I’m not ready to face everyone yet, so I stay in my cell and conjure up some food and a chocolate milk shake. While I eat, I plan out how I’m going to Glamour the entire inmate population.
Normally, I would touch the person I’m going to Glamour to strengthen the magic, but going around laying my hands on everyone would be highly suspicious and just plain weird. I could do it with eye contact, but the hold wouldn’t be as strong and again, going around and staring into each person’s eyes would make me look like a freak…a freak who’s up to something.
I take a drink of my shake, and a stroke of brilliance hits me. I hold the glass up and stare at the thick, frozen chocolatey goodness inside.
“Finley, you’re a genius,” I murmur before slurping down the rest of my shake.
This is totally going to work.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Less than an hour later, I’m ready. I’ve conjured several dozen chocolate truffles, and on the off chance there are people who don’t like chocolate, I made some hard candies, cookies, and peppermint sticks. Each one is imbued with enough magic to make the person who eats it trust me without reservation.
I toyed with the idea of creating admiration or devotion, but quickly dismissed the idea. Not only could having that many people suddenly obsessed with me be problematic and, quite frankly, unbelievable, I’d spent the greater portion of my life dealing with false affection from those who just wanted to be close to the royal family.
But trust is perfect. Any good leader has the trust of his or her people. If I make certain…suggestions, the inmates will follow them without hesitation. Because they have faith me.
I swallow hard against the guilt rising from my gut. I know what I’m doing is wrong, but it’s necessary. I’ll beg forgiveness when this is all over.
I slip the handle of the basket holding my goodies over my arm, smooth a hand over my hair and take a deep breath to calm myself. I can do this. I have to. Releasing the breath, I stiffen my spine and head out into the hall.
As I make my way down the corridor, I see Jax walking toward me with purpose in his stride. I scan the area for cameras, and finding none, quickly pull the folded slip of paper from my pocket. Palming it, I stretch out my hand as we cross paths. He copies my movement and discreetly takes the note without missing a step.
I return his nod and move on down the hall, never looking back. Jax will be sure my great-grandfather gets the note. Of that, I am certain.
When I reach the common room, I stop just outside the door and let my eyes drift over the crowd inside. I don’t want to manipulate them—they don’t deserve it. But circumstances require me to put my scruples aside and do what I have to do to save them all. I only hope they’ll thank me when all of this is over. If they don’t, if they hate me for what I’m about to do…so be it.
“Hello,” I say, walking up to a group of inmates just inside the door. “Would you like a sweet treat?”
“Where did you get these?” a Zephyr boy asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Headmaster had me conjure them during our last tutoring session. He said I could keep them, but I couldn’t possibly eat them all myself,” I say, glad I’d practiced the lie earlier.
I pluck a truffle from the basket and pop it into my mouth, just to waylay any thoughts they may have about the desserts being poisoned. Or spelled.
Of course, my own trust spell doesn’t affect me, but they don’t know that.
The four faeries in the group exchange looks before one of the girls shrugs and picks a chocolate. She bites off half and her eyes roll back in her head accompanied by a pleased groan. Not wanting to miss out, the others choose their own treats.
With a smile and a nod, I turn and start the whole process over again with the next grouping of inmates. I’m acutely aware of the Con Crew gathered in the far corner of the room, but I keep my eyes averted from that area for several reasons.
One, I am not going to let them eat the spelled treats. I care about them and I don’t want to manipulate their feelings. Two, if they show trust in me, I want to know it’s real.
And three, I’m not ready to see Asher with that girl again. I just can’t. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
So I make my way around the side of the room farthest from them, handing out chocolates and cookies and candies, watching each person’s eyes glaze over momentarily with their first bite. After the fog clears, they look at me like I’m the one person they can count on to always lead them in the right direction.
Exactly what I wanted, yet gut-twisting all the same. I hate this, but continue on. I hand out over half the basket, making my way around most of the room while studiously avoiding the couches where my old friends are huddled.
I turn around to head to the next group, but screech to a halt as I come face to face with my best friend.
“Hey,” Lark says, her dark eyes searching mine.
“Hey,” I croak, emotion welling up inside me.
“Can I have one?” she asks, her fingers stretching toward the basket.
“No,” I bark, snatching it out of her reach.
A hurt look crosses her face, making me flinch. She nods and pulls her hand back, rubbing her palm on her thigh. She starts to turn, and on impulse, I reach out and wrap my fingers around her wrist, stopping her.
“You don’t want one of these, Lark,” I whisper.
Her eyes widen the smallest amount before her expression goes blank, and she says, “Okay.”
I have to fight the tears that sting my eyes, swallowing back the emotion that wells up and threatens to spill over for all to see. Lark still trusts me. No magic. No tricks. Despite everything I said, everything I did, she still has faith in me.
“Can we talk later?” I mouth, and she bobs her head in agreement with a happy smile tugging at her lips.
I release her wrist and hold my palm over my basket of goodies, discreetly conjuring a new truffle free of any influencing magic. I hold it out to her with a small smile.
“Peace offering?” I whisper.
She plucks it from my palm and pops it in her mouth, sighing with pleasure. My smile grows into a big, toothy grin and she returns it, her white teeth streaked with chocolate. We stare at each other with those goofy grins for several moments, and it feels like home.
“I didn’t mean it, you know,” I murmur, my smile dropping.
I can’t wait until later to talk to her. I need to get this off my chest now. I need to know that we’re going to be okay. I love her too much to wait.
“Of course, I know,” she says, recognizing I’ve changed the subject to the last, hateful words I spoke to her and the others. “I knew exactly what you were doing that day, and so did the others. But we can hash it out later. I need to talk to you about Asher and the girl—”
“No, Lark,” I cut in. “I’m not ready to talk about that. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.”
“But—”
“Lark, please,” I beg, cutting her off again. “I just…can’t.”
“Rory, do you trust me?”
I stare into her black eyes and nod, giving her the absolute truth. “Yes. Infinitely.”
“Then you need to listen to me, and believe me when I tell you everything is not as it seems.”
My breath catches in my throat as she says those words—the same exact words Jax used in one of his last cryptic notes. The one he has yet to explain.
I have much to tell you, but you have to be patient. All is not as it seems.
I open my mouth to question her, but movement in my periphery catches my attention. I turn my head in that direction, my heart pounding in my chest as a familiar form rises from a nearby couch. He is facing away from me, his black hair gleaming and looking as soft as ever. Even now, I long to run my fingers through it.
Asher turns to face me, and my heart quickens its pace. His expression is intense, but not filled with anger or resentment as I’d expected. My blood runs hot as his lips move, but he’s too far away for
me to hear the words.
I realize it doesn’t matter that I can’t hear them. He’s not speaking to me.
His gaze drops down to his right, and my eyes follow their direction, landing on a head of glossy blonde hair. It’s the girl I saw him with before, sitting on the couch right next to the spot Asher just vacated. My heart drops into my stomach, shattering into a million pieces along the way.
I was right. He is with her. Why else would he be sitting so close? Why would he be whispering words to her when I’m standing in the same room with him, only a few yards away?
I know why. I destroyed whatever feelings he held for me with nothing more than hard eyes and barbed words. I did this to myself, and I deserve every ounce of the pain I’m experiencing right now. If I had just put some more thought into it, I would’ve realized hurting him, hurting all of them to keep them safe was going to be just as detrimental to me as it was to them. I could have come up with another way. I should have come up with another way.
And now, it’s too late.
I’m vaguely aware of Lark calling my name, but I don’t really register her words. I feel like I’m falling through a vortex, and there’s no solid ground in sight. No water. No air. Nothing but pain and regret.
Suddenly, the girl leaps from her seat and spins around to face me. The breath whooshes from my lungs as we lock eyes, and I wonder if I’ve really gone off the deep end. Maybe I’ve died, and this is hell.
Or maybe it’s heaven.
The girl smiles and shoots me a sassy wink, her ice-blue eyes sparkling with amusement. That’s when I come back to my senses. The confusion dissipates. The ground is once again solid beneath my feet, and air fills my lungs.
My mouth opens, but my voice has deserted me. I stare at her with wide eyes while my lips silently form her name.
“Robbie?”
Epilogue
“Does Finley know?”
Jax Woodrow shakes his head as he hands over the note the princess gave him to pass along to her great-grandfather.
“She didn’t as of the time I left, but she’s been sequestered from the others for the last week. She returned to her cell today. She passed me that,” he says, nodding at the paper in Robin Goodman’s hand, “on her way to the common room just before I left. I know Princess Robin was there, waiting for her, so I’m sure they’ve seen each other by now.”
“Very good,” Puck says, smiling as he reads his great-granddaughter’s words. “It appears as if Finley has everything in hand.”
“Yes, she does. Which makes me wonder why you felt the need to send her sister into that place?”
“Are you questioning my motives, Jax?”
“Of course not,” Jax replies defensively. “It just seems…counterintuitive, placing both royal heirs in such danger.”
Puck smirks. “I know, old friend. I was only joking. And to answer your question, I did not send Robbie here. The little minx has her fair share of my genes, and she hoodwinked me. Glamoured me to spill the truth when she suspected there was more going on with Finley’s absence and lack of communication.”
Jax’s head rears back as shock etches its way across his face.
“You mean she outsmarted the trickster?”
“Laugh it up,” Puck snarls. “She knows her sister too well. Finley might give her parents the silent treatment if she were angry enough, but she’d never ignore her little sister. Robbie became desperate for answers and suspected I knew more than I was letting on. She came to me, crying and asking for a shoulder to lean on. As soon as I touched her, she used her Glamour and the details of this whole operation spilled from my lips before I could even blink twice.”
“Impressive,” Jax says, barely stifling a laugh.
“That, it is,” Puck agrees. “She came up with a plan to get herself sent to the reformatory so she can help Finley. I had very little to do with it.”
Jax sobers, his expression turning solemn. “What of the king and queen?”
Puck shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“That is the part I was tasked to handle by my imperious namesake. December and Easton think I’ve taken her to Europe to visit Finley. They readily accepted the lie, begging for news of their daughter and imploring us to talk her into calling them.”
“Is there a chance they will travel there themselves when they don’t hear from either of their daughters?”
“I sincerely hope not, and will do everything within my power to prevent them from doing so.”
“We can only hope the princesses resolve this issue, gets the information they need, and gets out of there before it comes to that,” Jax replies.
“I have complete faith in those girls,” Puck says. “Finley is strong and capable, but with Robbie by her side? Those two are an unstoppable force.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. Just sit back and watch the fireworks, Jax. They’re going to be marvelous.”
THANK you for reading Second Transgression! I hope you loved it, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave a review!
Afterword
Don’t miss the exciting conclusion of the Oberon Reformatory Series in Final Offense!
The Con Crew is finally back together, but are we powerful enough to defeat Echo Oberon?
Well, I did it. I’ve earned Headmaster’s trust and am poised to become the leader he wants me to be. I’ve made amends with my friends, and I get a huge surprise when a certain blonde faery shoves her way into our group, determined to help.
Just when I think everything is falling into place, things take a turn for the worst. I made a mistake, thinking I could outsmart Echo so easily.
Because he is not as clueless as we think. He makes a dangerous discovery, putting all of us—and our plan—in grave danger.
I have to put everything on the line to save someone important to me, break the magical spell that keeps the reformatory’s secrets, and somehow convince a bunch of inmates that the risk of revolution is worth the reward.
That if we all band together, we will be victorious.
If we all band together, we will be free.
An exciting conclusion to the Oberon Reformatory Series! If you need more stories set in this magical world of faeries and magic, check out the Oberon Academy Series, which follows Finley's mom, December Thorne, on her journey to discover her mysterious roots and her quest to save the planet from the evil faery, Queen Sebille.
About the Author
Wendi Wilson is mom to two rambunctious boys, a cat, a dog, and two crazy ferrets. She lives in Idaho with her husband and kids. She writes every spare moment she gets- those moments not already consumed by volunteering at school, team parenting various sports teams in baseball and football, and reading as many books as humanly possible.
Also by Wendi Wilson
Shadowed Series
Suppressed Series
Blood Persuasion
Unpersuadable
Oberon Academy
Rogues of Everly Prep
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
Afterword
About the Author
Also by Wendi Wi
lson
Second Transgression Page 15