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~ Prelude ~
“There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy, and there are thorns on the rose.”
by Cate Tiernan
EXERILLA RADLEY SHIVERED from her dip in the ocean as she stood in the wet sand. She took a few steps further up the deep white sandy slope to where she had dropped her colorful beach towel. She snapped it in the wind and began drying herself off.
She squeezed water out of her long black hair and tossed it around herself as she looked up at the only home she had ever known.
Spanish red tiles made up its many tiered roof. A soft peach pastel colored the stucco exterior walls. Lush landscaping that incorporated palms and other tropical plants, made her home look as though it belonged in the tropics instead of Wrightsville Beach, NC.
Everything about the house was invitingly warm and Exerilla smiled. She loved her home and was glad that it stood magnificent and strong against all storms. And it did.
Nothing could touch it. Her mother was a powerful white witch and had enacted a protection spell right into its frame when it was being built.
Her life was taking a turn and it should feel exciting, but something was missing. She knew it, but wasn’t sure just what that ‘something’ was.
Her days at UNC at Wilmington were over. She wondered how it passed so quickly. Summer days were ahead. She sighed with a mixture of excited anticipation for the future and melancholy as she let go of the past.
Yup, X told herself--too soon she would leave everything familiar and safe and head for New York to do her graduate work at Columbia. That in itself was a major deal. She had always been a homebody. Now here she was, going off to of all places, New York City.
As she picked up her clogs and headed up the sandy slope for the long wide private boardwalk that led to the upper deck of her home, she suddenly stopped and listened. She listened carefully but could not quite hear the words, though she heard the tone.
Something was wrong.
She could feel a power sweeping into the house. It was like a dark wave; threatening and determined.
Something dangerous had invaded.
She closed her eyes—it was her father and he wasn’t alone.
Galen Debbin was with him.
X’s hands went to her head as her mother’s voice boomed with distress, Don’t come in here, Exerilla.
No other person would hear her mother, not even her father; for their link was that of mother and daughter. No one could tap into their private link with any kind of magic—not even hard dark magic.
Exerilla didn’t listen and her mother sensed it at once as her steps brought her closer. Once again, her mom shouted in her head, Don’t come here. Get in your car and just go! This time, her mom sounded desperate.
Exerilla sighed heavily. She wasn’t afraid of her father. He would never hurt her. Why her mother had fixated on the belief that he would, was beyond her understanding. Even though her parents were separated, she knew that they still loved each other. The only thing standing between her parents was the dark magic he had surrounded himself with these last few years.
She ignored her mother’s command and skipped up the double set of plank stairs to their large deck. She slid the glass doors open and stepped inside.
“Mom?” she said out loud. She could see from her mother’s stance and the scowl covering her lovely face that she was extremely annoyed.
Galen with that ever present and arrogant smirk on his too pretty face, stood next to her father, who had taken a step toward her with a warm and encompassing smile.
She tried to lighten the mood with a bright tone, “Hi Dad, what’s up?” However, she saw what humans couldn’t see; the black aura surrounding Galen Debbin. Her father was also engulfed with the dark aura of tainted magic. She frowned. A hint of darkness had always edged the bright mystique that had been his in his early days, but she knew this meant he was giving in to his dark side.
He had been immersing himself in black magic for years. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she could see that her mother was correct in saying that very little white light still glittered in his aura—scarcely a spark.
When it came to her father, Exerilla was conflicted. She knew that he was a Dark Warlock. She knew the rumors surrounding her father’s coven would forever keep her parents apart. It would now come between them as well.
His ethics were not her own, yet she loved him and trusted him. He had always been interested in her and what she did, yet he had never before interfered with her life.
He stepped forward, his white blond hair inconsistent with the fact that he was deeply tanned. His sweet smile never spoke of the Dark Warlock he was becoming. His face was youthful because he was an immortal like her mother. His eyes however, had lost their sparkle. They were dark gray and cool though they seemed to soften when he looked at her. She felt something about him had drastically changed since she had seen him a month ago. He spoke to her softly, “X, my dear,” as he moved toward her and took her in his arms for a hug. She didn’t object, but she looked past him at her mother who stood nervously biting her bottom lip.
“Papa,” she said. She didn’t want her mother subjected to any trouble so she politely looked toward her father’s companion. “Hello Galen. What brings you two here today?”
Her father moved toward her mother and X watched warily as he took her mother’s hand and kissed it. She marveled at the viable emotion she sensed as she watched her father gaze into her mother’s deep sea green eyes; so much like her own. She thought it was sad that they should be apart.
Without taking his eyes away from her mother’s he answered, “You daughter, you.”
“Why?” she asked as her tongue moved to her inner cheek.? She had a bad feeling about this.
Suddenly he snapped himself to attention and turned to gently
indicate with a slight wave of his hand, “Shall I get to the point? Yes, I think so. Galen, as you know, is interested in courting you. I wish this to go forward as quickly as possible. I have, in fact, wished for it for quite some time.” He inclined his head, “Galen told me of his great affection for you a year ago, but I knew you weren’t ready. I gave you the respect of waiting until you finished your education. You had your bit of fun, but that time is over.” He opened his arms wide as though bestowing an enormous gift on her. She felt a sick sensation in the pit of her stomach.
“My interest in this daughter, is simple. I wish for the Debbin House to be joined with the Radley House. It will not only increase our powers as a coven, but as a family unit. It will combine all of our abilities in a way never imagined by any warlock or witch ever before. The two houses joined in this manner will make us virtually invincible.” He clapped his hands together. His smile was enormous as he added, “The children from such a match will have formidable magic—my grandchildren. Nothing could please me more.”
Galen stepped toward her and unconsciously, she stepped backward. What the hell was this? Had she somehow fallen through a hole to another century? She was not going to take part in this marriage of convenience. She had known Galen a good part of her adult life and he had always displayed a partiality for her. She didn’t like him and she knew she couldn’t love him. Some women might find him irresistible, with his dark auburn hair and the peak it formed in the middle of his forehead along with his charming smile, but these masked his dark cold eyes. This is exactly what her mother had been warning her about, this day. She had laughed it off. She couldn’t believe her father could be so archaic.
She could never consider Galen Debbin as a husband and her father couldn’t force her into such a match. She folded her arms across her middle and started to speak, but her mom interrupted her with a wave of her hand and said, “We are honored Harlan, my love, however, I don’t think our daughter was thinking of courtship or marriage at this stage of her life. You know that she has plans to go to New York in the fall and start working toward her Masters degree.”
“I will never allow anything to prevent her plans for continuing her education,” her father said softly. “I see no reason why marriage should interfere with that.”
“I am not interested in marriage,” X stuck in, thinking this entire conversation bordered on the insane. She had to do something quick.
Her father looked serious as he raised an eyebrow. “No? Perhaps I speak of it too soon. There is no reason why you cannot go on a date or two and get to know one another.” He turned back to his wife. “You know Rachel, in the end she doesn’t have a choice. This is my will. They will marry. I also believe that their union was predestined to be the most spectacular union of our kind. Because of my great affection for our daughter, I do not mind if she needs a bit of courting to feel more comfortable about it.”
Her mother shot her daughter a meaningful look and said with the link that was theirs alone, don’t speak.
“Of course,” her mother responded. “What happens if our daughter refuses to be married?”
