Evading The Tempest (Tempest tales Book 1)

by Sandra Elsa

  "I plan to.” He gestured at Nan and my father. “You invited his mother, and my very dear friend, Mage Jallahan to dinner. I thought I would take the opportunity to give you a wedding gift and to wish you well. Perhaps to improve your opinion of me."

  "You hunt me down, knowing full well I have no desire to see you. That's proving I can't hide from you. Not improving my opinion of you. Why would you do this in public? You want the front page on the NewsNet?"

  "Did you give me a choice?" He looked like the cat with a canary in his mouth and I wondered what he was up to now.

  "The choice is obvious. Leave. Us. Alone."

  Harrison ran his finger down my arm, calming, cajoling, all without words.

  "Allow me to buy you dessert. Sit with me for ten minutes. Then the next year is yours."

  I wondered if he thought I’d believe that. "I doubt they can cook anything with the two of us in the same room."

  He didn't even express doubt of my words. A restaurant with mage lighting probably had magical heating for their oven too. "I'm sure they have desserts already made."

  "What do you hope to gain by this?" There had to be an ulterior motive.

  "You seem to have decided you can tolerate… more than tolerate, some mages. Why don't I get a chance to convince you I'm not as bad as you think?"

  Harrison’s hand left my arm and settled on my thigh.

  A bit more distracting but I wasn’t being sidetracked. "You left me to crawl down a mountain with a broken leg."

  "You chose the place of our meeting, and refused your friend's offer of assistance."

  I snorted and fingered the taser. "Under the circumstances, I thought my choice of meeting places was only a little short of genius. And you know perfectly well, given his choice, my friend would not have left me on that mountain, no matter what I might say."

  "I confess. I was hot, sweaty, and annoyed with you. To say nothing of deprived of my talent,” he swung his glance to the darkened mage lamps, “rather as I am now. Probably not my shining moment. I was concerned for my son, and the one person who had seen him, wouldn't even talk to me in a civilized manner."

  Nan gave a little gasp and stared at him as though he'd gone mad.

  Jordan Drover glanced at her, considered his words and stopped to look around the room.

  As his attention left me, the mage lights by the door came on. Charms then. A mage would have to have been quite persistent to have brought them back up the moment my nerves eased. The president's attention snapped to the lights. He strode halfway back across the room until he met the line of magelights as they sprang back to life. "Forgive my interruption to your evening. You heard correctly, Harrison Kendrel is my son. He has just married a woman he is very much in love with, and I wish to welcome her to be part of my family." Smug didn’t begin to cover the expression on his face.

  I heard the persuasion in his voice, but I let it ride. It wouldn't affect those at my table, and my business really didn't belong to the other customers. My father appeared ready to put an end to the persuasion and I laid a hand on his arm. I didn’t like being a step behind and Jordan looked like he’d just won a victory.

  The president was still speaking. "And now, I hope you'll forgive me for bringing my domestic problems into your life and carry on with your evening as though I'm not here, forgetting the interruption ever happened." And just like that he swept the whole incident under the rug.

  How could that be a victory? Announce that he has a son then make them forget?

  Customers started eating, as Jordan Drover and his troopers returned to our table. The nearest lights had yet to come back up. Harrison massaged the tension in my shoulders. His leg crossed in front of mine, pressing firmly. He kissed my shoulder and said, "I'm sorry. I did think he'd abide by his agreement."

  "And I will," his father said, standing with his hands on the back of an empty chair at our table. "As soon as we have dessert and she opens the present I brought for the two of you."

  My grip tightened on the taser. A mage light flickered. "I have no intention of opening something you've brought me."

  "Oh very well," he huffed. That's right, the president of the world huffed at me. "You have got to be the single most infuriating woman I have ever met. Small wonder he fell in love with you."

  "I do my damndest. To be infuriating anyway."

  "And did you do your damndest to ensnare my son?" He tore at the wrapping on the box

  I laughed. "I tried everything short of actually beating him over the head or shooting him, to get rid of him. Fortunately for me, he seems to be made of rather formidable grit and determination."

  "I can attest to the fact that she was not chasing him," Nan said.

  "I knew it," Jordan fairly crowed. "You did know where they were."

  "No. I didn't then; I don't now. I met them on the side of the road."

  "That was you? Trooper Hardin thought there was somebody with them as he approached. What were you doing on the side of the road? "

  Nan stared at him. “Meeting ‘my’ son’s fiancée.” Anger at his tactics still evident in her face and on her emphasis of ‘my’. I wondered if she knew the reason for Jordan Drover’s smugness.

  Jordan chose to ignore the anger. “That was a rather expensive spree for the district, two mages with gunshot wounds, a werewolf with silver poisoning—“

  “They broke into my office. I’m allowed to defend myself.” I leaned forward in my chair. Letting him know he couldn’t make me cower.

  He chewed the corner of his lower lip then continued his tally. “Five vehicles with blown out tires; one with damage from being struck by another vehicle.” He once again stood behind the chair across from me. He matched my action in leaning forward. “Explain to me how you took out three vehicles from half a mile away.”

  Since he still stood the advantage was his but I didn’t give an inch as I calmly replied, “Remington 700. I would have thought that’d be obvious. Not like the 700 is a discreet weapon.”

  “You shot out the tires of three moving vehicles?” His eyes shifted to the watch members at his side.

  I leaned back and snickered. “I suppose they thought it was magic?”

  “Actually, yes, they did.” He continued his damage report. “Then there’s the cost of sending over two dozen troopers to One-Five-Three and patrolling the thirties and forties for two days.”

  “None of which was necessary. Your son is thirty-three years old. You don’t own him.”

  “Mages are required to live—“

  “Give it a rest. He’s allowed out on his own. He has an address there, he’s allowed to go on vacation. Come to think of it, I guess I have an address there—“

  “You’re not registered.”

  “And what, pray tell, would I be registered for?” I gambled on President Drover’s need to control information.

  “You—you’re—Everybody saw the lights—“ He stuttered to a stop.

  I grinned triumphantly. Whatever his agenda was, he didn’t want the world to know I was a null. With my father sitting at my side any other talent displayed tonight could just as easily be accredited to him. Even the charms going off.

  Crimson brushed his cheeks before he muttered. “I suppose I should be grateful Mage Jallahan decided to retrieve your belongings from your home.” He once again glanced at the two troopers standing there and began unwrapping the gift he’d brought. “You’re something of a legend already, Mrs. Kendrel. To tell the truth, I had to order these fine men to accompany me tonight. I seem to be fresh out of volunteers. Perhaps when you return next year, I‘ll put you in charge of the watch. You did graduate with honors from the criminology course, did you not?”

  I glanced at the security on the door. They weren’t forced volunteers or even willing volunteers. I wondered how many of them were outside. He tore some of the paper on the gift and balled it up, dropping it on the table, bringing my attention back to him. I nodded in answer to his question, not quite trusting
my mouth to say anything smart…well, intelligent anyway. The last thing I wanted was to give him any hint we didn‘t plan to be back in a year.

  He removed the last ribbon from the box and took the lid off, turning it upside down on his hand. “A trifle. Nothing deadly or tricky. A housewarming gift.”

  His trifle was a clear cube of crystal with a many pointed silver star in the center of it. He placed it on the table and pushed it down, frowning when nothing happened. He glanced around at the lights, then stood and stepped back to where mage lights brightened the nearby table. Holding the cube on his left hand he pressed down on the top and light emanated from the silver device. Images of various weapons throughout history appeared on the walls and ceiling. He touched one of the sides and the images compressed to a single one, hovering directly in front of him. He stretched his free hand forward and plucked the blackpowder blunderbuss from the air.

  "A matter projector," Harrison whispered.

  I looked over at him. His eyes shone with eagerness. The weapon remained in his father's hand as he returned to the table, it thunked solidly as he set it on the table and slid it across to me. He handed the cube to Mage Jallahan. "I programmed it for something I thought she'd appreciate. Other than that, is it not the same prototype you sold to me?"

  "The university sold it to you. It was never mine to sell." He held the cube in his hand, turning it over to examine the silver-star within from all sides. "It is my invention. While sitting next to my daughter in a dimly lit restaurant, I'm not sure I'm ready to reassure her it's not been tampered with. You shouldn't have been able to change the projection. Without taking it apart, I won't guarantee anything." The blunderbuss shimmered and faded in front of me. "I see it still suffers the same flaw anyway."

  "A bit quicker in her energy field," Jordan said.

  "Or perhaps your tampering weakened it," Jallahan said.

  "You know that's not the case.” The president appeared ready to throw a snit because my father dared to infer he might have messed something up. “There are some instances where her magic is incompatible."

  "And you, no doubt, have been exploring every one of them," my father said.

  "With every resource at my fingertips," Drover admitted in a carefully lowered voice. "Walking in here tonight was an education in itself. Not many of the original notes on nulls exist. I honestly didn't think any nulls still existed. I guess the reason for that belief becomes evident when one examines the results of your daughter's testing for mage talents." His blue eyes scrutinized me. "How many more of you are there?"

  "I wouldn't know," I snarled at him. "Mom and I kept to ourselves. And before you ask, even if I had brothers and sisters, I wouldn't tell you about them, but I don't. I'm sure my father can tell you pretty much everything about me."

  "I have my own resources. I know every case you ever worked on as Francesca Leone. I know you graduated from school as valedictorian two years younger than your classmates. I know Angela Landis was a brilliant child her teachers enjoyed having as a student. I know your childhood was happy and unremarkable except for the noted brilliance. I know you changed your name legally at the age of fifteen over in District Twenty when your father came close to locating you. I even know that after leaving District Eleven, your mother worked as a sewing machine operator for the Sutton Corporation in District Six until she passed away, five years, three months and six days ago. What I do not know, is what you intend to do with my son."

  I leaned across the table in his direction and he took that as an invitation to sit in the chair he’d been leaning on. Harrison's hand encircled my wrist as though he were afraid I'd get sucked into the vortex of his father's personality. "If you know all that about me. You probably also know, my personal life. I seldom dated. In fact there are those who speculated that I didn’t like men.” I glanced around at my audience, then smiled and pressed forward. I didn’t give a shit what anybody thought about me. This was too good to pass up. Jordan’s expectant gaze locked on me as I twined my fingers with Harrison’s. “Until the day I married your son, I was a virgin. My plans for the immediate future include precious little besides fucking him until neither of us can walk."

  Harrison chuckled and pulled me back from the table to kiss me. President Drover's cheeks turned pink and for the first time thate evening he leaned away and raked a hand through his hair, as though he wasn’t sure what to do or say next. Clearly not what he expected to hear. His magic had flared, trying to weave around me. Wasn’t sure exactly what he’d tried to do but the effort had died in null. I wondered if he truly believed he was powerful enough to bypass my natural protection. He collected himself and sat back up, leaping to the next point on his agenda. "The natural result of such activity would be procreation. When can I expect grandchildren?"

  "You mean how long do you have to wait before you can exploit a null with the power to make it rain?"

  "No. You're probably the only one at this table who doesn't comprehend the enormity of what happened when I made that slip earlier—“

  I rolled my eyes but let it slide, he’d been far too smug, that slip had been part of the agenda.

  “Until tonight, nobody outside District Seven and Watch headquarters, knew I had a son. His mother was angry enough at me she wouldn't speak to me for years and she has never acknowledged me as his biological parent. I abided her wishes until the moment you drove me out of my mind. Now that that secret is out, I want the world to know I'm proud of my son. I have been a part of his life, even if I haven't been permitted to claim him. I will be the doting grandparent as much as either of the other people sitting at this table."

  "Except you told them to forget the incident happened."

  His eyes lit with laughter, but he managed to keep it from reaching his mouth. "I told them to forget the interruption, I didn’t figure they’d forget that bit as it was fresh in their minds and probably cause for excitement. Instead I owned my error and made sure they'd remember by reinforcing it with intention before asking them to forget."

  "It doesn't matter. Children are a thing of the future. You've got to have noticed I'm not exactly the motherly sort."

  "To the contrary, you mother everyone you care for like a large carnivorous animal with a newborn cub."

  "There's a rather bizarre metaphor since there are no large carnivorous animals anymore." He slid the matter projector across the table toward me. I shunted it away toward my father.

  He frowned but continued, "Carnivorous animals still exist, my dear. They simply await the proper moment in time to leave their test tubes."

  "And I suppose you're going to return them to us. Are humans too boring to keep you interested? You need a more vicious and unpredictable enemy?"

  This time he did laugh. "Oh no my dear, you are quite vicious and unpredictable enough to keep me entertained."

  Harrison’s fingers tightened on my thigh at his father’s second use of ‘my dear’. I pried his fingers up and kissed them. Tone dry, I said, "Glad I could amuse you. Now that you've proven your point, and had your fun, I don't suppose you can let us finish our meal in peace?"

  He turned and beckoned a waitress to the table. She responded instantly, leaving the customers she was currently speaking to, midway through taking their orders. They watched her go, jaws hanging, then rose and left the restaurant.

  "What can I do for you, Sir?" The waitress looked ready to fall to the floor and lick his shoes if he desired it.

  I fought down my nausea while he said, "I'd like to buy dessert for my family."

  "Would you like to see the menu, Sir?"

  "Just list them." His brusque tone asked her why she was wasting his time.

  She blanched then recovered her perk. "Very well, Sir. We have apple pie, peach pie, chocolate cake..." The list seemed endless and I didn't want dessert. I focused on Harrison, his hands wandering over my body became bolder as time dragged on. By the time I realized the waitress was waiting for me to order, I was completely distracted. I closed
my thighs, trapping his hand between them under the table as everybody waited for me to speak.

  I tried to recall anything on the list, but ended up shaking my head. "I've had enough to eat."

  Harrison wriggled his fingers and grinned as I squirmed.

  His father glared across the table. "You won't leave here until you've accepted something I've given willingly."

  "So you're unwilling to give me your son." I arched my brows at him.

  "I wasn't asked my opinion." He kept his tone steady; I could barely tell how much that fact bothered him. Somebody he considered subordinate, had done something without his permission.

  "No, but you displayed it."

  "I'm trying to make amends," he waved his hand at first the gift and then the waitress. “Please order.”

  "You think forcing me to accept something from you is going to do make amends for your intrusion in my life? You obviously haven't learned anything by studying me. Forcing me to do anything only makes me wonder why the hell it's so important to you. Is the gift tagged?" His expression blanked for briefest flicker of time "Do you hope that if I accept food from you, you can put a spell on it? If I decide to accept you as a necessary evil in my life, it will be on my terms."

  A slight burr of anger entered his voice. "I could have you arrested. You admitted to shooting out the tires of three government vehicles." I was getting to him.

  "There's something you should probably remember. Since you compared me to a carnivorous animal, let me remind you what happens when you corner a wild animal. They don't surrender peacefully. I'm armed. Not only can you not use magic against me, I can turn off any spell I wish. I will grant you your security personnel look reasonably competent, but from way over there they’d never be fast enough. Your troopers will hesitate to use any non-magical weapon because they're out of practice with real weapons. They're outside their own district and have no jurisdiction. You really should have brought troopers from HQ. "

  "I'm the president; I can authorize them to do whatever needs to be done."