Consort of Thorns

by Eva Chase

  Kyler’s gaze twitched away. “Rose said he’d know we were digging into his things.”

  More than digging in. When we’d tried to run off with the notebook he’d been recording his awful research in, the damned thing had burst into flames on the doorstep.

  “Not us specifically,” Seth said, but he’d pulled his eyes away too. “Just someone.”

  “I hope he’s scared,” I muttered. Mr. Cortland ducked into the fruit market. I cocked my head, considering. “I wonder what he knows about Rose’s dad and how much he was calling the shots?”

  “We didn’t find anything about that in his house,” Seth said.

  “So maybe we need to mess with him.”

  Seth stopped in his tracks. “Are you crazy?”

  I glared at him. “No. I’m just saying—what’s he going to do? From what Rose said, he doesn’t have any magic. Scare him a little more, maybe he’ll cough something up.”

  “Rose also said that she needs to keep pretending everything is normal, or she could be in even more trouble. If her dad is in on it and he finds out she’s onto him before she has a way to turn him in—”

  “Calm down,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’m not going to tell him anything. I was only thinking about what he could tell us.”

  “I agree with Seth,” Kyler put in. “Unless Rose says she thinks it’s a good idea, we should leave him alone.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I should have known better than to think these dopes were going to appreciate my suggestion. Great for them that they’d had a life where they’d always been able to play it safe. Sometimes to get things done, to save yourself or the people you cared about, you had to get your hands dirty.

  “Damon?” Seth said, a warning in his voice.

  I waved him off. “I heard you, I heard you. Forget I said anything.”

  He still looked concerned, but he started walking again.

  After a couple blocks, we had to go different ways. Kyler raised his hand to me, and I shrugged back. “Don’t do anything stupid,” Seth said. I didn’t bother responding to that at all.

  I ambled on another block, just in case they came back after me for some reason. Then I veered down a side street and jogged back to the square.

  Maybe the other guys were too afraid to play hardball on Rose’s behalf, but that was fine. That was why she had me.

  My determination wavered when I reached the fruit market and couldn’t see Cortland anywhere. Where the hell had that asshole gotten to? I meandered across the square like I was just stretching my legs.

  There he was. Coming out of the cheese shop, heading for the bakery. He must be stocking up his kitchen after that holiday.

  Time for me to do a little stocking up too. Seth and his patronizing worries. I wasn’t even going to talk to the guy. How could he ever connect a random bit of theft to Rose?

  I didn’t follow him into the bakery. Too small a space, too likely he’d notice me. But after the bakery, I trailed after him to the general grocery store, where I’d figured he’d head next. The supermarket was small-town-sized but still had a few aisles to disappear around and usually at least a handful of shoppers any time of day.

  The old light panels buzzed overhead as I stepped in. The freezers along the one wall were old too—you could smell the Freon leaking. It made my nose itch.

  I sidled past Cortland when he stopped to contemplate the cereal boxes. My hand darted out and eased his phone from his back pocket in one quick, practiced movement. 17-year-old me had gotten me and Mom through more than one financial squeeze with that trick. I shoved it up my sleeve and ambled right back out, grinning with my victory.

  Chapter Four

  Rose

  I hesitated outside the door to Dad’s office a little longer than would have looked normal to anyone who happened to come by. Thankfully, the only person who appeared was Philomena, with a fan she twitched by her face.

  “Off to confront the old man?” she said.

  “Might as well get it over with. Either I find proof he’s guilty and turn him in, or I prove it to myself that he’s not and turn to him. Here’s hoping it’s the latter.”

  I raised my hand and knocked.

  “Come in,” Dad said right away, but he sounded a bit weary. I eased the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind me. Phil didn’t follow.

  Spark take me, it was hard to keep caution at the front of my mind faced with a scene like this. Dad was sitting at his big mahogany desk in a familiar pose, his elbows propped on the gleaming surface. The mingled scents of polished wood and black licorice candy hung in the air. It could have been any night, any time in the past when I hadn’t had all these worries nagging at me, except for the graver than usual look on his face when he turned to me.

  He had his jar of those licorice candies sitting on the corner of the desk next to him. He always liked to chew on them when he was thinking through a problem—and he'd had a lot to think about today. He’d come down for dinner a couple hours ago, but he’d eaten quickly without saying much.

  “Hey,” I said. “Still no news?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything from Celestine. I checked in with your stepsisters and her parents, and she hasn’t been in touch with them either.”

  Celestine would still have a reserve of magic from her time with Dad. They’d been consorted long enough that she could sever the bond with minimal discomfort if she needed to feed her spark through intimacy with other partners. She could hide for a long time. It would be better for her to hide while my magic prevented her from explaining anything about why she’d left Dad.

  Especially if she really was as scared of him as she’d seemed to be last night.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, but that last thought made my stomach clench. My gaze drifted to Dad’s printer with its sheaf of paper—the same paper the contract between Celestine and Derek had been written on. She’d claimed she and my former fiancé had agreed to manipulate my magic right here in this office. On Dad’s request.

  I should search the office the next moment I had a chance. It didn’t seem likely Dad would have left evidence just lying around, but I had to try, at least.

  “She was acting a little strangely after you left,” I ventured. “The way she fired Meredith so suddenly. She kept to herself almost the whole time—I thought maybe she was preparing something for the wedding or the ceremony…”

  I kept my tone innocent, but I watched Dad’s expression carefully. If he knew what Celestine had been supposed to be preparing for my consort ceremony, he’d have to show some reaction at the thought that I might suspect, wouldn’t he?

  His eyebrows drew together. “Did she say anything that sounded strange?” he asked.

  That was a perfectly reasonable question even if he was just trying to figure out what had happened to his wife. Could I push a little further?

  “Well, the thing about Meredith not being a good fit for the household. That didn’t make much sense.” I paused as if trying to remember. There might be another way to prod without giving away anything I knew. “I saw her going in and out of her private magicking room a few times. Maybe she left something in there that would give you an idea where she went. We could open it up and look through her things.”

  Which would be the last thing he’d want me to help with if he thought she might have left anything incriminating in there.

  Dad just nodded as if he thought my suggestion was a good idea. A little of the tension in me relaxed.

  “I talked to Meredith as well,” he said. “She couldn’t shed any light on the situation, but sadly she made it clear she didn’t feel comfortable returning, either. I don’t know…” He sighed. “I’ll have to bring in a new manager, someone who can manage the magical wards so we can get access. If your stepmother hasn’t returned by then.”

  The small hopeful note in his voice made guilt pinch my stomach. But if he didn’t know what Celestine had been doing, he was so much better off without her.
I just wished I could already be sure enough to tell him that.

  Dad pushed back his leather chair and turned it to face me, his attention and his hazel eyes settling more completely on me. “You came to talk to me. Was there something else on your mind, Rose?”

  Maybe this wasn’t the best time to bring up this subject. But it was both another test of sorts, and a necessary progression. Even in the best possible case, I was going to need to ease Dad into the idea of my unsparked childhood friends being back in my life.

  “Nothing as serious as Celestine being missing,” I said. “I just… When I was in town today, I ran into Gabriel Lorde.”

  The corner of Dad’s mouth twitched. “Yes? How is he these days?”

  “Well… If you ask him he’ll say he’s fine, but—I know you, or Celestine, let go of his dad right after we left the estate. The gossip around town is that Mr. Lorde committed suicide.”

  Dad’s mouth twitched again, this time definitely downward. I had the feeling he’d already known that—known it and had regrets.

  “If that’s the case, it’s very unfortunate,” he said, his tone subdued.

  “Yes. Especially—” I reined in my temper before it could slip out. Whatever else he had or hadn’t done since, I was still angry with Dad about how he’d treated my guys’ parents. Even if Celestine had orchestrated the firings, he could have made it up to them somehow. “He didn’t deserve to be fired. You always said how glad you were to have him on staff, how well he took care of the more temperamental cars… He didn’t do anything wrong. None of us, really, did anything wrong.”

  I met Dad’s gaze steadily. He sighed again and rubbed his jaw. “No,” he said. “You didn’t. You know why we moved, and I still think that was for the best, but… Decisions were made back then that might have been too hasty and weren’t easily taken back. I can admit that.”

  He wasn’t saying who had made all those decisions, whether some of them had been Celestine’s. Was he still trying to protect her from my dislike? The Spark knew that ship had sailed ages ago.

  But we could have that conversation another time. Right now I was more concerned with what he did next.

  “Then maybe you can admit that we owe Gabriel a hand up?” I said. “I think he needs it. From what he said, he’s been traveling around a lot, and now he’s just crashing on a friend’s couch. He still sees this town as home, but it’s not like there are tons of jobs in a place this small.”

  To my surprise, Dad followed my train of thought immediately. He gave me an evaluating look, but his voice was calm. “You’re suggesting I offer him work.”

  I spread my hands. “I thought maybe he could take a look at the old Cadillac you’ve always been saying you’d like to get running again. He learned a lot from his dad, you know. If he wants to work for us again. I didn’t say anything about that to him without talking to you first, of course.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Dad said. I still couldn’t quite read his tone. I tucked my hands behind my back, my fingers poised to form a quick magicking. Just an impression of positive feeling to relax him if he started to look worried about my personal investment in Gabriel. It was a spell I’d been taught for use if someone was injured or with a child having a tantrum, but it could work for a case like this too. Because I wasn’t done yet.

  “I noticed the current garage manager isn’t using the apartment up top,” I barreled on. “Matt goes back to his house in town at the end of the day. It might be good to have a driver on the premises overnight—we didn’t need that in the city, but out here in the country…”

  Dad let out a bark of a sound. I tensed up before I realized it was a laugh. “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you, lamb?” he said, an amused gleam coming into his eyes. “Are you sure he’ll appreciate the offer? I remember what he was like as a boy. I got the impression he had a fair bit of pride.”

  He was considering it. He didn’t sound concerned at all. Maybe I was the one who needed that calming spell.

  I let out a slow breath and smiled without having to force it. “It can’t hurt to ask. And to make all the necessary apologies at the same time?”

  Dad’s good humor dimmed. “Yes,” he said. “There’s that. All right. You find out how I can best reach out to him, and he and I will have a talk. I have been wanting to get that damned Cadillac running again.”

  I couldn’t have asked for that to go better. “I will,” I said. “Thank you.”

  I turned to go, but Dad’s voice stopped me.

  “Rose.”

  I glanced back. “Yes?”

  He gave me a smile that looked a little sad. “I don’t think I need to remind you of this, but I’d feel remiss if I didn’t. You know it’s better if you and Gabriel don’t renew your friendship. Strictly professional is always the best policy with the unsparked. It simply makes our lives—and theirs—so much less complicated.”

  My pulse hiccupped. So he still felt that way even now, did he?

  When I was twenty-five, when I could claim this estate as mine with more authority than Dad, he couldn’t stop me from associating with whoever I liked. But for now, I didn’t want to challenge him too overtly. He could retract the job offer, fire Gabriel if he thought we were acting too close later on. I had a couple of months to change his mind, and if he wasn’t seeing things differently by my birthday, it wouldn’t matter anymore.

  I bobbed my head, keeping my expression as mild as I could. “I know, Dad.”

  My jaw tightened as I stepped out of the office. One small victory, but I still had so much farther to go. If he’d had any idea just how complicated and intertwined with unsparked guys my life had already become…

  The last guy I wanted intertwined in my life chose that moment to enter the hall. Derek glanced me over and ambled closer.

  “Worried about your stepmother?” he said.

  Ha. I just wouldn’t answer that question. “No one knows where she is,” I said.

  He touched my side, with a sly smile that made my skin crawl. “While there isn’t anything we can do… perhaps we could find some way to distract you.”

  My spine stiffened. Oh, no. I might not be ready to tell Dad what I knew about my former fiancé, but there was no reason I had to play along when Dad wasn’t watching.

  I pulled away from Derek’s touch, letting my tone go frigid. “No, thank you. I’d prefer to turn to my books for that.”

  Derek blinked. He opened his mouth, but I was already striding into my bedroom.

  My heart thumped as I closed the door behind me. I didn’t really want to be in here. Not with all these people I couldn’t really talk to, couldn’t really trust.

  Swallowing thickly, I pulled the prepaid phone Kyler had gotten for me a few weeks ago out from its hiding spot behind the loose baseboard on one of my built-in bookcases. For a moment, I just sat there in the armchair I usually used for reading, gazing at it blankly.

  “Are you not sure what to say?” Philomena asked, leaning over the chair.

  “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 bo
okshelves, 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.