Robin Owens - Keepers of the Flame

Thealia, the older woman, turned and scrutinized the action like the head of the hospital checking the emergency room in a crisis, and Elizabeth’s stomach tightened as she sensed there was a disaster in progress. “What?”

“I wondered.” Marian, the sorceress, circlet, whatever, reached Calli at the same time as Bri. She looked at Calli, jerked her head to the small white-haired woman who joined them. “Four Summonings. Four times the Dark has attacked very soon after.”

“Connected,” the small woman, Alexa said. Her serious gaze watched the refined chaos and her left hand went to the cylindrical leather sheath at her side.

Bri had linked arms with Elizabeth and she could feel nerves thrumming through her twin.

A slightly shorter, muscular man who moved with grace whirled Alexa up in his arms. “Let’s go!”

“We fight? It’s not our rotation,” Alexa said.

“I have a bad feeling. I don’t want Pascal and Marwey to lead the youngsters. We’ll do that.”

Alexa met Elizabeth’s gaze, then Bri’s. “Later. This is my husband, Bastien, by the way.”

Elizabeth wanted to call them back.

“Must you?” cried Bri.

But Alexa and Bastien merely waved.

“They’ll triumph, as usual,” said Marian.

“Yes,” added Calli.

But both women’s faces showed anxiety.

“How many will we lose?” murmured Calli. “Who will we lose?”

Elizabeth stepped closer to Bri. Again she thought she should offer to do something—what?

Bri said, What in God’s name could we do? We know NOTHING about this place. But they shared flickering along their nerves as if they should spring into action, too.

The activity in the courtyard separated into patterns—those who flew away and those who stayed.

Thealia, the leader, snapped out a few orders and said something to Calli and Marian.

“Another interminable war council in a few minutes,” Calli said.

Bri flinched beside Elizabeth, and Elizabeth finally let herself realize what she’d sensed all along—these people had many reasons for Summoning them, and the primary one was because of a war.

A disease was one thing, a war quite another. She didn’t want to be here.

As if she’d read Elizabeth’s mind—could they do that?—Marian said, “They don’t fly to fight other humans. They fly to fight monsters and save a world. A world we need your help to save, too.”

Worse and worse.

Bri leaned against one of the fancily carved columns of cloister “windows” opening onto the courtyard. The stone was cold and hard and had the unmistakable feel of reality. She much preferred being propped up by a winged horse and tingling with energy, stuff of dreams.

Calli kept up a running commentary and translation.

At that moment the man in the white leathers appeared carrying the cooler they’d left in the huge, circular room. Atop the chest the sacks of potatoes were neatly stacked. Elizabeth’s bag’s strap crossed his chest, and the loop of Bri’s big backpack was over his shoulder. He carried them all easily.

Calli frowned at him. “Luthan, you’re not fighting?”

His jaw clenched and he nodded, showing no emotion. “I have instructions from the Singer to remain at the Castle or in the town for the first two weeks after the Exotiques arrive.” His voice gave nothing away, but a ripple of shock passed through the others.

“She said two would be coming?” asked Marian, seeming to throb with irritation and curiosity.

Luthan said, “She said at least two.”

Silence draped the cloister. He let the statement hang, then bowed—with cooler—to Elizabeth and Bri. “I am Luthan Vauxveau, brother to Bastien, the pairling of Exotique Alyeka. I am also the representative of the Singer, the oracle of Lladrana, to the Marshalls. I sit on their councils to inform her what transpires here.”

“It would be good if she kept us equally informed,” Thealia said.

“The Singer is the Singer,” Luthan said.

“Not the same as the rest of us, that’s for sure,” Calli muttered. She caught Bri’s eye. “A prophetess.”

The leaden weight of exhaustion was ready to flatten Bri. Despite the spurts of adrenaline since she’d arrived, and the various sources of energy that poured into and through her, there was only so much a body could take. Except for a quick nap at Elizabeth’s that afternoon, she’d been going nonstop for too many hours.

“Where do I put this chest?” Luthan asked expressionlessly. From the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, Bri thought he was under a mental or emotional strain. His hands were sheathed in gauntlets.

“I can take that—” she offered, pushing away from the wall, but the handsome Faucon stepped forward.

“I will carry the ladies’ treasures.” He took the cooler and potatoes from Luthan. “Marian and Calli, if you would show the new Exotique Medicas the way to the suite under Alyeka’s.”

Calli sniffed. “We argued, all wanting you near. Thealia won, but that was when there was one of you.” She shrugged. “Circumstances change rapidly in Lladrana.” She shot a glance at Bri. “A lot of stairs. You hanging in there?”

“Yes.” She had to shift back and forth to feel her feet, but she figured she could manage stairs. The weariness would hold off for a few minutes more.

Faucon waited for Marian and Calli and their men to precede him then took his place between Bri and Elizabeth as they followed. Luthan, still bearing the twins’ bags, fell into step.

They entered the keep and trudged up an endless number of stairs around a tower, went through a door and marched singly through a narrow security corridor to enter a wedge-shaped bedroom in purple. There was one huge bed and a smaller one.

“My valet has arranged for the extra bed and wardrobe,” Faucon said, sweeping the room with a glance. “I will put the food in the dining room.” He disappeared and Bri heard the opening and closing of more doors. When he returned he glanced at Bri and Elizabeth and winked. “Most defensible.” So he’d seen how Alexa had salivated over the potatoes, too.

“Where do you want these, ladies?” asked Luthan, removing the bags and holding them at arms’ length.

Elizabeth gestured to a low wooden chest at the bottom of the big, curtained bed. The room was crowded with the smaller bed, two large wardrobes, a set of chairs, and love seat, all shoved against the large circular wall under a row of windows.

Bri tottered a little and Elizabeth was there, wrapping her arm around her waist, and it felt good to be with her sister again, not alone in this strange dream.

“Thank you all,” Elizabeth said with the authority of a hospital physician.

“You’re welcome,” Marian and Calli said at the same time.

“We’ll leave you alone now, but if you have any concerns, just holler,” Calli said.

“We’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Marian said.

Elizabeth nodded at the same time Bri did.

Faucon stopped before them and raised Elizabeth’s hand to his lips, kissed her fingertips. “Vel-coom to Lladrana,” he said in heavily accented English. Bri got the impression it was his only English and he’d been saving it.

Then he kissed Bri’s hand and she sensed great satisfaction from him. He was pleased he could provide the new Exotiques with amenities. She caught the thought—more emotion really—Which one is mine?

Uh-oh.

But he was gone the next moment, closing the door behind him and Bri was left staring at it and doubting what she’d thought she’d heard. Sensed. Felt. Oh, hell.

They were alone. At least inside the suite, Bri hadn’t heard as many footsteps leave as those who had accompanied them. Guards?

She supposed she could send a mental probe and figure out who was there. Just the idea that she was contemplating such a weird action made her stomach twist.