Page 26 of The Salted Sceptre
‘We’ve got magic,’ I told her.
‘And plenty of magical friends,’ Hugo added. ‘We can find a way to break whatever binding he has in place.’
‘I am not tied to him through magical means,’ Eloise said quietly. ‘I must return to him now. I have delivered his message and he will not be pleased that I have delayed this long. I was supposed to speak to you as soon as you returned from the restaurant.’ She lifted her head and for an instant, I glimpsed a flash of iron will. ‘Please,’ she said distinctly, ‘do not force me to stay here.’
My shoulders sagged. ‘We wouldn’t do that.’ We wouldneverdo that. I dreaded to think what means Athair was employing to keep Eloise tied to him.
Otis looked at her helplessly. ‘Stay with us,’ he pleaded.
She only shook her head. ‘I cannot.’
And that, it appeared, was the end of the argument.
Chapter
Ten
‘Athair deliberately sent her here when you were meeting him. He could have easily given you the message himself, but he ordered that brownie to come here so she could snoop around.’ Hugo looked furious, as if her incursion were his own fault. His spine was rigid as he paced the length of the Bone Zone. ‘I should have expected something like this – I should have been prepared.’
‘You weren’t here, dear,’ Miriam murmured. ‘If anyone should have been better prepared, it’s the people who stayed behind in the castle.’
Several of the Primes looked put out at her words. ‘She’s the size of my fucking thumb,’ Mark growled. ‘She’s hardly easy to detect.’
‘Exactly,’ Miriam said, realising her mistake when she saw Mark’s expression. ‘That’s why Athair sent her, and why she managed to stay hidden when we searched for hours last night.’
They were blaming each other, but there was only one reason Athair had forced Eloise to break into Pemberville Castle and that reason was me. Hunger for a soothing dose of spider’s silk scratched at my insides but I pushed it away as best as I could.‘This is my fault,’ I said. ‘None of this would be happening if it weren’t for me. I’ll get my things and head over to the Assigney mansion. Athair will stop bothering you if I stay away.’
Hugo stopped pacing and swung towards me. ‘No.’ The force behind the single syllable was enough to make me shiver.
I tried to ignore my churning nausea. ‘The lives of everyone in this room are at risk because of your association with me.’
He glared at me. ‘In that case we both leave here,’ he said. ‘We are in this together.’
‘This is your home, Hugo.’
‘My home is wherever you are,’ he returned instantly. ‘We belong together.’ He folded his arms across his chest. ‘Nobody – not even your birth father – will change that. I don’t care what he does.’
‘You’re not going anywhere without me,’ Otis said, the anger in his expression almost matching Hugo’s.
‘I was going to say that!’ Hester snapped.
‘Well, I said it first. So there.’
She opened her mouth to yell at him but Miriam cleared her throat and interrupted. ‘You’re forgetting the most important point.’ She sounded genuinely irritated.
I turned to her in surprise. She wasn’t the only Prime who was looking pissed off.
Slim moved next to her. ‘Do you really think that this is the first time our lives have been in danger?’ he asked.
Becky nodded vigorously. ‘We risk our lives every time we go out on a treasure hunt.’
‘Wechooseto take that risk,’ Rizwan said.
Miriam smiled. ‘Weenjoytaking that risk.’
‘And we are family,’ Mark added, giving me a hard look. ‘We areallfamily.’ Suddenly there was a very large and very painful lump in my throat.
‘Besides,’ Rizwan said, ‘don’t you think that Athair wants you to leave? He wants to separate you from us so you’ll be more vulnerable. He’s manipulating everything.’
