Belladonna

  Lee’s evil grin got wider. “So that story you told me about your first time. Which was it, brag or lie?”

  “Damn you.” But even as he said it, it occurred to him that he’d never had a friend who would poke at him like this. Even Nathan wouldn’t have poked fun at him.

  “Tell you what,” Lee said, clapping a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “You don’t show too much interest in Caitlin’s sex life—and I won’t show too much interest in Glorianna’s.”

  “That’s different.”

  “So you say.”

  “It is.”

  “We’re docking,” Kenneday called out. “If either of you care.”

  “Could be worse,” Lee said, taking a step back. “Sebastian could start taking an interest in Glorianna’s sex life.”

  “Lady of Light, have mercy,” Michael muttered, wincing at the reminder that the incubus had already showed a bit too much interest in his cousin’s relationships. And I haven’t even talked her into bed yet.

  Lee walked away laughing, the ripe bastard. Then Brighid appeared from belowdecks, looking pale but determined.

  Let them go, he thought as he moved to intercept Brighid and have a few words with her to convey Glorianna’s message. Have the courage to let them both go on with their own lives.

  Their eyes met, and he realized she had faced this moment twelve years ago—when she had let him go.

  He offered her a smile and his arm. “Shall we go out and meet the world?”

  She linked her arm in his. “Yes, I think we shall.”

  Can you feel it, Caitlin?

  That’s what Glorianna had asked. But she couldn’t feel it. Wasn’t sure of anything anymore. She hadn’t meant to hurt the White Isle or Lighthaven, hadn’t meant to break the world. It felt too much like the time she had indulged in a temper tantrum. She couldn’t remember now what it was Aunt Brighid had denied her, but she could remember that moment of wanting to be spiteful beyond words. Could remember picking up the cobalt blue glass statue that represented the Lady of Light—one of the few possessions her aunt had brought to Raven’s Hill and the one Brighid had truly prized. Could remember the terrible glee when she threw the statue on the floor to express her displeasure.

  And she could remember the naked pain on Brighid’s face when that statue broke—and the way Brighid had sounded broken when she said, “Do as you please, then.” Brighid had gone into her bedroom and locked the door—and had spent the afternoon crying.

  Such a frightening moment for a young girl, to wonder if anyone loved you anymore.

  The statue had broken into a handful of pieces. She picked them up and put them on the kitchen table, then carefully swept the floor to pick up all the little shards. She got out her little glue pot and did her best to put the statue back together, but it still looked like something that had been broken and badly mended. When Brighid finally came out of her room, she stared at the statue for a long moment, then picked it up and threw it in the trash bin.

  “Some things can’t be mended, Caitlin Marie.”

  She hadn’t done this breaking on her own this time, but the result was the same: The world couldn’t be mended. Not even Glorianna could mend it. Why would these people want her to live among them?

  Can you feel it, Caitlin?

  Her fear that she was being dropped off in this village so that Michael and Brighid—and Glorianna—could wash their hands of her began bubbling up as resentment as she followed Glorianna down the gangplank. No, she couldn’t feel it. People expected her to know things but couldn’t be bothered to explain things. And then they blamed her for doing something wrong when she hadn’t known she could do something wrong.

  Then she stepped onto the dock and staggered into Glorianna, vaguely aware that Lee, coming down behind her, had grabbed her arm to steady her.

  The light dazzled. The air felt heavy and so richly potent that just breathing made her feel a little drunk. And something flowed through her that was joy and sadness, anger and laughter, rich loam and hard rock, sweet water and brine.

  “The currents of Light and Dark that flow through this landscape are aligning themselves to resonate more fully with the currents that flow through you,” Glorianna said. “This is what it’s like to be the bedrock of a landscape. Can you feel it, Caitlin?”

  “Yes.” I’m home! “Yes, I feel it.”

  Glorianna smiled. “Then let’s see what we can do about getting you settled.”

  “For a place that’s supposed to be a small, backward village, they have a good harbor,” Lee said. “Could be they do a lot more trading than anyone else on the island is aware of. So it’s likely they also have a rooming house or inn for travelers where Caitlin could stay until she finds a place that suits her.”

  “Let’s find out,” Glorianna said, smiling at Lee as if sharing a secret. Then she linked arms with Caitlin to lead her toward the welcoming committee.

  Caitlin glanced back. Michael gave her an encouraging smile, although it wobbled a little around the edges. Aunt Brighid…Well, it was hard to tell what her aunt was thinking at the moment.

  The people waiting for them were all smiling. When she and Glorianna were two man-lengths from the committee, the men swept off their caps in a move that was so smoothly in unison that it made her wonder if they rehearsed it on regular occasions.

  Then the smiles faded. The people stared until an old woman stepped forward, smiling despite the tears that filled her eyes.

  “It has finally happened,” she said, looking at Glorianna. “All the years of waiting…done now. The Heart Seer has come back.” Her eyes shifted to Caitlin, and her pleasure turned to puzzlement.

  “I am the Guide, the Heart Seer, for Lighthaven,” Glorianna said. “Caitlin Marie is the Landscaper for the rest of the White Isle. She is the one who has tended Darling’s Garden these past twelve years.”

  “Aahhhh.” The sound breathed through the crowd, as if something that had always seemed peculiar now suddenly made sense.

  “I’m Peg,” the old woman said. “This is my youngest granddaughter, Moira. I’ve been the village’s cornerstone, so to speak. Been training up young Moira, since she has the feel of the place in her bones, if you take my meaning.”

  Before Caitlin could admit that the words made no sense, Glorianna said, “You’re the anchor.”

  Hushed anticipation. A feeling like a light breath blowing over the hairs of her arm.

  “You know,” Peg said, her wrinkled face lighting with joy even though there was a hint of doubt in her voice.

  “Anchors help Landscapers keep the world balanced and sane,” Glorianna said. “But most don’t realize what they do for a place and its people.”

  “We haven’t forgotten our traditions,” a gray-haired, middle-aged man said. “Not like some in the south.”

  “Hush, Colin,” Peg said. “We’ll not speak ill of our neighbors—even if they act like two-headed goats most of the time,” she added in a barely audible mutter.

  Caitlin tried to stifle a laugh, which came out in a snort.

  “Do you need a handkerchief?” Glorianna asked with a politeness that would have cowed even Aunt Brighid.

  “No,” Caitlin said meekly.

  Peg looked at Glorianna—and smiled. “You’re a strong one, aren’t you?”

  “I understand how strong—and how fragile—the world can be,” Glorianna replied.

  “Didn’t get your name.”

  “Glorianna Belladonna.”

  Another hush. Uneasy shuffling of feet.

  “There’s a pair of Sentinel Stones beyond the village,” Peg said. “Some of our young go journeying. Some are meant for other places. Some return to Darling’s Harbor. So we’ve heard of Belladonna.”

  Glorianna said nothing, but there was now a chill in her green eyes that made Caitlin wish Michael would step up and do something, say something.

  Peg looked worried. “We’ve also heard stories that the Destroyer of Light has awakened.”

/>   “Where I come from, we call It the Eater of the World,” Glorianna said. “And, yes, It is loose in the world—and has already touched Elandar.”

  Peg nodded. “Then it’s glad I am to have seen the Warrior of Light with my own two eyes. And we’re grateful that you were the one who brought the Seer back to us.” She sniffed once, then squared her shoulders. “Now then…”

  “Captain Kenneday!” Colin called out, raising a hand.

  “You’ll not be doing business now!” Peg scolded.

  “And what better time to be doing it?” Colin demanded.

  Peg opened her mouth—and finally huffed out a breath. “Very well, then. You talk to the captain. Kayne! You’ve got younger legs anyway. You show them a bit of the village on the way to the Seer’s house.”

  “There’s a house?” Caitlin asked. Something made her glance at Glorianna and Lee—and she realized they had already known about these accommodations.

  “Sure there’s a house,” Peg said. “Old one burned a few years back. Just as well, I suppose. Meaning no disrespect, since she would have been kin to you, but the last one to tend the garden lived in the house from time to time. I was just a girl then, but I remember my mother talking to friends and saying how they had scrubbed that house from top to bottom and still couldn’t get rid of the sour smell. It was like that woman’s disposition had seeped into the wood and stone. The one that stands now has been tended but not lived in. We’ve been waiting, you see. We always knew one of Darling’s girls would find her way home for good.”

  “That was her name?” Caitlin asked, startled.

  “Sure it was her name,” Peg said. “Darling by name, darling by nature. She was the Seer who first made the garden in order to tend her little bits of the world. Then she fell in love, but her man wasn’t easy living here, so she went with him to live in his home village and added the place to the bits she tended. But she never quite came home again, even though we knew she still looked out for us. Her daughters and their line never quite came home either. Until now.”

  Kayne stepped up to be properly introduced, and Caitlin heard Glorianna make the rest of the introductions. Heard Peg invite Brighid to ride with her in the pony cart. But those were just sounds rippling over the surface. There was a bell tolling in her head, and the sound rang out as “Raven’s Hill, Raven’s Hill, Raven’s Hill.”

  As the others got sorted out, she tugged on Glorianna’s arm, and a look from Glorianna Belladonna was all it took for everyone else to give them some private space.

  “Raven’s Hill is in the garden?” Caitlin asked, keeping her voice low.

  Sadness filled Glorianna’s eyes, and the weight of that sadness dragged on Caitlin’s heart.

  “It’s there,” Glorianna said reluctantly.

  She waited, and then realized Glorianna wasn’t going to say anything else unless asked. “Where?”

  Glorianna hesitated. “Under the compost heap.”

  She thought about how Raven’s Hill had felt these past few years—and blinked away the tears suddenly stinging her eyes. “Can I fix it?”

  “No.”

  Some things can’t be mended, Caitlin Marie.

  “Why did you choose that spot to dump the debris from the rest of the garden?” Glorianna asked.

  “It felt…bad,” Caitlin said. “Trashy. Weedy. And…the other parts of the garden were weedy and overgrown, but I could still see some of what they had been. That spot…”

  “Not your fault then, Caitlin,” Glorianna said. “It’s only a guess, but if too much of the nature of Landscapers had been forgotten by Darling’s descendants, then one of them didn’t resonate with Raven’s Hill and should have let it go. Dumping garbage over the part of the garden that provided the access to the village was a cruel thing to do because it fed the Dark currents and never allowed Raven’s Hill to be the place it was meant to be.” She sighed and brushed her hair away from her face. “Maybe a need that had no other way of expressing itself acted through you. Whatever the reason, and even though it wasn’t done prudently, you did what should have been done a long time ago; you severed your family’s connection to Raven’s Hill and the village’s connection to your garden.”

  “But it won’t have a Landscaper anymore,” Caitlin said. “So won’t more bad things happen?”

  “It doesn’t have a Landscaper at the moment,” Glorianna said. Then she smiled and added softly, “But it does have an anchor. Another will has been pushing against yours all these years, resisting the village’s slow change into a dark landscape.”

  A whistle made them look over to the spot where Michael, Lee, and Kayne waited. Lee cocked his head and raised a hand in an are you coming? gesture.

  “Enough,” Glorianna said, lifting a hand to acknowledge that they were coming. “For now, let’s find out what is here. We’ll deal with what was on another day.”

  Kayne wasn’t much of a guide, Michael thought as they followed the lane that led to a house on a rise. For one thing, the man didn’t know how to pace himself to a woman’s walking speed. He’d push on ahead, leaving Caitlin and Glorianna trailing behind, and outside of tossing information any fool could figure out for himself by reading the shop signs, hadn’t said anything useful about the village.

  When Michael started lagging behind again to give the women time to catch up, Kayne looked back and sighed.

  “So,” Kayne said. “Should we dance around this or take the straight road?”

  “Meaning what?” Michael asked. But Lee chuckled, indicating that he understood the question.

  “Michael is Caitlin’s brother,” Lee said. “I’m Glorianna’s brother. I’m not courting Caitlin.”

  “I’m noticing there’s a step missing,” Kayne said with a gleeful sparkle in his eyes.

  “That’s because Glorianna and the Magician here are dancing around the question,” Lee replied.

  “Ah,” Kayne said, looking back at the women. But it was clear—to Michael, anyway—that Kayne wasn’t looking at Glorianna.

  “Caitlin Marie is only eighteen,” Michael said darkly.

  “A blooming age for a women,” Kayne replied, smiling.

  “Could be worse,” Lee said in a singsong voice. “Could be Teaser.”

  Wondering why he had ever wanted friends, Michael stopped walking and stubbornly waited for Glorianna and Caitlin to catch up while Lee and Kayne went on ahead.

  “Problem?” Glorianna asked.

  “Men are a pain in the ass,” he grumbled.

  She smiled and patted his cheek. “Women have known that forever, but we love you anyway.”

  Caitlin sputtered and laughed. “Why don’t I—” She shook her head and took off. She was laughing too much to run well, but she caught up to Lee and Kayne.

  “He’s practically licking his lips over her,” Michael complained. “She can’t be living here on her own when the first man who meets her gets that look in his eyes.”

  “And what look might that be?” Glorianna asked sweetly.

  “You know the one. And if Aunt Brighid is going to be going her way and I’m going…” Deciding that was best left unsaid since he didn’t know where he was going, he added, “You know what I’m saying.”

  Glorianna pursed her lips. A bad sign.

  “You’re saying Caitlin is going to have all this unsupervised time, and despite being a grown, albeit young, woman living in a community that not only understands her connection to the land but also values it, she will become a flirtatious, blithering idiot just because a man with a nice smile and muscles has shown a little interest in her. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Maybe.” He was pretty sure that wasn’t what he was saying, but right now he wasn’t going to make a definite statement about anything.

  “And you’re saying that my mother isn’t an adequate chaperone, and that I’m not an adequate chaperone, since we’ll both be coming here to give Caitlin lessons. And Caitlin will also need to come to Aurora for lessons.”

&
nbsp; Too close to the Den! Michael thought, hearing Lee’s singsong, Could be worse, could be Teaser. “Ah…” Nadia as chaperone? That would be sufficiently intimidating. But Glorianna was too young to be strict enough when it came to a little sister’s…flirtations. Which was something he couldn’t say without digging a hole for himself that he’d need a ladder to climb out of.

  So he focused on the house to buy himself a little time—and stopped in his tracks. It was stone and, for the most part, one story. A house built to weather the moods of the sea.

  A house built to be a home that would hear the sounds of children playing, hear the laughter and tears of a life well lived. He could hear its music—and its music was good.

  “Oh,” Caitlin said. “What a darling!”

  Wondering what Kayne had done to earn that tone of voice—and why Lee, the ripe bastard, hadn’t stopped the man from doing it—Michael hurried forward to put a stop to whatever it was.

  Except Caitlin wasn’t paying any attention to Kayne. She was crouched down with a hand extended toward a small brown-and-white dog that probably would be a darling once he’d had a bath and a good brushing. The dog came forward, wary and ready to run, clearly wanting Caitlin and just as clearly not wanting the rest of them.

  “First spotted him near the Sentinel Stones about a month ago,” Kayne said as the dog finally got close enough to sniff Caitlin’s fingers and then did his best to make friends. “A young animal. Spaniel of some kind, judging by the look of him, but no one here could name the breed. Anyways, we figured he’d come over from somewhere else, but short of catching him, chucking him back through the Stones, and hoping he would end up where he’d come from, there wasn’t much to be done about him. It was Moira who pointed out that he seemed to think he belonged here at the house. He would come down to the village once a day to beg for scraps—and with those eyes staring at you, he didn’t need to beg hard to get a good feeding—but most of the time he’s been up here.”

  There was a radiance to his little sister that Michael had never seen before. She’s home, he thought, feeling his heart break just a little because, in a way he couldn’t quite explain but was beginning to understand, he knew he wasn’t home, would never feel truly at home in this village, despite the music of the house. Because of that, and because he realized Glorianna was right and he could undermine Caitlin’s confidence enough to have her turning away from the very thing her heart needed, he had to find a way to be an idiot she could defy.