Edinburgh
Present Day
The setting sun dodged in and out of the clouds, raking light across Edinburgh Castle and the historic buildings of the city’s Old Town. Henrietta de Court was enjoying high tea in the Balmoral Hotel on Princes Street, at a table with a clear view across the Royal Gardens to the National Gallery of Scotland where, according to her man on the inside, the handsome and enigmatic Orion agent, Vaughn Grant, had sprinted from the gallery three hours ago, torn up a stack of parking tickets stuck to his motorcycle and roared west towards the motorway.
Henrietta expected Vaughn had gone directly to the Abbey before beginning to track her and the tapestry, which at the moment was securely stored in an old cottage she had taken on Auchinmurn.
The morning’s euphoria had left her feeling dangerously giddy. Henrietta was not a woman to laugh lightly, but she smiled now, affording herself the luxury of humour. Although not quite as she had intended, this would be the catalyst for her coup; her seizure of full authority in the Council of Guardians, first in Europe and then across the rest of the world. She had more than enough confidants and collaborators in place, ready to move with speed and aggression at her command, the moment she gave it.
She signalled for the waiter with a sharp snap of her fingers.
‘More tea,’ she instructed. ‘And two additional place settings. I am expecting company.’
The waiter hurried away to do her bidding. Nibbling on a ladyfinger, Henrietta recalled how she had first doubted her son when he suggested his plan to her years ago at an exhibition at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Malcolm’s vision for the Councils was brilliant and with her contacts and abilities she knew they would be unstoppable. It was almost unforgivable that she had let Renard’s weak character influence her view of her son’s and for that she was truly sorry. As a child, Henrietta had worried that Malcolm would grow up to be like his father, lacking any ambition beyond the world of the islands and the limits of the Rules. Certainly Renard never had any indication that Sandie was a mere pawn in their plan for power. She doubted that he was aware of her part in all of this, even today.
Henrietta sighed and sipped her tea. Renard had been a handsome suitor, and such a delight to seduce.
The waiter set two places opposite Henrietta before exchanging her tea for a fresh pot. Once the man left, Henrietta spread strawberry jam on a warm scone, added a dollop of fresh cream and bit into its sweet softness, catching a drop of jam oozing on to her chin with her little finger. Outside, the evening traffic was clogging Princes Street. Her guests were late.
‘Seul le coeur sait ce que le coeur veut.’ It was a favourite expression of Henrietta’s mother. ‘The heart knows what the heart wants.’ Despite the competition from the brooding Vaughn, Sandie had fallen deeply in love with Malcolm. It had made their plan for a union between an Animare and a Guardian almost too easy. And for that union to result in twins, and such powerful ones at that – ça c’était la cerise sur le gâteau! The cherry on the cake.
Of course there had been setbacks over the years – Malcolm’s sudden disappearance the worst one of all. It was a betrayal Henrietta had finally coaxed out of Sir Charles, the conniving mercenary fool. Binding Malcolm was a treachery Renard and Sandie would pay for.
The waiter led her guests to the table. Henrietta licked cream from her fingers, and carefully wiped her hands on her napkin before standing and greeting her fellow conspirators.
‘It is not the way we had planned for our coup to begin,’ she said, picking up the silver teapot and filling her guests’ cups. ‘But the time has finally come.’
‘A toast?’ inquired the handsome, green-eyed man.
‘How delicious,’ said his beautiful dark-haired friend.
‘To our sons and daughters,’ said the man, nodding at Henrietta as he raised his cup.
‘May you never forget imagination is the real and the eternal,’ purred the woman, pushing her long ink-black hair away from her face.
Henrietta smiled at Mara and Tanan and added the final line with flair.
‘This is Hollow Earth.’