Chapter 18 Silver
SILVER
Gideon, Cas, and I made our way down to the manor after work, and only partially because Lucian informed us via group chat that he intended to make a lasagna.
The official reason for the visit was the crystal. Gideon transported one in a small iron box, nullifying its power.
The huge house was busier than usual today.
Ronan Nachtigall had brought his newfound little brother Adrian Night, Elias, and his family’s ward, Lucky, so rather than squeezing the whole party in the kitchen, Lucian opened up his formal dining room, which was only ever so slightly less regal than Versailles.
We were still in his wing, which meant the walls were red, but silver filigrees danced over them, shaping leaves and roses, crescent moons, cats, and foxes.
An enormous crystal chandelier high up on the ceiling and two fireplaces illuminated the room with soft warm light.
“By the gods, have you ever seen anything this precious!” Lucky cried, practically skipping to greet Amavi.
Predictably, given her general lack of coordination, she groaning was on the marble floor within seconds.
At least Amavi hopped over to lick her face, so that wasn’t a total loss.
“Why aren’t we always eating here!” Gideon said, looking around at the grand hall. “I feel fancy as fuck.”
“Because a table seating fifty guests is overkill for a handful of us,” Lucian retorted, accepting the bottle Cas offered him. His eyebrows hiked up a little. “Someone knows his wine.”
Cas shrugged. “I just walked into a little wine store on Life Avenue asked for the best.”
Ronan whistled, offering Cas a hand. “Morvan’s Cup? Good taste and deep pockets, then. We absolutely must be friends. Ronan Night.”
“I could use a friend of two. Cas.”
I smiled as Ronan wrapped his arm around the shoulders of the awkward sullen kid chatting with Elias. “And this is my half brother, Adrian,” he announced proudly.
Since figuring out that Adrian, who’d saved Kleos when her mother tried to abduct her, was his father’s illegitimate child, he’d made a point of introducing him to every single person he came across, proud as a punch.
Poor Adrian didn’t know what to make of it.
I smiled at the cute pair, something inside me softening at the sudden, unequivocal acceptance from his family.
While he visibly didn’t know what to make of it, I knew Adrian had to appreciate it.
And I couldn’t deny a little pang of sadness at the thought. I would have loved a brother as a teenager.
You have one now.
Sort of. Ish.
Apollo was more of a mysterious shadow occasionally leaving puppies and presents than family. I didn’t really trust him, or his motives. And he was rarely around.
“Nice to meet you, Adrian.”
As the rest introduced themselves to the newcomers, Gideon and I quickly ran the details of our findings by Kleos and Lucian. Gideon offered her one of the crystals from the tea parlor.
Eyes closed, she frowned as she focused on it.
“There’s definitely something different. It doesn’t feel like me. At least, not just me.”
She passed it to Lucian, who cringed, sliding it across the table.
Introductions over, everyone wanted a turn with the crystal. Lucky was handing it to Adrian when Cas levitated it to him, shaking his head. “Better not let a kid touch that.”
Adrian frowned, not fond of being called a kid despite being the youngest by far here.
“Why?” I pressed. “Do you know what’s happened to it?”
As usual, Cas was a step ahead and not sharing with the class.
When he didn’t answer, I let out a frustrated grunt. “Would it kill you to stop being so bloody cryptic all the time?”
Cas rolled his eyes. “I was thinking before speaking. You should give it a try sometime.”
I swatted his arm, which had no effect whatsoever on him, but it made me feel better.
“Violent little thing. I’d say someone hijacked it.” At my confused expression, Cas added, “Changed its original nature. The rest of us might be shielded against magical influence, but a child, whose magic is still developing, could be more susceptible to it.”
“Hijacked,” Lucian pondered. “That was my thought exactly. You know,” he said slowly, “sometimes dealers cut their drugs with something else more harmful or addictive, in order to prey on, or earn more money from their clients. I’d say this is the magical equivalent.”
“Marvelous,” I grunted. “So we don’t only need to worry about crystals powerful enough to give anyone the power of a goddess for a day or two—but it’s been made worse?”
“Not worse exactly. But it’s no longer just Kleos’s magic.”
“Whose, then?” I asked out loud, though one answer came to mind. “Zeus can’t access Highvale anymore, right?”
Kleos winced. “Both of his temples are closed up. But we’ve seen that there are plenty of people willing to do his bidding here for a bit of power.”
I couldn’t help it. My gaze flew to Cas, the one obvious potential enemy here.
I’m not here to hurt you or any of your friends. I’m not here to let Zeus in. I have my own business in town, and it’s quite simply nothing to do with you.
He swore on the Styx, which made it true; immortals were not capable of breaking oaths on the river of Hate. I didn’t know what happened if they tried, but the fact felt written in stone, undeniable.
He didn’t say anything about his potential involvement with the crystal theft, however.
Reading me like an open book, Cas snorted. “I was asleep when they were stolen, remember?”
Right.
Kleos chuckled. “Don’t take it personally. Silver never trusts strangers.”
“I don’t trust him because he’s dodgy as fuck,” I snapped, irritated that she’d made me sound like I was suspicious for no reason.
“You wound me, doll,” Cas said with a smirk that belied his words. “And here I thought we cleared the air.”
“Whatever.”
I tried to not let the dismissal get to me.
Yes, I did have a tendency to jump to conclusions, and mistrust people who hadn’t proved themselves to me first. Yes, I’d been wrong about Lucian; it only took a few days to observe just how much he cared about Kleos.
I wasn’t wrong this time. A few days of observation had made it all the more apparent that Cas was up to something—something that by his own admission wasn’t good.
He said I’d jump to conclusions when I heard, which meant his reasons were nefarious, to a degree.
Maybe it wasn’t as cosmically bad as tampering with energy reserves for the king of Olympus, but I would bet my favorite dress that he wasn’t completely on our side.
He would be far less cryptic if he were.
My instincts also told me that he wasn’t entirely an enemy, which was why I let it go. For now.