Chapter Fourteen

L iana fell into an easy routine over the next week. She would spend her mornings and afternoon in the mage training room then finish the day with Damien and Luciano. Eva urged her to spend one afternoon with their court, which Liana reluctantly agreed to. Otherwise, she did as she pleased. The younger girls only came to learn one other day stating that they could only sneak away so often.

It didn't sit right with Liana that they had to sneak around. It also left her with a terrible sense of foreboding because she could already predict how their parents would react when they discovered she was teaching their daughters magic. She told herself that didn't matter though. As long as the girls were learning, she could withstand their parents' wrath.

Liana finished bottling more truth serum when a mage message appeared in front of her. She snatched it off the workbench and opened the folded paper. Her mother's handwriting greeted her.

Liana,

You must come home at once. There is an emergency with your sister. Bring your husband.

She might have worried that perhaps this was a trap if she didn't recognize her mother's dramatic writing and words. Reaching out to Damien, she handed the letter to Sasha to read.

"My mother has requested our immediate presence at the house. Apparently, there is a situation with my sister."

"Where are you? Is everyone safe?"

"Mage training rooms. I think so. Mother would have mentioned blood and guts if there were danger."

He appeared in front of her with a smirk on his lips. "Blood and guts? I didn't take your mother for the type for gory dramatics, only posh hysteria."

Laughing, she walked into his arms. "Someone could have a paper cut and you'd think they'd lost an arm with the amount of detail she poured into the tale of how it occurred."

He kissed her. "Well, this makes two Monroe females that can summon me at the drop of a hat." He picked her up, ready to speed out of there.

"I'm not a Monroe anymore but thank you, I'm sure you were busy with something important."

His smile had her stomach flipping. "How could I forget that you're an Ashwood now?" He kissed her once again. "Let's go before your mother smites me for not bringing you sooner."

She laughed until her feet landed on the front porch of her family's home. Sasha stood a few steps down facing the road and scanning for danger. Liana walked in without knocking, following the raised voices coming from the sitting room.

Charlotte sat on the sofa beside her mother, a blank expression on her face while her father yelled at Master Ranville.

"You know better than this, Frank. You know how important our mage ceremonies are. You knew how much of an upset this would cause and the rumors it would start. You've marked my family for scandal!" he shouted, red in the face.

Ranville stood there with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I can see how our private ceremony could raise questions, however, that is not the case. I do not have time for a big ceremony nor the inclination for it. We were happy to get it out of the way."

Liana's eyes widened. Her surprise mirrored Damien's when she glanced at him.

"Did they get married in secret?" she asked.

"I can only assume."

Liana stepped farther into the room making her presence known. "What has happened?"

Her family stood and bowed or curtsied toward the pair. All except her father.

"He's married your sister in secret with only an officiant and another Councilman as witness!" he explained.

Liana looked to her sister. Charlotte remained stoic, her eyes set on the coffee table. She didn't look hurt or abused. But nor did she look happy.

"When did this happen?" Damien asked.

"An hour ago," Ranville answered.

"Then all is not lost. We can keep this quiet and plan for a proper ceremony tomorrow," Damien offered.

"The marriage has already been consummated! There can be no other ceremony," Lord Monroe fumed.

Liana held back her gasp and went to kneel in front of her sister. Taking her hands between her own, Liana shoved her magic back down when it surged forth. There was no time to deal her magic right now, unless it would be to pull answers from the pair. "Charlotte, what were you thinking? Why would you do this?"

"This will be the ruin of the Monroe family!" her father wailed. Liana ignored his hysterics even if she was surprised that he was the one to incite the dramatics and not her mother. "Her mother and I did not offer her to the gods for their blessing in marriage. The purity spell was not performed. The entire city will say she is with child and married to cover it up."

"Charlotte?" Liana questioned.

"I do not see the problem. We wanted to be married. You gave your approval and now it is done. Let us get on with our lives," Ranville defended.

Liana shook her sister's hands. "Charlotte, what is going on in your head?"

She gave a soft smile. "We are happy, Liana. We only want to be together."

Liana almost cringed away from the imposter that had clearly taken over her sister. Charlotte would never utter such a sappy sentiment. So concerned that her sister did not act herself at all, Liana tested her with a bit of magic to see if she was under a spell. When her magic touched Charlotte though, her sister yanked her hands away with a furrowed brow.

"That hurt," she complained.

Confused as to why it would cause her any pain at all, Liana shoved her magic back down. Perhaps she was too upset to keep her magic under control right now. "Sorry, Charlotte. I am a bit riled and wasn't paying attention to my magic."

"Liana," her mother said softly, her eyes red-rimmed. "Is there anything you can do?"

Staring into her mother's eyes, the grief and guilt so clearly evident on her face, Liana wished there was something she could do. Nothing could be done to reverse the marriage, nor could they hold another ceremony. To do so would disrespect the gods and goddesses.

"We will get Hannah, and just us women will perform our rituals and offerings to the goddesses for their forgiveness and for a blessed union. Then we will have our last meal with Charlotte as a Monroe before sending her off with her new husband. We will make the best of it, Mother," Liana offered. Lady Monroe only nodded with her arm still wrapped around Charlotte's shoulders.

"That is not necessary," Ranville interjected. "The ceremony is already complete and…"

Liana stood. "And nothing," she interrupted, facing him. Without her sister's meek form to keep her sedated, Liana felt the rage building. "My sister and our family are going to give Charlotte the wedding day she deserved to have. She will perform the rituals and sacrifices to the gods and goddesses, and her family will dote on her while she spends her last day as a Monroe. When she is ready to leave, you may come for her." She hadn't realized how close she'd gotten to the man but didn't dare back down now.

His jaw clenched. "I am not leaving her alone."

"She will be with her family," Liana countered.

"I will be staying if you insist on this ridiculous waste of time. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid with a proper wedding."

"I didn't ask you to stay. Please, leave and go about your busy day while the rest of us uphold ancient mage traditions so that my sister may enter into this union as a blessed female instead of a cursed one."

"You speak of ancient traditions as if they mean something to you, yet you speak so boldly to me. Perhaps you should learn your place, female," he declared, his voice low and menacing.

Standing this close to him, seeing the rage in his light brown eyes, Liana saw so clearly the resemblance between him and his father. Instead of Frank standing before her, it was the elder Master Ranville, his fists poised to beat down on her. Magic filled her veins refusing to let her cower.

Squaring her shoulders, she stepped closer putting them nearly nose to nose. "My place is wherever I say it is. And right now, that's between you and my sister."

"She's my wife now. You cannot keep me from her."

Her hands fisted at her sides knowing magic leaked from them. "Not forever, but for today, I can, and I will. You will leave my family's home and you will craft a dazzling letter to send to all your most important acquaintances informing them of your happy marriage. You will convince them that you were so desperately in love that you couldn't wait any longer to marry Charlotte. You will convince them that nothing untoward forced this marriage. And you will give my sister a celebration worthy of her status as the new bride of a Master Mage. Two days should give you enough time to prepare."

Ranville seethed before her. His hot breath stank of onions which seemed an odd thing for her to focus on.

"How dare you order me about." He stepped closer, their bodies nearly flush which had Damien growling and stepping between them. Liana held onto his back as she stumbled backward.

"Ranville, you know what you did. Now you have to clean up the mess you've made. Charlotte and the Monroe's don't deserve the scandal because of your impatience and laziness. Do as the Queen commanded. We will watch over Charlotte for the next two days and will deliver her to you for the party," Damien declared.

Huffing and puffing, Ranville stormed out. Nobody breathed until he slammed the front door closed. Liana sagged into Damien, her hands beginning to shake. He turned to gather her in his arms, and she buried her face in his chest.

"He looked so much like his father just then."

His hand slid up and down her back. "I'll never let him touch you."

Liana gave herself one more moment to soak in his comfort and support before letting go. This was about Charlotte today, not Liana's past. She'd find the courage to face down Ranville for her sister, no matter what.

She sat beside Charlotte. "Has he hurt you, Charlotte?" she demanded to know.

Her older sister sighed and stood, walking away from the rest of them. "Frank and I decided to get married in private because neither of us wanted to deal with the planning of a big wedding."

Liana knew that was a lie on Charlotte's part. All she'd ever spoken of growing up was how amazing her wedding would be. She'd had the entire thing planned by the time she was eleven years old, then changed it every year as they attended more and more weddings.

"I did not think it would be such an issue, nor should it be. We just wanted to be married. Besides, Liana and Wesley already had big weddings. We didn't need another."

Lady Monroe approached Charlotte once more. "Perhaps that is all true, but you two sneaking off to get married without your families appears improper. If this is what you wanted, we would have accompanied you, just your father and me. You didn't have to do this."

Charlotte's face remained blank.

Liana settled a hand on her mother's shoulder. "Let us move on from this. What's done is done. All we can do now is move forward. Mother, Charlotte, why don't you get Hannah and some supplies. I'll meet you in the sunroom for worship."

Lady Monroe nodded then led Charlotte out. The moment the door shut, her father gripped her shoulders giving her a little shake.

"What were you thinking, Liana? You cannot challenge a Master Mage like that!" he bellowed.

Ears ringing, Liana pulled away from him. "I will do as I please, Father. Nor could I stay silent. There is something off about Ranville. I never wanted Charlotte to marry him."

"Be that as it may, he chose her, and she chose him. He is one of the most influential people in this city. There is nothing to be done about it, although I am furious with him for allowing this to happen. Everything would have been perfectly fine if they just had a normal wedding, even if it were small."

Liana fell back onto the sofa. "I suppose there is nothing I can do now." She glanced to Damien. "Aside from arranging an accident for him to fall into a very deep hole."

Damien hid his laugh with a cough and moved to sit beside her. "Everything will work out fine. We will show a united front. We will show the people that we support them."

Liana certainly hoped things worked out fine. She still held reservations about their marriage. She knew Charlotte would be happier with someone else.