The Silver Rose (30 page)

Aden lifted his arm, and Albert alighted on his elbow. The little dragon edged carefully up his arm, taking care not to use his talons, until he was tucked into the crook of Aden's neck. “Albert loves Aden. Albert already misses you.”

Aden heaved a sigh of extreme regret. “As do I. But — ” he placed a hand over his heart, “ — I'll remember you here. Always.”

They stood quietly together, the tears from Albert burning patches in the ground as well as making several memorable holes in Aden's shirt. He would never repair those holes and would continue to wear it with honor. But eventually Aden knew he had to let Albert go.

“Remember. Straight to Anton. Do not stop on the way to visit Clarissa.”

“Straight to Anton,” Albert reluctantly promised. The little dragon raised his face, placed it against Aden's jaw, and blew out a small flame. “Something to remember me by.” With a quiet puff of sadness, Albert disappeared.

Aden touched the burnt skin, knowing his friend had left the mark of the dragon on his cheek. His heart was sad, but the mark was a sign of respect, a rare gift, from Albert. He would carry a visible memory of his little friend with him, always.

For however long that lasted.

• • •

Less than half an hour later, Albert burst into Beth's living room unannounced. Beth screamed. Alanna swatted away the smoke filling the small room.

“Aden give up much magic,” Albert breathed fire and the couch burst into flames. “Must hurry to stop him.”

“What?” Goran bellowed as he immediately put out the flames.

“Aden say goodbye Albert. Aden no longer be immortal.” Albert flew up to hover in front of Rosa. “No questions.” Albert hissed steam. “Rosa must hurry to stop Aden.”

Albert spun sending smoke in every direction. “Witches' circle. Go now.”

Goran took charge. “How do you know this?”

Humbled to think Aden was prepared to give up everything for her, Rosa listened intently as Albert related his message in short, stunted statements.

“Aden send Albert to Anton. Anton send Albert to Rosa. Quick. Hurry.”

“Rosa,” Goran instructed. “Take yourself there now. We will follow.”

Rosa didn't need telling a second time. She closed her eyes, easily envisaging the circle. Within one heartbeat and the next she was gone.

Beth and Alanna gaped soundlessly. “Explanations can come later,” Goran barked. “Albert, take yourself to the circle. We will follow.”

“Over and out.” Albert disappeared in a starburst.

“I've never felt so helpless in all my life,” Alanna declared.

Goran raised his arms, encircled them with a web of magic, and transported all three of them directly to the outer perimeter of their circle.

• • •

Rosa stood on the perimeter of the circle. Aden stood within the epicenter, his back to her. Here he was, the warlock the Fates had conspired to send to her. Powerful, determined, decisive. She had to stop him, but how when he had drawn his own personal circle within theirs? It was extremely dangerous to break a circle of another's making.

Despite this, Rosa knew she had to do so. Without hesitation, she took a step forward. Goran, realizing her intention, wrapped an arm around her middle, hauling her backwards. She protested with a grunt as she unwittingly released a bolt of volatile magic that threw them all to the ground and caused the trees surrounding the circle to bend outwards all round the circumference.

“No,” Goran barked. “It's too dangerous. The circle is set.”

Aden had spun round upon seeing the trees bend. Only he, in the epicenter of his circle, hadn't been disturbed. “Albert!” There was accusation in his tone when he saw them all rising to their feet to stand at the very edge of the circle. “What are you doing here? What have you done?”

“Don't blame him,” Rosa beseeched, totally unsure how she could prevent Aden from rushing headlong into altering their futures irrevocably. “Anton sent him to warn us. Shut down the circle now.”

“I won't live the rest of my life without you in it,” Aden told her bluntly. “I won't allow you to sacrifice your magic, either. If I sacrifice my immortality, we can live together, have a natural lifetime of love.”

Without waiting for a response he turned away. Raising his arms to the heavens his entire body lit with a rainbow of light. Earthing his power, he continued the necessary preparations. He would harness all his considerable immortal magic, create a sphere, which he would fill, then he would release the orb, sending it to Marylebone. There would be no single strand of immortality left in him.

“No! Aden. No!” Rosa looked down at the rose in her hand, her mind churning with a million questions as to why Marylebone had insisted she bring it with her. She looked to Goran and her sisters for possible answers. But it was clear they had none to impart. Powerless, they too stood at the perimeter waiting for what seemed to be the inevitable.

Rosa grew increasingly agitated, the rose in her hands warming to an uncomfortable burn. Reluctantly taking her eyes off Aden, as the sphere he was creating increased in size, she studied the rose. Was it trying to tell her something? Merging her mind with the silver, she focused on the closed bud.

Show me the way
, she silently prayed.
And be quick about it!
Metal warmed her hands. A molten knowledge filtered through to her psyche.
Hand me to him.
To do that she had to step into the circle.
How?
She asked and the words
veil within a veil
entered her mind.

Aden was giving everything up for her. She had to try. She swiftly opened a portal on the edge of the perimeter, linking it to the edge of Aden's circle, all the while expecting to be repelled, to be tossed to the ground once more.

“No!” Aden perceived the change in energy and spun round, his hands moving swiftly in front of him as he placed his spells into the orb. “No! You're not powerful enough. Goran! Stop her! My last request as your superior. Stop her!”

“Rosa.” Goran charged forward, ready to risk his life to save Rosa if she failed. “Be careful.”

Aden swore at him. “Don't betray me now, brother.”

“It's not betrayal to save you both from a dreadful mistake.”

Uttering a silent prayer to the Goddess, Rosa opened a veil within the first portal. Within that veil she created a similar one, smaller in size. Before anyone could guess her next action, she stepped into it and sealed it off, leaving her isolated from everyone.

Closing her eyes she prayed to the Goddess.
I hand my life to you, Sweet Goddess. Take me. Use me as you choose.

When she opened her eyes, Aden's gaze was focused on her as he held the orb high above him. “Don't do it, Rosa. Don't.”

But Rosa had gone this far. She wasn't giving up now. Blindingly, without knowing what would happen next, she took the final step into Aden's skilfully constructed circle. A circle that should not allow anyone to breach it.

Expecting to be expelled, to be knocked senseless, she suddenly felt weightless as an invisible swell of energy encompassed her, accepting her presence as that of an equal. Like the snap of a rubber band, the veils and portals closed, leaving her standing next to Aden as he continued to release his magic into the orb.

An eerie silence descended as everyone waited for something to happen. Alanna, pale and tearful, clutched her hands together as if in silent prayer. Goran hugged Beth, holding her against his chest as he attempted awkwardly to comfort them both by encouraging Rosa into action.

“Your potential must be equal to Aden's.” He confirmed Rosa's opinion on the matter. “That's the only way you could have done what you've just done without killing yourself.”

Aden's eyes flashed a genuine mix of anguish and confusion, but he held his arms out to ward her away. “Don't come any closer. I've made my decision.”

“Don't do this,” Rosa persevered, clutching the straight stem of the rose so tightly in her hands the metal protested by bending. “There's no need. Listen to me.”

“There is a very real need,” he informed her, his voice determined, his body filled with tension. “You're my world now. I choose you. I relinquish everything else.”

“You don't understand.” Rosa looked up at the orb, pointed at it, and sent out a loud command. “Freeze.” It stopped spinning, suspended above them as ice formed around it.

Aden gasped. “How did you do that? You don't have the power for such a spell.”

“I do now,” Rosa told him, determination written in the way she moved toward him with a surety that had not existed this morning. She surged to his side, snatching at his shirt, which glowed eerily with the magic he had already generated. Her skin burned as if stung by a thousand needles, but she refused to let go. Her hair and dress lifted with static electricity, flying in every direction. She looked briefly to the sphere he had suspended above them almost like a small copy of Earth, then back to him. “I've been to Marylebone.”

Aden's dark eyes stared uncomprehendingly into hers. Jagged lightning bolts shot from him. Rosa visibly winced as if they seared her skin, although none actually touched her. “Marylebone? Is this some kind of ploy to stop me? It won't work. My mind's made up.”

“I've met Anton. I've met Eleisha. And your father. You never told me he was Leonardo, the greatest warlock in Witchdom.”

Confusion reflected back at her. “My father? But he's in Cyprus. I was just there.”

“He was also at Marylebone. As was I.” The silver rose warmed in her hand, the petals beginning to unfold of their own accord. She held the rose out to him, an inkling of why she had brought it with her coalescing into a truth that filled her with wonder. “Take it,” she insisted.

Aden's fingers clenched into fists at his side. His heart hammered a bruising staccato against his ribs. The rose was blooming. It should have only done that for Lydia.

He looked to Albert, whom he'd thought never to see again. He scanned the cluster of spectators — Goran, Beth, and Alanna — who appeared to be as mystified as he. Focusing again on Rosa, he forced his fingers to unclench and reached out to take the rose he had not held for four hundred years.

With the transference came a sound Aden never, ever expected to hear. He collapsed to his knees in shock, the reverberations shuddering through every cell as the message tolled loud and clear just for him.

“What is it?” Rosa cried. “What's happening?” She fell to her knees. She grasped the rose too, remembering Anton's assertion there was knowledge to be shared between them.

Aden gaped soundlessly as a deluge of images swarmed, invaded his inner vision. Frame after frame, in chronological order, they rolled like a movie. Rosa shuddered as she too saw what Aden saw. She gasped, her eyes wide in sheer wonder. Their auras mingled, entwined, creating a magnetic pull that held them together in an unbreakable link as the silver rose in their hands opened completely.

“Lydia?” Aden choked.

“Aden, it's me.” Silent tears washed down Rosa's cheeks.

Aden relinquished his hold on the rose, cupped her cheeks and thumbed her tears away. “You were right all along.”

Rosa pushed away damp tendrils of hair from his forehead. “About what?”

“About us,” he said. “I loved you so much. I loved you when I crafted the rose. But this time I love you so much more.”

Rosa sobbed. “I know. I know.”

Aden opened his arms and Rosa stepped into his embrace. He hugged her so tight she could barely breathe. “How can it be?”

“The timing wasn't right?” A new voice spoke from the circle's edge. Everyone turned to see Zelda standing on the opposite side.

“Wizardess! What do you know of it?” Goran growled.

“More than the lot of you put together,” she testily replied. “Anyone with half a brain can see they were meant to be together.”

“I'm confused,” Alanna spoke for the first time. “What did Aden mean when he said he loved Rosa when he crafted the rose?”

Zelda's smile was smug. “Ask them.” She inclined her head to others who had appeared at her side.

Goran's laugh was hearty. He clapped his hands, his relief evident. “Warlocks' Balls! Am I happy to see you, Anton. Eleisha, a pleasure as always.”

Anton
, Alanna mouthed to Beth. “Don't say a word,” Beth whispered back. Alanna, it seemed, had learned a small lesson, because she did not make a sound.

“Unfortunate situation you find yourself in, Goran — ” Anton rambled conversationally, “ — but no doubt you've found ways to make your stay pleasurable?”

“You know me well.”

“That I do. But we will discuss your dilemma shortly. Meanwhile — ” he looked at his watch, then to the two in the circle, his meaning clear, “ — tick tock.”

Others arrived at the circle, including those Rosa had never met. Anton introduced them. “Leonardo and Sophia, Aden's parents. Imelda and Santos, his siblings. You know Zelda, of course.” Without pause, he continued his explanation. “The silver rose was crafted by Aden not long after he married a young lady called Lydia, over four centuries ago. Rosa is Lydia reincarnated.”

A collective intake of gasps diverted Anton for the moment. “And shocked you should be.” He focused his sole attention on Alanna. “You placed the entire union in jeopardy with your impulsive actions, young lady.”

Alanna, still quiet, blushed, her skin nearly matching the colour of her hair.

Anton turned his attention back to the others. “Lydia, Goran's sister, was born without potential. She and Aden fell in love. They married against the wishes of everyone including Marylebone. If they had waited, Aden would not have endured centuries of pain and isolation from his family.”