The evening after Tani left Artri House, Nora led Dante to the basement. Nora led the way to the bookshelves and stopped at one written Artri Lineage. She held out her left hand to Dante.
“I need to borrow your power,” Nora said.
“Why?” Dante asked.
“Mine is checked by your grandmaster. I have secrets I have hidden here,” Nora said. “I believe it is time to give them to you.”
“After this, will you approve of me pursuing Tani Ryuzo?” Dante asked, meeting his mother’s gaze.
“You may do as you wish, Dante,” Nora said.
“Alright,” Dante said, taking his mother’s hand.
He felt it the moment she tapped into his well of power. The connection binding them by blood warmed his blood, his power flowing to Nora like a big fat river. She held out her right hand and pressed it to the wood of the bookshelf. The shelf split into two shelves and separated.
A thick book flew out and dropped on the floor at Nora’s feet. She nodded in approval and restored the lineage bookshelf to its original size.
She let go of Dante and bent down to pick up the book. It refused to budge so she sighed and straightened to her full height. Dusting off her hands, she placed them on her waist and faced Dante.
“Stupid book still views me as an outsider. The blood in the family is too thick,” Nora said, in annoyance. “You pick it up.”
Dante bent down and to his surprise, the book leaped into his hands and the lock snapped open.
“Discrimination,” Nora hissed, glaring at the book. “I will burn you up one of these days.”
Dante chuckled and stroked the spine of the book. The cover opened and he took it to the closest table. He pulled out a chair for his mother and was surprised when she shook her head, declining his offer.
“My part is to give you the journal when you were ready,” Nora said, her gaze on the black leather covering the old journal. “Your grandmother wrote this journal without telling your grandmaster. She hid it in the shelf and placed it under my care because she thought you were the one who would get the warning.”
“So, you knew the moment the grimoire opened up to the Ryuzo warning,” Dante said.
“In a way,” Nora said. “As you know, we have an Ekho in the family that is how our family is Ekho-blessed. This Ekho encouraged your great-grandfather’s marriage to a mortal woman. Meaning the generation coming from your great grandfather, his children, would have no power until the next: your father and then you.”
“As my children will remain until the next generation,” Dante said, thinking of Zachary and April.
“You chose a mortal to sire them. It is what it is,” Nora said, stepping closer to place a reassuring hand on Dante’s shoulder. “We have all made arrangements to make sure they are taken care of in the future.”
“Is this journal the reason why grandmaster spelled you?” Dante asked.
“No. The name of the Ekho who sired the first of Artri House is the reason why they spelled me. I cannot say his name, though your grandmother met him and talked to him. What he told her had her worrying about finding a resolution for Ryuzo. She was sure you would be the one to bear the burden.”
“Grandmaster needs to understand he cannot go around harming my family,” Dante hissed.
“It’s not his fault,” Nora said, shaking her head. “In any case, the Ekho in question helped your grandmother ward Artri House. The story he gave her, made her write the stories of Ryuzo and his fate with a soul named Durante. The woman your great-grandfather married is from the same lineage as Durante.”
Dante blinked, his gaze dropping to the journal on the table. Durante was the man who loved Ryuzo in his dreams. The man who broke Ryuzo’s heart, three times so far, as he chose a life with Viola instead of Ryuzo. He had hoped they were only dreams.
Dante dropped into the chair he pulled out for his mother, opening the journal to the first page.
“Your grandmother said you cannot move on without finding a resolution for Ryuzo. She hoped these stories would benefit my child. I have kept the journal a secret from you because I worried it would interfere with your life. I did not want you to have to follow her wishes. She had good intentions but I wanted you to make your own choices when it came to love. Still…”
“This journal is why you were always against Viola,” Dante said, tracing the title on the yellowed page of the journal. Duante and Ryuzo, 16th century, Spain. “You knew we didn’t belong.”
“Belonging is a perspective, Dante,” Nora said with a sigh. “For a time, you did belong to Viola. For the duration of their lives, you do belong to Zach and April. You should have named April, Nisan, as I told you. She would have a deeper connection to our family here.”
“It wasn’t my call,” Dante said, shaking his head. “Viola preferred April. You can call her Nisan whenever she visits you.”
“If ever,” Nora said with a sigh. “The journal should explain why Ryuzo is important to you. Why the grimoire opened, why the house likes him.”
Nora started to leave, and Dante reached for her right wrist, stopping her exit.
“Thank you for the journal, Mom. But you still haven’t answered Tani’s question,” Dante said. “Surely, you can tell me which Ekho you’ve met outside of Artri House. He or she might have brought us the Kara ot that damaged the vineyard.”
“His name is Aero,” Nora said. “I did not share his name with Tani because Aero asked us never to tell another Ekho he visits us. Because of this, the spell your grandmaster placed on me always activates. I am not the only Artri matriarch who has known Aero. Aero used to deal with your grandmother before me, and your great-grandmother before her.”
“What is his purpose?” Dante asked.
Nora hesitated and then shook her head.
“We trade with Aero,” Nora said. “I give him spelled objects as he needs, and he brings herbs and spells ingredients from the Ekho Realm or around the world. It has always been this way. I only continued the tradition.”
“The vineyard makes enough money to sustain Artri House,” Dante said, letting go of his mother’s hand. “Why would you need to supplement income?”
“I keep reminding you, I’m your father’s wife,” Nora said, narrowing her gaze at Dante. “I might run the vineyard, but the manor’s money goes to the family accounts. Christophe runs the accounts, and checks statements to the account he’s given me to use. It’s been the same for all the wives of this manor forever. Your great-grandmother discovered a way for us to make extra money away from the family. She showed your grandmother, who showed me how when I married Christophe. I like having extra money to do whatever I please without having to explain myself. So, I kept up the relationship with Aero.”
Dante bit his bottom lip hard because he had no comeback for his mother’s finances. It was not his place to talk to his parents about how they managed their money. He too received a paycheck for his work as a professor. With the money he got he made a life in Istanbul and paid for his children’s trusts.
“Still—,” Dante started.
“We’re not having a conversation about where I get money to spend,” Nora said. “You don’t worry about Aero. I’ll have a good talk with him the next time we meet.”
“Mom—”
“I gave you his name, Dante,” Nora said, glaring at him. “The rest is up to me. The vineyard’s health is important to me. My income with Aero is in question, so I will handle it and make sure there are no issues. Trust me.”
Dante let out a sigh and nodded.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Nora said, reaching out to caress his jaw, her fingers smoothing his beard. “I love my life in this manor. I’ve also been a bit of a rebel and ended up raising a son like you. Don’t look at me with pity. I’m happy.”
Dante nodded and pressed a kiss to her inner wrist. She smiled and turned to leave.
“I’m going out with my friend Lily. We’ll hang out at the bistro in town,” Nora said. “Warm the baked potatoes if you get hungry. There is a veggie salad in the fridge and cheese.”
“Thank you, Mom,” Dante said.
She waved at him and left the basement.
Alone, Dante stared at Tani’s last name written on the yellow page of the old journal. He started to turn the page, only to pause when he saw a foreword appear on the inner page of the cover.
“A strange love story began six centuries ago,” Dante started to read.
A strange love story between an Ekho and a mortal, two souls that should never have met, but did. Durante, the son of a farmer, met Ryuzo in a wild forest on the outskirts of his home in a great moment of crisis. It is said that wild wolves chased Durante in the forest until he was on the brink of losing his life. The half-immortal lord/half-fox lord, Ryuzo, intervened. Ryuzo saved Durante’s life and gave him a second chance. In so doing, Ryuzo tied their fate together.
Durante returned to find Ryuzo, to thank him, and Ryuzo crossed the invisible line and took a step into the mortal world. He started a romantic relationship with Durante. Their connection grew so deep that not even Ryuzo’s uncle could stop him from seeing Durante. Never had an Ekho loved a mortal in the way Ryuzo loved Durante. Soon, unknown to his brethren, Ryuzo bound his soul to Durante. He promised to love only Durante for the rest of his days. His many, many days.
Ryuzo’s promise was soon discovered by the Septum. The grand council dragged Ryuzo back to the Ekho Realm, and forced him to break his promise to Durante. Ryuzo refused, claiming Durante was his soul’s other half. He could not break a promise already given. The Septum tried everything to get Ryuzo to break his vow. Still, Ryuzo stayed loyal to his Beloved. He kept his vow forcing the Septum to punish him for his grave transgression of binding his soul to a mortal.
Ryuzo, believing his beloved would love him the same way, stood by his decision and claimed that his beloved would choose to bind his soul with Ryuzo. For the Ekho Realm carries secrets of bound mates. Secrets, not even I who writes this tale knows. Worried the little lordling was blinded by love, the Septum chose to let Ryuzo prove his words. They gave Ryuzo one thousand years to show that his beloved would choose him. If his beloved chose him even once, then the punishment given would be void. Ryuzo and his beloved could continue together, undisturbed. However, if Ryuzo were proved wrong, then he would have to give up his beloved, take back his bound soul, and return to the Ekho Realm, promising never to return to the mortal realm.
Dante stared at the last paragraph, his heart beating too fast when he remembered his dream.
Ryuzo standing by the fence staring at Durante who was now married to a woman of his mother’s choosing. What had Ryuzo said in the dream…?
“You are bound to another this eve.”
“She is a good woman,” Durante said. “My mother needs a helper and grandchildren.”
“I cannot give these things,” Ryuzo whispered. “I cannot take them from you either if you want them.”
“I’m sorry.”
Dante scoffed and closed his eyes. Fool! Durante had no clear understanding of Ryuzo’s commitment. Shaking his head, he continued reading.
When Ryuzo returned to the mortal realm, he discovered his beloved bound to another. A woman was chosen by his mother to push the line down to the next century. Ryuzo was disappointed, but he did not lose hope. He waited. Waited for Durante to live out his current life, and took care of Durante’s descendants until Durante’s soul was reincarnated again, and a new chance to love would begin. Ryuzo approached Durante, now going by Dante—
Dante hissed, pressing his index finger on the name. A frown started as he continued reading.
Dante of the twelfth century was easygoing. He was the first in the thousand-year cycle Ryuzo faced. He fell in love with Ryuzo on a whim. His heart was strong but his family was stronger. He broke Ryuzo’s heart in the space of two years after they met. He married Violet at his family’s insistence.
Dante wanted to keep his relationship with Ryuzo despite his marriage. Believing Dante would change his mind and give him a chance, Ryuzo allowed the infidelity. All was stable until Violet discovered them. She made their village rise up and chase out Ryuzo with an accusation of adultery.
Ryuzo’s love found a fast end in the second cycle because Dante did nothing to save their love or hold on to him. And so, Ryuzo’s tragic love continued…repeating cycle after cycle, until the sixteenth century. Duante and Ryuzo almost made it in Spain. Duante loved Ryuzo with all his heart, but still, his ties to his family crippled them. Ryuzo left Duante when he married Violetta over land disputes. It was Duante who pleaded for help on how to help Ryuzo. He received advice from an unlikely ally, our Ekho patriarch. Find Artri House and merge blood. It was advice that took two precious centuries to complete.
The Ekho who told this tale insists Ryuzo wears his punishment on his wrists. The Septum bound his powers with thick gold cuffs forged by the Ekho Realm’s god of fire. Should he choose to break his vow to his beloved, all he has to do is remove them. Otherwise, he must keep them on for one thousand years…or until his beloved chooses him.
You are reading this journal because you are Durante’s soul reincarnated for the last cycle of Ryuzo’s thousand-year punishment. I tell this tale for you who are last in line, hoping you will not make the same mistakes as your predecessors. One of you must break the cycle, either convince him to take off the cuffs or give him what he granted you when this first started. This is the debt of karma you owe each other.
Dante stood then, bracing his hands on the table as he stared at the journal. He remembered watching Cale remove Tani’s gold cuffs in the olive grove. He remembered with clarity the scream Tani let out when Cale returned the cuffs on his wrists.
“Why does he have to wear the cuffs? Can’t we take them off?”
Dante scoffed and pressed his fists to his eyes. He was a stupid idiot.
Stupid, stupid!
How could he ask such a question when he was the reason why Tani wore the cuffs?
Tani.
Dante reached for his cell phone in his pocket and found Tom King’s number. He dialed it fast and waited with impatience.
“King.”
“It’s me, Dante. I want to talk to Mr. Ryuzo. Can you forward me to him?”
“No.”
“Please,” Dante said, moving away from the desk, he started pacing on the aisle between two bookshelves.
“I can’t,” Tom said. “He asked not to be disturbed this afternoon. It’s been rough, as you know.”
“Please, Tom. I need to talk to him. I have questions.”
“I’m sure you do,” Tom said.
“Then, give me his cell phone number. I’ll text him.”
“No.”
“You’re not going to think about it?”
“Nope.”
Dante rubbed his eyes with his free hand and shook his head. He had no idea where Tani lived. He doubted very much it was in the fortress.
“And before you ask, no you can’t visit his house,” Tom said, as though reading his thoughts. “He will find you when he is ready.”
Tom was a very skilled gatekeeper. There was no foolproof way to find Tani without Tom’s help.
Think, think…
“That won’t work for me,” Dante said, dropping his hand. He turned on the bookshelves aisle, his gaze going to the journal on the desk. He needed to confirm the reasons why Tani wore the gold cuffs on his wrists. If they were there because of the beloved with his name.
“I am putting in a request to visit the fortress,” Dante said. “You said you would ask.”
“I will ask,” Tom said.
“Okay. How long do I wait for an answer?”
“I’ll let you know,” Tom said.
“Tom,” Dante said through gritted teeth. “I know we don’t know each other well, but this is important to me. I have something to say to him.”
“Dante, I hear you,” Tom said. “It’s just…Mr. Ryuzo does what he wants. You will have to be patient as I ask and get an answer.”
Dante remembered that Tani had teleported out of Artri House without warning after promising to stay.
Tom was right. Tani would do what he wanted.
Dante cursed under his breath and wished he knew where Tani actually lived. He would drive there right now. He closed his eyes fighting back frustration.
“Please, Tom,” Dante said, trying to remain cordial. “I really need to see him.”
“I won’t forget to mention your request. Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Have a good evening, Dante.”
Tom ended the call.
Dante cursed under his breath loud enough to make the shelves shudder. He returned to the table and stared at the open journal. The grimoire warning made sense. His past self was a disloyal dimwit. They all chose a family with a version of Violet. His frustration grew with each word he read.
Bracing himself, he decided to discover in detail all he could about his apparent past lives, and the wrongs done to Ryuzo. Tani, where did he take all the pain his past dealt him?
****
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