Нора Робертс - Key of Knowledge

“I said I was grateful,”Zoe shot back, then took a deep breath. “Im sorry,” she said to the room in general. “Its been one of those days. And Im nervous on top of it. I hope I havent held anything up.”

“Not at all.” Rowena brushed a hand over her shoulder as a servant came to the archway and announced dinner. “There, you see? Right on time.”

* * *

IT wasnt every day you ate rack of lamb in a castle on a mountaintop inPennsylvania . The fact that the dining room had twelve-foot ceilings, a trio of chandeliers sparkling with white and red crystal drops, and a ruby granite fireplace big enough to hold the population ofRhode Island certainly added to the perks.

The atmosphere should have been intimidating and formal, yet it was welcoming. Not the sort of place youd chow down on pepperoni pizza, Dana reflected, but a nice ambience for sharing an exquisitely prepared meal with interesting people.

Conversation flowed—travel, books, business. It showed Dana the power of their hosts. It wasnt the norm for a librarian from a small valley town to sit around and break bread with a couple of Celtic gods, but Rowena andPitte made it seem normal.

And what was to come, the next step in the quest, was a subject no one broached.

Because she was seated between Brad and Jordan, Dana angled herself toward Brad and spent as much of the meal as possible ignoring her other dinner partner.

“What did you do to makeZoe mad?”

Brad flicked a glance across the table. “Apparently, I breathed.”

“Come on.” Dana gave him a little elbow poke. “Zoesnot like that. What did you do? Did you hit on her?”

“I did not hit on her.” Years of training kept his voice low, but the acid in it was still evident. “Maybe it annoyed her that I refused to muck around in her engine, and wouldnt let her muck around in it either, as we were both dressed for dinner and were already running late.”

Danas eyebrows rose. “Well, well. Seems she got your back up, too.”

“I dont care to be called high-handed and bossy just because I point out the obvious.”

Now she smiled, leaned over and pinched his cheek. “But, honey, you are high-handed and bossy. Thats why I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” But his lips twitched. “Then how come weve never had wild and crazy sex?”

“I dont know. Let me get back to you on that.” She speared another bite of lamb. “Guess youve been to a lot of snazzy dinners like this, in snazzy places like this.”

“There is no other place like this.”

It was easy for her to forget that her buddy Brad was Bradley Charles Vane IV, heir apparent to a lumber empire that had built one of the countrys largest and most accessible home improvement and supply chains,HomeMakers .

But seeing how smoothly he slid into this sort of sophisticated atmosphere reminded her that he was a great deal more than just the hometown boy.

“Didnt your dad buy some big castle place inScotland a few years back?”

“Manor house,Cornwall . And, yeah, its pretty incredible. Shes not eating much,” he murmured and gave a little nod towardZoe .

“Shes just nervous. Me too,” Dana added, then cut another bite of lamb. “But nothing kills my appetite.” She heardJordan laugh, and the deep male sound of it cruised along her skin. Deliberately, she ate the lamb. “Absolutely nothing.”

* * *

SHE was spending most of her time ignoring him, and taking swipes with whatever time she had left over. That,Jordan thought, was Danas usual pattern when it came to him.

He should be used to it.

So the fact that it bothered him so much was his problem. Just as finding a way to make them friends again was his mission.

Theyd once been friends. And a great deal more. The fact that they werent now was his fault, and he would take the rap for it. But just how long was a man supposed to pay for ending a relationship? Wasnt there a statute of limitations?

She looked incredible, he decided as they gathered back in the parlor for coffee and brandy. But then, hed always liked her looks, even when shed been a kid, too tall for her age and with thatpudge of baby fat still in her cheeks.

There was no baby fat in evidence now. Anywhere. Just curves, a lot of gorgeous curves.

Shed done something to her hair, he realized, some girl thing that added mysterious light to that dense brown. It made her eyes seem darker, deeper. God, how many times had he felt himself drowning in those rich chocolate eyes?

Hadnt he been entitled to come up for air?

In any case, hed meant what hed said to her before. He was back now, and she was just going to have to get used to it. Just as she would have to get used to the fact that he was part of this tangle shed gotten herself into.

She was going to have to deal with him. And it would be his pleasure to make sure she had to deal with him as often as possible.

Rowena rose. There was something in the movement, in the look of her, that tickled something at the edge ofJordan s memory. Then she stepped forward, smiled, and the moment passed.

“If youre ready, we should begin. I think its more suitable if we continue this in the other parlor.“

“Im ready.” Dana got to her feet, then looked atZoe . “You?”

“Yeah.” Though she paled a bit,Zoe clasped hands with Dana. “The first time, all I could think was dont let me be first. Now I just dont know.”

“Me either.”

They moved down the great hall to the next parlor. It didnt help to brace himself,Jordan knew. The portrait swamped him, as it had the first time hed seen it.

The colors, the sheer brilliance of them, the joy and beauty of subject and execution. And the shock of seeing Danas body, Danas face—Danas eyes looking back at him from the canvas.

The Daughters of Glass.

They had names, and he knew them now.Niniane ,Venora ,Kyna . But when he looked at the portrait, he saw them, thought of them as Dana, Malory, andZoe .

The world around them was a glory of sunlight and flowers.

Malory, dressed in a gown of lapis blue, with her rich gold curls spilling nearly to her waist, held a lap harp.Zoe stood, slim and straight in her shimmering green dress, a puppy in her arms, a sword at her hip. Dana, her dark eyes lit with laughter, was gowned in fiery red. She was seated and held a scroll and quill.

They were a unit in that moment of time, in that jewel-bright world behind the Curtain of Dreams. But it was only a moment, and even then the end was lurking.

In the deep green of the forest, the shadow of a man. On the silver tiles, the sinuous glide of a snake.

Far in the background, under the graceful branches of a tree, lovers embraced. Teacher and guard, too wrapped up in each other to sense the danger to their charges.

And cannily, cleverly hidden in the painting, the three keys. One in the shape of a bird that winged its way through the impossibly blue sky, another reflecting in the water of the fountain behind the daughters, and the third secreted among the branches of the forest.

He knew Rowena had painted it from memory—and that her memory was long.

And he knew from what Malory had discovered and experienced, that moments after this slice of time, the souls of the daughters had been stolen and locked away in a box of glass.

Pittelifted a carved box, opened the lid. “Inside are two disks, one with the emblem of the key. Whoever chooses the scribed disk is charged to find the second key.”

“Like last time, okay?”Zoe gave Danas hand a hard squeeze. “We look together.”

“Okay.” Dana took a slow breath as Malory stepped up, laid a hand on her shoulder, thenZoes . “Want to go first?”

“Gosh. I guess.” Closing her eyes,Zoe reached into the box, closed her hand over a disk.

With her eyes open and on the portrait, Dana took the one that remained.

Then each held her disk out.

“Well.”Zoe stared at her disk, at Danas. “Looks like Im running the anchor lap.”

Dana ran her thumb over the key carved in her disk. It was a small thing, that key, a straight bar with a spiral design on one end. It looked simple, but shed seen the real thing—shed seen the first key in Malorys hand, burning with gold, and knew it wasnt simple at all.

“Okay, Im up.” She wanted to sit, but locked her shaky knees instead. Four weeks, she thought. She had four weeks from new moon to new moon to do if not the impossible at least the fantastic.

“I get a clue, right?”

“You do.” Rowena took up a sheet of parchment and read:

“You know the past and seek the future. What was, what is, what will be are woven into the tapestry of all life. With beauty there is blight, with knowledge, ignorance, and with valor there is cowardice. One is lessened without its opposite.

“To know the key, the mind must recognize the heart, and the heart celebrate the mind. Find your truth in his lies, and what is real within the fantasy.

“Where one goddess walks, another waits, and dreams are only memories yet to come.”

Dana picked up a snifter of brandy, drank deep to untie the knots in her belly. “Piece of cake,” she said.

McDONALDSintroduced the Big Mac in 1968.” Dana swiveled lazily in her chair at the librarys resource desk. “Yes, Mr. Hertz, Im positive. The Big Mac went system-wide in 68, not 69, so youve had a year more of the secret sauce than you thought. Looks like Mr. Foy got you on this one, huh?” She laughed, shook her head. “Better luck tomorrow.”

She hung up the phone and crossed the Hertz/Foy daily bet off her list, then meticulously noted todays winner on the tally sheet she kept.