The Engagement

“Shh, Eve,” Gabrielle whispered to the little baby in her arms. She jogged her gently, standing behind a low wall which edged out onto the jetty. “Quiet, honey. Mama’s working.”

The port had been thriving and filled with people when they’d arrived a few hours before. Now it was completely deserted. Understandable, Gabrielle thought ruefully, considering the large spell which had exploded as soon as they’d set foot on the jetty. It had destroyed most of the shops which stood by the port – either shrinking them rapidly, leaving people screaming and running as walls closed in upon them, or turning them into crumbling sandcastles – and had transformed the ships on the water into plastic toys.

The place had emptied almost immediately. So now Xena stood alone on the wooden dock, facing the woman who’d set off the spell.

The strange thing was that it wasn’t a Fiorotti.

Eve murmured again, and Gabrielle pressed her closer. If this woman wasn’t a Fiorotti, she was connected to the family, somehow. Xena had managed to amass a number of enemies in her life, but the scope of the destruction that this spell had caused pointed to old money, and an enormous amount of power. Only the rich and powerful dared to mess with big magic; for some reason they didn’t fear that it would turn on them, the way everyone else did. And there was only one wealthy and powerful family who wanted Xena – and more importantly, Eve – dead. The Fiorotti family.

Gabrielle looked down at the baby in her arms. She was beautiful in every way, from her clear blue eyes to the perfection of her smile. And all they wanted was for her to die . . . it was inconceivable to her. Of course, she knew why – Eve was the only daughter of the late Haero Fiorotti, the heir to the Fiorotti fortune. The family was terrified she’d come one day to claim everything, to take everything from them. Gabrielle snorted. It was rather unlikely that they’d raise this daughter to desire the fortunes of a mafia family.

Xena faced the woman on the dock with no spells or enchantment – she scorned such things – just a curled lip and a ready fist. “Thanks for the welcoming party,” she drawled, “but I can build my own sand-castles.”

“It was a warning,” the woman hissed. “Stay off this island, go back to the mainland – if you value your daughter’s life!”

“And how are we supposed to do that – swim?” Xena rejoined, indicating the plastic boats with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head and laughed. “Leaving the island is the last thing you want us to do. The question is, why? You want the Fiorotti family to follow me here? I’ll give you some free advice – they’re not good for business.”

The woman threw her head back and laughed. Then she moved swiftly forward, a hand raised – but Xena was too quick for her, grabbing her and flipping her over onto her back on the ground.

“You’ll wish you took my advice,” she assured her calmly, then walked off, leaving the woman to pick herself up awkwardly. Gabrielle saw a bruise appearing on the woman’s face, and noticed the furious expression on her face as she stormed off to her bike, parked against a fish store the size of a table.

“Eve’s ok?”

Gabrielle jumped as Xena appeared behind her. “She’s fine. But that woman – she looked pretty angry –“

“Angry?” Xena snorted. “Look at this mess! The place will be swarming with Magicists and petty Enchanters trying to fix it up . . . they may as well start from scratch. Hope they’ve all got insurance.”

“Pity we can’t get any – specifically against Fiorottis,” Gabrielle answered, trying to smile. They made their way over to Xena’s bike, Argo, which they’d wheeled off the boat moments before chaos had been set loose. “Hey! We don’t need insurance – and we don’t need to worry,” Xena told her sternly. “This kind of over-the-top magic? It’s all for show.” She shook her head. “It would’ve cost a bomb, too. Don’t they know it’s going to all fall back on top of them?”

“Maybe they don’t – or maybe they just don’t care –“

They fastened Eve carefully into the sidecar, and then slid onto the bike, skirting the worst of the damage and driving through the streets of the coastal town. It was a tiny island, with only one town, whose main industry was fishing. Most people had lived there for generations. Xena knew every inch of the place, because it was where she’d been born.

“Wonderful!” Xena’s mother was already outside her tavern waiting for her when they pulled up. “Not only do you neglect to show me my only grandchild until she’s five months old, but when you do you manage to collapse half the town’s industry with you!” “Mama!” Xena complained as she was grabbed by her ear and pulled towards the door. “It wasn’t my fault!”

“Gabrielle! And – oh is this Eve? Hello, beautiful girl!” The baby was scooped up and her face was plastered with kisses. Xena rubbed at her ear ruefully. She knew her mother wasn’t impressed that she’d got herself pregnant out of wedlock, even if beautiful Eve had come about from the union. She wondered how her mother would feel about the whole Fiorotti family wanting them dead, and concluded that she wouldn’t be too happy. It was time she knew, though. It looked as though the family were stepping things up.

Xena woke early the next morning, just as her baby began to stir in the cot beside her. She sat up, and lifted the child into her arms, walking with her to the window which looked out onto the street below. This had been her room as a girl . . . she had looked out onto the street below and dreamed all sorts of impossible dreams. Strange to think that her life had turned out even more incredible than her dreams.

She could see the sea from her window, the port and the streets which led to the beach. As she’d predicted, the docks were bustling with Magicists, trying to fix the worst of the damage done by the spell. And as she’d imagined, their meddlings were creating more problems than solutions. Some of the sandcastles were now solid stone, or melting piles of ice-cream. When it came to a big expensive enchantment like that, there were always a thousand hidden booby-traps woven in with it.

A few police officers were down there too, their curved swords glinting in the sun. An investigation would be held, and if any magic remained in the air, they’d try to source it. Xena wished them luck.

Eve began to make her wants known a little more clearly, and Xena sat back down on her bed, lifting the child to her breast. She trailed a finger down her baby’s soft cheek, watching her little face as she nuzzled. Nothing would touch her. Nothing.

There was a light tap at the door, and Xena looked up as Gabrielle entered.

“Hey – sleep well?”

Xena grinned. “Here? I had nightmares about all the wicked things I did to my mother, and the ways she used to punish me . . .”

Gabrielle laughed softly before settling herself down on the bed. “I bet you deserved every punishment you got!”

“I did,” Xena smiled, “and a lot more that I didn’t get, too.”

Eve lifted her head and looked over at Gabrielle before returning to her meal.

“Xena – how long are you planning to stay here?”

Xena stilled. “Why?”

Gabrielle sighed. “You know why.”

Because Ares has his largest villa on this island, and is probably in residence there over the summer? The thought came into Xena’s mind, but before she could speak it, she realised that Gabrielle had no reason to fear Ares as she did. After all she’d never told her about the dream-spell.

“You mean I’m bringing trouble down onto my mother,” she said quietly.

Gabrielle nodded.

“I don’t know which is worse – staying here and possibly bringing further trouble, or leaving her alone,” Xena admitted. “What I’d like to do is to ask her to leave this place, to go and visit with her sister for a while. The tavern could run itself, her workers have been here longer than I have. But it’ll be a job convincing her.”

“I can see that,” Gabrielle agreed. She got up. “I’ll see you down in a bit, for your own breakfast.”

Xena watched Gabrielle leave, then sighed. She hated keeping secrets from her best friend, but somehow they were mounting. She’d told her long ago about her previous relationship with Ares – one of the leading members of the Fiorotti family, and the brother of Haero, Eve’s father. But she hadn’t told her how often she’d been seeing him recently. That he’d come to her and warned her about what the Fiorottis were doing, several times. That he’d admitted his jealousy, that he’d wanted Eve to be his daughter, not Haero’s . . . that he’d told her that he loved her.

Which was crazy, of course. But nothing the Fiorottis did made sense.

She lifted Eve up and burped her, before moving over to the window again. Squinting against the bright morning light, she looked down at the docks and the beach.

It was hard to see, but she was pretty sure that the Magicists and local fisherfolk were being watched over by a man on a pitch-black Harley.

Ares.

“Leave? Don’t be ridiculous, Xena,” Cyrene snapped. “It’s our busiest time here, you know, and I couldn’t just up and go!”

“Mama, this wouldn’t just be a visit – a holiday,” Xena told her gently. “It would be for your safety. That spell was just the beginning. They’re going to target the whole island, because of me. If you’re not here, then –“

“Then they’ll find out where I am and target that place instead,” her mother countered briskly. “Why should I run and hide?” She looked around at the locals sitting at their tables and enjoying breakfast. “Why should any of us? What right do they have, to come here and make our life a misery because of their own fears?”

“That isn’t the point, Mama –“ Xena began, a little exasperated.

“Yes, it is,” Cyrene rejoined, patting her daughter’s hand. “We’ll go on, as we’ve always done, and if we have to file a few more insurance policies and hire a few more Magicists, so be it. They’re not moving us.”

There was a low cheer at her pronouncement. Obviously the locals had been waiting to hear what she said about it all. Cyrene flushed slightly, and tossed her hair back. “As you can see, we’re all in agreement . . .”

“All?” Xena froze, then looked up slowly. She hadn’t mistook those low, cultured tones. It was Athena. The beautiful girl who had spent her summers on the island, up at the villa with Ares and her other brothers and sisters. She’d grown up to be a beautiful woman. And she was every inch a Fiorotti.

“Athena,” Xena acknowledged her, quietly rising.

“Xena.” There was no scorn, not the look of distaste Xena usually received from a Fiorotti – they usually looked at her as though she were a cross between a prostitute and a petty thief. Athena had always dealt well with the locals, and she’d been spoken of well, too. She had never looked down on them, never mocked or insulted them as many of her brothers and sisters had. They’d respected her. Xena had respected her.

“Are you quite sure everyone is in agreement, Cyrene?” Athena asked. “Certainly you have some loyalty to your – daughter, but not everyone feels so kindly towards her.”

Of course they didn’t, considering that Xena had taken up with the pirates rather than the fisherfolk as soon as she’d come of age. It hadn’t exactly endeared her to the locals.

“They may not love Xena as I do, but not one of them wants harm done to an innocent baby,” Cyrene snapped, standing her ground.

Athena laughed. “Harm? Of course not! What wild tales have you heard about us all?”

“You mean the wild tales about setting a price on Eve’s head?” Xena returned, her lip curling. “Or the crazy stories of turning the docks into sand?”

“That was a mistake.”

Xena smiled sweetly. “Oh yes it was.”

Athena turned back to Cyrene, and those around her. Xena realised Athena did very well with an audience. She had a glow about her; not a gaze left her. “Haero was our brother. We simply want to bring up his daughter in a manner fitting a Fiorotti. We feel our family has a claim on the child – and we could certainly give her far more opportunities, more stability, than Xena. After all, Xena, you have no home, no job, nothing. What on earth can you offer her?”

Xena stared, speechless. She hadn’t anticipated this – hadn’t even guessed at this change in tactics.

“Love.”

“What?” Athena turned swiftly and stared at Gabrielle, standing by the stair.

“You asked what Xena could offer her own daughter, her flesh and her blood. Her own child. She can give her something that your family doesn’t understand, doesn’t even guess at its existence. Love. Your money can’t buy it, and your spells can’t create it. Xena is rich with it. And Eve is surrounded by it, not only her mother’s love, but my love, Cyrene’s love. She has enough family, Athena – she doesn’t need yours.”

Gabrielle’s voice was powerful, and Xena was reminded that she had studied to be a poet. Every eye in the place rested on her, and the people nodded. Athena looked around, at a loss for the first time – for the first time ever, Xena thought.

“Love won’t buy bread, won’t pay for her school, won’t clothe her. You’ll need more than love when you’re on the street trying to get shelter for the night . . .”

The spell was broken, however. People turned back to their own conversations, and the sound of their voices muffled her speech. She had no choice but to turn back and leave the place, followed by their laughter, the noise of their idle talk.

“Gabrielle!”

Xena found her friend and wrapped her arms around her in a swift hug. “Thank you.”

“So they’ve followed us here?”

“Maybe.” Xena replied, and then told her friend about Ares’ villa. Gabrielle stared at her incredulously.

“You never said!” she uttered. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of – appealing to him, or something!”

“Of course not!” Xena snapped. “It’s coincidence, nothing else.” She jogged Eve in her arms. “It’s got to end, though. But I don’t think it will end here.”

“It’s got to end, Ares. I want it to end here.”

“And you’ve come to me because?”

It was the amusement in Ares’ voice which irritated Xena. She’d finally left Eve with her mother and taken Argo up to the villa, letting herself in – the tigers which roamed around the garden always left her alone – and surprising Ares in the open fencing hall.

Before she’d said a word she’d challenged him to a fight, the kind of fights they’d got into years ago. She’d grabbed a rapier from the wall and had held it against his throat – he’d flipped over her and grabbed its mate, taking up the challenge.

She hadn’t held back. They’d fought, slashing at one another, tearing drapes and smashing priceless vases, jumping down flights of stone stairs, crashing through the huge glass windows onto the lawn below, leaping from fountain to statue. He’d ended up on his back with his sword stuck in a tree ten feet up; she’d found herself soaked in a pond, the rapier somewhere beneath the water-lilies. They had no idea who won.

A little later she faced him, her soaked hair bundled up and a borrowed robe around her. She would have felt at a loss except that she knew that she disconcerted him more partly-dressed than in her full armour. She could tell he was unsettled by the way he shifted around. He held out an absent hand to a tiger who approached him, sniffing, then left.

“You’re my way into the Fiorotti family,” Xena told him bluntly. “I want you to get them off my back. “

“And I want you –“ Ares murmured, but Xena growled. “Look, it’s their amassed fortunes at stake here – their very existence. A word from me won’t do it.”

Xena noted that he did not say “our” but said nothing.

“And why should I? What would I get out of it?”

“Turn against your family – work with me to get them to stop hunting Eve.” Xena stepped forward. “And you can have me.”

Ares choked.

Xena waited, her head cocked, her expression patient.

“I – what?”

“You told me you –“ she faltered a little “that you wanted Eve to be your daughter. Well, she can be your daughter. Our daughter. Forget Haero’s paternity, think about yours.”

“You mean you’d marry me?” Ares’ expression was incredulous. “I – you’d –“

His utter shock was almost funny. But then he calmed himself.

“Well, it would work. If she was mine, and not Haero’s, she’d stop being the threat she is to the family. It’s a good plan.” Then he looked at her squarely. “So, what’s in it for me?”

Xena laughed a little. “Come on, Ares –“

“Well?”

She met his eyes. “I am. I’d be yours. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted – for a long, long time?”

Just then it felt as though it had been forever, for a hundred thousand years, that he’d been wanting her. And just then the idea of allowing him what he wanted felt something like a heavy burden falling to the ground. In that instant she wondered why she’d been carrying it around for so long.

His eyes narrowed, and she remembered why. Because she couldn’t trust him.

“A clever plan – but I don’t think so, Xena.”

Her mouth fell open; she felt as though someone had dashed a glass of very cold water in her face.

“What?” she uttered incredulously.

“You see, I know you. You’ve got some plan here, so it will work out for you, while leaving me to pick up the pieces with my family and with my h-“ He stopped. “Anyway.”

He rose as a servant entered, carrying Xena’s now-dry clothing.

“I’ll leave you to dress. Avoid the watercourse on your way out – the crocodiles arrived this morning.”

“That complete bastard!” Gabrielle fumed, pacing the floor. Then she turned to Xena. “And you idiot! What kind of plan was that?”

Xena shrugged. “It just came to me.”

“Well, hopefully something would’ve come to you when you realised what kind of power Ares would have had over Eve if you’d gone through with it! I mean, I know that you –“ she looked slightly embarrassed – “have had feelings for him in the past, but marriage is a little drastic, don’t you think?”

Xena shrugged again, feeling a little foolish. “Yes, I suppose so.” Especially considering he was able to turn her down so easily. She hadn’t thought that. She hadn’t thought he’d be able to turn her down at all.

She tried not to allow the humiliation to turn into anger, but it was difficult, with Gabrielle raging, muttering abuse alternately at herself then at Ares. She was an idiot, and he was a bastard. She’d got that right.

“Maybe we can use this to our advantage,” she said suddenly.

“What?” Gabrielle asked suspiciously.

“Well – Ares will assume I’ve come back and told you, and that you’d be livid. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if you went up there and warned him to stay away from me or he’d have to face you!”

Gabrielle laughed reluctantly. “That does sound like me.”

“And maybe he’d decide he’d been a bit hasty, then. That I didn’t have a plan, that I was serious about it all.” Xena ignored that slight ache about her heart. “A very, very long engagement would give us plenty of time to amass strength against the Fiorottis . . . .”

A slow smile overcame Gabrielle’s face. “That’s brilliant!”

It was deceptive and it would be effective – a plan that Ares would be very proud of, Xena thought. Something didn’t feel right, but she ignored the thought. When it came to Eve, she could not compromise.

Although when Gabrielle came back the next day and reported on the conversation she had had with him, she considered dropping the whole thing. She’d used the word love. As though it had been obvious to her what Ares really wanted . . .

It was ridiculous, though.

She told herself that as she made her way back to the fencing hall where she had met him the previous day. Even if he hadn’t been a Fiorotti, and therefore genetically incapable of love, it would have been absurd. He’d plagued her, for years and years. He’d set up wicked schemes to destroy her. There was nothing in him vulnerable enough to love. She knew that. Knew it.

“What do you want?”

He was there before her, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, polishing a curved scimitar.

“I –“ she faltered. “I came to return –“ She stared at him. “What’s up?”

He nodded his head towards the atrium. “Family stuff. The police caught up with Athena’s girlfriend, they’ve got evidence that she did the docks the other day, that it was her spell. Athena wants to take the fall.” Ares laughed bitterly. “As though the family would allow that.”

Xena shook her head slowly. “Athena? Wants to –“

Ares laughed again. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Unbelievable, isn’t it?”

Xena shivered. She couldn’t let it mean anything. She had a plan, and, like Ares said, there was no way the family would let anything fall. She would not let Eve be taken from her grasp.

She moved closer and knelt beside him, in the centre of the room. He didn’t look up, but she could see a small muscle in his neck jerk. He knew how close she was.

She laid a hand on the scimitar and pushed it away, then lifted up his chin.

“Unbelievable.” It could have only been a moment that their eyes met; there was no way it could have been a thousand years. Then their mouths met with such force that Xena felt her lower lip swell and bleed.

At first it was as wild as she had imagined, his hands gripping her tightly, his body pressed hard against hers. But then he slowed, and his hand moved around her head to free her bundle of hair, and she felt her breath catch, as though something very beautiful or sad was before her eyes. She could not allow herself to see it; she squeezed her eyes closed and moved to kiss him again. This time he was so gentle that she forgot everything entirely except the taste of his lips, his thumb caressing her cheek, his hand behind her head caught in the tangle of her dark hair.

A sound made her pull back, gasping, and she stared at him. “Marry me.”

“Yes,” he murmured back, “yes, come here –“

It was done, then.

“Ares!”

She waited a moment longer before removing herself from his arms and getting up. Ares rolled his eyes and looked up at his sister. “Yes, Athena?”

“Did I just hear –“

“That’s what happens when you don’t knock,” he replied sarcastically. “Yeah, you heard. I’m marrying her. Which means Eve is my daughter, so you can call off the assassins. You don’t want to mess with my kid, do you?”

Athena stared at him. “I can’t believe this. You’ve been manipulated into saving Xena’s child and you’re so whipped you can’t even see it.”

“Oh, that’s not nice,” Ares hissed, and leapt up. The scimitar was in his hand.

“What – you can’t face the truth? That Xena set up Illainus to take the fall, at exactly the right time? And now she’s going to do the same to you – you’re so blind, Ares!”

Ares advanced, but suddenly a sabre leapt from the wall and into Athena’s hand.

“You’ll fight me, will you? You can’t win, because you’re thinking with your codpiece as usual. Xena, marry you? You’re her worst enemy!”

Steel clashed against steel, but Xena didn’t bother watching the fight. She slipped away, the sounds of battle echoing in her ears.

Gabrielle met her outside the gate.

“We did it!” She wrapped an arm exultantly about her friend. “I saw the police taking Ilainus away, after that tip-off you gave them –“

“Yeah, we did it.” Suddenly Xena felt tired, bone-weary.

“And it looks as though Ares is distracted . . . now’s the time to catch a ship out of here.”

She grimaced a little at the thought of getting back onto a boat again. “Ready?”

They walked back down to the tavern, retrieving Eve and loading Argo with their bags.

“This visit was too short – although long enough for you to get into trouble, as usual,” Cyrene complained, handing over Eve reluctantly. “What’s this I hear about you and Ares? There are other Fiorottis out there, you know, like Apollo, Hermes – the kind that don’t accidentally set off volcanoes and tidal waves . . .”

“That was just a rumour, Mama,” Xena argued, then wondered why she was bothering. “Vesuvius would’ve gone off anyway.”

Gabrielle eyed her a little strangely, but said nothing.

“Well, don’t let it be too long before your next visit,” Cyrene said finally, embracing the pair of them. “Is that your ship? You’d best go or you’ll miss it, won’t you?”

Argo roared off down the street; they just made it onto their ship before the gangplank was removed. Gabrielle took charge of Eve while Xena supervised Argo’s transportation into the hold. When Xena returned, she saw Gabrielle looking very thoughtful.

“Xena, did I miss something, or did you actually get engaged to Ares back there?”

Xena hesitated.

“He bought it, yeah. That’s why we were able to get out of there so easily,” she said shortly.

Gabrielle stared at her. “But Xena – he thinks you’re going to be his wife, that Eve’s going to be his child! You realise he’s going to come after us now?” Then she stopped. “Oh.”

“What?”

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“I –“ Xena stilled. That’s what you want. “It doesn’t have to be real.”

Gabrielle looked at her carefully, then gave her Eve. “I’ve got to go lie down.” Then she paused. “You need to work out what you’re going to say to him.”

She left hastily to find their cabin, biting her cheek to stave off nausea. Xena stayed where she was, allowing herself to be rocked by the sea, allowing her child to be rocked into sleep by the motion of the ship on the sea.

They’d got engaged. Well, that had been the plan, hadn’t it? Except she hadn’t thought it to be real until she’d seen his face, that last time. And now, he’d either realise what she’d done and wash his hands of her, or –

Gabrielle was right. He’d come after them, and she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t thought of the possibility. But she’d never even considered that she might want it to happen.

A soft wind blew around her, and filled the sails of the ship. The next morning they’d arrive on the mainland. He might be waiting for them there. She might know what to say to him, then. If he was there.

She knew he’d be there.

...h.o.m.e...
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