Page 51 of Reflections of Silence

“Depends on the quantity,” Sebastian fired back.

“More than a few drops, I assure you.”

“Good. Any less wouldn't be worth my time.”

“Bring what you get. I’ll wait.”

Sebastian nodded, gathering me to him. Powerful thighs beneath me pushed us up. Beside us, Dolion rose, lifting Minette with him. At the door to the stairs, Sebastian ushered me through without giving me a chance to farewell the odd, lonely woman in her swamp. Fireflies swarmed my head, but even in my distraction, I heard his answer to her.

“Come and claim what you like. But I won’t wait for you. Her life is mine now.”

Sebastian clasped one hand tightly, Minette gripping my other hand, and together Dolion led us along the walkway across to the small boat. I stepped into the small coracle, barely aware of our surroundings. The light dimmed between mossy boughs,night coming on across a darkening sky. How long had we sat in the witch’s house? Like Dolion, time appeared to pass in a different measure there.

The stone man pushed us away from the wharf, small eddies whirling sludge and muck that clung to the sides of the small boat. My mind still whirled from the memories and faces jammed into my head. Well, what had been put there. Granny said she had removed her presence, but some part of me worried that my mind wasn’t my own. After all, I heard voices that weren’t mine on a regular basis, and answered them too.

I twisted to find my own demon standing tall above me, a pole gripped in his hands as he propelled us through the bayou waters, doubling Dolion’s earlier pace. Surprised that all four of us fit in the small boat without the thing sinking, I nudged Sebastian’s foot.

“How do we get her to come to us?”

“Virgin sacrifices always work.” Dolion’s eyes lit up, but Minette colored.

He tracked the flush rising from her modest neckline to her cheeks, earning him a glare from both of us.

“Oh, well done,” Sebastian snarked.

Dolion shrugged, still grinning, and turned back to steer the boat to the estate.

“I don’t know.” Sebastian freed one hand to run it over his hair. With several days’ growth on his chin, he looked wilder than ever, especially next to Dolion’s smooth features. I wondered if it was a gargoyle thing. “She won’t come alone. Anitta is attracted to…glamorous occasions.”

Don’t stare too long, love.

I turned my glare on him, but it didn’t last long. His shadowed jaw enhanced his aquiline beauty. I leaned against his leg, taking comfort in the solidarity of his presence. At least he was talking to me again.

“Maybe we could—” I stalled, an idea forming in my head, but I couldn’t say it.

Amy seemed to have formed a link between me and Sebastian, but how to bring her out...without putting someone in harm’s way? But he was right; I remembered the handsome young man in the carriage with her at the New Orleans dock and shuddered to consider his purpose in her life.

Don’t even think about it, Gella.

Sebastian’s warning tone put me on edge.

“Well, what would you do, then?” I snapped.

Two heads turned my way in surprise, and I remembered far too late that they hadn’t been privy to our conversation.

Sebastian stilled as though turned to stone himself at the end of the boat.

You may as well be the one who freezes each night to match your day.

I regretted the spiteful idea the moment I thought it, but still, not an inch of him moved.

“Why don’t you hold a ball?” Minette’s voice carried across the water, and I repressed the urge to shush her.

Sebastian turned, surveying her with interest. “How would that achieve our goal?” he asked carefully, and I knew he was loath to involve such an innocent into an act of preconceived murder.

An idea I had taken to with so little resistance. Maybe we were suited, after all.

“It doesn’t matter how old she is. It’s still murder,” I muttered.

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