Keepers of the Flame (53 page)

She
snapped
back to Lladrana, to the springy ground of the Brithenwood Garden. Sevair’s
strong arms caught her close. His heart thumped fast. His body was hard. His
Song beautiful and mind filling and wild. She held on tight, hugged him, then
turned her head so she could breathe.

She
met Faucon’s gaze. His eyes were hard and desperate, wounded. His face went
expressionless. He turned on his heel and left. Oh, God! Bri knew how he hurt.

How
she hurt. No more parents or twin. Not in this world.

“I
love you, Bri,” Sevair murmured in her ear. He didn’t let her go. His melody
and hers joined, twined together, harmonized.

“I
love you, too,” she said, and all the love inside her ached.

40

F
aucon didn’t
stumble away from the garden. He wanted to. But he’d been too damn well trained
for that. He marched from the garden and Sevair embracing Bri. Opened the door,
ducked through, and closed it behind him without looking at them.

Elizabeth
was gone. Had not loved him enough to stay, to abandon that career she’d worked
so hard and long for. To forsake those parents whom he’d glimpsed, love for
their daughters radiant on their faces.

Those
were good reasons to return to Exotique Terre, Earth, but didn’t help the
ripping inside him.

She’d
chosen another man. That thought was as bitter as brine in a wound. The ivory
box and bonding knife passed down through his family for centuries dragged in
his belt pouch like a heavy stone. He’d wanted to fling it away, never see it
again, but he hadn’t done so, of course.

Now
he stood in the maze and was glad that high hedges shielded him, though they
reminded him of that first night he’d made love with Elizabeth.

“Faucon.”

He
flinched, saw Luthan in his white leathers round the corner of the path from
the keep. “I’m sorry,” Luthan said.

Faucon
didn’t move. For one of the few times in his life he was unsure where he wanted
to go and what he wanted to do. The keep? Other Exotiques. Elizabeth’s rooms.
No. The Landing Field and fly away? Tempting.

“You
saw this future, didn’t you?” His voice didn’t sound the way it should. Not
melodious. Brittle.

“I
saw several futures regarding the Snap. Both twins go. Both stay. Bri stays,
Elizabeth goes. Elizabeth stays, Bri leaves.” Luthan waved a hand.

Faucon
didn’t bother to sort out those shadings. His mind wasn’t working. He was all
hurt. He’d loved Elizabeth.

“Tell
me, is a woman
ever
going to love me for myself like I love her!”
Anguish wrenched from him. Luthan froze beside him, and Faucon realized his
heartfelt plea had been said at the wrong time to the wrong person. Slowly he
turned his head. Yes, the man was in that far-seeing, Song spiking, strange
trance of prophecy.

Faucon
waited, unable to stop what he’d put in motion. Torn. He wanted the answer with
desperate hope. He never wanted to hear a truthful answer on the subject
because a negative might be a killing blow.

Luthan
made a strangling noise, turned his head and their gazes clashed. Luthan’s eyes
had turned silver!

“Ayes,”
Luthan said. “Ayes. You will have a love and she will have you. But in the end
you may rue. For with great love there can be great loss.” He laughed hollowly,
his shoulders hunching like an old man’s. “The same for me.” His head turned
again and his gaze went to the pathway to the keep.

Faucon
spun, tensed, hand on his sword.

“You,
too, Koz,” Luthan croaked. “You’ll have a love like that, too.”

The
large man stepped from the shadows. His lips twitched up in more grimace than
grin. “Thanks for nothing,” he said. Since it didn’t make sense, Faucon figured
it was an Exotique Terre saying. He never wanted to hear anything like that
again.

“What
happened?” Koz asked. “Everyone heard the Snap come.”

“Bri
stayed. With Sevair Masif. Elizabeth returned….”

“…home,”
Koz said softly. “She returned to the place that is home in her heart. To the
life that is right for her.”

A
growl issued from Faucon and he didn’t stop it, let it rip from him. He leapt
at Koz and Koz held on to him. Luthan put an iron arm around him, too. For a
moment the other men shared his sorrow, then Faucon stepped away.

He
didn’t care what Luthan had said about future love and grief. That didn’t
concern him now, wouldn’t for a long, long time, if ever. He didn’t feel like
risking his heart again.

B
ri woke to
snoring. Sevair was sprawled in her bed—their bed? One of his arms was
outflung, the other was around her, hand on her breast.

Huh.

Memories
returned with a sweet, horrible ache.

She
was never going back to Earth. She was stuck here in Lladrana, on Amee. A
little voice of panic screamed in the back of her mind.

Already
she could feel the difference of being Bri-After-The-Snap. Earth’s Song was but
a lingering kiss of blessing, Amee’s Song welled through her quietly, not
strong. That was why she was here. To free the planet from the Dark.

Which
would mean she’d be in that last battle at the Dark’s nest, loosing the
spellknot. A shiver went through her and Sevair mumbled, drew her close.

But
Bri wanted to torture herself. No, just wanted to make sure Elizabeth’s mirror
was working, both their mirrors were working. She’d have to move all
Elizabeth’s Lladranan things here, especially the hand mirror. That flipped the
sadness switch on again and tears backed behind Bri’s eyes. She didn’t turn to
Sevair, but slid from his arms, tiptoed to the door and down one floor to her
den-home-office. There she went to the beautiful desk she’d moved from the
house—and what was going to happen to the house, now? Opened the drawer and
removed the magic mirror from the silk sleeve Koz had made.

It
was dark. She held it in her hand. Wondering. Not daring, but hoping.
“Abracadabra,” she whispered.

Sunshine
from the skylight bathed Elizabeth’s living room. Later than Bri thought, then.
Bri tilted the mirror, saw the tangle of naked bodies on the floor and a
strangled sound caught in her throat. She stared. Cassidy covered most of
Elizabeth.

He
had a fine back and butt, though looked as if he’d lost weight. Served him
right.

Okay.
Don’t be a peeping Thomasina. Put the mirror away. Obviously the mirror worked,
visual at least, from her side. She snickered. Then she looked down at herself
and realized she was nude, too. Well, that might have been an all-around
awkward conversation.

“Signing
off.” Her knees went weak, she sank into the desk chair, felt the velvet on her
bare bottom. Would have taken her a while to work up to handcrafted furniture
in Colorado. She wiggled a little. Yeah, the velvet was excellent. Gray velvet,
Sevair’s color. She smiled.

She
stroked the satin wood of the desktop, traced the pretty inlay of woods. Yes,
this would have been far out of her price range in Colorado. She might never
have had enough money to buy museum-quality furnishings. The best of the best.
The colorful tatts on her left wrist caught her eye. The colors were brilliant,
now. Elizabeth’s caduceus. Zeres’ shield, faded. Alexa’s jade baton, Calli’s
volaran, Marian’s book.

Bri
would be adding Sevair’s hammer. Tingles slipped along every nerve. Good thing
she was sitting down. A thought snagged and she grabbed the mirror again. Had
she seen…? “Abracadabra.” She focused on Elizabeth’s inner arm, her left. Yes!
Not as bright as Bri’s, of course, and they might fade even more with time, but
Bri didn’t think Elizabeth’s bonding tatts would ever vanish. That comforted
her a little. She swallowed. No, she’d never see Elizabeth again, but, the Song
willing, they wouldn’t be out of touch for the rest of their lives.

The
length of Bri’s life might only be a few months. If that was so, she’d better
go back up and pounce on the man in her bedroom.

One
last thing.

She
and Elizabeth had wanted a mirror in their parents’ home. Bossgond had sent
another large mirror for that purpose through to Elizabeth’s place. Their
parents had been there last night, during the Snap—and what a blessing that had
been, to see them one more time.

So
her folks would have taken their mirror home and activated it. Any one of the
Drystans would have done that under the circumstances.

What
had been the spell word for that one? Open sesame? Open sez me? Alakazam?
Mirror, mirror on the wall? They’d joked about it. Bri scrabbled in the drawer
for the bit of paper Koz had given her, found it, smoothed it from a crumpled
state.

“Laugh.”
It said.

Laugh.
That was
stupid
.

How
could she laugh under these circumstances? Bri muttered “fuck,” under her
breath. She settled herself, tried to think of something humorous, touched the
mirror. And recalled the startled wonder of seeing Elizabeth flying on her
volaran outside the coach window, hair and clothes wild, face rapturous,
screaming with laughter at her.

Bri
laughed.

Her
mirror cleared, showed the book-lined family room where they’d celebrated her
father’s birthday so very long ago. The night they’d been Summoned to Lladrana.

The
room was empty, and from the view, the mirror hung over the fireplace, easy to
see the whole room.

Breath
blew from Bri. She tried to recollect the day or date, but couldn’t.
Elizabeth’s day timer would be in her tower suite and turned to the proper day,
previous ones marked off.

She’d
get Elizabeth’s stuff. Soon. And take up the habit of knowing when it was on
Earth—just to be able to look in on holidays, if nothing else.

Her
face was wet with tears. If this was a work day, and it probably was, her
parents would be gone by now. She glanced at the clock, flipped the image in
her mind. Seven-thirty. She’d just missed them.

How
she would have loved to have been there when Elizabeth explained everything
that had happened!

Pictures!
She hopped up, hurried over to the safe and opened it, took out some of the
prints. Her and Elizabeth in their medica robes. Temple Ward of the Castle.
Sevair. Volarans.

Her
mirror wasn’t big enough to handle them all. So she picked the one of Sevair.

“Abracadabra.”
To Elizabeth first. Bri turned the pic over, placed it on the mirror, said a
sticky spell.

There!
She felt better. She could share.

A
little cough echoed in her mind.

You
should have given them a picture of me,
Nuare said.

I
don’t think—

I
am in the cul de sac. You could image me and your tower for your family.

A
good idea. Bri flung on some clothes, got her pack from the window ledge where
it was charging her camera.

She
ran down the cool stone steps and flung open the door. There was Nuare,
preening. She snapped a shot, three, then lowered the camera. “You look better
in the sunlight.”

True
. Then Nuare
rocked back on her feet and opened her wings.

Bri
knew an offer for a hug when she saw one. She ran to the large bird, was
enfolded.

I
am glad you didn’t leave. I would have mourned.

Bri
stuttered, “Thank you.” Then wept.

After
a couple of minutes, Bri became aware of soft breast feathers sticking to her
face, tickling her nose. She sniffed.

“Bri!
Bri! Bridgid Elizabeth!” Sevair’s fearful roar reached them. “No. She didn’t
go. She stayed with me. Not a nightmare.” He ran from the tower buck naked,
plucked her from Nuare, lifted her to sizzle a kiss on her lips. Holding her up
against him with one arm, he brushed her hair from her face with a trembling
hand. “You’re here. You’re with me. You’re mine.”

“Ayes,”
Bri managed. It was good to feel his arms, stopped the anxiety lingering in the
back of her mind.

Ayes,
she is Amee’s,
said Nuare smugly.

“Giving
the neighbors a show,” Bri said.

“I
don’t care,” he mumbled into her hair, but belying his words, he backed inside
and slammed the front door shut with Power.

Murmuring
soothing reassurances to himself and her, he carried her back up into the
bedroom, then stood near the bed and went to the dresser.

“I
love you,” Sevair said. He stared at her.

Well,
she was here, and with him. “I love you, too.”

He
came back with the little box that held the small, fancy knife. Bri’s throat
closed again. A lot of that happening this morning. Last night. The whole damn
time. Too many huge decisions driven by huge emotions. Or vice versa. And her
mind was chittering.

Setting
a strong hand on her shoulder, he gave a push and her knees obligingly buckled
and she was back to sitting on the bed.