Free Dane by Dane Page B

would do without you, Detty,” Eva murmured dreamily, hardly noticing she‟d used her childhood nickname for the serving woman. Upon the first Moonful after Eva had turned eighteen, Fantine had been confronted at last with undeniable proof that her daughter was truly satyr. A faraway, longing look had come into her eyes.
    One that said she was remembering Eva‟s father. But all she‟d said was,
    “Well, we must make do.”But it was Odette who had done the practical things that had helped Eva to survive undetected.
    “Dear Maman.”Eva sighed, her eyes drifting closed. “I miss her.”
    A gentle hand adjusted the coverlet over her. “Sleep now. Dream of that rich husband you gonna get soon.”
    Eva nodded into her pillow. She‟d marry well into the ranks of this human society, and somewhere in heaven her maman would know and be proud of her success. But for herself, Eva wished for only one thing. To find her father. In heaven, she hoped her maman would understand it was something she needed to do.
    A smile touched her lips. One like that of the beautiful Fantine, who‟d felled half the men in Rome and then gone on to do the same in ElseWorld‟s French Enclave.
    “Pretty smile like that. You‟ll have your choice of men. But you‟ll marry human, not a satyr like ruined your poor maman,” Odette said, satisfaction coloring her voice. “You show these Roman curs who the Delacortes are. You make them pay.”
    It was a maxim Eva had been weaned on. From childhood, she had been groomed to avenge the wrongs this world had done her mother.
    “Rest, bebe. Odette‟s gonna keep you nice and safe.” She lapsed into voces mysticae then, the chants and protection spells that she‟d whispered over Eva for as long as she could remember. It comforted Eva to hear her familiar words, and she drifted off into a drug-induced sleep.
    “That‟s it.” Bending closer, Odette gently pulled back the coverlet, then stared down at her for a long moment. She curved a palm along Eva‟s cheek almost reverently, then slowly ran her hand downward, over her throat, a breast, ribs, until finally her hand came to rest on her belly.
    “That‟s my good girl. Dream of babies. And revenge.”

    5
    “Good Gods, I believe you are insane after all,” said Sevin, as their carriage drew to a halt.
    “You‟re not the first to think so,” Dane replied.
    Capitoline Hill was thick with monuments, museums, and Medieval and Renaissance palazzi. But tucked among them, the three brothers had found the address written on the nereids‟scroll. Dane had insisted. Staring from the windows of Bastian‟s carriage, he and Sevin studied the three-story brick and stone townhouse. Squeezed between taller and more stately edifices that shadowed it, it had a charm of yesteryear, and it reeked of ElseWorld magic.
    “It‟s owned by the Council,” said Dane. “I can scent it.”

    Sevin grimaced. “It seems fitting somehow that it‟s located here, near Tarpeian Rock, where men have historically been thrown to their deaths.”
    Dane heard a snort of laughter from Bastian, who sat behind him on the leather seat.
    “Really, brother, what are we doing here?”Sevin persisted, only half teasing. “I strongly suggest that you run while you still can.”
    “You heard the Council‟s missive,” said Dane. “We‟re obligated to wed where our seed will find purchase and thrive. That necessitates a human wife.”
    “We‟ve received at least a dozen such letters. It‟s not our obligation to populate this world with our kind,” said Bastian. “If you‟re concerned the nereids will report your whereabouts—“
    “I‟m a deserter. Of course they will,” said Dane, cutting him off.
    “In a few weeks, Trackers will come for me. But if they find me already wed to a human and breeding her—and if the whole matter was arranged by the Council‟s choice of matchmaker—what can they do? I‟ll have accomplished what their letter asked of us. They won‟t uproot