Remus’ head tilted to the side. “How did you manage that? The Smoke Shop is members only, and it’s generally thought of as a boys’ club.”
Ella shot Henry a look of pleading. “Please don’t turn me over to the state. I don’t want to be like this! I can’t always control it.” Her shoulders slumped. “But that day, I did. I knew he was in there, so I did a little trick I’m not supposed to.” She glanced at Remus to show him how guilty the whole thing made her feel. “My dad used to call it ‘sending out my Listening.’ I can…” She gulped, worried the words might stay stuck inside of her forever. Her father had been so adamant that she keep her abilities private, showing her pictures of lobotomies, and reading accounts of people whose only crime was being in the area at the time of an attack, and they were thrown in jail without a trial.
Henry’s hands slipped up her shoulders to cup her cheeks. “Please, Ella. I need you to trust me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me all that’s broken.”
She wondered if she truly was broken, or if she was just different. Either way, she knew she’d been carrying this burden by herself for too long.
So quiet, her voice was barely above a whisper, Ella closed her eyes and finally jumped over the edge of reason. “My Pulse isn’t through touch, like everyone else’s. It makes me able to hear through walls. Sometimes several walls. Sometimes blocks away.” She swallowed hard and glanced tentatively at Remus, knowing it was all or nothing at this point. “When Henry and I almost kissed, I got nervous and happy and all the things you feel when you’re about to be kissed, and something weird happened. I couldn’t just Hear through the walls, I could See, too. That was the first time anything like that ever happened to me.”
“Can you show me?” Remus requested with a stern look on his face before Henry could voice his shock.
She’d half-expected them not to believe her, but when Remus took to her nuances so readily, she nodded. “I’m not dangerous. I don’t hurt people. It’s just how my Pulse works. I don’t touch people and Hear or See them. I push it out, and it travels for me, like a friend doing me a favor.”
Remus clapped Henry on the shoulder. “Henry, go into the kitchen and ask Lionel what’s for dinner. Ella, I want you to see if you can hear what he says.”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “I can do farther distances than that.”
“Then let’s go outside. Shall we?” He proffered his arm to her like a gentleman, taking her hesitation in stride.
She glanced up at Henry, as if to silently ask him if Remus was a safe person with whom she could be alone. Henry stroked her cheek and coiled her hand around Remus’ forearm. “Let’s do this part, and then we can eat. Seriously, Remus. She hasn’t had anything in hours.”
“Forgive me this one curiosity.” Remus inclined his head to her, trying not to spook the cautious creature on his arm.
Ella finally nodded her consent and moved with Remus down the hall and out into the vast expanse of the backyard after he draped Henry’s coat over her shoulders and put on his own.
Just like everything with Remus, his property was immaculate and well-groomed. The icy topiaries were shaped into balls at varying heights, and the entire soccer field-sized property was hemmed in by a towering privacy fence that had barbed wire coiling the top. The entire thing was a winter haven—cold but somehow it left Ella with a touch of warmth to her insides.
Remus followed her eyeline and patted her hand. “My niece is my best student, so she comes here often for her lessons. I take her safety very seriously.”
Ella pursed her lips, but decided she was in too deep now not to give trusting him a try.
Remus sat her on one of the wrought iron chairs on the deck. He took the seat opposite her at the round table that had curly legs to add a bit of delicate grace to the look of the heavy furniture.
Ella sat on her hands again, and kept her head down while she sent out her Listening.
Henry’s voice was easy to pick out. “Roast duck, eh? Was it a large duck? I’m only asking because my girlfriend hasn’t eaten in a while.”
Ella’s mouth curved into a small smile. That he thought of her as his girlfriend? She wanted so very badly to belong to him, and for him to belong to her.
“I can set out more rolls. Would that help? I made some pâté with the duck fat. Mixed it with apricots.”
“Sounds good.”
They spoke as if Henry was being boyish while Lionel was trying to get work done. “You would eat your shoe if it had butter on it. Remus has a more refined palate. The apricot duck pâté is more for him than for you, but your girlfriend might like it, too. It’ll fill anyone up.” He chuckled, and the sound was deep and lovely. “Girlfriend, eh? Never thought I’d see the day.”
Ella kept her Listening active, and spoke quietly to Remus. “Roast duck, extra rolls, duck fat pâté mixed with apricots.”
“Incredible!”
Ella touched her temples. “That was just my Listening. I’m still getting the hang of sending out my Sight. Give me a second.” She touched her temples, feeling like a cheap psychic as she grimaced and tried to focus on the other parts of her brain she’d only recently learned to access.
“She’s allergic to peanuts, you know.” Henry revealed the nugget of truth as if he was lauding himself for knowing some closely-guarded secret. Though, so much was a secret to Ella that she could hardly categorize that as a big one.
“I’ll make a note of it.”
She watched Henry leaning on the island in the center of the kitchen, taking in the majesty of the dark marble top. The base was solid stone, and looked a strange mix of modern, yet ancient. There was a hibachi between the stove and the matching stainless-steel refrigerator, and her eyes drew to it with fascination. She wondered if she could ask the chef to show her how to cook on it. “Can you sauté asparagus on a hibachi without crisping the edges?” she asked Remus, though she couldn’t see him.
“You can see my kitchen?”
“I can go farther than that, if I really concentrate.” She knew she was growing more comfortable with Remus if she was willing to throw a little bravado into the mix. Her fingers started to tremble, so she tucked them under her thighs, even though she longed to wipe the quickly forming beads of sweat from her brow. She widened her scope beyond Henry, seeing the mailbox in the front of the house, and the span of the sidewalk. She followed the walkway down the street, stopping at the curb and turning, as if she was an avatar in a reality-based video game of her own making. She wanted to be able to have an aerial view, but that required more concentration than she could spare at the moment. So her Sight took on movements as if it was a person confined by gravity.
“You’re pale as a sheet, and you’re sweating,” Remus observed, worry dampening his tone.
She shook her head, her eyebrows pulling together when she let go of her Sight and brought herself back to the view in front of them. “I’m guessing that’s not good.”
Remus touched his frown as he thought. “For now, let’s not try to Listen or See beyond my home. Let’s get the basics down before we go worrying about the larger scheme.”
Ella bobbed her head, trusting Remus a little more after that nugget of wisdom. He didn’t seem to want to exploit or push her abilities, but to help her hone them in. “Dinner’s ready,” she informed him, standing. “It doesn’t feel right that I’m not in the kitchen, at least offering a helping hand.”
Remus rose to his feet and twisted at the waist to give his body a little stretch. “Does it feel right that your stepmother sold you to the highest bidder? I could’ve been wanting you to come with me for any number of unseemly depravities, and I have the feeling she would’ve said yes if the price was right.”
Ella balked at him and took a step back. “Why would you say that to me?” She hadn’t thought of it like that, but now the horror seemed glaringly obvious. “Oh! What if you’re right?”
Remus held up his hands to settle her worries. “I have no intention of
letting you return to your home in its current state. The moment you say so, I’ll have her removed from the premises and charged with all sorts of fun things that will stick on her record longer than she can outlive them.”
Ella’s face was pinched with dread. “You can’t do that! I mean, I appreciate it and all, but you don’t understand what she’s capable of. She’ll out me to the community. She’ll tell everyone what I can do! They’ll take me, Remus!”
Remus remained calm, controlling his tone to ease her fears. “You can’t go back there, and I won’t let anything happen to you here.”
“I just want her to leave me alone!”
Remus shook his head slowly, kindness shining in his eyes in earnest. “I think you’re destined for dreams for greater than that.”
15
House Rules
Ella took a step back, touching her forehead with her eyes squinched shut. “This isn’t what we agreed to!”
When Henry came out to get them, his casual lightness fell when he saw Ella’s guarded body language and Remus’ stern expression. “What did I miss?”
“He wants to keep me here, but if he does, Lady Tremaine will tell my secrets! I’ll be studied and manipulated to fight for whichever team needs someone who can hear and see through buildings.”
Henry moved slowly as he approached her, shivering at the chill in the evening air. “There are lots of ways to keep Lady Tremaine quiet, if that’s even necessary. The world and the government aren’t the same as they were when your father made those rules for you. My dad isn’t going to take you in and experiment on you. That’s exactly what kind of reputation he’s trying to avoid.”
“Maybe not your dad, but can you honestly tell me that the Baron is capable of seeing a new flash of magic and letting it pass by him? Maybe your dad is a good guy, but not every man in power is your father. Once my secret is public, the new magic is out there for people to protest, demanding I be locked up.”
“Do you think my father would cave to social pressures so easily? Have you seen one Lethal locked up who was innocent?”
“It’s a gamble, Henry. I know you love your father, and I’ve got nothing against him. What I’ve got is a lifetime of hiding who I am and what I can do because I understand how quickly the political climate could shift. Your father was a great change from Malaura, but I’m not so naïve that I don’t think it could someday shift back to something darker.”
When Ella shivered, Henry forgot his fight and wrapped his arms around her. “We can argue about all of that later. We have four whole days to come up with a plan. Right now, you need to eat. That’s the only thing you can be worried about tonight.”
Ella hesitated, but finally consented to being led inside to the dining room. She paused at the table as Henry pulled out her chair. Her eyes widened as he slid it under her thighs, wondering if this was what normal people got to do. The table was lavishly set, with a gold runner down the center of the purple tablecloth. The gold-rimmed dishes were far fancier than anything Ella had ever eaten off of. The aroma of the duck filled her senses and set her stomach screaming for just a bite.
“What’s wrong? You’ve got that face about you.”
Ella leaned toward Henry and whispered, “I’m not supposed to be here.”
Henry was patient with her misgivings, and handed her the basket of rolls. “You belong wherever you put yourself, and you’ve put yourself next to me. So I guess you belong with me after all.”
“Not that.” She touched the outside of her shoe to his under the table to let him know he’d touched on her sweet spot. “At the table. I’m not supposed to eat at the table. I eat standing up in the kitchen.”
Henry pursed his lips, but Remus spoke up to keep Henry from saying something acerbic that wouldn’t be altogether helpful. “My guests eat wherever they please. Does it please you to eat with us? To dine with Henry?”
Ella flushed at being asked something so direct and personal. “Well, yes, of course. I just… This isn’t… I feel like I’m breaking the rules. Can you tell me what the rules are to this place? I do better if I know ahead of time.”
Henry was about to say something flippant, but Remus took in her concerns seriously. “The rules for the house? Clean up after yourself, not anyone else. Is that understood?”
Ella fidgeted in her seat, unsure if she could agree to his terms. Her whole life in the past couple years had been dedicated to cleaning up after others. “I can try.”
“That’s good. Rule two: What you learn in our sessions should only be practiced here, until we get the hang of it. It’ll do you no good to take a lesson half-learned, and go out into the world with it. That sort of courage is dangerous, and could hurt you and others.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Rule three: Just like you, I prefer my private life be kept private. I trust that won’t be a problem?”
“No, sir. Of course.”
“Good. Now that we’ve settled that, let’s eat.”
The roasted vegetables were right in front of her place setting, but her eyes darted around nervously before she ventured her trembling hand out to scoop a few Brussels sprouts, parsnips and turnips onto her plate. They were glazed with a sweetness that Ella took only the briefest of moments to savor before she shoveled in another bite, and another.
Henry and Remus discussed the next Dinner of the Elite while Ella filled her plate with duck, pâté, more vegetables, and three rolls. As with any meal, she wasn’t sure when the next might come, so she ate as much as she possibly could while the food was in front of her. It wasn’t until she’d finished her last roll that she realized the men were gaping at her.
“I’m sorry.” She shrank in her chair, grimacing at how much she’d eaten so fast.
“Don’t apologize. That was right sexy.” Henry’s eyes were hungry for her. He looped his foot around hers under the table, drawing her chair closer to his. “Have some more duck.”
Ella shook her head. “No, no. I’m finished.”
Remus waited until she glanced at him to speak. “You don’t have to worry here, Ella. The chef prepares three meals every day. All guests in my home are welcome to eat as they please.” Remus took in her mistrust of his declaration with a sadness he couldn’t conceal from Ella. “If you’re okay with a few evaluations of basic magic, just so I know what we’re working with, I think that’s all we should concern ourselves with tonight. Formal lessons can wait until tomorrow. You’ve had a long, eventful day. I think rest would do us all a world of good.”
Henry wiped his mouth on his napkin as he stood. “I’ll take her things to the guest room.”
The space between Ella’s eyebrows puckered. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t. I want to. You’ve had a long day.”
“No, Henry.”
Henry placed his hand on the back of his chair, pushing it in with a frown. “Why won’t you let me be good to you?”
“Because you’re a prince! Because it’s my job to put things away, not yours.”
Remus excused himself, instructing Ella to meet him in the study before she went to bed.
Henry’s voice lowered, even though it was just the two of them in the room. “I need to know if you’re interested in me, Ella. Tell me if I have a shot.”
Ella gaped at him. “Are you serious?”
Henry’s jaw stiffened. “Okay. Good. At least I have my answer.”
Horrified at his assumption, Ella scrambled to undo the damage. “You wondering if you have a shot with me is insane. I’m nobody. Literally nobody. If you’re asking me if I want to be with you, of course I do. Always and only you. But the way you talk to me, like I’m something you’re hoping for, it’s very confusing. I feel like it’s a joke that’s going to come crashing down on my head the second I believe in it.”
It was all the confirmation Henry needed. He scooped her up from her seat and wrapped his arms around her, swaying her in his embrace with an expression of gratitude ov
er having her so near. “All I heard was ‘blah, blah, blah. Henry, be mine.’”
“Well, that’s exactly what I said. Stellar job listening,” she teased him, relieved at his elation. A portion of her insecurity poked out. “You want to be with me?”
Henry’s eyes lifted to the ceiling, as if in silent prayer for patience. “Only every day since I met you. Always and only you. We can be as public or private as you want about it all, but I haven’t been able to stomach the thought of being with another woman since we met.” His thumb traced up and down her spine with a slowness that communicated how long he’d wanted to hold her exactly like that. They didn’t need to rush. Ella felt in his touch that Henry was certain about her, no matter what surprises came their way.
So she let him take his time as his thumb acquainted itself with the curvy slope of her hip. She savored the moment as he brushed his nose across hers, relishing the quickening of his breath. He didn’t rush a moment of the kiss she’d been anticipating for far too long. With much trepidation, she savored the light caress of her lips against his.
16
Reading between Remus’ Pages
Ella’s lashes fluttered against Henry’s cheek as the kiss took on a life of its own, growing in pace and passion once they got through the initial sating. There were too many weeks of subtle build-up to keep their attraction tame. It didn’t take long before his tongue found its way past her lips, dancing with hers while they gripped each other with an edge of desperation to be closer—forever closer.
Ella’s mind flashed as her Sight went out without her consent, alighting on the people in the house without preamble. She saw the chef, who had a curly mustache and a pot belly, but a relaxed expression as he did the dishes. She saw Remus jotting something down in a leather-bound notebook, using a fine-tipped fancy pen that made him look like a scribe. He leaned back in his chair and ran his hand over his shirt, brushing a stroke of pink across the breast, and then green, and then blue, all while deep in thought. He made a few more notations, but then looked up at the ceiling with sudden worry.
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