"I appreciate that." He waved at both of them. "I'm going to wait for Blythe to come back. You two take off."
Reaper raised an eyebrow. "You're getting to be an old man, Czar. I don't like repeating myself, but I'll go sit on the roof with Savage so you can figure out in peace what you're going to say to your old lady." He hesitated. "I can fill him in."
Viktor didn't meet his eyes. He nodded, giving Reaper permission to share what he'd heard. Just thinking about his daughter was a body blow. He wanted to be alone to give himself time to grieve. He needed that. He'd all but forgotten how. His world was about survival and survival meant feeling as little as possible, but he was going to allow himself to feel everything. All of it. Just this once. While he was alone and could let himself. Then he'd try to figure out what the hell happened to his messages. After that he'd try to figure out what he was going to say to his woman.
7
"I always love that no matter what time of year it is here at the Drakes', roses are climbing trellises everywhere in bloom and rhododendrons are going wild. You can always count on finding flowers here," Blythe said, trying to put Rikki at ease.
Rikki frowned. "Lexi always has flowers growing everywhere, no matter what time of the year." She looked around as if she could see other homes that might have flowers growing everywhere. "Doesn't everyone on the coast?"
Blythe shook her head, smiling at Rikki's observation. It was very true. Lexi could grow anything anywhere and at any time of the year.
"Blythe, look at these stepping stones." Rikki crouched down to run her palm over one of the ancient symbols carved deep into the stone. "These are cool. And very old."
"Yes, I don't know where they came from, but they've always been here. I used to come visit when I was a little girl."
Rikki straightened. "That's right, the Drakes are your cousins."
Blythe nodded. A six-foot-high, intricate wrought iron gate loomed before them. A collage of creatures mixed with raw power was woven into the gate along with the universal symbols for the Earth elements: water, earth, air, fire and spirit. The inscriptions on the bottom of the gate read in both Italian and Latin The Seven Become One When United.
Rikki touched the symbol for water and beneath her fingers it came to life, blazing gold and green, yet was cool to the touch. At once the gates swung open as if accepting her. She looked at Blythe with a small, nervous smile. "That's cool."
"The gate keeps out those who are enemies and welcomes friends." Blythe didn't know any other way of putting it. It was a far too simple explanation, but it was the closest she could come to what was the truth of the Drake property. It always seemed alive on its own.
The porch stairs were as solid as a rock leading up to the wide verandah that wrapped around the house. The space was beautiful and gave off the invitation to sit in the shade and enjoy the view of the sea.
Rikki reached out and clutched Blythe's arm as they went up the steps to the front porch. "Am I doing the right thing, Blythe? I know Lev won't like it. He'll be angry with me for not discussing it first. He always tells me everything up front. He knew when I left to go to your house that something wasn't right between us. I couldn't look at him. He's really good at reading people, especially me."
Rikki was surprisingly strong for being so slender. Blythe smiled down at her. Sometimes Lissa, Airiana and Lexi made her feel as if she were an Amazon woman, but Rikki was of average height and stood very straight. Although she had three or four inches on her, Blythe never felt that way around her. It was the way she carried herself.
"Only you can say that, Rikki. All of us have to make our choices based on what we think is right. If you're worried Lev will take offense at Jackson and make matters worse between Elle, Jackson and all of us, then this might be the best course of action. But you do have to be prepared for some backlash. You'll have to let him be angry."
Rikki nodded several times and let go of Blythe's arm in order to twirl her fingers round and round, a sign of deep agitation. Blythe reached over and gently stilled her whirling fingers. "Take a breath, honey. We can still walk away if we want to." But she knew better. Elle Drake was her cousin. She had inherited all the gifts given to the Drake sisters and she carried the legacy. She would give birth to seven daughters, and each of them would have a gift. It had been going on for generations.
The house would tell Elle that she had visitors and they were on the front porch, and that was without the protection dogs Jackson had, two big German shepherds that went everywhere with Elle. Still, she would remain to talk to Elle and Jackson if Rikki couldn't bring herself to do it. There was so much at stake.
Of course they had discussed having to move. If the Drake sisters and their husbands went against them, Blythe knew their farm wouldn't survive, and that would break Lexi's heart. She couldn't afford any more upheaval. Even now that she had Gavriil, Lexi was still very fragile. And there was Rikki. She had created a life for herself before Lev had come on the scene. She was captain of her own sea urchin boat and she worked hard for a living. She would find it hard to establish herself elsewhere. Blythe was determined to convince Elle and Jackson to allow them to live there in peace.
"I have to do this," Rikki said, her chin up, a sign of stubbornness. "If not for me, then certainly for Lexi. And Airiana's children. The farm is good for them. They're settling in. They need stability as well."
Blythe hid her astonishment. It wasn't that Rikki wasn't brilliant--she was; it was more that no one expected her to take an interest in the children, yet she had Lucia over all the time. Lucia often brought her younger sisters and brother with her. They didn't like to be away from one another too long.
The door opened, and Jackson was there. She wasn't surprised to see him instead of Elle. It hadn't been that long since Elle had been rescued from her captor, only a couple of months, and in that time, she'd gotten married and her husband had taken her to Europe on an extended honeymoon, although they'd cut that short to come home.
Behind Jackson were the two German shepherds, looking all business. She saw Jackson's hand go down to his side and he signaled to them. Instantly both dogs relaxed and even wagged their tails. Jackson took in Rikki's rigid figure and forced a smile. Blythe could see he was wary, that his smile didn't go anywhere near his eyes.
"Blythe. Rikki. Good to see you both. Come on in. Elle's expecting you." He stepped back and waved them inside.
Rikki crossed the threshold, but Blythe hesitated, just for a moment. The house was different. It always had been. It would recognize her blood and judge her. In all the years she'd lived in Sea Haven, she managed to stay out of that house. When she'd volunteered to go with Rikki she hadn't been thinking about having to enter the Drake residence. Now, she had no choice; Rikki couldn't go in there alone.
Rikki was so agitated she didn't notice Blythe's hesitation, but Jackson did. He saw everything. Straightening her shoulders, Blythe stepped inside. There was a tiny instance of disorientation, and then . . . nothing. Just the feeling of coming home. She recognized the feeling; she'd had it before, when as a child she'd gone to visit the Drakes with her mother.
Visits were rare and she looked forward to them. Her mother never drank when she was with her sisters, and those times had been the best. She'd always been leery, afraid Sharon would do something terrible, that the reprieve wouldn't last, but she'd held it together--until they left. Then Blythe would be subjected to hours of how her aunts had tried to spoil her and held up their children as being wonderful while Blythe lacked everything from beauty to manners. The drinking would start, sometimes in the car on the way home, and then the hitting.
The entryway was wide, tiled with a mosaic design, opening to a huge room. "Blythe." Elle came across the room to wrap her arms around Blythe's waist and hold her close. "It feels like so long since I've seen you." She kissed Blythe on the cheek, her gaze moving quickly over her face to assess how she was.
Touching her, Elle could read her, and Blythe had to work t
o keep from pulling away. She had too many secrets, and her sorrows were too close. Elle had too many burdens of her own to carry. Jackson would have told her about Viktor. The Drakes didn't believe in hiding much from their husbands.
"I've been good," Blythe said. "And you? How was your honeymoon?"
"Spectacular," Elle admitted with a faint blush, her gaze flicking to Jackson. "I wanted to come home though. I don't like being away anymore."
Blythe felt the tremor running through her cousin, and she automatically hugged her tighter, inhaling, taking her fears and exchanging them with happiness. Elle pulled back, a shocked look on her face. Before she could say anything, Rikki stepped forward quickly, nearly knocking into Blythe.
"I'm Rikki. Rikki Prakenskii." She announced it firmly, sounding almost belligerent, holding out her hand to shake hands.
Rikki hated being touched, especially by those she didn't know. Blythe was proud of her that she was trying to do all the formalities that showed respect.
"Elle Drake. I know I've seen you a few times, but I traveled so much I never got the chance to meet you properly," Elle said, shaking her hand. "Please come in and sit down. Would you care for tea? Or perhaps coffee?"
Blythe wanted to hug her all over again. Her tone was welcoming and very genuine. She stepped back so Rikki could precede her into the warmth of the living room. She remembered that room, the mosaic tiles on the floor, the design and the wood. The artwork on the floor was intricate and gave one gazing at it the feeling of being in another realm. There was a deep blue that was either ocean or sky or perhaps both. Stars flared to life around a silver moon. Some things didn't change, and for some reason they made her feel welcome all over again, as if she was a part of the Drake legacy.
Blythe paused, staring at the mosaic. It seemed to move, darker clouds drifting toward that silvery moon, casting reddish shadows until several rings surrounded the moon, nearly obscuring it with red. In the clouds she could see more red, and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision, feeling the color leech out of her face. Blood. Death. Danger. Viktor was in town, and the last time he'd come, he'd brought death with him.
"Blythe?" Elle asked, her voice like a cool breeze, clearing out the last of the movement on the tiles. She waved her hand toward the chairs.
Rikki took an armchair so Blythe sat in the one nearest her. Jackson waited until Elle was seated and then he raised an eyebrow. "Tea? Coffee?"
"Coffee, black," Rikki said immediately.
"Tea for me, Jackson," Blythe said. "Milk."
"Same for me, babe," Elle said.
"As if I don't know what you like," he responded, walking out of the room.
There was an open archway leading to the large kitchen, so it was easy to see into the rooms from either direction. The floor of the kitchen was also a mosaic tile, the same midnight blue that formed the sky in the pattern on the floor in the great room. A long bank of windows looked out over a garden of herbs and flowers. Blythe could make out the three-tiered fountain in the middle of the courtyard she remembered playing in as a child.
She noticed the hand signal Jackson gave to the shepherds as he left the room. The two dogs immediately lay down on either side of the love seat Elle had chosen.
"I need to talk to you," Rikki blurted out. "Both of you."
"I can hear you," Jackson said.
"I'm married to Lev Prakenskii," she continued. "And he doesn't have any idea that I've come to talk to you. It's important though and I will tell him . . . afterward. He'll be upset with me but I just felt you needed to hear me out."
Rikki began to rock back and forth. Blythe reached out to touch her arm just as Elle leaned toward her, pushing air in front of her.
"There's no need to be upset," Elle said. "Of course we'll hear what you have to say. Lev Prakenskii is the man who called himself Sid and was a bodyguard to Stavros," she added helpfully.
Elle said the name of her captor but swallowed hard as she said it. Blythe could see her hands trembled. She folded them neatly in her lap, threading her fingers together. Blythe tried again to soothe her, this time from a distance, reaching out to the air with her fingers only, making them dance in a pattern just above the arm of her chair as if she was playing a song on the piano. It was a song of sorts. Blythe tried to make those around her comfortable. She didn't like them to be upset. Not when it wasn't of their own making, and Elle's distress wasn't from anything she'd ever done.
Blythe had learned, as a child, that she tended to amplify any emotion or energy in a room. She had practiced using that trait only for positive emotions. Her mother's emotions had been so wild and out of control. Blythe could subtly relieve unhappiness, not take it away exactly, but lighten it. As a child she had wanted so much to be able to do that for her mother, but it had never worked on her.
Jackson sauntered in and perched on the arm of the love seat right next to Elle. He threaded his fingers through her hand and pressed it to his thigh. It was impossible to read his thoughts from his carefully blank features, but Blythe was adept at reading energy, and his was not happy. Elle was tense, but she was careful to reserve judgment.
Rikki nodded. "He was working undercover to try to get to the top of the human trafficking ring. He told me that he tried to get you off the yacht, but he couldn't, not without blowing his cover. He also said he warned you repeatedly to stay away from Gratsos once he realized the man was obsessed with you."
A muscle ticked in Jackson's jaw. Elle glanced up at him and then began to rub her palm up and down his thigh soothingly. The tension in the room elevated. Both dogs alerted, heads coming up. Blythe could feel the anger coming off Jackson in waves, yet his expression remained the same.
She moved both hands to her lap and began to use her fingers as if playing a keyboard, hoping no one would notice. She wove air with the power of the house itself, sending soothing strains toward Jackson and Elle, not in the hopes of persuading them one way or the other, but to ease them over such a difficult conversation with a woman who couldn't read their building tension or in Jackson's case, anger.
Blythe's gift could be used only if her goal was selfless. She'd learned that as a child; otherwise, the crafting of her song could be twisted and come back to haunt her. Right now, she felt a little sick for Rikki, Elle and Jackson. That often happened, because when she tried to soothe others, she often had to take on their burdens.
"I have a sister--Lexi. She's just beginning to really thrive. Terrible things happened to her and she loves living here. The farm is really doing well." Rikki stumbled over the words, and her rocking began to increase in strength.
Blythe put a gentle, restraining hand on her arm, but Rikki didn't seem to notice. She began twirling her fingers and then lifting them to blow on them. It was an obsessive compulsive action she'd worked hard to stop. Blythe closed her hands over Rikki's, and Rikki startled and then turned red.
"I'm sorry. I'm not used to talking about really important things with people I don't know."
Elle smiled at her. "You don't have to be nervous. I want to hear what you have to say. So does Jackson." She looked up at her husband, her red hair swinging around her face, a trace of amusement there, in spite of the subject matter. It was a blatant lie told to help Rikki through a crisis.
Jackson stood abruptly and hurried into the kitchen as the kettle began to whistle. He glanced back at Elle, who grinned at him. Blythe was fairly certain she'd made the kettle whistle just to get him out of the room for a moment.
"We want to stay here," Rikki blurted out. "I want to stay. All of us do, but if you hate Lev and want to force us out, we'll go."
Blythe wasn't certain that was the truth. The Prakenskii brothers weren't the kind of men to be pushed around. Especially Gavriil. He'd push back hard if he thought anyone was hurting his beloved Lexi. Lev was the same way, only more subtle about it.
"We don't want to move," Rikki added for emphasis. "None of us do, but we don't want a war with you."
Elle sat u
p straight, looking at Blythe. "A war? Why would we ever have any kind of war?"
"Feud, then," Rikki said. "I'm nervous and not explaining this very well."
"Rikki, I'm cousins with Blythe." She leaned toward them again. "First cousins. I love her. Ilya Prakenskii is married to my sister Joley. I love Ilya. I had hoped, when I returned, to get to know all of you better. I realize, at first, it will be a little awkward for us with Si-- Lev." She glanced through the open archway to her husband.
Blythe felt the clash between them. "I imagine, since you were undercover and you understand why someone doesn't break cover, it might be easier for you to forgive him than it will be for Jackson." Bringing the real problem out into the room might make it easier on all of them.
The sound of glass shattering had them all looking into the kitchen. Blythe was fairly certain the teacup had been thrown, not dropped. Elle waved her hand gracefully and the glass leapt into the air, molding itself back together again. The fancy cup floated over to the sink and settled gently on the counter.
Jackson glared at her. "Undercover or not, a man doesn't leave a woman in that situation." It was a declaration. He switched his attention to Rikki. "When I see your man, I'm going to beat the holy hell out of him." His tone remained mild, as if he might have been discussing the weather.
Rikki nodded. "I have to admit, I don't understand men very well, but Jonas hit him and Lev let him. He said you had every right to feel that way because he would if it had been me. If you beat the holy hell out of him--not that I think you can, but if you did--could we stay?"
"You can stay anyway," Jackson said, placing the tray with the teapot, cups, two mugs of coffee and a small pitcher of milk on the little end table between the armchairs. "We wouldn't drive you out. I worry that seeing your husband will bring it all back for my wife, and she doesn't need to have that in her face all the time."
"Your wife," Elle bit out between her teeth, "has never forgotten one tiny bit of my time with Stavros, so seeing Lev won't make much of a difference." She waved her hand and the pitcher floated, poured milk into a teacup and settled back down onto the tray. "Rikki, you have no reason to worry that my family will in any way retaliate against your husband. I volunteered to go undercover and I knew what could happen. I accepted the risks. I wanted that ring stopped. In the end, we managed to get Stavros, but from what I understand, the ring is stronger than ever."