Page 24 of Embers in the Wind

I get out of bed and ready without making a sound. The journey to Romano’s estate is not long, a quick transport, but when I arrive inside the perimeters of the tall wrought fences it’s the witches that I see.

Sure, the ghouls who protect many of our homes are there, sitting sentry and ready to attack, but high in the oak trees that line his estate and are a divide between his home and the academy they built some years ago. Spying witches. The dirty little cheats.

Romano opens the door, and I follow him into the foyer of his home. “Do you know there are witches watching your every move?”

He laughs. “They’ve been watching since day one. How do you think I met Raven? She was snooping in the tree line, but on my side when I caught her. Raven’s actually over at the academy right now talking with her aunt.”

My brow furrows as he leads me through the foyer area with a large ornate mirror and a glass vase full of dark black roses, and into the massive great room with marble floors. “Take a seat. Descallia Red?” he asks, pouring a tumbler full of the blood and wine mixture for himself and then pouring another as I nod. “Please.”

Romano brings them to the long leather couch and hands me a glass before we sit and he takes a drink of his own. “When we’re here at the estate, it’s easy to overlook the feuding between the entities,” he says as though reading my concern about the witches.

I inhale the wine’s fragrance. A great year at the Descallia vineyards. “It seems to me it would be just the opposite.”

Romano laughs, a deep guttural sound. “The witches were once the reason I almost got booted from the consulate. I hated them with a passion hard to describe. But time and understanding the other’s position changes things, at least for me. They are only trying to protect themselves from the persecution that’s followed them for years. You have to admit, we haven’t been friendly to them at all.”

“This change of heart, no doubt Raven’s influence. I’ve heard how committed she’s been to the vampires, her and the other witches the masters took as mates. But yet, the history, the culture and evidence tell me that the head witch no matter what will never allow there to be peace. No disrespect to your position, but it’s a little different than most of the vampires. You live in the same region as their academy, right the fuck next door, and Raven is her niece.”

He smiles. “It’s true. Devora isn’t going to hurt family, but we’ve learned a lot about each other over the course of time. She knows that I would do anything to protect Raven from anyone. Devora trusts me, and as a courtesy we have a mutual understanding because of Raven. But getting along takes two. Neither Devora nor I give the other any reason to question that trust or to test it. At least we haven’t. Until now.”

My jaw tightens as I finish the blood and wine mixture that usually calms my mood but hearing about trusting witches right in his backyard while they’ve been our nemesis for years is notsomething that keeps me calm. “And that trust has been broken how Romano? By me, Embry?”

The vampire master sets his glass on the table. “You just being here, in the Mystic Forest without their knowledge, without Overmaster having gotten permission from Devora or me alerting her and paving the way—when Devora finds out it will spark outrage. And perhaps rightly so.”

He may outrank me being a master and me only a lord, but no matter the rank, vampires come before witches. “We should care why? This entire area belongs to the vampires, has always belonged to the vampires and now we pussyfoot around the witches?”

His eyes grow dark. “Look, we worked together to best Lucas, we promised each other at the last consulate meeting that we would respect these drawn lines going forward.” His eyebrow arches. “I thought given your position with Descallia he would have shared that little piece of information with you before now.”

Devora certainly hasn’t been as forthcoming with information as he believes based on the conversation I overhead last night. “Overmaster Descallia shared what was important, but there’s something you need to know, Romano. One of the witches lured Embry out last night. Sat with her by a campfire that sure as hell wasn’t there when I came through the area just moments before. She conjured it up in a minute. Fire. She fucking knew I was there watching from a distance.”

His eyebrows raise. “They were testing Embry. They knew you were watching? A fuck you or a threat not to get too close? Either one is not good for any of us. Damn it all to hell. When those witches get pissy you can be sure havoc will follow.”

“It’s not like they don’t know our aversion to fire, so I’d say either one or both. The point is, she told Embry that Devora knows that Embry is in the forest. And that she intentionally didnot tell Raven, because she didn’t want it to get back to you, or for you then to carry that information to Descallia. The witch you are so worried about being kept apprised of what’s going on in the forest is not holding up her end of the bargain either.”

Romano stands, walks to the bar, and pours himself another Descallia Red. “Another?”

I shake my head. “No thanks.” I plan on receiving a much more pleasurable infusion of blood when I return to the sexy little vampiress who has managed to toss all of my good intentions away. Just the thought of her ivory skin and purple eyes hazed over with lust is enough to draw my thoughts rapidly from the task at hand.

Romano clears his throat as he sits on the smaller couch across from me. “You’re a thousand miles away my friend.”

I smile. “It’s been a long few days, that’s for damn sure. I felt compelled to bring you up to speed on everything going on because I don’t believe this is all happening coincidentally. When Embry arrived, she swore she saw her gramma, and that she spoke with her in the cavern.”

“Her gramma was in a witches cavern? In my region? In the Mystic Forest?”

I shift on the couch. “Only in Embry’s dream. You have to understand, she’s been through a lot. She’ll share her feelings with the vampires when she’s ready. Until then, I’ll keep her safe.”

“I have no doubt you’ll do just that. Overmaster Descallia speaks highly of your work with the lords.”

As part of the council of master vampires who rule the land, he is diplomatic, but I sense he still wants a better explanation than Embry’s dream. And I probably owe him at least that.

I clear my throat. “To answer your question, whether it was real or not, she believes it could have been real, or at least that there’s a reason she was given directions to the cavern so manyyears ago. Personally, I think right now she needs to feel that bond, that emotional connection to someone who really gave two shits about her, after what she’s been through. And that’s her gramma.”

Romano’s forehead wrinkles and he puts his glass goblet down on the end table with a thud. “Nothing is making any sense. Devora should have told me if she knew Embry was coming. But she didn’t say a word. And I have no idea about Embry’s gramma. All I know of her is that she helped the vampires, specifically in a battle in North America, and saved the life of Lucas and probably that of a whole lot more.”

I take another drink. “That is what I heard. I’m not sure about the relationship that led her to be aligned with us, but I did hear she was fierce in her commitment to our cause.”

Romano nods. “It’s the reason Descallia wanted the counsel to allow Embry to become a warrior. That and her skill, obviously. If you haven’t seen her in action with the blade, it’s something to see my friend.”

“Embry’s gramma was a psychic, so it makes sense that she could communicate, and Embry’s highly telepathic herself. She’s the only one I’ve been able to communicate with on that level too.”

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