Asanni (36 page)

“I’m good, thank you for asking. And who are
you hiding there?”

I took a shy step forward. Placing his hand
on my shoulders, Jack introduced me to Magda. “This is Astrid
Mohegan, Hal and Rowena’s daughter and our Ellida. Astrid, this is
Magda Offenbach. Magda and her husband Herman are our old friends.
We fought together against Warren. They used to live in Red Cliffs,
but about—how long, Magda? Twenty years ago? They moved to Seattle
and opened this store. They are both goldsmiths and
gemologists.”

Magda bowed her head. “I’m honored to meet
you, Ellida.”

Astrid smiled. “Thank you, Magda. Please,
call me Astrid.”

“Where are Herman and Lucas?” Tristan
said.

“Herman is in Koln, visiting his relatives.
Lucas is in India. They are building a new airport in Nagpur and
he’s a chief engineer there,” Magda said proudly. “Er wird im
Dezember heiraten. Oh, I’m sorry, Astrid. I easily slip into my
language. My son—”

“Is getting married in December,” I
translated and then offered my congratulations. “Herzlichen
Glückwunsch!”

I glanced at Jack and smiled, remembering our
linguistic discussion from the night before. His fingers gently
closed around my shoulders. He remembered it, too.

“It was about time.” Liv smiled. “Who is he
marrying?”

“Gina Castellani.”

Jack laughed. “Umberto’s little girl? She’s
old enough to get married? God, I remember when she was born. It
seems like yesterday.”

“Time flies, even for us,” Magda said and
sighed. “Jack, we heard Seth’s crazier than ever. You can count on
us. Wir werden nach Red Cliffs kommen.”

“I know you will come. Vielen, lieben Dank,
Magda.”

“Gern geschehen, Jack. Now tell me, how can I
help you?”

“I want something special for Astrid.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“One of your wolf pendants.”

“Ah! Excellent! Give me a minute.”

Magda disappeared briefly into the room
behind the counter, and came back with a rectangular wooden box.
She opened the lid, revealing several neat rows of silver pendants
shaped like wolf heads and pressed onto a black velvet lining.

“They are made of silver-platinum alloy,”
Magda said. “Every pendant is unique. Take a look.”

I saw it immediately: it was oval-shaped and
roughly one inch long. The back was flat and smooth, but the wolf
head on the front was three-dimensional and
en face
. It was
a she-wolf, and a happy one. Her eyes, somehow slanted, the erect
ears, and the small loop for the chain were inlaid with green
jadeite. A smile that lurked in her eyes was clearly caught on her
muzzle, slightly open and curved at its corners into a very
human
smile. Her front paws were tucked under her chin.

Next to this pendant, there was another one
in the box, almost the same, save for the lapis lazuli inlay, in
the same deep blue shade as my eyes.

Without a second thought, I chose the green
one. I looked at Jack. He nodded and smiled.

Liv helped me to select the chain, a thick
sterling platinum rope. Its simple yet elegant design made the
pendant look even more enchanting.

I turned around and handed the necklace to
Jack. “Please, clasp it.”

He turned me around and placed the pendant on
his palm. “She resembles you,” he said, smiling. “I like your
choice, Astrid.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. “This is the most
beautiful present I’ve ever been given.”

IT WAS dinner time when we returned.

Facing the inevitable departure the next
morning, I was tense and edgy. My mood obviously rubbed off on both
my grandparents and the Blakes.

“Liv and I are going to stick around, don’t
worry. We might even take you over a weekend now and then. We still
have you in shared custody, right Liv?” Tristan said and hugged me.
“God, I’m gonna miss you, Princess.”

“I’ll call you every night,” Liv said.
“Tristan will check the staff list at the clinic. Somebody’s going
to get a promotion, and you’ll be back to work in no time.”

“It’s not like she’s going to Australia, Liv.
Astrid will be among her family,” my uncle said.

“James,” my aunt issued a warning.

“I’ll be okay. I don’t want you to be
worried,” I said patiently.

“Your grandmother and I are coming in about
two or three months,” Arnaldur said. “And we’ll stay as long as you
need us.”

“I’ll be fine, Grandpa. It won’t be the first
time I don’t see you for a couple of months.”

Jack stood up abruptly. “Astrid, I need to
talk to you. Now.” He grabbed my hand and towed me to my room.

“What’s going on, Jack?” I said as he closed
the door behind.

“Sit down in that armchair. I have to tell
you something.”

I did as he’d asked. Jack knelt beside me and
cupped my face. “When I came to Rosenthal, I told you that you
wouldn’t be left without a choice. Now listen to me carefully.
Astrid, say the word, just one word, and I’m going to take you out
of here. We could go to France, or to Italy, or to Argentina,
wherever you want. I have friends everywhere. I alone can keep you
safe from ten Seths, not just one. Or I’ll kill the bastard first.
Astrid, you don’t need to turn your entire life upside down. We
can’t ask you for that.

“Jack—” I started.

“Let me finish, honey. Just say yes, and
we’ll be on the first plane to Vegas, we’ll get married tomorrow,
make love, connect your spirits, have children, have a house with a
wraparound porch, everything you want. You still have time, and you
do have a choice.”

By the time Jack finished, tears ran down my
cheeks in two thick lines. Jack brushed them away with his thumb
pads. “You know that I meant every word I said, don’t you, Miss
Spock?” he said softly.

“That’s why I’m crying.” I sniffed and
smiled. “You’ve gotten into the habit of confessing your love in
heartbreaking ways, Jack. I knew you’d come up with something like
this before we went. I made my decision, my love. I’ll go to Red
Cliffs.”

“Are you sure, Astrid?”

“I am, Jack. Red Cliffs is my home, too. You
belong there. My family is there. I’ve been chosen to be the Red
Cliffs’ Ellida. It’s a gift and a privilege, and I must not waste
it. I still don’t know what I need to do, but if my presence there
can help, I can’t ignore who I am. If I had to choose between you
and Red Cliffs, I would choose you, in the blink of an eye. But I
can have both, and that’s even better. And you can have me and
you’ll do what you are destined to do.”

Jack pulled me to my feet and held me tight.
“So you’ve made your decision?”

“Damn it, Jack, that Vegas idea was tempting.
But I want my white wedding dress, and want to see you beside me in
a black tuxedo. I want my family and friends in the church, and
your brother’s band playing a hard-rock version of
Here Comes
the Bride
.”

“You’ll get it, all of it, Astrid. I
promise.” Jack whispered and closed his mouth over mine in a long
soul-deep kiss.

WHEN WE returned to the sitting room, my eyes
were still red and puffy. Ella opened her mouth to say something,
but I gently cut her off. “We all need to stop behaving as if I’m
going to prison. Ella, you’re a wizard, you’re supposed to be
emotionally challenged, remember? Don’t fret anymore, please.
You’ll see me soon.”

I turned to James and Betty. “Uncle, Aunt,
I’m a bit scared because so many things will be new for me. I’ve
never lived among werewolves. I don’t know anything about being an
Ellida. Jack is not going to be there all the time and that’s the
biggest reason for my anxiety, I have to tell you. I’ll do my best
not to disappoint you. I want to tell you I am happy I’m getting
the chance to know you two and my cousins better. After two months
I’ll announce my decision regarding my position as the clan’s
Ellida, and about my mate, although both of them have already been
made.”

I stopped for a moment and took a deep
breath. “Since Jack and I can’t mate before we’re done with these
formalities, I want to date him in the next two months. I know he’s
going to be absent a lot, but whenever he is there, I want to be
with him as much as possible. People there should see us together
before I announce my choice, otherwise it will come out of the
blue, and it will look like we have secrets. I’m not going to move
in with Jack tomorrow, but I think it’d be better to let Red Cliffs
know—gradually—we are a couple. Is that all right with you,
Uncle?”

My Uncle stood up and kissed my forehead.
“We’ll try to make it easier for you. Thank you, child,” he said
simply.

Everybody relaxed. Tristan volunteered to
grill the steaks, Betty and I got ourselves busy with the salad,
Jack and Arnaldur paid a visit to the wine cellar, Livia and Ella
set the table.

During dinner, I sat myself beside Jack.

AFTER WE called it a day, I went straight to
Jack’s room.

“Jack, I want to stay here with you tonight.
I want you to hold me, nothing else. Just hold me until I fall
asleep.”

He opened his arms and let me in. We didn’t
talk. I put my head on his shoulder and pressed my hand against his
chest, his strong heartbeats pulsating under my palm. I lay almost
motionless, feeling Jack’s soft, gentle lips on my hair. He tucked
the blanket around me and linked our fingers.

I closed my eyes and let tomorrow come.

The end of Book One

The story continues…

ELLIDA

THE LANGAER CHRONICLES

Book Two

ASTRID HAD the first glimpse of her
birthplace, a bird’s eye view, through the tiny oval window of a
five-seat, blue and white Baron 55 aircraft.

Taking turns, James, Betty and Jack gave
Astrid a summary of Red Cliffs’ history, geography and contemporary
life.

NAMED AFTER a dramatic mass of reddish rocks
guarding its north side, Red Cliffs nestled in a big, wide U-shaped
glacial valley that gradually opened toward the south and east
sides in gentle slopes. The Great Orme, a hill much older than the
alpine mountains that surrounded the valley from the north, framed
the west side of the valley.

A narrow depression between the two lowest
hilltops formed a natural passage, connecting the land of Red
Cliffs with Copper Ridge on the opposite side of the Great Orme.
Most of Red Cliffs’ farms and ranches, with the sweetest grasses
and the best cattle stock in this part of the world, were settled
southeast of the town.

“Remember when I told you about Gelltydd
Coch?” Jack said and slid his arm behind the small of Astrid’s
back.

“I remember, of course,” she said, leaning
her head on Jack’s shoulder. “That’s the name of the place in
Northern Wales from where our first settlers immigrated to America.
Gelltydd Coch is our transatlantic main branch, sort of. In Welsh,
it means ‘red cliffs’. The Great Orme was named after the hill near
Gelltydd Coch. Incidentally, both hills have rich seams of copper
ore.”

Jack kissed her temple. “Well done, Miss
Spock. Across in Copper Ridge, the Great Orme is called Halti,
after a hill in Finland, from where their first settlers came. Now,
I don’t think anyone purposely looked for red rocks and copper-rich
hills to make their new home. Leland Brandon, Mark and Sid’s
father, always says this place reminded them of the old country so
they decided to stay here and build a town.”

“Red Cliffs is different from any other
Western Mountain towns I’ve ever seen,” Astrid said, bending closer
to the oval window. She took in a small central town square
sporting a tiny city hall, a church with a pointy tower and
sharp-angled roof, and several official buildings of mixed
architectural provenances. “It looks like a little town in
Scandinavia surrounded by an Austrian Alpine village.
Charming.”

“You’re more right than you know, Astrid,”
Betty said from her seat across from Astrid. “The majority of Red
Cliffers came from Central and Northern Europe, shortly after those
first immigrants from Wales. Red Cliffs might look like a mismatch
of different styles and epochs, but it’s an accurate reflection of
our mixed heritage.” She waved in the general direction of the town
below. “A few of the first buildings are still around, like the
Church and the courthouse. Goblin’s Hollow, our local drinking
hole, still has the original walls. The rest was built as the town
grew.”

The residential part occupied the east side
of town, spreading out toward the valley. Most of the houses were
timber framed, steeply pitched and shingle-roofed. They varied in
size and details, but they definitely took rustic chic to a higher
level. They were painted in deep yellow, terracotta, olive-green,
and dark orange to balance out the dark roofs, heavy window frames
and decorative beams. The homes seemed in harmony with their
ambivalent surrounding: the wild mountains to the north and the
gentle valley to the south.

Other houses were brick, with roofs covered
with frost-resistant, low water-absorption dark slate, suitable for
this climate. They were also of different sizes: some had an
impressive square footage, while others were quite modest. In spite
of their different appearance, the red brick houses didn’t stand
out but rather complimented their timber counterparts.

The town was established in the early
eighteenth century, Astrid learned, when the first group of
settlers had arrived, but the recent dwellings, both timber and
brick houses, were relatively new, comfortable and modern.

“Those redbrick houses on your left are among
the oldest family buildings,” Betty continued, “but they are
constantly being upgraded to the most current standards of living.
They were built during the Roaring Twenties and in the early ’30s.
The Great Depression didn’t affect this particular corner of the
world.”