HEART OF THE CHOSEN (CASTE BOOK 1)

Chapter 47

It had already been a few weeks since we had returned to Mortain. In the middle of August, the heat was unbearable, arid and dry enough to make us dive into the pool in the garden courtyard as soon as possible, ie all day. Elias Forbe was delighted with this heat wave because it predicted a very good vintage for the vineyard. He was looking forward to starting the harvest in the company of his sons and the employees assigned to the vineyard. The atmosphere of the castle was idle in this heat and, as I expected, Abigail and Nicolas had fallen for their new home. But although the building is the jewel of the estate, Abigail only had time for the swimming pool. They had both been settled in the Egeria suite. For clairvoyants, it was the least we could do, I had suggested, and above all, it was close to mine. We had prepared them for the luxuries of their new home, and for some time I had noticed that they stood up straight, looked their best, and developed a certain confidence. Blake quickly took them under his wing, but all these upheavals seemed to cause them a blockage. Blake was beginning to worry about this.

After long discussions, he now agreed with me on the idea of destroying all DNA strains found at Magnus. He decided to contact Carmichael, who thought that was preferable too. The danger was far too great and would lead to a war with a possibly fatal outcome for the castes. I had wanted to talk to the new Master Hand about it myself, but I had given up. After all, I had saved his life, hadn’t I? He could have at least called me by now. Almost all the castes of the castle had heard from him and he hadn’t even deigned to call me. Admittedly, he had thanked me in his own way by inviting the Forbes to live here, but he hadn’t taken the trouble to speak to me in person and I admitted to being deeply upset.

Eric had found his room in the south wing and on the same floor as Allyson. During the first days, after our return from Somerset, we exchanged a few glances at most. I didn’t really know what to make of it, but it was enough that he surprised me once again in the Pomona room to realize that I had paid another visit to Magnus. Eric didn’t want to witness my downfall, and I could understand that. Three days later, as I strolled through my daily walk in the woods, I saw Eric kissing Allyson, and I certainly wouldn’t have been so amazed if I hadn’t seen how passionately he did it. His hands were all over her, he was devouring her with kisses. I immediately turned my head away and slipped away like a thief. Once back, I hadn’t cried, I was even rather determined to see in this act only the accomplishment of what I wanted: for Eric to go out with someone else and be able to forget me for good. My heart was bleeding, of course, but I knew how to keep control this time, and made up my mind. During meals in the common room, their contact remained limited. Allyson had no idea of the close bond I had with Eric, but he always kept a certain modesty in front of me. There had still been gestures that hadn’t escaped me: Allyson’s attempts to give Eric a kick when he slipped a hand on her buttocks because he thought it was out of sight... This kind of attitude doesn’t escape a woman on the lookout. Eric looked happy, even if sometimes he seemed strangely morose. We hadn’t really talked since that famous night at the hotel.

Thomas and Naomi were sleeping apart in the pavilion by the lake. As he was very busy, Thomas no longer came to the castle daily. He ate there only on weekends and on other days he didn’t stay there very long. Naomi followed him everywhere, their relationship was very curious, but little Guillaume never stopped blossoming and growing visibly. I immediately confided in Thomas about my Monteiro nightmare. I didn’t know if I should attribute it to a vision or if it was a horrible dream. This time, I barely remembered the images, but I preferred to talk to Thomas about them. He asked me if I had had the same sensations as for the vision on the Van Durens, I had answered no, but it was perhaps because, this time, I was in full sleep. He wanted me to talk to Blake about it, but I still refused. Then he agreed that we had no idea where and when this would happen.

When I wasn’t with Salomon, whose fractures were about to finally mend, I spent my time with Elvis and Johnny. I went to see them every day at the vineyard, and every noon, Papa Forbe prepared me an aperitif with Caribbean fritters accompanied by a ti-punch. Great athletes that they were, Elvis and Johnny forced me to run every morning. Johnny couldn’t stand being so far from Londonian life, he had already toured the region’s nightclubs and he missed having fun in the evening terribly. He was impatiently waiting for Carmichael to ask him to organize parties at the castle and had already thought of everything: the castes or caste descendants aware of their existence would be the guests. Johnny had researched, and if he organized this event even once a month, there was a chance that it would bring people together. He seemed very satisfied when I told him that sometimes castes came from the other side of the world, just for a reception at the castle. At the end of his tether, Johnny had pestered Blake to contact the Master Hand, and for him, Carmichael agreed to answer verbally. He entrusted him with the organization of the ball only if he had help from Estelle. After hanging up, Johnny came to join me in my suite.

“It’s going to be hot, Eve, it’s going to be hot! Your friends, they won’t believe it when they see the party I’m preparing for them.”

“So you’re going to organize a ball?” I quipped, smiling.

“High class! It will be a ball with a DJ! Estelle takes care of the catering and the decor, and I take care of the sound and the organization. Usually, they call on an orchestra accustomed to the place, you heard: an orchestra! It’s going to be boiling hot!”

“You already said that.”

“Shut up!”

I couldn’t stop him anymore. He spent the rest of the last two weeks before the ball putting together what he now called his life’s work.

The long-awaited event was scheduled for today. It was seven in the morning and I couldn’t sleep. I put on jeans and a white T-shirt, so flared that it gave off one bare shoulder. Hair dishevelled, teeth quickly brushed, I went to the south wing to prepare myself some breakfast. Staring into space, I opened the door to the common room and went straight to the fridge to get a bottle of milk. I poured a coffee and grabbed a bowl and mug from the shelf above the sink.

“Hello, Everliegh.”

I jumped and spun around to find myself face to face with Carmichael, seated alone at the end of the table. His emerald green eyes pierced me, his appearance dressed all in black emphasized, as always, his elegance and his musculature of yesteryear. His dreadlocks were tied in a ponytail and the robustness of his jaw had regained all its authority. He was sumptuous, perhaps even more so than the last time I had seen him… in London when he had come to save me. At the time, it was I who was in a bad state and I had never forgotten his pale face when he discovered me wasted, sick, dying and half-naked in the stinking cell of Magnus Tower.

His cocky gaze and the long silence that followed made my cheeks flush. It had never been easy for me to be within a few yards of Carmichael.

“Did you come back this morning?”

“No,” his hoarse voice whispered to me. “I’ve been here two days already.”

This time it was red that went to my face. Two days and I hadn’t heard from him! Keep calm, Eve, I tell myself, you don’t care after all. Even though I thought I deserved it, I still wasn’t going to stoop to asking him for an explanation.

Carmichael kept his eyes on me as I filled my cereal bowl. I was suddenly hungry. I sat down at the other end of the table without a word being said. Carmichael got up and went to pour me another cup of coffee, which he placed near my hand. His presence gave me an effect that I tried to contain. He went to sit down again and stayed a long time before addressing me.

“You’re still beautiful.”

“Prison doesn’t suit you too badly either,” I said, a little too eagerly for my taste. “You even seem to look better than you did nearly three years ago.”

“Three years,” he repeated, his tone serious and his fist clenched.

“Did you have fun in India?”

“Not the early days.”

“I’m glad you came back.”

“Well,” he said, looking surprised.

“Well, yes,” I replied. “Mortain needs you and your absence couldn’t last any longer, there are far too many matters to settle.”

“And you?” he said, his gaze even more tenacious than before.

“What, me?”

“Do you need me?”

“Why would I need you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, me neither.”

A long silence. The door opened on Eric, and there, I wanted to shrink and hide under the table. Eric hadn’t failed to notice the tension between Carmichael and me and paused where I thought I saw his eyebrows frown. Carmichael averted his eyes to him and gave him a nod.

“How have you been since yesterday?”

“We’re not going to go back over that,” Eric replied, icy.

He clenched his jaw. Obviously, something had happened that divided them. Eric didn’t say anymore and went to sit next to me. Allyson followed and, embarrassingly, the four of us were now in the same room. She had quickly greeted Carmichael, so I guessed she had seen him the night before as well.

“So, Eve,” Allyson called out to me, “what are you going to wear for tonight?”

“I ordered a dress online, but I haven’t tried it on yet, how about you?”

“Ditto, a white dress at Gucci.”

“It will go very well with your hair,” I said, a knowing smile on my lips.

“Allyson is aware that you spent the night together in Somerset?”

Carmichael dropped this bomb without warning. I dropped my spoon and Eric stood up, drunk with anger. Allyson turned livid and her gaze darted between me and Eric. She was hurt.

“Eric, sit down,” I begged him, giving him a boost with my powers. “Carmichael knows as well as we do that it was a combination of circumstances and that nothing happened.”

He kept silent with a smile on his lips and stared at me as if no one had been present in the common room. Without averting my gaze, I addressed Allyson.

“Allyson, there weren’t enough rooms and we had no choice, we only slept…”

Allyson looked relieved. She asked Eric to join her in her room and couldn’t help but glare at Carmichael before leaving. The halo that Carmichael the Master Hand had had with Allyson had just taken a hit. Eric looked angry, but Carmichael still hadn’t taken his attention away from me. Eric left as well.

“Are you happy?”

“Not really,” Carmichael conceded.

“There was no need to say that in front of Allyson if you wanted to make us uncomfortable.”

“Eric came up to see me in my office, I asked him to tell me the details of your trip to Somerset and he told me everything. Eric had no idea of my telepathic talents. Do you know how telepathy works?”

“You’ll explain it to me, I’m sure.”

“You can communicate by thought, which isn’t my case, or you can capture thoughts in the form of images or impressions. With you, it doesn’t work, with my family either, but with Eric it does. So, seeing that he was hiding something from me, I thought I had to dig into the question. There, a whole flood of sensations crossed my skull, much more than I would have liked in any case!”

These last words were formulated with such anger that I recoiled as I listened to them.

“You didn’t have to dig into his head!”

He smiled and showed his perfect teeth and leaned back in his chair. He bit his lower lip.

“Am I asking who you slept with in India?”

“You could.”

“Come on, tell me!” I say even before regretting my words.

“Nobody.”

“Too bad I can’t read minds.”

“Oh no,” he replied with feverish eyes. “Believe me, it’s better that I keep my thoughts to myself.”

He hadn’t finished his sentence when I again felt a bubble of heat go through my body. My breath hitched, time stood still and our eyes locked on each other, but Johnny burst into the room, followed by his big brother.

“Oh s**t!” Johnny said, visibly tipsy. “We didn’t know there would be people so early on a Saturday.”

“Caught in the act of stealing breakfast!” Elvis whispered before bursting out laughing.

Johnny imitated him and I couldn’t help myself. Carmichael looked on amusedly and rose to greet them.

“Hello!” Johnny said, stunned by the vision of Carmichael.

Johnny immediately came to whisper in my ear and without the slightest whisper:

“He’s huge, Eve!”

Then he went to sit down as if nothing had happened with a small smirk.

“Johnny, Elvis, I officially present to you Carmichael, Master Hand of the caste community and incidentally the most horrifying man on the whole planet!”

“Is it to you that we owe the pleasure of living here?” Johnny questioned without even noticing my sarcasm.

“No, it’s hers,” affirmed Carmichael pointing at me. “Without her, I would have languished in prison for eternity. I owe her my freedom, so it was the least I could do.”

“Yeah, you have your own way of thanking a girl, a bouquet of flowers would have been enough for Eve to fall in love!”

And he laughed and Carmichael was really enjoying himself.

“Did you just come home?” I asked Elvis, who sounded more sober.

“Yeah. We went clubbing then we had an after-party in Dundee.”

“Dundee! That’s not next door!”

“You should have come, Eve,” Johnny said grabbing my arm. “It's true, it’s been so long since we two danced.”

“We’ll catch up tonight.”

“Yeah, this evening is going to rock everything,” said Johnny before turning to Carmichael. “You know, Eve masters all the dances, you dance?”

“A little,” replied Carmichael, who was obviously enjoying every minute.

“That’s very good, I’ll ask the DJ to provide some well-chosen pieces for you.”

“On condition that Everliegh undertakes to dance them all with me.”

“Oh no, Johnny!” I protested.

“Come on, Eve, don’t be a minx, you’re going to like it!”

Carmichael laughed even harder and left to let us finish our breakfast.

“You hid from me that he was an Apollo, this guy,” added Johnny, who had decided not to change the subject.

“I tend to see him differently, he has no equal to annoy me.”

“Yes, well, a little adventure wouldn’t hurt you, my dear. With Thomas, it’s dead, Eric is with Allyson and you show no interest in Caleb. You have to let go a little, it looks like you’re sulking all the time!”

“But not at all.”

“Not with me, honey. I may be a little drunk, but I thought you were funnier before. Relax, damn it! Tonight is the perfect time to let go and have a good time.”

Johnny stared at me with his beguiling eyes, an irresistible smile on his lips. I had no choice but to give in to him.

“Perhaps a little, then.”

Later in the day, I had left the ambient tumult of the castle. Guests were arriving from all over the world and it was teeming with people in the garden courtyard. The swimming pool was stormed, the terrace crowded, and the aperitifs garnished the many tables arranged for the occasion. In each wing of the castle, the floors had been prepared to accommodate the most prestigious castes, while the others had to have free pavilions or accommodation in town. I had used the back door of the south wing and left to walk to the lake. Along the way, I met Prisca, who obviously wanted to keep me company.

“I’m back from the Monteiro’s, they’ll join us tonight.”

“They are right not to hurry,” I said. “The castle is teeming with people and they are rather the solitary type, those two.”

“Indeed,” she confirmed before marking a silence. “Everliegh, I wanted to thank you.”

“Why is that?”

“Without you, I’m sure my brother would have never seen the light of day.”

“Carmichael is resourceful, and the word never doesn’t apply to him. So it is with you, isn’t it?”

“Yes. We share the same curse.”

“Curse? I think you will find a lot of people who would like to take your place.”

“I give in to them willingly.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s hard to live knowing that, if one day you love, the person who is so dear to you will die before you.”

A silence.

“You must have noticed that I have a very strong inclination for Salomon, but I’ll never really be able to live a real life with him.”

“Are you afraid of seeing him grow old by your side?”

“Oh, no! It’s about him. Salomon doesn’t want to stay with a woman who, when his death comes, will not have aged a bit. Just hear the terrible story of Blake. Do you know that he had a passionate affair with a woman? A caste telepath and it didn’t end well for him.”

“Oh goodness!” I exclaimed, stunned by this information.

“He stayed by her side until the end. Elizabeth died at the age of eighty. Blake never recovered.”

“Did you know her?” I asked, having understood why the third large suite in the north wing was called Elizabeth.

“Oh no, it’s too long ago. My father had told this story to my brothers and me to warn us of any attachment.”

“So you refuse to fall in love, right?”

“Yes, my brothers are also careful not to experience such feelings. But that’s less of a problem for them than for me, Connor doesn’t have much of a heart and Carmichael has long used his faculties of attraction but has never gone beyond simple adventure. I’m surprised that nothing ever happened between you.”

“It almost did. I was in full caste awakening and totally out of control. Your brother knew how to stop things in time. Yet…, the first time I met him, he behaved very badly.”

“He told me,” continued Prisca. “We had long conversations about you, you know? You may not have realized it, but my brother had lost his legendary control the very first time you met. In reality, he acted with you as he would with any other caste, except he quickly realized that you weren’t like them. It was very violent for him when he understood that you shared the rare gift of attraction. If he wasn’t so proud, he would have apologized for his behaviour.”

“I forgave him a long time ago, but you and your brothers never had children?”

“Carmichael and I, never! But Connor has conceived dozens of them since he was of childbearing age, his dream is to have a son in his image, but he failed, and each time his children died before him.”

“That’s horrible!”

“Don’t feel sorry, my dear, Connor disappeared when he discovered that his offspring could age.”

That completed the portrait of Connor in the image of what I had imagined him to be: his father’s own son.

After these moving testimonies, we continued our walk for a good quarter of an hour. Silent, Prisca seemed to appreciate this quiet moment at its fair value.

“You told me earlier that your brother confided in you,” I resumed as we approached the castle. “Do you know what his plans are for me? He ordered that I assist him in his affairs here, but I don’t see exactly where he’s coming from.”

“He has blind faith in you. I told him about the determination you showed in Amsterdam. When you revealed to me that you felt his presence in that place, I didn’t want to believe it. As soon as he was able to listen to me, I told him of my astonishment, but he didn’t seem surprised. To tell the truth, I rather reassured him because he thought he was going mad: he too had felt you long before we came to free him. I suppose your common ability goes far beyond mere physical attraction.”

“I can’t deny that Carmichael doesn’t leave me indifferent, he annoys me a lot! But all my relationships are totally altered by this damn power.”

“Do you speak in general or only with Carmichael?”

“For both.”

Once arrived at the door of the south wing, I thanked Prisca for her warm company and left for my room. After a shower, a complete hair removal and an hour of preparation, I was ready for the evening. The sun was setting and I could already hear the music echoing in the hallway. Ethan still wasn’t there and I had been waiting for him for more than three-quarters of an hour. I had taken the precaution of asking my brother to accompany me. If I had to go alone, in the middle of all the castes present, the situation would have been too embarrassing, and I had promised Johnny that I would have a good evening. I walked past the mirror and rearranged my hairstyle. My slicked-back hair fell straight over my bare shoulders. The dress that I had ordered on the Internet, even if it was not a major brand, suited me quite well. A flesh-coloured charleston dress, falling pleasantly in the middle of the thighs. A perfect outfit for wiggling while giving the total impression that every part of the body is moving. The fringes hid the curves or rather the lack of curves, and red pumps that matched my lipstick enhanced my look. No jewellery or too much eye makeup. It’s been forever since I’ve danced or dressed like this, and I was wondering what Ethan was doing!

Half an hour more and he was finally here. I was stunned for a moment when I saw my brother’s head with his hair cut short. It took me a moment to recover, then I finally congratulated him on this change which had the merit of highlighting his tender eyes. If only it could be the same with his character, I thought in spite of myself. He seemed satisfied, however, since he gave a slight smile and congratulated me on the judicious choice of my outfit.

I closed the door of the Eleonore suit and my heart began to leap. I had waited so long for my brother and had dreaded this evening so much that the stress overwhelmed me. As we descended the stairs of the north wing, the vibrations of some house music became more lively and destabilized the weak control I had over myself. I would soon be confronted with a hundred castes and still had no idea what awaited me. I grabbed my brother’s hand, who gave me a sympathetic look. He knew exactly how I felt, as I myself could feel his indifference to this event.

“You know, Eve, there may be too many of them to care about your presence.”

“Oh yes, do you think so?” I said as if he had taken a terrible weight off my shoulders.

“No way.”

“Ethan!” I protested, smiling. “Thank you for reassuring me for at least two seconds.”

“You’re welcome.”

He hadn’t let go of my hand and we finally reached the corridor leading to the Pomona room.