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ake Lily suspect that the villa had more floors than it seemed when looking at the edifice, but before Lily could ask, they arrived at the formal dining room that was already alive with guests. Mala greeted them outside the large double doors with a tight smile that wanted to grow up to be a snarl.
“Lily,” she said through bared teeth. “Fashionably late again, I see.”
“Is that a problem?” Lily asked, but Mala had already whirled around and left. Lily turned to Toshi. “Is there any particular reason she hates me, or is she like this with everyone?”
“She’s threatened by you,” he answered. “She’s poised to take over someday, but all of a sudden, Grace seems very interested in you.”
Lily thought about it and shrugged. There was a time in her life when petty jealousy and competition from other women had dominated her life.
Being madly in love with Tristan didn’t help, she thought to Lillian. Every other girl was a threat to me because he seemed determined to sleep with every other girl in the world but me. It’s so strange how far away that all seems now.
“I said—Mala isn’t a joke.”
Lily looked up at Toshi and realized that he was considering her strangely. He’d had to repeat himself.
“I know,” Lily said quickly. She could feel Rowan watching her carefully and she wondered how long she’d absented herself from the conversation. “But I’m not a threat, and I’m sure she’ll realize that soon.”
Toshi narrowed his eyes at her. “How old do you think I am?” he asked.
“Ah—” Lily fumbled. “Nineteen? Twenty?”
“I’m sixty-four years old.”
“Shut up,” Una said, the words flying out of her.
“How old do you think Grace is?” he continued without missing a beat.
Lily stared at him, gobsmacked. He wasn’t kidding. “I don’t know,” she said, not willing to guess.
“Neither do I. Grace has been governor of Bower City since before it was Bower City, back when this place was just a few tepees and a campfire. I don’t even know what year that was because there are few records of the early days, and Grace doesn’t talk about it,” Toshi said. He leaned close to Lily. “Mala has already been waiting a long time. Be careful around her.”
Toshi crossed the last few steps into the dining room and joined the dinner party. Lily put out a hand and stopped her coven from following so they could calm down and regroup.
“This place just got a whole lot more interesting,” Tristan said. “I wonder how long Grace has been in power.”
“Long enough for all of us to be scared of her,” Juliet said. “Power does funny things to a person’s head and the longer you have it, the more twisted you get. What I want to know is what she wants from Lily.”
Lily felt a protective surge of emotion from her sister and smiled at her, but Juliet was too worried to be mollified. A fretful frown stamped a crease between her big brown eyes and it would not go away.
It’s okay, Juliet. I’m not afraid of Grace.
You should be, Juliet replied in mindspeak. She sighed and rolled her eyes. But I know you won’t be. So I’ll just have to be afraid for you.
On that note they entered the dining room to find a small group of people waiting for Lily’s coven to join them.
“Lily,” Grace said, her ageless face spreading into a wide smile. “Come and meet the minister of trade. I’ve just been telling him how you’ve been to the docks already.”
Waiters circled with brightly colored drinks in strangely shaped glasses. Appetizers whisked by. Grace introduced Lily to several people with the title minister or chief or head in rapid succession. They all studied her like the newest wondrous beast in a menagerie. They gawked at her enormous willstone and tiptoed around the sticky subject of her claimed without ever really confronting the subject head on, or completely letting it drop, either. The women were less tactful about Lily’s coven than the men. They made not-so-veiled comments about how many strapping young mechanics Lily had acquired.
“But you can’t tell me that witches back east don’t tend to lean toward claiming attractive mechanics for themselves when they can,” said the minister of architecture. “Look at this little coven, for example.”
“I’m not for Lily. I like men,” Caleb replied bluntly.
“And I’m with her,” Breakfast added, pointing at Una. “The scary one.”
Lily nodded. “It’s true. She is scary.”
“You’re a little too wholesome for me,” Breakfast said to Lily. “No offense.”
