Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
Elodie
Isit stiffly in the chair across from the headmaster’s desk, the ticking of his stately grandfather clock pinging through my nerves. My face aches from the mild, innocent smile I’ve been holding in place like a folk dancer’s mask.
I wish it could literally transform me into someone—preferably somewhere—else.
After my first couple of classes, I started to think the academy administration might drop the issue. Then I got the official request to report to Headmaster Pembrooke’s office at the end of the school day.
Not only that, but he called in my dad. Like I’m a kid whose misbehavior needs to be reported to her parents.
As irritating as that treatment is, it’s been a bit of a relief to let Dad do most of the talking. At least he seems to find the situation as insulting as I do.
“Elodie is twenty years old,” he’s saying to Pembrooke now. “Any concerns you have about her conduct can be addressed to her directly, and she can tell me whatever she thinks I need to know.”
The headmaster gives a slight cough. “Given recent traumatic events… and your concerns about how Luminary has ensured your daughter’s safety… we thought you’d prefer to be included in the conversation.”
His posture goes a little more rigid, as if he thinks Dad might sock him for his impertinence, but Dad just grimaces. Even I have to admit the guy has a point.
I can’t just sit quietly. “These rumors have nothing to do with the poisoning. Salvatore Cosgrave hasn’t been harassing me—I’ve barely spoken to him.” At school, I add silently, to make it true. “You should probably look into whoever’s spreading the made-up story.”
Feel free to tar and feather Cadance for running her mouth. I won’t complain.
Pembrooke shifts in his chair. “I’m sure the schoolmate who spoke up did so for your own well-being, and if the account is untrue, it’s a misunderstanding.”
Right. One of my supposed friends “misunderstood” me into a torrid affair with the academy’s most notorious student.
I mean, I am technically hooking up with him, but she doesn’t know more than a fraction of the truth.
The headmaster presses on. “Other students have mentioned seeing Mr. Cosgrave taunt you rather… aggressively in recent weeks. If you’ve agitated the syndicates he represents, however inadvertently, you’ll be much safer reaching out for help than keeping it to yourself.”
Salvatore will kick himself if he finds out his initial hassling of me and his pretended hostility since has given the rumors more fuel. I swallow a sigh.
Even if I was in trouble with one of the lucent mafias, I don’t think Headmaster Pembrooke is right about what would be “safe.” But I also don’t think either of Salvatore’s families gives two shits about me.
I go with more polite phrasing. “As far as I know, no one in the Cosgrave or Morelli families who doesn’t attend Luminary has given me a second thought. I haven’t talked to or seen any of them. Didn’t the police already investigate them in the poisoning, just because of their reputation?”
“We still need to take current reports into consideration, given the potential threat—”
Dad speaks up again, in a warm even tone.
A faint current of energy runs through it, just enough to prick at my awareness.
“Nigel, you know my family and I have supported Luminary from the start. We want to see the academy flourishing and our next generation thriving there. I don’t want recent troubles to harm our long-standing partnership, and I’m sure Elodie doesn’t either.
She says she has nothing else to tell you. I think we should believe her.”
A tingle races over my skin. Am I seeing his glim in action for the first time?
Mom never explained Dad’s innate power in detail, but I know it has something to do with smoothing problems over.
Whether through magic or simply social leverage, his strategy works.
Headmaster Pembrooke appears to preen a bit before dipping his head apologetically.
“Of course, you’re right. We’ll continue to monitor the school for any potential peril and see that Miss Devine can carry out her studies in peace. ”
“Perfect.” Dad stands, so I do too. I follow him out of the office, exhaling slow and long.
Well, that awfulness is over with. I still have the entire student body thinking I’m entertaining Salvatore’s attentions, whether enthusiastically or under coercion, but if we ignore each other at school, the gossip might die down quickly.
Dad doesn’t say anything to me until we’re in the car. He puts up the privacy screen between us and the chauffeur and looks over at me.
His expression is so weary my stomach twists.
“What’s all this really about, Elodie?” he asks.
Guilt wraps around my gut as I feign more confusion. “What do you mean? Like I told Headmaster Pembrooke, there’s nothing going on.”
“If the Cosgrave kid hasn’t been bothering you, then whoever claimed you two were together was stirring up trouble. Did you clash with someone else at school?”
Shit on a sphinx. Of course he’d be worried about my relations with the other elite family heirs who attend Luminary.
Pissing them off could be just as disastrous as getting on the syndicates’ bad side, just with different kinds of consequences.
In this one thing, I can be mostly honest. It’s better for him to know about the petty squabble than to have to fret about the bigger picture.
I lean back in my seat. “I’m pretty sure it’s someone I know from my classes.
Lower ranked and resenting that I’m doing better than her.
” That’s my best guess for Cadance’s motivations beyond basic sadism.
“It’s the same kind of jockeying for power I’m sure you’ve had to deal with your whole life.
It shouldn’t affect anything outside of school. ”
Dad’s expression stays tight. “It could, though. You should know that. Your classmates talk to their parents, word gets around—an association with the Cosgraves, even if it’s untrue…”
He lets out a rough breath. “I hope you can make peace with this girl. For your whole life, you’re going to face resentment because of the advantages you’ve had—we need to be as gracious and understanding as we can in order to maintain the higher ground in a squabble.”
Even though I didn’t grow up with those advantages, I know he’s right. The Devines are one of the most prominent families even at Luminary. It means people suck up to us, but it also means it’s easy for us to look like villains if someone less powerful but still respected raises a complaint.
No one would say as much outright, but I can only imagine how the rumblings could grow and work against Dad, Aunt Daphne… and whatever life I hope to continue having here.
Was it a mistake to make those testing jabs that probably provoked Cadance weeks ago, however well she hid her anger at the time? It isn’t as if my gambit revealed anything about the people out to murder me.
I don’t really know how to navigate this level of lucent society, with all the pressures and subtle maneuverings that come with the benefits.
I don’t give a flying fuck what happens to my grandparents Devine, who can choke on their Rolls Royce as far as I’m concerned, but what if I screw up Dad’s life by being here and flapping my metaphorical butterfly wings?
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I force my voice to come out steady. “I realize that. I’ll extend an olive branch.”
His tone softens. “Good. That’s the way to do it. And if she escalates her animosity beyond a petty squabble, we’ll deal with the situation more forcefully. It’s all about knowing when to simmer things down and when to show your strength.”
I nod, not at all comforted. I’m not sure I can count on knowing the difference—or being all that good at the simmering down part.
Should I be trying harder to fully patch things up with Stella? Making nice with the twins in case they’re hiding their own resentment?
Probably. But before I can even start to strategize, my phone vibrates with an incoming message.
It’s probably Salvatore, wanting to know if I’m okay. I’m sure he’s heard about the rumors too.
All of my matches must have. To my surprise, when I hurry up to my bedroom and pull out my phone in private, the message that’s popped up is from Cole instead. A group missive to the other four of us in our union.
We clearly have a lot to talk about. My house, 8pm. Come concealed.
My stomach knots. I tap out a quick reply in agreement and set down my phone.
I change out of my school uniform into a casual designer dress that seems appropriate for an Other Elodie hangout. When the timing’s right, I poke my head into my dad’s home office.
“I’m going to get started on the peace-making now. Heading out to hang with a bunch of the girls from school and set a new tone going forward.”
Dad’s proud smile sends a jab of guilt through my abdomen. “That’s the spirit. Just—still stay on your guard while you’re out there.”
“Always.”
I get Maurice to drop me off outside a restaurant that’s apparently trendy, wait until he’s driven off, and then hire a more discrete ride to get me to the Raiths’ neighborhood.
After the car drops me off a few blocks away, I wrap myself in concealing ephemera before hurrying the rest of the distance to the house.
Cole glowers at me and the world in general as he ushers me into the living room and double-checks that the curtains are totally closed. The floor creaks ominously under his pacing feet.
Asher hovers in the doorway, and Byron stands behind the sofa, resting his hands on the thready fabric. I guess Cole decided avoiding the memory of his forced interrogation the other day was more important than the slightly increased privacy of the basement.
Then Salvatore steps past the door, and the professor’s temper comes off its leash.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he demands before Salvatore has even reached the living room. “You couldn’t keep your dick in your pants for five seconds? Now the whole school’s going to be watching the two of you like hawks.”