Altair froze, and the image repeated itself a second time, then vanished. He turned to Christine, who was sitting up in bed now.
They both knew what a summons this late at night meant. There could be no other reason, nothing to warrant yanking them all out of bed.
“Time to go,” he said, all business once again as they began to get dressed hurriedly.
“I need to go to my room first,” Christine said, sounding irritated.
“What? Why?” he wanted to know.
She flicked on the lights. Altair blinked rapidly to adjust his eyes. Christine was standing there, holding her robe in front of her half-naked figure.
“I don’t think I can show up with a robe looking like this,” she muttered, shaking her head.
Altair eyed the large dried white stain on the exterior. “Oops.”
“Men,” she sighed dramatically. “I’ll meet you there.”
By this point, Altair was dressed. He shrugged, not quite ready to split from her just yet. “I’ll come with you,” he volunteered. “I can fly you to your level.”
Christine shrugged. “Sure, it’s faster.”
He paused while she pulled on her other clothing. Then, folded up robe and staff in one hand, she stepped up close, throwing the other hand around his neck.
Altair jumped as she pulled him down and planted a kiss on his lips.
“What was that for?” he asked curiously as wind swirled around them and guided them toward the window.
“Because I wanted to,” she said defiantly just before they sped free into the night, heading first for her room, and then to see Circe.
It seemed that Lord Berith had come to Winterspell after all.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Christine
SHE HOPPED FREE OF his arms just outside her door, pushing it open and hurrying inside.
“What’s going on here?”
Christine barely heard the muffled voice from the hallway.
“We’re responding to the summons, same as you are,” Altair responded. “It can only mean one thing.”
“Well, it can mean a number of things,” Jessie’s voice said, followed by a sound that could only be her own door closing behind her.
“It means that Lord Berith has escaped your peers and has come here. To our jurisdiction. We are to be sent after him,” Altair stated.
Christine shoved her soiled robe into the closet, beyond grateful that Jessie had been just late enough exiting her room not to see and ask questions as to why Christine wasn’t wearing it. The last things she needed right now were jokes about messes being made. There were other things to focus on, as Altair was saying.
“I mean, that’s one way to interpret Circe’s summons,” Jessie said, waltzing into the room. “But what I really meant, was what’s going on with the two of you being here. Together. At this hour? Hmm?”
“I’ll meet you at Circe’s office,” Christine said, giving her friend a look, hoping she would pick up on the hint and go.
“Oh. It’s like that, is it? Good night then, I take it.”
Christine groaned. “Out. Jessie. Go!”
The other woman snickered, flashing them both a broad smile as she exited the room. “Don’t be too long in there,” she said, flinging the parting barb just before pulling the door shut.
“That woman annoys me so much,” she said affectionately, already thinking up all the ways she was going to make Jessie pay, even as she grabbed a new robe from her closet and slid into it. “What are we going to tell her and the others? Anything?”
She decided to change her shoes too, feeling like boots would perhaps be the better choice. If Circe was summoning them now, at this time of night, the issue was likely to be urgent. They could be sent after Lord Berith now, and not in the morning or at any other time. She needed to be prepared.
“Altair?” she asked, bent over, tugging one boot on. “What do you think we should tell them, if anything? About us, I mean. If we arrive together, people will talk, they’ll have suspicions. Do you care, do we want to nip anything in the bud before it gets out of hand?”
When he still didn’t respond, she started to get a little irritated. One boot on, one not, she stood up and turned around.
“What’s wrong? Can you answer me please?” she said hotly as her eyes landed on the big frame of the dragon.
He was standing over her desk. A piece of paper folded once in his hand, thick fingers propping it open. Slowly, he turned, lifting his head.
As he did, her eyes realized what it was he was holding. She understood his silence now, and the pain that was filling his eyes.
Oh no.
“Altair,” she started to say, knowing exactly what had just happened. “Listen, it’s not what you—”
“So,” he said hoarsely. “You already have someone, do you? Someone close enough to write to?”
Each word ripped at her.
“It’s not like that,” she stated, trying to get a word in. “You’re misreading things.”
“With all my heart, I cannot wait to see you again. You have been on my mind. I look forward to us renewing our acquaintances again,” Altair quoted, looking sick. “With care, Julian. Renewing acquaintances. How polite a way to put it.”
Christine gaped at him. He couldn’t seriously think?”
“Then I see here, you’ve even started to write back to him,” Altair said, stabbing a finger down at her desk to the letter she’d started. “So, don’t tell me it’s not what it seems.”
He dropped the letter on the desk. “Was everything you said a lie?”
Before she could answer, he was gone, sweeping out the door, leaving it wide open as he disappeared into the hallway. Christine ran after him, but she was buffeted back by a sudden surge of wind, and by the time she emerged into the hallway, he was long gone.
“What happened?” Jessie asked, stepping forward from where she’d been leaning on the wall out in the hallway.
Christine didn’t even bother yelling at her friend for not going on ahead like she’d asked her to. Just then, she was happy to have the comfort.
“I think I just got dumped,” she
