Key of Light (Key 1)

“The little yellow house.” Flynn nodded as he brought the look of it into his mind. “Used to be dog-shit brown. She’s really fixed it up. I’ve seen the kid in the yard, now that I think about it.”

“Simon. He looks just like her. It’s almost spooky.”

“Now that you mention it, I would’ve put that together when I met her if I’d been able to take my eyes off you for two minutes.”

Her lips twitched, and damn it, she was flattered. “You’ve very good at that—both timing and delivery.”

“Yeah, it’s a gift.”

“Then I went to see Dana at her apartment. She was buried in books and brooding.”

“Two of her best things.”

“She hasn’t been able to track down a version of the Daughters of Glass story yet, but she’s working on it. Then I got this idea. Goddesses equal worship. All the reading I’ve been doing indicates that a lot of churches were built on pagan worship sites. Most Christian holy days coincide with the early pagan holy days, which were based on seasons, agriculture, that sort of thing. So I went to church. In fact I went to every church and temple in a twenty-mile radius.”

“That’s an interesting connection. Good, clear thinking.”

“That’s one of my major skills. I kept going over and over the clue. Look within, look without, singing goddess, and so on. So I went looking. Didn’t expect to walk in and see the key waiting for me on a pew. But I thought maybe I’d see the symbol of it, you know? Something worked into a stained-glass window or a molding. But I didn’t.”

“It was still a good idea.”

“A better one might be to go back to that house and talk to Rowena and Pitte again.”

“Maybe. Want to know what I found out?”

“I do.”

He waited while their entrées were served, then studied her fish and his steak. “How do you feel about surf and turf?”

“Amenable.” They cut off portions, passed them.

“You know, this could develop into a serious deal. You and me? A lot of people are fussy about sharing food. I never get that.” He sampled the steak. “I mean, it’s food. You’re supposed to eat it. What’s the difference if it was on somebody else’s plate first?”

“That’s an interesting element to factor into a potential relationship. Now, what did you find out?”

“I talked to my grandmother about the story. There were some details I didn’t remember clearly. First, there was dissension in the ranks over the god-king making a mortal his queen. It was okay to fool around with mortals, but he brought her behind the Curtain of Power—or the Curtain of Dreams. It’s called both. And he took her as his wife. Because of this, some of the gods

set themselves apart from the young king and his mortal wife, established their own rule.”

“Politics.”

“Can’t get away from it. Naturally, this didn’t sit too well with the king. There are other stories, full of war and intrigue and heroics, and that brings us to the daughters. Beloved by their parents, and by those loyal to the king and his wife. Each had beauty, as you’d expect, and each had power—a talent. One was an artist, one a bard, and one a warrior. Devoted to each other, they grew up in the kingdom, taught by a young goddess of magic, guarded by the king’s most trusted warrior god. Either the teacher or the guard was to be with them at all times, to keep them safe from the plots surrounding them.”

“In the painting there were two figures, a man and a woman, in the background. They seemed to be in an embrace.”

Flynn gestured with his fork, then speared more steak. “That fits with what’s coming. The king’s advisers were campaigning to have the daughters marry three gods of rank from the opposing faction. To unite the kingdom again. But the self-proclaimed king of the opposing faction didn’t like the idea of giving up his throne. Power had corrupted him, and his thirst for more, for complete dominance of this, let’s say, netherworld, and the mortal one, consumed him. He wanted to kill the daughters, but he knew that if he did, all but his most devoted followers would turn against him. So he devised a plot, and the two who were closest to the daughters aided him, by falling in love.”

“They betrayed the daughters?”

“Not purposely.” He tipped more wine into their glasses. “By distraction. By looking at each other rather than looking after their charges. And as the daughters were young women, fond of their keepers, they made it easy for the lovers to slip away from time to time. And one day when they were unprotected, the spell was cast.”

“Their souls were stolen.”

“It’s more than that. Are you going to eat the rest of that steak?”

“Hmm.” She glanced down at her plate. “No. Do you want it?”

“For Moe. I go back empty-handed, he’ll sulk.” He asked the waiter to box up the leftovers, then smiled at Malory. “Dessert?”