"I know. I'm sorry, I just...." I started to stumble through an apology, completely embarrassed in front of everyone.
"It probably felt like cheating, right Ede?" Jericho came to my defense and I was grateful for the reprieve. "I mean, the Thanksgiving meal is a labor of love." He gestured with his hands and then took a seat at the table. I relaxed, thankful Jericho was on my side. He wouldn't look me in the eye, but I was radiating appreciation.
The rest of us followed Jericho's example and sat down. Amory and Avalon flanked Jericho, while Lilly sat down next to Avalon at the head of the table. I sat down on the other side of her and Kiran took his place next to me. Talbott, unable to ever leave Kiran's side was next to him and Aunt Syl sat in between him and Amory at the other end of the table. At least the seating arrangement went as I had hoped.
"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," Kiran declared bluntly, staring directly across the table at Jericho.
Kiran's eyes were narrowed in suspicion and his hand had yet to leave its protective position on my back. I reached for my glass of wine, nearly knocking it over, before willing myself to calm down and drink it slowly. I really wanted to just down the whole glass, and maybe even the bottle, I had not expected the direction the dinner was suddenly going.
"Jericho Bentley," Jericho said curtly, his permanent smile more calculated. Even his eyes had taken a narrowed position on his face. "Forgive my manners, your Highness; I should have bowed."
Avalon cleared his throat suddenly and I could feel the nauseous feeling sweep over his body at the mere mention of bowing to Kiran. I shot him a hard look, and telepathically asked him to calm down.
"No, not necessary, Jericho. We're all friends here, of course," Kiran smiled graciously at him.
"Of course," Jericho replied, his eyes never losing the hard look in them.
"I hadn't realized Eden had met other Immortals outside of Kingsley," Kiran turned to face me, eying me just as suspiciously. But I was suddenly interested in passing the stuffing, which in turn prompted everyone else to dish up whatever was in front of them and pass it.
"Jericho is an old friend of mine," Avalon interjected, almost asking to be contradicted. "Our parents work together in Brazil."
"Oh right, your parents are down in Brazil. I forget that about you Avalon," Kiran turned his attention to Avalon with a look of authority and suspicion that I had never seen before.
"We forgot to say grace," I exclaimed, jumping out of my seat and grabbing both Kiran and Lilly's hands. I had had this dinner planned in my head for weeks and so far we were off to a very bad start. I would be damned before I let jealousies and paranoia ruin my Thanksgiving dinner. I started in on a well-rehearsed prayer, pretending not to notice that I was the only one with my eyes closed while everyone else stared each other down from across the table.
Chapter Eighteen
"Everything is delicious Eden, really, I am quite impressed," Kiran complimented me during a lull in what was so far a very forced dinner conversation.
"Thank you," I gushed, satisfied that everything turned out, even with a little help from Jericho. "I have never even attempted a turkey before, so even with Jericho's help, I'm still happy it turned out." I continued, regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth.
"No really, stop," Jericho jumped in, and I couldn't tell if he was happy to be included in the conversation or upset. "I did nothing more than heat the bird, all of the flavor is yours."
"Did you baste the turkey?" Kiran asked, turning his body to face me as if to exclude Jericho all together.
"I did," I smiled sweetly, gazing into his eyes and hoping to relay that there was absolutely nothing to be jealous about.
"I should like to learn how to baste a turkey," Kiran smiled back and I reached for my wine glass.
He's talking about sex. He wants to have sex with you. Avalon sent me the message telepathically and I choked on my wine, spitting it back into my glass and continuing to cough.
"Eden.... Magic...." Avalon mumbled from across the table and I took his advice, but that didn't stop the heat from rising to my cheeks.
"Lilly helped too," I blurted out, trying to erase Avalon's opinion from my mind. Everyone at the table was just staring at me, I had to say something. "Lilly helped me all morning; really everything here is from both of us." I smiled at her, trying to regain my focus.
"Is that true, Lilly?" Talbott addressed her for the first time all evening, his accent thick. His face was bright red and I watched as he struggled to look her in the eye. She just nodded, turning an even brighter shade of red and shrinking back farther into her chair.
This evening was going worse than I expected. I needed to change the subject to something everyone could discuss and not offend anyone at the same time. I had to think of something neutral and safe and the only thing that came to mind was myself.
"So. Ok," I began, pushing the corn casserole around on my plate, afraid to look anyone in the eye, lest anyone else get upset or jealous, "I don't get why I have to go to India for this whole Eternal Walk thing. Why can't I just do it here?" I finally glanced up at Amory, hoping he would engage me in some kind of lengthy discussion and save my failed dinner.
"That is a good question, Eden, but unfortunately it is impossible to do the Eternal Walk here, the Cave of the Winds is the most significant part of the entire tradition and it is located in India," Amory smiled at me, encouraging me to ask more questions with his eyes.
"Ok, so what exactly are the Cave of the Winds?" I asked, hoping to stay on this topic for a while.
"They are a sort of Immortal epicenter that reacts more strongly with our magic than any other place on earth. You will feel your magic more intensely there than here, and what is even more of a phenomenon is that the cave actually reacts with you. The Eternal Walk is more of a physical reaction from nature than an Immortal induced event," Amory smiled benevolently and gestured to Kiran as if he wanted to explain more.
"That's right, when you enter the caves an actual reaction from the caves themselves begin to occur and that's why we call it the "Walk," because you have to physically walk through it in order to be released," Kiran took my hand in his underneath the table, but this time not from jealousy or over-protectiveness, this time it was to reassure me.
"How is that possible?" I asked, not believing that nature would actually react to our magic in a conscious way.
"We are not exactly sure," Amory continued, "but over time we have come to notice certain places on the earth are more prone to recognizing our magic than other places. In fact, even the native humans in those places seem to have an awareness of our Immortality, more so, than in other places."
"So more than just India?" I asked, wondering if Romania was one of those places.
"Yes, more than India," Kiran answered, "Romania is of course one, Peru is another, London, Morocco.... another and the entire continent of Africa," he laughed a little when he mentioned Africa and the rest of the table joined him. I didn't get the joke.
"So is that why that whole Citadel is in Romania?" I started to put the pieces together.
"Yes," It was Talbott's turn to talk, "over time, these epicenters, to use Amory's term, have presented themselves as the logical places to build our palaces. The citadel was built in Romania with the prisons because it became the most effective way of housing Immortal criminals."
"Oh," I grunted, rather disgusted. "Oh. I guess that makes sense from a ruling standpoint," I tried to cover my negative reaction quickly, but I saw Avalon laughing out of the corner of my eye. "Oh," I said again only this time realizing the answer to something that had been nagging me for a while. "That's why that old lady, on the train.... Well that makes sense," I trailed off, remembering nobody had been with me while on the train to the Sibiu.
"What makes sense?" Kiran looked at me quizzically, calculating my expression.
Wait. Avalon demanded before I could answer what I assumed to be an innocent question from Kiran. I obeyed my brother grudgingly, and forced another bite off of my plate, chewing it slowly. Once the food was in my mouth, I wasn't exactly stalling but rather just trying to force another ounce of food into my already overly-full stomach.
Avalon sifted through my memories rather intrusively, so I threw the memory at him, glancing irritatedly out of the corner of my eye. He replayed the memory and then I watched him shake his head and frown from my peripheral, just the slightest jut of a chin to signal not to say anything. I swallowed the bite of food on cue and took Avalon's advice.
"I don't know, just some old gypsy lady on the train I took from Timisoara to Sibiu. She was scared of me. Like absolutely terrified," I took another sip of wine, shaking my head like I couldn't believe it.
"Really?" Kiran asked sweetly, I turned to smile at him and watched his eyes just barely narrow in suspicion.
"Oh," I blurted suddenly, "and then my cab driver too. He was so freaked out; he wouldn't even take me all the way to the Citadel. I had to walk up, like mountains," I grew dramatic hoping to cover my mistake earlier, although I didn't really understand what the big deal was.
"Do you remember what you looked like?" Lilly laughed in a laid-back way that told me she was working hard at looking more laid-back than actually feeling so. "Eden, you looked crazy!"
"That's very true," Amory agreed, taking his turn at reminding us all how the journey to the Citadel had affected my external appearance.
"Oh my word," I dropped my face into my hands, trying to picture what I would have looked like to everyone else. "How embarrassing," I sighed.
"Yes, I much prefer this look to the one you were trying to pull off in Romania," Kiran teased, leaning over and kissing me gently on the cheek. Hopefully his fears had been erased, whatever the reason was for them to begin with.
"So, Ok, back to the point, these epicenters," I gestured at Amory, making sure I was using the word correctly, "they not only make our magic stronger, but nature will actually react back at us?" I clarified my question, genuinely wanting to get to the bottom of this.
"Yes, so to speak," Talbott jumped back in, "like in India, the people themselves recognize our magic immediately. You will see when you arrive, they show us absolute respect and honor our ways. The palace itself houses almost an insurmountable amount of magical energy and for a long time was the city center of our people. The caves as well, have a unique way of revealing our specific magic on an individual level. After time however, we have found India to be especially draining and so the palace is mainly used now for the adolescent Eternal Walk."
"And summer holiday," Kiran added, seriously.
"Yes, and summer holiday," Talbott agreed, rolling his eyes.
It was the first time I had seen Talbott be so openly insubordinate and I couldn't help but laugh at his good humor. Maybe he wasn't as uptight as he came off.... all the time....
