A.k.a. Goddess

After we checked out of the Holiday Inn, I rented a little silver Renault Clio. The train didn’t stop at the small town of Lusignan, where Rhys and I were now walking. What had once been a center of power was now a rural town. And the glorious castle—one of many—which the fairy Melusine had supposedly built for her bridegroom in one night…

Long gone. Nothing left but a sunny, public walking path where once the castle had stood, and trees, and an uninterrupted view down to the River Vonne. The castle had been razed for harboring Huguenots, adding to my frustration about finding anything. Whatever the goddess worshippers might have hidden at Château Lusignan was history, thanks to devastation and religious intolerance. Thanks to dark power.

My phone trilled out “Ride of the Valkyries” at the exact wrong time. When I glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Lex, I rolled the call over to voice mail.

Trust me, Lex. You do not want to talk to me right now.

Rhys glanced at me and my phone, then said, “Any goddess cult that worshipped Melusine would have gone underground by the thirteenth century—fourteenth, at the latest. Would they not?”

I fingered a little purple flower beside the path. “Mmmhmm.”

“And Lusignan was torn down, stone by stone, in 1574?”

Over religion. “A tower was torn down later.”

“So what did you expect to find?” asked Rhys.

“Not the chalice,” I admitted, though it would feel right to uncover it here at Melusine Central. “Just…a clue. Something. We have to start somewhere, don’t we?”

He looked around us and murmured, “Three fair figures…”

That was the first line of the nursery rhyme that my family has passed down for generations, seeming nonsense with a hidden meaning—like “Ring around the Rosie” being about the bubonic plague, or “Mary Quite Contrary” being the Queen of Scots. Nursery rhymes rarely attracted the attention of people in power, so they made a great treasure map.

Ours started, “Three fair figures, side by side…” As a child, I’d pictured people; kids are that literal. As a scholar, I knew the “figures” could be anything, standing stones or towers or trees or buildings.

Nothing stood in threes at Lusignan. Not that we could see.

My phone rang again. Lex. This time I just turned it off. My inner good-girl protested that it could be important, it could be an emergency, how could I be so selfish….

AKA the Eve Syndrome, holding ourselves responsible for everything. Ten years ago, before I had a cell phone, I couldn’t have stressed about it. I chose not to this time, either.

Instead, I raised my face to the blue sky, breathing in the fresh air. “This isn’t where we need to be looking.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Rhys spread his arms to indicate the commons around us. “So where do we go next?”

“To the women,” I decided, looking down the hill toward the two-lane road—and a Romanesque church that had survived the castle’s destruction. “And since I’m not ready to go door-to-door asking questions, I suggest we try St. Hilaire down there.”

Why did I sense that Rhys didn’t like my suggestion? He didn’t frown. He just said, after a moment, “Do you want to borrow my handkerchief?”

For my head. This was Europe.

“Thanks,” I said, accepting the neatly folded cloth.

“I’ll get the car and meet you outside.”

Once upon a time, the women of Lusignan would have gathered around the town well to wash clothes or collect water, and to bond. Wells are famous for their goddess connections.

If you’ve ever tossed a penny into a fountain and made a wish, some part of your soul must have understood their magic.

With the advent of modern plumbing, we’ve lost that. Now, elderly Catholic women tend to congregate at church.

The twelfth-century St. Hilaire de Lusignan had thick walls, round arches, and heavy piers instead of mere pillars. Its graying stone and blue-slate roof hinted at what the castle may have looked like—beautiful. When I pushed through one of its heavy double doors, I stepped into the scent of centuries of incense and wax and wood polish, of Yuletide greenery and Easter flowers, of continued faith. And it felt…

It felt powerful in a way few places can.

You don’t have to be Catholic, much less a practicing one, to appreciate the holiness of such a place.

As my eyes adjusted to the shadows, I respectfully draped the handkerchief over my hair. In random pews, pretending not to notice my invasion of their territory, knelt three old women.

Yes.

On instinct, I strode to the front pew, genuflected, then sidestepped in and sat near the woman I assumed was most important who, kneeling, was saying her rosary. She had woven a crown out of her white braids. She wore a black shawl over that, and a black dress, and a thin wedding band.

She seemed somehow timeless. That made sense. Old women, wise women, are the most powerful brand females come in.

If I’d had a rosary, this would be easier. Instead, I unclasped the chain that held my chalice-well pendant and laid it on the wooden pew between us, in a loop.

When the woman beside me said “Amen” and slanted her gaze toward the chain, I murmured, “Un cercle et un cercle.”

Her sunken eyes searched my face suspiciously, slid with disapproval to my camisole, then dropped to the necklace. Then, as I’d hoped, she looped her rosary across it. “Pour toujours.”

Basically, “Circle to circle, never an end.”

I’d made contact.

“I apologize for interrupting your prayers,” I whispered, still in French, but she shook her head.

“St. Hilaire hears from me each day. He will not mind some peace. You have come for the fairy, oui?”

“I’m here for her cup.”

She snorted.

“Is it not time for the cup to be found?” I asked gently.

“Perhaps…perhaps. But few daughters are worthy to find it. Few understand its power.”

“Then help me to understand.”

Her chin came up as she looked me over again; cargo pants, spaghetti straps. I’d left the backpack with Rhys. “You are too young and too beautiful. You will not want to understand.”

Not want to? “But I do. Please!”

She picked up her rosary, dismissing me. So I added, as quickly as I could, “‘Three fair figures, side by side.’”

I said it in English, but the old woman must have understood, because she lowered the beads to her lap. She crossed herself for Saint Hilaire, turned back to me and said in English with a heavy French accent, “Go on.”

I recited: