Chapter 2

2

Today was the day.

Gabriel stepped out of the portal he'd created, adjusting his sapphire silk tie with a steady hand. Confidence rode his straight shoulders, the lift of his chin, the satisfied air of a warlock about to do what he'd set out to accomplish twelve years ago.

Even though the few human employees scattered around the lobby had signed magical NDAs under the permission of the High Family, he'd still concealed his portal under a glamour and only removed it after snapping the portal shut with a wave of his hand. You never knew if they would have visiting humans from other businesses.

Now visible, he gave a clipped nod to Susan and Eric, who sat at the half-moon marbled reception as his Ferragamo shoes ate up the glossy floor toward the elevator bank. He didn't see if they acknowledged his greeting, too focused on the clench of anticipation in his gut. He could have gone straight to the top floor, but he wanted to appreciate every moment of walking through the New Orleans skyscraper that housed his legacy. Because today was the day.

Today was when the board would finally recognize his years of working his way up through his parents' company and vote him CEO of Goodnight's Remedies.

Along with the wave of satisfaction came the old mingled cloud of sorrow and bitterness. He pushed the up button, seeing not the distorted image of himself in the three-piece silver suit but instead his father, dressed in the same. Although it had been twelve years, sometimes it felt like only days had passed since he and his younger sister, Melly, had got the mirror message about their parents' deaths.

Laura and Alec Goodnight had been helping administer medicines to a village in Colombia when human rebels had blazed through. While his parents had been Higher status, their abilities lay in alchemy. As humans weren't to know of witches, they couldn't portal out; his mother had been trying to help the villagers escape when she was shot in the belly. His father had refused to leave her and had been shot, too. Both gone because of their unwillingness to leave each other—and their determination to be part of the human world.

Gabriel exhaled a slow stream of air as the elevator doors opened, forcing his eyes and attention forward—on the future, not the past. He'd worked his ass off from day one, starting in the mailroom and making his way through each department, learning it, conquering it, expanding it, bit by bit, until he knew how every part of the business interlinked and could function more efficiently.

He'd developed tablets to ease asthma with the skilled lab technicians his mother had once worked with, created marketing campaigns with the silver-tongued suits that worked in advertising. He'd even gone out into the field to harvest ingredients they used in the potions and lotions they bottled and packed up to sell to the masses. He'd earned his place here. He'd done what was expected, what he expected from himself. To be the best, to live up to his parents' legacy, even if the company's mission statement slicked salt in open wounds.

To heal, to help, and to engender hope for a brighter future for human-and witchkind together.

His lips flattened as he pushed for the top floor where the board would meet. Gabriel didn't care that the High Family oversaw every initiation of a human into the business—and in general. Inviting humans in, mixing their worlds, was asking for trouble. Asking for someone else to be left an orphan like he and Melly had been.

He closed his eyes, again shoving away any disruptive thoughts. He was an island on a calm ocean and no waves would disrupt his path.

Because today was the day when he would finally step up to meet his destiny. And nothing was going to ruin that.

Except maybe this.

Gabriel wondered if steam was shooting out his ears as he gazed coolly at his uncle and the board across the polished walnut table. Beneath said table, he clasped his hands tightly, wringing until a spike of pain from his family ring allowed him to speak with a measure of calm.

"I think I misheard you." He didn't shift in the leather chair but plenty of the other eleven board members did, uncomfortable with what they thought might become a scene.

They should know better; Gabriel had never made a scene in his life.

His uncle didn't stir under the stare, but then, the man who currently ran the Goodnight empire had helped Gabriel raise Melly—and to some extent, Gabriel himself, even though he'd been eighteen when his parents had died.

August steepled his hands, still looking a distinguished forty despite having one hundred and fifty-two years of hard work behind him. He looked so much like Gabriel's father, like Gabriel, it was almost painful to look at him. They shared the same black hair that had too much body, the same sharp facial structure. Except where Gabriel had inherited his mother's green-blue eyes, August stared sternly at him out of hazel eyes the shade of Melly's.

"I said we can't vote you in yet."

The words hit the same as they had the first time—like shrapnel that tore and twisted its way through Gabriel's internal organs. He'd done all he could and he hadn't measured up.

Noise echoed in his head. "I believe I've proven myself well capable of running this company."

August nodded, as did James, a portly warlock who'd always taken the time to reminisce about Gabriel's parents with him at any event the company had thrown. Across the table, he smiled at him, sympathy obvious.

It made Gabriel's spine stiffer. He didn't need sympathy. He needed his legacy.

"I think I speak for everyone when we say you have more than lived up to the hopes we had," August said, his voice deeper than anyone would expect. It didn't waver. "We're not doubting your ability to run this company."

"Then what is the issue?"

"It's not an issue. It's a clause in your father's will."

That set him back.

August held out a hand and an iPad appeared. Like Gabriel, his primary strength was conjuring, and a small fetch like that was as second nature as breathing. Something Gabriel was finding difficult as he watched August navigate to a page. With a subtle gesture, he projected the section of legal document onto the wall of glass that looked out over the somewhat "newer" section of New Orleans, what the locals referred to as the "American" side.

The lights dimmed and the windows tinted, allowing all of them to read the black type.

Gabriel ran his eyes over it, understanding the words and yet not comprehending how they made sense. "This cannot be right."

August pursed his lips. Another gesture had the document disappearing, the lights to full power and the windows once again reflecting clear blue sky.

"Three months," he confirmed. "Before you assume control, your father wanted you to spend some time living with limited powers amongst humans."

Each word threatened to break him. Limited powers. Amongst humans.

"I've never heard this before." Though his tone was even, underneath the table his hands remained tight enough that bone rubbed bone.

Something flickered in his uncle's gaze before he placed the iPad with undue care onto the table. "It was discovered only recently."

"The High Family—" Gabriel began, aware of the straws he was grasping at.

"Have always given this business leeway when dealing with humans," August cut in. "For research, development, testing purposes. You know that."

Yes, he did. They never had trouble finding both witches and invited humans to trial new products, the subjects given the lowdown of the ingredients and the processes before agreement. Their feedback had been instrumental for creating many of their final products which now sat in drugstores across the world. Goodnight's Remedies couldn't function without some degree of mingling. But—

"But," he echoed his thoughts, consciously lowering his tight shoulders. "That is for business. What you're asking...what the contract states is of a more personal nature." And it made something constrict in his chest.

One thought pounded through him. Don't make me do this.

August tapped his fingers on the table before rising. "Walk with me. Excuse us for a moment," he told the others and headed for the door, which opened at his approach.

Feeling like a misbehaving schoolboy back at the boarding school all Higher sons had to go to, Gabriel stood with perfect control. He nodded at the discomforted board members, before following his uncle out and into the office across the hall.

It resembled the boardroom, rich with expensive wood and layered with books and artifacts from across the world, articles about the products they'd created, and photographs of family and staff.

Gabriel's eyes lingered on the photo of his family, taken just after Melly was born, back when they'd still lived in England, before he moved to stand by his uncle at the windows.

After a moment, August spoke, keeping his eyes on the figures moving below. "When Laura and Alec founded this company, they did so because they wanted to make a difference in people's lives, behind the scenes, without breaking rules."

"I know, Uncle."

"They started in the back room of their mansion, building it slowly but steadily until it became this." August swept a hand around the opulent office. "A veritable empire that affects so many lives, employs many thousands of people—some human. And they did it because they cared." He turned from the view, hazel eyes direct. "You don't care, Gabriel."

His chin snapped up at the unseen blow. "I have thought of nothing but this company since—"

"Not the company." August indicated the people below. "About them."

"I care."

"And that's why you avoid talking to any of our human employees when you can?"

Discomfort crept up Gabriel's poker-straight spine. He folded his arms. "You know why it makes me uncomfortable."

"But not everyone does. There has been talk that you're not suitable to lead this company into its new age. That you would hold us back."

Gabriel's arms drifted to his sides. "Hold you back?"

August clapped both hands onto Gabriel's shoulders, meeting him head-on. "Nobody who knows you doubts your dedication. It's a slap in the face, yes, but we can use this to our advantage. Trust me, I'm angry as hell at Alec for forcing you to do this."

"He knew." Gabriel swallowed, memories clouding him. None good. "He knew I'd fail."

August shook him lightly. "You haven't failed. This is Alec's way of controlling things; my brother was always determined that this company would grow."

And determined, Gabriel thought sickly, that his son never take the reins of the thing he loved the most. Why else force him to live three months with limited powers? He knew it was more likely his son would walk away. The son he knew. The screw-up.

Are you any different now? The thought was a silent jeer hard to ignore.

"If it's too hard for you," August continued, "if you want to step away, I am perfectly happy to keep running the company."

Buzzing began in Gabriel's ears. How had this gone to hell so quickly?

"We can find you a seat on the board or you can pick a department and work there." August squeezed Gabriel's shoulders before dropping away. His face was compassionate. "You don't have to do this."

No, he didn't. His uncle was right; he could walk away. Play into his father's expectations.

Except that wasn't who Gabriel was now. He handled his responsibilities the way his parents had always expected of him.

Except this...it weighed like a crushing curse, bending his body under the pressure.

"What..." He had to stop, start again. "What are the conditions?"

Something flickered in his uncle's eyes before he seated himself on the corner of his desk. "You'd have to stay three months connected with humans. Meaning you have to find a place to live, find a job, get to know your co-workers. Interact. And you'd have to do this with your powers bound."

"Stripped away?"

"Stripped back," August corrected, "and not stripped exactly. We'll limit the level of your magic, but you'll still have access. Though I'm told with a binding spell, the more you use, the more it will hurt." A beat passed. "If you break the binding, use stronger magic, the clause is nullified and you'd give up your controlling share."

Panic burst into a cloud of black dots at the edges of Gabriel's vision. This couldn't be happening.

"I know." August shook his head, gripping the edge of his desk, as if he found this as painful as Gabriel. "I don't know what Alec was thinking. It's not...normal for us to live with only basic magic. And it's not fair to ask you to do this."

No, it wasn't. The walls closed in until his tie threatened to choke him. Magic was what he was, who he was.

"Are there any stipulations about the kind of job, the area?" His voice was flat, stripped of emotion. He couldn't afford to give in to it, had to stand alone.

The memory of a teasing witch on a moonlit balcony three weeks ago flirted in his mind, as it so often did. She wouldn't agree, of that he was sure.

"No stipulations other than those stated." August studied him. "I know you, Gabriel. You've worked too hard to give up, but again, I'm fine to continue running the company if you don't want to do this."

Want? No. But he had to.

"However," his uncle continued, clapping a hand on his shoulder again, "choosing to do this will go a long way with the board members eager to explore further growth into the human side of things. After discussion with the High Family, naturally. As CEO, they'd look to you to lead the way. Accomplishing this will help with that."

For a split second, Gabriel thought about breaking something, about screaming. Temptation to refuse played on his tongue, all but purred in his ear. He couldn't do this, he couldn't—

Catching the spiral, he breathed out slowly, willing himself to calm. The tornado slowed, stopped, broke apart as his chest eased. He would deal with this the way he'd dealt with everything. Head-on, one logical step at a time. Alone.

"I need to discuss this with Melly." His sister was fourteen now, still a minor. August had lived with them when he'd first brought them to America, back when it had all first happened, but had moved out of the New Orleans family manor when Gabriel had hit twenty-five. "And ask Mrs. Q if she'll look after her."

August bowed his head. "Of course. And if Mrs. Q feels overworked, Melly can come live with me for the duration. You know I always have room. For you both."

The rush of emotion didn't make it onto Gabriel's face but he nodded. "Thanks, Uncle."