Love lines (46 page)

“No, no, no... this is impossible!”

 I broke into hysterical giggle.

“You are kidding me, right?”

Frederick’s very serious expression confirmed my worst
suspicions.

“So, is it true?” I asked quietly. He nodded in
response. “That is why I felt something familiar with what you were doing! Your
power was in that medallion and now... Oh, god! It is in me!”

He nodded again. I stood up from my seat, unable to sit
any longer. All the parts of this puzzle begun to take their places - his name,
my powers, my life... Everything started with this very man! Other memories
begun to appear in my mind.

“That dream of my eighth birthday...”

“I sent it,” said Frederick.

“Can you send dreams?” I asked in surprise.

“I can do a lot of things,” he replied smiling slightly.

I walked to the window.

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth before?” I asked not
looking back.

“I decided that it would be better to keep it a secret.
Frankly, I hoped that you would figure it out by yourself.”

“And if I hadn’t gotten your powers, and lived my past
life, would you ever tell me the truth?”

This time I turned and looked straight into his eyes.

“No,” he answered honestly. “I’ve never wanted you to
have this life. I wished you something completely different. But I always
thought about you, always watching you, always guarding you.”

“Did my mother know that about you?”

“No. She still doesn’t know anything.”

“Not surprising, then, that she still considers you the
scum of this earth.”

Frederick smiled.

“Maybe I deserved that. I couldn’t resist my desires and
as a result I ruined her life too. Someday I'll beg for her forgiveness. Just
like today I’m begging you to forgive me for everything that I've done wrong.”

We were standing in front of each other, neither looking
away. My new world was collapsing again... Just then and there, in front of my
own eyes. I would have to re-live a new life, and get used to the unknown
things... And people.

 Suddenly I realized that all of the present there were
silently listening to our conversation. I looked at Evan, who was hiding his
eyes guiltily.

“You knew, right? You knew that Frederick was my
father.”

“I learned about it just recently,” he said. “Sorry,
Eileen, I couldn’t tell you anything. I didn't have any right to do that.”

“It’s not his fault,” said Frederick. “I asked them all
to keep my secret.”

“
Them
?” in disbelief I asked again. I looked back
at those people who were with us at that time in the library.

“Oh, my god... you
all
knew! And what about
Christian? Did he also know?”

“You have just answered your own question, Eileen. We
all
knew,” said Evan.

“Is there anything else I should know? If so, I want to know
everything. Now!” I demanded, putting my hands on my hips.

The next half an hour I was listening to the story of
how many centuries ago, the Fairey family was cursed, and that now
I
was
the one to take that curse off. Evan told me that Patrick and Frederick
deliberately bound themselves so that Christian and I could feel and protect
each other. Frederick said that our tattoos were a symbol of our own bond, and
that thanks to them that bond was possible. As a symbol of love and fidelity
interlocking hearts became our personal symbols. Knowing that Catherine Clark would have a baby, Camilla Steward made an elixir, the drops of which were the
basis of the tattoos. Everything was thought out in order to protect me and
Christian, who had unwillingly become a hostage of my safety.

“Eric still wants my power,” Frederick said. “And you
are – a primary source of it.”

“
That
I’ve considered myself. But why he can’t
take it directly from you?”

“He is too obsessed with getting all the possible
powers, because unlike me, you also possess the powers of all the elements. His
greed wants all the powers that you alone have.”

“Great,” I said exhausted. “I hope no one is against
leaving me alone for a while. I need to gather my thoughts.

“Of course, dear,” said Amelia. “If you need anything,
we'll be in the living room.”

 Everyone left, except Frederick. He came closer to me.

“Don’t be mad at them, it's not their fault that they
were silent for so long. It’s my fault entirely,” he said.

I didn’t know what to say in response, so I just nodded.
He went out, closing the door behind him.

I sat at Patrick’s desk and wearily dropped my head on
my folded hands. There, behind the door there were so many people willing to
help me, caring and concerned. There was even my father, whom I so long had
been dreaming to see.

So now what? Here he is, only in a dozen steps away from
me, but I don’t even know how to act myself, what to do, or what to say... On
one hand, I got used to his presence for all the time he had spent with me. But
on the other hand he was only a stranger who had apparently become a friend of
mine, and now it turned out that he wasn’t just a friend...

I couldn’t imagine myself calling him
Dad
instead
of Frederick, or Mr. Fairey. Yes, I wouldn’t deny that his presence in my life
was a strong foundation and support, but the fact that he was my father was
still hard to accept.

Christian’s absence made me helpless even more, because
at that very moment he was the only person I needed to see. He always knew how
to calm me down, how to find the right words. And now he wasn’t there... And I
didn’t know when I would hug him again and feel the warmth of his embrace. I
missed all of that so much!

I was dying without Christian, as if
my heart was torn away from my body. His disappearance made me realize how much
he really meant to me. A part of my soul, that used to feel his emotions, now
was empty. I’d never felt myself so lonely. Everything binding me to Christian
just a few hours ago, now was sinking into the depth of nowhere. I remembered
Evan’s words about the danger of Christian and me being apart. We were nothing
without each other. We were vulnerable and weak. And now we both were in
danger…

I froze in fear. Instead of usual
warmth and light I felt cold and darkness surrounding me.  My tattoo wasn’t
shining anymore and its usually bright and beautiful red hearts turned into a
few barely noticeable thin lifeless lines.  

Despite the fact that at that moment it seemed that all
the powers were leaving me and there was no light in that endless tunnel of
riddles and problems, I realized that I must do all my best just to have my own
life back. I had to find Christian, and tell him, finally, how much I loved
him. I hadn’t managed to do even
that simple thing
yet. I thought that
all my feelings were so well known to him without any words. But now that small
mistake seemed like a biggest failure of my life...

I had never wanted to speed up time so much before so I
could correct all my mistakes, find the answers I needed and finally try to
start living a normal, certainly as far as it was possible, life. However, I
didn’t have time to just sit there and feel sorry for myself. So I stood up,
rubbed the tears away, and moved toward the living room.

Barely reaching the door I heard a soft knock. I didn’t
have to open it to know that there was Evan. Well, of course! Now I could
easily feel the auras. It seemed that his patience came to an end, and he
finally decided to become the first to feel my whole range of anger. I smiled
sadly.

“Couldn’t wait any longer?” I asked, opening the door.

“Sorry, but you've been sitting there too long, and we
have
a lot of things
to do,” he said, waiting for my unstable reaction.

“I’ve decided that I don’t have any more time to mope or
mourn myself,” I said, coming towards him.

Evan smiled.

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to sit back and do
nothing,” he said, giving me a hug.

We still had many trials to go through, but I had no
doubt that by combining our powers and skills, we would succeed.

The main thing was to decide
where to start
...

To be continued...

About the author

Diana Nixon
was born in Minsk, Belarus, where she still lives and works on her books.

Before
becoming a writer she received a Master of Law degree from the Belorussian
State University, got married and gave birth to her precious daughter.

She has
always liked reading fantasy novels, so when she came up with the idea of
writing a book, she already knew what genre to choose.

At the
moment Diana is working on her Love lines series.

Visit author’s
website

www.diananixon.webs.com

Acknowledgements

First of
all I wish to thank my family for their patience and apprehension. I know how
much you suffered from sharing me with my heroes. Love you so much! You are the
best!

A thousand
thanks to my friends and all the people who supported me during my work on this
book. I appreciate your assistance in making this small dream come true.

A special
thanks to Tatiana Serova and Tracy Stuber for their help in proofreading.

I would
like to say a huge thanks to Heather Anne Davis for her massive support,
invaluable help and unconditional friendship. You are amazing, Heather! I’m
glad you’ve become a part of my life.

Many thanks
to Olga Kulik and Edward Olamisan for their encouragement and advice.