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Above all, Rachel caused the most distress. He’d loved her for decades and had been her lover for part of that time.
But Rachel held beliefs so different from his own that when neither would compromise, they’d broken up permanently not long ago.
He wanted to give comfort and to explain, but he couldn’t because a running film of images kept him trapped, in which a woman called to him almost continuously, sometimes singing to him, sometimes speaking in a low seductive voice, but always engaging his heart, like a powerful call to ascension.
The woman lived on Third Earth and needed him desperately. He had never seen such a beautiful woman before, her auburn hair in a beautiful curly mass around her face, cascading past her shoulders, her complexion glowing and pale, and her voice like an angel.
She told him that at exactly the right hour, he would rise from his bed and he would come to her, something he longed to do more than anything else in the world.
She had told him something else as well: that Rachel must die…
A week later, Vela took a long look around at the exquisite Parisian opera house, an unusual and rather ornate place for a Warrior of the Blood induction ceremony. She sat in a box beside Madame Endelle, a place of honor, since all European Two royalty inhabited the remaining first tier boxes the entire distance from one side of the room to the other.
Jewels glittered and each tux in the theater no doubt represented every famous Mortal Earth or Second designer in two dimensions. Samuel had chosen Hugo Boss, even though Greaves’s had favored him. All he’d said, while adjusting his white cuffs was that he intended to change the future. As simple as that. “Besides, why should Hugo Boss be punished for something that monster did?” She’d smiled as she smiled now.
The experience had become far easier than she’d imagined because no one paid her the least attention. Why would they when she sat next to Endelle?
The Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth wore a turquoise sequined gown cut to her navel and split up each thigh mid-hip. A necklace of chunks of white crystals weighed down her chest.
But it was her headpiece that caught everyone’s eye: a massive crown of peacock feathers backed by white ostrich feathers.
Vela loved it, the constant irreverence of Endelle’s absurd fashions, the way she basically said, ‘fuck off’ with every turn of her head, every hard laughing cast of her eye in the direction of a disapproving royal.
“You love this, don’t you?” Vela asked.
Endelle turned her head slowly, her strange wood-lined eyes meeting and holding Vela’s gaze. “What do you think?”
“I think you’ve learned to make do in a way that keeps your head straight. ” She nodded, the feathers sweeping back-and-forth with the slow movement.
“You have some understanding then, because you called it exactly right. We’ll need their alliance in the future, these royals I mean. But I want you to see the truth, so watch what happens. ” She waved her hand in the direction of the audience, a more formal turn of her wrist than Vela would have expected from her.
Since all eyes were on Endelle anyway, a smattering of applause began, then more and more, until one after the other the audience rose to its feet, each person turned toward her, clapping vigorously.
Vela admitted she was surprised, and making use of her newly gained powers, she extended her senses and felt the truth that Madame Endelle wanted her to know: these people loved her and valued her, despite her absurdity.
Vela rose to her feet as well and added to the flow of admiration.
After a good long minute, Endelle waved her hands, indicating the ruckus should stop, and just as the last sound of applause died away, the lights dimmed.
“Endelle. ” Vela turned and gasped.
Braulio.
“Well, where the fuck have you been?” Endelle asked, keeping her voice low as the orchestra conductor took his place in the pit.
“I’m on my three-minute clock again, my sweet, on a new assignment and the council only allowed this one visit because I refused to take another step without at least talking to you. ”
“What’s going on?” Her voice much softer this time.
He reached toward her and put his hand on her shoulder. Leaning down from behind her chair, he kissed her once, then met her gaze. “You probably already know since you’ve just felt the initial rumblings of trouble. ” He glanced at Vela, then back.
Endelle’s shoulders sank low. “Third is revving up. ”
“About ready to explode. We’re in it again, but be patient. ” Endelle snorted. “Do I have a choice about this?”
“No more than I do. ”
“You can’t stand up to the council?” His gaze shifted away.
