“You are a good soul, Jonathan,” I said. “We know you are trying hard.”
“The Watcher ranks continue to grow, thanks to Arthur,” Simon said, changing the subject.
“Yes, he and his knights are all the legends said they were and more.”
“Oh, I agree,” Rosa added. “Add the vampire charm and the fact that he is so handsome and it’s quite a combination.”
“His son, Reynold is still a mystery to me. I still am not quite sure about him,” I said, letting my mind drift again to Quinn.
“I hope he and Quinn complete their mission and recover the lost treasures. I can’t stand the thought of our enemies using them to aid their evil causes,” El added.
“Again, not fun. We might as well call it a night,” Kate grumbled.
“Before we do, I want to talk about how I want to go about ‘business’. That is if we make it through the party.
We now have the power to see someone’s truth, that is if they are less powerful than we are anyway.”
“Go, on,” said a very interested El.
“I, as Madam, will look into their subconscious and see their true desires. I will then relay that to one of you, who then can become that desire, using your powers. It will be like they actually experienced it, only you and the experience will just be a memory that you’ve successfully implanted into their subconscious. What do you think?”
“Sounds fun, can we come?” Thomas laughed.
“I’ll see what we can do, but probably not.”
“Why don’t you test it out on us now?” Eric quipped.
“Yes,” Gerhardt said. “You need to find out if it will work, don’t you?”
“That’s not going to work on Auguste or Meil,” Gruen pointed out. “What about them?”
“I’m going to need help with them, but if what I’ve set into place works, they themselves will help me.”
“I don’t like to sound of that, at all,” Kate said.
“I know. We better go back and get some rest,” I said as we all stood.
“Nathaniel, where are you staying anyway?”
“At the Relais, on Christine. It’s not far from you actually. I’m not sure what you really want me to do? And Kellen is going stir crazy, you have to find something for her to do as well. Please!”
“We’ve been trying to find out as much information about the replacement of our people in the government, you can help us with that,” Gerhardt said. “It seems Meil is not part of the Noctu plan.”
“The leader of the Noctu and Meil will both be at the party tomorrow night,” I said.
“We all will be,” Eric assured Nathaniel.
“Powerful men need stress relief. Somewhere that they can relax,” Letta said.
“We think we can find out everything we need to know in a much shorter time using this business,” Kate said.
“Brilliant, really I never could have…” Nathaniel said shaking his head. “Just brilliant. I’ll of course do what I can to help you. I am grateful to have something to take my mind off of what has happened to my clan.”
“Take Kellen with you, her gift should serve you well,” I said.
“What is her gift?” Kale wondered.
“She can hear your thoughts if she wishes and if you aren’t actively blocking her.”
“I’ll remember that,” Kale laughed.
“I am actually looking forward to the party tomorrow night,” Eric said.
“I think we all are. The sooner we find out what we need to know, the sooner we can go home,” I said.
“Oh, I don’t know. You might find out that you like your new profession so much that you will want to continue here. Maybe you could have several such ‘businesses’ all across Europe,” Kale teased.
“Maybe,” Rosa simpered, batting her eyes. “You just never know.”
“You found us a great site, Alex. Thank you for doing this for us. And it’s so great to see the two of you,” I said to Thomas and Simon as I gave them each a hug.
“Same here,” Thomas said. “It’s good to have something like this to do again.”
“Thanks, for the work out. I needed that in the worst way,” I sighed.
“We’re as ready as we can be, let’s go back,” Kate said.
We all portaled home and proceeded to get ready for bed. It wasn’t going to do me any good to worry all night. I took another nice shower and slipped into bed. How many times had I done that this year with so much on the line for all of us? Too many I decided before falling asleep.
I saw myself seated in a rocking chair. G.C. cradled in my arms. I looked so happy, so content. Then I heard a deep voice say, “Give me the baby, Katrina. I said,
give
me the baby.” I just looked down into the beautiful face in my arms, turned and shook my head no.
I woke up so frightened that something had happened to Gunter and Patty’s baby that I got up, dressed and made Allwain open the portal so that I could go home and check on them.
“You don’t need to do that. I can tell that the ranch is fine and everyone on it is just fine,” Allwain insisted.
“I have to see for myself. You know very well that my dreams can mean either something has happened or that something is going to happen. If anything ever happened to that baby…”
“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Alex said as he joined us.
“Fine, let’s just go, so I can make sure they are all right and we can get back.”
“And what if something is wrong, what then?”
“I’ll deal with that if it happens. If you are right and everything is just fine, we’ll just say hello and come right back, Allwain I just have to see them for myself.”
He sighed when he saw tears welling in my eyes. “Go,” he said waving his hands. “Why do I even bother arguing with you,” he grumbled under his breath.
Bright light surrounded Alex and I and instantly we were home. I immediately broke down in tears as the persona of Suzette faded and I was myself again.
Alex hesitated before putting his arms around me.
“The pressure is too much. When is this going to stop? When you’re dead?” he asked.
“Yes, when I’m dead. And I’ve been dead before,” I said as I gathered myself and backed away from him. “Now I don’t have any idea what time it is, but I’m going over to Gunter’s anyway.”
“Allwain said it would be eight hours earlier here, so it must be early evening, yesterday.”
When we left the portal room I could hear the crackle and noticed that someone was seeing to the fire in the massive fireplace.
“Katrina, is that you?”
“Father!”
I ran into his arms, “I’ve been so worried about you, how are you?” He pushed me back so that he could see for himself. “You look fine, better than ever. Has something else happened or did you just miss your father.”
“I have missed you Father, you have no idea how much. I don’t even think
I
did until I saw you just now. I had a bad dream. I just wanted to make sure that’s all it was. Is everything all right here?”
“Yes, I think so. I just got back actually. I have been checking on all of our assets and a few other things in the East. I will be joining your mother in Sangustae in a few days. She has had little success changing the minds of the Elves in regard to the instillation of the new Queen. So I’m going to see if a compromise can be facilitated.”
“Well between the two of you, I have no doubt that it can. Europe is, well…complicated once again. We were right to leave now.”
“I won’t ask you too much. You know I’ll do whatever is necessary to help you,” he said pulling me close again.
“I want to see Gunter, Patty and the baby before I go back.”
“I’m sure the horses would love to see you too. Why don’t you stop by there on your way?”
“Great idea. I’ll see you when I get done.” I squeezed him one more time. “I did miss you. I missed you so much.”
When Alex and I got outside I stopped and took a deep breath. The air was, clean, cool and fresh; so different from the city in every way. I was reminded of what Damien said to me when we first met in Austria. “We could just run away.” Sometimes I wished I had done that.
“This is really what you want, isn’t it?” Alex said as we walked.
“Peace? Yes, that’s what I want more than anything. Will we every truly have it? I don’t know.”
“Someone has to stand guard in the night, so that others can sleep peacefully. That’s what my father used to tell us. He was up to the task, so are we.”
I looked up at him and smiled. “You’re right, Alex.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
N
ulla, Knight and Theo were busy eating hay when we arrived.
“How are you girl,” I said as Nulla picked up my scent and stuck her head over the half wall of her stall. “I missed you.” She tossed her head and offered a low whinny.
Now Theo wanted attention too. “All right, All right,” I laughed. “I missed you too,” I said walking to the next stall, where Theo was pawing the ground impatiently.
I rubbed his beautiful black face, and put my forehead on his. I loved them so much. “I won’t be away too much longer.”
“We have time, why don’t we go for a ride?” Alex said.
“I have to see the baby. That’s why I came. You three be good. I promise I’ll see you soon.”
I gave them each one final pat and then headed over to Gunter and Patty’s house.
The sun slowly dipped behind the western mountain skyline sending its last beacons of light across the still snow topped peaks. It made them sparkle like thousands of diamonds discarded there by the Gods.
I sighed, “I love this place. It’s everything I dreamed it would be.”
Alex shook his head, “You Katrina, are perplexing. You fight like a warrior, plan like Napoleon and yet you are a simple farm girl at heart. It’s just surprising, knowing you grew up royal.”
“First, I was always a simple girl. All that changed last year. I had no other aspiration than to… well I guess I had no aspirations at all.”
“Maybe that’s because you didn’t need to. You often say this was chosen for you, all of you. But, you have embraced this challenge with every part of your being.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m so tired all the time. Look, there’s Patty! Patty, its Katrina!”
Patty turned and then ran towards me.
“Katrina, it’s so good to see you!”
We hugged, rocking back and forth, laughing as we did.
“Are all of you home, does that mean you can stay for a while?”
“No and no, I’m sorry to say. I just needed to come home, even if it was just for a few hours. Is everything all right, Patty?”
“Yes, why?”
“Nothing, I just worry too much, that’s all. Can I see G.C.?”
“Of course, he’s inside with Gunter.” She took me by the arm. “It really is good to see you. You look just wonderful. I’m so glad you are taking good care of yourself.”
I looked over to Alex, who had a smirk on his face.