shark‟s teeth. And the guilt.
Always the terrible, seething guilt over the fact that he‟d come back alive while their fourth and youngest brother, Lucien, had remained missing.
He could still see Luc‟s trusting, terrified face all those years ago. Just as if it were before him now.
It had been a Moonful night when all had gone so awry. Their parents had gone out to the grove—the very one Dane now owned—leaving their four boys in the care of servants. Dane had recently become curious to learn something of these mysterious rites in which the satyr engaged under a full moon. And he had sneaked out, hoping to spy.
Unknown to him, Luc had followed.
They‟d been boys, not yet men. Luc only five to Dane‟s twelve.
Both had been years away from fully understanding what it meant to be Satyr, for they would not be physically ready to participate in the carnal rituals until their eighteenth years, when their bodies would finally alter for the first time with the coming of the full moon.
The night should have been safe for them. The grove‟s perimeter had been bespelled by their parents and the rest of the Satyr clan—there had been far more of them in Rome then—who‟d gathered there for the rituals. No human should have been able to pierce the veil of magic surrounding it, and all Else species would have been engaged in the Moonful observances.
Yet somehow, there had already been other spies there in the grove that night, waiting. And when Dane and Luc had accidently stumbled upon them, both brothers had been captured and hauled away. His last memory of Luc was as they‟d been blindfolded. When Luc had looked to Dane to save him.
But he hadn‟t, and for that he couldn‟t forgive himself. Instead, both boys had gone missing, and only Dane had turned up again a year later. Alone and without any recollection of who‟d abducted them or any of the events during the time that had elapsed since then. With no recollection of what had happened to Luc.
If he was still alive these twelve years later, Luc would now be a month shy of his eighteenth year. In four weeks, another Moonful would come, and his young body would alter for the first time in his life. It would put him in danger of exposing what he was to his captors.
Luc. Gods, where are you? If you‟re alive, please hold on a little longer. I‟ll find you.
A shout came from nearby, yanking Dane back to the present.
“Fishermen,” Bastian murmured. “They‟ve spotted us.”
“Summon the polizia!”Sevin called, going to meet them. “We‟ve found a body.”
Managing to get to his feet, Dane glanced downriver, dragging fresh air into his lungs. In the distance, he saw a faint flash of iridescence—the two nereids heading westward to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where they would then turn north toward Tuscany. After wending their way through a labyrinth of sea, river, tributary, and stream, they would journey overland again for a short distance and then pass through the gate to ElseWorld.
No doubt they would swim swiftly, anxious to deliver their juicy morsel of gossip. The whereabouts of a defector—him. He had two maybe three weeks at most until the Council sent Trackers after him. He would not hide from them. But he wouldn‟t allow them to take him either. Yet he could think of only one thing that would stop them. This solution had come to him earlier, back at the temple. And now the scroll he‟d crumpled and stashed in his pocket weighed heavily on his mind.
The fishermen had arrived and were exclaiming over the body, crossing themselves and muttering as they awaited the arrival of the local authorities.
“They‟re handling it,” said Bastian from behind him. “Let‟s go breakfast and bathe. You‟ll be more yourself.”
Dane nodded and the three of them headed homeward. “I‟ll need a lift to Capitoline later when you go,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What‟s on Capitoline?”asked Sevin.
“A wife,” Dane replied.
At the first
Always the terrible, seething guilt over the fact that he‟d come back alive while their fourth and youngest brother, Lucien, had remained missing.
He could still see Luc‟s trusting, terrified face all those years ago. Just as if it were before him now.
It had been a Moonful night when all had gone so awry. Their parents had gone out to the grove—the very one Dane now owned—leaving their four boys in the care of servants. Dane had recently become curious to learn something of these mysterious rites in which the satyr engaged under a full moon. And he had sneaked out, hoping to spy.
Unknown to him, Luc had followed.
They‟d been boys, not yet men. Luc only five to Dane‟s twelve.
Both had been years away from fully understanding what it meant to be Satyr, for they would not be physically ready to participate in the carnal rituals until their eighteenth years, when their bodies would finally alter for the first time with the coming of the full moon.
The night should have been safe for them. The grove‟s perimeter had been bespelled by their parents and the rest of the Satyr clan—there had been far more of them in Rome then—who‟d gathered there for the rituals. No human should have been able to pierce the veil of magic surrounding it, and all Else species would have been engaged in the Moonful observances.
Yet somehow, there had already been other spies there in the grove that night, waiting. And when Dane and Luc had accidently stumbled upon them, both brothers had been captured and hauled away. His last memory of Luc was as they‟d been blindfolded. When Luc had looked to Dane to save him.
But he hadn‟t, and for that he couldn‟t forgive himself. Instead, both boys had gone missing, and only Dane had turned up again a year later. Alone and without any recollection of who‟d abducted them or any of the events during the time that had elapsed since then. With no recollection of what had happened to Luc.
If he was still alive these twelve years later, Luc would now be a month shy of his eighteenth year. In four weeks, another Moonful would come, and his young body would alter for the first time in his life. It would put him in danger of exposing what he was to his captors.
Luc. Gods, where are you? If you‟re alive, please hold on a little longer. I‟ll find you.
A shout came from nearby, yanking Dane back to the present.
“Fishermen,” Bastian murmured. “They‟ve spotted us.”
“Summon the polizia!”Sevin called, going to meet them. “We‟ve found a body.”
Managing to get to his feet, Dane glanced downriver, dragging fresh air into his lungs. In the distance, he saw a faint flash of iridescence—the two nereids heading westward to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where they would then turn north toward Tuscany. After wending their way through a labyrinth of sea, river, tributary, and stream, they would journey overland again for a short distance and then pass through the gate to ElseWorld.
No doubt they would swim swiftly, anxious to deliver their juicy morsel of gossip. The whereabouts of a defector—him. He had two maybe three weeks at most until the Council sent Trackers after him. He would not hide from them. But he wouldn‟t allow them to take him either. Yet he could think of only one thing that would stop them. This solution had come to him earlier, back at the temple. And now the scroll he‟d crumpled and stashed in his pocket weighed heavily on his mind.
The fishermen had arrived and were exclaiming over the body, crossing themselves and muttering as they awaited the arrival of the local authorities.
“They‟re handling it,” said Bastian from behind him. “Let‟s go breakfast and bathe. You‟ll be more yourself.”
Dane nodded and the three of them headed homeward. “I‟ll need a lift to Capitoline later when you go,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What‟s on Capitoline?”asked Sevin.
“A wife,” Dane replied.
At the first
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