Waters of Oblivion

Chapter 13.2: The Revelation

She flinched. "What are these?"

"Your friend can go back to her home now. All's been taken care of," he said.

She took the keys, but deliberately avoided Max's touch. "Really? That's great. Noor's going to be very happy when I give her these. What caused this mess, anyway? Was it just a mix-up?"

He slowly shook his head. "There's a fine line between innocence and naiveté, but frankly, neither suits you," he said.

She crossed her arms. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're going to have to ask Miss Hamad that yourself," he said matter-of-factly, just as Gabe's car pulled up to the curb.

Reine tried to momentarily ignore the newcomer. "Is that why you've had Mal spend every waking minute with her lately?"

"Well, I can't deny that's been rather convenient, but that wasn't my doing. He's chosen to do that himself. By the way, Amara wanted me to tell you she says 'hi'."

Reine felt bittersweet emotion at hearing the little girl's name. They had spent many hours together over the few days she was at Max's mansion, but she left Amara just as quickly as she'd arrived.

She sighed. "How is she?"

"She misses you. We all do."

Reine gasped, taken aback by the admission. Her eyes, however, darted to the figure still sitting in the parked car.

"Well, thank you again for the news. And for sorting everything out." She tried to urge Max's departure. The last thing she wanted was any type of confrontation between the two men. Remembering the way they last parted, she had no idea how that would end.

But Max wasn't ready to leave.

"There is a reason that I came personally," he began, answering an unspoken question she first had when he appeared on her doorstep. "I haven't been totally truthful with you, Reine."

The words made her furrow her brows, and she silently waited for him to continue.

"The thing is . . . I didn't send Sylvana away from my house just so she wouldn't be in our way. It was because that morning, I found out she did something unimaginable." He paused and she held her breath for him to continue. "She's the one who hurt you, Reine. She was supposed to just keep an eye on you, but I guess her jealousy was already manifesting."

"So she's the reason I died?" Reine shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "What did she do to me?"

"I don't know. That, she didn't divulge." Max leaned one arm on the door frame. "Apparently Mal left you two alone, so he didn't have a clue about what was happening. From the way you reacted to the reawakening, it could very well have been a Romani curse."

"You're kidding. You think I've been cursed? Is that why everyone tiptoes around her? They're afraid of . . . of gypsy witchcraft?" She almost laughed at how absurd it all sounded. "If she's so dangerous, why did you just let her go and why for God's sake didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"I didn't just let her go. Not without making arrangements, at any rate."

"What sort of arrangements?" she asked.

He straightened up again and stuck his hands in his pockets. "She's been reported to the confraternity's Council. The members meet once a month, but they couldn't take her case immediately. She's scheduled for a hearing in May, though."

Reine scoffed. "And you expected her to just be a good girl and turn herself in to your little immortal panel of arbiters?"

"That's usually how it happens, yes." He nodded. "There's a certain code of conduct among immortals the majority freely follow. Most don't want to risk avoiding their due judgment because sooner or later, they'll run into one of us, and it'll all catch up with them. And the punishment for that is much more severe than if they had just accepted their fate from the beginning."