Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
D inner would have been more miserable if I’d been seated beside either Britannia or Wald.
His parents were smart and sat me between them, facing Wald and Britannia.
Maverick picked up a soup spoon, and in his massive hand, it was doll sized.
I wanted to hit him with a discussion of pro-choice, but with the simmering contempt rolling off Britannia, I focused on the multi-course dinner, exchanging the pleasantries you’d expect interested parents to ask of a girlfriend.
Filling the empty spaces of conversation, I babbled on with esoteric Harlan-trivia.
I was seven when Mom landed in prison for killing a cop (manslaughter) and ten when she died inside.
My aunt had never wanted kids, and besides being the burden Mom had dropped on her, she’d blamed me for Mom’s death.
Dad had never been in the picture. He’d knocked her up, whispered her promises of a family, then ditched us before I was born.
Mom had scraped by with help from my grandmother, then with two jobs, and a night run for a local dealer.
That’s the job which had gone wrong. I’d grown up angry and wanting what other kids at school had—parents.
Annoying my aunt, I’d tried to be more like Mom, but it had taken my aunt’s death and Gentry’s idiocy to smarten me up.
Servants in gray-green suits cleared courses of soup, rare roast beef, salad, bloomy rind cheese, and a devil’s food style chocolate cake that reminded me of my grandmother’s birthday cake recipe.
How I missed her. She was the only one of my speckled family who had the deep-seated calmness that would make everything instantly better.
The servants, a man and woman, never spoke.
Their faces were blank, entirely focused on the food they served and the glasses they filled.
It was more than obvious that Wald’s parents were wealthy, but this effortless wealth was surreal.
Like I was in some fancy restaurant. All through this verbal spurge, I shot Wald endearing glances and Britannia tight smiles that were cloaked fuck-yous.
Did I mention the coffee was glorious?
I silently plotted how Britannia would get her payback, outwardly playing to the girlfriend cover story and managing to avoid what actually had brought me here.
Victoria now knew my favorite color was burgundy like my hair, and the only soup I’d ever made came in packets, but not that I was on the run from a possible murder charge.
Victoria laughed along with Wald at my stupid jokes, and Maverick smiled like I was another daughter.
Wald’s laugh was the salve for my soul. He had that same solid calmness of my grandmother.
I was glowing with comfort and inclusion by the time Maverick and Victoria pushed back from the table.
It was clear I was an acceptable girlfriend, and from the way Britannia was stabbing the chocolate cake with a knife, she was murderous.
I stood up, following Wald from the dining room to the parlor, but watching my back .
Britannia stuck her tongue out at me, and both her and Victoria excused themselves less than a minute after we’d sat down. The tension left with her.
When Maverick began to speak, I got that nectary funny feeling again, and the world dropped away. I could only focus on his voice.
“Father!” Wald snapped.
“Of course, my apologies, Harlan. We are unused to visitors here.”
I was able to think again, gushing out stupid, “Oh, no problem, Maverick, dinner was great, and I so appreciate the hospitality. Why don’t you all wear sunglasses like Wald?”
Maverick stared at me for a moment, then at Wald. “Unlike Waldemar, our eyes change with our form. I gather you are in some trouble?” His eyes narrowed, and I felt a compulsion to answer.
“Well, yes, a little.” Apparently, they already knew the bigger story.
I glanced at Wald. He nodded his approval to continue.
I sat up straighter. “Your daughter has completely screwed me over. She killed my friend Gentry. Poisoned him and then accidentally poisoned me. Then she called the police, framing me for his murder. I gather you made her get the abortion, and I’d like to know who the hell you think you are? ”
The crystal chandelier above us tinkled, and china on the mantel rattled.
I gripped the arms of the chair as the floor vibrated, calculating the distance to the door.
“Earthquake?” I asked innocently while realizing how utterly stupid I was.
Maverick’s face was ashen, his cheek twitching.
He, too, had a firm hold on his chair but not in fear.
Jeezus Christ. I needed to remember I wasn’t dealing with normal people.
“Father, Harlan doesn’t lie, but she’s also not very skilled at diplomacy,” Wald said, redirecting his father’s attention. Maverick’s head twisted to look at him. Wald’s lips had set into a grim straight line. The shaking stopped.
Wald continued, “Harlan interrupted the theft of the artifact. She had it in her possession for a time, and tried it on, so she’s been targeted as a protector. Now, she’s in danger from her own people because of Britannia, and from the Grigores because of my carelessness.”
“She wore it?” Maverick snapped, locking eyes with Wald.
“Only for a second,” I replied, glancing from father to son, who were now staring at me. Maverick’s lips pressed together.
“Where is the ring now?” Maverick asked.
“I have it in safekeeping, but the box is lost to us,” Wald replied.
“Lost?” Maverick’s voice was shrill.
“I was unable to retrieve it before the building on 2 nd Avenue exploded,” Wald said, like he was spitting out sour grapes.
Gears turned in my head. “The fire yesterday? Your box took out a building? They said it was likely a gas explosion.” Someone had mentioned it at the Save-Mor that their husband had been fighting a fire in the historic district.
“The box doesn’t like to be contained,” Wald replied.
“Did it survive?” Maverick asked, rubbing his square chin with long bony fingers.
There was some resemblance in the way they lingered and his lips twitched.
I wondered if I had traits of my birth father.
Mom had said, except for my blue eyes, I didn’t look anything like him, and she refused to talk about him.
All I had was his blue eyes and his last name.
“I don’t know. When I heard from Britannia about the poisoning, I rushed to the address, but Harlan had removed the poison device.
A pen. I followed Britannia to the club, which also turned out to be the pen’s destination, but I was followed.
” Wald got up and began to pace in front of the stone mantel of the fireplace.
“It must have been Britannia who was originally being targeted. I confronted the agent who had appropriated the ring from Britannia, but he secreted it in the bathroom where Harlan found it.”
Wald paused and stilled, staring at Maverick. His lips parted for words and then closed. Maverick nodded at him. Wald swallowed. My throat tightened. Whatever he was about to say was hard.
“Harlan was ill, Father. She tried it on before I could stop her. I took her to the safe place and called Britannia, but the Grigores must have followed her again as we barely escaped.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the mantel.
“So you thought bringing her here was a good idea?”
“I actually brought Harlan here earlier, but she decided it was better if we went back to Portland.” Wald glanced in my direction with a grimace.
He was holding a grudge about the door. Great.
Wald returned his attention to his father.
“Unfortunately, my car had been tracked. I confronted multiple agents, leaving a mess as I mentioned. And we left that car behind. Then we returned here to get your advice.” The words flowed out in a rush.
Wald leaned against the fireplace as if it would hold him up.
I hadn’t quite realized this was hard on him.
Until now, it had been all about me and my problems.
“Hmmm…” Maverick sat back in thought, steepling his fingers in front of his lips.
Britannia entered through the hall’s double doors.
“Britannia, you have explaining to do,” Maverick ordered, dropping his hands. “Tell me about the poison you used on the humans. ”
Wald’s shoulders went rigid, and my heart skipped. Britannia stopped in the middle of the pale-blue carpet, completely nonplussed by her father’s seriousness. “My usual blend. Untraceable. Slow. Works with the metabolism. No way it can come back on me.” She glared at me and sneered.
“Especially now.” I glared back. “Why did you call the police then?”
“Because the agents were trailing me. I thought if we switched them onto a human they would drop their interest in me. It worked marvelously.” She smirked at me.
“You set me up,” I snapped.
“I did. You were the perfect person.” She cocked her head.
Every muscle tensed. I jumped up ready to take her down again. Wald walked between us before I could get a punch in.
“Stop. I will not have fighting in my home.” Maverick’s honey-dripping words soothed my anger, and I sat down in the nearest chair, disoriented.
The china was rattling again. The knick-knacks looked expensive.
The photo on the table next to me was a picture of Wald with shorter hair and a fishing pole.
Were there baby pictures of him? I started to scan the room.
There were photos of Victoria and Maverick much younger.
Obviously, these people aged. On the mantel was a photo of two girls.
One could be Britannia, but I couldn’t tell from a distance.
“The ring, where is it now?” Maverick asked Wald.
“It’s in the trunk of the SUV in the garage. I disconnected Devlyn’s safe box from my car and moved it to the agent’s vehicle.”
“You parked the agents’ vehicle in our garage?” Maverick’s hands flexed.
“They know we took it, and it will disappear inside the border. They can’t come closer than they ever have, and it’s not as if they are unaware of where we reside.”
“Yes, there is that. They will not be pleased you dispatched their enhanced humans. I will arrange for a cover story, but you cannot stay here. It would be best if you took their vehicle and left.”
“Hang on, enhanced humans?” I interrupted, and both Maverick and Wald turned.
Wald replied, “The Grigores don’t usually enjoy interacting with humans.
They can, but they are… easily angered. To remove themselves from direct contact, they create helpers who work for them.
Humans who have some watered-down powers, with enough strength to be resilient while they hunt us, but are expendable. ”
“Basically, like human servants of vamps then?”
Wald’s lips turned up at the corners. He didn’t respond. I really wanted to wipe that smile off his face, but I wasn’t risking the china breakage. Fortunately, Maverick interrupted the staring contest I was losing.
“I suggest you go to your Aunt Agatha’s or your brother’s. Either Agatha or Devlyn will be able to repair the artifact so it can be used again.”
Wald’s jaw flexed as if he’d bitten down on something foul. “Then Agatha’s, as I have no interest in Devlyn’s current antics.”
“Follow your instincts, Son.” Maverick turned to me.
“On behalf of my family, I apologize for your misfortunes. Wald has my approval to give you the assistance you require to repair the damage that has been done.” Maverick got up as if to leave.
Britannia jumped up and raced out before he made it upright.
“What’s up with her?” I asked, but no one answered. I liked Wald’s choice of aunt because I was creeped out that the velvet safe-box in the back of the car was his brother’s. At least it wasn’t Wald’s.
“Where does Agatha live?” I asked.
“Las Vegas.”
That was a day’s drive, maybe more. “Hell no. I am not driving to Vegas with you in that stolen car.”
He wasn’t wearing gloves, and I was riveted to how his strong, dexterous fingers adjusted his sunglasses.
“Agatha may be able to repair the ring. With the ring, I should be able to arrange things, so the pen was never removed.”
“That’s impossible. There’ll be police records of the death, and whatever Britannia said, and the pen is now destroyed.”
“Only now. Time doesn’t quite work the way you think it does.”
“Are you telling me you can time travel?” I was dealing with impossible things. At this point, nothing was off the table.
“No. But with the repaired ring, we can revisit time.”
“Like go back in time? Isn’t that the same thing as travel?”
“You have to think about it in a different way. More like files you can access. It’s limited. If you can find the moment, you can pull out up to nine seconds and make one alteration.”
“That’s not long.”
“Long enough to move the pen.”
“But won’t it change everything else? That’s crazy powerful.”
“It will affect everything else. Altering time has a price. It is also why it can only be used three times by one keeper.”
He plucked a curl of my hair and twisted it around his bare finger.
I stilled as he leaned in, the ripples in my belly heating up.
“I need to pack a few things. Come with me?” he whispered.
Before I could reply, he was already walking through the door to the foyer.
He turned and flashed me a lopsided grin that would probably lead me anywhere.
But I couldn’t let go of the time thing yet.
“What will change then?” I asked, darting forward to keep up.
Without the pen, I wouldn’t be poisoned.
That was a bonus, and in an alternate time, I hadn’t thrown up on Wald.
“Wait. If you change things so I don’t get the pen, we won’t even meet.
Right? Because you were at the club entirely because I was there with the pen. ”
“Yes,” he replied, starting up the stairs.
I grabbed the stair railing to hold myself up. Never meet Wald? That drove in like a nail. I raced up the stairs after him. If I was going to have to forget him, I was damn well going to make sure there was something to forget.