Mona Lisa Eclipsing

TWENTY-THREE

THE BARE BONES of it all fell into place within hours: an hour on the phone with the Queen Mother, another hour talking to my own people, one more hour to pack what we would be taking with us. Then we were on our way to the airport.

Amber met us there.

My greedy heart gave an exultant cry as our car pulled up next to his in the short-term parking lot of the airport. “I didn’t know if you were coming,” I said, stepping out of the car.

“When you asked me to build with you what my heart never dared dreamed for or imagined would ever be possible, how could I not?” he said as I flew into his arms.

We held each other tightly.

“The risk . . .” I said against his chest.

“Is one we are all willing to take for that glorious possibility of maybe . . . just maybe,” he rumbled against me.

“Like, just maybe we can pull this crazy thing off,” Quentin finished dryly.

“Hey, pup.” Amber released me and swept his approving eyes over the rest of our group. “Glad to see you’re coming, too.”

“You kidding? Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Quentin said, smiling. “My timing in leaving Mona Maretta couldn’t have been more perfect. Makes me almost, like, prescient.”

“Or just damn lucky,” Dante muttered, messing up his brother’s hair.

“How could I not come,” Quentin said, eyes laughing as he ducked away and smoothed down his glossy locks, “after you jumped on board? Had to make sure my big brother stayed out of trouble.”

“And where our two sons go,” Nolan added, his big arm around his smiling wife, “Hannah and I go, too.”

Dontaine’s gaze met Amber’s. “Like you, Lord Amber, my place is beside our lady.”

Amber’s eyes rested last on Chami, standing beside Thaddeus.

“Nope, I’m just the driver,” Chami said to the silent question in Amber’s eyes. “I’ll be staying behind, watching over everything.”

“Ah. The new master at arms?”

“That would be Tomas,” said Chami.

Amber made a sound of approval. “A good choice.”

Chami grinned. “My sole charge will be to keep an eye on our new young master here, Lord Thaddeus.”

Thaddeus blushed and made a face. “Don’t call me that.”

“It will be your title,” I said without sympathy. “Get used to it.” It had been part of my agreement with the Queen Mother, after speaking with my brother. That Thaddeus would rule over the Louisiana territory in my place, and Amber’s as well, which would recombine back into the single original territory. It had been a shock to the Queen Mother, learning that a male could draw down the moon’s rays and Bask. But a small shock, quickly absorbed, among all the other jarring changes about to occur.

“Until she can find a replacement,” Thaddeus said now in clarification. “Then I can join you guys.”

“Not allowed until things settle down and stabilize,” I said firmly. That had been the one thing we had argued most about. “We’re about to shake up the world, Thaddeus. It will be dangerous enough coming out as the first male able to Bask. First let the Monères get used to you, then we’ll consider the rest of the world.”

“How long do you think it’ll take for things to settle down?” my brother asked wistfully.

“I don’t know. A year at the earliest, if we’re lucky. Heck, we might stumble at the first step—getting legal rights for the Monère people—and come crawling back here before you know it.”

“Won’t happen. You won’t fail,” Thaddeus said with the blithe assurance of youth.

“I pray not,” was my soft reply. Gathering our luggage, we made our way down to the terminal for private jets.

I was taking Hannah and Dontaine away—a healer and my master at arms—but I wasn’t leaving Thaddeus wholly bereft. My brother had some healing ability himself, his control of that useful talent coming along rather nicely after training under Hannah over the past months. Steady, faithful Tomas would be taking up Dontaine’s mantle, a good responsibility for the older warrior who had been underutilized, really. I’d had an abundance of older, powerful Monère males—some of them had been rogues, in fact, like Aquila—who would continue overseeing the business side of things. Rosemary would capably continue in her role as chatelaine, with her Mixed Blood children staying safely here with her. Jamie had wanted to come, but as with Thaddeus, I had deemed it too dangerous at this initial stage. The strong pull of Wiley, the young and wild Mixed Blood boy Tersa had taken responsibility for, kept her anchored safely at home.

Last, but not least, there was Chami, my very talented, deadly chameleon. I trusted Chami to keep my brother safe. I knew that he, Aquila, and Tomas would guard Thaddeus with their lives—he was as precious to them as to me. Their unique hope.

The Queen Mother and Lord Thorane were already aboard the private jet, waiting for us. We knelt in the aisle and entryway in respectful genuflection.

“Rise,” said the Queen Mother, her presence as commanding in the small airplane as if she had been seated on her throne. “Ah, a wise selection,” she noted astutely, taking a quick inventory of my people.

“And very fortunate, on my part,” I said, “that they are willing to venture forth in this matter with me. The Morells are already quite familiar with human society, as is Dontaine, my master at arms, who supervised most of the businesses in New Orleans under his former Queen’s rule. And Amber—”

“As a Warrior Lord, is the perfect male to beckon forth frightened, disenfranchised rogues out of hiding, serving as the ultimate example of what they could be.” The Queen Mother’s eyes glinted with approval.

“So we hope. Amber has agreed to relinquish his current territory to head up the new District Court we hope to form.”

“I do not know if that serves as an advancement or regression in status, Lord Amber,” the Queen Mother said with a small nod.

“Advancement, most certainly, Queen Mother,” Amber replied, bowing his head low. “I wish to thank you on behalf of all the lost warriors out there for the opportunity to serve you in this extraordinary way—for the blanket pardon you are willing to issue them.”

“It is a matter clearly close to your heart,” she said with kind observance, “but do not thank me yet. It is good that you believe so fervently in this cause. Hold on to it tightly. It will sustain you during the hard road ahead as you carve this new path for us. Though we will not be visible, be assured that you have my gratitude and High Court’s full support in this matter, as much as we can render.” Her voice grew dry as she glanced at me. “Though I do wish you hadn’t made us go through all the trouble of dividing your territory into two parts, only to recombine them once again, a few months later. Try and plan better in the future.”

“Yes, Queen Mother,” I said meekly.

“Chameleo,” the Queen Mother said, addressing Chami by his full name.

Chami paled beneath the Queen Mother’s scrutiny and gave a courtly bow. “At your service, Queen Mother.”

“That was my next question, in fact—who will you be serving? Do you stay or do you go?”

“I will be staying with young master Thaddeus, honorable Queen Mother.”

“Ah,” she said. “A good choice.”

Her glance fell on my brother, and I took the opportunity to introduce them. “Queen Mother, Lord Thorane, I would like to present to you my brother, Thaddeus Schiffer.”

Thaddeus bowed, imitating Chami’s courtly gesture. It came out endearingly clumsy.

“An honor and pleasure to meet you, Queen Mother, Lord Thorane,” Thaddeus murmured.

“Everyone please have a seat,” the Queen Mother said. She gestured Thaddeus to the chair across from her; Lord Thorane, the only one she had brought for this secure and private conversation, remained standing behind her. As a courtesy, the rest of us took seats near the front of the cabin where Lord Thorane could easily see all of us.

“I am glad we are able to meet, rushed though our time must be,” the Queen Mother said graciously to Thaddeus. “Pray tell me, now, in your own words, how you came to discover your ability to Bask.”

She listened intently while Thaddeus awkwardly recited the past events. His first experience with Basking had been when outlaw rogues had snatched me to replace the Queen I had freed from their enslavement. I had drawn down the moon’s rays.

Surrounded by Monères, feeling the tug himself, Thaddeus had instinctively pulled down the moonlight as well, to the amazement of us all.

“You shared this light with others?” the Queen Mother asked.

“Yes, with the rogues who were standing nearest me,” Thaddeus answered.

“It was witnessed by Mona Lisa, Lord Amber, and myself,” Chami confirmed, “along with six others.”

“Have you Basked since that time?” she asked.

“No, milady. At that time, we decided it would be safest if I hid that ability. I got the impression that the other Queens wouldn’t be happy to learn a male was able to do what, up till now, had solely been a Queen’s gift.”

“And now?”

“Now,” Thaddeus said, grinning widely, “it’ll be only a small shock compared to what Mona Lisa, Amber, and the others here will be unleashing on everyone shortly.”

“A much smaller threat, indeed,” the Queen Mother said, smiling slightly.

“Plus,” he shrugged, “the people here need me. It’s no big deal for me to take my sister’s place.”

I added, “Thaddeus and Aquila have been pretty much overseeing all the business affairs without any input from me. As you saw from our tithe, we’ve been doing pretty well. He might as well have the official title to go along with the job he’s been doing.”

The Queen Mother smiled. “Ah, yes, the title. What shall it be, for the first Basking male in our history?”

“Well, you can’t call me a Queen, that’s for sure,” Thaddeus said, grimacing.

I grinned. “What, you don’t like Mona Thaddeus? It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

My brother shot me a quelling look.

The Queen Mother raised a hand to her lips, hiding her amusement. “I think in this matter we shall stay within tradition, nontraditional though it may be.” At her nod, Lord Thorane drew a small case from the overhead compartment. Inside was a gold medallion chain similar to the one Amber wore.

At Lord Thorane’s command to kneel, Thaddeus dropped to his knees before the Queen Mother. With graceful economy of movement, she took the heavy medallion chain from the case and slipped it over his head. “By the power of the moon, our ancestral planet, I hereby bestow upon you the title of Lord Thaddeus and assign you ruler of the territories of Louisiana and West Mississippi, recombined back into one whole land. Hereon, thereafter, all courtesy and respect are to be granted to you in accordance to your status by the laws of our High Council. May our Mother Moon always shine upon you. May her light always be your guide.”

Thaddeus rose, dazzled by the brief ceremony despite himself.

It would take a little while before he started to feel not just the physical but the nonphysical weight of that medallion necklace, and all it represented.

Lord Thorane, then Amber, embraced their new brother, the only three living Monère males with that rare elevated status.

“If you have any questions, call me,” Lord Thorane offered generously. “For now, we must hasten to depart.”

“That reminds me—my gifts before I leave you guys,” Thaddeus said, grabbing the three shopping bags Chami passed to him. Opening one, he handed three boxes to Lord Thorane. “Here, my lord, these are for the Queen Mother: I bought three disposable cell phones with prepaid minutes, which will expire in sixty days. Here’s yours, sis,” he said, passing the second bag to me. Inside were six boxes exactly like the ones he had handed Lord Thorane.

“This last bag is for the rest of you guys: Amber, Dontaine, and the Morells. Everything’s labeled with your names. I bought this stuff while you guys were packing. Thought it’d be safer if you swapped your old cell phones for these new ones. I paid for everything in cash, that way no one can trace your accounts back to Louisiana. The phones already out of their boxes are for your daily regular use; each has a hundred prepaid minutes on them.”

“I didn’t think of that,” I said, handing him my old phone.

“It’s amazing you guys were ready to fly out to DC less than three hours after deciding to radically change your lives, and everyone else’s in the world. You’re not alone, sis. Don’t forget that.”

After collecting all the old phones, he handed everyone a sheet of paper with all the new numbers, including the three new cell phones he had bought for himself.

“I used initials for everyone,” Thaddeus said. The Queen Mother was QM. I was ML. “For the disposable phones, and I really do mean that—they’re only meant for onetime use—I labeled each phone respectively as number one, two, three, four, five, and six. You should use the phones numbered one, two, and three in that order. For example, Lisa, if you need to call the Queen Mother, you use the cell phone labeled number one, place your call, then deactivate your phone after you’ve finished talking to her. Same with her.”

He demonstrated by removing the battery and the small SIM memory disc from his own cell phone. “Throw away the phone and battery, and crush the SIM card. They won’t be able to trace the call or pinpoint the Queen Mother’s location that way. The next time—let’s say the Queen Mother needs to call you this time, Lisa—she uses phone number two, and both of you destroy your SIM cards and throw away your second deactivated phones as soon as you’re done talking. Use numbers four, five, and six to call me. And here’s the name and address of the hospital where they took Jarvis and the girl,” Thaddeus said, stuffing more sheets of paper into my hands, “along with a listing of hotels and motels nearby. Also some lawyers in the area specializing in criminal law. You’ll probably need a lawyer to get Jarvis out of the cops’ hands if he’s still at the hospital, if you decide to go about it the legal way.”

“Cops? Why would cops be there?” I asked. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Other than fly out of a nineteenth-story window using wings, which he then transformed back into arms. All captured nicely on late-night news. Cops will be the least of it, sis,” Thaddeus said. “You’ll probably have FBI, maybe even Homeland Security swarming around, wanting to take him into custody.”

I felt a sudden urgent need to be off, instead of being grounded here on the runway.

“Almost done,” Thaddeus said, reading my tense expression. “There’s a list of three large law firms I found in DC specializing in public law and policy, and American Indian law—the closest thing I could think of to our situation. I don’t know if these firms are the best, just what I could find quickly on the Internet.”

“My smart and brilliant brother,” I said, impressed by his foresight. “I think all the brains went to you.”

“Then you must have gotten all the guts. Go rock the world, sis,” Thaddeus murmured, hugging me good-bye.

Over his shoulder, I exchanged a nod with Chami, passing my brother’s care into his hands.

“My thanks as well, Lord Thaddeus,” said the Queen Mother, wearing a pleased smile. “One of the most practical gifts I have ever received.”

My brother ducked his head with embarrassed pleasure.

The Queen Mother handed Thaddeus a small business card. “Call this number and speak with my man, Raiden. He’ll help you transfer things over into your name.”

With a final wave of thanks and farewell, Thaddeus and Chami departed the plane.

Less than ten minutes later, we were airborne.