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“Not sure who to say it to.” But the moment I said that, I knew exactly who I needed.
Chapter Five
Rose
The hall was dark when I slipped across it to Dad’s office. He’d turned in for the night a couple hours ago. I paused, listening, and then flicked my hand to magically unlock the door.
There were other places I’d rather be, other things I’d rather be doing right now, but I had to take this chance while I had it.
I moved across the hardwood floor with soft footsteps. The drawers on the desk offered me nothing but the usual business papers. A file about the deal in Cairo sat beside Dad’s laptop on the desk. I popped open the computer and considered the password screen.
I could probably get past that with my magic. But I wasn’t adept enough with computers to believe I could put everything back to normal so he wouldn’t realize someone had been snooping. I’d need to wait until I could get Kyler on that task.
I moved to the bookshelves, testing the spines, looking for errant pieces of paper that might offer some clue. My fingers skimmed over the silver-edged box that held the wand Dad had brought back from Egypt. I paused just long enough to open it and test the artifact more thoroughly with my magic. Not a wisp of power answered my tug. Nothing ominous there.
The filing cabinet in the corner was locked, but I dealt with that as quickly as I had the door. None of the papers I sifted through looked like anything related to the family, though.
I stopped in the middle of the room in the dim moonlight that streamed through the window, breathing in the wood polish and licorice smell. My feet hadn’t found a single wobbly floor board.
If Dad was hiding some proof of treachery, it wasn’t in here. I didn’t know whether to be happy about that or concerned. Either he didn’t have anything to hide… or he was too good at it.
No way for me to know which right now.
It was time for me to leave anyway. I had an appointment to keep.
I slipped out of the office, locking the door again behind me, and waved magic around me to allow me to blend into the shadows as I descended the broad staircase to the arched front door. Cool night air wafted over me as I ducked outside.
It was hard to believe it was just last night I’d snuck from the manor into the woods on our property like I was now. Then I’d been uncertain and afraid but determined. Now I strode on with purpose, pulling magic around me with a sweep of my arms, confident that it would shield me from any watching eyes. In the space of a day, I’d earned that confidence—in myself and my consorts. Including the one I was going to meet this time.
I saw his tall, broad form silhouetted in the moonlight on the small stone bridge where I’d met all of them the night before. Seth turned at the rasp of my feet through the brush, but the forest was too dark for me to make out his expression. I hopped across the stepping stones in the burbling stream and walked up the path to meet him.
“Hey,” I said, a smile stretching across my face.
“Hey,” Seth said back. He reached for me and tugged me to him.
I loved how easy it was to slip into his embrace. How right it felt leaning against his solid chest, soaking up the smell of his skin like sun-warmed bronze. The heat of his body tingled over me, a far more effective covering than the light jacket I’d pulled over my dress. My spark danced with joy inside me.
“Thank you for coming,” I said, keeping my head tipped against his shoulder.
“Of course.” He slid his hand up and down my back. “Just me?”
“I didn’t want to make a big thing about it. I just… Everything was so chaotic this morning, with Gabriel showing up, and trying to explain to him what was going on.” I hugged him tighter. “It doesn’t feel right being apart from my consorts this much. I had to see at least one of you again. And you always make me feel like whatever’s happening, we’ll get through it.”
Seth hummed in agreement, but he eased me back enough to look me in the face. His gray-green eyes searched mine in the dimness. “Did something else happen? With your father—or with Derek?”
I shook my head. “That’s all the same. I talked to my dad and he seems to be acting normally, but it’s already a weird situation with Celestine gone, so… I don’t know. It’s so hard to judge. I feel wound up, having to walk on eggshells around him too.”
“No wonder,” Seth said, stroking his thumb over my cheek. “You thought he was going to help you stop your stepmother, not be part of her plot. Have you come up with a plan for going forward?”
I nodded. “I’m just going to have to push harder. Throw evidence of what Celestine was planning in his face without showing I’m aware of it and see how he reacts. It’ll be easier to do that once the new estate manager arrives and we’re going through Celestine’s rooms. And I’m going to see how long my supposed fiancé will stick around if I’m giving him the cold shoulder. If Derek is willing to leave, and Dad is willing to let him, that’ll prove something.”
And if they weren’t, I’d have to hope I could uncover some concrete evidence I could take to the Assembly before Dad realized I was onto him. And then I supposed they’d take Dad away, imprison him? I’d never known anyone who’d conspired to enslave their own child’s magic to be sure what would happen to him.
I sucked my lower lip under my teeth, resisting the urge to outright gnaw on it. For now, here in the shelter of the forest, I wanted to set that aside and focus on my consort.
I reached up to touch Seth’s face, tracing my fingers along his broad jaw and up to the short waves of his tawny hair. “How have you been feeling? No regrets?”
My gut tensed as I asked the question. Seth had been the last of the guys to decide he wanted to go through with the consort ceremony. What if the doubts he’d seemed to set aside had come back now that everything was so much more complicated?
