Mona Lisa Awakening m-1 Page 9

  Gryphon had brushed out my hair, insisting that it be left loose. More feminine, he had said. Long dresses and loose hair; it wasn't just their speech that was archaic.

  "You look lovely, milady." The edges of Amber's mouth curved up in a grimace, it took me a moment to realize he was smiling at me.

  "Thank you, Amber. You, uh, look handsome as well."

  Redness colored his cheeks. Taking pity on the poor giant, I slipped one hand into Amber's arm, and the other into Gryphon's. "Shall we, gentlemen?"

  Ever the efficient steward, Matthias met us at the bottom of the stairs and assigned a young male attendant to lead us to the Council Hall. The young man was quite fascinated with Amber and Gryphon and kept glancing at their hands. I realized why now. With their unusual sun-rich tans they looked like the demon dead. That explained all the startled looks we'd been receiving since yesterday.

  We waited half an hour before the heavy doors were opened and we were ushered into a high-domed circular chamber where a dozen somber men and women sat arrayed on a raised platform in chairs spread out at even intervals, encircling the edge of the room. I glimpsed Halcyon's dark face to my left. Over half the seats, though, were empty. Walking in, I felt like a Roman gladiator entering an arena full of hungry spectators. Nor was it reassuring to see Mona Sera in the center of the room, gesturing for me to come stand beside her.

  Gryphon and Amber remained back by the doors, along with Mona Sera's guards. I strode alone to the center of the Council Hall, keeping several yards of distance between Mona Sera and myself. Always prudent, that, and not just for comfort reasons.

  "Esteemed Queen Mother." Mona Sera bowed before a woman with proud, regal bearing, whose hair was utterly and completely white. White with age. I'd never seen that before in a Monère. There were Queens, I found, and then there were Queens. She looked like a matriarch of old. Old being the key word. Or perhaps ancient would be a better word. Real, real ancient. And powerful. It exuded from her like a strong, pervading aroma. The vast lines of age marking her face were mere camouflage for for that power. And those eyes. All-seeing was a creepy term, but it fit her. Those eyes looked as if they could see into your very soul, weigh and pass judgment and never look back once that judgment was carried out. Scary eyes, those. Too objective. Too knowing.

  "Honorable ladies, and gentlemen of the High Council," Mona Sera continued in her rich, sultry voice. "I wish to present to you my daughter, Queen Mona Lisa, a child I bore from a Mixed Blood union."

  I felt the tension in the room kick up a level as I bowed before the Queen Mother in the manner Gryphon had instructed me—lifting my skirts, kneeling with head bowed, then standing once more. The men looked at me with interest—Halcyon with amusement—but the two Queens, marked by their black gowns, glared at me with cold, unwelcoming eyes. No surprise there. Yup, nasty crows. The Queen Mother studied me with detached curiosity, like one studied a struggling butterfly that had just been captured and pinned.

  "There has never been a Mixed Blood Queen in our history," stated the Queen sitting next to Halcyon, an icy blonde with equally cold eyes. She was striking in her beauty, a real, true Ice Queen.

  "Exactly, Mona Louisa," Mona Sera said mockingly. "Which is why I called this special Council Meeting. I wish to have my daughter" — she purred the word with rich satisfaction—"recognized and acknowledged as the first Mixed Blood Queen before the High Council."

  "An abomination!" hissed another Queen to my right whose hair was the color of orange flames. A Fire Queen in temperament as well as in coloring.

  "No," Mona Sera replied with a taunting smile, "she is a Queen that everyone here, including you, Mona Teresa, can sense and feel."

  "Can she Bask?" asked the man sitting to the Queen Mother's immediate right, an older gentlemen with salt-and-pepper hair who wore a gold medallion chain. A sense of solid power emanated from him, as well.

  Mona Sera inclined her head. "I have witnessed her Basking myself, Warrior Lord Thorane, this last full moon. She drew the light down from the moon and shared its glory with her new guard, Gryphon, formerly of my court."

  The council members murmured among themselves. Lord Thorane inclined his head to the Queen Mother, speaking softly to her. The Queen Mother nodded.

  "What other gifts does your daughter possess, Mona Sera?" the Queen Mother asked, addressing us for the first time. She spoke slowly, with care, her voice rich and resonant with authority.

  "Most venerable Queen Mother." Mona Sera bowed ceremoniously low once again, then flung her arms dramatically open as if presenting a gift. A real showman, my mother. "She can wear silver against her skin and not have it affect her strength. Neither does it contain her. She tolerates sunlight as humans do and has passed on this ability to one of her men for certain. Perhaps both of them." All eyes turned toward the doors to study Amber and Gryphon.

  They were easily picked out. Their brown skins made them look like sun gods against the paleness of Mona Sera's men. A few brave souls turned to look at Halcyon also, as if to compare the color of their skin with his. Halcyon smiled sardonically and clicked his long, sharp nails gently together. They looked nervously away.

  Mona Sera's dark eyes glittered with pleasure as a new wave of mutterings arose. "Of most interest," she continued, delivering the coup de grâce, "she bears the Goddess's tears."

  All eyes suddenly stabbed me like sharp knives. I had to brace myself against the intensity of their gazes.

  "Show us your palms, child," Mona Louisa, the pale blonde Queen, commanded. I gritted my teeth at the condescending order but chanted to myself, Befriend. Not alienate. I needed the Queens' help for Gryphon. I took a deep breath of control and smiled. I could be every bit as good a showman as my mother. After a brief, deliberate pause, I threw out my hands, presenting my palms with a graceful flourish.

  Gasps. A sea of murmurs. A muttered "Unnatural!" from fiery Mona Teresa. And the sharp, assessing gaze of the Queen Mother and all the men present. The two Queens eyed me with cold hostility. But the other women—some dressed in gold-trimmed white robes, the rest in rich maroon—looked upon me with speculative interest.

  A lady in maroon addressed the next question to me. "Have you any special abilities with these?"

  "I can determine injuries below the skin's surface. I also have a minor ability to ease pain."

  "How old are you, child?" the lady asked kindly. Somehow it didn't grate as much when she called me "child."

  "Twenty-one."

  She turned to Mona Sera. "Have you borne any other children?"

  "Only a Mixed Blood male child from the same father," Mona Sera said dismissively.

  Her answer made me jerk in surprise. I had a brother?

  "And where is this Mixed Blood who fathered your children now, Mona Sera?" Lord Thorane asked.

  "He died fifteen years ago," was Mona Sera's devastating reply.

  Tears stung my eyes and I looked down at the floor. One given, one taken in a casual statement of fact. She hadn't told me, damn it. She hadn't told me. And she should have.

  "A pity." Lord Thorane murmured. Coming to a decision, he straightened. "I second Mona Sera's petition that Mona Lisa be recognized and acknowledged before the court as a new Queen."

  A count was taken with a majority vote cast in my favor. The Queen Mother abstained. The two Queens were against me—surprise, surprise. But despite them, I was now, officially, the first Mixed Blood Queen, ever.

  "Several of our laws regarding Mixed Bloods will have to be amended," Lord Thorane broached carefully.

  "Any change in our laws will unfortunately have to wait until our next session, when we have at least two-thirds of the Council present," Mona Teresa said in a pleased purr that subsided under the Queen Mother's stare. "We have less than half the Council here today," she finished in a whine.

  "It is our Council law," Mona Louisa spoke up, supporting her.

  "So it is," the Queen Mother acknowledged slowly.

  I had a feeling I
was missing something important here.

  Lord Thorane cleared his throat. "Mona Sera, the Council deeply thanks you for the addition of this new Queen to our ranks. Mona Lisa will abide here at High Court until the Council next meets twelve days hence, at which time a territory shall be assigned to her. Council is adjourned."

  Outside the Great Hall, Mona Sera turned to me with pleased satisfaction. "Fare thee well, daughter. I return to my territory tonight."

  "She needs more guards, milady," Gryphon said quietly beside me.

  "She has two of my gowns and two of my strongest men. More?" Mona Sera's lips twisted. "I think not."

  "It is your responsibility as sponsor to provide her with protection," Gryphon dared say.

  "And I have done so. Her protection is now your problem."

  "Where is my brother?" I demanded.

  Mona Sera's gaze turned to me with amusement. "He was given over to the humans as you were, at birth. I do not remember when. And I do not know where."

  "My father's name?"

  "I do not remember," she said, and somehow I knew that she lied.

  Mona Sera tossed me a little smile. "Do your best to stay alive."

  "That's it?" I said. "Why did you bring me here?"

  "To have my fertility and Queen-bearing status recognized, which will weigh heavily in any future concessions I may desire from the Council. Whether you live or die now is of no concern to me."

  Plain-speaking, indeed. For some reason, that made me think better of her, twisted though that may be. Perhaps I was indeed her daughter—scary thought, that—looking upon that beautiful, heartless countenance with her flat eyes more dead than alive.

  "One last word of advice," Mona Sera said, glancing from me to my men. "Only the strongest survive in our world. Rule them. Or they will destroy you."

  A real cozy mother-to-daughter chat. And then she was gone.

  The Councilwoman in maroon attire who had addressed me A was a healer who invited me to her abode. Amber accompanied us while Gryphon begged off, saying that he wished to rest and give me the chance to talk freely with the healer.

  Janelle was her name. She had kind, brown eyes like Sonia, with a few gray strands sprinkled in her sandy hair. She lived in a small, comfortable cottage a few buildings away from the Great House. Dusty, musty books lined floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and several heavy tombs lay open on the long center table, buried beneath various herbs and flowers scattered among pungent jars and bottles filled with interesting-looking concoctions. She remarked upon some of their medicinal purposes, then took my hand and rubbed her thumb over my mole, making an hmming sound.

  "You have potential, undeveloped as of yet. But you are young. Quite young, actually. Most healers do not begin to develop their powers until their third cycle of ten. Some even later."

  "Can you teach me some of your healing art?"

  "With great pleasure," Janelle answered with a smile. "We may begin tomorrow, if you so desire."

  I nodded eagerly. "Please. There is much I wish to learn."

  "And there is much I wish to teach you. It is rare to find a Queen with the gift for healing."

  "There is one thing that cannot wait, though. One of my men, Gryphon, suffers from silver poisoning."

  Janelle's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Ah. I sensed wrongness with him but did not know of what nature it was."

  "I have come here to seek a cure for him. Can you help him? Do you have the antidote?"

  "I know of no cure for silver poisoning," Janelle said sadly.

  Well, shit. Two people now had told me that. Not good news. "Might the other healers be able to help?"

  She considered it. "Perhaps. But I trained the others in the craft myself. Still, it will not hurt to inquire of them."

  "I've heard some say only Queens have the antidote. But somehow I don't think the two Queens here will be eager to help me."

  Janelle's eyes glinted with dry amusement. "We have few enough Queens so that every new member is a true treasure to our people. Unfortunately, other Queens will look upon you as competition and a reason to lessen their own territory as each new sister is added to their ranks. In their eyes, there is no reason to aid you. Mona Ruder a. who should be here when the Council next meets, is the only other Queen who has some small healing talent. Healers are more apt to share with each other. Perhaps she will be willing to lend you aid if an antidote truly exists, though I have never heard of the existence of one."

  "Thank you, Healer Janelle." I took my leave of her.

  What I had learned disturbed me greatly, but not enough to keep me from noticing that Amber was unusually tense as he escorted me back. He kept his hand within easy reach of his sword hilt the entire short trip.

  Gryphon and five other men awaited us in the foyer. It took me a moment to notice that Gryphon's wooden trunk sat by the doorway and an even longer moment to register its significance.

  "Milady." Gryphon, my beautiful Gryphon knelt before me. "I ask that you release me from your service."

  His words were like a stab to the chest, knocking the wind out of me, coming out of nowhere. It was the last thing I would have expected. And they say women are fickle. "What?"

  He stood upright, his blue eyes fixed solemnly on me. "Milady. Mona Louisa has graciously invited me to join her. Her plane awaits me. She has promised me the antidote," he explained gently.

  "You're… leaving me?" I asked, stunned and suddenly lost, cast adrift from the one solid thing that had anchored me in this new life.

  "If you will release me."

  That new inner, possessive demon within me shouted: No! Never! How could I let him go? Dear God, how could I not? Mona Louisa offered him life, the icy bitch.

  "If… if you wish to go." Idiot, I berated myself. Of course he wished to go. He was asking to go. And yet, he had held me so tightly, kissed me with such tender love… at least, I had presumed it was love or some deep emotion similar to it. But then, he had never said the words…

  Gryphon knelt again and bowed his dark head, graceful even now when leaving me. "Thank you, milady. Mona Louisa has kindly agreed to loan you four of her guards for your protection until the Council next meets."

  I choked off hysterical laughter. I don't think kindness motivated Mona Louisa in any way. Lust, maybe. Not kindness.

  He stood and his sky-blue eyes and the wayward lock of hair that fell over his brow were so familiar, so dear. Don't go. Don't go. The words choked in my throat as he pressed a last final kiss on the back of my hand. One of the unfamiliar men lifted Gryphon's trunk onto his shoulder in an easy motion.

  "Fare thee well, Mona Lisa," Gryphon said softly.

  Don't go. Don't leave me. Gryphon, I love you… But the words were locked shut behind my clenched teeth. I swallowed, watched him exchange a glance with Amber. Please don't go. Oh, God. Gryphon…

  Then he was gone.

  My harsh breathing filled the hallway, too fast, too deep. Everything seemed surreal. There were four new puppet guards standing before me, their new puppet master. Only I'd just had my own strings cut.

  A pretty blond man flashed me an eager smile. They were all pretty, for that matter. One of each individual haircolor: blond, brown, jet-black, and one the shade of a colorful carrot. Again, that hysterical laughter threatened me.

  Blondie bowed. "I am Miles, milady, and this is Gilford, Rupert, and Demetrius. We are most eager to serve you." I had a feeling somehow that they expected to do so in bed, not that that was going to happen.

  Numbness was creeping over me and I welcomed it. It hurt too much to hurt so much. I don't know if I grunted, nodded, or just walked straight past them. All I knew with certainty was that the stairs were suddenly beneath my feet. I flew into my bedroom, shut the door, and sank down onto the floor, my back pressed against the wall. And just sat there, not knowing what else to do.

  Chapter Nine

  Helen had been my human mother's name. Her and her husband, Frank, had taken me home from the orphan
age. I had called them Mama and Papa. They'd been an older couple in their fifties with no children.

  Helen loved curling my hair and arranging them into two pigtails that swung and bounced as I moved. She loved adorning my dark hair with pretty pink ribbons or blue bows. Those had been her favorite colors. "Give me good old-fashioned pink or blue any day," she'd use to say with a laugh that shook her plump, solid frame as she'd cuddle me in her big arms, enveloping me like a soft, huge teddy bear, squeezing me against her generous bosom. I still remember how she smelled. Like talcum powder, love, and laughter.

  She bought me a goldfish named Joey that wriggled around awkwardly in a bowl and had big, fat cheeks that fascinated me to great end. With her big hand over mine, she'd guide me in pinching up little flakes of fish food and dropping them into the water before I snuggled into bed each night. I would watch Joey wriggle his fat body around, greedily gulping down the flakes while Helen read me a bedtime story.

  Helen's pain started when I was four. A sharp twinge in the lower abdomen that made her bend over and gasp. I put my hand over her belly and my palms warmed and tingled for the first time.

  "Mama. Bad here."

  "Yes, baby. Some bad gas. But it feels much better now."

  The pain had gone away but had come back six months later, hurting so much that she had to squat down. And I realized even then that that bad thing inside of her had grown just a little bit more.

  "Bad inside," I said. "Mama go see doctor."

  "Ah, baby, you've got magic hands." She kissed and buzzed my hands, blowing air against it until the funny noise made me giggle. "Now why should I go see a doctor? They just find things wrong with you."

  Quiet and steady Frank, a postal worker, finally started to worry when I was five-and-a-half years old. The pains were growing worse and coming more often. Ignoring his wife's blustery protests, he finally dragged Helen to the doctor but by then it was too late. Colon cancer. It had spread to the liver and lungs.