Love lines (38 page)

“I promise, I will try very hard,” I replied. “Thank you
for your words of support and encouragement. It really means so much, since
nobody can understand what is going on inside of me better than you.”

“You can call me any time if you need anything. I am
often away, but will spend the next few weeks in Dever, so you can always find
me.”

“Are you staying because of me?”

Frederick stared at me thoughtfully.

“Not exactly,” finally, he said. “Recently, a lot of
things have happened, which has caused concern, so it’s important that we all
stay together.”

“Yes, you are right. Well, it was nice to meet you and
talk to,” I said rising.

“It has been a great pleasure to meet you, Eileen,” he
said. I thought he would just shake my hand, but instead, he stepped closer and
hugged me tightly, like some close relative. I didn’t know why, but I was
pleased. So I hugged him back.

“Am I intruding?” Christian asked, entering the library.

“Of course, not,” said Frederick. “I’ve already taken a
lot of time from you two,” he added with a smile. Christian smiled back and
walked up to me putting his arm around my waist.

“I won’t ever feel I have enough time with her,” he said
looking into my eyes. There was so much love and tenderness in the depth of his
emerald oceans, I could barely breath, being mesmerized by their beauty.

“I understand you,” said Frederick smiling thoughtfully.
Then he turned around and left. Something in his tone surprised me. The
impression was that I had just seen the most miserable person in the world. His
eyes were sad, and the same sadness mirrored in his voice. Even though I
couldn’t still see the aura, I knew that what I felt was true.

“It's sad that he is so unhappy,” I said to Christian.

“Everyone is unhappy to a certain degree, Eileen,” he
replied. “Just as everyone has happiness. Personally, I’m sure that no one can
be one hundred percent perfectly happy. We are always looking for something
new; we are always setting ourselves goals and achieving success, go to the
next one. And so it should be, otherwise our existence would be simply
pointless.”

“Oh, I wish I could achieve at least one goal now - to
survive after my eighteenth birthday,” I said.

My words brought worry into Christian’s eyes. Despite
the fact that today, we were all carefully hiding our emotions, they were not
gone, just were buried somewhere deep inside of everyone. And now I have just
dug them up for both Christian and myself. He pulled me tightly to his chest
and I felt myself melting in his embrace. I put my hand to his heart and tried
to relax, enjoying the sound of its beating. And it worked, it always worked
when Christian was with me.

“Maybe it's better to focus on what is for dessert?” changing
the subject, he said.

“Ice cream with strawberry syrup?”

“Yes,” he nodded smiling.

“Then let’s hurry up, so that it’s not all eaten.”

Even before I finished my favorite dessert, I was sorry
that the night was coming to an end. Those few hours were for us a kind of
respite in an endless marathon of secrets and mysteries. Despite my fatigue, I
didn’t want to go back to my room.

“How about a little walk?” I suggested.

“You don’t want this night to end, right?” guessed
Christian.

I shook my head.

“Where shall we go?” he asked.

“Do you know of somewhere that I haven’t been to yet?”

“Let me think,” he said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“Oh! I think I know a place. Let’s go.”

 Thanking Patrick and Amelia for a wonderful dinner and
said goodbye to the rest, we went out into the yard. The time was already late,
so besides us the street was empty. We walked past dormitory and academic
buildings, turned the corner of the Great Hall and found ourselves in a small
gazebo with numerous flowers around it.

I stopped, stunned.

“How could I miss this place?”I wondered.

“Just a few people know about it,” Christian smiled
mysteriously.

“It's so beautiful, even at night. And the flavors are
amazing. What are these flowers?” I asked, pointing to a source of the
fragrance.

“This is wisteria,” he said. “It means
welcome.
This place used to be one of the gates of Dever. Usually it was used by the
people who didn’t want to reveal their presence here. They settled in the rooms
of the Great Hall’s tower, so no one but the administration was aware of their
presence. Later, the gate was closed and this place became just a gazebo.”

“And the rooms in the tower above the hall are empty
now, right?”

“Yes. They are closed. All prefer the apartment in a
residential building. Although, my father said Frederick asked to settle him
there. In the past, he liked to stay here.”

“You know what? I liked him,” I said.

“Whom, Frederick?”

“Yes. Looking at him you can feel his power. It’s just
impossible not to notice such a magnetic energy.”

“When I first met him, I had the same feeling. By the
way, he liked you too.”

“Really?”

Somehow, Christian’s words pleased me, though I myself
wanted to make the best impression at Frederick.

Christian smiled.

“He couldn’t
not
to like you, Eileen. Everyone
likes you.”

“Are you jealous?” I asked surprised.

“About him - no, but in general - of course,” he said
embracing me.

“You shouldn’t be. I can’t go anywhere without you,” I
replied, pretending to a sad sigh.

“Thank God!” Christian laughed. Then he leaned over and
gently kissed my lips, caressing them slowly with the tip of his tongue. Our
kisses had always been gentle, now suddenly they were hot, deep and made me
feel uncontrollable. Not that I didn’t like it.

I felt as he pressed me closer to him, and his palms
began to go down, lower and lower to my waist, making my skin burn under his
fingers. I threw my arms around his neck, not leaving the slightest amount of
air between us. He groaned quietly and deepened the kiss, increasing the speed
of our tongues dancing. I enjoyed every second of our intimacy, losing myself
in him. Our feelings were mutual, and I wondered if the gazebo was about to
explode in flames of our deep red energy, radiating around. Christian pulled
away from my lips, leaving light kisses on my cheeks, around my neck until I
felt his lips on my ear lobe. This time I couldn’t stop myself from groaning,
as his torture was crushing. Every touch was teasing, every kiss was
intoxicating and every move was mind-blowing. His touches were so sensual, I
could barely think straight. Every time his palms found my bare skin I stopped
breathing. Every inch of my body was trembling with passion and wild desire.
Realizing that the situation was completely out of control, I tried to find the
remnants of still not blurred mind.

“Christian, I... “

He didn’t let me finish, covering my lips with the new
kiss. Then pulled back slightly and said:

“I know that you are not ready to take the next step,
and I'm not rushing things. I want this moment to be special for both of us.”

He kissed me again, and I thought that sometimes it was
really useful to feel each other so well. I could feel how hard it was for him
to control himself, and sail close to the wind, being with me. I smiled to
myself.

Once all of this was over our day will definitely come...

Even though I was terribly afraid for our lives and even
more afraid to miss something of all that has been destined, there still were
things I didn’t want to rush.

As Christian had just said, some moments needed to be
special.

Chapter 27. Tests
and puzzles (
Christian)

It's been almost a week since Eileen met her father. And
although she still didn’t know that Frederick was the one, they spent a lot of
time together. He suggested holding a few extra lessons to replace Evan, who
now had more time to search for Eric. He wasn’t doing this alone. All of us
were helping, and while Eileen was busy with Frederick’s classes, we didn’t
stop the search around Dever’s boarder. Once or twice we've been able to find
other people's tracks, not only footprints, but also traces of magic. It seemed
that Eric often used his powers to provide himself with some essential things.
For example, he took food from the store without paying for it, or did the same
at a clothing store. Of course, he was doing it at night, so no one noticed the
loss, moreover, this was done with magic. However, it wasn’t difficult to
determine the direction in which our enemy headed, so we carefully examined
that area several times a day. Apparently luck wasn’t on our side recently, as
all the attempts ended up with no results. Either Eric managed so well to mask
his location, or we just missed something very important.

In addition to participating in the search, we all
continued to prepare secretly Eileen’s birthday party that was to be held this
Sunday. Amanda tried to do all her best to ensure that our efforts remained a
secret until the right moment. She told Eileen that her birthday would be
celebrated in my father’s apartment, who, of course, agreed to play along with
us a little bit and told Eileen that my mother couldn’t wait to arrange another
dinner. Despite all the anxiety, I wasn’t the only one hoping to make this
birthday a real celebration. Its organizing was one more reason to distract
ourselves a little and just enjoy life. The only person who didn’t feel much
joy about this was Frederic. This day meant that his relationship with Eileen
had to be revealed soon. However, he hadn’t decided yet when to tell her the
truth.

 The first test for candidates for the presidency of
Dever was supposed to begin this afternoon. There wasn’t anything special to be
prepared for, because no one could predict exactly what kind of tests there
would be, so my father was having his ordinary classes. Although he didn’t say
it aloud, I was sure that he couldn’t stop worrying. It was his second time of
participating in the trials.

I was waiting for him in his office. I came there to
support him and discuss our plans for tomorrow. Tomorrow we were going to go
round the part of the area, where Eric could be according to our assumptions.
Beatrice made me some coffee and left. After half an hour my father came.

“Ah, Christian! There you are, I just wanted to talk to
you,” he said coming into the office. “Frederick has a small problem. He
doesn’t know how to give Eileen his present.”

“What do you mean?” I asked puzzled.

“I don’t know exactly what he has prepared, but he said
that his personal presence at her birthday party may seem suspicious, because
he wasn’t invited. So he thought, maybe you could hand his present to Eileen or
ask anyone else…”

“Sure, but I don’t understand… He doesn’t want her to
know who the present is from. Right?”

“As far as I can understand, yes. In addition, he wants
to go to Norfield for a weekend. He has some business there.”

“Well, okay, I'll do it. Isn’t he afraid to leave Eileen
alone here?” I wondered.

“He will come back at midnight on Sunday when her
birthday officially ends, and she becomes really an adult. Until then, he said,
leaving her with us is safe enough. Have you found a present for Eileen?” my
father asked, reading some documents.

“Yes, though it took me long to decide what to choose.”

“Excellent. So is everything ready for the weekend?”

“Ready, Dad,” I smiled. “And you seem to be worried
about Eileen’s birthday more than about the first test.”

“Why should I worry?” he shrugged. “I am sure about my
abilities.”

“Something in your aura tells me otherwise,” I said with
a grin.

“Of course. I’ve forgotten whom I’m talking to,” he
said, smiling.

“So, still excited?”

“Just a little bit. A little more than last time...
Well,
very much
, actually” after all, he confessed, sitting in his
chair. “It feels like everything will be for the first time. And I think this
time the Keepers will choose appropriate tests with responsibility. I can’t
imagine how Nora managed to cheat everyone on the previous test and put Alexis on
this post.”

“I agree. They won’t allow that to happen again. Has mom
already arrived?”

“Yes. I’ve taken her to the apartment. She will stay
here until the weekend.”