CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
GISELLA
I clung to Sebastian’s chest, the sway of the ocean leaving me. Over my head, he fired questions at the swamp witch, barely letting her answer one before he threw the next her way. Glad to have his violent rage focused anywhere else than on me, I closed my eyes, letting him take over. Throughout my order and recovery, he crushed me tight to him, steadfast.
This is the man I can rely upon.
Whatever had frightened him before was gone, though I still didn’t know how, or why. My own mind had a blank space where my thoughts roamed free. I ignored that for the time being, too exhausted to fight for anything other than sleep.
Granny and Sebastian bickered over my head. I disregarded it all until he tensed around me, his volume rising to a roar that stilled everything in the vicinity.
“What did you take from her?” Sebastian shouted the words over my head. His frustration became evident as his voice cracked, a horrid sound that jarred me from my internal study.
“I took what your girlfriend put into her.”
“What?” Brain function returned enough for me to comprehend that single line. I twisted in the circle of Sebastian’s arms, looking over my shoulder at the ancient witch. “What do you mean?”
Granny Smythe smirked. “Didn’t you know your husband had a fling with the sorciere ? That little tryst lasted a few hundred years at last count, didn’t it, dear?”
Sebastian nodded once, and that fast, my whole world crumbled.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whispered, clutching his shirt. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cling to him or pummel him into oblivion. It didn’t matter because inside my head, somewhere, I had known . The way Amy stood behind him in those portraits, the intimate closeness they shared, even in his most tortured, darkest hours. She was there with him.
I looked up to read Sebastian’s face, but he didn’t look down but stared out, over me.
The warmth between us died, replaced with the void I knew too well.
Don’t close me off from you, please.
But he had no response to give me.
“What is the salt for?” he ground out, his hands painfully tight on my back.
“Oh, Sebastian. Isn’t it obvious, even to you?” She shook her head. I watched her reflection act out her part in the stained-glass circular window behind Dolion and Minette. Her face coated in blues and greens, she took on an ethereal figure. “Amy put a barrier between you. Salt can protect, or separate. For you, it was the latter. For Gisella, it was protection. From the moment she saw you, she was sheltered from your more…charming personality traits.”
“Unlike yours.” Frustration rumbled through him.
“Do you hear what she is saying to you, you great oaf!” Minette, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire exchange burst out. “Gisella’s love for you is real—not pretend, or fake, or created or whatever you thought! You’ve frightened her, bullied her, and all she has done is love you!”
The room fell silent again, the rare movement were the gazes that flicked between my husband and my maid. Minette’s eyes widened to their farthest extremes, whites lining her liquid brown gaze. She clapped both hands over her mouth, her cheeks stained red as she sank back against Dolion’s chest.
He wrapped thick arms about her, resting his chin on the top of her blonde curls. A wry grin crept across his face. “Well, brother. Couldn't have said it better myself.”
Dolion settled back, maintaining his smarmy grin, grabbing another drink from the tray and downing it in one.
I doubted it even touched the sides on its way down.
Can a gargoyle be intoxicated?
“I think that settles it, then.” Granny Smythe packed her cards away, wrapping them once again in the white cloth, which became blindingly bright once she had taken her hands away from the material.
I squinted and hid my eyes in Sebastian’s shirt.
He didn’t move. “Is that all?”
“What more do you want, Sebastian?” For the first time, Granny Smythe sounded tired. “You came here, sulking. You came seeking answers.” I chanced a look over my shoulder. She gestured at us. “And you leave with something more than many far greater in age than you ever achieve.”
She leaned back on the hardwood chair, lines decorating her face I was sure hadn’t been there moments before. I regretted my choice of words to her, before.
“Thank you.” I inclined my head, as much as Sebastian’s arms would allow. “We’re grateful.” I kicked his shin.
He gave no response. Minette giggled somewhere to my left.
“Don’t be too thankful, love.”
I stared upwards. “Whyever not?”
Sebastian clenched his teeth; I was getting no further response from him.
It was Dolion who answered. “Because she’s waiting for payment.”
“Oh.” I twisted in his arms and addressed Granny Smythe. “How do we pay you?”
I was careful of my words, having grown up on stories from the Black Forest of elves and fairies who demanded debt of agreements and refused to be tricked by my ignorance of this world.
Dolion grinned over Minette’s head, and relief swamped me. I was glad to have another ally in this chaotic menagerie of magical folk.
Granny Smythe smiled—a thin slash between tight lips.
“Blood.”
I opened my mouth to make some snide remark, but Sebastian stopped me.
Allow me, Gella, please. We can argue later.
I was so relieved to have his voice back in my head, I didn’t register his exhaustion until he was already speaking.
“Whose?”
“Hers, of course.” Granny’s voice washed over me. She had already taken salt, and Sebastian drank from me like I was his personal liquor cupboard. What more was a little drop? Sebastian’s arms tightened around me. “Oh, my child, I wouldn’t dream of taking from your wife. I want Anitta’s blood.”
“Are you making light of us?” I asked, confused. I swiveled back to face Sebastian, my neck tight from the rally of back and forths.
Not now, Gella.
I felt like a disobedient child, told to leave best alone or to sit in the corner for some misdeed. Even in my own home growing up, I hadn’t been ignored or left out of conversations…until the one that left me homeless and another man’s property.
After that trauma, I refused to think of my neediness as petty. Lack of control over my life haunted me, and I refused to let that go in silence, cowering meek and quiet while others decided my fate. No, if my life was going to tear apart, I wanted to be able to blame myself for its shortcomings, not leave it in the hand of a pair of crusty old has-beens .
Are you quite done?
I clenched my teeth, my toe beginning to tap. Broad hands squeezed my arms, and I was glad he recognized my impatience.
“She needs the power,” Sebastian spoke slowly. “To keep herself looking like this. Us. How much?” This last came in a resigned tone.
“You agree, then?”
“Depends on the quantity,” Sebastian fired back.
“More than a few drops, I assure you.”
“Good. Any less wouldn't be worth my time.”
“Bring what you get. I’ll wait.”
Sebastian nodded, gathering me to him. Powerful thighs beneath me pushed us up. Beside us, Dolion rose, lifting Minette with him. At the door to the stairs, Sebastian ushered me through without giving me a chance to farewell the odd, lonely woman in her swamp. Fireflies swarmed my head, but even in my distraction, I heard his answer to her.
“Come and claim what you like. But I won’t wait for you. Her life is mine now.”
Sebastian clasped one hand tightly, Minette gripping my other hand, and together Dolion led us along the walkway across to the small boat. I stepped into the small coracle, barely aware of our surroundings. The light dimmed between mossy boughs, night coming on across a darkening sky. How long had we sat in the witch’s house? Like Dolion, time appeared to pass in a different measure there.
The stone man pushed us away from the wharf, small eddies whirling sludge and muck that clung to the sides of the small boat. My mind still whirled from the memories and faces jammed into my head. Well, what had been put there. Granny said she had removed her presence, but some part of me worried that my mind wasn’t my own. After all, I heard voices that weren’t mine on a regular basis, and answered them too.
I twisted to find my own demon standing tall above me, a pole gripped in his hands as he propelled us through the bayou waters, doubling Dolion’s earlier pace. Surprised that all four of us fit in the small boat without the thing sinking, I nudged Sebastian’s foot.
“How do we get her to come to us?”
“Virgin sacrifices always work.” Dolion’s eyes lit up, but Minette colored.
He tracked the flush rising from her modest neckline to her cheeks, earning him a glare from both of us.
“Oh, well done,” Sebastian snarked.
Dolion shrugged, still grinning, and turned back to steer the boat to the estate.
“I don’t know.” Sebastian freed one hand to run it over his hair. With several days’ growth on his chin, he looked wilder than ever, especially next to Dolion’s smooth features. I wondered if it was a gargoyle thing. “She won’t come alone. Anitta is attracted to…glamorous occasions.”
Don’t stare too long, love.
I turned my glare on him, but it didn’t last long. His shadowed jaw enhanced his aquiline beauty. I leaned against his leg, taking comfort in the solidarity of his presence. At least he was talking to me again.
“Maybe we could—” I stalled, an idea forming in my head, but I couldn’t say it.
Amy seemed to have formed a link between me and Sebastian, but how to bring her out...without putting someone in harm’s way? But he was right; I remembered the handsome young man in the carriage with her at the New Orleans dock and shuddered to consider his purpose in her life.
Don’t even think about it, Gella.
Sebastian’s warning tone put me on edge.
“Well, what would you do, then?” I snapped.
Two heads turned my way in surprise, and I remembered far too late that they hadn’t been privy to our conversation.
Sebastian stilled as though turned to stone himself at the end of the boat.
You may as well be the one who freezes each night to match your day.
I regretted the spiteful idea the moment I thought it, but still, not an inch of him moved.
“Why don’t you hold a ball?” Minette’s voice carried across the water, and I repressed the urge to shush her.
Sebastian turned, surveying her with interest. “How would that achieve our goal?” he asked carefully, and I knew he was loath to involve such an innocent into an act of preconceived murder.
An idea I had taken to with so little resistance. Maybe we were suited, after all.
“It doesn’t matter how old she is. It’s still murder,” I muttered.
She has done more than her fair share of bloodletting in her time.
“Yes, but I wasn’t privy to that, thank God . ” Sebastian winced and I closed my mouth with a snap.
“If you held a masked ball, wouldn't that give her the opportunity to come into your home? Achieve— whatever she wants to do?” Minette asked.
Dolion flashed her a sharp smile while my head started to pound. Running more than one conversation at a time was exhausting.
Sebastian nodded, glancing down at me. “Yes. That might work.”
Minette smiled. “You might need to get used to the company.” She jabbed me with her elbow.
“Maybe,” I said, watching my husband with concern as he resumed his sentry post at the back of the boat.
The light dimmed around us as dusk fell in full over the bayou. What sedate creatures that had been silent throughout the day awoke, chirps and cries echoing over the still waters. I shivered, feeling very much the prey in a land of predators.
The jetty approached quickly. I helped Minette off the boat, Dolion launching himself with apparent ease to land further along the jetty than should have been possible. He caught her elbow, helping her up, and led her along the wooden planks, her fine pale hand clasped in his darker one.
I stared after them, bemused.
But he’s not human, love. And neither am I.
Left in the boat with Sebastian, I felt the moment the air charged. He stalked toward me along the short, wooden spine. His balance was perfect; the boat neither shifted nor swayed beneath his light steps as though his bulk weighed nothing at all here.
Prey to his predator.
That’s all I was, in this scenario. I didn’t dare back away in case I repeated my performance of this morning.
My God, was that this morning?
“Don’t swear,” he growled, reaching for me.
His fingertips grazed my bare arm, leaving a searing path of woken nerves in his wake.
Suppressing a shiver, I checked along the jetty, but Dolion and Minette had already disappeared behind a swaying curtain of mossy foliage. “We should—” I started, but his hands wound around me, bringing me to stand against him. Warm lips brushed mine, sweet sensation assailing me before he leaped as Dolion had, still holding me in his arms to land in the center of the jetty.
“No point changing whatever happened this morning,” he gestured at my dress.
I closed my eyes, knowing I was filthy after my dip in the drink.
Yes. But let's get you clean before we get into that.
My eyes snapped open in time to find him far too close. His mouth captured mine in a deep kiss that left my legs trembling where I stood. His hands tangled in my hair as he devoured me, and I weathered the violence of his need.
You shouldn't be so cowed, Gella. I like to see the bite in you.
An image that didn’t come from my mind of me astride his hips, bare breasted and crying out enveloped me. His grip tightened, pulling me closer into him as his fantasies played out in real time inside my head.
“That’s not fair,” I gasped. My heart pounded in my chest.
“But you like it.” His fingers trailed to my skirts, his broad palm covering my bottom to jerk me into his hard length.
“They aren’t my thoughts.” I slapped his arm as hard as I could, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him, though my own hand would ache from the impact. The action didn’t make my blush any less, but it did give me a petty sense of satisfaction when the images stopped.
Self-flagellating already?
He laughed when I shook my stinging hand, winding his arm around me and leading me back to the house.
I pondered the day’s events as we walked, making sure I hadn’t missed too much in my dazed state. “Why did Granny Smythe call Amy a sorceress?” I stopped.
Sebastian frowned down at me, tugging me forward. “It’s getting cool, and I won’t have you dying of some sickness.”
“Cool is relative.” I slapped at a gnat buzzing about my head. “Stop avoiding answering me.”
“Demanding little thing, aren’t you?” He kissed the top of my head and sighed. “It’s as good a title—name—as any for her. She uses dark magic, but she comes from a dark period of history, and so it suits her.”
Some echo of admiration shadowed that remark. I managed to stop myself from hitting him again. Just.
“How do we combat someone, something like her?” I whispered.
His jaw set in a hard line. “I know her quite well.”
I remembered Granny Smythe had said as much, back in the heart of the bayou. Something uncomfortable wriggled in my gut, sending a wave of nausea through me. I did my best to ignore my fear. “So, this is a jilted lover’s affair, then?” I said lightly.
Sebastian snorted. “It might come under something a little more than that.”
Like obsession?
“Did you love her?” I asked. All levity deserted me as a thought wound its way around my heart. “Do you still?” My whisper was lost in the rustle of the bayou as evening creatures began their nighttime activities.
“I might have convinced myself of that, once. But, no. I didn’t love her, and now there is room for one alone inside what was once a heart.” He halted, turning me to face him. Cool fingers caught my chin, tipping my head back. “It’s you, Gella.”
His mouth closed over mine, his kiss soft and sweet.
It’s always been you.
I sank into him, winding my arms around his neck. His scent enveloped me, drawing me deeper as I let him kiss my fears away.
Perhaps that was a mistake.