The Passion (25 page)

Elise cast an amused glance toward Alexander and replied, "I don't know, Tessa. Perhaps I would have.

I understand he's very handsome and almost as charming as his brother."

Alexander assured her, "Not nearly."

"But he never could have convinced you he'd reformed," Tessa insisted, "and he never could haye made you hate humans."

Elise was thoughtful. A shaft of sunshine sparkled on her face as they came out of the dappled shadow of a canopy of trees, and she narrowed her eyes against it, adjusting the curve of her wide-brimmed straw hat. "Perhaps not," she said.

"Perhaps I wouldn't have cared."

She saw Tessa's shock and she smiled. "Matings among us are not necessarily ruled by passion alone, Tessa. Denis is a strong werewolf whose vision for the pack is not entirely wrong. He can command a crowd and hold a pack together; this he has already proved. He would sire strong offspring.

And there is an advantage to bringing the house of Devoncroix and Antonov together again. In fact, it would appear that the only area in which we disagree is on the subject of humans." She pursed her lips in mock consideration. "What a clever girl you are, Tessa, to bring this to my attention. I think perhaps I should give it some serious thought."

Alexander was not amused. He dropped his arm from Tessa's waist. "I don't like to hear you talk that way, even in jest."

Elise tossed him a mildly chal enging look.

"Because it makes your defense of me less noble?"

Alexander answered seriously, "Because it's wrong."

Elise looked at him for a moment, and then smiled.

"I'm glad you think so."

But even though they were smiling at each other, and even though when Alexander offered his arm to Elise she took it, Tessa wished she had never brought the subject up. She took Alexander's other arm when he offered it, but the ambience they had shared a moment ago was not so easy to recapture.

They stopped for a time to watch a lawn tennis match across the way, and Elise and Alexander talked about the upcoming Festival of the Summer Moon, which would draw werewolves from al over Europe to the Palais. Tessa eavesdropped for a while, but then was distracted by an impertinent young male who was doing tumbling runs through the fountain in the nude. His companion was a smal er, female, caramel-colored wolf who chased him with no apparent real intention of catching him.

Such sights never failed to startle Tessa, for nudity was quite common among them and considered not in the least objectionable. To appear in wolf form within sight of a human was not, of course, nearly as acceptable, and this had been the cause of tension at the Palais since Tessa's arrival. Elise's attitude toward Tessa had made it clear that the human was welcome, but it was unfair to require visitors at the Palais to avoid their natural forms for Tessa's sake. Tessa knew this was a source of resentment from the other werewolves, yet she could do nothing about it. And whenever she happened upon one of them in his natural form she was as uncomfortable as he was; she always felt for one brief disorienting moment as though she had crossed some invisible line from one world into another and must hasten to step back before she lost her balance.

The male caught scent of Tessa first and turned.

Seeing her, he wrinkled up his nose at her in a chal enging, mocking gesture, but then he noticed her companion the queen and his expression quickly changed to consternation. Both he and the taffy wolf sprinted away, disrupting the tennis game when they dashed across the court. One of the players tossed a racket at him.

Alexander said, scowling, "These young ones have no manners at al ."

"You're right." Elise's gaze fol owed the scene with disapproval. "But then, who is there to teach them?

The pack has fal en into disarray, Alexander; no one has any pride or sense of purpose anymore. I take ful responsibility for that."

"You haven't even been inaugurated pack leader yet," Alexander objected. "I don't see how you can blame yourself for a circumstance that has taken centuries to develop."

To which Elise replied simply, "If I am to be pack leader, I must."

They walked in silence for a while. Tessa, who felt that somehow the incident was al her fault, fol owed quietly.

Then Alexander said, "I think it would be best if we made our departure by the end of the week, before guests start arriving for the Festival."

Elise raised her eyebrows in surprise—although it seemed to Tessa the surprise was somewhat feigned, and that Alexander knew it. "You would insult me by leaving before the Festival? Everyone wil think I treat my guests so badly they can't even be bribed to stay with promises of bottomless wine barrels and acres of food. How shal I hold my head up?"

He smiled. "I wil return, if you like. But if you expect a decent vintage to fil your bottomless barrels, I had best go and see to my vineyards."

Tessa knew that wasn't right. Alexander had very little at al to do with the making of wine or the tending of the vineyards, and often boasted that his employees were of such high caliber and such a refined degree of loyalty that he could disappear for years and return to find a business that had grown tenfold in his absence.

Then Elise inquired pointedly, "And Tessa? Wil she return, too?" And Tessa understood.

Alexander glanced at her, and it was clear this was a subject he would have preferred not to have raised in her presence. It was equal y as clear that Elise knew it.

He replied, "I think it's best that Tessa return to my estate for a while. She can visit again after the festival."

Tessa had no intention of remaining silent at that.

"Why?" she demanded. "I've been to other of your parties, I've met other of the guests. Am I a secret, then? Are you ashamed of me? What is so extraordinary about this party?"

"Yes, Alexander," invited Elise, threading her hand through the crook of his arm as they left behind the tennis lawn for the formal gardens. "Please explain your logic to us."

Alexander's voice was tinged with exasperation. "A great many guests wil come who have never met Elise before," he told Tessa. "It's important that she make a good impression. There wil be certain—

activities in which you cannot participate, at any rate. You would be bored."

Tessa just stared at him. Dimples appeared at the corners of Elise's mouth as she explained, "What he means by 'guests,' Tessa dear, is 'suitors.' I wil be expected to choose a mate from the crop of this season's finest."

Tessa was so intrigued by this that she almost forgot her pique at Alexander. "Why, it's just like a fairy tale!" she exclaimed, and Elise laughed.

But Alexander's tone was brusque. "If you had applied yourself to your lessons as you've been told, you would know that the source of most of your socal ed fairy tales lies within our most deeply held traditions. That, however, is not the point—"

"How wil you do it?" Tessa inquired of Elise. "How wil you know which one to choose?"

"Wel , that's ever the question, isn't it?" replied Elise, amused. "How does one ever? Perhaps you wil help me make up my mind, Tessa."

Alexander's voice was oddly stiff and subdued as he said, "I think this has gone far enough, mademoisel e."

Elise turned to him. Her expression remained pleasant, as did her voice, but there was something hard in her eyes; something which, although she barely glimpsed it, Tessa immediately recognized as a chal enge.

Elise said, "What has gone far enough, Alexander?"

He hesitated. That, if nothing else, was enough to alert Tessa to the import of the moment, and she came to understand something more important was being debated here than her right to attend a private festival. She knew when to be silent and watchful.

Alexander took Elise's arm and turned a little from Tessa, lowering his voice to build an invisible wal of privacy around them. "Elise," he said, "I know what you have been trying to do and I admire you for it.

But there are some among us who won't understand about Tessa, and you can't afford to make any enemies just now."

Elise's eyes flashed. "How fortunate I am to have you to advise me on what I can and cannot afford to do, monsieur."

"I meant no offense." But anger worked in the muscles of Alexander's jaw. "I brought her here. I don't want to be responsible for embarrassing you."

"Embarrassing!" gasped Tessa. Hurt and outrage prompted her to speak where wisdom dictated silence. "Am I an
embarrassment
to you?"

Elise raised a hand to soothe her, although her eyes remained, ful of anger and chal enge, upon Alexander."You are not an embarrassment, Tessa LeGuerre. You are a perfect example of how charming and intel igent and perfectly worthwhile a human being can be. I am surprised your so-cal ed guardian hasn't discovered as much for himself!"

"Curse it, Elise, you know what I mean." Alexander's voice was tight, and he did not look at Tessa.

"I do," Elise returned, "and I must say I'm disappointed. I had taken you for one who had the courage of his convictions. Perhaps you are more like your brother than I first thought."

An angry flush stained Alexander's cheeks and his eyes went dark. "That is unfair."

"Is it?" Elise's color rose as she confronted him, her chin high, her shoulders back, and her bearing, in stature and mastery, every bit as powerful as Alexander's. "Prove me wrong!"

"My only concern is your welfare! You said yourself the pack is in disarray—is this the way to unite it?

And how can you hope to rule at al if you cannot attract a suitable mate?"

"You dare to question me!"

"I dare to
counsel
you, mademoisel e! There is a difference between standing firm for one's beliefs and tossing away your future on a whim!"

"And you would know that difference, I suppose?

Pray, enlighten me!"

"That is what I'm trying to do!"

Tessa took an instinctive step backward. Anger when expressed between two powerful werewolves was a terrifying thing; it seemed to suck the oxygen out of the air, to cause static to crackle in the ears, to raise the temperature of the earth. Tessa found herself taking an involuntary step backward even as she cried, "No, mademoisel e, you are wrong!"

Elise whipped her head around, her blue eyes on fire, her lips set tight, her hair whirling about her body like a halo of lightning. Tessa felt her courage desert her in that moment, for even a werewolf would have quaked beneath the temper of Elise Devoncroix. Yet as smal as she felt, as frightened as she was, she knew she had to finish what she had begun.

"He is nothing like his brother," Tessa insisted breathlessly. "I wil leave or I wil stay, whatever you wish, only—don't accuse Alexander so unfairly, and please don't be angry with him!"

Slowly, Elise's expression cleared. The faintest of smiles touched her lips as she looked from Tessa to Alexander. "And so, monsieur," she remarked,

"while I'm not sure you deserve such a staunch defense, I say once more that anyone who can inspire the loyalty of such an innocent creature deserves a second chance."

Alexander managed to look at the same time embarrassed, annoyed, and proud. But the anger was completely gone from his tone, too, as he replied dryly, "Tessa is many things, mademoisel e, but I am not certain innocent is one of them."

Elise turned from him and reached for Tessa's hand, tucking it beneath her arm confidential y.

"Now, Tessa, you must be the final judge. Tel me honestly, for I wil know if you lie, what is your assessment of Alexander Devoncroix's character?"

The intricacies of humor wherein it applied to werewolves continued to elude Tessa, and she could never be certain when Elise was teasing her.

She did understand, however, that the queen would know as easily as Alexander did if she lied, and she racked her brain to find something commendable to say about him. Considering the fact that she was quietly furious with him for trying to get rid of her, not to mention her seething hurt over his use of the word "embarrass," this was not an easy thing.

"I think he is very forthright," she ventured careful y.

Alexander groaned softly.

Tessa drew a breath and plunged on. "He is often thoughtless and self-centered. He can be arrogant and opinionated and deceitful, if it serves his purpose. He is vain and autocratic. Frankly, mademoisel e"—this gave her some pleasure to say

—"I have often thought him to be something of a peacock."

The dimples that bracketed Elise's mouth appeared again as she glanced at Alexander.

"However," Tessa concluded, "he is kind to subordinates and he can always be relied upon to keep his word. I have never known him to be anything less than fair."

She could have said more, but she was afraid she had already gone too far. She didn't dare look at Alexander.

"Wel , my dear," said Elise, arching one eyebrow,

"you have just described the perfect loup-garou.

Perhaps I should put Alexander on my list of possible chal engers."

Alexander took a step forward, meeting her eyes boldly. "Perhaps you should."

Elise held his gaze for a moment, and then she murmured, "Ambitious as wel . A most admirable combination. What a pity you are so outrageously fixed in your opinions."