Asylum (Causal Enchantment #2)(10)
“But she did no such thing. For two days straight, Sofie sat beside Maeve, holding her hand. I could feel her magic in the house. Such awesome, unparalleled strength that woman has. She is a true rarity in the sorcery world. I sat in the chair next to them, watching. I didn’t utter a single word. For two days straight, I sat there, until I finally passed out from exhaustion.” Leo leaned back into his chair. “When I awoke, Maeve was sitting next to me with rosy cheeks and vibrant eyes. Sofie was gone.”
My heart swelled with relief. “So Maeve’s okay? Where is she now?”
Leo smiled sadly. “She’s been gone twenty years now, Evangeline. That’s the downside of marrying an older woman.” He chuckled. “Maeve was nineteen years my senior. When I was a spry fifty-five-year-older, she was in her mid-seventies. Old age took her. But thanks to Sofie, I had thirty wonderful years with her.”
“So then what happened?” I felt my eye brow quirk with doubt. “How’d you end up as Viggo’s British butler?”
“Well . . . ” Leo slowly eased out of his chair. He walked over to gaze out a window, his arms crossed over his chest. “When Maeve died, I was lost. Figured I’d just let myself waste away until I could join her. And then one day about fifteen years ago, Sofie contacted me using a communication spell. It seems the sly woman had kept tabs on me and knew I was widowed.” He laughed, shaking his head. “She asked about my British acting skills and my ability to mask my powers. Intrigued and willing to repay her in any way I could, I followed her instructions. I moved to England under an assumed name and fraudulent credentials. I published an advertisement for a job in New York City, and I learned a disguising spell to hide my Irish accent, to create the illusion of a perfect gentleman’s man. It didn’t take long for Viggo to find me. His last butler met an untimely death.” Leo grimaced. “Or timely, for Sofie’s sake.”
I shuddered, hoping Sofie had nothing to do with it but not feeling overly confident.
“I entered their home just after Viggo killed your mother.”
That stabbed at my heart. Since learning the truth of my mother’s death—that Viggo had murdered her—I could not think about my mother without seeing the haunting image Max had shown me of Viggo leaning over her broken body. It was etched in my mind, just as Caden’s bloody eyes now were. A giant wet nose nuzzled against my ear. Max, comforting me. I gave his head an affectionate scratch.
Leo continued. “At first I knew nothing about you, about the spell, or the venom issue. But slowly, as Sofie learned to trust me, as I began feeding her bits of information and described strange happenings that I heard of with my ear to the ground, she confided in me.” He gave me a gentle smile that pulled at the wrinkled skin around his mouth. “By the time you stepped out of Viggo’s private jet, I knew you quite well.” Returning his gaze to the window, he paused, his mind drifting. “Maeve and I were never able to have children. She was in her forties when we married. We tried, but it never took.” Just as quickly, he drifted back into our conversation. “Planting me in there was brilliant on Sofie’s part. Unfortunately I knew nothing about Ursula. Viggo kept that one close to his unbeating heart.”
“I don’t know how Sofie keeps up with all these schemes of hers,” I muttered, feeling a twinge of envy over her brilliance. “I mean . . . this place!” I wished I had a hundredth of her cunning. She had designed an escape route for every escape route of every situation, even the most wild and unplanned.
Leo’s arms unfolded to punctuate his words with movement. “Oh, you don’t know the half of it! The cost and complexity of building this place up here? Creating a fully self-sufficient cabin on undiscovered land? It has taken ten years and countless helicopter crews. She compelled every single builder, supplier, bookkeeper—anyone at all—so as not to risk a trail here for Viggo or Mortimer to follow. There is nothing that woman hasn’t thought of regarding your safety, I can promise you that.” His declaration allowed me a large sigh of relief; I had a maternal vampiress watching over me.
But then those pulsating red eyes pushed into my memory and my chest tightened. “Leo, will my friends ever be normal again?”
Leo approached slowly and stopped next to my bed. “They were never normal, Evangeline. They’re vampires.” He paused. “I could help you forget them, if you wanted. But my magic isn’t like a vampire’s compulsion. I wouldn’t be able to isolate specifics. I’d likely wipe out the past month completely. You might not even remember them.”
“No!” I exclaimed, more a shout in the dead silence of the night. Not remember them? Forget the angelic ring of Amelie’s giggles? Forget the shivers that ran through my body every time Caden gazed in my direction? Forget that all-consuming warmth of love? Never. I modulated my voice. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want to forget what’s happened.”
Leo smiled. “That’s good, because I might accidentally lobotomize you.” He placed his hand on my forehead and said somberly, “You need your rest, Evangeline.”
I groaned. “I’m trying, but I can’t. Every time I close my eyes, I see . . . ” My words became garbled as a feeling of calm and peace washed over me; my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.
“Go to sleep now, my dear girl,” Leo murmured distantly, following that with a low chant. He was casting a spell, I realized. I didn’t care; the sound of his voice welcomed, soothed. I felt the lightest peck on my forehead just before I drifted off, meadows and children’s laughter replacing the image of Caden’s burning eyes.