Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
After I showered, dressed, chose an outfit—and after Cecil threw that outfit in the trash and bullied me into another one—he did his instant sparkly-hoof hair and makeup trick, and I was ready for work in record time.
I needed to go into the office early so I could re-establish myself before anyone else came in.
Since I was super-early, I decided to quickly check in on Audrina.
When we found her lying in that hospital bed in the psych ward, I thought my heart would break in two.
The poor girl had endured so much in her short life—a mother who despised her for not being conventionally pretty, brothers who bullied her relentlessly for being shy and bad at sports, and a father who was demonstrably absent and clearly didn’t give a shit about her, either.
We’d been working on getting her legally emancipated. Martina—my uber-competent, no-nonsense lawyer who I adored beyond reason—had filed the petition and a court date had been set. She’d ordered me to stay away from Audrina to not jeopardize the process.
What I didn’t realize was that Martina had asked me to stay away for my sake, not Audrina’s. I had enough legal entanglements to deal with, and she didn’t want Jessica, Audrina’s mom, gunning for me again.
In fact, my lawyer didn’t expect emancipation to be granted at all. Audrina only had a couple of months until she turned eighteen, and she didn’t exactly meet any of the requirements for emancipation.
The petition was supposed to act as a warning shot to Jessica. Give Audrina up quietly, let her go, or the next move would be reporting her for child abuse, and Jessica’s reputation would be ruined.
Never in a million years would any of us realize that Jessica would move to destroy her daughter instead.
When I walked into that psych ward and saw what her mother had done to her, I cursed myself for letting her go home in the first place.
I knew Jessica was a giant bitch, but I didn’t quite realize how much of a monster she really was.
Audrina’s admission notes made me want to burn her mother at the stake.
According to Jessica, Audrina had been suffering from delusions and hallucinations for years and had been caught by her brothers prostituting herself to make some money to fund her long-term meth habit.
When confronted with rehab, she ran away and prostituted herself some more.
When the police brought her home, she tried to kill her brothers with a kitchen knife.
The worst part was reading that Audrina was admitted to the hospital ranting and raving under the influence of a long list of illicit drugs—drugs I knew she didn’t have with her when she went home.
Jessica had literally drugged her own daughter, vomited the worst lies, and had her sedated and locked away so she couldn’t embarrass her anymore.
And she’d set the scene to get sympathy in case Audrina ever got out. Poor Jessica, struggling with a drug-addict daughter. No wonder she never talked about her. Such a shame, when her sons were such amazing athletes, such dedicated students. Addiction was a disease; it could strike anyone.
I had zero regrets about breaking Audrina out of the psych ward. Even less so when I realized how underweight she was. I barely had to use any of my magic to lift her out of bed. Jessica had clearly been starving her, too.
Audrina was safe, and I was desperate to make sure she was okay. The drugs should have worn off by now. “Violet.” I tapped the doorframe of my bedroom. “Where did you put her?”
My house trembled under my feet for a second, then, the floorboards turned into a travelator.
I wobbled on my heels, then braced myself as Violet ferried me down the hallway, through the portrait gallery, into the drawing room, past the front door entrance, and through the double doors that led to the south wing of the house.
The decor changed as Violet carried me carefully through.
The floorboards under my feet turned to thick, blush-colored carpet; the paintings on the walls morphed from Dutch masters’ portraits and renaissance landscapes and became more modern, street art, Banksy-style prints and cool-looking modern collages that took up the entire far wall.
I smiled. My Domicile had made Audrina her own space. It looked perfectly her, a quirky and distinctly feminine aesthetic. Violet brought me to a halt outside a door, and I hesitated, hearing a guitar strum.
Audrina was singing.
Tears welled up in my eyes; I always loved hearing Audrina sing. Her voice was exquisite, totally unique, her cadence extraordinary, almost otherworldly. When you heard her for the first time, it was easy to imagine that she might not be quite human.
That’s probably why her mother thought she sounded stupid. Nobody sang like Audrina. Jessica couldn’t fathom anything that stepped outside the rigid lines of what she considered conventionally acceptable.
Audrina’s singing was truly beautiful, though.
She was gifted with perfect pitch. Her voice was soft, a little raspy, with a resonance that tugged on your heartstrings in a way that you just couldn’t understand, until you heard the reason why.
She once told me that her unique resonance was because of slight scarring on her vocal cords, caused by screaming for hours and hours on end as a baby.
She’d been neglected right from the very start. It made my blood boil.
With a little effort, I forced myself to stop thinking about murdering her mother and concentrated on listening to her song.
I’d heard this one before; it was one of my favorites.
Not only did Audrina have a stunning voice, but she was also an incredibly gifted poet and songwriter, composing heart-wrenching ballads and charming folk songs with a skill that belied her brief time on this earth.
Audrina was truly a tortured artist. The thought that the world might be deprived of her talent was enough to make me break laws.
Her song drew to a close, and, to my surprise, I heard soft clapping. And a couple of heavy sniffs.
“That was wonderful, my lady.” Oh, Eryk was in there. His voice was thick, almost choking.
Nate’s deep tone joined in. “Brava,” he rumbled, his voice hitching a little. “That was astonishing. I apologize for the tears, Lady Audrina. Your song touched my heart in a way I have never felt before.” There was a small pause. “Are you sure you are not a sorceress of some kind?”
Audrina gave an awkward chuckle. “Of course not, Nate. I’m just a girl. And it’s just a song.”
“Not just a song.” Eryk paused and blew his nose.
“It was the essence of longing. It was heartbreak and loss, and hope, infused in an exquisite melody. I’ve heard many a bard sing many a ballad in taverns and halls all through the Upper Realm, and I have never heard anything so divine in all my days. ”
“Now I am even more worried for your safety,” Nate rumbled. “One such as you will surely be abducted by some evil tyrant as soon as they hear your song.”
She laughed again. “I guess they’d immediately be put off by the package my song comes in.”
“I do not understand your joke, my lady,” Eryk said. “What package do you speak of?”
“Oh, I mean… I know I’m not pretty.”
Both men gasped. There was a long, loaded silence.
“Surely you jest.” Nate’s voice was even lower than usual, almost subsonic.
“Uh… no. You don’t have to be polite about it, Nate. I know what I look like. I’m too tall. My arms and legs are too long, I’m gangly, I don’t have any curves, my hair is a giant orange bush, and my face is weird. My lips?—”
“Enough.” Nate sounded almost alarmed. “I’m sorry, my lady, I must stop you there. Now I am concerned that the drugs have not worn off.”
She giggled. The sound made my heart skip a beat.
“You are willowy and lithe,” he went on. “Your height suits ours; your body is graceful. Your hair is riotous and a joyous color. Your skin is creamy and lush, and your cheeks are rosy. I think the only thing wrong with you is your eyesight.”
“I know what you look like too,” Eryk whispered. “I cannot take my eyes off you. Especially your lips. The bow-shape of your top lip is astoundingly beautiful. Would you sing for us again, my lady?”
“I… I suppose I could.” She began to strum softly. “I should practice.”
I backed away slowly, resisting the temptation to bang on the door and scream that Audrina was still a minor.
They didn’t sound lustful, though. Both Eryk and Nate sounded completely spellbound. How was Audrina going to cope with going from completely despised by everyone in her life, to being worshiped by not one, but two astoundingly gorgeous, young men?
Nobody deserved it more than her.
But before I left, I asked Violet to keep both boys six feet away from her at all times, just in case.