King 03 - Restless (14 page)

“Nonsense.” Caroline leveled that blue gaze at me. “We had hoped to enjoy your company at dinner this weekend, but we will take advantage of this happy unexpected opportunity tonight. Would you like to call your parents, dear, to let them know where you are?” 

I knew Rafe had never mentioned that his grandmother possessed mind hearing ability, but she somehow anticipated my every objection. I found myself out on the terrace, using my cell phone to call my mother. She was surprised to hear where I was, and I detected worry in her voice, but it was easier to convince her that I had to stay to have dinner with the Brooks’ than it was to persuade Caroline Brooks that I had to go home.

“All set?” Rafe asked when I stepped back in through the open glass door.

“Yeah. I told her I’d stopped over to drop something off for you, and your grandmother insisted that I stay. Partly true, at least.” 

Rafe grinned. “Yes, Gram doesn’t take no for an answer—not often, anyway. So we’ve got a half hour to kill before we eat—what should be do?” His eyes were bright and teasing, and I clearly heard the direction of his thoughts.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Now that I know how observant your grandmother is? No, thanks. I think I’ll sit far away from you.” I chose the chair Rafe had vacated earlier. 

“Then I’ll just sit with you.” He nudged me over and sank into the deep cushions, pulling me with him. I sat up and gave him a reproving glare, but he only laughed at me again and shook his head.

“Okay, how about conversation? Why don’t you tell me what you learned today? What did you practice with the witch?”

I decided to ignore his jibe, since he probably had every right to dislike Marica after her accusations this afternoon. I was still confused about Marica’s motivation there, but I’d deal with that issue later.

I smiled at Rafe, realizing I was excited to tell him what I’d done. It occurred to me that he was the only person who might actually share my sense of accomplishment.

“Rafe, I cast fire. We were out in the clearing by Lake Rosu, and I made a triangle out of stones, and I made a fire! At first just a little smoke, but then a real one, with flames and heat and everything.” Just remembering the energy gave me a new sense of exultation.

“You did? Really? By yourself?” Rafe was duly impressed, and if I detected a little doubtful worry, I pushed it aside.

“Yes.  Well, pretty much. Marica gave me a little push—she said it was more a steadying than anything else. I couldn’t believe it.” 

Rafe ran a hand along my spine, and I shivered. “Could you do it now?” he asked.

“Now? Here? You mean in your grandparents’ yard?” I twisted to look out through the doors. The sun had well and truly set now, and I could only see the shadows of the trees and bushes outside.

“No, here in the fireplace. See, right over there.” Rafe pointed to the corner, where a white marble mantle topped a bricked fireplace. I looked at him doubtfully.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to miss and burn the house down.” 

“You won’t. Come on, I want to see.”

There wasn’t anyone else in the world besides Marica who appreciated and understood how much this meant to me. That Rafe was eager to see me demonstrate my new talent endeared him to me all the more. 

“I’m going to need stones, I think,” I told him. “Three. And I hope this works. You know, the spot at Lake Rosu has the mystical convergence thing going for it, so maybe that’s the only place I can make it happen.” 

Rafe waved away my concern. “If you can do it there, you can do it here,” he told me. “Come on. There are some decorative rocks right on the edge of the patio.” 

I found three stones that seemed to be the right size and arranged them in the fireplace. I stood back, about six feet away, and I glanced apprehensively at Rafe. 

“Are you sure this is a good idea? What will your grandparents think?” 

Rafe laughed. “They’ll only be mad they missed the show. Believe me, Tas, stranger things have happened in this house. Don’t worry.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating. I focused on picturing the flames I’d created that afternoon, feeling their heat, hearing their pop and crackle, smelling the smoke… when I felt that the energy had built up sufficiently, I gathered it in my mind and cast it toward the fireplace, as hard as I could. 

I opened my eyes, and Rafe was still looking at me expectantly. I made a face at him. 

“See, maybe I can’t do it… okay. Wait a minute. Marica said emotions were a big part of casting fire, of anything elemental.” I thought for a moment and then made a decision. “Rafe, come here.” When he was standing next to me, a quizzical expression on his face, I moved him so that he stood between me and the fireplace.

“Hey, wait a second, I don’t want to be between you and where the fire is supposed to be.” His genuine alarm made me smugly confident in what I was about to do.

“Don’t worry. If this works, the fire will be in the right place, and you’ll be… fine.” I glanced up at him through lowered eyelashes. “Kiss me, Rafe.” 

“What?” I felt his incredulity and suspicion in equal measures.

“You heard me. Kiss me. The emotion will help me build up enough energy.”

Rafe raised his eyebrows at me and grinned. “Okay. Anything for a good cause.” He tilted my face up and covered my lips. This time there was no tentative beginning; this time there was only an explosion of our senses. I struggled to pull everything I felt—my rapidly beating heart, my spinning head—into the focus of the fire. I pictured the fire in the fireplace this time, I saw it, felt it, smelled it—

“Gah!” Rafe released me abruptly and jumped away. “What was that?” I took a step back to regain my own balance and caught my breath. When Rafe looked at me with one raised questioning brow, I merely pointed.

In the pretty white fireplace, a fire burned merrily.

Hi, Tas. I was thinking about you all day. Do you know how hard I’m trying to stop that? Everyone is telling me to move on. But everyone doesn’t know how much I love you. And I always will. Call me, Tasmyn.

I lay in the relative dark of my room on Tuesday morning, trying to make myself get out of bed. I had been up late the night before: dinner at the Brooks had run late, and then I had to deal with my parents when I got home. That wasn’t something I wanted to think about again.

But eating with Caroline and William Brooks had been very entertaining and informative, and worth all the grief I took from my parents over my late arrival home and what they termed my “irresponsible failure to plan ahead”. 

It was Lucie who called us into dinner, in the traditional way. We followed her out through the dimmed foyer down a hall and into a large and imposing dining room. The table was set for five, and I immediately felt intimidated. 

Rafe must have picked up on my nerves, because he grabbed my hand as we sat down at the table. But within a few moments, all of my preconceptions vanished. 

“So, doing a little fire casting?” William Brooks looked down the table at Rafe and me, beaming at us over his glasses. 

I didn’t know how to answer and slid my eyes sideways to Rafe, who was serenely spooning broccoli onto his plate.  

“Yep,” he said, not even looking up. “It was pretty amazing. Gramps, you should have felt the energy that went through me.”

“I can imagine.” Gramps cut a piece of chicken and looked at me with interest. “Just getting a handle on it, are you?” 

I felt as though I had stepped into some bizarre world. These people were sitting around me talking about the most outrageous things without blinking. I could tell they were all blocking their thoughts, but it seemed as though it was done more out of courtesy to me than suspicion. 

“Gram, Gramps, you’ve got to remember this is a little odd to Tasmyn. She’s not from one of the old families.” Rafe patted my shoulder.

“Yes, that’s true. I’m sorry, Tasmyn. All of this is just part of our lives, always has been. Rafe tells us that your parents aren’t quite so… open to everything. We could certainly change the subject if it would make you more comfortable.” Caroline smiled at me.

“Actually, I’d love to hear more about it. I’m interested in the history of King, and not many people are willing to talk about it.” 

A series of glances were traded around the table. Lucie cleared her throat quietly, but it was William who spoke.

“The real history of King is not general knowledge, Tasmyn. It’s always there, you understand, but we don’t like to talk about it too much. Some of the old families are very resistant to their own history, to owning it. That’s why so much of the power has been lost over the generations.”

I wasn’t sure if William meant to put me off or encourage me, so I merely nodded. Dinner proceeded, but the conversation stuck to safe and normal subjects. 

Afterwards, Rafe offered to drive me home, but I reminded him that I had my car.

“I could still drive you home,” he smiled. “And then pick you up for school tomorrow. After school you could come home with me and pick up your car.”

“That seems like a lot to go through. I’ll be fine. But thanks.” We were standing just inside the door; I had already thanked all the Brooks for a lovely dinner and said good night. 

Rafe smoothed my hair and then ran his hands down my back, drawing me closer. “I don’t mind doing anything to keep you safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” I repeated. I stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, but Rafe shifted at the last minute and caught my mouth. He moved his hands to my shoulders to hold me steady. When I came up for a breath, he smiled.

“I should have asked if it was safe to kiss you without getting knocked out again,” he joked.

“You’re safe,” I answered, slipping out of his arms and opening the door. As I stepped out, tossing him one last glance, I added, “For now anyway.” His laugh echoed in my ears as I got in my car and drove home.

The snooze alarm went off for the third time, jolting me out of my musings, and I groaned, swinging my legs out of bed. I had a full day ahead of me in school, including my tutoring sessions with my new students right before lunch. It was proving more difficult than I had anticipated to keep track of who knew what about my life. My parents and Amber thought I was working after school and no longer had any contact with Marica. Only Amber knew the true reason for my break up with Michael. And Rafe was the only one with knowledge of my training under Marica. It made my head spin.

At school that day, Rafe was friendly and attentive without being too touchy feely, although it seemed that he just couldn’t help himself at times. He draped an arm around me as we walked down the hall, held my hand at lunch and touched my hair now and then, but he didn’t try to kiss me. I worked harder to block the thoughts around me, and that made it an easier day, too.

My tutoring session went pretty well. I met the two freshmen and three sophomores in the library. I managed to cover the material and answer their questions, and my pupils all seemed happy with that.

As I stood at my locker after the final bell, Rafe slid up beside me. “Hey. How did your day go?”

I smiled. “Pretty well. Still tired, but I got through it, anyway. How about you?”

“Yeah, it was fine. Listen, are you going to talk to the witch today? You know, about what she told you I’d done?”

I glanced around. “Rafe, please. Don’t call her that, not here. And no, not today. I’ll see her on Monday at her house.”

He frowned, and I could tell that he was holding back on saying more. I closed my locker and leaned back against it. “What’s wrong, Rafe? You’ve shut me out again, so I don’t know unless you tell me.” 

He shrugged and leaned next to me. “Nothing. I just don’t trust her. And I guess I worry that you believed her so easily. What if she decides to really push the issue? She doesn’t like me.”

“You’re not wrong there,” I agreed. “But it isn’t just you. She doesn’t like men overall. She says you’re all trying to deny us our power.” When Rafe rolled his eyes, I shook my head. “I know it sounds strange, but that’s how she sees it. I think she hasn’t had much luck with men.”