The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Awakening (17 page)

Tsubame came up next to her and glanced at the bracelet.

“I haven’t seen that crest in a long time.”

“Crest?” MaLeila asked.

Tsubame nodded, taking the bracelet from her. “It an old crest from a magic family that’s long since died out. It’s not an official artifact of the family but someone likely saw it and copied the design. It happens.”

“Official artifact?”

Tsubame nodded. “An item with the family crest magically imbued, usually by a member of the family. Everyone has one. And families used to exchange them to show alliances. But once families started trading fake ones and people started managing to steal them, the practice was done away with to make way for a more binding agreement.”

“Marriage?”

“Yep,” Tsubame said. “It is a nice bracelet though. No harm in buying it if you want. Although you should make something with your own crest.”

“I don’t have a crest,” MaLeila said though she had seen many particularly since the peace talks where she interacted with three of the most powerful magic families in the world, the Russians, the Chinese, and the British. The crest of the Hou Clan of China was a red and green dragon coiled around a pink lotus flower with ancient Chinese symbols written around the perimeter. She had seen the crest of the Romanovs of Russia but hadn’t been able to make it out. And Irvin had long since shown her their crest: a hexagram, with what looked like a British crown with a cross on the top and words in ancient Latin.

“Then you should make one.”

MaLeila huffed. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“I’ll show you,” Tsubame said as they began to make their way out the market.

On their walk back to the hotel, the woman explained how the crest should represent something her. It could represent her magic, her ideals, philosophy.

“I have a lot of those,” MaLeila said as they waited for lunch back in the suite.

“But it’s the one most important to you that should count.”

“And what about you? What’s your crest?”

Tsubame reached into her hair and pulled out a simple crystal comb. On the corner was a sun and in the inside of that sun was a crescent moon with a star tucked into its curve.

“What’s it mean?”

“Dominion,” Tsubame said promptly. “All the forces of nature can be combatted by another force and all animals have a natural enemy who can defeat it, but you can’t defeat the sun or the moon or even count the stars.”

“That’s an interesting way to look at it,” MaLeila replied. She had thought it was representative of the mixture of magic that might run in her family considering the sun and moon were the prime symbols of yang and yin magic respectively. “What about this comb? Where’d you get it?”

“It was given to the matriarch of my family by her lover. It’s said that as long as he’s loyal to her, the comb will never break,” Tsubame said. “But that’s neither here nor there. I want you to come with me.”

MaLeila followed the woman to one of the doors off from the living area and when they were inside MaLeila guess it was Tsubame’s bedroom. There was a large trunk at the foot of the bed but Tsubame passed right by it and went to the wardrobe.

“Open it,” Tsubame urged.

MaLeila looked at Tsubame warily, causing the woman to shake her head, smile, and open the wardrobe herself. Inside was a mannequin with a fuchsia satin kimono dress with a billowing skirt, wide sleeves, and gold satin sash.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Tsubame asked and without waiting for MaLeila to respond she said, “I wore it in my younger years, but I think it would better suit you now.”

MaLeila opened and closed her mouth, her guard suddenly back up again now that Tsubame was offering her such an extravagant gift that MaLeila was sure was worth several thousands of dollars.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“I’ve already told you,” Tsubame said.

“No. You haven’t. If I recall, you said it was a game, but this feels like more than a game.”

“Oh?” Tsubame asked tilting her head to the side.

MaLeila looked at Tsubame, running through everything that had happened. First there was the woman essentially telling MaLeila all her plans, how she operated, what she would do to begin to bring the council to her side. Applauding MaLeila’s intuition and telling her how to use her relationships to her benefit. Then there was the strange trip to the market and the woman teaching her about the crests.

“Honey bees and flowers,” MaLeila said as it dawned on her, eyes widening.

“I knew you were a smart girl.”

“You’re sick if you think I’m going to willing side with you. I don’t know what you’re up to but—“

“But at least I’m honest. At least everyone knows what I want. At least I don’t bully people into giving it to me albeit I am a little manipulative, but who isn’t to get what they want. And right now I want you to be my prodigy. Because it would be one thing to ascend to a global throne. I’ve done that once before, but it’s another to help someone else along the way, to see the look on the faces of your enemies when they find out that they were openly tricked and that they have to bow at your feet,” Tsubame declared, eyes alight with excitement.

“You’re crazy,” MaLeila said turning her back and starting to walk out the room. She couldn’t fight the sorceress yet, but when the time came she was going to get much satisfaction from it.

“You’ll be back,” Tsubame assured. “For right now, I’m the lesser of two evils and Fathi isn’t one of the evils I’m referring to.”

“Obviously you’ve never dealt with a teenager because when you tell them they’re going to do something, they’re going to damn well make sure to do the opposite. And the last thing I’m going to do is join you,” MaLeila declared.

“But that’s the fun sweetheart. Watching you all resolute, determined not to fall into my hands and then watching in dismay as you willingly do it anyway. You’re not going to go far. You can’t get away from me. When I look at you I see myself and one day, you’re going to look at me and see everything you ever wanted to be,” Tsubame said in an assuring tone.

MaLeila didn’t know she had been backing up until she hit the door after Tsubame finished. The woman’s almond shaped brown eyes staring at her as though ready to consume her. MaLeila had no intention of sticking around to let her.

18

MaLeila hadn’t expected the magic council to come to a middle ground with Fathi and Tsubame so quickly. She had been prepared for the negotiations to take weeks longer. Actually, she had been prepared for the negotiations to fail and her ending up in an epic fight with Tsubame. But come to an agreement the Magic Council and Fathi, who was surprisingly adept at politics (MaLeila suspected Tsubame had been subtly pushing him in the right direction), did with the stipulation that they’d revisit their agreement in three years. All in all, it seemed very anticlimactic. And when things felt anticlimactic, MaLeila had come to learn that the climax was yet to come.

Until then, Tsubame had suggested they have a get together, a celebration of her lover’s new agreement and integration into the politics of the magical world. MaLeila knew Tsubame wasn’t stupid enough to think council would let Fathi openly rule as long as he didn’t expose the magical world. It wasn’t how the magical world worked and undoubtedly, they were setting him up to fail so that they could set up their own puppet government with a worthy family, probably one they could control. Whoever it was would definitely be someone with no ties to any of the more powerful families. MaLeila would have had to be blind not to see it, the back and forth pushing and tugging between the representatives of the magic council and the leaders of the magic families. In some ways they each gave each other their power. The magic families used them as the middle men to keep the rival families in peace and from warring with each so the families could focus on retaining their power, and in return the Magic Council knew all the families’ dealings able to use the information as blackmail in the event that a particular family didn’t want to cooperate and risk the power structure. MaLeila wasn’t sure who had more power in the structure, who could risk disturbing the delicate power structure and come out on top. And depending on who could risk it, MaLeila was sure, would decide who Tsubame used to try to make her climb to the top.

The celebration was somewhere in between modest and extravagant in the same conference rooms that they had been having meetings all week, where all the families and council members put on pleasant smiles and gave polite and cordial greetings like they hadn’t been almost at each other’s throats for the past few weeks. MaLeila stood off to the side, not sure what to do with herself as she nursed a glass of sparkling wine. She had thought about planting herself next to Irvin while he made rounds, but people would get the wrong idea if she did that. She also could have attached herself next to Marcel or Bastet, but she didn’t have the patience nor the energy to bother trying to act like she wanted to be around the council.

As she was watching everyone mingle, she felt Devdan come up next to her.

“Since when do you plant yourself against the wall instead of mingling during a party?” Devdan asked, also watching the crowd with wary eyes.

“I just don’t feel comfortable pretending I’m enjoying spending time with a bunch of people who only wanted me here if all hell broke loose but otherwise prefer me at the outskirts,” MaLeila said dryly.

“There was a time when you wouldn’t have said that. That you would have went out there and tried to play the game even though you didn’t know you were playing it.”

“We both know that I realized what the game was and that I would never win it a long time ago,” MaLeila pointed out.

Devdan’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the council. Then he said, “They’ve made you cautious.  With good reason. Fucking snakes.”

“You sound like you’re upset about that,” MaLeila said.

“Just an observation. They have. If anything, this whole debacle with Tsubame has shown me you don’t trust as easy as you used to, except with Marcel. But your judgment is clouded with sex on that one,” Devdan added.

“Are you trying to compliment me or insult me, Devdan,” MaLeila asked.

“Sometimes the truth is insulting,” Devdan pointed out. “Doesn’t make it not the truth anymore.”

“You two are more alike than you let on,” Marcel said coming to stand with them. “Sitting on the wall being anti-social.”

“Being anti-social implies that there’s someone we have the option of being social with,” Devdan said.

“Touché,” Marcel said. “But you two are looking at everyone like they’re suddenly going to turn and attack you.”

“That’s actually a very possible scenario,” both MaLeila and Devdan said simultaneously.

Marcel raised an eyebrow at the two before he shook his head and said, “You two are strange. You were at each other’s throats a few weeks ago and now it’s all water under the bridge.”

MaLeila tensed and felt Devdan tense next to her at Marcel’s words. It wasn’t water under the bridge. They just knew how to stay afloat when there were more pressing matters that needed to be dealt with, but it would come back up when MaLeila began to let her guard down like she felt herself beginning to. When she started to get too close again, Devdan would remind her that no matter how calm things were or how close they acted, that the nature of their relationship was still master and slave. That’s why MaLeila was suffering through this party. As soon as she went home, she’d go into researching how to undo Claude’s binding and then… well MaLeila wasn’t sure what would happen after that, but she supposed that was the point of her undoing Claude’s magic to begin with.

“Well don’t you clean up nicely?”

MaLeila didn’t jump, though she wanted to when she finally noticed Tsubame come next to Devdan from his other side. She was looking at him appreciatively in his tailored suit, wavy hair tied back with a few short strands that Bastet couldn’t get to stay out the way hanging down the sides in random places.

“I don’t think Fathi would like you admiring another man, do you Tsubame?” Marcel asked.

Tsubame scoffed. “I’m not blind. I’m allowed to appreciate beauty when I see it.”

“Yes. But I would have thought you’d do so silently with the uncertainty of your position,” Marcel shot back.

“Well it’s a good thing Fathi doesn’t have super hearing, isn’t it?” Tsubame said before turning back to Devdan who had little interest in the sorceress openly ogling him. “Besides, we’re not married, he doesn’t own me, and undoubtedly he’ll be sleeping with the next odd pretty thing that catches his interest so I’m allowed to have my fun. Would you like to dance Devdan?”

“No thanks,” Devdan said promptly without looking at the woman.

Not put out, Tsubame said, “Maybe later then,” and turned to MaLeila. MaLeila tried and failed to meet the woman’s eyes, deciding to idly scan the guests once again.

“You didn’t come back and see me,” Tsubame said. “Were you busy?”

Busy avoiding the woman. Busy trying not to think how Tsubame had treated her ten times better than the council ever had. Busy trying not to resent that she could only get what she needed by playing nice with the council because otherwise she’d let Tsubame have her way with them because obviously the woman’s fight wasn’t with her.

“It’s been a long few days,” MaLeila finally said.

Tsubame nodded and said, “That’s true. But you really should come spend some time with me again before we part ways. I did enjoy myself.”

MaLeila made a non-comitial humming noise. Seeming satisfied with the conversation, Tsubame started to move away from them. But she paused next to Marcel, looking curiously at his next or something on his neck.

“What’s this?” she asked referring to the chain coming out the collar of his shirt. She reached up to grab it and pull out the entire chain causing the pendant that was the man’s family crest on the end to pop out and slide down the chain into her hand.

As she inspected it, Marcel said, “Have you no clue of the meaning of personal space?”

Tsubame continued to inspect the necklace, though a smile broke out onto her face, a twitching smile at that like she was trying not to burst out into laughter at a private joke.

Finally she let the crest go, allowing it to fall back on Marcel’s chest. Then she patted him on the chest and said, “Nice necklace,” before walking away, presumably to be at Fathi’s side again.

“So that’s why you’ve been acting so squeamish these last few days,” Devdan said as Tsubame sauntered away.

MaLeila should have known Devdan would notice her anxiety. He always noticed a lot more than he let on, most of the time humoring her into thinking she was doing a good job at hiding her anxiety from him.

“What did she say?” Devdan asked.

MaLeila didn’t immediately answer, because how in the world did she tell anyone that the woman was trying to recruit her.

“She wants me as an ally essentially.”

“Just like all the other magic families and the council want you as. Nothing new. There’s something else,” Devdan said.

It wasn’t until Devdan said it to her that MaLeila realized he was right. This wasn’t the first time someone wanted her to be an ally or wanted her at their side to help them because of her power. There had been the Magic Council on behalf of the various magic families, and even the Long’s despite how close she was to Irvin. Then again, maybe it was because being an ally had been the wrong word. Ally implied a partnership or someone who simply helped someone else in as goal that wasn’t really theirs. The woman had specifically used the word prodigy. It was a word that implied a lot more than alliances, and it was also a word that no one ever used when trying to persuade her to their side. Not to mention, most people were at least subtle about it, but Tsubame had been abrasive and cocky like MaLeila’s agreement was an eventual inevitability.

“Tsubame just has a way of saying things that make you think they’re more than what they are. You shouldn’t worry about it. Treat her like you treat everyone else who’s ever come to you with that proposition,” Marcel suggested.

MaLeila guessed that would be easy enough if Tsubame treated her like the other families and the council did, with grudging and condescending acceptance that whether they liked it or not MaLeila was in their league, at least in terms of power, and that they may as well get something out of it. But Tsubame… It was as though the woman admired her. The woman’s flattery while deliberate hadn’t seemed forced.

MaLeila opened her mouth to say that when Devdan said, “You know. It seems like every time we have something to say about Tsubame, you’re ready to defend her.”

“Defend her?” Marcel asked, turning to look at Devdan.

Devdan continued staring into the crowd, and MaLeila wasn’t sure if he was purposefully not turning to look at Marcel or if he really was observing something. It was another one of those things that was hard to know with him.

“Every time someone gets upset or worried about something Tsubame has done or did, you deflect it, like there’s nothing to be worried about that a sorceress who dropped out of a portal, can summon sandstorms, and has in no uncertain terms decided she plans to rule the world is obviously putting out feelers to test what buttons she should push and how to get an edge to guarantee that she gets what she wants,” Devdan pointed out.

“That’s because she’s hardly been a real threat. If she wants to be the wife of a subpar sorcerer and dictator, let her. Give her what she think she wants and she won’t ask for anymore. She’ll be content.”

“Except I think we all know a little country in the Middle East isn’t the world Tsubame had in mind,” Devdan pointed out. “She’s far from content. She’s just bidding her time. And you’re helping her stall.”

MaLeila had been around Devdan long enough to know when he was about to lose his restraint and pull a gun on someone. It was that calm decided look in his eye, the way his arm relaxed unassumingly at his side to keep people off their guard so they wouldn’t realize he’d pulled his gun until he pulled the trigger.

“Marcel,” MaLeila said, purposely grabbing onto Devdan’s right hand. He could certainly shoot expertly with his left hand, but his right hand was the one he usually used first. “Marcel, I think Devdan needs a little air. People make him agitated.”

Devdan looked away from the crowd to glare at her, but MaLeila pointedly ignored him and begin to pull him towards the exit. He didn’t resist, which only meant that he wanted to talk to her alone anyway. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere and MaLeila would have just had to hold his hand the whole time regardless of what anyone thought about it.

They were just in the hall, the door hardly closing behind him when Devdan said, “Marcel knows Tsubame. She’s the fucking girl that he grew up with.”

MaLeila laughed. “Devdan. Are you serious?”

“Yes. And you haven’t noticed, no one’s noticed, because you and Bastet are too busy watching Tsubame instead of everyone else.”

“Devdan,” MaLeila said, all traces of amusement at him gone. “You’re overacting. And if I didn’t know any better. I’d say you were fucking jealous.”

Devdan paused to stare at her, pressing his lips together like he always did when he was about to lose all patience with her. Finally he rolled his eyes and said, “I can’t believe I have to explain it to you this way, but maybe it’ll get you to understand. You know how you and Bastet like to joke that because you’re both women you know how other women operate, so you can supposedly tell when a girl is hitting on me no matter how unassuming she is?”

MaLeila did distinctly remember the conversation not to mention the fall out between her and Devdan that followed and not because he didn’t believe her when she said the new young teacher, who had long since left for a better job, was trying to seduce him but because—like always their petty arguments—became it personal.