Magick Rising (48 page)

betrayal is the strongest power
.” Celeste moved next to Rose and put an arm

around her shoulders. “What is it? Do you know these words?”

Erik watched them, a guarded expression still masking his thoughts and

emotions.

Rose drew in a shaky breath. “Only that I dreamt them. The past two

nights. I don’t know why, but when he spoke the phrase, I knew it.”

“It means something or the Grimoire wouldn’t have made sure to

reveal it to Erik.” Celeste moved away from Rose, turning her back to both

of them to stare out the window at the starless night. The wind moaned

against the outer wall’s stones. “What if we can’t put all the pieces together

before it’s too late?”

Erik pounded the counter, startling both women. “Help me to

remember. I can’t fight something I don’t remember or understand. I need

facts.”

Celeste turned and faced the man she’d waited centuries for, trying to

put herself in his dark place of frustration. She couldn’t. To not remember

seemed the worst torture.

“This is not war like you are used to, Erik.” Celeste tried to find the

right words in her mind to help him understand. “You are used to

commands, men and armies that operate in a certain way. We are dealing

with the dark arts—the darkest—they have no methodology we can study.

It requires that we simply work together and find a way to trust each other.”

“You don’t know what you ask.” Erik glared at her.

“Oh, I do.” Celeste stepped toe-to-toe with the man who still held her

heart, staring unflinchingly into his eyes, allowing the anger of over two

hundred years to pour forth in four simple words. “I ask for everything.”

Without looking back, Celeste left the dimly lit kitchen and went in

search of a peace and solitude that still eluded her after two centuries.

Behind her the muffled voices of Erik and Rose faded into

nothingness.

ROSE LISTENED TO Erik’s frustrations and tried to help him understand

Celeste’s anger. She could see they were drawn to each other just as

powerfully as they had been in their first lifetimes, but mistrust was

shredding any chance they had straight into Victor’s hands.

“There is much you don’t know, Erik.” Rose risked sharing enough to

help but not so much that she would jeopardize her ability to stay and

protect Celeste. “But, there is much Celeste doesn’t know. Maybe it is time.”

“Time for what? Stop speaking in riddles.” Erik ran a hand through his

hair as though needing something to do besides pound the counter again.

“The book has shown us. It is the way to end all of this, to move

forward on one path or another.” Rose walked to the doorway but looked

back. “Search your heart instead of your memories, Erik, it is there you will

find what you need. It is time to decide if what you feel for Celeste is real

instead of hoping for a memory to prove it. It is time to take the ultimate risk

on love.”

“TIME FOR WHAT?” Erik asked, but Rose had already disappeared down

the dark corridor that Celeste had used earlier.

Damn women. Why can’t they say what they mean
?

But Erik knew what Rose was saying. In the battle it was time to charge

ahead and create his outcome or surrender.

He craved strong wine, anything, to allow him to sleep heavy. The

nightmares that tortured him when sleep came were enough to keep Erik

awake endlessly if that were possible.

No. I won’t hide in drunkenness.

What if alcohol weakened his ability to keep this Victor from taking

control? It was already a constant struggle. He could feel something on the

edge of his consciousness, waiting, trying to cover his thoughts with a dark

blanket. Was that Victor?

Duo mortem pro vita
. Two must die for one to live. What did it mean? Did

it count his ‘death’ centuries earlier? Could he trust that the two women

weren’t using him?

It was maddening.

So why, then, did he still have the urge to grab Celeste and taste her

mouth?

Desire had become stronger than the mistrust.

CELESTE TOOK THE Grimoire to her bedroom and looked through its

pages. The passage Erik had been shown was nowhere that she could find.

It had been meant for only his eyes.

Tell me, Grimoire, what my task is . . . what can I do
?

The pages were simply age softened linen in her fingers, no life or

special message came to her. The Grimoire had shared its message. They

would get no more until it was ready.

A soft knock sounded at her door.

Rose
.

Erik would have slammed against the wood in the mood Celeste had

left him, and Victor wouldn’t bother to knock.

“Come in.”

The older woman entered and pushed the door closed behind her. She

glanced about the room as though trying to gather her strength. A strange

impression but one Celeste was certain was correct.

Motioning to the chair next to her in front of the low-burning fire,

Celeste smiled. Rose was still her anchor in the madness.

“How was Erik?”

Rose sank into the chair then scooted it closer to Celeste’s. “He is

troubled but thinking. ‘Tis difficult for him.”

“I know. If only there was a way for me to make it easier. To help him

understand.” Celeste closed the Grimoire and placed it on the small table on

the other side of her chair. It faded slowly and then disappeared completely.

Off to another place.

“He must come to that on his own, that way it will hold power.” Rose

stared into Celeste’s face. “Child, it is time.”

No
.

Although Celeste didn’t know what Rose meant yet, the four small

words seemed to hold things Celeste might not be ready for. She sensed that

the answers she had sought from this woman for centuries were about to be

revealed.

I’m not ready
.

Rose sat silently as though understanding that Celeste waged an inner

battle. Calmly she placed her hand, palm upward, on the arm of Celeste’s

chair.

Celeste took a deep breath, pulling in the peace that came with her

friend, and placed her hand in Rose’s. Whatever the woman wanted to tell

her, Celeste would find a way to be strong enough to hear it.

No matter what is was.

“Dear Rose, I’m ready for the telling.”

Rose grasped her hand, cupping it in her other one. “Once I tell you, it

cannot be undone. We will move forward from the last word into a new

world for you and a different existence for me.”

“Do we have to do this, Rose?” Celeste knew the answer before the

final word of the question passed her stiff lips. Suppressed emotion

tightened them even more.

“You know we do. I knew that I would know when it was time. It is

now.” Rose softly smiled. “Erik is here. Somehow we will find a way for him

to be fully here, for the other to be bound. Listen with your heart, my child.”

Celeste cleared her head and heart, preparing for whatever would come.

“Over three lifetimes ago, I gave birth to my seventh daughter. You.”

Rose is my mother
.

Somehow, this didn’t surprise Celeste, but instead instantly explained

so much even as it created more questions. Even as it gave her boundless

joy.

“Myself a seventh daughter, my gift has been second sight and

prophecy. I knew before that day that you would be my last child and that I

would die.” Rose gazed into the flames of the fire. “I thought I was prepared

to let go and move on, but then I held your slight warmth as the blood from

the birth would not stop. On your back was a mark . . .”

“My birthmark.”

“Yes, the shape of the waning moon. The mark of a witch, of powerful,

white magic. It foretold for me that your power would be beyond anything

I’d imagined, but in that instant I also knew you would be in danger because

of it.” Rose looked back at Celeste. “I sent the midwife away so that we were

alone. With all words of magic I could summon, I begged the powers—dark

and white—to help me protect you. To
allow
me to protect you.”

“Oh, Rose. The danger.” Celeste ignored the tears that now flowed on

her face.

“Any price, child, any price is what I offered. The dark magic

responded saying that for a price I could be with you, protect you.” Rose

now cried silently, too. “I agreed. The bleeding stopped for a time. Long

enough for me to ensure you would be safe until I could return.”

“What price, Rose, what was the price?” Celeste whispered the question

dreading the answer.

“My soul, child, if ever I revealed this to you or anyone, I would be

forced to cross once the telling and the tasks of the lifetime were fulfilled.”

Rose straightened to sit upright, pulling strength into her body from the air

around her. “But the price will be worth it, Celeste. We have had three

lifetimes together.”

“But, Rose, I can’t be without you.” Celeste leaned forward. “You have

been my comforter, strength, and peace . . . and now, I learn, my mother.

Please let there be another way.”

Rose shook her head sadly, “Victor is here. Erik is imprisoned with him

in one body. This is the time and the fight that made the telling necessary.

We will work together to find a way.”

“When do you have to leave, Rose?”

“I don’t know exactly, my sight refuses to show me that. Perhaps, ‘tis

best not to know exactly when.” Rose stared into her eyes. “All I can sense is

that I am important in this battle, as are you and Erik. Let’s work to find a

way to decipher the phrase given by the Grimoire, to free Erik so that from

this lifetime on he can watch over you. It is what I have waited for.”

Rose told her of the earthly relationship between Victor and Erik that

had come to her in a vision. Now that the telling was here, Rose was free to

share everything with her daughter.

Celeste slipped from her chair to kneel in front of Rose, placing her

head on Rose’s lap. Her tears refused to stop. This time of mourning, of

hearing and accepting would have to be enough.

The battle for mankind, for Erik and Celeste lay ahead.

But for this brief moment stolen in the middle of it, Celeste was simply

a child weeping on her mother’s lap while Rose stroked her hair and softly

sang an ancient lullaby.

Mother and child.

VICTOR FELT A shudder of revulsion move through the nothingness that

entombed him. Things were happening in the other dimension that did not

bode well for him, for any of them in this place. It was time to call forth his

powers and take the body again, to learn what was happening and to find a

way to kill Erik.

It was time.

Focusing on a pinpoint of darkness in his mind, Victor began the

process of gathering enough darkness to move through the aqueous matter

that separated him from where he wanted to be.

It was becoming more difficult each time. Erik grew stronger.

I won’t allow it
.

Finally, Victor felt a tear in the layers. He focused more, drawing the

darkness into his being. Growing.

Victor pushed through.

ERIK FELT THE pressure building in his head. The pain. He’d followed

Rose to Celeste’s chamber and then allowed them privacy when the door

closed and the murmur of voices began.

Somehow, he’d sensed they needed to be alone. He’d gone in search of

the Grimoire, and it revealed itself to him in the great room again.

Nothing was coming this time. No phrases or spells. He’d focused on

anything to do with memories or the past so that he could find a way beyond

the wall that blocked anything before Celeste had stabbed him, but the only

word that kept pushing through was ‘trust.’

The more he focused on that one word, on what the concept meant for

a man who had spent lifetimes refusing to do just that, the headache grew

worse. It was fast becoming one of the worst he’d ever been through.

Without the migraine medications the base doctors supplied him with, Erik

was having a hard time keeping it from taking over.

Not now
.

Erik sensed he was close to something in the book and in his mind, but

the more he strained toward it the more blinding the headache became.

The Grimoire faded from his hands.

That isn’t good
.

Standing, Erik looked first toward the hallway where Celeste was and

then toward the couch that offered sleep and an escape from the pain.

Fight it, soldier
.

Somehow, Erik knew that to sleep would give Victor an entry. He

stumbled toward the arched hallway entry, made it to Celeste’s door before

losing his vision.

Blindly, Erik banged on the aged wood of the door and called for the

woman who wanted his trust.

CELESTE HEARD her name through the door. Faint, but definitely her

name.

She’d nearly been asleep with her head on her mother’s lap. Raising her

head, Celeste met Rose’s gaze. It was easy to see they had both shed tears.