Читать книгу Soul Song - Shawna Bennett - Страница 12

Chapter 5

Dinner was late being served because as the staff had come to escort Hunter and Brexley to dinner, they found out neither girl had appropriate dinner attire. The staff escorted the four men and Cassia to the library, and they were offered brandy and cigars, while they scrambled to find the girls something to wear.

When they were all finally seated at the large dining room table with both camps sitting on opposite sides, Sawyer walked in and sat down at the head of the table.

Sawyer noticed that the girls looked a little uncomfortable in their modest clothes, but she certainly wasn’t going to allow shorts or tank tops at her dinner table.

She smiled at everyone and spoke. “Good evening, everyone, I trust your rooms are satisfactory?”

They all smiled and nodded. Cassia had taken an immediate liking to Sawyer. She liked how the young woman held herself in a regal manner. She was the first to speak.

“Our rooms are wonderful! Have you lived in this house your whole life?” she asked.

“Yes, I have spent my entire life here,” Sawyer answered and smiled back at her. She was relieved that someone was finally speaking.

“Well, I hope one of my brothers is chosen then, I won’t mind coming to visit,” she said.

“Cassia! You are bordering on rudeness,” Marcus rebuked.

“It’s fine, I appreciate her candor and honesty. Tonight I am here to answer any and all questions any of you might have. So please speak freely and ask anything you want, nothing is off-limits,” Sawyer told them all.

“I’m sure we will all try to behave accordingly,” stated Marcus and gave his sister a side glance.

“Where is Astrid?” Lucas inquired.

“She has gone to the fae realm, her job is done,” answered Sawyer.

“What was her job?” asked Liam.

“To keep you four safe until it was time for you to come here. Now that you are here, I will keep you safe until my soul sings,” Sawyer answered.

Liam laughed at this. “I’m pretty sure we don’t need you to keep us safe. In fact, the only people who have kidnapped us lately are you and your band of fairies,” he answered rudely.

She turned to look at him directly for a moment, and her eyes never wavered. “I know this is an uncomfortable situation for everyone, but I think if we all try to keep it civil, it will go more smoothly for everyone. As for keeping you safe, I’m sure you believe you are invincible, but I assure you that you are not. I know it must hurt the ego to hear a woman say she will protect you, and if it causes you to lose sleep, please pretend that I never said it. I will, however, protect you, even if your attitude makes me upset.” She then smiled and waited to see if he would respond.

He only smirked in response. He thought this frail-looking girl was the one who would need protecting if she continued to speak to him that way. It was Hunter who responded.

“Well, I have some questions for you,” she said challengingly.

“Oh, Hunter, please don’t start.” Lucas groaned.

“It’s fine, let her speak,” Sawyer said.

“Okay, well, couple of things. Why do you think I’m supposed to sit back and let you try to steal my boyfriend? What makes you so special that we all have to drop everything and come wait here for you to have your birthday? And why are you having us dress up for a dinner that only you can eat, it seems pretty stupid.” She was seething by the time she finished.

Sawyer remained calm after the outburst and waited while the staff poured wine for the table and served her a bowl of soup. When they left, she took a sip of wine and tried to answer the questions.

“The reason for the dining room is simply so we can all sit and talk. You obviously won’t eat, but you can sit and talk. As for why we dress for dinner, that is a simple answer really. We are not at a county fair eating hotdogs on sticks. If we were, then your earlier attire would have been just fine. We, however, are in my home, and in my formal dining room, we dress for dinner here. If you don’t like it, don’t come next time. I don’t need you here.

“The answer to your other question is more complicated. This decision to have these four men here was made before I was ever born. One of them and I are fated together. It can be hard to accept that your fate has been decided without anyone asking your permission. To accept the fact that your fate was written long before you were born. I understand this better than most. One of these men is my soul mate, and I have no choice in the matter, and neither will he. If it happens to be Liam, then you must come to accept that he was never meant to be your fate and a different life awaits you. That is the basis of why everyone is here now. Two of us are connected, and we must find out who it is,” she answered.

“How will we know who this person is?” Lucas asked.

“My birthday is in two months. On the full moon after my birthday, I will sing a song. When I sing on that night, our ethereal energies will seek one another out and combine,” she said.

“Why don’t you just sing now then and get it over with?” Julius asked fascinated by what she was describing.

“I can’t. I won’t know the song until the moment I start to sing it, and it won’t fill my soul until the full moon, after my powers have come to me fully. If I could have sang it before, believe me, I would have. It will come when the full moon shines at its fullest, and only then will my voice know how to sing my soul song,” she said, looking at him.

“What will you do if on that night no song fills your soul?” he asked her, and their eyes locked for a moment. She thought his brown eyes looked so familiar, and she knew she had seen them before, but she couldn’t place them.

“I have a song, Julius, it has always been there, and I can feel it just under the surface of everything. When I sing, one of you will connect to me in a way that will be a perfect love, and we will share eternity together,” she answered.

“So why won’t this Mother person just tell you who he is? Why do all of them have to be here?” asked Brexley.

Sawyer looked at the young vapid blonde. She knew Hunter had brought her along as moral support for the coming days. She also knew that even though she and Hunter and Brexley were the closest in age, they all had nothing in common. Brexley and Hunter had gone off to college together. Their lives had been an endless cycle of popularity and a good time. Neither had any real concern for their futures or what it might hold. Even their change had been done on whim. They refused to hold anything of substance in their personalities and were never concerned with anyone else but themselves. They remained immature and still clung to human ideals. She knew she needed to exercise patience when dealing with either of them, because while they were all the same age, they had different priorities. She chastised herself for speaking harshly to Hunter earlier. She would have to try to be more understanding to these two. If they made it past a century in the change, she would be very surprised.

“She won’t say because she will not speak of a future only she can see. She wants me to have the chance to know him before we are connected. She believes to fall in love sight unseen would be unfair to either of us. It is hard to love a stranger. She chose both sets of brothers to come because all four of them somehow will affect my future. Before you ask, she won’t say how, but I will need all four of them someday. The bright side of this is I gain new friends in the process, and hopefully you all will to,” she answered optimistically.

Liam laughed at the last part. He was certainly not making friends with the trio across the table.

Marcus gave him a stern look and then turned to Sawyer. “May I ask what your powers are, and how long will you live? Our lives are indefinite, will you live as long as your soul mate, or will you have to be changed?”

“Excellent question, I was waiting for one of you to ask. My powers are often mistaken for a witch, and we pull from the same energy. I just have more access to it than everyone else. If you will allow me, I will lift the veil from your sight and I can better explain the power of the fae, but you must all agree,” she asked and then waited for everyone to nod in agreement. When they had all nodded their heads, she waved her hand and waited.

Instantly they noticed everything was surrounded in silver light almost like a shimmer. The light was constantly flowing in and out of itself and around everything and everyone. Sawyer was absolutely soaked in it, and the light around all of them was very weak. Sawyer stood up and asked them to follow her outside.

They stepped out and were mesmerized. The sun had set, and the moon absolutely glowed in silver light. It shined down rays of silver light, and they touched the earth. They could see silver strings connecting everything. They saw a bee attached to a flower with a silver string, and the tree was attached to the soil with silver strings. It seemed Sawyer was attached to everything with silver strings flowing from her body to the moon, trees, flowers, and soil.

She let them walk around wordlessly for a while and explore the silver light. They tried touching it, and their hands went through it like it was a mist. They were all amazed. Everything was alive with this energy, and it flowed all around them. They couldn’t feel it or see it, but it had always been there.

When they all turned to look at her, she finally spoke. “This is the ethereal energy, and it connects everything. This is the power of the fae. We can see it, and we can harness it.” She opened her hand, and in the palm, a small ball of silver light formed. It seemed to come flowing from everywhere into her hand.

A few of them opened their own hands to see if it flowed to them. It did not. Julius bent over to study the bee and the flower and reached out a finger to see if he could touch the string. Marcus had bent over to the rocks and was turning them over. Liam was running his hand in the water of the fountain, and Lucas was touching a tree. She knew it must be incredible to see for the first time and let them take their time with it. Finally she said, “Come join me by the flowers and I will show you how my powers work.”

When they had gathered around, she continued, “This silver string you see is connected to absolutely every living thing on the earth. Everything on the earth is alive, even things you don’t think about, like rocks or metal. Most people don’t think of them as alive because they never see them die. A flower can be plucked, and you can see it wither and lose its connection, but rocks are harder. We the fae call this the life force. Only fae can see it, and only a few humans can feel it. We call these humans witches, and the power of the life force has to be concentrated for them to feel it and use it in their spells. On rare occasions like an eclipse, for example, it becomes so concentrated they can cast a powerful spell. It is usually women who are witches, and the fae believe something in the female energy is more attuned to it than in males. The fae are female, and no male has ever been born to us.”

She then opened her hand again and let the energy ball up again. She then let it overflow, and the silver light began to wrap around her hand. She waved her hand at the fountain, and the silver strings began to immerse in the water. She then moved her hand, and the water moved with the direction her hand was pulling the silver string. She did it slowly, like she had been taught as a child when learning to use it. The water went up and then began to fold in on itself in swirls, and soon all the water from the fountain was above it and swirling around.

She returned the water and pointed her hand at a tree whose leaves had turned brown with fall. She waved her hand, and the string of silver spread down the leaves and began to become green again. In the wave of a hand, the whole tree was brought back to full green.

She pointed to empty space in the drive, and suddenly a shimmering silver door appeared. Lucas was standing the closest, and she told him to open it. When he did, they could hear waves crashing and the smell of saltwater. She motioned for them to follow her through the door.

They stepped onto the sand and saw the moon shining over a beach. The silver light of the water was amazing as it pulled at the moon for more. A school of dolphins jumped high in the air, and they could see they were all connected to one another by the silver strings. A crab scuttled by, and its own silver string connected it to the water and the sand.

She turned to them all and spoke. “The power of the life force flows through me. My power is limitless and infinite. I will remain alive as long as the earth remains alive and the life force flows. No fae has ever known death. We remain unmatched in our powers, and we are the most powerful creatures on this planet. Our bodies grow until the age of twenty-two, and then we age one year for every ten thousand that pass here.

“You saw Astrid as a powerful witch, but the truth is, she is a very old fae. Mother is the most powerful fae created as she is fully formed from the life force, and she is the oldest among us. It was she that chose one of you, and only she has the power to take half a soul. I know you all are skeptical, but when you observe the life force, I hope you can start to believe. Now come, let’s go back because I’m sure you have even more questions now, and we won’t get them answered with everyone distracted like this.”

They stepped back through the door, and the silver light was gone. They all returned to the dining room, looking around as they walked, trying to catch a glimpse of the light. It was gone from their vision though; she had replaced the veil.

Brexley looked at her in awe and asked, “Are you magic?”

Hunter slapped her arm and said, “Shut up, Brexley! Stop asking stupid questions.”

Sawyer looked at her and said, “There are no stupid questions tonight, Hunter.” Then she turned to Brexley. “To answer your question, I believe magic is the word humans made up to describe our power. Fae once walked among humans for a very long time, and all fae have human fathers, except Mother and I. The fae tried for a very long time to teach humans how to use the life force for useful purposes. It was only when Mother saw they used it against one another that she stopped teaching them.”

“How do you not have a father?” asked Cassia curiously.

“Mother and I are the only two fae ever created by the life force. When Mother took half the boys’ soul, she planted it in the earth. Like Mother, I was formed by the earth itself. I only call her Mother because that is her name, like mine is Sawyer, but I have no parents,” she answered.

“Does it bother you that your only purpose is to love some man you have never met?” Hunter asked almost snidely.

Sawyer met her gaze and mentally reminded herself to be patient with her. “No, because in return he was created to love me. Everyone always focuses on my creation, but I sometimes wonder if fate didn’t plan this before he was born. I think he was born to be my soul’s mate because he was created long before me. Love has become so common to everyone. It is used to describe emotions that are not even love. People will say, ‘I love coffee’ or ‘I loved that movie!’ Love is a scared bond between two hearts, and it cannot be broken. It is a hard thing to love someone and to be loved back. By attaching such trivial things to it, people have diminished its power.

“I attended school and went to college and never went on a single date. I watched as the girls around me fell in and out of love constantly. Boys would flock to me and exclaim they loved me, not because they truly did, but because I made them feel something.

“Love used to be a more sacred thing. Sonnets were written about it and entire wars were waged over it. History is full of great love stories. I am destined to have a great and powerful love. So to answer your question, I am not bothered by the fact that I will know perfect love. I am honored by it,” she said, and Hunter lowered her eyes. She had meant to make Sawyer feel stupid, and instead, she did. She thought back to how many times she had said the words to different guys.

“Wait! Are you serious that you have never been on a date before? Aren’t you worried you’re going to feel awkward when you connect with your soul mate?” Brexley exclaimed.

“No, I have never been on a date, and no, I’m not worried. I don’t feel like I need to practice,” Sawyer answered.

“You might regret that. Men are complicated and can be hard to read,” Brexley said seriously.

“I think I’m going to be all right,” Sawyer said, amused by her silly concern.

“So how does this work? Are we all supposed to sit around for the next couple of months and get to know each other?” Hunter was losing patience with how Brexley was warming to Sawyer.

“Actually, Hunter, no offense, but I’m not here to get to know you. I’m here to get to know these four men. It would be wonderful if we become friends and get to know one another, but it is not my priority. I will spend an hour with each of them every day until my soul sing,” she answered.

“Will you be coming to our bedrooms or someplace more public?” leered Liam and gave her what he thought was his playful look.

Julius and Marcus shot him a disgusted look across the table.

“Would you like me to come to your room and spend some time alone?” asked Julius menacingly.

“I would be glad to join him, maybe we can teach you how to properly talk to a lady,” Marcus said, and Sawyer could tell the brothers were not joking.

She intervened before Liam could rise from his seat. “I have picked an activity for each of us to do daily that we have in common. We can always change it later in the week if you want, but it’s a good starting point.”

“What are your plans for Liam?” Hunter asked.

She looked at Hunter and Liam. “Liam and I will be going riding in the mornings. I have a full stable, and your breeding should have included riding lessons.”

“I’m impressed, sounds like you did your homework. That sounds fine,” he answered.

She turned to Lucas. “Astrid told me you are something of a musician and so I thought we can meet in the music room right after lunch. If that’s okay?” she asked.

Lucas nodded his head. “Actually, that sounds great.”

She turned to Marcus and said, “For our time together, I thought the library would be a wonderful place to start. I love history, and I’m told you have been in some of the most famous battles in history. I also hear you are a fair chess player, and I have been looking for a worthy opponent.”

He smiled, knowing she had just played to his ego but didn’t care.

“That sounds like a challenge, and I gladly accept.”

“Wonderful, then I will meet you there daily at 2:00 p.m.,” she said, and he nodded with enthusiasm.

“Last but never least, Julius. I was wondering if you would accompany me in the early evening as I walk in the garden. It is my nightly activity, and I thought you might enjoy getting away from the house. You don’t strike me as the type of man who likes to be cooped up,” she asked.

He looked at her for a long moment. She was right; he dreaded the next two months, and he was waiting to see what pointless activity she had come up with for him. She had picked one of the few things he would have agreed to.

“That sounds fine.”

“Wonderful, then I shall meet you at the stairs at 6:00 p.m.”

She then addressed the group again.

“This time we spent is meant for us to get to know one another. I want to know the real person each of you are, and I hope that we can create a friendship on being ourselves. We are not here to fall in love, so please, if any of you are feeling that pressure, then rest assured it is not what we are doing. I look forward to getting to know each of you. Ladies, this house has every activity you could wish for. There is a movie theater, bowling alley, indoor pool, and outdoor pool. Please use anything you want and have fun. Don’t be afraid to request anything you need from the staff, they are here to accommodate you.”

“Do you have a car here we can use?” asked Liam.

“Yes, just ask the staff and a car will be brought up for you. You are not prisoners here, you may come and go as you please. I just ask for the respect of keeping your time with me,” she answered.

“Does the staff realize what we are?” asked Cassia curiously.

“Yes, the staff has been with this family for centuries and have seen all manner of things. They stay with us from generation to generation. Mother protects them, and if you find yourself hungry, I ask you do not touch the staff. We have a nourishment if you need it, and I ask that if it’s only the thrill of the hunt you seek, then go to the city. Besides, I’m sure you have noticed you can’t smell their blood or hear their heartbeats. You couldn’t get to them before me, so no point in trying,” she warned.

“Does this Mother person protect you too?” asked Hunter.

Sawyer laughed at this. “Obviously, Hunter, you don’t understand the extent of my power. I need no protection.”

Once again Hunter felt stupid. She had meant to send a veiled threat to Sawyer but ended up sounding dumb. She was really starting to dislike her.

Liam could sense it was starting to go sideways for Hunter, and he knew her temper. He put a hand on her arm and said, “Well, maybe it’s time we all retire for the evening.”

Lucas, who knew that Hunter was getting angry, agreed with his brother. They needed to get her out of there before she got started.

“Oh, I don’t know, I think it would be fun to watch your girlfriend continue to make a fool of herself, Liam,” Cassia said, baiting her.

Hunter snapped as Cassia knew she would. “I hope it is one of your brothers! You three are heartless savages, and it would serve her right to be stuck with the three of you for centuries!” she yelled at Cassia and then turned it on Sawyer. “You can’t go around stealing people’s boyfriends and acting so innocent. I hope you get what you deserve!”

Cassia stood and leaned across the table. “If you ever speak to me like that again, I will make sure you’re not around to see how this turns out,” she said threateningly.

Hunter sat back. She knew what Cassia was capable of, and not even Lucas and Liam combined could stop her if she came after Hunter. She bit back a reply and sat silently. You could have heard a pin drop while they all waited to see if she dared say anything back to Cassia.

Finally Sawyer stood and broke the silence. “I believe Liam is right, we could all use a break tonight. Tomorrow we all need to meet in the morning in the foyer. Mother has requested to see you four. You ladies are invited to come along if you want to see the fae realm, please meet at 8:00 a.m.” With that, she started from the room and up the stairs.

Everyone followed so they could retire to their rooms for the night, and Sawyer veered to the left elevator that Cassia was riding with her brothers. Before the doors closed, she waved across to the other elevator and said “Good night,” but the doors closed before anyone answered her. She hit the button for the sixth floor.

Curiously Cassia asked, “Do you occupy the entire sixth floor?”

“No, it’s mostly filled with storage. My rooms are not bigger than yours,” she answered.

When the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, Hunter was in a seething rage.

“Good night,” she said, mocking Sawyer’s voice. “Can you believe her? She is so fake, I can’t stand her!”

Brexley touched her arm and said, trying to calm her down, “Take it easy, you’re here for Liam, and this will be over very soon.”

Lucas made a beeline for his room. He was in no mood for Hunter tonight and closed his door on her shrill voice. He took a deep breath and leaned back against his door, trying to absorb everything that had happened today.

Liam told Brexley he would take it from there and led Hunter to their room.

“You need to calm down, Hunter, you’re only on day one and you’re going to make this next two months miserable if you don’t get a handle on yourself,” he said desperately.

“I can’t help it, Liam! I’m not going to sit back and watch her try to take you away from me. She acts like she’s so perfect and can tell us all what to do,” she said and then clung to him.

“I love you, Hunter, so stop worrying and stop making problems. She doesn’t have to let you stay, and I can’t do this without you,” he said soothingly.

Liam needed her to stop talking and calm down. His head was spinning, and he needed to process everything he had learned today. His brain was on overload, and she dropped that last-minute bomb about the fae realm in the morning. Lucas was in his room, and he wished he could go talk to Liam. He realized at least he had the benefit of being alone and didn’t have anyone ranting at him while he tried to think. They both jokingly called her Hurricane Hunter because her temper was like a force to be reckoned with. It was what had attracted Liam to her in the first place. He called it passion, and Lucas called it drama. She was impulsive and reckless, just like Liam, which made sense. Liam would fall in love with himself if he could. Hunter was the next best thing.

Agnes had made the mistake of thinking the change would punish Liam. All it had done was make him a more powerful predator. He was just as careless with women as he had always been, and nothing would change that. When they had gone to kill Agnes, she had just stood there resigned to her fate. She was a pretty young girl when she had been changed, and even though she had survived the change and being driven from her homeland, she had not survived Liam’s cruelty. It had been sad to see this girl who had survived so much be broken by his brother. All her fight was gone, and she didn’t even try to fight them when they attacked her. Lucas had been sickened by what they did to her, even more than by what they had done to their entire family. At least they had been crazy with bloodlust when they did that, but with her, he knew it was wrong.

He made his mind turn to thoughts of Sawyer. She was beautiful, and when she had shown them the energy around them, she had become more beautiful to him. He didn’t think she knew that the energy made her shimmer in perfection, and he knew every time he looked at her, he would always remember her that way. He also thought it looked like the energy flowed from her instead of toward her, but he wasn’t sure. He knew one thing though, whichever one of them was lucky enough to be her soul mate would have a lifetime of happiness. He then let his thoughts drift to the image of the way the ocean air had blown through her hair.

Julius and Marcus did not have the burden of trying to deal with Hunter. Cassia had gone to her rooms. She knew they needed to talk about things that were not about her. They sat across from one another, a bottle of whiskey on the table between them. They calmly sipped their drinks and voiced their thoughts of the day. It was something they had learned as soldiers. After a battle or before one, they spoke and found the other would notice things they hadn’t. It was standard practice now to sit and speak in this way.

“Well, what are your thoughts on our host?” asked Marcus.

“She seems fearless and beautiful, I like her spirit,” Julius answered speaking freely. He only ever spoke candidly with Marcus.

“She is indeed an amazing creature,” Marcus agreed.

“Her powers were truly incredible. I have lived a very long time and never seen anything like it,” Julius stated.

“It makes me wonder how many fae we have met in our lifetimes and assumed they were merely witches,” Marcus speculated.

“Yes, and why have they become folklore? We know now Astrid was one, but how many more do you think there are?” Julius questioned.

“Perhaps tomorrow we will have the chance to ask. I am curious as to what we will find in the fae realm,” Marcus said, and Julius nodded in agreement.

“Do you think she knows which one of us it is?” Julius asked.

“No, I truly believe she has no idea. She showed us all equal favor,” Marcus stated.

“I agree, I have never enjoyed the cattiness of females and the games they like to play. She showed none of that, she seems to be genuine,” Julius stated.

They spoke long into the night about everything, and when the sun had started to peek through the night, they had drawn no real conclusions.

Liam had no time to try to sort his own thoughts. He spent the entire night trying to soothe Hunter. She needed constant reassurance, and he wondered what the hell he had been thinking when he agreed she could come here. She was going to be nothing but trouble.

Sawyer laid in her bed looking out the window at the moon. Her entire life she had felt the pull of her soul’s mate. Now that he was near her, she felt it even stronger, and she wondered which of the men it was. Liam seemed on the edge of anger all the time, and yet he seemed guarded. Lucas seemed shy and sweet albeit uncomfortable around her. Marcus seemed very serious and calm, but she suspected he would be capable of great rage if pushed. Julius had seemed quiet, like he was observing everything, but she could tell he was the most capable of violence, and she didn’t think it would take much to set it off. She stared at the moon because it always reassured her that her soul’s mate would see it to.

Her soul mate was indeed looking at the moon and wondering how he could love someone he had just met.