by Eva Chase
I ignored the attitude. He’d see soon enough what I knew Aunt Ambrosia was capable of.
“I’m basically using you as bait,” I said to my brother. “You would have been totally justified in telling me off.”
“You’re using yourself as bait too,” Noah replied. “The whole plan makes sense. I’m not some little kid—I can make my own decision about it. Which you let me do. You’re not the bad guy here.” He paused, and his eyes gleamed briefly. “I can’t wait to see the look on her stupid face when she realizes how epically she’s screwed up.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” I had no doubt that our aunt would try something during this meeting. I never would have expected a gambit like this to have worked in the past, when the balance of authority had been in my favor. Now, with the other barons supporting her bid for the Ashgrave barony and crushing anyone who stood up to them, she’d have much less fear of potential consequences. How could she resist the opportunity?
But whether we’d come out on top during this confrontation was yet to be determined.
She didn’t know we were coming. No one knew about this little mission except the blacksuits with us and my fellow scions. I hadn’t wanted any risk of her being ready with accomplices to displace the blame for whatever move she decided to make.
Unfortunately, that also meant we were approaching her at her home. I didn’t like the idea that my cousins, who were only kids, might see this, but for any official business she went out on, she’d be much more likely to have professional company. She’d always made a fuss about Sunday family brunch, with lots of passive-aggressive posturing when my side of the family had stopped joining hers here for it… after the second time I’d come down with a mysterious illness the night after, despite my father’s and my best attempts at checking over my food. I was counting on her not skipping this one tradition no matter how busy she’d been playing baron.
Because of the spells hiding the blacksuits, to her eyes it’d look like just her two nephews dropping by for a visit. When we reached the tall steel gate, I idled in view of the security camera for a minute before it whirred open. I’d been gambling that her recognition of the opportunity we’d presented her with would override any concerns she had about facing us.
I drove up the drive and parked where it widened in front of the big stone mansion, modeled closely after the baron homes. There was a garage off to the right, but I needed the car out in the open for the blacksuits to act as witnesses. That also meant we had to stay out here and wait for her to come to us. Setting foot in that building not only cut us off from our backup but also opened us up to more potential traps than I wanted to worry about. She’d be dangerous enough out here.
The two of us got out of the car. I left the driver’s side door open as if for making a quick departure but really so the blacksuits could hear the conversation more easily. I’d have liked to leave a back door open so they could exit with more speed, but I couldn’t think of a way to do that without raising suspicions.
I leaned against the hood of the car, facing the front entrance. Noah stood near me, shuffling his feet, more with anticipation than nerves from his expression. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he schooled his demeanor to be more serious.
Ringing the doorbell wasn’t necessary. Aunt Ambrosia would have been aware of our unexpected arrival from the moment her staff had spotted us on the camera at the gate. Still, she took her time making an appearance. We’d been waiting at least five minutes when the door finally opened and she stepped out.
She stayed on the doorstep, eyeing us with her head held high. Neither of us had ever attacked her in any way, but people who were inclined to be underhanded tended to assume everyone else was willing to resort to the same tactics. She didn’t trust us.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d already notified the other barons of our visit. She probably also had her husband and a staff member or two watching from the windows to magically intervene if she seemed to be in danger. She just liked the appearance of handling us on her own.
“Boys,” she said in the flat voice that came out when no one she wanted to impress was in the vicinity. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I thought we had a few things to discuss,” I said. “Seeing as you’ve stolen my barony, and effectively Noah’s too if I’d wanted to hand it over to him.”
She sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “You tossed your barony away when you turned your back on the pentacle and started encouraging those who would overthrow it.”
“No one we’ve been talking with wants to overthrow the barons,” Noah put in. “They just want the barons to listen to them instead of turning our whole world upside down without caring what we think about that.”
I offered her a tense smile. “And I think we’ve made that very clear in past discussions. Meanwhile, the barons have made it clear they can’t even hear criticism without resorting to violence.”
“I recall plenty of violence on both sides yesterday,” Aunt Ambrosia said haughtily. “Disturbing a business meeting you weren’t invited to was an act of aggression all on its own.”
And declaring me a traitor while claiming my seat wasn’t?
I bit back that accusation and the rancor that rose up with it. Our aunt didn’t give a crap what I thought of her. All that mattered to her was having that seat and lording it over us. She’d had her eyes on it from the moment our mother had died.
Would she have been this villainous if Mom had lived? It was hard to imagine her having much love for her sister but still being willing to sabotage that woman’s children at every turn. Maybe she’d always held these ambitions and only dared to act on them when the most obvious obstacle had been removed.
It didn’t really matter. Her vicious greed would bring about her undoing now. We just needed to draw it out.
“You should enjoy this while it lasts, I suppose,” I said, adjusting my stance against the car into an even more nonchalant pose. Jude would have enjoyed playing this role. I tried to channel his careless air. “Because it isn’t going to last long. We’ve already got plans in motion to take our rightful place. We just wanted to give you the chance to do the right thing and step aside before the situation needs to become even more fraught. It’ll make you look better when this is all over.”
She sputtered a laugh. “That’s a lot of confidence from a young man no one has any interest in following anymore. Did you come all the way out here to make empty threats?”
Noah raised his chin. “It’s not a threat. It’s just a fact. We came here to be generous.”
“And you really thought I’d capitulate and go along with this request of yours simply because you so generously asked?”
“No,” I said. “Not really.” Words I’d wanted to throw at her for years started to bubble up my throat. I let them come, part of me still balking at letting my anger show openly and part of me reveling in the release. “You’ve never been that smart, have you? But you’re smart enough to know we’ve got a better claim than you do, and that it’s only a matter of time before we prove that. How long did you really think this gambit of yours could last?”
“I have the support of the barons who—”
I barreled right over her. “It isn’t long before the two currently empty seats will be filled by people who support me. Baron Nightwood has never liked you all that much, and Baron Bloodstone barely knows you. Do you really believe you can count on their loyalty when they have another, better option? What have you ever contributed to the pentacle other than backstabbing and simpering anyway?”
Aunt Ambrosia’s hands closed at her sides. Of course she understood the tenuousness of her situation—but she didn’t enjoy being reminded of it either. Especially by the people who made it so tenuous. Of course, there was an incredibly simple solution right in front of her if she decided to take it.
Go ahead, I dared her silently. Show me how angry I’m making you.
She descended one of the f
ront steps with a brief movement of her lips that I suspected was a casting. The tickle of magic that brushed the edges of my awareness a moment later confirmed it. She was checking us for magical defenses. We purposely hadn’t built any protections around ourselves. By all appearances, we were easy targets. Vulnerable.
Tempting.
“I’m not sure why you assume you’re better,” she said, studying us. “I have far more experience. I can stand with Barons Nightwood and Bloodstone as equals, not a junior. And there are plenty of ways I’ve proven I’m much wiser than you are.”
Noah snorted. “This from the woman who couldn’t manage to get one over on my brother even when he was a little kid. What makes you think you stand a chance against him now?”
Her eyes flashed. “Do you imagine you’ve seen my full power? I’ve always treaded carefully out of respect.”
I couldn’t restrain a guffaw. Maybe I didn’t want to. It felt good letting everything I’d bottled up for so long pour out. “Respect? Are you kidding me? You’ve done everything you could do to undermine me at every turn, when your one job as regent was to support me. If you fuck up your job as baron even half as much, you’ll be the worst thing that ever happened to the pentacle.”
Aunt Ambrosia’s voice came out as caustic as mine had been. “You should have known better than to speak to me like that. The tables have turned in the last few weeks. I’m the one who can demand respect now. You’ve come to my home to insult and berate me. When I tell this story later, no one will question why I felt it necessary to defend myself by whatever means necessary.”
She’d barely spoken the last words when she thrust out her hand and spat a casting word. Magic blazed through the air—and Noah and I flung ourselves backward around the sides of the car.
We hadn’t built up magical defenses around ourselves, but she hadn’t tested the object behind us. A split-second after we stumbled through the magical barrier, the spell she’d hurled at us crashed into it with a searing crackle. The impact rang through the air and down into my bones, pinching my nerves. If that thing had actually hit us, we’d have been scattered on the driveway in tiny pieces.
As the blacksuits who’d helped us cast that shield had no doubt felt as well. Aunt Ambrosia only had time to take another step forward when the back doors of the car whipped open, and the three blacksuits charged out, the illusion spell that had hidden them dropping away. The baron usurper stared at them in horror.
“Ambrosia Ashgrave,” said the previously-skeptical man in a clipped tone. “You’re under arrest by the power of the blacksuits for an unprovoked assault on two minors of a barony family. I’m afraid we’ll have to take you into custody.” He raised his phone to his ear to call for the backup he’d asked to stay on patrol nearby.
“But I— They were—” Her mouth snapped shut as she must have realized there was no justifying what they’d witnessed. In the next instant, she was whirling toward the house, as if by fleeing there she could somehow escape her fate.
The other two blacksuits were on her in an instant, the woman who hadn’t defected clicking the cuffs that would restrain Aunt Ambrosia’s magic around her wrists. “Your time as baron is over,” she said. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
Watching the woman who’d spent so much of my life trying to destroy me sag with defeat wasn’t the triumphant moment she probably assumed it was. Queasiness filled my gut. I didn’t enjoy seeing her humiliated. If she could have simply heeded our warning and backed down, I’d have preferred that outcome. But this was the woman she’d always been—and we’d stripped away one more piece of the current pentacle’s power.
I glanced across the car to my brother. “I think our work here is done. Let’s get back to campus.”
Chapter Seventeen
Rory
Less than a month ago, the sight of Maggie Duskland coming out of my dorm room would have made me stiffen up with wariness. Now, a smile sprang to my lips at the visual confirmation that my cousin had made it away from the barons and onto campus safely. She’d taken over one of the bedrooms that a few of my former dormmates had vacated after Ms. Grimsworth’s announcement.
“Where are you off to?” I asked.
She smiled back a little wearily, and her voice came out more harried than it’d been the last few times we’d talked while she was still acting as my mother’s assistant. “I offered to consult with Hector Killbrook on a few subjects that came up while I was working with the barons. Things that might help him enforce his own claim on the barony. Might as well put everything I learned during that time to use.”
“Of course. Just make sure you take some time to rest now that you’re here too. You’ve done tons for us already.”
“I’m just glad I ended up on the right side,” she said, her smile softening.
She headed downstairs, and I went into the common room to find Morgan sitting with a bunch of Nary friends on the sofas. The sight warmed me and saddened me at the same time. On one hand, it was a relief that the nonmagical students felt comfortable gathering here now that the more antagonistic students had left and Ms. Grimsworth had banned any further torment. On the other hand, they were gathering so they could exchange horrified murmurs over the latest news from beyond campus.
There were more protests and more violent acts of retaliation happening all across the country. The news reports I’d watched on their computers showed reporters giving shocked commentary on the developments and ordinary people explaining how the proposed policies would screw them over. Some of our older allies had headed out yesterday, but if they’d managed to interfere with the persuasion spells the barons’ lackeys were casting, the effects weren’t yet clear.
“Is there anything particularly new or is the news all just as horrible as usual?” I asked with a grimace, coming up to the sofa near Morgan.
“The usual horrible, as far as I can tell. Which is still pretty horrible.” She shuddered as she looked at the screen. The Naries around her glanced at me with wisps of fear that I couldn’t blame them for. Even if I’d never terrorized them myself, they’d suffered plenty at the hands of my fearmancer classmates.
“We’re keeping an eye on the political situation too,” I said. “And we’re finding as many ways as we can to try to set things right. I’ll let you know when we’ve made concrete progress.” And hopefully that wouldn’t take much longer.
While I went over to the kitchen to grab some lunch, the Naries started up their hushed discussion again. After several minutes, most of them left to go back to whatever else they were occupying themselves with these days. Morgan meandered over to the table where I’d sat down with my sandwich. She hesitated behind one of the chairs, her hands fidgeting along the top, and finally opened her mouth.
“I know we don’t really know each other all that well or anything, but—you’re the closest thing I have to a friend on campus who can actually leave campus right now. Would you mind if I asked you a pretty small favor?”
Even if I’d been inclined to balk, her awkwardness about the request would have won me over. “What do you need? I’d be happy to help if I can.” It was the least I could offer after everything she’d been through here that I hadn’t been able to protect her or her friends from.
“Well, I…” She made a face at the chair before looking at me again. “It’s going to sound silly. I have this tradition. Every year my favorite horror author puts out a new book in the fall, and I always get it to read around Halloween. It’s almost that time, but I haven’t been able to get to a bookstore or anything. I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way, but if you’re going into town to grab groceries or whatever else sometime and you wouldn’t mind stopping by the bookstore there… He’s a pretty popular author so they’ll probably have it. I can give you the money for it, of course.”
She was already turning back toward the sofa to grab her purse when I made a dismissive motion. “I think I can afford a book. Consider it a thank you gift for trus
ting me even though so many of my classmates have been assholes. Just write down the name and the title so I can make sure I get the right one.”
It felt good having a mission I knew I could fulfill with minimal trouble, but my spirits dampened when I emerged from the forest path at the edge of town. Nothing nearby looked suspicious, but my hackles rose instinctively as I set off through the streets. The barons must have heard of Ms. Grimsworth’s declaration by now. Between that and the arrest of Declan’s aunt, my mother and Malcolm’s dad had to be furious. Nowhere beyond the school’s wards was all that safe.
On top of that, in every person I passed I saw echoes of the trauma the townspeople had been through that the blacksuits had wiped from their conscious memories. One woman’s gaze lingered on me for a few beats longer than was natural, a flicker of anxiety passing from her into me. A young man flinched and did a double-take when our paths crossed. The wounds we’d dealt were still there, just buried under uncertainty they’d never be able to shake.
I said a few casting words under my breath to draw a temporary shield against magic around me as well as bolster my tighter mental shields. I couldn’t do much to soothe the townspeople’s lingering discomfort, but I could make myself as secure as possible out here.
The bookstore had a display at the end of one of the aisles with the novel Morgan had asked for. Easy enough. I grabbed it and brought it up to the counter, pretending not to notice the nervous twitch of the shopkeeper’s cheek as she rang it up.
I walked back to campus laden down by that and the groceries I’d picked up for both myself and some of the Naries I’d asked, whom I’d realized might be getting tired of the cafeteria food. At least I hadn’t come under attack during my venture beyond the wards. A little tension bled away as the campus buildings came into view at the other end of the path. I stepped out onto the field beyond the forest and paused at the sight of Jude hustling toward the garage, too intent on his goal to notice me.