Part 15 (2/2)

”Where is your precious boy-child?” Elyta's hiss did not surprise Kate. Who else could it have been? ”And don't try telling me he went to Mirso. My spies told me he took a horse out last night. We transported to the road north and waited. Going either by land or by sea, he must take that road. But he did not come that way, Contessa. Therefore, he did not go to Mirso.”

Transported. What an odd turn of phrase. Gian had left last night while she was sleeping fitfully, waiting, all packed, until the dawn?

”I do not know where he went, if not to Mirso.” The contessa's voice was gasping but there was still a note of iron in it. ”'You can feel the truth of that, since together you are strong enough to compel me.”

What did they mean, ”compel”?

”We must make certain.”

Another shriek ensued. She put her hands over her ears. Whatever was Elyta doing to the contessa? Kate couldn't bear it.

A male voice, cracked with hard use. ”We are compelling her. She doesn't know.””We'll be certain our compulsion is enough when we've sucked out all her power.”

Gasping, and another long shriek.

Kate had to stop this. She slid down the stairs. Her hand, steadying herself against the stone wall, expected to encounter damp.

But the stones were only cool and rough-hewn. Now as she descended into the stairwell, she could see a glow emanating from below where the stairs turned. The cinnamon and something else that marked one of Gian's kind overlaid the dank smell of bas.e.m.e.nts everywhere. She peeked around the corner.

The room was large, its edges lost in darkness and its stone walls and packed-earth floor revealed in flickering light from a lamp set upon a small, crude table. Wine bottles, thousands of them, stood in racks off to her left. Three silhouetted figures crouched around the contessa who was rec.u.mbent on a rough bench. The scene looked like a painting of the death of Mary Magdalene.

Two were holding her down, and clearly male. Their eyes glowed red as though they were released straight from h.e.l.l. The third was Elyta, her back toward Kate, holding a cabochon ruby half the size of her fist in a small pair of silver tongs that looked like they should be set at the dinner table with a b.u.t.ter dish. The light from the lamp made the ruby glow like translucent blood. Even from here, Kate could see the rolling coils of the serpent inside it.

The emerald had a mate.

As she watched in horror, Elyta held the ruby to the contessa's breast. The contessa arched and shrieked again, a sound even more wrenching at close quarters. A visible aura glowed around the contessa, a corona of red light that swirled and then whisked itself into the ruby and seemed to be absorbed. It was just like her vision of Gian being tortured, except that the tongs had held the emerald and the light had been green. The contessa collapsed as Elyta withdrew the stone, light still trailing from it.

Kate covered her mouth with her hand to keep from shrieking herself. She couldn't bear seeing someone hurt so.

”What... what do you want with the emerald when you have another stone from the temple?” the contessa gasped. Her voice was visibly weaker. A red weal stood out against her pale skin where the stone had pressed. It was one of several.

”I must control all the refugee stones if I'm to challenge Rubius.” Elyta said it almost conversationally. ”It wouldn't do for the Elders to have reciprocal power.”

”But you were well on your way to becoming a member of the Council yourself.” The contessa was trying to keep Elyta talking.

”A member only.” Elyta snorted. ”Of a body that wants to rule a mountain and a monastery. They have no idea of what we could do with these stones. No, that would not have suited me. I have more vision than any of them. I should have been acknowledged as a leader.”

”They... they will hunt you down.”

”By the time they realize what has happened, it will be too late to stop me. Even if my little escapades come to Rubius's ears, he will not want to believe ill of me. Old men can be quite foolish.” As she turned Kate could see that her eyes, too, were red. They seemed to toss glittering color back and forth with the ruby. She was dressed, as seemed to be her wont, in purple. This time it was a riding habit of palest lilac. It did not make her look delicate or fragile though. Her face was hard. Kate wondered how old she was.

And let's not forget strong. Kate felt so helpless. She was glad Gian wasn't here. But he would not want to see his mother hurt.

And who was there to help her? There was no way Kate could overpower three of them. She looked around. Stone pillars with Romanesque arches held up the ceiling of the room. No weapon she could see. Not even any torches.

”Stop, Elyta. There is no point,” one of the men said.

”Oh, but there is. Urbano is so smug. He betrayed me once. And now he deserves to be hurt in return. What better way than through his treasured mother? She who so dotes on him. She'll live forever, her powers crippled, her pain permanent.” Elyta laughed. ”The gift of eternity might not be so precious after all.”Eternity? They could live forever? Kate locked that thought behind a door in her mind. The important part was that the contessa would be maimed, and she had to stop it, for Gian's sake if not for the contessa's. How? How?

Then it came to her. She stood slowly as the implications washed over her.

She knew where Gian was.

And that was the only way she might be able to stop this thing happening to his mother.

Betrayal. There could be no other word for it.

Elyta held the stone to the contessa's welted breast. The woman screamed and arched. Again the corona of red light spread and was sucked into the stone. It seemed fainter this time.

Kate's mind raced. By what she was about to do she was ensuring that the vision of his torture would come true. They might kill him. Or they might not. She hadn't seen him actually die. And there was time before Gian was hurt. It might still be prevented.

They might kill this woman no matter what Kate did. But she would be killed or harmed permanently from what Kate could gather, tonight, here and now, if Kate did nothing.

That made betrayal the lesser of two evils. Had she not always lived her life by choosing? Nothing was truly good, truly evil.

There was only the choice.

She stepped down the half-flight of stairs and into the room.

”I know where Urbano has gone.”

Everyone in the tableau did an about-face and focused on her.

”Well, my disfigured thief, are you here?”

”Let her go.” Kate pushed her fear into some cellar of her soul. ”She doesn't know.”

Elyta drew herself up to her full height. She was an inch shorter than Kate. ”We can compel you to tell me.”

Again the mention of this ”compulsion.” Kate thought back. She was willing to wager it had something to do with the red eyes.

She swallowed, trying not to be frightened. ”No need. As for the contessa, you have done your damage to her, and through her to Urbano.” Kate hoped it hadn't gone too far. The contessa seemed to have swooned.

Elyta smiled. ”True. Release her.” That didn't mean the contessa was saved.

The two men stepped back, looking relieved. But the contessa did not move.

Kate took a breath. ”He's gone to Amalfi.”

Elyta frowned. ”Why Amalfi?”

”Because he has s.h.i.+ps there, and the emerald wants to go home to the desert.” She glanced to the ruby, and saw it s.h.i.+mmer in excitement. ”Your stone does too.”

”Nonsense. Stones don't want anything. But Urbano is stupid enough to fall for your chicanery. That would explain why he was not on the road to Bologna. He headed south. But how do I know you tell the truth?”

”Compel me,” Kate said.Elyta's eyes went carmine. ”I will need your help,” she commanded the two men. ”This one has a strong will.” The others turned to stare at her. Their eyes, too, went red. Kate felt their hypnotic influence. Something wafted at the corner of her brain and beckoned her to unbar the door. She had felt that before, when Gian had first asked her for the stone and, again, when Elyta wanted to know where it was. And in both instances, it had been a fleeting illusion that could be easily broken. She suspected she could break even this stronger demand. But she did not. She let the three invade her mind.

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