Chapter 4
4
Her feelings were hurt.
Rooke forced a smile. “I didn’t expect to be one of your advisors.”
Our tether told me otherwise. I watched as she crossed my quarters to study the quipu hanging on the far wall. “The coven sees you as one of them. They speak freely around you, and they won’t around the guys, or me, or anyone of advisor status. I need your ears.”
“I’m normal in other words?” She touched her braid on the quipu. Funny how people instinctively did that.
I winced, and she felt it through our bond.
Rooke turned. “I’m joking. I get what you mean.”
“Good,” I said. “Because you’re anything but normal.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean?—”
My cousin laughed, and I glared.
“You’re messing with me,” I stated.
“Keeping you humble.”
“Whatever. I had a surprise ready, but maybe I won’t give it to you. Wouldn’t want you to become conceited about life.”
She slid me a glance. “What surprise?”
“It involves a Greenhouse of Fun, but don’t worry.”
Rooke’s eyes widened as she fully faced me. “No way.”
I waved a hand. “Not important.”
She crossed the space to whack me. “No more jokes.”
Ouch. I rubbed the spot. Being a Corentine—though she went by her mother’s last name in the coven—Rooke would secretly enjoy inflicting pain now and again. And she was the nicest Corentine I’d met. Her usual medium was poisons and illicit substances and setting ghosts on people, though, not physical violence.
“No more jokes,” I promised. “Your talents in apothecary are wasted learning the properties of calendula. You should be in the Greenhouse of Fun, and now that I’m Queen Tempest, I can put you there.”
Her eyes gleamed in a concerning type of way. “What will people say?”
“Do you care?”
Rooke’s gaze flickered. “Yes.”
I didn’t downplay the insecurity. She really did struggle with what people said about her. “You’re developing weapons against the demons. Poisons. And also studying my blood.”
“That’s dark magic,” she hushed.
“My blood was able to permeate the scales of the powerful demons to kill them—and that will hold true with the weaker ones, I’m assuming. I want you working with Huxley to figure that out.”
“I won’t be doing any blood magic,” she clarified.
“I’d never ask that. I want to understand what properties within my blood could be replicated for use against the demons. Or combined with other weapons to make them more potent. Obviously I don’t trust anyone else with my blood except a person of my blood.”
Rooke’s eyes gleamed again. “I don’t know what’s possible, but I’m excited to try.”
“People may say that you’re only in there because you’re my cousin,” I warned her.
“I’m sure they will,” she said, blowing out a breath. “I’ll prove that I’m worthy.”
There she is. “Yes, you will. Wild’s in charge of demon-gate sentry measures. We’ll also have a lead strategist appointed soon. You’ll work with both of them directly on anything you and Huxley develop. I’ll need you to keep the blood aspect of what you’re doing under wraps. If you need another space to test that out, then you’re welcome to use the second floor of my quarters here.”
“Got it.” She glanced at the door.
I followed her focus. “You want to go to the Greenhouse of Fun now, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
I snorted and passed her a sealed letter. “To hand to Selene when she tries to bar your access.”
Rooke snatched the letter from my hand and boosted out the door. I should have been scared of what I’d unleashed. But I was a Corentine, too, so I laughed in a sinister kind of way instead.
What next?
I’d already spoken with Ruby, who’d been totally shocked by my request and stammered through her thanks and acceptance of the position of advisor. I’d passed her Sage’s old pendant and summoned black robes for her. I had a good feeling about her.
Huxley was next.
I opted to walk to his proven rooms, making sure to acknowledge any coven members I passed. I wasn’t meant to smile, according to Sven. And to be fair, smiling for the sake of it wasn’t really me. I settled for a slight dip of my head.
All I got in return were a few half bows and wide-eyed expressions.
Yikes.
I raised a hand to knock at Huxley’s door. Unlike him, I still had manners. The door was cracked open, and Spyne’s voice floated out, halting my movement.
“There’ssomething more going on,” Spyne was saying. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“There isn’t. How many times do I need to say it?” Huxley answered.
“Always one more,” Spyne said in his cool voice. “I can feel you’re struggling with something.”
Mother be, he was so fucking cool.
Huxley didn’t answer.
Maybe I wasn’t as polite as I liked to think because I didn’t let them know I’d arrived.
Spyne sighed. “When I saw you in that demon’s arms… I didn’t lose you that night, miraculously, and I refuse to lose you another way. I won’t allow you to push me away either. Not when I can see you want to do the opposite. I see you, Hux, and I want to help you. Please talk to me.”
Huxley replied after a beat, “I’m sorry for being such an asshole. I don’t want to be an asshole, and then I go and act like one anyway.”
“I’m not disputing that. I’m more interested in the reason behind that behavior.”
I was learning to appreciate the grimoire tendency to go to the heart of the matter more and more.
“I nearly lost the coven for all of us,” Huxley blurted. “I was arrogant. I shouldn’t have gone to the other gate. Then I wouldn’t have been used against you all. We would have been in a more powerful position.”
“A one-on-one battle was the best position we could have been in,” Spyne said quietly. “You could look at what happened from many different perspectives.”
Huxley was silent.
Okay, at this arbitrary point, I felt bad about listening in.
I knocked.
There was a hushed silence, and then Spyne swung the door wide.
His smile disappeared at the sight of me. “High Esteemed Tempest.”
“Spyne, how are you?”
He tilted his head, and his ink-black curtain of hair swayed with the action. “Curious.”
Curious about you, he seemed to be saying.
Couldn’t blame the guy. He’d been privy to some interesting conversations between our group, and so far Huxley had opted to keep him on the outs. In short, Spyne was aware there was more going on. I could feel he was as suspicious as he was grateful about what had happened with me saving Huxley. I appreciated him settling for curiosity in the meantime instead of distrust.
“Naturally,” I answered. “I hope to assuage that curiosity one day.”
He crossed his arms. “I look forward to it.”
I peered past him to the person sitting with a slumped posture on the bed. “Hux, stop feeling sorry for yourself. It wasn’t your fault you got jumped.”
Huxley scowled. “Eavesdropping is rude.”
“Not if I tell you I was eavesdropping.”
Spyne shot me a glance. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Maybe not.“Your decision to go to the other gate could have worked. It’s only because it failed that you feel this way. This is about failure, isn’t it. Why?”
“Because I failed, obviously,” he snapped. “The rest of the coven is standing there, ready to wage war. You’re probably looking like a warrior queen from the pits of hell, and then there’s helpless Huxley on the ground, out for the count.”
Spyne’s mouth formed an O. “You didn’t like appearing powerless.”
“That’s not what I’m saying” came the withering reply.
It was. Spyne could work on that. I wasn’t paid enough to deal with Huxley’s issues.
I said, “Can I ask what spurred your decision to go to the other gate? We knew the demons had come out of there.”
Huxley’s angry expression disappeared. He considered me, then said, “Nothing.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. He’d work out his shit and tell me eventually. “Then I need you to do stuff for me.”
“Just because you’re our coven leader, doesn’t mean I’ll listen to you.”
Spyne sucked in a horrified breath.
But I grinned. “And that’s why I’m appointing you as an advisor.” I summoned Frond’s pendant. “This used to belong to Frond. You’re more deserving to wear it. He’s out. You’re in.” I summoned a set of black robes next. “Wear these. If you have some hang up about what happened during the battle with the demons, consider this your chance to make up for it. I want your mind at my table. I want your honesty and dedication. I don’t want any of your bad faults, though.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Which are?”
“We don’t have long enough for that. Be at the advisory chamber tomorrow after breakfast.”
Huxley, for maybe the first time in our friendship, appeared speechless. He’d had more to say after finding out I was half demon. “You’re sure?”
“Your potential is clear to me. In the meantime, find Rooke at the Greenhouse of Fun. You’ll be working with her on another project. She’ll bring you up to speed. Any questions?”
I didn’t wait for any. I winked at Spyne on the way out.
Who was next?
I walked to Corentin’s rooms and didn’t find him there. A few inquiries led me to the battle learning center.
“Corey,” I said in greeting, after walking over the fighting mats.
“No,” he answered, uncrossing his legs. He’d been meditating. The guy was wearing linen pants. Where were his ripped jeans?
Who was this man?
Positive Patrick, that’s who.
I surveyed him. “You doing okay?”
“I feel very centered.”
He seemed drugged on it. Guess I’d felt that way this morning when centering with the coven too. “Cool. What were you saying no to?”
“Becoming an advisor. I have too much to explore in my power. I won’t relinquish this freedom from feeling so oppressed. Before I can help others, I must help myself.”
“Good, I wasn’t going to ask you.”
His smile had a goofy edge. “This is good news. I just want to be centered.”
I pressed my lips firmly together against a smile. “Do I have more work to do on you?” I’d spent a few sessions untangling his magic, but from memory, there had been a few last stragglers.
“Some. Minor only. I’m content to exist in this state until you have the space to complete the process.”
Ty, the divination mentor, was the most centered person I’d ever met. Corentin may rival him for that title soon enough. “No problem. I’ll, uh, leave you to it then.”
Linen pants. I couldn’t believe it. I had to tell Wild.
Delta broke away from a small group of novices to meet me at the entrance.
“Need something?” I asked her.
“A better punching bag,” she said.
I followed her gaze to what remained of one at the back of the huge chamber. “No kidding.”
“Just a heads-up that Sage is looking to turn down the position of lead strategist.”
Damn. “Reason?”
“I can’t decide if she’s hurt about not being invited to the table as an advisor or if the size of the task and that the enemy is a real one has shaken her confidence.”
I clapped Delta’s shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Now to locate Sage. So far this high-esteemed gig was just talking, walking, talking, then walking some more. I released a pent-up breath, pausing on my way to Sage’s quarters to watch the trickle of magus flocking to the eating chamber for lunch.
Maybe Sage could wait until I ate…
“High Esteemed?”
Or maybe not. I turned toward Barrow. “How can I help?”
He held up a stack of sealed letters. “These arrived.”
I took the stack and looked at the top one.
High Esteemed Tempest
“What are these for?”
“I would never presume to open your letters,” Barrow said in shock.
“I know. Just surprised to see these when my accession was this morning.”
I flipped the first letter.
Sender: The High Esteemed
Original Coven
The Astars had sent me a letter, and I suspected this one wasn’t a warm welcome.