“Where did you discover a maybe-warlock who would dare hurt you?” Hera asked, slipping her hand into the crook of his left arm, as she led him to the library. “You didn’t say where you were going when you left. Are you dating?”
Tani grinned.
“I’m afraid you’ll terrorize my partner if I start dating.”
“Of course, he has to be terrorized.” Hera nodded, her slippers wrapping a beat on the wood floors as they walked. “You’ve been alone too long. You have no idea how strange the dating market has gotten. If you start dating, you’ll need someone to talk to and ask for advice. Also, we have to make sure you’re not catfished. Your style of dress will make people think you’re dripping in money. We need to weed out shallow partners. There is a lot of work to do before you start dating, Babu. I’ll help you do the interviews.”
Tani chuckled at Hera’s enthusiasm. She called him Babu, (grandfather) because of his age and the fact that he watched her grow up.
Hera was in her late twenties, and he had watched her born. She was definitely worthy of being his granddaughter.
“I think the person who needs interviews for her dates is you,” Tani told her, as she opened the library door and led him in. “Where is Hakan? I have not seen him around.”
“Hakan is no longer visiting our house, Babu.”
Hera’s words sounded like a declaration. A decision she never wanted to change.
Hakan was the father of her daughter, Deniz. Theirs was a relationship filled with difficulties. Hakan struggled with commitment, yet he loved both his daughter and Hera. Hakan was also the reason why Hera now lived with Tani. Hera’s father disapproved of Hakan for his daughter.
Tani could not blame Hera’s father. Hakan needed to do better for Hera, and for Deniz.
Tani stopped in the middle of the library and turned to look at Hera.
“Is Hakan visiting Deniz? Calling her?” Tani asked, looking into Hera’s eyes to read the truth.
“He is trying,” Hera said, giving a small shrug. “Hakan has found a job in Istanbul, working in a hotel. He sends money to buy Deniz little gifts. It is what it is. I’m not expecting him to move mountains. He will return to us when he is over whatever he feels right now.”
“Hm,” Tani studied her, reading disappointment in Hakan in the depths of her eyes.
She hoped Hakan would work at being a better father, a better family man. Perhaps, what she did not understand was that Hakan might not be able to give her those things.
“When you’re ready to date, I’ll do the interviews,” Tani said, teasing her. “You’re too beautiful. We can’t have you being cat-fished.”
Hera laughed then, the shadows disappearing, and he kissed her forehead.
“You’re a funny one, Babu,” Hera said, hurrying to a reference computer in the corner of the room. “Have you ever noticed how fast dating begins? One moment you’re standing on your own. The next, you’re kissing a handsome stranger in a dark corner lost in lust and excitement. Soon after, you’re dating, and then navigating likes and dislikes, calling it a relationship. I sort of miss that feeling until Deniz calls out my name, and I remember why I have to keep my head.”
Tani sank into a comfortable armchair and leaned his head back to stare at the painting on the ceiling. It was a depiction of the most famous landscape in the Ekho Realm. A floating island with waterfalls pouring down to a vast lake below the island. On the floating island stood a majestic citadel made with white sandstone hidden in a wild forest. The citadel’s domes were a beacon for those who would look for hope on the floating island. For Tani, the domes were a cruel reminder of a father who cast him out for loving a mortal.
The paint on the mural on the ceiling looked fresh, redone.
Tani frowned, gripping the arms of his chair tight.
“Hera, has Cale visited this house?” Tani asked.
“Oh, yes,” Hera said, getting up from the chair by the reference computer. “I try to ignore his visits here, but he about drove me crazy these past few weeks. Whistling away as he claimed to restore the mural on the ceiling. It was deafening in here. Don’t leave us with him again.”
Tani sat up and looked around the library with his fox eyes. Searching for a clue as to why Cale would visit his sanctuary without telling him.
Cale always left traces of himself. His aura was too strong, and hard to hide when he was in a good mood.
Whistling as he restored a mural depicting his brother’s home…he would not have bothered to clean up his aura.
“I found it,” Hera said, from the back of tall shelves. She came hurrying to his side carrying a book wrapped in Cale’s green aura.
Tani felt a tight knot form in the depths of his stomach.
Hera opened the book as she walked, displacing Cale’s aura, though it returned and clung to the book’s cover.
“Oh, I was wrong,” Hera said. “The Turkish house is not Artor or Arter. It is Artri. It says here that Artri is an old name used by the family established in the eleventh century. This makes them the oldest among our families of power. Probably the most powerful of us. In nineteen twenty, the family changed its name to Arturo.”
Tani stood fast and took the book from Hera. Hera pointed out the section with her index finger and grinned at him, as she leaned against him and continued to read.
“The current head of Artri House is Christophe Arturo. He is a grandmaster. His daughter is Nora Arturo, and she brought to life, the current heir to Artri’s house, Dante Arturo,” Hera said, amusement coloring her words. “Christophe and Nora must be fans of Dante’s Inferno.”
Tani clutched the large book compiling the names of powerful houses and their elements. Under fire, the Artri House stood alone. They too used a symbol to mark their house: an elderflower with two leaves.
Tani frowned when he saw a note scrawled on the right-hand corner of the Artri House page. It read, ‘refer to Ekho bloodlines, Artri family origin tied to a pure Ekho.’
Tani dropped into the armchair and stared at the note. It was an old insertion, the ink long dry, ages dry.
“Babu?” Hera touched his left shoulder. “Are your knees finally giving up on you?”
Tani stared at the note unable to answer her joke. He held the book open on his lap.
“Cale,” he said with a soft sigh.
Hera placed her hands at her waist.
“Since you have decided to call him, I’m stepping out. I’ll check on Tom in his lab. Don’t fight in here,” Hera warned, turning to glare at Cale when he appeared behind her. “I arranged the books after your awful project last week. Do not ruin my work.”
“You would miss me if I didn’t visit, sweet Hera,” Cale said in answer.
Hera scowled at Cale and then walked out of the library, closing the door behind her.
Tani picked up the book from his lap and threw it at Cale.
Cale caught it with graceful motion and straightened the pages Hera had touched so that he could read them.
“You’ve finally discovered our transgressions,” Cale said, with a quick grin. “It has taken you too long.”
“What is he doing in a house that is Ekho-blessed?” Tani asked. “My beloved was a simple mortal. There has never been an ounce of our blood in him since I met him. His family has remained pure and human. What have you done?”
“Don’t scowl at me,” Cale said, closing the book and placing it on the wooden stool near him. He dusted off his hands on a white handkerchief and unbuttoned his suit jacket to sit in the armchair opposite Tani.
“Start talking,” Tani said.
“I told you,” Cale said, sitting back and crossing his legs. “Your beloved has never lived past thirty-six years old. I think I’m not the only one who noticed. Someone with power has meddled, revealing a hidden house. It seems to me that the seventh matriarch of your beloved’s ancestors met a man from Artri House. The ninth reincarnation was spared from the power, but this tenth one…”
“He is a bloodborne warlock,” Tani said, extending his right palm for Cale. “Dante burned me after you left and gave me a mark he will only remove if I meet him. He also senses my presence.”
“To sense you means he is quite powerful,” Cale agreed. “Their kind can be vicious. You two might wrong each other if you’re not careful.”
“I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
“Only way to find out how it did happen is to get close to him,” Cale pointed out. “Why don’t you find him to heal your hand?”
“No,” Tani shook his head. “It’s a burn I can endure. I told you I’m not going to step into his path. I will just make sure nothing happens to him from afar. We don’t have to meet.”
Cale chuckled and stood up.
“Tani, stop denying yourself some form of happiness. Meet him once,” Cale said. “He’s going to be in Istanbul soon. Do you notice that Artri House stands on the other side of your beloved island? Someone has worked hard to make it very convenient for you to meet your beloved and keep him. The only reason you haven’t met is your need to stay hidden in Diani. I think you have no choice but to take a step toward him. If only to find out who has interfered.”
Tani breathed out his frustrations, his frown deepening when Cale laughed in amusement and then left the library as he came.
Alone, Tani touched the bandage on his right palm.
Dante Arturo was married with kids.
Tani truly could not interfere.
Still, if there was a chance…
“What kind of person am I if I approach him to break his family?” Tani asked the quiet library, his gaze on the powerful bloodlines book. “No better than Hakan who betrays Hera.”
Tani closed his eyes disappointed by his urgent need to find Dante Arturo anyway.
*~*~*~*~*
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