Breath of Air (21 page)

“This is a good spot.” Rhiannon said cheerfully as they came to a stop in the middle of a small meadow within the courtyard, shaded by trees with dappled sunlight peeking through. Wildflowers sprouted from the soft grasses, adding bursts of fragrant color. She set the basket on the ground and lifted out a soft linen blanket, which she then spread out for them to sit on.

Capri helped straighten the blanket before sitting down, feeling awfully plain in her faded jeans and simple light blue t-shirt. Maybe if she had known Rhiannon wanted to have the picnic today, she could have dressed up a little, she thought miserably. Even still, why were outfits important when much more serious events were happening at that very moment?

“Here.” Rhiannon handed her a plate and napkin, which Capri took numbly.

What was she doing? How could she pretend to have a good time when so much was going on? She couldn’t possibly focus and give Rhiannon the attention she deserved when chaos was literally erupting within her, clawing its way through her stomach and up into her throat. But she knew she had no excuse to give, nothing she could say with honesty in her eyes that would forgive cancelling the picnic when Rhiannon had obviously worked so hard already to put it together. She was just going to have to suck it up, and push all thoughts and fears about Rian and the other Furies out of her mind.

“This is lovely.” Capri heard herself say as Rhiannon began opening several containers housing various types of picnic food. Though, it wasn’t the typical kind of picnic food Capri would normally associate with outside dining.

There were tiny slices of toasted French bread that Rhiannon skillfully topped with a roasted tomato and fresh basil mixture, which looked like something out of a home and garden magazine, along with brie cheese nestled on fine peppered crackers with sprigs of sage as garnish and crab stuffed pea pods, all just as appetizers.

Rhiannon promised more surprises for the main course before shutting the basket and nibbling a bite of brie cheese.

“How has your work with your father been going?” Rhiannon asked politely, gently wiping her lips with her cheerful yellow napkin.

“Fine.” Capri replied, swallowing a mouthful of bruschetta. “I mean, it’s been great. It’s a lot of fun, so I’m enjoying it a lot.”

“That’s good to hear.” Rhiannon reached for a pea pod and took a bite. “You’ll have to come by and see me work sometime; I think you’d find it interesting.”

“I saw the greenhouse when I first arrived, it’s beautiful.” Capri complimented, remembering the lush indoor garden with glass walls and sparkling sapphire pond that served as a window to the outside world, much as the bird bath did for her and her father. “What kinds of things do you do?”

“We regulate animal populations, plant and tree cycles, changes in the Earth’s crust, including the occasional necessary earthquake.” She grinned at Capri, visibly relaxing. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding. It takes skill and precision, and a great attention to detail. I’m sure you’ve found that your work requires the same.”

Capri guiltily remembered her earlier mistake with the snowstorm. “Yeah, it does.”

“You know, when we were little, they would let all of us out to play at the same time, kind of like recess in a human school. You probably don’t remember this, but we used to play that spin and fall down game, you know the one where you hold hands and spin? Right on this very spot.”

Capri smiled and glanced around her. “I wish I did remember; I bet it was a lot of fun.”

“It was! This one time, Blythe and I tried to encourage the Fury boys to play with us, because we wanted to have an even bigger circle of people. They refused, naturally, but we tried.” She smiled, amused at the memory.

Capri’s brows knit together sadly. “You guys never played with them as kids?”

Rhiannon shrugged. “They always made it very clear that they wanted nothing to do with us. The Furies and Fates are raised in a much stricter environment than the Dryads and Muses are. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it’s always been. Very rarely do the Furies and Dryads mix, or the Muses and Fates. It just isn’t done.” She laughed lightly, rolling her eyes. “Though we were just kids, what did we know?”

Capri couldn’t help the sadness she felt at hearing it. “I see…”

“Don’t get me wrong, I admire the work the Furies and Fates do, I just can’t see anything more than a casual friendship being possible. Brogan and I have sat down and had a conversation a few times, and I find him perfectly agreeable.”

“I’ve never really spoken to him.” Capri told her, interested now. “What is he like?”

“Much like you’d expect, I suppose.” Rhiannon pursed her lips, thinking of how to put it. “He’s quiet, and very serious, very dedicated to his work. I suppose that’s what I like about him. And he’s polite, well mannered, well bred. His mother is a very well respected professor at Oxford University.”

When Capri only stared at her blankly, Rhiannon elaborated. “After Brogan was born, and she found out what Balgaire was, she chose not to live this life, and so her memory was erased. She doesn’t know Brogan exists.”

“That’s terrible.” Capri’s eyes filled at the thought of how horrible Balgaire must have felt at being rejected simply because of who he was.

“It is. But Brogan doesn’t let it get to him; he’s always very courteous to me and everyone else.” Her eyes drifted away towards the castle, the rich sage softening to a deeper jade and her lips curving into a slow and considering smile.

“Do you like him?” Capri asked with a grin, her feminine curiosity peeked.

“I always have.” Rhiannon murmured, her eyes focused on something over Capri’s shoulder. Confused, Capri turned around and saw Liam and Blythe taking a walk down the cobblestone pathway. She watched as Liam spotted them, and smiled at the cheerful wave he sent their way. Beside him, Blythe looked bored and irritated, her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her eyes locked on the tops of the trees.

Capri quickly glanced back at Rhiannon, who was watching the pair. Her face that had been so openly beautiful just seconds ago was now guarded and cold.

Understanding washed over her as she watched her earthly friend, noting the contrast between the longing that had been in her eyes seconds before and the polite indifference that replaced it now.

“Anyway, let me show you what we have for the main course.” Rhiannon smiled coolly, her mask carefully replaced.

It was then that Capri understood that there were some things that were much too complex for her to ever fully understand, including the strange, albeit intricate, art of love.

♦ ♦ ♦

That night, dinner was as sullen and tense as it had been the last time the Furies had been gone. Capri felt like her entire body was taut and strung like a wire, capable of springing loose and destroying everything around her. Apparently, given the looks on everyone else’s faces, they felt roughly the same way.

She kept her eye on both Rohan and Tobias, hoping they would give something, anything away that might hint at their involvement. But, throughout dinner they both looked just as nervous and stressed as everyone else. There was nothing to hint at either of them being involved in anything of a dark and sinister nature, despite how badly Capri wanted to see it. It would just further prove to her that she and Rian were right.

When she went to bed that night, sleep cruelly evaded her. What was happening at that moment? Were they okay? Had they been ambushed again? All of her worst fears plagued her while she tossed and turned, restless and afraid.

Sometime after three in the morning, she tumbled into an equally restless sleep, more from sheer mental exhaustion than anything.

She had no way of knowing that within hours, everything that had come to fruition during her time on Euphora would take a drastic and deadly turn for the worst.

♦ ♦ ♦

CHAPTER TWELVE

She was awoken hours later by a scream so anguished, so hysterical, that she thought for a split second the world was crumbling around her.

But when her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed, her heart racing and her mind still foggy from poor sleep, the only thing she could think was no, no, no…

She tossed the blankets aside and stumbled out of bed, racing to her open bedroom window. She pushed aside the sheer drapes and looked straight below into the courtyard, blinking to clear her vision.

The three Fate women were huddled together, holding each other, sobbing uncontrollably. One of them, Nyxa, tilted her head back and screamed again, the sound shrill and deafening, but so filled with sorrow and devastation that Capri felt chills greedily skitter up and down her spine.

Her heart racing, she watched as Lucian and Rohan suddenly appeared, running towards the Fates, shouting in question at their sudden outburst. She saw Rohan grab a hold of Nyxa, pulling her away, grabbing her shoulders roughly and shaking her, his voice demanding as he repeatedly asked her what happened. Lucian was busy comforting the other two Fates, who were now holding each other and sobbing.

Capri could barely hear what Rohan was saying, but when Nyxa suddenly cried out, her voice tortured with misery, Capri heard her loud and clear.

“THE FURY IS DEAD! HE IS DEAD!” Her head fell back and Rohan nearly dropped her as she went suddenly limp, fainting in his arms.

He said nothing, but simply looked at Lucian, nothing but stunned disbelief on their faces.

Capri felt her heart stop beating in her chest. Quite simply, it stopped beating for what must have been five full seconds. Her entire body felt numb, her ears buzzing, her vision tunneling, and she rather suddenly realized she was going to faint if she didn’t pull herself together.

Shaking her head to clear it, she steeled herself to all emotion and raced to pull on something other than her nightgown. After shrugging into yesterday’s jeans and a t-shirt, she all but ran out her bedroom door, racing down the stairs and bursting through the door that led to the corridor. All she could think was that it couldn’t be him, it just couldn’t be, there must be a mistake, he had to be alive. She couldn’t lose him, not now. Not like this.

She didn’t even realize she was barefoot as she broke into a full run through the corridor, out into the Atrium. Anxiously, she thrust her palm against the entrance doors, impatient as they melted away beneath her touch.

When she fell out into the hazy morning sunlight, its rays shining down against her face, she thought she was almost at wits end. She would break, any moment, if she didn’t find out the truth of what had happened.

And when she lifted her eyes to where the Fates were huddled together on the cobblestone pathway, she saw a group of men emerge through the front gates.

At first she couldn’t make out who they were, but she searched for Rian amongst the sea of faces.

And when she saw him, alive, whole, safe, she quite simply fell to her knees.

The Fates, Rohan, and Lucian stepped aside to let the convoy of men through, none of them saying a word. At the lead was Balgaire, his face stonily furious. Brogan walked beside him, his dark eyes wide with shock and his face pale.

And then there was Rian, a kind of numb denial in his eyes and his mouth set in a firm line.

Behind them were four men, all wearing matching gray uniforms, carrying what looked like a body wrapped in a black cloth.

While Capri watched the group approach her, she kept her eyes on Rian, the numbness she felt beginning to ebb into a completely different emotion, something shamefully mixed between grateful relief and desolate misery.

She stayed where she was, crumbled to her knees just outside the front doors, as they passed her. Rian met her eyes just briefly, and she saw the grief flash in them before he looked away and headed inside. Unable to do more, she broke down and wept.

It was quite obvious to her now that Roarke was dead.

The worst had indeed occurred.

♦ ♦ ♦

Capri stayed where she was for awhile, leaning against the wall of the castle just outside the entrance doors, hugging her knees to her chest. She stared blankly ahead, not seeing anything but the grief that had been in Rian’s eyes. It kept repeating, over and over, the scene of him walking with the surviving Furies and the Enforcers carrying the body. And, as with pretty much everything bad that had been happening in her life, she yet again was helpless to do anything.

Eventually the Fates and the two Dryad men had returned to the castle in their haste to find out what happened, but none of them paid any attention to her. For this she was thankful, as she wanted to do nothing more than privately grieve.

When her father found her some time later, he pulled her into his arms and she wept again. He patted her back and simply held on, his own face streaked with tears.

He pulled away from her after some time, and cupped her face in his hands, studying her closely, a strange mix of emotions in his eyes.

“Capri, I want you to hear this from me, because you have a right to know.” He hesitated, his hands shaking as they fell away from her face. “Balgaire explained the details of what happened, and it has come out that Roarke was the one responsible for letting in the demon who possessed you, and for staging the ambush that lead to the Enforcers getting killed. He also assisted Brock in executing the raid all those years ago.”

She stared at him for a moment, digesting what he had just told her. When she spoke, her voice was shaky with disbelief. “But…why? How do they know it was him?”

His lips tightened as anger flashed in his red rimmed and tired eyes. “Apparently he confessed to everything in front of the other Furies and the Enforcers, before attempting to shoot Balgaire. Thankfully, Balgaire dodged the bullet, but after the shot was fired the Enforcers, as trained, shot Roarke and he was mortally wounded. He was alive through the night, unresponsive, but this morning he passed away.”

Her hand shot up to cover her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. She simply didn’t know what to say. A part of her accepted that if Roarke had confessed, then surely he must have been responsible, meaning that she and Rian had been gravely mistaken in their assumptions. But another part of her rejected the explanation completely. There was just no way that Roarke was responsible. It didn’t make sense. But she had no evidence to back up her belief in his innocence, not really anyway. While, in contrast, the evidence of his guilt was a confession witnessed by several credible people.