Deception of the Magician (Waldgrave Book 2) (2 page)

“Lena, I don’t know…” He said, scratching behind his ear.

Lena pouted. “Please, Howard…Please. I 
really
 want to go. I need to get out. And I’m pretty sure I’ll really 
need
 to get out after two more Corbetts move in here. Please, please, please let me do this!”       

Howard continued to stare at the list and heaved a sigh. “Let me think about it, and even then I’m not too sure how the Council will react to this request. We’ll see.”

At dinner that night, with everyone gathered around the table (except Cheryl, Marie, Pete, and Mrs. Ralston, whose presence at the table had annoyed Master Daray to such an extent that they now ate in the kitchen instead), Howard was reserved. As he liked sharing good news, this was typically a sign that the answer was going to be ‘no.’ Instead, the conversation turned to Griffin’s family.

His three-month-old brother was in good health, but his mother wasn’t doing nearly as well since the loss of her husband. Mrs. Corbett still refused to believe that he would have killed himself. Hesper was going to pop any day now, which would land her arrival to visit with Lena around the time that Mrs. Corbett was planning to move in. Ava was the only one who didn’t see a problem with this inconvenient fact, as she was too overjoyed to have babies in the house again—ones whose diapers she would not be obliged to change.

Griffin was acting as though the situation was a bomb that needed to be diffused. “You’ll have to tell her to delay her trip, Lena. My mother’s dealing with enough already, and having the family disgrace in the house might put her over the edge.”

Lena fought the temptation to hurl a fork load of peas at Griffin. He had become domineering in the past months, even given how little she had seen him. “She’s my best friend. In fact, she’s probably closer to being 
my
 sister than yours. So no, I’m not asking her to delay, and I’m not going to be making her stay out of your mother’s way any more than your mother should have to stay out of hers. She’s my guest, and I want to meet my niece. 
Your
 niece.”

“Yes, it’s a pity it’s not a boy. Mason will never get an heir now—not that it’s a bad thing. I voted against letting him in to begin with.” Lena tried to ignore Master Daray, but he had known her long enough to have figured out which buttons to push. “But then, these things do tend to happen. Similar types are drawn together with similar results; that’s why the girl went off with them to begin with. She goes off with young Mason and then they have a girl, and their only blessing is that they’re both too stupid to mourn the loss.”

Lena’s jaw dropped and Howard set his utensils down to hold his face in his hands. He shot an apologetic look at Lena.

“Excuse me.” Lena stood up and took her plate into the kitchen, where she sat down to eat between Pete and Mrs. Ralston. She felt bad for leaving Howard in the dining room alone, but was sure he understood.

The next morning, Howard confirmed that the Council was, indeed, refusing Lena’s request. Even one of the families represented on the guest list had spoken against her going. This fact particularly upset Howard, even though he had only been cautiously okay with Lena going to begin with. He felt insulted on a personal level because his heir was being snubbed for reasons that didn’t have much to do with the political disagreement surrounding her bloodline. Lena, however, was just upset that she wasn’t going to go.

“Why can’t I go? 
Why?
” Lena was trying to hold the tears back, and was failing miserably. She was starting to hyperventilate, and on a perverse level she was hoping it might require someone to take her to the hospital—anything to get out and away. “I’m going to die here. They’re going to keep me trapped here until I die, and there’s nothing I can do about it…”

Howard walked out from behind his desk and sat down in the chair next to Lena. “Stop being so melodramatic. You’ll get your chance. You’ve just got to find a way to make them trust you. My father was the foremost among researchers, scholars, and historians who specialized in the portal, but he was also married to a human woman with two sons, and one of them was human. He was a hard-core integrationist and believed in equal rights and representation for our lower classes, but he still found a way to get along with your 
other
 grandfather to continue his studies.” He passed her a box of tissues. “He found a way to make it work, and so can you. It might not happen quickly, but you can make them trust you.”

“How?”

Howard took a deep breath and looked out the window. A moment later he looked back. “I don’t know. But you know what? You’re a smart one. You’ve snuck out of this house twice without anyone knowing until after the fact, you’ve managed to learn the whole of Latito in only a few months, you know exactly what to do to aggravate every person living here, and you got yourself onto the Council with a much better margin than anyone expected. And you’ve been here just over a year—it’s truly impressive what you’ve accomplished in so short a time. You’re clever, and you’ll figure it out. You’ll find a way to make them trust you.”

Lena smiled. It was good to know that someone had faith in her. Maybe she would figure it out. She certainly didn’t think she could, but if Howard did, then maybe she would.

June 30th was as bright and cheerful as anyone could have asked. The lawn was a deep, sultry green and Pete had been keeping up well with the gardens. Marie had been helping him since she wanted to stay as far away from Master Daray as possible. She had quite a gift, and as Lena and Howard sat outside waiting for Hesper and Eric’s arrival, he commented that he had never seen the flowers look so bright before. Reds, yellows, oranges, whites, and pinks danced in the slight summer breeze as butterflies, the first ones Lena had ever seen at Waldgrave, flittered about between them.

A grey sedan pulled up the drive and parked at the side of the house. Howard and Lena helped the guests move the luggage into the house where it was cooler, and then they settled into the living room. Hesper lifted the blanket cover from the car seat carrier, revealing a pink, wrinkled little body clothed in a bright white creeper with a glitter heart on it. Her name was Maren Delaney; the former name came from Eric’s mother, who had died when he was very young. ‘Delaney’ had been the name on a piece of mail accidentally delivered to the Mason household on the day of the birth, and Hesper, tired and delusional from all the drugs, had liked it so much that she had written it down on the birth certificate. Maren yawned and stretched her tiny arms, then settled back into her nap.

Eric took her up to a room on the second floor to let her nap and to unpack their bags, and Hesper and Lena sat in the living room a while longer. Ava had wandered off when Maren left, and Howard excused himself to give the two friends some privacy.       

“So. You’re looking good.” This, in fact, was an understatement. Hesper didn’t look any different than she had before the pregnancy.

“Thanks. I’ve got three more pounds to go.” Hesper smiled and stretched out on the couch. “How are you?”

“Good.” Lena shrugged.

Hesper gave her a look and smiled slyly. “Just good?”

Hesper bobbed her eyebrows suggestively, and Lena laughed. “What do you mean?”

“Griffin moved back in, didn’t he?” Hesper pointed towards the upper floors.

“Oh. Yeah.” Lena’s voice deflated.

“Shut up. You’ve always had a crush on him and you know it.”

“He’s not the way he used to be. And you shut up, because I don’t. He’s a jerk.” Lena sighed.

Hesper rolled her eyes. “How’s everything else, then?”

“Well, speaking of Griffin, he’s going to get back tomorrow with your mom. Apparently there’s been some trouble with the family servants, so they’ll probably both be in a 
great
 mood when they get here.”

Hesper cracked a wry smile. “You’re just one big freakin’ ray of sunshine today, aren’t you? What happened?”

Lena sank down on the couch. She had only heard what Howard had been told by Griffin, who had slated it to sound like an unfounded mutiny. “Well, you know your mom was a little high strung to begin with, right? And then there was the thing with your dad, and she’s alone in the house except for the baby, and she started drinking a little so the staff took the baby away to keep him safe. Well, your mom still maintains that your dad didn’t kill himself and that he was somehow murdered. She thinks the staff are trying to kill her and Darius Jr., and they got so fed up with her abuse that some of them walked out. Griffin disbanded the rest of the house because he’s bringing the two of them here.”

Hesper remained quiet for a moment, a pensive look on her face, then sat forward. “I guess it was bound to happen someday. My dad was the only one keeping order there. The baby’s okay?”

Lena stood up and started walking to the kitchen; she needed something to rip apart with her teeth. “Yeah…about him. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to him. Griffin is about ready to have her legally declared incompetent, and I think he thinks I’m going to surrogate his little brother, which isn’t going to happen.” She threw the refrigerator door open and pulled out some leftover meatloaf.

“He wants the baby to stay here?” Hesper asked in a surprised, slightly twanging tone. “Can’t Ava take him?”

Lena shut the refrigerator door and glared at Hesper, raising her eyebrows sarcastically. Ava couldn’t be trusted to take care of herself for more than a few hours, let alone a baby.

“Oh…right. Well, what about Mrs. Ralston?”

“Do you want some?” Hesper accepted the offer, having briefly forgone her vegetarian diet during her pregnancy and breastfeeding, and Lena pulled down two plates and started hacking away. “My grandfather doesn’t believe that human-borns should be allowed to raise ‘high-blooded’—his words, not mine—Silenti. So we have a competent parent who’s unacceptable, an incompetent parent who is acceptable, and me. And I am sure as hell not going to adopt the kid, because I have no freaking clue how to raise a child, and I’m not going to ditch my political career to learn how. Griffin can get in touch with 
his
 maternal instinct.”

Hesper took her meatloaf and they sat down at the table. “You’re a little stressed out today. What’s really up?”

Lena sighed as she fell into a chair. She’d been a little vicious with the meatloaf, and it wasn’t really a loaf anymore. She stared at the meat crumbs on her plate. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to get out of here before I’m responsible for a child and I can’t leave. And I can’t leave because they don’t trust me not to bring about the apocalypse.”

They ate silently for a while. Lena could sense Hesper’s sympathy, and wanted to feel better for it, but her life was just too dark. She couldn’t shake the cloud that had been hanging over her since she had been disallowed from the rafting trip, no matter how hard she tried.

“I’m sorry Lena. I really am. If the portal hadn’t been stolen so many years ago, this wouldn’t be happening, but it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Whoever had it probably got rid of it, but for a lot of people here there’s a fear and a hope that it’s out there waiting to be found. A lot of them are scared or wishful that it’s a lot closer than we all think.” She smiled and reached out to touch Lena’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go play with a baby—I promise it will make you feel better.”

Lena smiled. Playing with a baby could make anyone feel better—just as long as it wasn’t 
her
 baby.

Dinner that evening was a quiet affair. Howard had greatly hoped that Master Daray would have taken to eating upstairs while Hesper and Eric were visiting, but he hadn’t. Everyone sat at the table staring at each other uncomfortably, except for Maren, who was cooing contentedly in a carrier in the chair next to Eric. Her intelligent little eyes kept darting to Master Daray’s face, and she would smile at his almost comical level of displeasure. She was definitely taking after Hesper.

The next day Lena hid upstairs with her guests as Griffin settled his mother and brother into a room, and then they found themselves at yet another awkward dinner. Unfortunately, Hesper wasn’t going to be nearly as shy with Griffin as she was with Master Daray.

“So, Lena says you’ve been a real jerk lately.” She said, serenely lifting her fork. You really know what women want, don’t you?”

Lena flinched and gazed into her broccoli trying to think of something to say. When she looked up, she saw Griffin staring at her. He wasn’t smiling, but his eyes were very amused. He smirked and confidently looked back at Hesper. “Lena’s a Council member now, not a woman.”

“Uh huh. Sure. So why are you being a jerk lately?” It was evident that Hesper was trying to help, but Lena wished she would just stop. Fighting with Griffin never worked out well for either of them, because the stalemate enforced by the Council often resulted in drawn-out conflicts where they both tried to subtly sabotage the other without getting caught. And, much to Lena’s chagrin, when the adults in the household finally did realize that something was happening, they were much more apt to try and stop Lena. Griffin didn’t take orders from anyone but Master Daray.

Griffin kept cutting up his steak. When he had a bite ready on his fork, he looked back at Lena. “Lena? I’ll defer this question to you.”