Chapter Ten #3
At one point, Samsor said, “I knew I bought that house for a reason. But we do need a housekeeper. Someone needs to make sure you don’t succumb to oil paint fumes.”
“Hah.”
“I am serious. We are sure that the greatest danger to you is contained, but we need someone with you when we can’t be.”
“If they can be my driver, too, that would be nice.” She looked at him. “I am thinking that my driving isn’t that great. I had to do it, but I don’t like it.”
He looked at her. “Fair. Okay, housekeeper and driver. We can do that.”
“Tell Carlos. He might have some ideas. They always had a lot of staff.”
He nodded. “He has already suggested a few members from his household. They can also do bodyguard duty.”
“I am not really worried about that.”
“Yes, but we are, and he is. They are still a danger to you.”
“I know. But they are currently restrained, so I have to find comfort in that.”
He nodded.
Emhara watched the guys unloading everything and moving it into one of the main-floor rooms after they put two cat trees in each main space except for the kitchen.
The litter boxes were in a small storage room with good ventilation.
Toros showed up, and they continued the wardrobe project.
Emhara got to work on the oils and started to rough in the background and flesh tones.
She hummed along and passed a few happy hours before there was a knock on the door frame. She blinked slowly as her vision reeled in to the world around her. She looked and smiled. “Hey, Duran.”
He walked over to her, removed the palette from her hand, and set her brush down before kissing her. When she was limp against him, he smiled. “It’s dinner time.”
“Oh. I have to clean my brushes.”
“Then do it, clean up, and I will escort you to dinner.”
She cleaned up quickly, astonished to find her hands painted, but she settled her palette on a small table and stretched. “I just have to wash my hands, and we are good.”
He was staring at the images. “Em, you are extraordinary.”
“Apparently, I always have been.” She bumped her hip against his. “But I am going to need a smock or a sacrificial shirt from one of you guys. I messed up this dress.”
“It still looks lovely on you.” He escorted her to the restroom and waited outside.
She did all the things she had been putting off while she worked, and she could smell latex paint. “What was painted?”
“Your new wardrobe and dressing room. We worked Toros like a rented mule, but he is desperate for you to paint a mural in Myrtle’s study, so we could get him to put that addition on if we wanted, he wouldn’t bat an eye.”
She smiled. “I don’t abuse the offer of labour. But if it makes Myrtle feel comfortable, I will paint every freaking wall of that house.”
“And Persephone?”
“She gets one room per litter.”
Duran laughed.
Dinner was made, which was good because Emhara wasn’t a good cook. She hadn’t been allowed near knives in the pack house.
Carlos and his wife were there. Emhara smiled, and it wasn’t a good smile.
She walked up to them and took his hands. “Dad, how nice to see you again.”
His wife inhaled sharply, and Emhara felt the hard strike to her cheek. She spat blood on her stepmother’s dress before she raised her hand, glowing with power, and slapped the other woman with the fury of an eight-year-old who didn’t understand why an adult hurt her.
Her stepmother slammed to the ground with her eyes wide. Tears began to slip down her cheeks.
Emhara said, “This is my house, this is my pack, and you are a guest. This is my dad. He lights up when he hears it, and just because he didn’t use protection with a lunatic, I am not and never have been to blame.
The next time you strike me, you will burst into flame, and no one will be able to put it out.
For now, my contact is giving you a gift.
The gift of every mark you made on my body during the visits. Enjoy. Now, shall we sit for dinner?”
The marks began to bloom on her face, neck, and arms as Carlos looked at her and said, “How could you do this to my little girl?”
She swallowed and said, “You wouldn’t give me another child.”
“You nearly died with Mateo. You couldn’t have another child. You insisted in the open marriage so you could seek comfort with someone who wasn’t me.”
Emhara didn’t say anything, but that was a turn.
“After your sixth lover, I began to frequent the club, and I found her mother. Two encounters and Emhara was the result. They offered you the child. Her mother wanted to give her up, and you slapped me and spewed venom. But then, you rejected the girl and took your frustration out on her. I hope the marks stay. They add a certain something to your appearance.”
She touched her face and winced.
Emhara walked to the table. “Oh, the pain from the contact will be there. Imagine being one-quarter your size and having a fist slam into your back on the way to the dining table.”
“Please stop it.”
“Sit and have dinner like a big girl and keep your mouth shut, or things will get worse.” She smiled at her. “Sound familiar? Now. Sit!”
She stumbled forward and sat, tears falling.
Carlos didn’t say a word.
Samsor sat, and the others did as well, passing food and filling plates.
Emhara looked at Carlos and said, “I have completed a drawing of Mateo’s family, complete with babies and cats.”
He grinned. “Did you?”
“One with his face and one looking all normal and shit. So, I have completed one portrait in acrylic and am working on two more in oil.”
Her stepmother whispered, “You have a portrait of his family?”
Emhara rapped on the table. “Speak when spoken to, or I will do worse.”
She looked at Samsor. “In case you haven’t caught on, these are phrases I was treated to as a child.”
Echel nodded. “We guessed as much.”
“You know, I don’t know of many things as cowardly as using a child to punish an adult, especially when the child never disclosed the abuse.
That’s why she convinced my mother to hand me over to Augusta’s pack.
” She daintily sliced some of the roast, put more mashed potatoes and peas on the fork, and took a neat bite.
Carlos’s eyes widened in fury. All eight of them. He said, “Please excuse us. I... didn’t know.”
“She knew about grandmother’s trust; she didn’t know how much it was, so she also suggested the power of attorney that kept me bound for years. So, she’s really good at webs. Have a nice chat.”
Duran watched them go. “What do you think is going to happen?”
“I think she’s going to end up on an island with minimal cell reception, if she’s lucky. I don’t know how she will spin it to Mateo, but she always does.” She shrugged.
To her astonishment, Carlos came back in, kissed her temple, and said, “She’s been taken home to pack. We have other homes around the world. May I rejoin dinner?”
Samsor nodded. “Please.”
“I have also asked Mateo only to come over. There are enough shadows in this family. Time to clear out the cobwebs.”
Emhara nodded. The deltas nodded together. They were all for harmony, and Em knew it because Echel and Samsor had gotten her the details that she had been missing. It explained why her birth mother had disappeared. She was probably on that low-cell-service island.
When Mateo came over, the dinner conversation was intense but necessary. He knew a lot of it and told his father about the abuse. Carlos paused and nodded. “Emhara gifted your mother with the markings that she had given to a child.”
Emhara forked up a carrot. “I can make them all different colours if you want. I am all about the artistry.”
Carlos paused and thought about it.
Mateo said, “Chartreuse and purple. She hates that combination.”
“Done. I want to make sure it is hard to cover.”
Duran said, “I am glad you have a sense of vengeance.”
“It isn’t vengeance; it is justice. Not even complete justice. If I could have shrunk her down to forty-five pounds to be struck by someone at one-thirty, that would be true justice. The colour is as close as I can get. She will have to explain it, and I don’t think she can.”
Conversation eventually turned to the portraits, and Em grabbed Mateo and hauled him to the ersatz studio. She flicked the lights on, and he gasped. “I hadn’t expected the colours.”
The tones were rich. The portrait highlighted each family member, the throne of cats that supported Persephone, and the babies in their different colours denoting their fathers, held in their fathers’ arms.
“Can I take a picture?”
“Sure. I will seal it in a day or two, and then you can have it while I work on the oils.”
Mateo beamed and hugged her. “I am sorry for my mother.”
“I’m not. If she weren’t the way she was, Carlos would not have been lonely enough to make me.” She looked up at him. “I like being alive.”
He chuckled and nodded. “I am glad you are in the world as well. The world is better for it.”
She hugged him back, and he took shots of the portrait and sent them to his family.
She grinned. “And now... dessert!”
They walked back to the others and had dessert. It was an odd end to the dinner party but very much enjoyed.
After her family was gone for the night, her guys looked at the images in progress and then spent the evening kissing each one of her small scars and helping her blur the memory of pain.
The pain was her past, and pleasure was her future. She smiled in the puppy pile of limbs that night and closed her eyes to enjoy the slight ache in her body.
Echel whispered from behind her. “Go to sleep. Tomorrow is Sunday. We get to spend as much time in bed as you will let us.”
She whispered, “It’s after midnight. Technically, Sunday has started.”
He stroked a hand over her and pulled her tight against him. “The morning is soon enough.”
She chuckled and snuggled back against him. “Seduction by inches.”
Samsor spoke with his eyes closed. “We will get there. We know where you live.”
She giggled and snuggled in. A mage and three mates who weren’t in a riotous hurry were pretty good for being born a beta. Just a beta.