Hyacinth (18 page)

“Oren, we’re
ready,” she called out.

Immediately, his
ghost-like figure appeared before her. He bowed deeply. “It warms my heart to
see you safe, My Lady.”

Selene allowed
herself a tiny smile for her old friend. “Thank you, Oren.”

“Unfortunately
the news I bear is not the –” He abruptly stopped speaking as Griffin walked
into the room.

“Please go ahead,
Oren,” Griffin said after several moments of awkward silence.

“I was saying
that the news I bring is not pleasant. My Lady, the Vyusher are in grave peril.”

Selene’s eyes
widened. “What has happened?”

“Maddox has been
approaching other
Svatura
clans and families,” Oren explained.

“To take them
over?” Nate asked.

“Not quite… possibly
worse. He’s turning them against us. These are people that the Vyusher attacked
while under Gideon’s control. They have every reason and every right to hate us
and to wish for revenge.”

Selene’s
expression remained neutral, but inside she was a raging storm of conflicted
emotions.

The room erupted
with frantic outbursts.

“Wasn’t Maddox
one of Gideon’s lieutenants? Why wouldn’t they turn on him, too?” Dexter asked.

“But they need
to know that Gideon was responsible for all of that, not the rest of the pack!”
Adelaide declared.

“If we could
forgive the Vyusher, anyone could,” Ellie said.

“We can’t fight
them, though,” Hugh insisted. “These are good people who’ve suffered great loss.”

Selene waited
patiently. Eventually, the din died down, fading to silence, and all eyes
turned to her.

“Oren?”

With the one
word, she was asking for guidance from her trusted friend.

“You should come
home, My Lady,” he advised. “If they agree, bring your new friends with you.
They could, perhaps, convince the others of the truth.”

“But I can’t—”
Selene started.

“The Council has
instructed me to extend an invitation to you all,” Oren cut her off. “They
prefer to offer an apology to you in person, if you accept.”

Shoulders back,
head held high, Selene turned to face the others. “I will not ask you to put
your lives in danger for us. Not after what we’ve already put you through.”

Everyone stared
at her in silence. Then Ellie reached for her hand. “If you think we’re letting
you go through this on your own, especially when we have a real chance to help
save lives on both sides, then you’ve got another think coming.”

Selene took a
deep breath and shook her head. “I can’t let you do that,” she whispered.

“You should know
by now that no one
lets
Ellie do anything,” Alex said. “She just
does
it.”

“And we agree
with Ellie, anyway. We’re coming with you….We can help.” Lucy insisted.

“This situation
could easily degrade into outright war. You understand this?” Selene looked at
each one of them directly, gauging the strength of their convictions. She
couldn’t allow herself to rely on people who might abandon her in the end.

“We won’t walk
away from this, or from you,” Ellie assured with a squeeze of her hand. If
Selene didn’t know for sure that her shields were up, she would’ve sworn that
Ellie had just read her mind.

Indecision
clouded Selene’s thoughts. She turned to face Oren, who gave her a small nod.
“All right.”

“What’ll we do
about classes?” Adelaide asked. “Spring semester starts next week.”

“I, for one,
refuse to let this situation take away from my opportunity to go to college,”
Selene finally answered. “Maybe Charlotte could take us back and forth. I want
to at least finish my first year.”

She glanced
around and was relieved to see nods of agreement. The fact that these people
trusted her gave her a much needed morale boost.

“Gather what you
need for a long stay. We leave tonight,” she said.

Oren’s form
disappeared, and the Jenners and Pierces began to prepare for their travel. Through
all the hustle and bustle, Selene noticed as Ellie and Griffin engaged in a
mental conversation.

After a little
while, Griffin looked directly at Selene, his expression unreadable. “I have
something I have to do,” he said.

“I understand,”
Selene answered, though she didn’t really. She just assumed he didn’t want to
be a part of helping her.

With a curt nod,
he turned and walked away. Her hope shriveled and died with every step he took
away from her.

“They still at
it?” Lila asked Ellie. They were perched outside the massive doors of the main
chamber where Selene was sequestered with the Vyusher High Council.

Ellie couldn’t
break her concentration to answer. Without Griffin close by, she wasn’t able to
read any minds, so she had to rely on the good old-fashioned strategy of
listening through the key hole.

“Twenty-seven
hours and counting,” Alex muttered and flipped a page of the book he was
reading.

Lila grinned.
“You still here too, Alex?”

Without turning
to look, Ellie put her finger to her lips. “Shhhh. I can barely hear as it is.”

Alex just
shrugged and whispered, “I’m here to make sure
she
behaves.” He reached
across the hall with a booted foot and tapped Ellie’s behind.

Ellie did turn
this time to wrinkle her nose at her
te’sorthene
. She suddenly did a bit
of a double take as it registered who was standing there.

She waved her
over. “Lila, come here.”

Lila leaned down
and stage-whispered, “What?”

“Can you feel
any part of what’s going on in there?”

“Are you asking
me to use my powers in nefarious ways?” Lila pretended to twirl an imaginary
mustache like a villain in a cheesy old movie, receiving a stony glare from
Ellie in return.

“You might not
want to tease her right now,” Alex warned, only half-joking.

“Oh, all right.
Sheesh!” Lila was silent for some time as she tuned in her abilities on the
debate happening in the next room.

Finally, Lila
relaxed from her intense stance and shook her head. “No one is lying, that’s
the only obvious thing I can feel. They all believe their words with
conviction. Emotions are all over the place… fear and frustration, especially.”

“Do you think
you could help Selene out?” Ellie asked. Then she slashed her hand through the
air. “Never mind. We can’t have them claiming that we interfered. She has to do
this on her own.”

“Now
your
frustration is practically overwhelming me.” Lila clutched her chest
dramatically.

Ellie gave her a
playful swat. “Ha ha.”

“Someone’s
coming,” Alex coughed.

“Hearing
anything interesting?” a deep voice asked.

Ellie and Lila turned
to see a tall, blond, green-eyed hunk of man staring down at them. He flashed a
pair of perfectly white, straight teeth.

“And you are?”
Lila inquired.

“Desmond
O’Moore. But you can call me Dez.” He leaned against the wall, crossing one
ankle over the other and casually stuffing his hands in his back pockets, the
muscles in his arms flexing at the small movement.

“Ahhh…” Lila
looked up him up and down. “Selene mentioned you.”

His full lips
tilted up in a lopsided grin. “She did, did she? All good, I hope.”

Lila just
shrugged. “I’m Lila. Ellie. Alex.” She waved a hand in their directions.

Ellie gave him a
quick wave. Alex stood to shake hands and then sat back down.

“How’s it going
in there?” Dez tipped his head toward the double doors.

“It doesn’t appear
to be wrapping up any time soon. That Xavier guy just won’t lay off,” Ellie
grumbled, as she pressed her face back to the tiny keyhole.

Dez gave a dry
chuckle. “Yeah. That guy can be a major pain. Well, gotta run. Nice to meet
you. Oh, and when she’s finally let out, tell Selene I said welcome back and I’ll
see her later.” With a wink he wandered back down the hall.

“Are you looking
at his butt?” Ellie squeaked.

“It’s worth
looking at,” Lila replied unrepentantly. “I never could resist a surfer’s
build.”

*****

Selene ignored
the urge to run her hands over her face, fighting her mental and physical
exhaustion. As soon as Charlotte had teleported them to the castle, Selene had
called a gathering of the High Council. And had been met with immediate
resistance.

“While we have
permitted you to come here, that does not, by any means, give you permission to
rule,” Xavier stated before the entire Council had even finished gathering.

Selene looked
him directly in the eyes. “Let’s wait for all of the Council to be assembled,
Xavier.”

Xavier’s mouth
tightened, but he took his seat and waited in sullen silence. Once all the
members had gathered, Selene stood and faced them.

“Just to make
sure I understand. After essentially being disowned as untrustworthy and
abandoned by my family, I am
allowed
to come here. I am
allowed
to bring my very powerful friends who defeated our entire pack, including my
brother, whom not one of the Vyusher – myself included - could defeat. I assume
that we are also
allowed
to fight for you? Defend you? Die for you? But
leading you is out. Is that correct?”

For a good
minute, no one in the room spoke. They were not used to their Princess being
anything but polite.

“My Lady, I am
sure that Xavier meant no offense,” Mireilla said, attempting to smooth over
the situation.

“Then perhaps he
should consider his words more carefully in the future,” Selene snapped. She
paused to regain her composure. “I am here for the Vyusher. For my pack. I will
never turn my back on them. I will never walk away from them. But I am no
longer subject to the rulings of this Council.”

No one responded
to that statement. After a few moments, Selene gracefully resumed her seat and
folded her hands neatly on the table in front of her. “Now what, if anything,
has been discussed so far?”

That had been
twenty-seven hours ago, and still they sat there debating. Selene, for the most
part, had remained relatively silent, preferring instead to see what arguments
were put forth.

Xavier and
Mireilla were determined that Maddox was not trying to hurt the Vyusher, but
that in trying to apologize to the other tribes, he’d unwittingly stirred up
the current conflict. Selene had just managed to cover her snort of disbelief
with a discreet cough.

Others were
still debating their options. They’d apparently already sent envoys to the
tribes in an attempt to negotiate a truce. Not a single one had returned
successful.

At least two of
the tribes were considering declaring war.

Every time
Selene had offered an opinion, she was shut down. The fire of her original
outburst, stoked by impotent anger at everything in her life that had led to
this moment, had burnt itself out. Her history of submission, with Gideon, with
these Elders, all worked against her, despite her short bout of confidence. And
the immensity of saving her people while dealing with these bureaucrats weighed
heavily on her.

Even when Gideon
had ruled over her life, she’d never felt as small and alone as she did at that
moment.

“Council,” Oren
spoke up. “I suggest that we adjourn this meeting temporarily. We all need
rest, and perhaps a little distance will shed some light on our path.”

Rising
gratefully, Selene hid her fatigue. Oren took her elbow and held her back so
that they were the last to leave.

“I have placed
the unconscious young lady in a very comfortable room near yours. While your
friend Hugh says she’s somehow surviving without relieving any bodily
functions, we went ahead and set up some basic medical care, like an IV. We
think it’s magically induced. She’s frozen in some sort of stasis. Angelica is staying
with her,” he murmured.

Selene raised
her eyebrows. “I hadn’t thought of that. Angelica’s gift of soothing whomever
she comes into contact with might just help the girl to wake up.”

Oren nodded as
they exited the chamber. Selene was unsurprised to find Ellie and Alex
lingering in the hallway, and she led them toward her chambers.

“We need to
talk. Can you gather the others without anyone noticing?” she asked once they
were safe inside her room.

“Yes, that’s
easy enough,” Ellie nodded.

“There’s a
clearing about two miles southwest of here. I’ll show Charlotte, and then we
can all meet there tonight. Let’s say midnight?”

They all nodded,
and Selene ushered them out of her room. She quickly found Charlotte and showed
her where to bring everyone later that night. She returned to her room alone
and gratefully collapsed onto the vast four-poster bed. She’d been waiting
impatiently for this moment for several days.