by Ella M. Lee
Before I could think of a way to correct my slipups, shouting bubbled up from inside the house. Claudius and I exchanged puzzled looks, turning simultaneously. The front door banged open, and Stephan appeared on the porch. He lifted his chin at us, looking positively delighted.
“You’ll want to come inside,” he called. “The Meteors are here.”
Chapter 14
I expected to find pandemonium when Claudius and I entered the house, but it was really only the Meteors who were making a racket. Dark-haired, dark-skinned Jabari stood with his magic blazing around him like a magenta storm. His hand rested protectively on the arm of the petite Chinese woman standing in front of him—Xiao-Xiao.
She was shouting at, of all people, Nicolas, who watched her calmly and impassively with his arms folded over his chest.
“Don’t think for a second that we’ll stand by and let you get your way!” she shrieked, her hair coming undone from its tight bun, her lips curled into a snarl. For such a little thing, her voice rang through the room.
The other pinnacle members looked on in various levels of astonishment.
“And what, exactly, is my way?” Nicolas asked, his low tone bordering dangerously on a threat.
“You’re trying to take over Meteor!” she spat, stepping toward him. Jabari dragged her back.
After a brief, incredulous silence, Nicolas barked out a laugh. “Pardon? You must be joking. Why would I want any part of your pathetic clan? If it were up to me, I’d smash your sanctum to pieces and kill you all.”
Tittering bubbled up from the corner of the room where most of the other pinnacle members were now collected. No one liked Meteor very much; Xiao-Xiao likely knew that. She was probably hoping the others in the room liked Nicolas less than they liked her.
“You lie!” she said, her face red from yelling.
Nicolas lifted his chin, affronted. “I’m lying?” His eyes scanned the room. “Edmond, come out here.”
Nicolas’s extended one hand toward one of the Wind pinnacle members—a short, scrawny, sandy-haired man whose nervous expression only deepened under Nicolas’s scrutiny.
Everyone in the room knew Edmond’s special skill: He was a truth-teller. He had a form of detection similar to Farhad—he could tell spoken truths from lies. That talent was somewhat common in Wind, far more common than in any of the other clans.
“Edmond,” Nicolas said, his tone placid and reasonable, “would you mind telling Xiao whether I am lying or not? I have no intention of involving myself with Meteor, and certainly no desire to take over the clan.”
Edmond watched Nicolas with wide eyes, wringing his hands in front of himself. “What Nicolas says is the truth,” he offered quietly, quickly stepping back under the press of sixteen pairs of eyes.
Ryan and I exchanged a look across the room. Nicolas had chosen his words very carefully. We both knew he was interfering with Meteor, although he was not doing so by personal involvement, possibly for this very reason.
Xiao’s heavy breathing was the only sound in the room. When she had drawn a third harsh breath, she said, “I issue a challenge.”
I closed my eyes briefly, annoyed. She’d just indicated her desire to duel him—with magic—something allowed by the laws of conclaves since their existence. How did she not know he’d crush her?
Nicolas pressed two fingertips to the bridge of his nose. “I decline.”
“You can’t,” Jabari said, his sonorous voice filling the room.
“Of course I can, for several very good reasons,” Nicolas said, still calm and reasonable. “To start, the conclave isn’t in session yet. This is simply a cocktail party. I am free to reject anything I please. And even if the conclave were in session, you’d need to bring evidence of wrongdoing, negligence, or slander, and our esteemed hosts would have to confirm the challenge.”
“If you won’t meet me in a fair challenge,” Xiao said, “then I demand that our hosts eject you from the conclave.”
Nicolas laughed again, incredulous. “My dear woman, the conclave is only being held because of me. If anyone is to be ejected, I imagine it would be you. Trust Meteor to create drama before we’ve even touched upon the difficult topics.”
Nicolas gave a final, low chuckle and turned his back on the hysterical woman, but Xiao wasn’t done with him.
She held up two hands in a formation I’d learned long ago was a common Meteor attack pose. I took a step forward and opened my mouth, but before I could speak, she unleashed a torrent of magic at Nicolas’s retreating back.
Before Nicolas could finish spinning around, before anyone could attempt to block the attack, the magic evaporated with a huff into magenta smoke.
Nicolas stormed through the pink cloud, scattering it, stopping directly in front of the two Meteors. He looked down his nose at Xiao, his eyes blazing.
“Do not push me,” Nicolas growled. “My patience is limited.”
With a crack and a boom that shook the whole house, lightning struck the ground outside, bathing the room in a flash of purple light—Nicolas’s magic. The tower of crystal champagne glasses teetered and fell, and everyone in the room winced.
I waited for Nicolas to issue a counter challenge for Xiao’s actions or ask for her to be ejected from the conclave, but he merely stared her down until she took a step back.
Despite the slight ringing in my ears and the tingling numbness in my legs, I took a few more steps forward until I was in reach of Nicolas. Gently, I placed my hand on his arm. When his attention turned to me, I tilted my head toward Ryan. Nicolas shook his head in disgust at Xiao, covered my hand with his, and escorted me toward where Ryan stood with Gemma.
I looked back toward Xiao, who was having a quiet but heated argument with Jabari.
“I leave you alone for five minutes, and you’re already accumulating assassination attempts,” I said, trying to lighten Nicolas’s mood.
“I’ve always been popular for that,” he said with a charming smile. “Wouldn’t you know?”
“You’ve put me off assassination attempts forever,” I said, and Nicolas, Ryan, and Gemma all laughed.
Gemma held out her hand. “Fiona, it’s good to meet you.”
“Gemma,” I said. “Thank you for arranging all of this. Our entire clan appreciates it.”
Nicolas’s eyes on me held a gleam of approval. This was my role. I was the nice one. I was personable, sympathetic, and relatable. I was the one putting our best foot forward while Ryan used his years of carefully crafted alliances and Nicolas used his ability to scare the hell out of people.
“I’m looking forward to your demonstrations tomorrow,” Gemma said. “I read the précis on your magic, and I’m already impressed.”
Apparently no one was going to mention the demonstration Nicolas had just offered, nearly burning the house down in his annoyance.
“I always love a good opportunity to show off,” I said with a laugh, and Gemma drifted off to the waiting Wind magicians with a stiff smile.
Nicolas watched the Meteors, who were in yet another heated conversation with the Flames.
“How come your magic didn’t dissipate like Xiao-Xiao’s?” I asked him.
“Pardon?” His eyes refocused on me. “Ah. The magic that enforces those restrictions and dampening wards works based on intent, because it’s part of Wind’s empathy-based powers. Xiao was intending to hurt me, so her magic triggered the wards, whereas I was only aiming to intimidate.”
“Mm,” I said, but I was distracted by Stephan and Claudius. Stephan had just handed Claudius a drink, and his fingertips lingered on Claudius’s.
Never, ever let him touch you, Nicolas had said to me on more than one occasion, although I had no idea why he hadn’t given Claudius the same directive.
In fact, I had no idea at all why Nicolas kept Stephan’s secret—the knowledge that Stephan likely had abilities similar to his. It seemed like the type of thing Nicolas would have used against him long before now.
Nicolas’s gaze followed mine—Stephan and Claudius were now talking quietly in a corner of the room—and he sighed, drawing himself up.
Without another word to me, I watched him cross the room toward the pair. Stephan couldn’t keep his surprised expression in check as Nicolas greeted him. I could just barely hear Nicolas’s low voice.
Nicolas extended his hand delicately, and Stephan took it, saying Nicolas’s name in return. Nicolas pulled back as quickly as propriety would allow, folding his hands in front of himself. I exchanged a quick look with Ryan, who appeared equally stunned by Nicolas’s actions.
But after a moment of consideration, they made sense to me. He was attempting to draw Stephan’s focus away from me and Ryan. Nicolas was immune to whatever abilities Stephan had—just as Stephan was immune to Nicolas’s abilities. Nicolas knew him perhaps better than anyone else at the conclave, so Nicolas could control their interactions more closely.
He was taking one for the team, and I knew how hard this was on him.
I couldn’t wait to get him alone again, to thank him for how much of himself he gave up to others on a regular basis.
Dinner was shockingly low key compared to the commotion of the afternoon. I had a job to do here, too: watch everyone. Nicolas and Ryan spoke charmingly and distractingly on topics of all kinds, while I studied reactions from every pinnacle member.
But my eyes kept straying to Nicolas and Juniper. He’d eaten quickly and then moved seats, squeezing himself in next to her, edging out Ivan from Flame, Juniper’s original seatmate. Nicolas sat with his hands folded on the table, his head tilted in attention, his expression warmer than I’d seen it at the conclave so far.
Like she was the only interesting thing in the room.
Juniper liked the attention, that much was obvious. The way she touched her blonde hair. The way she laughed at everything Nicolas said even though I highly doubted he was being funny. The way she leaned close to hear him even though the room was relatively quiet.
I didn’t think I needed to do too much digging or analysis to figure out what was going on here: Juniper wanted a handsome man to coddle her, and Nicolas was more than happy to use that to his advantage.
Stephan eyed them with distaste, but he hadn’t faltered in any of his own conversations, making me wonder if his acting was better than he often let on, or if he simply didn’t care that Nicolas was weaseling a way into Smoke.
I pursed my lips. Probably the latter.
I turned my head to the other end of the table. There was practically no one I could engage in conversation—everyone was already busy. Ryan, next to me, spoke to the Verdants across from us. I pretended to be enthralled by my seafood stew and smiled benignly as though I’d been paying attention to their conversation the whole time.
As soon as everyone had finished eating, I jumped up to escape. I should have stayed, but my encounter with Laurine earlier had rattled me, and I was hoping to avoid any more face time with Stephan.
In the entryway, I donned my coat. It was cold and dark outside, but at least it was also devoid of magicians.
I strolled down the front stairs and onto the lit path. Almost immediately, my magic pinged, crawling over my skin. Someone was behind me. Smoke, my magic sang. I rolled my eyes.
It definitely wasn’t Juniper. Even if she weren’t deeply involved with Nicolas, the steps were too heavy. I veered off the main path, following a sign that said “wisteria” in Japanese and headed toward a tight grove of trees.
Perhaps it was a coincidence that Stephan was outside? But the steps veered with me.
“Why are you following me?” I called out, turning my head and stopping.
Stephan paused. “Why are you walking in the dark?”
“Because I want to see the wisteria grove,” I said, pointing to the twinkling lights at the end of the path, practically at the edge of the property. “I have an interest in gardens and trees.”
“May I join you?” Stephan offered me a friendly smile. My eyes went to his hands for a moment. No ring. Was he showing off his magic to me now? And for what reason?
I gritted my teeth. “Somehow, I don’t think saying no will get me anywhere.”
His smile widened, and he started walking again, quickening his pace to catch up with me. “It’s a free country. Isn’t that what they say where you’re from?”
“What do you want?” I asked, resuming my pace.
“Friendly conversation.”
“We aren’t friends, nor am I interested in your conversation.”
Stephan laughed lightly, reaching out to open the small gate into the grove of trees. “Ah, but I could make it worth your time.”
I stopped before entering the gate and lifted my chin, staring into Stephan’s dark eyes unflinchingly. “I don’t think I’ve been clear enough. I have no desire to talk to you. You have nothing I’m interested in. If it were up to me, I’d kill you with my own two hands.”
The burning rage I’d felt the first time I saw Stephan had cooled, ice now forming on the surface of my emotions. What he’d done to Nicolas was unforgivable—what he no doubt still did to many innocent humans—but I needed to be smart here. I couldn’t murder one of the most powerful magicians in the world, despite my fingers aching to close around his throat.
I could, however, avoid him as much as possible. For my own sanity, and Nicolas’s.
Stephan inhaled sharply. “Nicolas doesn’t need you to defend him so fiercely.”
“What makes you think I’m defending Nicolas, and not merely speaking to all the other atrocities you’ve committed?”
His hand tightened on the gate.
Got you, I thought. Stephan’s temper ran hotter than Nicolas’s, and I could use that.
“I thought you wanted to see the trees.” He jerked his chin toward the grove.
I weighed my options. I could walk away. Stephan wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about that. Or I could stay and see what he wanted. He didn’t seem interested in harming me, not that it would be a good idea for him to do that during the conclave.
Nicolas would want me to leave, but it was my job to collect information here. I didn’t want to talk to Stephan, but what if I could learn something useful? So I plastered a bland expression on my face and swept in front of him through the gate.
Wind’s wisteria grove was much larger than mine, and the trees were much older. They towered over us, their trunks wrapped in strings of small white lights. They weren’t in bloom yet and wouldn’t be for a couple of more months, but I could imagine their dense purple flowers draped down along the path. Even without the lush color and musky scent, the grove was peaceful and calming.
The path was fairly wide and well lit, and Stephan kept a very respectable distance between us, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his wool peacoat. I studied his movements. Elegant, but not as elegant as Nicolas. Stephan didn’t look like a fighter, although his physique was tall and broad enough that he could likely defend himself in a fight. He glanced at me for only a moment, but his sharp gaze assessed me carefully—a scientist, used to gathering data quickly.
He removed a hand from his pocket and gestured around. “You like to garden?”
“I grew up on a farm,” I said.
He smiled. “That didn’t answer the question.”
“Am I supposed to answer your questions?”
“It would help if you did,” Stephan said. “I’m trying to get to know you.”
“All the more reason not to answer your questions.”
“You could ask me questions,” he offered.
“I’m good, thanks,” I said. “Your reputation precedes you.”
“And what reputation is that?” he asked.
“You’re a snake.”
He tilted his head at me. “Interesting comparison, given that I have knowledge to offer you.” His dark eyes gleamed in the dim light, deep pools of black. “Are you Eve, then? Shall I share with you the secrets of the world?”
“Fuck off. I don’t care.”
“Even if I can offer you advice about Daniel?”
I tried to keep my reaction to a minimum, but my sharp glance at him made him raise his eyebrows questioningly.
“Daniel died,” I said, hoping to deflect. “What advice could possibly be given?”
“He died, yes,” Stephan said. “But is he dead?”
“One follows the other,” I managed to say, despite the pounding in my chest and roaring in my ears.
“Is that so?”
I stopped walking, turning to face him directly. “Listen. I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but I can pretty much assure you it’s not going to work. If you’re trying to rattle me, you’ve failed.”
“I’m not trying to rattle you,” he said, more softly than before. “I’m out here in the cold and dark because I wanted to offer you help, and I wanted to do it when Nicolas wasn’t breathing down either of our necks.”
“I don’t know what you think I need help with, but—”
“Fiona,” Stephan said, “you had a conversation with Claudius earlier that more than indicated you’re having some issues with your sanctum. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know how sanctums are created. I know what gets poured into them… and perhaps trapped there. I happen to specialize in that kind of magic.”
“And you expect me to believe that you’re offering help because, what? Your heart grew three sizes this past holiday season?” I laughed. “You can drop the act.”
“If you insist,” Stephan said with a shrug. “You have things I want. I have things that can help you solve your problems. Let’s sit down and have a chat.” He swept his hand toward a set of benches to our left.
“I’m not interested.”
His gaze darkened. Finally, he gave a nod. “You are far, far more interesting than I originally thought.” He spread his hands. “I’ll leave you to your walk, then.”
He turned on his heel, stuffed his hands back into his pockets, and walked back down the path toward the main house.
I watched him go, my heart still pounding, my palms sweating. How could he possibly know about Daniel or the problems with our sanctum? He’d implied that my slipup to Claudius had given him the idea. Was that true? I couldn’t imagine how he’d made the leap all the way from a small, vague misstep to Lightning’s issues.
