Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Bart leaned back beside the window of the drawing room, breathing deeply and taking little sips of his negroni as if he was trying to hydrate after running a marathon. “It’s nice to know my parents are good for something.”
“I appreciate it so much, Bart. I know how hard it was for you to call them.”
He took a deep breath and nodded. “I had to use my entire daily allowance of fake charm on them. I’m probably going to be awfully rude and vulgar for the rest of the day, just warning you.”
I caught Cecil’s eye, wordlessly directing him to keep the cocktails coming. Bart wasn’t being dramatic; he was a deeply sensitive soul who had been devastated when his parents publicly disowned him. It would have been so hard for him to call them and engineer a conversation towards the centaurs.
They’d delivered, though. Not only did the Montgomery-Litchenstiens know several big families of centaurs, but they also knew where a portal to their realm was—as it turned out, there was an easy access point located at their private sports club—the Clarendon Club.
I knew the place well. Over the years, I’d been a guest at several big functions held there.
Bart drained his cocktail and took another one out of Cecil’s hooves.
“Mummy and Daddy said that their centaur friends were all heading to the Clarendon club for an important ‘summit’ tonight,” he said, his voice a little less shaky.
“According to Mummy, they were being far more haughty than usual about it. One of them even said that the centaurs would be solving all the problems of the Middle World tonight, and that the shifter population will be so grateful when this is all over. It pissed Mummy off to no end.”
“I’ll bet.” I paced, thinking furiously. There were several problems we had to tackle to get through to the centaur realm—the first one being the fact that security at the Clarendon was incredibly tight. A million ideas rushed through my head. “I need to make notes.”
Violet dutifully produced a whiteboard from between her floorboards. “Thanks, Violet.” I picked up a marker and wrote Goal 1: Get through Clarendon Club security. “Should we sneak in?”
“I’m all over that, Chosen,” Cecil whipped out a laptop. “I’ll get Martina to sort out a membership for the Prince, and you can go as his guest. The rest of us can go as the Prince’s security.”
Eryk, Nate, and Cress were already busy getting ready—they snapped on sheathes, sharpened blades, and strapped giant swords all over their bodies. “And I can come in a stroller as the Prince’s baby,” Cecil added.
Everyone shouted at the same time, “No!”
“You can’t come as a baby,” I told him. “Children aren’t allowed in the Clarendon Club at all.”
He looked hurt.
“But we do need you, Cecil,” I added. “The only way you’ll be allowed in is if you come as a service animal. Can you go back to your Labrador form?”
Cecil screwed up his nose. “The baby is much more fun. It’s amazing what those little shits can get away with.”
“It’s the service animal, or you have to stay at home,” I said sternly.
“Fine.”
“Now, our next probl—I mean, our next goal.” I turned back to the whiteboard and wrote Goal 2: Find the portal to the centaur realm.
“That will be the simplest part,” Donovan said.
“Centaurs are arrogant enough not to worry about keeping their portal secret from other supernatural creatures. As with the other portals, you must have centaur blood or a blood key to go through to their realm, but they only hide their portals from humans. They will not even care if they see us go through. The only problem will be the fact that they will not head for the portal until the last minute, so we must be vigilant.”
I squinted. “Why would they wait until the last minute?”
“Centaur culture,” he explained. “The most important people always arrive last.”
“And all the best seats in the amphitheater are in the back,” Cecil chipped in. “None of them will want to get there first. There will be a mad rush to get to the portal right before the summit starts.”
“That’s silly.” I studied the whiteboard. “And not very efficient. But it’s good for us; we can hide in the crush to get through the portal. Will they keep their glamor on when they get to the other side?”
“Of course not,” Cress snorted. “They love themselves far too much to hide their true form in their own realm. They will deactivate their glamor immediately.”
“Then what? Won’t they notice us straight away? Since we’re not, y’know, horses?”
“There will be other humanoid creatures there,” Donovan said. “The centaurs have many willing human servants and the odd fae guest in their realm. Our presence will not be suspicious.”
“Great.” I wrote Goal 3: Find Audrina. “We need a plan to find her as soon as we get there. It sounds like the centaurs are going ahead with the whole ‘town hall debate’ thing, so I’m guessing she’ll be held in a greenroom until she can be shoved up on stage to debate with Connor.
” I chewed on my lip for a second. Something about this whole thing didn’t feel right.
“We will find her easily. The centaurs are fools who think they control everything.” Donovan slid a couple of daggers into the sheathes at his ribs. “My brother, unfortunately, is no fool. He would know by now that the centaurs have taken the wrong Chosen One.”
“Will he show up?” I still couldn’t understand why he would bother.
“He will. Purg would have told him that we were chasing the berserkers to get Audrina back, so he knows she’s important to us. He’ll be there because he knows we will come,” Donovan said grimly. “I can only assume he will use this opportunity to attack us.”
“Okay.” I studied my information board and wrote Goal 4: Fight Connor. “Let’s talk about our odds of winning if it comes to a fight. Will the centaurs let him enter their realm with his assassins and his banwyn army?”
Donovan shook his head. “Not the banwyn, they’d never make it through the portal. Their energy is too chaotic. He will find a way to bring at least one of his assassins with him. Purg will still be recovering, so it will be Agarthon or Grisela, or both.”
Something was bothering me, something I couldn’t put my finger on.
“If Connor already knows the centaurs have stolen the wrong girl, then why would he go through with their charade?” I clicked the cap of the marker off and on obsessively.
“He knows where I live. He could just bring his entire army and all his assassins here to fight us.”
“I wish he would,” Cress growled. Her mood had gotten worse. “But hopefully this immature fool of a Domicile has learned her lesson, and will keep him?—”
A floorboard snapped up and smacked her in the face.
I gasped “Violet!”
Cress, recovering quickly, whirled around, kicking the oak floorboard just before it sank back into place. “You vicious little hussy,” she snapped, pulling her knives and stomping her foot on the floor. “Try that again, I dare you!”
“Violet, no,” I said sternly. “And Cress…” I pointed at her. “Stop it.”
“She started it.”
“You insulted her. She can’t talk, so she responded the only way she could. And besides, you are the adult in this situation. You need to learn better coping mechanisms for your rage.”
Donovan nodded, his expression serious. “The Lady Bronwyn will help you. You have an appointment on Tuesday, Cress.”
I made a mental note to text Bronwyn and cancel it.
“I have my coping mechanisms right here,” Cress said, twirling her knives on her palms. “And your Domicile needs to know her place. She is a servant?—”
A tile fell off the ceiling, breaking over her head.
Cress let out a screech of outrage. “You impudent brat!” She dropped to her knees and started stabbing the floor. “How dare you!”
The floor opened up under her feet, swallowing her. The sound of Cress’s outraged scream faded into the distance.
“Violet.” I let out a huge sigh. She quivered under my feet. “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. We’ve got a lot of things to get through right now, and I can’t have you two fighting. It’s very distracting.”
I looked over the information board and felt that niggling feeling again. “There’s something I’m missing,” I said, compulsively clicking the marker lid again. “I still don’t understand Connor’s motivations. Maybe he’s just going there to find and devour their spark stone.”
Cress kicked the door open and stomped back into the room. I gave her a warning look, then, in a bid to distract her from brawling with my House, I asked her a question directly. “Cress, what does the centaur spark stone do? Does it have powerful magic?”
She grudgingly sank into a sofa and crossed her legs.
“The centaurs have some generic magic, a little enhanced physical strength, too, because they have the power of horses as well as men. But most of their magic lies in their mental conditioning. They believe, without a doubt, that they are superior to everyone else in every single way, and that has allowed them to rise to the top of the class structure in the human realm.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “So, Connor might be going for their spark stone?”
“He already thinks he is superior to everyone else in every single way,” Cress said. “I cannot imagine that the centaur spark stone would be his priority.”
“So… what is it, then? What is his priority?” I chewed on the side of my thumb for a second.
“It is you, of course, Chosen.” Donovan said. “He wants you. He knows we will come for Audrina. He is waiting for us.”
“But why?” Oh, that sounded a little whiny, but I was getting annoyed. “When he came here the other night, he said he was hoping to talk me into joining him, but he knows I won’t. He said my loyalty had already been solidified.”
“That is why he devoured the seduire stone, Chosen.”
It made sense, but… it still didn't feel right. I bit my lip, trying to remember that terrifying moment when Connor was choking me to death. “He said something else, too,” I muttered. “What was it? Oh, that’s right.”