Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
Hallie wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, or what she could do. Her eyes stung. She’d always known she’d been a disappointment to her mother. It shouldn’t still have the power to hurt her, but the blunt words being spoken had cut into her.
Then Cotovatre was beside her, crouching down and looking up into her face.
“Are you alright, child? You are pale.”
“Jet lag,” Hallie said, seizing on the ready, and partly true, excuse. She tried to smile. It was a fairly pathetic effort. “My body and my brain can’t seem to agree what time it is.”
“Oh, yes, I know that feeling well.” Cotovatre put her hand out and rested her fingers on Hallie’s wrist, her touch warm and bringing with it a faint trace of expensive, flowery perfume. A trickle of magic slid over Hallie’s skin and her whole body relaxed, energy seeping back in.
“Thank you,” Hallie said, and stood up as Cotovatre rose to her feet. “For everything. I am sorry that you were disturbed by this, but I knew she wasn’t going to listen to me.”
A brief flicker of wry humour lit Cotovatre’s face. “She does not listen all that well, does she? I suppose as Magravine she’s used to giving the orders. Do not worry, we will deal with it.”
Cotovatre touched Hallie’s face briefly, as if for reassurance and to emphasise her words, then glanced over her shoulder, almost visibly shaking off the traces of Wilona’s presence. “Now, will you introduce me?”
“I’d be delighted,” Hallie said, doing her best to forget her mother as she introduced Cotovatre to everyone present.
She could see the awe in Aaron and Magnus at the fact they were meeting a living legend.
Kendra and Nelda tried to pretend to be unimpressed, but Nelda didn’t approach either Cotovatre or Emmet or try to steal anything from them, which Hallie thought was a mark of deep respect.
Aneta was more subdued than normal, although Hallie could see the young witch’s eyes noting absolutely everything that was happening.
Hallie’s eyes stung again as she saw Cotovatre’s unguarded reaction to meeting both Kaherdin and Morgana.
Even though they were each human through and through, with only faint traces of their long-distant hochlen ancestry, Cotovatre greeted them with warmth.
She held out both hands to Kaherdin and when he put his hands into hers, she closed her fingers carefully and gently.
Cotovatre kept her voice quiet, but Hallie’s hearing was sharp enough to catch that the lady was telling her many times great-grandson that he reminded her very much of her much-loved son, and she was honoured to meet him.
Kaherdin gave the lady one of his warm, quiet smiles and seemed deeply moved.
Cotovatre then turned and held out both hands to Morgana, greeting her with almost as much warmth. Another descendant.
With all the introductions made, Rosalia called them all back to the table for some of the cake that she’d prepared, and found space to add both Cotovatre and Emmet.
The lady and sinisir settled happily at the haphazard dining table with its mismatched chairs and crockery, as at home there as Hallie had seen them in the much grander setting of Vertiger.
Emmet had dropped his hochlen disguise when Wilona left, which had made Aaron and Magnus gasp, but the three witches had met him before and seemed far more comfortable with him than with Cotovatre.
They’d fought side by side before, though, so they had that in common.
The cake was every bit as good as Hallie had imagined it could be, and not one single bit of it was left by the time everyone had, somehow, managed second helpings.
With the meal finished, and the bottle of liqueur almost done, Hallie nursed a mug of coffee between her hands, looking around the table.
She was conscious of missing Girard, as if a part of her was absent.
She would have liked him to be there. Almost all her favourite people in the world were in this one room, and after the horrible visit from her mother it felt like a tremendous gift.
The chatter was lively, with a lot of laughter, and after the initial settling in, everyone seemed to have forgotten just who Cotovatre was, treating her the same as everyone else, which Hallie could see pleased the lady.
But she wasn’t like everyone else, Hallie knew.
She cradled her coffee cup in her hands, suddenly needing the warmth.
Cotovatre was exceptional, even by hochlen standards.
And in the hochlen world, Hallie was her acknowledged heir.
In the standards of low city, that wouldn’t mean much.
But having the Magravine of one of the city’s most powerful vines furious with her did mean something.
And while she might not care that much about her own safety, she did care about her friends.
Wilona Talbot could make life very difficult for almost everyone around the table.
Hallie thought she might not be able to get to Magnus, as he was a lawyer in midtown, but Wilona had power over Morgana as a member of the vine, and potentially over Aaron’s employment as well.
But she didn’t need to have direct power to make things difficult.
Rosalia’s own family wanted nothing more to do with her after her association with one of the hochlen, and Hallie knew that the success of her friend’s business still felt fragile to her.
It seemed unlikely that Wilona would manage to get the bakery shut down completely, but she might be able to have her thugs intimidate Rosalia’s customers or drown her in inspections and paperwork.
And those were just the things that immediately occurred to Hallie.
Doubtless there was much more her mother could do.
All of which led Hallie to one conclusion.
“I can’t stay here,” Hallie said, the words out before she knew what she was going to say.
Her throat closed up and she couldn’t manage anything else as Rosalia protested.
Then she caught the understanding and knowledge in Cotovatre’s expression and managed to get some words out.
“You’d already worked that out, though.”
“I feared it would be the case, yes,” Cotovatre said, her voice gentle. “And I am sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Hallie said, and turned to Rosalia, taking hold of her roommate’s hand for a brief moment. “I don’t think Wilona is going to just give up. So I need to be elsewhere. I don’t want to bring trouble to you, or to anyone else.”
“No one is going to mess with our Rosalia,” Kendra said, startling Hallie. The elderly witch looked fiercely determined, an ancient warrior in an ancient black dress.
“It’s true,” Aneta added, to Hallie’s further surprise. “The witches of low city have a great fondness for Rosalia’s baking.” There was both truth and humour in Aneta’s words and Hallie managed a faint smile in response.
“We won’t let any harm come to our girl,” Nelda added. It was as solemn a promise as Hallie could ever imagine coming from the witch.
“Really, I’ll be fine,” Rosalia protested, looking flustered. “I am more worried about Hallie.”
“There is no need to worry about me,” Hallie said, and managed a better smile.
“We will make sure of it,” Emmet promised. He hadn’t spoken much, but his quiet words sent a sigh of relief around the table. “And we will also watch out for Miss Rosalia as well,” he added. “Any friend of Hallie’s is a friend to us as well.”
“The local gangs have also let it be known that no harm should come to her,” Aaron put in, surprising everyone. He seemed a bit flustered by all the stares, but his mouth lifted in a small smile. “Apparently, they also like her baking. And the fact that she doesn’t discriminate in who she serves.”
“Well, of course not,” Rosalia said, as if the thought had never occurred to her. And it probably hadn’t.
The worry that had pulled Hallie’s stomach into knots faded.
The elite might scoff at the witches of low city, but they were a potent force and, with a little help from Cotovatre and Emmet, not to mention the protection of the local gangs, Hallie thought that Rosalia might just be the safest person in the entire city.
“I need to go back to the old place,” Hallie said, with some reluctance.
“There’s nothing there,” Rosalia said, then sat up a little. “We can move some things back for you, though.”
“If I may? I have a different option,” Cotovatre said. “A place outside low city may be better.”
“That’s true,” Hallie agreed, with some reluctance. She looked at her ancestor. “In high city?”
“Yes,” Cotovatre confirmed, with an unexpected hint of mischief. “I think you will find it quite to your liking.”
Intrigued, Hallie was about to ask for more information, but then realised there would be plenty of time on the way to high city.
Right now, her time here, with her friends, in low city, was coming to an end.
Suddenly restless, she got up from the table and took her mug and plate over to the kitchen area, not surprised when Rosalia joined her.
“I wish you didn’t have to go. Not like this, at any rate,” Rosalia said, voice soft and carrying sadness.
“I know. But the lease is in your name, and if I am not here, I really do think Wilona will leave you alone. Or face what sounds like a lot of consequences,” Hallie added, with a laugh.
“So it seems,” Rosalia agreed, smiling back. “Let me know that you are safe, please?”