MARISELLE COULDN’T UNDERSTAND why her parents were acting the way there were. It was almost like they’d both seen a monster, which Anne was far from being.
Her father took a wary step toward them. “Mariselle, come here.”
“Fine,” she huffed. When she reached her father, he put himself between her and Anne.
“Karina, get her out of here,” he said tightly.
Anne sighed. “I was just about to leave. Don’t make her go on my account.”
“You stay away from my family,” Marcus said gruffly.
“Relax. I mean none of you any harm. Especially, Mariselle. You’ve obviously raised a good girl.”
Mariselle couldn’t understand the animosity in the barn. Even Anne seemed different now that her parents were there.
“What were you doing with her?” he asked angrily as Karina guided Mariselle out of the barn.
“I helped her find her kittens.”
“What?” he asked.
“You wouldn’t allow her to bring them inside last night, so they ran away. You know, it’s very dangerous for a young child to be out, in the middle of the night. Good thing that we ran into each other, or your daughter could have gotten lost or hurt,” Anne said, a smile in her voice. “You should really let her keep the kittens indoors at night.”
Mariselle couldn’t hear what her father’s reply was, because her mother was pulling her back toward the cottage.
“Why are you being so rude to her?” Mariselle cried, ashamed for the way her parents were acting.
Her mother stopped and turned to her. “Because that woman is Angelique,” she said angrily. “The sorceress we spoke of yesterday. You’re lucky she didn’t kill you. What were you thinking, Mariselle?”
For the first time, Mariselle was speechless. She couldn’t believe what her mother said was true. She’d pictured the sorceress to be old, ugly, and scary looking. Anne was just the opposite.
“Now your father is in danger because of that evil woman,” Karina said, her eyes filling with tears.
“Anne won’t hurt him,” Mariselle said, finding her voice again. “She’s not evil.”
“Foolish child,” Karina said, grabbing her hand again. She began pulling her toward the house. “You have no idea what kind of person she really is.”
In her heart, Mariselle couldn’t believe that Anne, or Angelique, meant any of them harm. Wanting her father to realize it too, she broke free of her mother’s grip and ran back to the barn. She noticed that her father had his sword out and Angelique was holding her wand. Both of them looked at her.
“She’s not bad,” Mariselle begged. “Please, don’t hurt her, Papa.”
Angelique lowered her wand. “At least someone in town isn’t being manipulated by the likes of Gaylen.”
“Mariselle, get out of here,” ordered her father angrily.
“Let her be; I’m the one who’s leaving.” Angelique said in a tired voice. Staring at Mariselle, her eyes softened. “Always follow your instincts, Mariselle. Yours appear to be fair and accurate. And remember what I told you – be wary of the quiet ones. Just like spiders, they’ll creep up on you when you least expect it and fill your world with their venom.”
Mariselle nodded.
Winking, Angelique waved her wand and disappeared.
9
ANGELIQUE TRANSPORTED HERSELF to a cave in West Syracuse, where she’d been staying. As soon as she materialized, her senses screamed that someone else had been there recently. Her gut told her it was Gaylen.
Frustrated, she grabbed her satchel and quickly gathered the few belongings she had, including the first wand Hecate had given her when she’d made her an apprentice. Although its power wasn’t nearly as effective as her new one, it had definitely served her well and she couldn’t seem to part with it. She shoved it into the bag and looked around one last time. Satisfied that she’d grabbed everything, Angelique raised her wand. Before she could leave, however, the hateful mage himself appeared before her.
“You just can’t let go of anything, can you?” he said with a smirk. “It will get you killed one day.”
Dropping her bag, Angelique pointed her wand in his direction. “Maybe, but not this day, Wizard.”
“Relax. I’m not here to fight, Angelique,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve come to talk.”
She stared at him uneasily. “About what?”
“I would like to call a truce.”
Angelique snorted. “Let me get this straight… you lied, which in turn caused me to get banished from Syracuse. You made the man I loved despise me. You took everything away from me - everything that was important-and now you want to call a truce?” She laughed bitterly. “Why in the hell would I ever agree to a truce? What would I gain?”
“Your life, for one. And… a seat on the throne, for another,” he replied with a small smile.
Her eyes narrowed. What kind of lies was he spinning now? “What are you talking about?”
With his hands behind his back, Gaylen began to casually stroll around the cave. “I guess I may as well just get right down to the point. I would like you to help me destroy the entire Rotthaven family. In turn, I will take over the throne and make you my queen.”
Angelique stared at him in shock. As much as this wicked plot of his shouldn’t have surprised her, it did. She had so many questions and barely knew where to start. “I thought that you were indebted to the family?”
She’d heard from Hecate of how King Edward’s great, great grandfather had helped to free Gaylen after being imprisoned by Segomo, the god of war. After his release, Gaylen had sworn his loyalty to the royal family.
“Exactly, which is why I need you to help me end it. I pledged my allegiance to them, and can’t break it. But, if they’re gone…” he grinned slyly, “I’ll be set free and will be able to rule the kingdom.”
Angelique was flabbergasted. “Are you mad? Do you honestly believe that anyone would allow something like that to happen? Good, God, even if you were able to kill everyone in the family, you wouldn’t be made king. You’d be hung.”
In the blink of an eye, Gaylen turned himself into Edward’s eldest son, Griffin. “Alas, there would be one survivor, dear Angelique. Well…” he chuckled, “so everyone would believe at least.”
“You’d live and rule as Griffin?
“Yes. I would become the new king of Syracuse and you… you’d be at my side as queen.”
“There’s quite an age difference,” she said dryly. “I doubt anyone would believe that young Griffin would take me as his queen. Plus, I’ve been banished, remember?”
“Yes but you’d be unbanished, after ‘saving’ Griffin’s life.”
Her eyebrow raised. His underhandedness seemed to have no bounds. The wizard was wicked to the core.
He walked over to her. “He’s almost eighteen and you are still a very beautiful women,” the wizard said, giving her an appraising look. “I think he would very much enjoy having you warm his bed. Correction, I would very much enjoy it.”
His words made her skin crawl. She loathed him more than ever. It was bad enough that Gaylen ruined her life, now he wanted to take the lives of Edward’s children? As furious as she was with the king, Angelique didn’t have it in her heart to be part of such a wicked and diabolical plan. She was about to firmly object when she realized that she might be able to use this scheme of his to her advantage.
“I don’t know,” she replied, her mind racing. Angelique knew that jumping on board too quickly would look suspicious to a crafty wizard like Gaylen. Especially after their turbulent history together.
“Do you still love Edward?” he asked, changing into the image of the king himself. “I could be whomever you wanted me to be, you know. Maybe we could work it so that he’d be the only survivor instead.”
Angelique’s heart ached as she stared at Edward’s image. As much as he’d let her down, she knew in her heart of hearts that she would never, ever stop loving the man.
“No,” she lied. “But, you deceived me once. Why should I trust you now?”