Page 40 of Potions and Proposals
“Yes, it’s certainly aspecialoccasion.” Grams smiled, taking a seat beside Emerson.
“Are you going to be helping out at the library? I saw you earlier with Rosie,” Benedict said.
“I didn’t know you had so much time on your hands, to be watching others,” Lucinda muttered, serving everyone.
Playing his role as doting son-in-law perfectly under Lucinda’s glare, Benedict offered Wilhelmina more cream from the side dish. “I was leaving a meeting about the Autumn Festival– a meeting you failed to attend – when I saw Rosie, and I didn’t know who she was with at the time.”
“There was a meeting about the festival?” Lucinda frowned, her spoon stilling.
“Maybe if you’d answered your phone, you wouldn’t have missed it.” Clearly, from her guilty expression, she’d been ignoring his calls on purpose.“Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty more, assuming you wish to attend the next one.” He hoped she would; dealing with Mrs Crawford and Mr Lark arguing about what bunting to use through the town was more than he could stomach alone.
“I’ll be there, don’t worry,” she said, forcing a smile.
“Sorry, you were interrupted. You were telling us about your assisting at the library?” Benedict said to Emerson, taking a bite of the delicious dessert. It was so creamy, offset with dark chocolate and coffee, that it almost made sitting at a table across from an Order member bearable.
“I don’t start at the university until the current exams end on the fourteenth, and with Lucinda finishing up her work on a grimoire the Order gifted Foxford for the summer. I figured I’d come early and settle in before returning the grimoire to Rome,” Emerson explained.
Benedict saw red. “I wasn’t aware you could ‘gift’ what was stolen in the first place,” he snapped.
Lucinda placed a reassuring hand on his clenched fist, and he was so surprised by her kind touch that he released it.
“I apologise for my choice of words,” Emerson said awkwardly. He hadn’t touched his dessert. “History between the Order and your people has been rather unpleasant, but I think we’ve come a long way.”
“Easy for you to say. You weren’t the ones hunted down and slaughtered. It’sourpeople that must appease yours even now!”
Benedict could feel Lucinda pleading with him to stop, but he couldn’t. This man belonged to the very Order who’d hunted, maimed, and killed his ancestors, hisfather,because of a spell gone wrong. Now they were sharing a meal in the very house of those they’d stolen from. A lesser man would have leapt acrossthe table and drowned him in his wine. Benedict’s ancestors would have done far worse.
“There were lives lost on both sides,” Emerson growled, adding to the chewable tension.
Both men stood.I knew there was more to him than his scholarly act.
“Gentlemen, please,” Grams snapped. “This is not the discussion to have over dinner. “Emerson is a guest and has a job to do. He isn’t here to cause any harm.”
Lucinda gripped Benedict’s hand, and the waves of rage within him began to dissipate.
“Please, let’s forget this conversation and calm down,” she ground out.
He grimaced as his palm sizzled. Her fiery touch had its desired effect, distracting him from their guest.
Pretending to kiss her cheek, Benedict whispered, “Don’t use my fire against me,” against her skin.
“Then play nice,” she hissed, releasing his hand.
“Lucinda is right. I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the better of me. I apologise for my hostility,” Benedict said, sitting down. He needed Lucinda to see that he was willing to work with her, even if his simmering rage bordered on boiling.
“I’m sorry for my outburst as well; this is not how I wished to start our friendship,” Emerson said, taking his own seat. “I understand my being here is a shock to you, but I must tell you that I’m of healer descent myself. My lineage has also suffered at the hands of the Order, but I truly wish for both sides to work together for the greater good – as hard as it may be.”
Taken aback by Emerson’s confession, Benedict found himself unable to eat, too busy trying to digest the idea of an Order member with magical ancestry.
“And you joined the order?” He couldn’t help laughing. “You’re far bolder than I gave you credit.” He might even be aworthy contact to have, so long as he wasn’t using his supposed ancestry to manipulate their trust.
“If you can’t beat the enemy, why not join them?” Emerson smiled, resting his elbows on the table. “There are many of us who wish to… not forget, but move on from the past and bring the Order into a new age. You need fear nothing from me. I’m no spy, and I hope I can gain your trust in time.”
“I can’t slight you for that,” Benedict conceded. Emerson had to have some serious balls to walk into the vipers’ nest for the sake of his ideals.
“You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone,” Lucinda said to Emerson. Benedict couldn’t believe she was defending the professor. “Especially not to him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
