union of our two strongest
families, which, at the same time, will provide us with a true alpha to lead
us.”

“What, exactly,
are you suggesting, Xavier?” Oren asked impatiently.

“I’m suggesting
that Selene marry my son, Desmond.”

*****

Selene couldn’t
breathe. Something was weighing on her chest, crushing her lungs, and she just
couldn’t get any air in. Sheer, unadulterated panic was consuming her. And she
couldn’t stop it.

I knew the
Council had little faith in me, but this?

As much as she
liked Desmond, Selene knew she couldn’t be tied to someone who wasn’t her
te’sorthene. She ran a hand through her thick hair and pulled it back from her
face as she weighed her options.

Silently gliding
through the hallways of the castle, appearing her normal serene self, Selene
made her way to the chamber where Angelica was sitting vigil with their still
unconscious visitor. She let herself into the room and closed the door. Then
she made her way over to the bed and gazed at the girl’s sweet face.

Angelica closed
her book and looked up.

“Any change?”
Selene asked.

Angelica shook
her head. “No. She continues to sleep peacefully and without any movement. No
worse. No better.” Tilting her head to the side, she continued, “But you didn’t
come here for her this time.”

Selene gave the
other woman a tired look as she smoothed a nonexistent wrinkle out of the
comforter on the bed. “No,” she agreed.

“You’re upset
about something and needed calming.”

“Yes.”

Angelica pursed
her lips. Then she shrugged and returned to her reading. “Okay.”

Twenty minutes
later, Selene slowly made her way back to her own room. Lila and Ellie wouldn’t
be there for another half hour or so, and she was extremely grateful for the
privacy as she closed the heavy doors behind her. She slumped down on the bed and
buried her face in her shaking hands.

What the hell
should I do?

“They gave you a
rough time, huh?” Griffin’s deep voice caused Selene to spring to her feet with
a shocked gasp.

The one person
she’d been desperate to see the last few months was now lurking in a dark
corner of her room. All of the hurt and frustration of the day, of the last many
weeks, welled up and exploded on the person who had abandoned her.

“What are
you
doing here?” she spat at him.

Griffin ignored
her question. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Do about
what
?”

“The Council?
The pressure for you to marry? The danger your people face?”

Once again the
feeling of panic overwhelmed Selene, stealing the breath from her lungs.

“I don’t know,”
she stated in a lifeless voice.

“You do know,”
Griffin countered.

Selene stormed
over to him. “Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know, Griffin Aubrey. You
haven’t been here. I… don’t… know…what…to …do!” Her small fists pounded his
chest with each word.

Suddenly, Selene
stopped her assault. She took a deep breath and stepped back, her face
regaining its serene expression, even as her hands flailed around.

 “I can’t… I
can’t…”

Griffin very
gently took her face in his hands, centering her focus on him. “Yes, you can.
You know what to do, Selene.
Lead
your people. Help them survive this.
Help them find their way. Be the alpha that they need. I know you have it in
you.”

“They don’t want
me.”

“They
need
you,” Griffin insisted. His steady strength reached through to her, filling
her. “And I … we will be here with you, every step of the way.”

Selene gulped.
She desperately wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him. She needed
him
.

She lowered her
gaze and let out a small chuckle.

“Where have you
been?”

Ellie’s voice
sounded from across the room. “That’s a very good question. Any luck?”

Griffin shook
his head and headed over to give his sister a hug.

“Any luck with
what?” Selene glanced back and forth between the twins.

“Griffin!” Lila
squealed, rushing to greet him. Adelaide offered him a shy smile.

“Where have you
been?” Adelaide repeated Selene’s question.

Griffin offered
a slightly crooked smile to the girls. “It’d probably be best if we gathered
the entire family.”

A knock sounded
at Selene’s door, and she opened it to find Desmond standing there. A lock of
his golden hair fell into his eyes. He pushed it back with a casual hand.

Her face
hardening with irritation, Selene moved to slam the door in his face, only to
have him stick out his foot and block it. In an uncharacteristically serious
voice he said, “I had nothing to do with that suggestion, Selene. You have to
believe me.”

“Do I?” She
tilted her chin and met his gaze with steely resolve. “I’d like you to leave.”

“Can we just
talk for a— ” He broke off and glanced over Selene’s shoulder where Griffin now
stood beside her, his hand on the door.

“Can we help
you?” he asked.

Selene fumed and
crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t quite sure which of these two men
she was angrier with at the moment.

“Desmond,
Griffin. Griffin, Desmond.” She waved an irritated hand between the two men.

“Desmond,”
Griffin gave a quick nod. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too, Gary,”
Desmond replied,

“
Griffin
,”
Selene corrected him with a frown.

Desmond’s eyes
cut back to Selene. “Can we talk? Please?”

Her lips
tightened. “Maybe later, Desmond.”

Ignoring
Griffin, he leaned in closer. “It’s Dez. And I’ll hold you to that.” He turned
and walked back down the corridor. Selene softly closed the door behind him.
She’d thought he was her friend. With a small sigh and a shake of her head, she
turned back to the others.

“All right.
Let’s get the rest of the family in here. Apparently, Griffin needs to tell us
what he’s been up to.”

As she finished
speaking, Charlotte appeared, accompanied by Dexter, Hugh, and Nate. “Griffin, you
scared me half to death popping into my head so suddenly like that,” Charlotte
gently chastised him while giving him a hug. “I didn’t even know you were
back.” She then disappeared to gather Ramsey, Lucy, and Alex. Once everyone had
been collected, all eyes turned to Griffin.

A grim solemnity
settled over Griffin. He stood behind Ellie’s chair and grasped the back of it
with his hands.

“No good,” he
said simply.

“What was no
good? Can someone please explain to me what is going on?” Selene demanded, her
patience wearing thin.

“Griffin has
been out trying to negotiate with the clans that Maddox has infiltrated,” Ellie
answered.

Selene’s shocked
gaze darted to Griffin, who merely shrugged. “I thought I might be able to show
them the truth and defuse this situation before it escalated.”

“Were you able
to find any of them?” Alex asked.

“Yes, a few. I
found one clan in Brazil, one in Egypt, a couple across Europe, and one in
Louisiana.”

“Wait.” Selene
held up a hand, “How did you find them?”

“Oren and Sheila
have been helping me locate them,” Griffin admitted.

Selene absorbed
that piece of information in silence, repressing her annoyance at being kept in
the dark. She motioned for him to continue.

“Most of the
tribes refused to speak with me. The Louisiana clan, who are holed up in a
swamp, by the way, sicced a metamorph on me. So I would say they were rather
hostile.”

“What kind of
metamorph?”

“An alligator.”

“Awesome!” Nate
crowed. “Ellie, you gotta touch that guy so you can be an alligator, too. Add
it to your list.”

Griffin wasn’t
amused. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t so awesome when I didn’t have the option to fly
away. Ellie was too far away for me to use her falcon.”

“Still think
it’s pretty cool,” Nate muttered. Adelaide gave him a gentle nudge.

“Something I
don’t understand, though,” Griffin continued, “is that all three clans appeared
to be fairly large. I’m talking twenty-five, fifty, even a hundred in number.
How is that possible? I thought Gideon would’ve found them for sure.”

Selene cleared
her throat. “I hid them from him,” she admitted. “Or more accurately, I hid
them from Sheila.”

“But Sheila
found us,” Hugh pointed out.

“And I thought
you could only hide small numbers of
Svatura
,” Alex added.

Selene folded
her hands neatly in her lap and sat up straight. “I knew about those clans because
we’d attacked them before,” she explained. “When I started hiding the survivors
from Sheila’s watch, as I did with you—” Her eyes flicked to Ellie and Griffin.
“They were in very small numbers. But they quickly banded together with others.
I found that my powers to keep them off Sheila’s radar grew with their numbers.
As long as I knew about them first, I could hide them.”

She let that
sink in for a moment. “And to respond to your comment, Hugh, if I wasn’t aware
of someone to hide, Sheila usually found them before I did. That’s how she
found you first. I would’ve protected you if I could have. I hope you all know
that.”

“Of course we
do, sweetie.” Lucy crossed the room to sit beside Selene and hug her. “We trust
you. It’s just that there are things we’re all still learning about each
other.”

Selene managed a
small smile.

“My Lady.”
Oren’s ghostly projection appeared in the center of the room. Looking around
the faces, he paused a moment at Griffin to offer him a brief nod. To Selene,
he said, “My Lady, urgent news. Samuel believes an attack is imminent! He
thinks whoever is about to attack is just waiting for warmer weather.”

“Who’s Samuel?”
Dexter asked.

“He has the gift
of prophecy,” Selene explained. She glanced back at Oren. “Gather the Council.
I’ll be there directly.”

Oren gave a
small bow and disappeared.

Selene turned to
the others. “Hugh, please fill Griffin in on the plan we’ve been practicing.
Lila, Ellie, let’s get started. We only have twenty minutes or so.”

“Get started on
what?” Griffin asked.

Adelaide
laughed. “It’s between us girls.”

Once the room
was cleared, Selene, Ellie, Lila, and Adelaide sat on the floor in a circle and
held hands. Closing their eyes, Ellie and Lila started immediately. First Ellie
pulled some of Lila’s ice-blue light into herself. Rather than either of them
having control, they both worked together, giving the power a strengthened
effect.

“You see it?”
Lila asked.

“Whoa!” Ellie exclaimed.
“You’re right. A deep black scar slashing across her. Selene, I am so sorry for
whatever put this here. Whatever it was must have been terrible.”

“Yeah…” Selene
murmured, a blush staining her cheeks. She disliked sharing anything about
herself. “Can you fix it?”

“In the short
amount of time we have, probably not. I think this will take a lot of sessions
to work through.”

Selene deflated
a little. She’d hoped…

“But we can do a
little something tonight to help you with the Council,” Ellie continued. “I
suspect that your personality is naturally strong-willed, given all you’ve
survived. Even if we can heal just a little of that wound, I think that would
give you the boost you’re looking for.”

Selene smiled,
surprised at how pleased she was with the idea. “I’d appreciate anything you
can do.”