“You can lie down,” Rowan said. I nodded and pointed to the cup perched on the edge of the sink.
Water, I mouthed.
“Wes?” Ro kept one hand on my forearm as she opened the door a crack. “Warm up that tea I made, would you please, and put it in the biggest mug you can find along with a tablespoon of honey.”
The shakes hit me hard. I couldn’t stop, no matter how hot the water. I was home, I was safe, and I had a lot to absorb.
My father was alive.
My father worked for Odilon Vigne.
While under Odilon’s employ—or at his direction—my father found a magical rarity and the scion of Clan Vigne was willing to go to any length to secure the one thing that would trigger the next phase of the Melusine’s life cycle.
Du Sang blood. My blood.
“Calliope.” I started at the sound of Rowan’s voice and sat up. She rubbed my back with a soapy washcloth.
“Thanks for being here,” I said. I drained the glass of water and handed it back to her. “I’ve missed you.”
“Yeah, lots of mamas giving birth in August and it hasn’t slowed down yet. I’ve delivered more babies at home the past six weeks than in the past couple of years, here and on the other islands.”
“And has a certain druid been laying claim to your free time?”
“Free time? What’s that?” Ro handed the washcloth and soap to me. “You can wash your front.”
“Free time is that thing normal people have where they sit on their decks and drink beer and don’t worry about magical shit exploding around them,” I joked.
Rowan laughed and stood. She lifted my bathrobe off its hook and held it open. “Your friends await news of your adventures. Better hurry it up before the wolf out there gets antsy and blows the door down.”
“Can you put something on my feet first?” I asked, folding the front halves of the bathrobe across my breasts and looping the tie once. I sat on the lid of the toilet and lifted my legs.
“Ouch,” she said, crouching and assessing the damage. “Where’s your first aid kit?”
“In the kitchen. But I think there’s more of Belle’s salve and another packet of gauze from when they patched me up earlier on the shelf up there.”
I made it to the living room on stinging, bandaged feet and accepted the spot cleared for me on the couch. Tanner and Christoph moved in from where they must have been pacing and planted themselves on the low table. “Tell us—” and “Start at the—” issued from their mouths in concert with Rowan handing me a mug of tea.
“Odilon has Benôit.”
“What?” Christoph stood, fumbling for the glass he’d set between himself and Tanner.
I leaned forward and tugged on Christoph’s pant leg. “I should clarify. Odilon says he has a Benôit on the yacht. I did not see this person, and it was not clear to me if he was there voluntarily or as a hostage or…or something else, but it is clear to me this Benôit is probably my father.”
Christoph wiped at the sides of his face with both hands. “I haven’t had a single communication from my son in…in twenty, twenty-five years? I don’t even recall at this point.” Something told me my grandfather, if pressed, could produce the exact date and time of his last encounter with Benôit. “What do we do now?” he asked.
“Odilon made it clear what he wants.” I adjusted the front halves of my bathrobe to cover my bared legs. “He wants the du Sang blood.”
“To what end?”
“This Benôit came into possession of a clutch of Melusine eggs. Odilon got his hands on the eggs and says he has kept them in stasis for years, waiting for an heir of Clan du Sang to appear.” I set my mug on the side table and spread my arms. “And here she is.”
“Melusine?” asked Tanner. He half stood and swung his body so he could sit beside me.
I nodded, curling into his side. “Benôit found the clutch of fertilized eggs in a waterway where fresh and salt water mixed. Odilon said introducing my blood to the ova would begin their awakening process. And there’s something else.” I raised one hand. “Guess what looks exactly like those glass balls I found at that strange portal?” I pressed my lips together and nodded again. “You guessed it. Melusine ova.”
The confusion on the faces of the four adults in the room mirrored my own. “I take it none of you have heard of this phenomenon before?”
“Melusine were thought to have passed into legend early in the twentieth century,” said Tanner. “I’ve met merpeople and selkies and other water-based shifters and Magicals, but never one of the Melusine.
“That I am aware of,” he added.
“There’s more.” I held the mug of tea in both hands, close to my chest, pulling as much warmth into my body as I could. “Odilon wants my answer by five o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”
“What answer?”
“If I am willing to exchange my blood in return for him letting go of his pursuit of properties here on this island. If I do not agree, he made it clear I should consider my offspring and their friends fair game in whatever grand scheme he has going.”
“All of the properties?”
“He said the notes on three properties come due tomorrow. He did not specify which three they were. I would guess they might be the orchards and farms we suspect have portals and tunnels, maybe more.” I knew the Pearmain property was safe from Odilon’s grasp, at least for now.
“But what about Benôit?” Christoph asked.
“I think that if we want to confirm this Benôit is our Benôit, we’ll have to remove him from the yacht by force. Or negotiate further exchanges with Odilon.” I snuggled closer to Tanner’s heat and the solid mass of his body. I was suddenly drop-dead tired.
Rowan spoke up. “I think Calliope needs
