The Passion (10 page)

In a moment he resumed, his tone control ed, almost easy. "We saw wolves, more than once, and admired them. But wolves, as you no doubt know, are far too efficient a species to attack armed humans, such as Stephen, or loups-garous, such as I, who could have dispatched them in an instant.

They left us wel alone, as did we them.

"In fact," he continued flatly, and he took a drink from his glass, "it was a pack of wild dogs, left behind by Indians, or perhaps the remnants of some cattle drive or abandoned white settlement, that attacked our camp one twilight for the venison Stephen was dressing. I kil ed two of them, snapped their spines, and I bear the teeth marks of another on my flank. But I was too late to save Stephen."

The room was heavy with the simple finality of that statement; the air was thick with it. Time itself seemed to recoil in helpless horror over the futility of it, echoing backward into nothing.

And then, abruptly, there was a sound. Sharp, high, tinkling, the stem of his wineglass snapped between Alexander's fingers and the bowl shattered on the floor. Wine pooled like blood on the polished boards and spread to stain the fringes of the carpet.

Alexander's face contorted with sudden ferocity, and he flung the useless stem of the wineglass against the opposite wal . "I am strong!" he cried. "Man and beast, they bow to me! I and my kind have ruled the earth for thousands upon thousands of years—and yet I could not save Stephen. He died uselessly, foolishly, upon the forgotten plains of wild America, at the mercy of dogs, and
I could not save him
!"

Tears were streaming down Tessa's cheeks; sobs, silent and painful, racked her chest. Her grief was for Stephen, the father she had loved al her life but had begun to know only in these last minutes. She grieved for herself, the child she had been and the woman she was now, the years wasted in hatred and bitterness, the dreams denied her, the lies she had believed and the truths she had forgotten. But oddly, most poignantly, her tears were for Alexander, for the pain he showed so shamelessly, the vulnerability he did not try to hide.

In his eyes were sorrow and turmoil. In her heart was the same.

Hesitantly, trembling a little with tears and uncertainty, Tessa reached out a hand to him.

Alexander took two steps toward her and sank to his knees, embracing her, burying his face in her skirts.

His shoulders quaked. "Tessa," he whispered, "I am sorry. For both of us… I am sorry."

She had wanted to believe he was not a monster.

So desperately had she wanted to believe the tales of her childhood, given to her by her father. Now…

she could.

She lowered herself to his level, she wrapped her arms around him, and together they grieved.

And so it was that Tessa LeGuerre, aspiring murderess, and Alexander Devoncroix, loup-garou, came together in a bond that would change their lives, and forever affect the destiny of both their peoples.

Chapter Four

The world that opened up for Tessa was both incredible and inevitable; astonishing and yet whol y natural. If she was aware of the fact that she was among only the very rarest of humans who were privileged to know this world, she did not dwel upon it. She was far too busy absorbing and immersing herself in everything that world had to offer.

"You are in my care now," Alexander told her.

"Stephen would have wanted it that way. But that does not mean you are al owed to become a lazy girl. I said I would educate you and I wil ."

"What wil I learn?" she asked him, for already she knew the futility of pointing out the obvious—that she was sufficiently educated for her station in life—

when he had made up his mind.

"Everything."

He removed her from the attic dormitory and gave her a room of her own on the second floor. He bought her books and pretty frocks, and he referred to her as "his ward." His human friends thought she was his mistress, which Tessa thought was very fashionable and to which she found no reason to object. What the other loups-garous thought she did not care to examine too closely.

She was endlessly fascinated with trying to discern which among his staff, houseguests and acquaintances were loup-garou, and one thing she learned very quickly was that each was as different from the other as was any group of Frenchmen or Englishmen, or any humans at al . This astonished her, as though such extraordinary creatures should immediately be identifiable by a halo of light or a displacement of air when they moved. Some, like Alexander, who was impressive in appearance and commanding in presence, were easily identifiable by their simple magnificence. In others, Tessa learned, that magnificence was a bit more subtle.

Crol iere, the dour-faced housekeeper, was stern and humorless—although Alexander insisted that none of his species was completely without humor, that being one of their most distinguishing characteristics and certainly demonstrative of their intel ectual superiority. Poinceau was bril iant and efficient and a master of al that was correct. Gault was cruel and shrewd and nimble of mind and body.

Lavalier, the chef, was eccentric and flamboyant but nonetheless a genius in his trade. And that, then, was the first thing Tessa learned to identify about them al : a certain genius, whether it be for their work or in other matters, a quickness, a facility and a subtle power over their environment that set them apart from al others. The second thing she learned they al had in common was an unmistakable—

although often politely disguised—contempt for her.

These two characteristics in combination—their inarguable sense of mastery and their disdain for inferiors—made Tessa uneasy around them long before she understood the cause. She wondered how many humans in their everyday dealings with these creatures sensed the same and could not quite explain why they were uncomfortable in their presence. When she mentioned the same to Alexander he was amused by her observation, for he almost always regarded her insights with the same indulgent approval with which one might encourage a precocious child.

"
Très bien, chérie
, you have discovered our secret."

He had fal en into the habit of speaking to her in a mixture of French and English, switching back and forth from one language to the other with a dizzying speed. He claimed he did it to sharpen her language skil s and her auditory acuity, but Tessa thought he did it as merely another subtle reminder of his innate superiority.

His eyes twinkled as he framed his declaration in the air with his upraised hands. "Humans,
attention
: a guide to identifying
les loups-garous
on the street.

They are smarter than you and they make your skin crawl. Apply yourself to something more useful,
petit chou
," he advised. "For example, of the three Greek philosophers to address the nature of social reform, which one was werewolf?"

Werewolves, she had discovered, were exceedingly fond of philosophy and had an endless store of quotations and debates always at the ready.

Tessa's interest in the subject, however, was limited, and she replied irritably, "I don't know and I don't want to know, and I'm not going to help you win your sil y bet with Gault. Perhaps among your kind it is fashionable to fil your head with useless information, but if you ask me, it's far more valuable to know how to roast a mutton than to name its genus and species!"

He frowned at her. "I did not ask you about mutton, I asked you about philosophers. And since you obviously don't know, I shal tel you the answer, and remember it wel : al of them!"

She never knew when he was teasing, for his sense of humor was as bizarre as it was unpredictable.

She informed him, with a superior arch of her brow which was an unconscious imitation of a characteristic expression of his, "What I meant regarding the mutton, monsieur, was that from my point of view it is much more useful to be able to recognize and understand the werewolf than to quote him."

He smiled at her kindly. "I know what you meant,
chérie
. And while it is possible that you may one day be able to recognize every werewolf you meet, you wil , I assure you, never understand us."

Nonetheless, Tessa resolved to try. And while Alexander continued to press his own concept of a suitable education upon her, and she occasional y made a halfhearted attempt to cooperate, the only subject she was real y interested in studying was the loup-garou. And on that topic she was insatiable.

Though Tessa's adjustment to her new

circumstances was by no means effortless or uneventful, never once did she question the rightness of her being there, and soon she could not imagine any other life. While Alexander sometimes accused her of being quarrelsome and opinionated and often pretended to be out of temper with her, he never denied her anything and was in most ways an indulgent guardian and a tender friend. And Tessa, who occasional y stil awoke in the morning wondering why she did not flee this unnatural place with al possible speed, had only to hear his voice in the hal or catch a glimpse of him in passing to remember why. Because of the werewolf who had wept in her arms for a lost friend; because of the creature who was too civilized to take his revenge upon one who had tried to murder him in his sleep.

Because having seen what she had seen and knowing what she now knew, she had no life but this one, and no other place in the world she would ever belong except by his side.

And so over the weeks that fol owed, as Tessa set to work carving out a niche for herself in this strange new place, a subtle shift of power occurred in the Devoncroix household which its master neither approved nor discouraged. If he complained about the quality of the meat at dinner, it was Tessa who could be found lecturing the butcher before the chef could even get to him. If his col ar was not stiff enough or a coat button was sewn on loosely, it was Tessa who took the matter up in no uncertain terms with the laundress. And when he began making vague plans for a midwinter bal , Tessa fel into place without hesitation and assigned herself responsibility for the arrangements from beginning to end.

Resentment simmered among the senior staff, for the success of a household was completely dependent upon its strict hierarchal system, and this was something Tessa was coming dangerously close to violating. No one dared chal enge her directly, however, because it was clear she had become a favorite and they could smel Alexander's protection upon her. Eventual y, however, the situation was brought to Alexander's attention and he was forced to speak to Tessa about it.

"In a wel -run household—or society, for that matter

—everyone has a place and functions within it," he told her Sternly. "Duties are assigned according to status. You have no status, you have no duties, you therefore have no right to interfere with the functioning of those who do."

She listened politely and then said, "That's perfectly feudal."

He nodded. "Precisely. A system that has worked for us very wel for tens of thousands of years."

"But which
we
abandoned centuries ago!"

"
Et voilà
! You see which is the superior species today."

"I hardly see how that can be so. This is 1897 and you are stil living in the Middle Ages."

"The Middle Ages have much to commend them,"

Alexander returned, frowning darkly to hide his growing mirth. "There were fewer humans alive then."

Final y, however, Alexander admitted she did require purposeful employment, and chambermaid would not quite suit. As a matter of simple expediency, he named her his personal secretary and official y put her in charge of plans for his upcoming winter bal , promoting the werewolf who once held that position to a clerical station in one of his banks. Tessa was persuaded to deal with his staff in a more respectful manner, and his staff was persuaded to regard Tessa with more tolerance, and Alexander, to whom conflict of even the most minor sort was a dreadful inconvenience, was able to put the matter behind him.

Only Gault was less than pleased with the solution."Humans," he grumbled darkly, "they're nothing but trouble, al of them. And you, my fine sir, are far too gul ible to their wiles. They wil be your downfal someday."

To which Alexander only laughed. "Al ow me my foibles and poor amusements, if you wil , old friend.

Life is dul enough already. It would be beyond bearing if I were perfect,
n'est-ce pas
?"

Though he didn't always show it, Alexander was delighted with the new human in the house; it was difficult to be completely indifferent to one who regarded him with such rapt attention and displayed such undisguised fascination with every detail of his life. Tessa latched on to him like a shadow in bright sunlight, bombarding him with endless questions, watching his every movement with big, al -seeing eyes, studying and absorbing each syllable he uttered as if it were the very nectar of life itself. She was at times as vexatious as a smal puppy, bounding eagerly from one subject to the next and always underfoot, but she was equal y as difficult to harden one's heart against. And she was so very much like her father in so many ways. Alexander had not realized before how much he had missed his friend, and it was good to have a young human about again.

"I don't know what to cal you," she remarked to him one morning as she helped him curry his horse.