Two days later, Dante paced his office at the manor, as he talked to Thomas and Justina on his cell phone. His laptop stood open on his desk, an email from Tom King open on the screen.
Hi Dante,
I’m writing to let you know you got special access permission to visit our fortress. You’re welcome to bring a small group. Ten students at the most. Please remember, The Elderwood Conservancy uses the fortress as a place of business and research. We will work at accommodating your visit, but understand there are sections of the fortress you might not be able to access.
If you agree to these terms, Tuesday or Wednesday is best if you want a guided tour from our patron. 10 am to 1 pm. We will arrange lunch for you and your students in our cafeteria. Forward me a list of allergies and dietary needs.
’Looking forward to your visit,
Tom.
“I’ve confirmed us for tomorrow, Wednesday,” Dante said, reading the days listed in the email to confirm with Justina and Thomas. “Set off early so you reach the island by nine o’clock. Call me when you arrive. I will have our vineyard staff bus driver give you guys a lift to Elderwood.”
“I’m so excited this came through,” Justina said on the other end. “How did you manage it?”
Dante thought about Tani standing in his kitchen and smiled. It would be difficult to explain he had helped an Ekho with pain and that was how he was getting a chance to tour the fortress. He could also say he was a warlock desperately in need of making things right with a rejected Ekho. Justina and Thomas would both think him in need of a good psychiatrist.
“It’s a secret,” he answered Justina. “Don’t forget to forward the list of students and any allergies for use at lunch. Our list should have at the most ten students.”
“Thankfully only eight have signed up for the tour. I’ll forward the list once I’ve confirmed dietary needs,” Justina promised. “Is there a fee?”
“No,” Dante said. “Elderwood has granted us special access. I’ll sort it out on my end.”
“Thank you, Dante,” Thomas said. “I’ll make sure to bring my camera for photos.”
“Then, I’ll see you guys in the morning,” Dante said and ended the call.
Alone, he walked around his desk to sit in his chair. He stared at Tom’s email for a minute, and then his gaze shifted to the leather journal his mother gave him. Reaching for it, he opened it to the lineage map showing the families leading up to him. One of Durante’s ancestors married into the Arturo warlock family. Making him.
The warning in the grimoire was apt. His past self was responsible for the gold cuffs on Tani’s wrists. It was not easy knowledge. Remembering the pain Tani endured when they were returned made him sick to the stomach. He wished there was an easy fix, but he did not even know how he could start repairing such long-term damage. He couldn’t even think about it.
Dante closed the journal and leaned back with a sigh. He needed to see Tani.
He could only hope Tani was willing to see him too.
***
On Wednesday morning, the day of the tour to Elderwood, Dante woke up early. He called the bus driver to confirm the time they would set off for the docks. After, he showered and dressed for the day, choosing a white cotton shirt, which he folded the sleeves to his elbows and a pair of navy blue slacks. He lingered at the mirror trimming his full beard.
For a moment, he wondered if he should shave it off, then shook his head with a quick grin. He hoped Tani liked it. Dante brushed his chin-length hair back, opting not to hold it today. He wanted to look his best when he met Tani.
Satisfied with his looks in the mirror, he left his bathroom. In his closet, he slipped his feet into dark side-zip leather boots, grabbed his wallet and phone from the bedside table, and left his room.
At seven o’clock, he was in the kitchen brewing tea when the backdoor opened and his grandmaster walked in.
Dante remembered that Nora had called him and Dante’s father to come to Artri House.
“Morning, Dante,” Landi Arturo said, dropping the duffel bag he carried by the door. He removed his jacket and placed it on the counter next to the door. He took three steps into the kitchen.
The backdoor closed, and Dante made sure it locked. The floor turned liquid silver under Landi. Liquid silver flooded around Landi’s black canvas shoes and then solidified into thick sharp spikes. They grew tall, a thick forest of them, thick, each wrapping around Landi, holding him in place. When they reached his thighs, one of them rose higher than the rest, its end as sharp as a dagger; it came to a stop at Landi’s throat.
Dante focused on brewing morning tea with the double teapot his mother liked for daily use. The water boiled in the bottom teapot. He added three large teaspoons of tea leaves to the top teapot. Picking up the bottom teapot, he added hot water to the tea leaves. He made sure the water was enough to make six glasses of brewed tea. Covering the top teapot, he placed it aside. He picked up the bottom teapot and added water. He returned it to the cooker and placed the top teapot back on top.
Only then did he give his grandmaster his attention.
Landi stood very still. He did not struggle. He only narrowed his gaze at Dante.
“Are we having a bad morning, Dante?” Landi asked.
“Are we?” Dante asked, moving to the cupboard where his mother kept the teacups.
He got three tulip-shaped tea glasses. He arranged them on saucers on the kitchen counter, before he leaned on it, waiting for the tea to brew.
“You are threatening to rip me up with liquid steel this early in the morning,” Landi said. “Artri House’s arsenal is growing thanks to you. How did you think this up?”
“Seeing you makes me hot with rage,” Dante said, narrowing his gaze at his grandmaster.
“How did I displease you?”
Landi tried to wiggle out of the spell, but the steel bands only tightened around him. He frowned when the sharp blade rose higher, almost touching his skin.
“Your power has grown,” Landi commented. “I’m worried you’re threatening to draw your grandmaster’s blood.”
Dante shrugged and returned his attention to the brewing tea on the gas range. He liked his tea dark, but his mother liked hers light. He was glad when he heard her coming down the hallway, her slippers dragging on the wood floors.
Nora entered the kitchen, still in her comfortable white pajamas, and stopped.
“Landi,” Nora said in greeting, running her fingers through her hair. She made no comment on the hardening steel rods wrapped around Landi. “It’s early in the morning for your arrival.”
“My flight landed earlier than we thought,” Landi said, his voice strained.
Dante got a cube of sugar and added it to the tea glass his mother would use. He placed a teaspoon on the saucer and turned off the fire on the double teapot. He poured dark brewed tea into his own glass, filling it up.
Dante then poured half of the same brewed tea into his mother’s with the sugar cube. He added hot water to fill her teacup, lightening the color.
Dante smiled when she came to take the tea glass with a grateful sigh. He leaned down to her height and grinned when she brushed a kiss on his left cheek. She smoothed her palm over his hair and sipped her tea.
Placing the double teapot back on the cooker, Dante turned to face Landi after a sip of his own tea.
“Why are you holding your grandmaster prisoner?” Nora asked, stirring her tea in lazy motion.
Dante took a second sip of his dark brewed tea, then a third. When he felt fortified enough, he placed the tea glass on the counter and moved closer to his grandmaster.
“Break the spell on my mother,” Dante said, looking into Landi’s dark brown gaze. “Now.”
“Dante—”
“I had to watch her struggle, afraid she would burn up if she spoke a word out of turn,” Dante hissed. “Break your archaic binding spell, now.”
“Is that why you’re holding me with liquid steel?” Landi asked. “Don’t you think this is deranged—?”
“You have no right to discuss deranged spells with me,” Dante said, pointing to Nora. “You’ve spelled my mother. She’s a member of this family. She is my mother and you’ve dared to put a spell on her. You’re lucky I didn’t pull you under this manor and bury you in liquid steel.”
Landi sighed when Dante’s glare turned threatening. He looked at Nora.
“Don’t turn to me,” Nora said, moving to sit at the island table. She let out a small yawn and sipped her tea. “You’re the one who trained him.”
“He’s from your fire blood,” Landi said, accusation in his tone.
“He’s only my blood when he has you at a disadvantage,” Nora said, shaking her head. “Other days, he’s Arturo warlock blood.”
Dante folded his arms against his chest.
“I have somewhere to be in an hour and a half,” Dante said. “You will break the spell on Mom before I leave this house.”
“Dante—”
“I will remind you. I am now the master of Artri House. You have stepped in here with your guard down. No one can save you, not even my father,” Dante said.
“You would not harm—”
“I thought so too until I watched Mom struggling to avoid burning from the inside out,” Dante said. “You broke trust first.”
“Nora, are you going to help here?” Landi asked.
“I’m the one spelled,” Nora said.
Landi sighed, and nodded, meeting Dante’s gaze.
“Fine, I’ll break it.”
“Now?” Dante asked.
“Yes, now,” Landi said.
“Mom, move closer,” Dante said, willing the steel rod to slide away from Landi’s neck, releasing Landi’s arms, and stopping at his knees.
“You’re mistreating an old man,” Nora said when she was standing next to Dante.
“He mistreated you first,” Dante said, meeting Landi’s gaze. He smirked. “No one mistreats my mother, Grandmaster Landi, not when I’m here.”
Nora chuckled next to him, and Landi let out a sigh.
“You’ve brought up a bully,” Landi said, placing his palms on Nora’s neck with gentle care, he closed his eyes and started a chant.
“Sözlerini serbest bırakıyorum, serbest bırakıyorum,” Landi spoke, breaking the spell on Nora. ‘I release your words, I release them.’
Landi repeated his chant until Nora let out a soft sigh, and Landi’s hands dropped away from her shoulders.
“It is done,” Landi said, turning to Dante.
“May it never happen again,” Dante warned, and released Landi from his liquid silver. Restoring the floor to its usual tiles. “Would you like some brewed tea? I made it dark this morning.”
Landi let out a tired sigh and shook his head.
“You just threatened me with a sharp steel rod,” Landi said. “Now you offer me tea?”
“Don’t want it? You can always heat it up on your own,” Dante said, taking up his tea glass. He sat at the island table next to his mother and focused on drinking tea. “Let me not hear you returned the spell on Mom because I left. Artri House will let me know.”
Landi frowned, studying Dante, his gaze critical.
Dante returned the study.
Landi was six feet tall. His dark hair was long turned gray and always messy on his head. He loved sweaters and had them in all colors. Nora made it a game to find a cashmere sweater color Landi did not own. Today, he was in a dark green one, dark slacks, and his favorite black converse shoes.
“Dante, despite your deadly threat, the manor feels happy. Are you in a good mood?” Landi asked.
Dante sipped his tea and reached for his phone because it buzzed in his pocket. He checked his messages and was glad to see one from Justina. Their students had arrived on time and they were now on the way to take the ferry.
It was good they were on the way.
He calculated time and sent the bus driver an alert to let him know they would leave Artri House in an hour.
“Dante received good news,” Nora was saying when he tuned back to the conversation.
Nora squeezed his left shoulder and got up to up to head to the fridge.
She got a container with a block of fresh white cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. She placed the cheese container on the island table before Dante and handed Dante a knife and a chopping board to slice the cheese and tomatoes into palatable sizes.
Nora returned to the kitchen counter to get bread from its box, a jar with honey, and the grape jam she canned herself.
“Dante gets to take the students of his world history class at the Koc University for a special access tour at The Elderwood Conservancy,” Nora boasted. She got a second board and knife. She brought it to the island table and started slicing bread into bite-sized rectangular pieces. “There is someone he hopes to see at the conservancy.”
Landi took the opportunity to walk around the table to where Dante sat slicing fresh white cheese pieces. He placed his hand on Dante’s right wrist and pressed his fingers to Dante’s pulse.
“Something’s changed. You’re one cold idiot, but the punishment you just meted out on me screams of empathy for your mother. When did you start feeling empathy?” Landi asked, looking into Dante’s eyes. “There must have been a very big shift.”
“I’m—”
Dante frowned, his gaze dropping to where Landi held his right wrist.
“You can’t read me.”
“True,” Landi said, nodding. “But, I can tell the ice around your heart has melted or fractured. It was always there from when you were a boy. Your mother shares her empathy with you. It helped keep the house warm. Now, I can tell you’re the one fuelling the warmth in this manor, even as you threatened me. You seem…hopeful. What’s changed?”
“Nothing,” Dante said, thinking about the conduit spell he performed on Tani.
He had felt something shift in him that day. He could not define what, only that he desperately needed to see Tani again, for their shared past.
“Your mother mentioned Ryuzo was in this house,” Landi said, letting go of Dante’s wrist. “Tell me what happened, don’t leave out anything.”
Dante sipped his brewed tea and continued to slice white cheese into neat pieces, arranging them on the platter his mother brought him.
Nora narrated the events leading up to Tani entering the manor. She talked about the olive grove suffering nutrient loss, and Tani healing the soil, ridding it of kara ot.
“He was unconscious after,” Nora said, arranging a platter filled with sliced bread pieces, a bowl with black and green olives, sliced cucumbers, chopped sweet peppers, shredded lettuce, and cut peeled tomatoes.
“Landi, grab the plates from the shelf over the sink. I’ll brew more tea. Anyway, Cale, the Ekho god of calamity, brought the little lordling to Artri House. The manor would not let Cale in, so he could only stay in the front yard. He left soon after. Dante carried Tani inside and spent a few hours with him in the guest room performing a conduit spell.”
“You connected with an Ekho,” Landi said, returning to the island table with three plates, spoons, and forks. He sat opposite Dante, staring at him. “And you didn’t feel overwhelmed, or lose any part of your power?”
“No.” Dante shook his head. “I—I just wanted him to stay here. It felt important.”
Now that he had read the diary from his great-grandmother, he understood why.
“Hm,” Landi nodded. “Nora said Ryuzo teleported out at the end.”
“Yes,” Nora agreed. “Mr. Ryuzo asked me about any Ekhos who have visited the vineyard of late. I could not say the name without triggering the spell you cast on me.”
“A spell that should never have been cast,” Dante said, glaring at Landi.
“I broke it already,” Landi said, accepting the glass of brewed tea from Nora. He thanked her with a nod and turned to Dante.
“So, Mr. Ryuzo said he owed you a favor,” Landi noted, sipping his tea.
“I don’t want a favor from him,” Dante said. “I believe I might owe him more.”
Landi nodded and studied the platters on the table for a moment, thinking.
Nora got a frying pan and placed it on the cooker. She started the fire and got six eggs from the fridge. She got busy frying two each for them.
Dante took a slice of bread and arranged a slice of cheese, olives, and tomato. He took a bite and nodded as the combination of tastes burst in his mouth. Breakfast was always great with the family. A moment passed before Landi finally looked at Dante.
“Dante,” Landi said. “I hoped you would escape the warning in the grimoire. Your father did, and while I don’t know this Ekho Ryuzo—”
“I do,” Dante said, holding his grandmaster’s gaze. “I’ve met him. Seen him help us. What he did is worth more than Mom paid the conservancy. I don’t need the family to decide for me what I should do about Tani. I’ll make my own judgments and choices about him.”
Landi took in a deep breath and smirked.
“I figured I would hear such a statement from you. Fine, do what you think is right, but protect our Artri House through this encounter,” Landi said. “We still need to survive in the aftermath.”
“I’ll try my best,” Dante said. “Which reminds me, Mom told me about Aero. Do you think he would want our vineyard ruined?”
Landi’s gaze shifted to Nora who was busy plating the first plate of eggs and starting another. She ignored Landi’s piercing look and concentrated on frying eggs. Landi sighed.
“It still shocks me how the women of the manor embrace capitalism,” Landi said.
“Everyone has to survive somehow, it’s a true tragedy when white magik does not make money,” Nora said.
Landi shook his head and looked at Dante.
“Your father and I worked quite hard to identify Aero. We cornered him at an auction in Tokyo where he was trying to sell off one of the spelled pens your grandmother made for him,” Landi said, looking at Dante. “Aero is an Ekho from the dragon clan. He only agreed to tell us who he was after Christophe spelled a refilling goblet for him.”
Nora stopped cooking the last batch of eggs to look at Landi in surprise.
“He does not come close to the manor because he is afraid of the family’s patriarch,” Landi said.
Landi met Nora’s gaze then.
“Please tell me you didn’t think we would watch the wives of this manor deal with an Ekho and learn nothing about him?” Landi asked.
“Why did you lot act like you don’t know?” Nora asked.
“Christophe insisted he wanted a peaceful home. So did I,” Landi said with a shrug. “We all knew why you and Dante’s grandmother left to visit the beach beyond the grove. Let’s call it a badly kept secret.”
“How kind of you all,” Nora scoffed, burning the last batch of eggs. She moved the frying pan and shifted the teapot to the heat. She then plated the overdone eggs and brought them to Landi.
Dante hid a smile when Landi started to complain but stopped when she glared at him.
“Thanks for the food, Nora,” Landi said, picking up his fork.
Nora brought Dante his eggs and lingered over the brewing tea.
“Aero might know who would bring us the black weed,” Dante said. “We should talk to him.”
“I told you I will handle it, Dante.” Nora stated.
“Okay,” Landi said. “When you can’t, we’ll step in.”
“Fair enough,” Nora said with a nod.
Dante hid a smile, knowing his mother would make sure she got the information they needed from Aero, just to prove Landi wrong.
“When is Dad arriving?” Dante asked as they settled in for breakfast.
“Tomorrow,” Nora said, bringing Landi a glass of tea. She sat next to Dante again and reached for a plate to make a white cheese sandwich between two bread pieces. She took a bite and smiled at Dante. “It will be nice having the family home.”
“Yes. It’s good to have us all around, just in case,” Landi said, nodding.
Dante drank his tea and relaxed as breakfast progressed.
Nora gave Landi updates about the vineyard. They sat talking about plans for the wine factory until Dante’s phone buzzed with a message from the driver. He realized it was nine o’clock.
“I have to go,” Dante said, getting up from the table.
“Do you think you will meet Ryuzo today?” Nora asked.
Dante picked up his plate and the tulip-shaped tea glass with its saucer. He took them to the sink counter. He washed his hands and wiped the excess water with a napkin.
A tight feeling was growing in his chest, the anticipation and anxiety of going to the Elderwood Conservancy was catching up with him. He prayed and hoped Tani would be the one to give the tour. How many Ekhos could there be in an organization anyway? He doubted Cale had anything to do with Elderwood. Their kind of organization needed an abundance of goodwill, and Cale was full of the opposite.
Dante refused to entertain the idea that Tom King would be the one to give them a tour…
‘Fates,’ Dante thought. ‘Let it not be Tom.’
“Dante?” Landi called.
Dante bunched the used napkin into a ball and threw it into the trashcan under the sink.
He turned to his family and smiled.
“I’ll call you later,” Dante said, walking around the island table.
He picked up his phone from the table, kissed Nora’s right cheek, and turned to leave.
Landi spoke up when he got to the back door.
“Dante, you’re not responsible for righting past wrongs. You’re you,” Landi said. “You’re not your past reincarnations. Whatever might have happened, you’re only responsible for what you choose now.”
Dante paused to look at Landi, held his gaze for a moment, and then nodded his agreement. He smiled and unlocked the door, stepping out into the bright morning.
After spending hours reading his great-grandmother’s journal, all he knew was that he belonged with Tani. Tani had tried to show it to his past self. Those idiots must have been dimwitted. Now, it was up to him to prove Tani’s love true. He wanted a chance. He just hoped Tani would give it to him.
****
Sui Writes 
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