been taken up for the young women on the thrones to handle, heft, examine, and discuss, a warm-eyed dark-skinned woman came to Elena's group. "You may approach Their High Judgments now.
And,"she added in a voice as soft as the stroke of a dragonfly's wing, "they are very, very impressed. That doesn't often happen. Speak meekly and keep your heads low and I think you shal have your hearts'desires."
Something inside Elena gave a bound that would have sent her leaping to clutch at the retreating attendant's robe, but fortunately Stefan had her in an embrace of iron. Bonnie's head came off Elena's shoulder, and Elena had to restrain her, in turn.
They walked, the very portrait of meekness, to where four scarlet cushions blazed against the golden weave of the floor cloth. Once, Elena would have refused to abase herself.
Now, she was thankful for a soft resting place for her knees.
This close, she could see that the rulers each wore a circlet of some metal, from which a single stone hung on to her forehead.
"We have considered your petition,"the dark one said, her white-gold circlet with its diamond pendant dazzling Elena with pinpricks of lilac and red and royal blue. "Oh, yes,"she added, laughing. "We know what you want. Even a Guardian on the street would have to be very bad at her job not to know. You want your town...renewed. The burned buildings rebuilt. The victims of the malach pestilence re-created, their souls swathed again in flesh, and their memories - "
"But, first,"interrupted the fair one, waving a hand, "don't we have business at hand? This girl - Elena Gilbert - may not be eligible to be a spokesman for her group. If she becomes a Guardian, she doesn't belong with the petitioners."
The redhead tossed her head like an impatient fil y, causing the rose gold of her circlet to flash, and its ruby to shimmer.
"Oh, go on then, Ryannen. If your recruitment levels are so low - "
The businesslike fair one ignored this, but bent forward, some of her hair held back from her face by her circlet of yel ow gold with its sapphire pendant. "What about it, Elena?
I know our first encounter was - unfortunate. You must believe that I am sorry for that. But you were well on your way to becoming a ful Guardian when we had orders from Above to weave you into a new body so that you could take up your life as a human again."
"You did that? Of course you did."Elena's voice was soft and low and flattering. "You can do anything. But - our first encounter? I don't remember - "
"You were too young, and you saw just a flash of our air car as it passed your parents'vehicle. It was meant to be a minor accident with one apparent casualty - you. But instead..."
Bonnie's hands flew to her mouth. She was clearly getting something Elena wasn't. Her parents'"vehicle"...? The last time she'd driven with her father and mother - and little Margaret - had been the day of the crash. The day she'd distracted her father, who'd been driving...
"Look, Daddy! Look at the pretty - "
And then had come the impact.
Elena forgot about being meek and keeping her head low. In fact, she raised her head, and met gold-splattered blue eyes very much like hers. Her own gaze, she knew, was piercing and hard.
"You... killed my parents?"she whispered.
"No, no!"the dark one cried. "It was an operation gone sour.
We only had to intersect with the Earth dimension for a few minutes. But, quite unexpectedly, your talent flared. You saw our air car. Instead of a crash with only one apparent casualty: you, your father turned to look and..."Slowly her voice trailed off as Elena's turned unbelieving eyes on her.
Bonnie was staring sightlessly into the distance, almost as if she were in trance. "Shinichi,"she breathed. "That weird riddle of his - or whatever it was. That one of us had murdered, and that it was nothing to do with being a vampire or a mercy kil ing..."
"I'd always assumed it was me,"Stefan said quietly. "My mother never real y recovered after my birth. She died."
"But that doesn't make you a murderer!"Elena cried. "Not like me. Not like me! "
"Well, that was why I was asking you now,"the businesslike blond woman said. "It was a flawed mission, but you understand that we were only trying to recruit you, yes? It's the traditional method. Our genes have honed us to be the best at