“There have been many questions about Huntsman inc, and not only Dayside business. You’re requiring your men to swear fealty to you personally. Not a lot of Blackheart alumni will be willing to accept such a requirement. I can’t believe many Darkside mages are willing, either.”
“It’s appalling. I have to serve these incompetent merceneries like some old-fashioned feudal lord, all because of this mess with the Deception mage, you know, the one who keeps attacking Rosewood. You’re lucky that he targeted Huntsman rather than Pennmore, but of course we are the premier Dayside family. I should say were.” I winked at her and took a healthy sip of my drink.
Talking to her reminded me how much I despised witches.
“Indeed. Your family’s humiliation has saved that of others. That must be some consolation to you. Has Huntsman considered marriage to allay your family’s misfortunes?” She took a sip of her drink so she wasn’t looking while I choked on mine.
I turned to my father and he gave me a bland smile. He wasn’t drinking. He was fiddling with a pen, moving it through his fingers in an endless stream of gold as he struggled with his own dislike for the witch.
“What do you think, dad? Would you like to tie the knot with a lovely witch of fortunate circumstances?”
He shot me a sudden smile that made his eyes twinkle. “Tying knots is something I’ve done a great deal in the last few years. Boating you know,” he said, turning to give Merissa a self-deprecating smile. “I’m afraid neither my son nor I are particularly interested in being the premier family. It wasn’t destined to last, not when the top is always the first target. That we’ve lasted for generations just shows how serene the mage world has been for the past few hundred years.”
“Witch world,” she said with a tight smile.
“Just so.” My father leaned closer to the witch, showing concern that he couldn’t possibly feel. “It seems it’s the beginning of a new period of unrest that flows from Darkside into our world, witch and mage. Perhaps we should consider uniting outside of marriage bonds with all the families in Dayside, premier or not.” He stood and gave her a bland smile. “I’m so delighted you were able to drop by. You must understand that we have a great deal of work to do. Please feel free to come any time.”
And leave now.
She took her time, standing and adjusting her black leather jacket that clung to her curves just so, before she turned and headed out of the study in her extremely high spiked boots. She click clacked, hips swaying beneath the fall of her dark hair.
I glanced at my father to see if he was appreciating her well choreographed exit, but he was already staring off into space, the pen moving faster in his fingers, a streak of gold that would melt in his hand if he wasn’t careful.
“I have a meeting tonight,” I said.
He nodded and moved to the table, sitting down to continue where he’d left off before he’d been interrupted. He hadn’t really been present during that entire visit, his mind on numbers and margins. He was an excellent business mage. The best.
I took a step away from him. Really? Better than Jasper? Jasper was more well-rounded, but for straight diabolical business magery, my father was second to none. Was that pride I felt? I’d been determined to be exactly like him when I was little. And look at me, shattered by a witch I’d lost, just like him. I spun on my heel and stalked out. I found the crispest business suit I had, dressed carefully with my diamond cufflinks and bothered to put in a diamond earring and arrange my hair just so. I hadn’t worried about personal appearance so much for a long time. I sort of tried with Penny, but she was always delighted by the things that took a different kind of effort, like training a mouse.
I should be glad that she was getting closer to Zach, spending the night in his room, even if I was perfectly aware that she was actually sleeping, it still infuriated me. And him giving her hot chocolate with marshmallows. She didn’t like marshmallows. He wasn’t the right mage for her. Not that Teddy would be any better. No. I would not allow Teddy to touch her. Zach was infinitely better than Teddy. If she needed a mage that would ruin her, I was her best option. Her only option.
I stepped throughside and came out in a star courtyard where Revere waited. He stood in the center dressed in the black of a Darksider. He looked like a Darksider in every way, disreputable, unkempt, coat jagged-hemmed, slouch dragon leather hat crookedly perched on his head, his eyes chips of pain in his pale, ugly face. That was a good glamour. Not only ugly, indifferent, so that my eyes slid off his face and I was left with an impression but not an actual memory.
“Should I wear such a face?” I asked, walking over to him.
He handed me a briefcase that I hadn’t noticed until I had it in my arms. “You are representing Huntsman. Wear that, the arrogant, idiotic, pretty prince.”
I sniffed and adjusted my cuffs, while holding the heavy briefcase. “I thought you were going to give me a challenge, not make me go au natural. Where are we?”
“Deadside. Border between Dead and Red. The Sorcerer’s name is Hale. You’re here to collect some debts.”
“Collecting debts in this suit? Collecting debts takes leather. Lots of leather and an army, particularly from a sorcerer.”
“Not his debts.”
“Ah.”
Revere stared at me, daring me to ask another stupid question. I had so many of those, but I resisted the impulse.
“Shall we?” he finally asked with the barest gesture towards the massive gates before us.
“Am I supposed to say something bright without a script or just prove I’m an idiot? I suppose that’s always the wiser option.”
He smiled blandly and stepped across the square and towards an enormous gate with a nice H twined in metal across the front. That lettering was interesting. It was a human letter. To a Darksider uninitiated with Dayside, it would look like a vague swirl. That meant this family probably had a fair amount of Dayside connections. Dangerous.
I walked up to the gate and knocked.
A spark of gold swept over the bars leaving me with a feeling of ick in my fingertips. I rubbed them together absently while the gates swung open. The walk to the house passed in a blur as Revere moved space and time for us. He had the most interesting spells.
“I’d like you to teach me that.”
“Come by the house tomorrow. If you aren’t dead tonight.”
I glanced at him and my eyes slid off his face. Such a good glamour. “I’d like you to teach me that too.”
He smiled for a second, sharp before we reached the broad steps that rose before us, on and on seemingly eternally. The steps passed the same as the walkway and we were soon on the narrow stoop in front of the massive door. The house seemed to growl at us as it crouched its massive scaly body waiting to pounce.
“Incredibly charming abode. Maybe I should build a summer home here.” The world of Deadside and Redside were so evocative and the opposite of charming: Deadside housing the Necromancers and being a mostly sparse desert, Redside being all red rocks, home of the massive Creagh fortress I’d infiltrated with Signore not so long before. Now I was here with Revere. What was wrong with me, associating with wise mages like they had something to do with me?
Revere knocked lightly on the door. The echoing sound didn’t quite match. That was probably normal in Darkside. I didn’t knock on a lot of doors.
It opened without a creak in a surprisingly short amount of time and a person peered out. Human.
She was vacant-eyed but gave us a nice smile as she said, “Are you here for dinner?”
“Would we be eating you or would you be eating us? No, I’m actually here to discuss finances. Money. Business. Is the Sorcerer available?”
She frowned. “The Sorcerer? Oh you mean Hale. Is he available? Available. To avail upon. Halable.” She laughed and stepped back, gesturing us inside.
Okay then. I almost stepped inside, but Revere held me back, a hand on my chest as he sent a quick spell before us, something about fi
nding our way out again. Good thinking.
He shot me a look like what was wrong with me. I shrugged because there was so much. Mostly that another mage was giving Penny hot chocolate. I sighed and continued into the dim interior.
Hale sat in an enormous chair in front of an enormous fire, his breadth in proportion with the massive house. He was a massive mage.
I walked up to him, bowed shortly and said without the slightest idea what I was doing, “I’m Huntsman. There’s business I would like to discuss with you.”
He was looking through sheafs of paper and didn’t look up for a long time while I waited. It wasn’t actually a long wait, not for a Sorcerer who had to bring all of his thoughts to one point of intersection when he’d clearly been focused on something else, probably lots of things.
“Huntsman. Thank you for your timely payment.”
“Payment? Would you mind if I examined the paperwork?”
He tossed a sheaf of papers across the table towards me. I moved into the light of the fireplace and sat down, going through the stack. That was an enormous sum of assets and money. Yes, we had owned that, and that, and that in Darkside, all the properties near Dead or Redside, but apparently, we’d given them to this Hale fellow for… I searched through the paperwork and found an addendum with one name. Sooth.
Ah. I shot Revere a delighted smile as I tapped the paper and leaned forward to fix my eyes on the wonderful sorcerer.
“I’m sorry to be the one to inform you, but these signatures are forged. Huntsman never paid for this debt.”
He furrowed his eyebrows but didn’t speak for a long time, no doubt in deep, devious thought. “I see. So you are here to withdraw payment?”
“Not at all. I would adore you to be paid. I don’t want to wander around taking an honorable Sorcerer’s living like some Dayside prince, no, I want you to keep everything except the small, insignificant title against Sooth. It’s not doing you any good, not here lost in a pile of paperwork.”
“What good would it do you?” He had a laugh in his voice, which was odd for a Darksider, a sense of humor, but Sorcerers were different. I hadn’t really run into a lot of them, other than Penny’s relatives.
“Good? Probably none, but you have to start somewhere. What do you say? Do we have an agreement?”
He put his palm flat on the table with a sudden sound that would have made me jump if I were even slightly intelligent. “The debt is only partially paid. What would you offer for the rest?” He slid the sheaf of papers to the side and I got to read the rest of the contract. The part where Sooth offers his daughter in exchange for a lot of things that I didn’t see because everything was green and smelled of smoke and ashes, and fire. I pushed back the chair and stepped away from the table before I consumed all those flammables. Sooth promised this sorcerer Penny for Hale’s armies and alliance. There were so many armies. So many assets. Hale lived a half a world away from where his assets were, in the most thriving part of Darkside.
“I offer not to penalize you for your blatant disregard for the Devil’s Treaty.”
Hale cocked his head. “My sweet wife and I were married before the treaty, which I signed after I established the clause making an exception for my precious love.”
Each word was a threat, particularly ‘precious’ and ‘love.’ Love was always a threat. I ran my hand through my hair and started pacing.
“Your wife? What would you do with Sooth’s daughter if you’re already married?”
“I have a son. A Daysider like you. I thought they would be well-matched.”
I stared at him. He stared back. “Because she’s an aberration?”
“Because she has no magic. She will alleviate his madness and never succumb to her own. That’s the curse of Darkside, the madness.” He gestured to the papers spread across the table. “It’s a small price to pay for such a creature.”
“I see. If you refuse to release Sooth’s title to me, you will have to reimburse Huntsman.”
“Of course. I’ve already taken care of it.” He nodded behind me.
I turned and there was a nice sack of what smelled like chemical compounds of the rarest sorts.
“The rest will be delivered shortly. I always make good on my debts. You see, I enjoy the order in the chaos. How did you track this business interaction, if you don’t mind my asking?”
I stared at Hale. He wanted to do know so Sooth would have a heads-up in the future. “I have no idea. Everything is instinctual to me. It’s terrifying how much I don’t know, at least it would be if I thought about it. I don’t.” I hefted the sack, the weight of it ominously heavy before I strode out.
“Thank you for coming,” the woman said. I gave her a bow and a smile before continuing on. I couldn’t attack another sorcerer in his own home without any armies or dragons or backstabbing blood brothers. Teddy. I was going to kill him.
Later.
Revere put a hand on my arm and with the next step we were in the desolate yard in front of Penny’s mother’s house. It looked quite cheerful compared to the Darksider mansion.
I whirled around at Revere. “Did you know about the contract, that Sooth is selling Penny to Hale’s Daysider son?”
Revere stared at me, face placid. “He had to sell her to someone. I personally doubt if Hale is the only one he promised her to. Also, we didn’t see the conditions of ownership, how complete it was. It wouldn’t be a particularly bad marriage for Penny when you come down to it. Sooth and Hale’s alliance is quite unfortunate. Hale is a very positive influence in Darkside.”
“I’m sure I don’t care. Hale isn’t getting Penny.”
“Of course not. As long as she stays out of Darkside and gets married before she turns eighteen. She’d already be married if you hadn’t jilted her.”
“And I’d be under Sooth’s curse which does sound fun. Now I’m worried about Stoneburrow. Do you think Sooth has his claws into them?”
He gave me a slight smile. “You should find out.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “I’ll leave that to you. I have too much to do to do your thinking as well. Now for your lesson. Focus. You showed far too much reaction to Hale about Penny. He knows that your interest is personal.” He drew his black firesword and I drew my green one.
He was right about my reaction. I’d practically declared my love out loud. It was interesting that he’d married a human but stayed in Darkside. Strange mage. Penny would probably like him.
Chapter 8
Witch
Almost a week without Señor Mort went by in a blur of mage contract books and most importantly, studying my grandmama’s contracts with her notebook in hand. At first it made no sense, but I kept at it, doggedly, until I finally had a clear idea of what the next step had to be. Not that it was particularly clear. I needed to find my grandfather’s contract, the one he’d made for my parents. I needed to find that or I wouldn’t be able to protect Drake.
Drake.
He’d found me after ballet practice with Ian three days after my appearance in his room and held me tight, his face buried in my hair while he breathed, so deep, so heavy I thought I was drowning or being beaten to death by my own heart’s pounding. After fifteen minutes, he’d pushed me away and stalked off without a word, leaving me staring after him just aching. It had been three more days.
I left my last class early and headed down to the polo field. I went into the barn where his black horse, Demon was kept.
I fed him an apple and rubbed his velvety nose as I waited, but I didn’t hear him coming. He pulled me against his chest, his hand curved around my missing ribs, fingers strong, unbreakable.
“What are you doing here?” he growled. He had the most beautiful growl.
“It’s been three days,” I said while my heart pounded.
He scraped his teeth along the side of my throat, breath warm, hot. “Do you think that I’m too stupid to count that high?”
“Then why did you ask?” The feel of hi
s chest against my shoulder, my back, was too perfect, too beautiful.
He slid his hand up my arm while his teeth slid down my shoulder. “You shouldn’t surprise me.”
“You surprised me.”
“You should have ripped me apart for it.”
“Is that what you’re going to do to me?”
“Yes.” He inhaled shuddering then straightened up so only my shoulder was touching his chest and my name. “If I’m not braced for Penny impact, bad things could happen.”
“How bad?”
He laughed, a sound that went through me until I pushed back until I was once more pressed against him.
“You smell like black cherry. So much black cherry I can’t breathe.”
He pushed me away and when I spun around, there was nothing but the lingering scent of ashes. I closed my eyes and tried not to channel my Pitch energy into something that would destroy the barn and hurt sweet Demon. He’d just left. I shouldn’t have said anything about him wanting me. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything, that’s the game he was playing, love Penny without touching her or telling her or being with her.
“Two can play games, Demon. I wonder if he’ll like my next one,” I said as I stroked the enormous horse’s nose. It was Tuesday. I needed a finder.
I took the bus to town. Zach glowered at me for bailing on his whole ‘fixing Rosy’ thing, but he was playing nice mage, so he didn’t protest too much. He’d probably stalk me, though. I was so precious, had to keep precious things all locked up.
I spent an hour with my princesses, telling them stories and noticing how little Anna wasn’t very responsive. She was fading away. I couldn’t touch her pain. I couldn’t do anything about that other than a nice, pink lollipop loaded with herbs that might help a little bit with her nausea.
I smiled brightly at the guard outside of Drake’s halfway house. “Want a lollipop?”
He frowned at me in his serious suit and shook his head slightly. I couldn’t see his eyes behind his reflective sunglasses, but I looked super cute. Perfect. I went through the doors and smiled at all the beautiful humans, handing out lollipops I’d crafted for each one. When I got to Missy, I pulled out an enormous lollipop the size of half my face.
Deadly Morsel: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 5) Page 6