The Bride of the Immortal (38 page)

Renga gestured to the place where the immortal stood, but unlike Adrijan he made of course no effort to keep a low profile and was easy to spot. Mairin squinted and finally discovered the priest near one of the windows, away from the crowd. He seemed to have observed her the whole time and when their eyes met he abruptly turned away.

“Who is that priest? I’ve seen him on some occasions. He must be the cleric who is rumoured to be quite influential here.”

Obviously her sister had noticed who she had been looking for.

“Nobody,” Mairin mumbled, “I hardly even know him.”

“Your eyes tell me otherwise, Mairin. What an odd hair colour. Is he your type? Don’t you have a groom? Should you really be looking at other men like this?”

“You’re imagining things, Renga.”

She was her sister but at the moment she felt more like a meddling stranger. Perhaps that’s what they had become to each other over the years, blood-related strangers.

“You’re not going to break off the engagement, are you, Mairin? You mustn’t do that.”

Why did she sound so patronising? Shouldn’t her sister’s well-being be more important to her than a life in luxury?

“Don’t worry, Renga,” she replied, smiling faintly. “But tell me… could you love someone who has caused many, many people to die?”

“You’re asking weird questions, Mairin. Are you talking about the immortal? Well, never mind that. Of course I wouldn’t be able to love a murderer. In case of the immortal though… I think you should stay with him, sister.”

Mairin couldn’t believe her ears. Had Renga always been this shallow? Perhaps she was doing her wrong and she just wanted what she thought was best for her.

“What if some of the… casualties… had been for your sake? What if he had murdered for you?”

“You’re frightening me, sweetheart. Let’s talk about something else. Tell me where you got that magnificent gown. You look gorgeous in it, not like the child I…”

Mairin’s thoughts drifted off and she ended up screening the hall for Adrijan again. He had left his place near the wall and once more she was unable to find him. Instead she noticed a young woman, who seemed curiously familiar to her, talking to Vivian. Where had she seen her before? Her gaze fell on long silky blond hair, an angelic face, a slender figure… Suddenly the scales fell from her eyes. Could it really be her?

“Do I look familiar to you?”

Vivian thought her words sounded strangely like a reversed pick-up line. The woman certainly looked like Magdala, but he was absolutely sure it wasn’t her. Magdala would have made his heart race. Seeing
her
would have made him feel alive.

Was it possible that their prey had finally taken the bait? Was this woman their adversary?

“Weren’t you supposed to say that
I
look familiar?” he replied coldly, evading the question.

“But you don’t. You look much more handsome than anyone I know,” she purred, disregarding his defensive reaction, and gracefully putting her hand on his chest.

Vivian abrasively grabbed her wrist and removed her hand.

“Either way, I don’t think you should touch me… Miss…”

“Von Kirchberg. Änlin von Kirchberg. Simply call me Änlin if that’s too complicated for you.”

Änlin elegantly drew back her arm and repeatedly opened and closed her hand as if he had hurt her.

“What do you want from me, Änlin von Kirchberg?”

The immortal had decided not to allow her to unnerve him.

“Let me stay at your castle. I’m sure we can be helpful to each other.”

“Aren’t you forgetting that I’m here with my bride, Miss von Kirchberg?”

The woman laughed loudly and without reservation, gaining yet more attention from the people standing closest to them.

“Nothing of that kind, silly.” Her laughter had changed into a reprimanding smile. “It’s sad though. All men are the same.” Änlin tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her ear and feigned a sigh.

“Out with it…” Vivian demanded impatiently.

“I believe we have a mutual friend and I’d like to talk to you about her. Won’t you take me and my daughter in for a while?”

The possibility that Änlin was talking about Magdala forced Vivian to give in, even though he knew that he was going to regret it.

“Who could refuse to help a young mother in need?” he replied, showing her his Sunday smile.

Änlin von Kirchberg and her daughter had returned with them to
Mondstein
castle. Adrijan wasn’t certain which was more unsettling – the woman’s resemblance to Magdala or the fact that Vivian had allowed two strangers to live with them. Despite his mixed feelings, he had been reasonable enough to try to keep them under surveillance by assigning a servant to them, but Miss von Kirchberg had denied his offer, insisting that she was capable enough to take care of her child and herself.

Adrijan had been looking for the master of
Mondstein
castle for the past hour – in vain – and was on his way to where he hoped to finally find Vivian.

The elevator to the ‘Sanctuary’ squeaked and rattled as it took him to the surface.

“Viv?”

His brother was standing right in front of him, gazing at Magdala’s statue, holding a half-full glass in his left hand and a half-empty bottle of whiskey in the other.

“Let me tell you something,
frater
,” Vivian paused dramatically to raise the tension. “You are an imbecile.”

Adrijan frowned. This was rare. “You’re drunk.”

“Well observed. At least I’ll sober up, but what about you?”

“I’ll gladly remain an idiot,” he replied mildly annoyed. “Is there more of this
uisce beatha
you’re having or are you the only one who is allowed to get drunk?”

Vivian handed him his glass.

“To women,” he said and took a sip from the bottle.

“To women,” Adrijan replied and downed his drink.

“Do you think she’s dangerous, Viv?”

“They’re all dangerous.”

“I’m serious.”

“Mhm, she might be,” Vivian put down the empty bottle, picked up another one from the ground and refilled Adrijan’s glass.

“Thanks.” It was a difficult question to ask but also one that couldn’t wait. “Is there a chance that it’s her?”

The immortal shook his head and raised the bottle to his lips.

“Haven’t you had enough?”

“Let me drown my sorrows,” he complained.

 “You’re rather drowning yourself, than your sorrows.”

Vivian chuckled.

“What about you and the girl?” the immortal asked.

“What about her?”

 “She loves you but agreed to marry me. What did you do to her?”

Adrijan sighed and emptied the glass, regretting that they could consume spirits almost like water.

“Let’s see… First I revealed to her that I was your age and then I confessed to her that I had drained the life of her father. I think taking her with me to kill an old woman was just the final straw.”

“So that’s what tough guys do on their first date, eh?”

“Very funny, Viv.”

“Anyway, you should treat her better.”

“… says the man who has bedded more women than the almighty Zeus.”

“Well… perhaps you’re right, but that’s part of it. Women want to be desired, of course not exclusively physically – you have to let them see that you crave the overall-package. Anything else just leads to frustration.”

“Let me take notes,” Adrijan jested.

“What are you going to do about her?”

“I don’t know. Should I fight for her? I’m having doubts.”

“Doubts?”

“Can I make her happy? I’ve never been with a woman. Not once in seven-hundred years. I’ve never missed it, but now…”

“Mhm.”

“I thought she was the one. She is charming, isn’t she? There’s warmth but also mind in everything she does. I thought she could be the one who didn’t want me only because I’m out of reach.”

“Adrijan, the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden,” Vivian commented, eliciting him another sigh.

“Is there a point in trying, if she can’t bear to accept what I have to do to survive? She was willing to be with me before I showed to her what it’s like. If we wanted to be together, I would have to gather enough life for her as well. How would I do that, if she were against it?”

“Hmm.”

“Who knows… perhaps I’m not even in love with her.”

“Figuratively speaking you are already planning children but you’re wondering if you’re truly in love,” Vivian interjected.

“Hearing it from your lips I really do sound like an imbecile. But what can I do? I feel at a loss. Maybe it would have been better for all of us if she were as innocent as Magdala and hadn’t pursued me.”

“I disagree and I can tell that you don’t know much about Magdala.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s alright, brother,” Vivian interrupted him. “She has always been a taboo subject. Let me tell you more about her today.”

Adrijan was wondering what kind of emotion he had triggered to make Vivian talk about her after such a long time of silence.

Mairin sat on the bed and moved her toes up and down, trying to relieve her cramped feet from the pain. She had been walking around
Traumstadt
wearing a new pair of pumps all day and the last steps from the entrance of
Mondstein
castle to her room had been close to torture. Gazing at the blisters above her heels made her wonder about her own pride that had kept her from taking off her shoes before they had been able to cause this much damage.

Therry sneaked close and wiggled with his hindquarters, ignoring the fact that there was no tall grass to hide in. When the right moment had come he jumped at her foot, wrapped his paws around it and nibbled at her toe. Mairin smiled about his silliness and picked him up.

“We made him do it, Therry. It’s not your fault, you know? But I should have known better than to leave him when he asked me to. I could have given you my life. I would have done it, gladly.”

Her eyes welled up with tears but once an avalanche of thoughts had been set off it couldn’t be stopped so easily.

“He could have died because I wasn’t there. He has always been good to us and trusted me but I continuously wronged him.”

Therry was irritated by Mairin’s sobbing and rubbed his head against her chest.

“I’m sorry,” she said, unable to stop.

Mairin wished she could change the way she had reacted after Mrs Crouse’s death. Even though there had been enough time to think about it, she still didn’t know how she should have responded to the incident.

“What I did was wrong. At first I was mesmerised by how beautifully life exchanged from her into Adrijan. I remember it clearly, the blue pixie dust… Then death set in and I was forced to realise that I wasn’t simply watching a natural phenomenon but someone’s demise.”

The kitten innocently looked at her. He clearly wasn’t a conversationalist but the best listener available.

“I became aware how wrong it was to be fascinated and was appalled at my own feelings.”

Mairin wondered if Therry understood a thing she was saying. If he had been there he would have probably tried to catch the glowing dust instead of watched in awe.