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“So, how was the party?” Lillian’s voice is casual, but I’m not convinced. She toys with her nails as she watches me. “Anything interesting to note, Riven?”
“Nothing.” I make sure to stay still, my face calm, but confident. It is a trait I’ve practiced in my employment with Lillian. Any weakness with her is a grave error.
“Really? That’s not what the others say. They say that you made a mistake.” Lillian croons as she leans forward, eyes glittering. Oh shit. Still, I keep my face a mask. How can I keep Rowan away from the fallout here?
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Lillian slides forward a photo. As I lean in, my stomach pitches and it is a near thing to not puke. James, my ever-faithful friend, is pictured, tied, and beaten. It looks like they’ve sliced him up pretty good, too. “I’ve taken something of yours because you’ve taken something on mine. Fair is fair.” She looks again at me like a cat who has eaten all a dish full of milk. The urge to respond is enormous.
“However, …” she says and then lets it hang in the air with a dramatic pause. “I’m feeling generous now that I’ve had a little vengeance. You are a good employee – typically.” She frowns a little. “You can have your friend back. If, …” she adds another pause.
I’m not stupid. She must be waiting for me to speak, move, or otherwise be impatient because this pause is longer. I am familiar with her games, so I do nothing.
“Ifyou leave Rowan alone. You will cut ties with her and end your torrid little affair. You can go back to Cloverdale if you do that and continue your Syndicate work for me there. Prove that you can be faithful.” Her face is a placid, bored, and beautiful study of fury. I’ve never really known which side of her I will get. Is it the carrot or the stick?
There is no way out of it, really. Rowan doesn’t deserve to be stuck in the Syndicate lifestyle that I’ll give her as a sub-lieutenant. If I killed Lillian now, she would never forgive me. Ever. There is James to think about, too. What type of friend would I be to him if I left him there to suffer and die? There is only one answer.
“Thank you.” My stomach roils as I speak. It isn’t until I leave that I puke in the bushes.
Chapter Five
ROWAN
Age 27
I believe that the world is a cold and unforgiving place. Perhaps never more so than the day in the clearing with Marco. My parents were dead in the ground, me — an orphan sent off to a stranger’s house, and some asshole pawing at me. While Lillian might try to tell me that the world is a wonderful, exciting place, that I can still have a good and safe life. I can never believe her. While I might have loved her eventually for giving me a home after the death of my parents, believing in happily ever after … well — believing is for little girls who fill their heads with fairy tales. Certainly, I had a little hope that things were turning around when Riven began to come around, but well … that was short-lived. He proved my point in the end.
Lillian, or ‘Gran’ as she asks me to call her, can tell me all the magical stories she wants, but the world that I live in, the world of the Syndicate, that world isn’t forgiving. Lillian wants to do right by me, but it doesn’t change just because magic is real or because she wants it to. No, I know better than that. We have learned to love each other. It has been a slow and painful process, but we have. While Lillian has always had her own way of doing things and enforcing them. She loves me.
I was never sure what my father’s work meant until I grew up. Now, as an adult, I realize he didn’t exactly walk on the right side of the law. Dad worked with criminals. It is probably what got him, and my mother killed if I am being honest. Lillian put all his genius with numbers to good work, but that was profitable for her businesses that operated outside kingdom law. It made dad a lot of money and it was his own choice to work for the Syndicate. I never blamed Lillian for it.
Days after the ‘incident’ with Marco, Lillian sent him away. Even if I wouldn’t say that something would happen, I would catch her watching me carefully. I could only be thankful in the years that followed that I didn’t see his face again.Riven, however, was still working for Gran actively until he took over for her. It wasn’t until that one summer that I finally got another chance with him. My cheeks still burn when I think of it. He kept me busy all weekend until it seemed he realized it was a mistake. He left on an errand and never returned. Even now I’ve never heard another word from him.
Lillian’s business was probably one of the most dangerous my father was involved in. The Gallegos Syndicate has a vast network of criminal operations that spans the kingdom. Mostly in smuggling, but I know they dip their toes in some pretty nasty waters. She turned over the reins of the Syndicate not too long ago to Riven. Retired. The bodyguard on the porch is gone, but the shotgun under the bed is still there now that ‘Gran’ lives alone. I would worry for her, but she has never really been someone that you could see as fragile. She’s more of the person you should watch out for, the cottage in the woods that perhaps you should avoid if you could.
She says she is content now that she’s done with the business. She says that she is keeping busy with her gardening and her volunteer hours. However, I’ve been wondering if she’s telling me the whole truth. Volunteering? Lillian? I doubt she would volunteer for anything. I mean, unless it was grave digging. The last few calls that I have had with her have convinced me that something is afoot. She is lying to me about her ‘retirement’.Those concerns are only amplifying as her voice comes over the phone, sounding distracted and airy — forced.
“That’s nice Rowan dear. I’m sure you are doing a fine job,” she says. I’m not sure that she even heard what I said at all based on the way she is answering me. Typically, she is always so engaged and curious about my life now that I’ve moved from home, but lately she has been distant on our weekly phone calls and has been quick to disconnect. Normally she is demanding updates and asking if I am watching my surroundings. She wants to know who I am seeing, what I am doing, and if I am eating. Today I can’t tell if she even heard that I wasn’t talking about my job at all.
“So, tell me? How is the garden? Zucchini this year?” I ask, trying to see if she’ll lie. I press the phone to my ear and twirl a piece of hair with my finger, winding it tightly as I wait for her answer. It’s a habit I picked up as a child, but it is a tell that I’m anxious. I stop immediately.
“Whatever do you mean, Rowan?” She says airily, but I am not deterred or fooled. Something is up. Since I moved, I’ve been throwing around a few scenarios in my head. Either she is up to some of her old tricks, or she has someone watching me. I mean, I wish Riven was watching me if I am honest with myself, but that’s unlikely.
“I mean, you haven’t been yourself. You don’t want to talk about yourgarden. I want to know that is happening with you. With things in the Picmond. Is anything going on there that I should know about?” I firm my voice up, so she knows that I’m serious.
When we had initially discussed my move to the bigger city in the kingdom, Cloverdale, Lillian had been hard to convince. We had waged war for months about my decision to move. There were huge battles, but in the end, she had agreed that I could go only if I checked in regularly. I know that part of the agreement was that she still had ties to the Syndicate here in Cloverdale. There is no part of me that was fooled into thinking that she didn’t have a way to get help to me if I needed it.
“Nothing is going on up here, Rowan. Thegardenis fine.” I don’t miss the hint that the topic shouldn’t be discussed. Certainly, the fictional garden is best left with fewer details. I’m guessing Lillian wouldn’t know a zucchini plant if it jumped up and pinched her. “I’ve told you before that I am quite capable. I’m hundreds of years old dear. I certainly don’t need a babysitter. Things are quiet here and peaceful.” Her voice remains unconvincing, even if she doesn’t seem agitated.
“Uh, huh? Sure,” I say.
Lillian Thompson, as I know her, is from a long-lived line of witches. Where she lived before she came to the Picmond I do not know, but that she might not take care of herself is a foreign concept. She has probably seen and dealt more violence than I will ever handle in my lifetime. However, I do worry about her being up alone in the woods by herself. At one time, she had bodyguards to watch over her. Whether she has lived for a hundred years is irrelevant to me. That was before I had been alive to worry about her. The Picmond is a dangerous place. There are rogue shifters, other witches, vampires, humans, and many unsavory beings. There is also the matter that Lillian Thompson more than likely has enemies, as the previous head of the Gallegos Syndicate. Lots and lots of them.
“I worry about you. You know that. You haven’t been yourself either.” My voice is small now. Something just doesn’t feel right, and I can’t place my finger on it. It feels like she is up to her old tricks. She is supposed to be retired.
“Rowan, I’m fine. Talk to you next week.” The audible click startles me. She hung up on me. What the hell? I can’t help but feel stung a little by her abrupt departure from the call. Lillian has had a huge role to play in my life, to have her dismiss me now–I feel crushed. She is who I lean on. I want her to lean on me as well.
When I came to her as a teenager, she did her best to take me in and teach me to be strong in a world that was so harsh and unkind. It was hard to get used to life with her. She is a formidable woman. The first time I met her my only thought was that it would be a huge mistake to get on her bad side. It was definitely a correct first impression.
It was difficult to get used to life with her in the forest. My life before had been different. Two parents who doted on me, dinner at the table, a papa who read me stories at night. Life with Lillian was completely opposite. While life was fairly quiet, it was apparent immediately that the world that I was once a part of was gone. My circumstances had shifted. There was the Rowan before and the Rowan after. The life Lillian led involved dangerous men who weren’t above taking advantage. I had to learn to protect myself after the incident with Marco. There were occasional visitors and meetings that I wasn't part of, but she would sit with me and provide lessons for me in areas she felt I was lacking. There was training that she made sure I had in all areas. I hadn’t considered my upbringing to be eccentric until I moved to Cloverdale and not everyone went to work armed.
