Moonshadow (43 page)

“I just enjoy watching you, is all,” he replied, looking content sipping his tea.

“Well eat a little more; I don’t want to worry about you collapsing or something later.”

“As my lady commands,” he said playfully and cut into the eggs on his plate. “By the way,” he began as he gestured to the black cake that remained uneaten on her plate. “I wouldn’t eat the Black Pudding, if I were you. It’s basically fried onions and congealed pig’s blood.”

“Ugh, gross.” Diana felt a bit of her breakfast come up at the description. “Thanks for the warning.”

Looking to the large grandfather clock against the wall, Diana noticed it was time to take her prescription. Instinctively reaching for her purse, Diana immediately remembered she left it behind in Qir’Aflonas.

“Crap—I don’t have my pills,” she said aloud in frustration.

Darien’s concern quickly showed. “Is it life threatening?” he asked. “What ailment do you need them for?”

Diana started to blush, but considering the previous night, realized she had nothing to be embarrassed about. “Nothing that important; just my birth-control pills.”

Darien chuckled, appearing thoroughly amused. Diana felt confused, and a bit annoyed, by it.

“What’s so funny?”

“Your pills aren’t necessary,” he replied before taking a sip of tea. “It’s not possible for you to conceive a child by me.”

“I don’t just take it for that,” Diana said in defense, crossing her arms over her chest. “It helps regulates my cycles. But what do you mean, it’s not possible?”

Darien chewed the forkful of egg that he just shoved into his mouth before answering.

“We’re magical beings that walk in both the physical and spiritual planes. Like everything else, conception occurs in both planes as well. Since you are a completely physical being, it’s just not possible.”

The notion of not being able to have any future children with Darien filled Diana’s heart with a profound sense of loss. As a human, would she never be able to start a family with him?
But I’m
not
a normal human, am I?
If her suspicions are correct, and she really is a Moonshadow, perhaps they could have family after all.
She needed to know more.

“How do elves exist in the first place?” Diana asked. “How did spiritual beings like the Fallen have children with ancient humans?”

“Humans weren’t always as they are now; they were once magical beings, as well.” He leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps Elberon changed them so what happened before could never happen again.”

“I think I understand,” she said. If magical humans could have children with completely spiritual beings like the Kratari, it certainly seemed feasible that they could do the same with half-breeds like the Naphalei.

Diana didn’t quite know what to make of it all, but it was enough for now. Darien seemed fairly certain humans couldn’t have children with Naphalei however, whether they were magical or not. Regardless, given their unique situation, she hadn’t been sure her birth-control would even work.

“That’s one less thing to worry about, I guess,” Diana said, smiling. “We have enough on our plate with your sister wanting to chop my head off.”

“Yes, about that,” Darien said, his countenance quickly becoming serious. “You will be going on home alone.” It sounded like Diana didn’t have choice in the matter. “I’m staying here to talk to Edea. Perhaps I can make her see reason enough to let you live.”

“Like hell,” she replied, her anger rising. “I’m not leaving you. What if they kill you or send you into the Nightmare?”

Darien reached over and took her hand in his with a smile of assurance.

“My sister has no intentions of harming me, or disgracing our family. She wanted you taken care of discretely, remember? Once you’re safe, I can talk to her rationally about the situation.”

Diana still wasn’t convinced it was a good idea.

“And what exactly are you going to tell her about our situation? I thought what we did last night was a capital crime.”

“I’ll just convince Edea that her decision was rash and that there is nothing romantic between us. I won’t be caught off guard this time. As for our making love, that is our business and no one else’s.”

Diana couldn’t help but smile at the memories.

“I don’t like going on alone,” she said with a sigh. “But I suppose I have no choice in the matter, do I?”

Darien smiled back. “No, you don’t. I made the arrangements while you were in the refresher earlier. A car will be here in twenty minutes to take you to the airport.”

Diana wanted to be angry with him for taking such liberties without her consent, but she knew it’d been the right course of action.

After finishing breakfast, they went back upstairs to prepare Diana for the journey home. Mr. Cartwright offered to let her keep the old trunk, so she folded up her damp ball gown and placed it alongside rest of the musty old clothes. With everything packed and ready, Diana placed Darien’s mother’s necklace around her neck, double looping it and placing it in the front.

“I know it’s supposed to be worn the other way,” she said, turning to Darien. “But I don’t want to draw attention to myself and I just can’t bear not to wear it.”

Effected by her sentiment, Darien took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly.

“I love you, Diana Selene,” he said with a warm smile and a sparkle in his gray eyes.

“I love you too—” her words caught upon a sudden realization. “Would you rather I call you Endymion? I’ve just been so used to calling you Darien that I never thought to ask.”

His smile belonged to her alone.

“Who I was before you came into my life doesn’t matter. I will always be your Darien.”

This time, it was Diana who initiated the kiss.

“I love you, my Darien.”

The ring of the bedside phone ended the moment and Diana frowned—the taxi had arrived and it was time for her to leave his side.

With time passing much too quickly, Diana was soon sitting in the backseat of the taxi, next to her new—old—luggage, saying her goodbyes to Darien as he stood next to the open car door.

“When you get to the airport, seek out a customs officer name Stevens and give him this.” He pulled out a folded note from his jacket pocket and handed it to Diana. It contained a scribbled message and the faint impression of the Stoneheart signet ring. “He should be able to provide you with travel papers since your passport is still in Qir’Aflonas.

“Sounds good,” Diana said with a nod. “I was a bit worried about that.”

“My business shouldn’t take very long,” he continued with a smile, reassuring Diana that he’d be alright. “I will call on you when I return.”

“You’d better,” she replied. “Or I might just leave you for Andrew.”

Darien laughed and kissed her on the forehead. “Then I shall be back as soon as possible.”

Darien shut the door, signaling to the driver to take her speedily away from him.

As the car drove down the street, Darien remained where she had left him, waving goodbye. As his image grew smaller and smaller by the second, Diana hoped with all her heart that she would see him again. She didn’t know what forces were out their beyond the reality she knew, but she prayed they would keep Darien safe until she could be in his arms once again.

Once they turned the corner of High Street, and Darien was completely out of sight, Diana sat forward. Taking one last glance at the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey as they passed by in the distance, Diana knew she’d need to calm her emotions or the journey to the airport was going to be a long one. Perhaps she could keep her mind occupied by poking around in the old trunk.

Looking over, Diana noticed something she hadn’t before—a small metal plate under the handle, with the engraved initials
A.F.F.

It only took a moment for the realization to dawn in her mind and she quickly opened the trunk to rummage inside. There had to be some sort of identification as to who the owner had been.

Then she found it—a tag sewed into the lining on the bottom. Diana smiled at the name as she read it, knowing she’d been right.
Alexander Foxwell Flinders, 7 Cannon Place, Hampstead.

The clue he’d left in Charlotte’s tomb hadn’t led to Qir’Aflonas and Silvermoon Palace, it’d led to Glastonbury and
The Red Dragon Inn.

Diana and Darien had found what they’d been searching for after all.

Chapter 19

Have I escaped that hell of shadow lusts?

By what pathway have I fled the darkness?

I remember only mother’s bright light,

And the haunting pain of her sacrifice.

Diana awoke suddenly to a shake of the shoulder and the concerned enquires of a perky blonde woman standing over her. With her mind unable to process her surroundings, Diana took in the sight of the rows of empty seats as the swirling shadows of the Veil fled the corners of her vision.

She was still on the plane.

Shaking the haze away, Diana tried to focus on what her consciousness had been experiencing. It definitely hadn’t felt like any Veil dream she’d had in the past. All she could recall now was quick flashes of lightning, swirling mists, and walls of quaking rocks. It had felt like she was constantly shifting through Veilscapes with her consciousness unable to find an anchor within fast changing realities. Perhaps it was related to sleeping while flying across the skies—a plausible notion. Although, she hadn’t experienced the Veil at all while onboard the airship.  Could it be related to her experience within the Temple? She’d stood before the threshold of the Pit of Shadows, gazing down at the Fallen’s prison; Diana would be a fool to think the experience hadn’t affected her, somehow.

Quickly growing more alert, Diana realized the woman standing over her was a flight attendant.

“I’m sorry,” Diana apologized. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“Are you alright, miss?” The attendant asked, with a good amount of concern on her face. “We’ve been on the ground for some time and everyone has already exited the craft.”

Finding the woman’s concern surprising, Diana stood up to survey her surroundings. Just as she had said, the entire cabin was empty of people save for Diana and the personnel.

How did I sleep through the landing process? That could wake anyone.

Pushing the matter away for the time being, Diana gave her attention to the attendant.

“I’m sorry. I must have been really tired. Thanks for your concern.”

Diana swiftly left the awkwardness behind and exited the aircraft
in a hurry. Luckily she didn’t have a carry-on to lug off, so she was able to bolt through the terminal. When she finally reached the rolling conveyer belts of the baggage claim, only then did Diana realize she had no ride home.

With her mind a hazy mess, Diana sat down on a nearby bench to regain her bearings. She felt so utterly disoriented. Hadn’t she just left England? The entire journey from Glastonbury until now was a blur of emotions, smiling faces of airport personnel, and Veilscapes. She remembered feeling terribly exhausted once she finally sat down on the plane, which was only natural, considering she hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. The next thing Diana knew of the waking world was being jostled awake by the flight attendant, not long ago. She felt out of Time.
This is one hell of a case of jetlag.

By the look of the luggage belt, most of the passengers had already collected their bags, and Flinders’ trunk was one of the only pieces of luggage still rolling around. Shaking the cob-webs from her mind, Diana stood up and retrieved the trunk from the belt.

Now, the question is—who am I going to call to pick me up?

If she called her parents, Diana would have a fair amount explaining to do, and she wasn’t really in the state of mind to deal with that mess. She’d also have to wait in the airport for six hours for them to get there from Indiana, and she most certainly wasn’t prepared for that. She didn’t have any money, either, so getting a taxi was out of the question. Without her cell phone, she didn’t really have many options of numbers to call, as she’d never bothered to memorize any of her contacts. She didn’t even know Lani’s number by heart—although, her roommate might be in their dorm. She knew that number.

To Diana’s great relief, Lani hadn’t gone home for Christmas yet, and after collect-call and a half an hour wait, she and Eric were there to rescue Diana from her stranded position.

When Lani laid eyes on Diana, she laughed out loud “What on earth are you wearing?” she asked through a chuckle. “You look like my grandma.”

Diana had completely forgotten about her state of attire. Only then did she fully realize that the clothes she wore likely belonged to Charlotte. At the thought, Diana involuntarily brought her hand to her chest. She felt strangely comforted by the notion.

“It’s a long story,” she replied, shaking her head. “I’ll tell you about it later. But thanks for coming—you guys are life savers.”

“Don’t mention it,” Eric said as he chivalrously grabbed the trunk from Diana’s hand so she didn’t have to carry it. “This is all you took with you?”

“No,” Diana replied, struggling to find a suitable excuse. “There were…complications and I had to leave my luggage behind.” It wasn’t quite “Udana the Clanless Nomad”, but it would have to do.

“That sucks,” Eric said. “I hope you get your stuff back.”

“Me too,” Diana said with longing, thinking of her trunk of elven dresses
.

Not quite satisfied with Diana’s explanation, Lani continued the interrogation. “Do those
complications
have anything to do with why you’re dressed like that, and why you flew home without Darien?” She latched onto the possible intrigue with a grin.

“We had some problems with the authorities,” Diana replied with a shrug. “I had to continue on alone; no big deal.” Her answer was actually pretty true to the situation and the irony made her smile.

Lani looked a bit perplexed by Diana’s apparent amusement. “And that’s a good thing? Why are you smiling?”

The smile quickly fled Diana’s face. “No reason. Let’s get going.”

Over the course of the ride back to campus, Diana tried to answer her friends’ enquires about her trip overseas, but found it terribly difficult to do so. From the beginning she’d settled on the cover story of a cruise to the British Isles—which was certainly true—but Diana desperately wished she could relay all of the exciting events. In the end, she had to just make up mundane stories about buffets, stage shows, and shuffleboard. Perhaps she could talk to Miri about her more thrilling adventures soon.

When Diana finally stepped into her dorm room, she sighed with a fair amount of relief and satisfaction. “I can’t believe I’m already back here—it feels like I just left Darien at the inn like three hours ago.”

“Oh yeah?” A curious Eric spoke up after plopping the suitcase onto Diana’s bed. “Nice inn?”

Lani quickly turned to her boyfriend with a smile and kissed him on the cheek. “You run on back to your room, now. We need some girl time.”

“Oh fine,” Eric said, defeated. He knew better than to go against Lani’s wishes. “See ya Diana,” he said with a wave goodbye. “I’m glad you made it back safe.”

“Thanks for picking me up—and for carrying my luggage,” she said with a smile. “You’re my hero.”

“No problem.” After another wave of his hand he shut the door behind him, leaving the two ladies alone. Lani’s mouth quickly twisted into that devilish grin that Diana had come to love.

“What?” Diana asked, as if she had no idea where this conversation was immediately about to go.

“Oh don’t give me
what
,” Lani said with a playful scowl, finding Diana’s dodge ridiculous. “I could tell by the look on your face when you mentioned that inn.” The grin returned in full force. “You finally got down to business.” It wasn’t a question—Lani knew it was true, which it was, but that was beside the point.

Diana just blushed.

“I’ll take your silence and rosy cheeks as a confirmation.” Her roommate crossed her arms with authority. “Spill it—I want details.”

“Well, that’s just too bad, now, isn’t it?” Diana replied, feeling somewhat embarrassed. She wasn’t quite ready to divulge the details of that wonderful experience to Lani. Diana wasn’t sure if she even
could
describe it.

“Oh come on,” Lani pleaded like a small child. “At least tell me how it was? Usually the first time is pretty painful.”

“It was…magical.” Truer words had never been spoken.

“I’m happy for you,” Lani said as she took Diana into her arms for a sisterly hug. “My first time hurt like hell, and I don’t even really remember much about it.”

“That’s sad,” Diana replied with genuine sympathy. “It was the most wonderful night of my life.”

“Cut it out,” Lani said with mock disgust. “You’re going to give me diabetes.”

After having a nice laugh with her friend, Diana settled into her room and asked Lani how things on campus had been going since Diana left for her trip. After such a rousing journey, it felt nice to just sit and talk with Lani. Diana hadn’t known how much she’d needed the sense of normality.

Lani eventually left to meet back up with Eric and get a bite to eat. Lani invited her to join them, but Diana declined. With her travel experience being such a whirlwind, she hadn’t had time to fully investigate Flinders’ trunk for whatever he’d left for someone to find. With her roommate gone for a few hours, it was the perfect time to look for clues.

Once Diana opened the trunk, she ejected the contents onto her bed, deciding the best thing to do would be to organize everything and then put it away. Looking at the sprawled pile of skirts and blouses, Diana felt a warmth in her heart at knowing she had some more keepsakes of Charlotte’s. It had pained her considerably to know that her aunt’s possessions had burned up in the flames of Terra’s attack. Now, at least, Diana had a few items to hold onto.

She began by separating the women’s clothes from the men’s, putting her aunt’s things into the closet and checking the pockets. Apart from some really old lint, they were all empty.

Flinders must have traveled light,
Diana couldn’t help but think as she looked at the significantly smaller amount of men’s clothes. All that was left was a white shirt, a couple pairs of socks, and some blue slacks. Darien had the rest. 

Diana folded Flinders’ clothes into a neat pile, thinking the school might like them for some sort of display in the library, and placed them on her desk chair.

Diana stared at the empty trunk, scratching her head, knowing she had to be missing something.
It’s just empty luggage.
Had whatever Flinders left inside somehow gone missing? It had been lying in a storage closet since the 1920’s. Someone was bound to rummage through it, eventually.

Without much else to go on, Diana started feeling around inside the empty trunk. As she ran her fingers along the soft silk lining, she didn’t feel anything terribly out of the ordinary. It wasn’t long until the tips of her fingers felt a course anomaly close to one of the corners of the trunk. Moving in for a closer examination, Diana found that part of the lining at been cut like a flap and stitched back together. Intrigued, she began to feel around the area, and was more than a little excited to find that something was indeed lying below the lining. Diana swiftly fetched a small pair of scissors that she kept in a cup with pens and pencils and then made a careful incision. Pulling the fabric back revealed a sealed white envelope, laying against the mahogany-colored leather of the trunk. Filled with newfound excitement, Diana snatched the envelope from its hiding place and quickly used the scissors to open it and reveal its contents. She pulled out the single folded piece of aged white paper and read the scribbled writing—it appeared to be a handwritten poem, entitled
Lily of the Valley
.

Greatly intrigued, Diana immediately began to read.

Oh Lily of the Valley,

Beauty in the Midst of Sorrow,

Flower in Dark Labyrinth bloom,

Life among the Shadow of Death.

White Queen of the Veil.

Guided by Ariadne’s Thread,

Into the blessed Clair de Lune.

You bear the Light of Tomorrow,

Oh Lily of the Valley.

When she finished, Diana sat down on her bed in frustration.
That’s it?
That’s
what Flinders clue led us to?
Some poem?
It sounded lovely, sure, but there was nothing of any foreseeable interest in the words of the poem—only flowery images of love. Looking it over again, Diana knew there had to be a coded message hidden within it somewhere.

Darien would know,
she thought with a sigh.

Diana closed the suitcase and sat it at the foot of her bed. Even though she had just slept on a plane for seven hours, she still felt extremely exhausted. Perhaps after a nice rest she’d be able to tackle the mystery of the poem.

Laying her head on the pillow, Diana fully expected the darkness of the Veil to be reaching out to her, but she only felt its profound absence—which she found surprisingly disconcerting. Regardless, she could already feel herself drifting into a blissful sleep and embraced it fully.