Married (9 page)

“Are you kidding?” She snorted. “Graves is fucking my father. After the wedding I’m going back to Chicago with Daniel.”

“And yet, Graves implied that he’d fucked you, too.” Adam lowered his voice as they reached the second floor. His Family waited in the hallway, surrounded by open doors and grumbles of irritation.

“But, Adam, you can surely understand that I had to—”

“Enough.” He pushed his advantage, damning the fact that it would only make her more motivated. “You’re to be married and I refuse to act dishonorably while my grandmother is here. Do you understand me, Constance? You’ll have to have patience.”

She would have answered, but the small crowd of Davenolds parted just then. Adam looked around, took in his grandmother’s pinched lips, his aunt’s blatant surprise and Georgie’s disgust. Silviu looked downright frightening.

“Leave this to us to sort out,” Madeleine declared, “and perhaps teach your host his manners, when it comes to the invitation of the Council High Seat, the Mother of a very powerful Family.”

“I cannot apologize enough—”

Madeleine interrupted Daniel. “Whether he agrees with matriarchal ways or not, common courtesy is expected.”

Daniel clamped his hand down on Graves’ shoulder, but the man looked unconcerned. A wicked light of amusement glimmered in his dark eyes, quickly dying under the pressure of Daniel’s hold.

“I will explain that straightaway, Madeleine. You have my word.”

With a look, Daniel collected Constance and the trio moved down the hall toward another set of steps. Graves stumbled, but was ruthlessly pushed forward. Adam’s gaze swung back to his Family.

“What happened?”

Chapter Seven

Georgeanne

Georgeanne was vaguely surprised at how readily her grandmother showed her anger. This wasn’t the first time Madeleine had been the target of petty patriarchal discrimination, but something about the situation really threatened to send the old woman over the edge.

She wasn’t the only one.

Georgie turned to Adam and forced her lips to unlock from their tight line. “You took long enough to join us.”

He grimaced. “I had to extricate myself from Constance’s greeting as delicately as possible. I don’t want to cause offense while we’re here. It might prove fatal.”

Silviu snorted as he nodded to Madeleine. “Fatal for Graves, perhaps.”

Georgie lifted her hands in an indistinct gesture toward the doors to either side of her, letting her sarcasm free. “Graves thought it a good idea to have Madeleine and Margaret share a room with double beds. You have a penis so you get a suite with a sitting room.”

“Either that, or Graves gave Adam plenty of privacy for entertaining the bride.” Silviu’s face darkened. “Georgie’s room is in the Family wing.”

She sent a sidelong glance at her betrothed, evaluating his emotions while quelling the shudder that tried to overrun her spine. Surrounded by so many others, Silviu kept his expression virtually unreadable, but there had been no confusing his icy anger when Graves had told Georgie how easy it would be to find her in the night.

Adam pushed past their little group to stick his head in the open doorways of the rooms they’d been assigned. “He meant to insult us, then?”

“Of course he did,” Madeleine hissed.

Margaret patted her sister’s shoulder. “I fully expected you to scream the hotel down.”

“It works to our advantage to rearrange ourselves on our own.” Madeleine turned to the Ngozi woman pressed against the wall. “How do you fit in here, child?”

Georgie started, mentally groaning as she realized she’d forgotten about the woman’s presence. She’d held so silent, completely unmoving, that she’d nearly blended into the garish wallpaper. Georgie frowned, examining the woman closely.

She was beautiful enough to capture Adam’s attention—Georgie had felt her cousin go on point like a hunting hound. The woman’s unusual eyes were strained with more than a hint of sadness, her full lips turned down at the corners. The faintest of bruises marred her cheek, well on its way to being totally healed.

But her magic spun around her in indigo sweeps that had Georgie battling the urge to rub her eyes. She felt as if she were looking at something, but wasn’t quite able to see what it really was. Nature had compensated Georgie’s Bane weakness with the ability to see magic in use, a fact she didn’t share widely, but the talent wasn’t proving very handy where Tulah was concerned.

“Who are you, exactly?” Georgie demanded gently. Gentle, but determined to get an answer.

“I’m exactly what Graves said.” The woman pushed off the wall to stand straight, but her gaze immediately fell to the carpet. “I’m almost the very lowest member of the secondary branch, completely at his mercy.”

“I take it that’s not where you want to be?” Adam circled the woman, his gaze flowing over her from all directions.

“No.” She lifted her head to look at him, clearly more comfortable meeting his gaze than anyone else’s. “My name is Tulah and Graves basically owns me. I lived with my mother away from the Family, but my presence has been requested at the wedding by the Family Father and Graves has made certain that I won’t be leaving his hotel in the foreseeable future. I’m his prisoner.”

“He wants you in his bed?” Adam asked, his tone catching a harsh edge. Behind Georgie, Christiana groaned.

Madeleine scoffed as Tulah shrugged again. “He does not. It was plain as day he’s using her for his own purposes, but there was nothing lustful in his dealings with Tulah.”

“The first day I was here, he touched her inappropriately,” Silviu murmured. “I can’t say that he doesn’t want her.”

Madeleine waved dismissively. “A power play, letting all and sundry know she’s beneath him. Notice his eyes, the next time he’s got this child in his hold. They are devoid of all emotion, just like when he looks at Georgeanne.” Her lips tightened.

“Why pretend, though?” Georgie scowled.

“Sex isn’t always about desire, Georgeanne,” Madeleine snapped. “Many times it’s simply about dominance, power. You will be careful.”

“I’ll keep you safe.” Silviu was a sudden, hot wall at her back, pressing along her spine until Georgie stiffened to keep herself from leaning back into his strength. An action that would show too much, to too many—including him, though he was getting harder to deny.

“We need to figure out what he’s up to.” Madeleine turned contemplative eyes on Tulah. “Any thoughts?”

The poor woman swallowed and paled. “Like you said, Mother Davenold, power.” She flicked her eyes toward Georgie, and Silviu just behind her. “He was very angry that you came, Mr. Lovasz.”

Silviu’s palm branded Georgie’s back while he quietly growled in her ear. Georgie was sure she’d been the only one to hear him. He raised his voice when he spoke. “Do you need help in escaping, Tulah?”

Her face crumpled, a hundred emotions flowing over her features until her hopelessness became contagious. “He’s spelled the exits,” she finally said. “I can’t leave. When I tried, magic slammed into me and nearly ripped my muscles from my bones. It was all I could do to crawl off the threshold.”

Georgie felt Silviu’s curiosity through the tensing of his fingers at her back and saw Adam’s as it crossed his face. It was her cousin who spoke, his eyes focused, his body practically vibrating. “Really? What a wonderful idea. Perhaps I can recreate the spell in the doorways to our rooms, set specifically on the Ngozi Family.”

Suspicions snarled in Georgie’s head. There was so much wrong at the Ngozi hotel, too many unknowns and too much danger to feel anything close to comfort. Her instincts were screaming, but she couldn’t predict their focus any better than she could pinpoint the origins of their warning. From the beginning, learning of the invitation, she’d known this would be a trying event, knew she would have to keep on her toes, but the situation was becoming more convoluted with every passing moment on Graves’ property.

She forced her brain to narrow its focus. “Is the exit spelled only against you, Tulah, or everyone?”

“I felt something strange when I entered,” Silviu said in a low voice. “But I saw nothing.”

Tulah shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Madeleine’s face went still but her eyes blazed with anger. “He wouldn’t dare.”

Georgie winced. “Graves is widely known to be unpredictable.”

Her grandmother pulled herself up straight, her gaze boring into her granddaughter’s with a silent message Georgie couldn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Georgeanne, you and Tulah will examine the exits. Try to leave, Georgie, and see what happens. While the rest of us get situated, Silviu, you may explain what you’ve observed around here.”

Georgie let her eyes meet her cousins’ before turning back to Madeleine. “Adam and Chris are the ones who can unravel the spell and figure out how to do it up here.”

“And I don’t like the idea of Georgie on her own in the hotel,” Silviu interjected.

Madeleine threw him a disgusted glance, but Ileana’s voice coasted down the hall before she could speak. “We’ll go, too.”

Georgeanne looked toward the main steps as Ileana and Eliasz approached slowly, holding hands. After a quick introduction, the pair moved to flank Georgie.

Eliasz addressed Silviu. “Iley can gather the information you need and I’ll watch over the ladies.”

Silviu nodded. “That would be appreciated.”

Madeleine gave her approval and motioned for Georgie to be on her way. Before she obeyed, she met her betrothed’s eyes. She had no trouble reading his expression—with all the drama they’d found waiting for them at the hotel, Silviu fully intended for Georgie to sleep in his bed. Georgeanne had mixed feelings about that.

Heat pulled her stomach into knots, lust thickened her blood. She didn’t know if she could bear the temptation of sleeping next to Silviu while denying their bodies’ demands. She didn’t know if Silviu could keep his promise of abstinence for her. It had been the principal reason he’d sent her from Poland—because they were dangerously close to crossing the line Madeleine had drawn.

Madeleine was taking her time in setting a wedding date and the Davenold Mother had made herself clear. If Georgie had sex with Silviu before they were officially married, she’d pass the Family power on to Christiana, regardless of who would be the better choice.

Georgie would be damned if anyone took what had been all but promised to
her
.

Finding an impartial mask by the time she’d reached the bottom of the steps, Georgie remained unfazed when Eliasz suddenly pulled her close and whispered directly into her ear. “Tulah is abused in this house, but I’m not sure how that plays out for
us
.”

She nodded, understanding perfectly. Tulah could either give up all their secrets in exchange for her own safety or she could be a fierce ally to the Davenold cause.

“Tulah, I’m sorry to put you through this,” Georgie waved toward the front door, “but if you could try—”

Eliasz’s eyes flew wide and he grabbed Georgie’s wrist in a hard grip, cutting off her words abruptly. Holding her gaze, he lifted one hand to tug at his earlobe. Georgie cursed under her breath even as she scanned the cluttered lobby for listening devices. She wished one amongst them had the ability to cast a silencing spell, but that was a complicated piece of magic she didn’t think even Ileana could generate.

Tulah’s face paled but she spoke bluntly, though softly. “I couldn’t go out the back. What makes you think I could use the main entrance?”

Georgie frowned. “I felt nothing coming in.”

Ileana twisted her lips. “There was a little tickle. Subtle. Can’t see anything now, but…”

“It hurts,” Tulah said.

“Brace yourself. We’ll be trying various exits.” Georgie ruthlessly tamped down her sympathy, lowering her voice until she was sure the Ngozi woman was merely reading her lips. “Testing the boundaries, so to speak.”

Drawing an audible breath, Tulah clenched her fists and walked to the door. Georgie studied the barrier with narrowed eyes, but there was not even a flicker of magic visible. Less obnoxious than any other piece of décor in the hotel’s lobby, the door was ordinary, a thick wooden plank set with frosted green glass etched with the words
Witch
Hunt
.

Ileana sidled closer, her eyes narrowed like Georgie’s. “I don’t see any magi—”

Her words were interrupted when Tulah grasped the knob, threw open the door and made to step through. Red light erupted from the jamb, a rectangle of magic that spat and sparked, rolling far into the lobby the moment Tulah’s toe hit the threshold.

Ileana gasped, Georgie bit her lip. Tulah hit the floor with a strangled scream muted by the convulsions that stole over her slender body. She shook so hard Georgie feared she would break, her head thudding against the floor as her muscles knotted in a rolling swell down her spine.

With reflexes faster than Georgie had expected, Eliasz swore and dove for the woman, dragging her back from the doorway. The seizures ended as quickly as they’d started, lasting only seconds. Georgie and Ileana hadn’t even had time to react.

“Holy shit,” Ileana breathed.

Eliasz lifted Tulah onto his lap, cradling her close. He looked up at Ileana. “Did you see anything?”

Georgie reached out to get Ileana’s attention. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law leaned close and whispered into her ear. “You know Silviu’s talent?”

Georgie fought to clear her head and remember. “He sees…”

She closed her mouth, leaving the rest of her statement unspoken. The Ngozi stronghold was not the place to admit to Silviu’s talent of seeing magic. It was a secret that could put them both at a disadvantage in their quest to rule over the combined covens.

If the other witches had any idea of just how talented Silviu actually was, Georgie had no doubt he’d be hunted down and killed. Just as she should have been for being Bane.

“I have the same talent,” Ileana confessed.

Georgie finally understood the meaningful look that passed between Silviu and Eliasz, upstairs. Understood why Ileana had agreed to test the exits. Georgie looked over at the Ngozi female, pleased to see her shakily rising to her feet. “Eliasz, you try.”