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Taking the mail to the house, he slipped inside with the kitten now in his pocket. Miley came out of the dining room just as he shut the door.
“Mom said that you had something for me. Mail? I didn’t send for anything yet.” The yet part startled him a little, but she was working and spending her own money. So long as half went into the bank for later in life, then she could pretty much get whatever she wanted. Within reason, of course.
“I do. Here, come and get it out of my pocket while I sort the mail.” Having money, he had discovered, meant that you got a great deal of mail daily. Mostly it was people asking for you to give it to them, but sometimes it was just correspondences like the handful he had now. When Miley squealed, he laughed. “I’m guessing that you want her?”
Miley and the cat bonded immediately. The purring of the little cat could be heard all the way across the hallway. When she was asked by Mercy, who had just entered the room, what she was going to call her, Miley didn’t even hesitate. She was proclaimed to be Purr. A good name, Joel thought.
“This looks like a wedding invitation. Do we know anyone getting married?” Mercy said that she didn’t and took the thick envelope when he handed it to her. “There isn’t a return address on it. Isn’t there usually one on them?”
“It’s not a wedding invitation, but it is an invitation. To a Christmas dinner. It’s from—” She looked at him, and he knew that something had upset her. “It’s from a man by the name of Duncan Dante.”
“Honey, are you all right?” She nodded but sat down. “Mercy, you have to explain this to me before I find this guy and knock the shit out of him for scaring you.”
“There is no address for him.” She looked up at him, smiling. “It’s Dante’s son. He’s around here someplace. The invitation says that he’ll have the address later, for us to join him for a night of fun and games for underprivileged children.”
“So, presumably this is when he meets his mate, one of the birds. Do you suppose he knows this? Yes, I would imagine he does. That’s why all the cloak and dagger. How long do we have to speculate on who it is?” She told him. “We have six weeks to wait. I’m guessing that we’re not going to talk to the others about this? Are they invited as well?”
“Yes, that’s why the envelope is so thick. I’m to give one to each of the others. And you’re right, I think he does know as much, if not a great deal more than, we do about this.” Joel nodded. “And I don’t think we should tell any of them. Not yet at any rate. I don’t know what they’d do, but I have a feeling that they’d not go. None of them. What I wonder is, if he knows which one of them it is.”
“I’d say that if he knows you’re all here and that one of you is his mate, then he will know who it is as well.” Joel laughed. “I’m not sure I’d want to be in his shoes when he figures out which bird is his, and they find out about all this intrigue going on with it.”
“We’ll have to make sure that no blood is shed around the kids. After that, it’s all up to him.” Mercy laughed. “To see Dante’s son. It will be such a wonderful thing, don’t you think? I mean, it’s been so very long. Do you suppose he looks anything like her?”
“I would say he must look a great deal like her. I mean, she had some very strong genes, and he would have gotten those, right?” Mercy told him that he’d gotten her magic too. “I bet that he looks like her. It’s too bad that there aren’t any pictures, or I guess paintings, of her around.”
She paused in moving away from him after getting up. “Wait here. I won’t be but a little while. Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t remember this before now. Wait right here.” She was her bird, then gone in a matter of seconds, only pausing long enough for him to open the door for her.
Sitting on the porch again, he smiled when he thought of the other birds. Christ, this was going to be epic. She’d be queen. Of whatever was left of the castle, the bird would be queen. Joel thought that was wonderful. That one of Dante’s birds would be queen.
~*~
Finding what she was looking for in the dark cave proved to be harder than she thought it should be. Mercy was about to give up when someone cleared their throat behind her. Turning, she knew right away who he was. Bowing low before him, Mercy pledged herself to him.
“I’m not so sure that we need to be doing something like that anymore, Mercy. My goodness, you’re much more beautiful up close than you are from a distance. Mother would be so proud of you.” Mercy stood, her eyes filled with tears. “Now, let’s not have any of that either, shall we?”
“I wondered if you’d look like her. You do. She was my heart for so long, and when the memories began to fade of how she looked, I felt like I’d lost a part of my heart.” She asked if she could touch his face. He nodded, and she touched a single finger to his cheek before slapping him. “That’s for watching us from a distance instead of making yourself known to us.”
“It’s the way Mother wanted it.” He rubbed his cheek. “You were always so strong. My goodness, how I’ve missed talking to someone about her. I have Mary still, and her son, Cowell. They knew her, of course, but not as you did, I would imagine.”
“Your mother gave her life to save us.” Duncan said that he knew that as well; she’d told him of her plan. “I never knew about you until I started reading her books. And I might have missed that too if I’d not taken Latin at some point in my life.”
“I don’t know her name.” She asked him what he meant. “My mate. I know that she is the eagle, but I don’t know her name. Can I please ask it of you?”
“Jude. Judith. We call her Jude. Her last name is Castle. We all took some part of the world we had to leave behind as our last names.” He sat down on the ornate chair that had been in the castle. “I was looking for her picture. It hung over the fireplace. When your father died, she had one made of just herself to put there. It was a very good likeness of her. Do you have it?”
“No. But I did move it. It was hurtful for me to see it, knowing that I’d never see her again. It’s just over there.” She walked behind him as he led her to the painting. “I used to think that the smile she had there was for me. But I don’t think I was born yet. Do you know?”
“You were born just a mere five months after your father was gone. She took you to Mary to raise, not wanting you to be someone that could be used against her should the castle be taken. Which it never could have been. But by the time we were around, you had already been living with Mary. And to have brought you about after that, it would have frightened a great many people.” He nodded, telling her that people would have thought him a fake. “Yes. She took care that no one knew who you were or where you were.” She looked at the painting, the memories of her queen hitting her hard in the heart. “Your mother, she was a good person. Hard, but a good person. And she cared a great deal for those that depended on her.”
“Yes, I remember that. Even after her death, she took care that everyone was safe.” She asked him if he wanted the crown to wear. “No, I don’t think so. I understand that your daughter has Mother’s. I cannot think of a better place for it to be than with one of her grandchildren. She did think of you all as her daughters, did you know that?”
“No. I mean, she was our maker, so I guess in a way she was our mother too.” She moved to stand next to other items that she now wanted to take back with her. “There is a necklace here. It has the image of your mother in it, along with your father. She had put it in the trunk long before we raided the castle for the final days.”
“That I have. As well as her wedding dress. I cannot believe that after all this time it was just as beautiful as the day I’m assuming she put it away. I’m going to see if Jude will wear it. What does she do, Jude? I know some of the things that you and the others have done over the years, but not that much about her.”
“You should talk to her about things like that. If you know all, then it will not bode well for you when you meet her. I’m assuming that it will be at the party.” He nodded and laughed. “I should like to help with that. Not with the plans, but with monies if you’d allow it. I know that you said on the invitation that there was to be an auction, but there has to be something that I can do to help.”
“There was once a couple of empty trunks here. If you can find them, then I’d very much like to have those to auction off as well.” She said she knew just where they were. “I knew that you would. Thank you. I’ll help you get loaded, if you’d like, with the painting. And someday, if you’d not mind, I’d like to have all of you together and someone paint the twelve of us.”
