Together with his wife, he built the Château de Lusignan, and named its tallest tower after Mélusine.
She moved her bathing chamber into that tower. It had a special lock that required nine keys to open it.
Mélusine always kept the keys on her, and had the door locked when she bathed. One Saturday, goaded by his brother, Raymondin broke the promise he’d made to Mélusine. He climbed the wall of the tower and spied on his wife through the window. He saw her splashing in a bathtub in mermaid form.
That night, he confronted her. She wept at his betrayal. Unable to forgive him, she left her enchanted keys to her daughter, turned into a dragon, and flew away.
Raymondin regretted his transgression bitterly, but it was too late. Mélusine never returned to him. She would be spotted flying over the castle at night when one of her children was sick or dying.
Her nine enchanted keys were handed down in the family, all together as a full set, usually from mother to daughter.
Charlie and I look at each other, excited like kids. I feel we’re onto something.
“I’d heard the legend of Mélusine before,” Charlie says. “But this version is different.”
I plunge both hands into my hair and rub my scalp. “Let’s see… Since Charlotte of Savoy, aka Queen Charlotte of France, was a Lusignan and Mélusine was the wife of the first Lusignan lord, then—”
“That makes Charlotte a descendant of the fairy Mélusine!”
We exchange another gleeful look.
“What if…” Charlie begins. “What if Mom wasn’t thinking of Charlotte of Savoy or of her mother Anne of Cyprus, or of any other Lusignan between Charlotte and Mélusine, but of Mélusine herself?”
I nod. “The fairy was the original owner of the keys. Which places the home of the key that Hugues Pernoud gave your mom—”
“In the Mélusine tower of the Château de Lusignan!”
“Precisely!”
Charlie springs to her feet and claps her hands, ecstatic. “Yes, that must be it, I’m sure! That’s where we should go.”
“If the tower still stands.” I run an Internet search as I speak.
Charlie zeroes in on my screen. “It looks like the château is in ruins now.”
“Attacked in 1574,” I read, skimming the details. “Dismantled in 1586… All that remains today is part of the keep, some of the wall and the base of the Mélusine Tower.”
“That’s where we’ll go!”
“We?”
She joins her hands in entreaty. “Pretty please! I’m too invested in this quest now. I want to be there if you find the key.”
I hesitate.
She stands with arms akimbo. “Haven’t I been helpful?”
“Extremely.”
“So?”
I quickly weigh the pros and cons. The main pro is that Charlie is the Key to the Fifth Key. She’s crucial to the success of my mission. By virtue of that fact alone, it doesn’t feel right to deny her the big reveal. Not to mention that she might still have a role to play in case the key isn’t anywhere in or around those ruins.
Oh, and she’s my fated mate!I almost forgot that part.Shame on me!
In my defense, the sparks flying between us are so scarce and tepid, I’d need hypersensitive equipment to detect them.
Guilt gnawing at me, I nod at Charlie. “You’ll have to take the rest of the week off. We’ll cover all the expenses. And we’ll get you a burner phone before you set out to Lusignan.”
