8. Harlow #2
It was stupid of me to take a risk like that.
My family doesn’t know that I can poison with my hands, and I’ve suffered greatly to keep that secret.
I glance at Able, who is seated on the other side of the table, praying that he didn’t hear Henry, but my oldest brother is deep in conversation with Rafe.
When I turn back, Henry clicks his tongue. “Keeping secrets from everyone, it seems. Do they know about your hobby ?”
“They don’t and they’re not going to. Don’t make me get more creative in my attempts.” I bat my lashes at him. “Can you not appreciate that we have our first mutual secret? I think they call it ‘intimacy.’”
“I call it ‘mutually assured destruction,’” Henry says, holding my gaze as he knocks over his glass. The poison wine spills across the white tablecloth like a bloodstain.
“Oops, how clumsy of me,” he says as a frantic servant comes to wipe it up and bring him a new glass. “I was so distracted by her beauty.”
I scowl at him, and he grins as he takes a long swig of his fresh wine. His gaze darts behind me.
The sludgy press of an aura hits me before I see the burnt orange-brown edges of it in my periphery. Rafe.
I don’t want to listen to him taunt me about how Aidia isn’t here for my big night. I’d rather sit here all night talking to the women of the high houses about wedding planning than give Rafe the satisfaction of upsetting me.
Several couples have taken advantage of the soft string music and are spinning around the ballroom floor. No matter how much I want to leave, no matter how my head starts to throb, I will not show an ounce of disappointment to this man.
My heart slams against my ribs. My rage is hardly leashed, drowning out the soft melody of string music. Forcing my face into apathy, I take a breath and turn.
Rafe’s suit is immaculate, and his golden hair is neatly styled, but still, he looks like he’s performing.
No matter how nice his clothes are, he can’t hide the hungry look in his eyes.
The man is made of the kind of envy that will never be sated.
How the common people in town don’t see it is beyond me.
“I wanted to offer my congratulations on behalf of North Hold, dear sister-in-law.” There’s a challenge in Rafe’s blue eyes, like he’s daring me to ask about Aidia.
“Thank you for the sincere well wishes. They mean so much to me,” I say with a saccharine smile.
“I was hoping you’d do me the honor of a dance,” Rafe says.
There’s nothing I’d like less, but he’s asked loud enough that I can’t turn him down without it causing offense.
After the briefest moment of hesitation, I place my hand in his and rise to my feet, ignoring the way his touch makes my skin crawl.
He intentionally pushes his magic out, the muddy orange-brown of his aura closing in on me.
My heart thunders, my mouth dries, and my breathing goes shallow.
It’s not exactly a threat, but it’s a flex, and I hate that I’m rattled.
Manipulation blessings from Polm, the Divine of Malice, require the wielder to find a way to get an emotional hold on their victim. I can’t let him get his hooks in me.
He wants a reaction, and I’m trying desperately not to give it to him, but for some reason, my body is not cooperating. I don’t understand the strange panic tearing through me. Rafe’s not bold enough to use his magic on me in front of my family, but this flash of it sets my teeth on edge.
He pulls me against his body, and it takes every ounce of self-control to not knee him in the groin.
“You seem stiff. Is something wrong, Harlow?” He smiles, but it’s not warm. It’s a dare.
“Not at all,” I say.
I know how to dance, but following his lead is unnatural. He dips me, and I’m so stiff I almost slip.
“Careful. Wouldn’t want you to fall,” he chides.
My stomach twists. I’m winded. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can hardly catch my breath as he pulls me back up to standing. It’s as if my brain and my body are divided. My body is on the dance floor, but my mind wants to go far away .
His magic swirls around us more as he spins me.
I catch Kellan’s eye over Rafe’s shoulder, and my brother looks murderous. Libby is holding his arm, not out of affection, but with the white-knuckled grip that’s meant to keep him in place.
I raise my brows at If my family doesn’t react, no one will know that Rafe is taunting me with the threat of his magic. The hair on the back of my neck rises.
Rafe’s hand slides down my back, resting just a touch too low to be appropriate. The knife-sharp strike of manipulation slices at my mind, trying to convince me to let him leave it there. I’m too practiced at blocking this magic for it to actually work.
He’s just testing me for weakness. His blessing is the kind that works best if you can’t see it coming. I let him leave his hand there. I’d rather him think he’s won than find out how he’ll act out if he hasn’t.
Still, I wish I were wearing thicker fabric. His fingers brush along the back of my bodice. He presses his fingers a little lower, running them back and forth, like he’s looking for something.
My blood goes cold. I know what he’s looking for. He wants to know if Aidia and I have the same scars.
I force my face into a soft smile. “You would do well to keep your hands still. My fiancé is watching and he’s half wild animal.”
Rafe grins and winks at Henry. I glance over my shoulder.
Henry looks wholly unbothered, leaning back in his chair. Even his aura is calm and steady, not that Rafe can see it.
“Tell me, what does his wild-man aura look like?” Rafe asks.
If he didn’t banish Aidia from family events, she’d be here to tell him. I’ll do no such thing.
My parents let him do as he pleases because he has so much support from the common people.
For a while, that support kept the rebellion from gaining too much traction, but in the past year, it feels like he’s been testing my parents by keeping Aidia from attending family events and saying things that are subtle criticisms of my parents in mayoral speeches.
It’s never enough that the rest of the magical high houses would sanction taking any action against him, but it is enough to be noticeable.
I’m disquieted by Rafe’s sudden lack of subtlety. Normally, he wouldn’t taunt me so publicly .
“What do you want, Rafe?” I ask, trying to sound bored and not furious.
He leans closer. “I was just wondering if your feral fiancé has been enjoying his extended stay in town.”
I cock my head to the side like Rafe is the dumbest man I’ve ever met. “He’s only been here a day. Does time pass differently in North Hold?”
Rafe rolls his eyes. “You’re such a terrible liar. I hear that you and he had a private meeting two nights ago.”
My blood runs cold. He should not know about that, unless he’s the one who set me up to kill Henry.
“Tell me, is that mouth always poison, or is it safe when it’s stuffed with cock?” Rafe nods at Henry. “I have to assume the latter since he’s still breathing.”
I sink my nails into his neck and smile tightly. “Watch the way you speak to me.”
“Why? You’re just the throwaway daughter,” he whispers. “You and I would have been well matched, but your father insisted on marrying you off to that old bastard. What a shame. You could be sated in my bed every night.”
The thought sends a wave of revulsion through me.
I knew that Rafe wanted to marry me. My father had insisted I was spoken for because he needed me to do his dirty work.
More than once, I’ve thought about what I might have endured if things had gone the other way—what I might have saved Aidia from.
I wonder if he’d be raising his hands to me, knowing that I have magic that could actually fight back.
A throat clears behind us. “I’ll ask you to keep your hands to yourself.”
I hate that Henry feels a need to save me, but I’m also relieved he’s there because I’m struggling for a response.
“Forgive me. I forget myself around beautiful Carrenwell women,” Rafe says, his voice laden with sarcasm.
He turns and retreats to his seat beside Able, but his gaze lingers on me, no doubt waiting for my reaction. I turn back to Henry.
It’s only then, in the middle of the dance floor with my fiancé and everyone else in the room staring at me, that I realize Rafe knows what my magic is. That’s a secret he should not be privy to. Unless? —
All the air rushes out of my lungs at once. Unless he manipulated it out of Aidia.
“Fix your face and laugh,” Henry says, startling me out of my panic.
My laugh is overloud, but it does the trick. My rigid muscles loosen. He clasps my hand and pulls me against his body to dance.
I lick my lips. “He knows you were here early. He knows my magic.”
“No one should know that I arrived early,” Henry says. “Well—no one but you.” He leads me through the first few steps of the dance, and I’m shocked that he actually knows how to dance.
“No one but you and my family know my magic,” I rasp. “Surely the guards at the gates would have noticed the arrival of a man from the woods. We get those so infrequently.”
Did Rafe set us up to go to war? I’ve long suspected that he’s Rochelli, and what better way to stir up conflict than to set me up to kill the man who would strengthen my family’s hold on power.
This alliance with the Havenwoods gives my family support from all of the major magical houses, as well as an unknown outside resource—especially if there’s truth to the rumors that one of Henry’s parents has a rare blessing from Divine Asher.
As mayor, Rafe would benefit from chipping away at my father’s power—the same way he has been for months. But this would be taking that to another level. It would cause a very big conflict between us and the Havenwoods.
Henry frowns. “I was discreet when I arrived, but I’ll not share all my secrets so soon, lovely. Not when I know how fun it will be to watch you try to pry them out of me. I know how you like to see men suffer.”
His words are so alarmingly close to the truth of my mission, but I give him my most feral smile. “I suspect I’ll enjoy your suffering best.”
Henry guides me around the floor effortlessly, dipping me as the music swells. He lets out a hum of amusement. “Try not to look so stunned, Harlow. I may not be a city boy, but I am still our version of society.”
He lifts me back to my feet, and I scan the crowd. I need to tell Kellan. He was standing over by the dining room windows when the dance started, but now he’s gone.
“Who are you looking for?” Henry asks.
“Kellan. ”
“The city watch brother?”
“Yes.”
Henry pulls me flush against his body as we spin. “You trust him?”
“I find it’s best to be selective with my trust, but I trust that Kellan needs to know this. It’s a matter of family security.”
Henry nods back to our table. “Wouldn’t Able be the choice for family security since he’s the oldest and has holy fire?”
I arch a brow. “Taking notes for an invasion?”
Henry barks out a startled laugh. “No, Harlow. It’s just, you have eight siblings, and I’m trying to get the political landscape down so I don’t offend anyone. As you love to point out, I’m a classless feral wolf. I’m just trying to get the lay of the land.”
Able and Kellan are the only two siblings whose powers are common knowledge. Kellan’s manipulation blessing from Polm is part of the reason he is in charge of the city watch. The men who work for him know they can either fall in line on their own or he can make them.
Able helps my father light the wall every night, so there’s no avoiding people knowing. Not to mention that holy fire kills the Drained, and since my father and brother are the only two who can wield it, it affords the Carrenwell family a measure of security in our position.
I find it almost impossible that Henry wouldn’t be aware of their blessings.
The music ends, and everyone claps for our performance. Henry steps back and gestures to me like I’m the star of the show. I wave them off and pull him away from the dance floor.
I lead him past the row of tables toward the windows.
I’ve caught Gaven’s notice. He frowns, and I force a smile and pretend I’m showing Henry the view, gesturing to the windows while scanning the room for Kellan.
He’s nowhere to be found, but neither is Libby, so maybe they stepped out or had an emergency with the kids.
Henry’s parents are also missing from the table, but I heard my mother tell them something about a rare painting of Mountain Haven that hangs in our library.
They might have gone to see it. Maybe that’s where Libby and Kellan are.
My brother Thomas is also notably absent, though his wife Veronica is chatting with my sisters Electra and Sophie.
There’s one more empty seat at the table next to Able.
Henry follows my gaze. “Where did Rafe disappear to? ”
“Hopefully the Divine hells,” I grumble.
Henry smirks, but it’s there and gone. He tilts his head in a strange, predatory way, like an animal straining to hear something. Then, he grabs me.
I try to pull away. “What are you?—”
He throws me to the ground and covers me with his body. A loud blast rattles the house. The windows shatter. My head smacks against the marble floor, and the world goes dark.