Page 105 of Storms of Allegiance

“I didn’t know you cared so much,” I muttered, secretly delighted that the falcon had grown attached to Ember.

I just hoped I was right about being able to retrieve her soon. I didn’t think I could keep up our complicated ruse for long.

The problem was that I had no idea what our next steps should be. How did we extricate ourselves from the situation safely without leaving Tartora open to constant attack?

I walked slowly back to the house, reaching the back porch just in time to see Ignatius and Augustine come striding outside, engaged in heated debate.

“Watch yourself, son,” Augustine snapped, too absorbed in the conversation to notice me lingering among the ornamental fruit trees. “You’re not the heir, and you won’t be for many years to come. I intend to live a long life.”

Ignatius, who was slightly taller than his father, looked down his nose at him. “I won’t ever be the heir if Uncle Ambrose has his way. He’ll push that weakling cousin of mine to the front if he can possibly manage it.”

“Which is why I’m telling you that you need to moderate your behavior. You shouldn’t have gone dashing off on your own this morning. My brother has been in your grandmother’s ear about it all morning, saying you lacked proper respect for your elders and your place.”

Ignatius’s manner became even more haughty. “I received urgent word that a ship was already in the process of berthing. I could hardly delay to find someone more fitting. We can be glad I was there so quickly, or we might have been overrun before we knew what was happening.”

His words sounded like the truth, but it was easy to read on his face that he had been more than happy to receive the message alone.

“Pretty words,” his father snapped, clearly perceiving the same thing. “But no one knows better than the Constantines how useless those are.”

“Guard your tongue, Father!” Ignatius said with heat, throwing a glance around the garden.

He caught sight of me at once, locking eyes with me before I had the chance to look away. I curtsied, mustering up a smile that must have looked far from relaxed. Ignatius’s brows lowered, his eyes dwelling on me for too long.

When he finally looked away, it was to murmur a quiet word to his father, the two of them disappearing around the edge of the building.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” I murmured more to myself than Phoenix. “He thinks I’m mesmerized, and nothing they just said could possibly have broken through that. Not from one conversation.”

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d undone my efforts over breakfast, regaining Ignatius’s suspicious interest.

I circled the building in the opposite direction to them, nearly colliding with Grey.

“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“For me?” I asked, relieved he hadn’t found me earlier when I was with either Nik or Ember. “Did something happen?”

“No, but we have no time to waste.” He smiled, looking far too pleased for my comfort. “The situation is even better than I imagined, but we shouldn’t hesitate to get to work.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked with a sinking heart.

He was going to ask me to mesmerize someone, and the moment I refused, it would all be over. He would realize I’d found a way to break free from him, and I would instantly transform in his mind from his greatest tool to an adversary who needed to be eliminated. I would have to at least pretend I meant to comply while I worked out what to do instead.

“I need you to find Grandmother,” he said. “She’s been careful not to touch me, and the others have been equally careful never to leave me alone with her. She might be elderly, but she still rules this family. You, on the other hand, are just a young girl with an elements affinity. None of them will see you as a threat. Good work at breakfast, by the way.”

I thought uneasily of Ignatius’s suspicious eyes but said nothing.

“You want me to mesmerize your grandmother?” I asked, feeling sickened.

“Of course I only want to help my family,” he said earnestly, as if only just remembering the line he was supposed to follow. “But I can’t do that when they don’t trust me. All I’m asking you to do is reinforce the emotions that Grandmother naturally feels. Just remind her how overjoyed she is at my return, and that she always loved my mother best. It’s only natural she would want to have her daughter’s son by her side, especially since I’m both her strongest and most trustworthy grandson.”

I stared at him, barely restraining myself from rolling my eyes. Would my mesmerized self really have fallen for this line? Sadly I knew I had previously fallen for more outrageous lies.

And in truth, what he was asking wasn’t entirely contrary to his grandmother’s natural response. She really had seemed happy to see him again.

That thought allowed me to consider another one. Could I really do it? I had refused to mesmerize Costas, but that had been because I mistrusted the instinct that drove me to do it, driven as it was by my desire for self-protection. But this was different. I would merely be reinforcing an idea the grandmother already had, and by playing along with Grey for the moment, I would ultimately be protecting her and her family from him, as well as all of Tartora from the lot of them. Working with Grey now would give me time to discover his full plan and work out how to undermine it.

“All right,” I said. “I’ll go find her now.”

“Good girl.” Grey’s eyes glowed, and it was hard to keep my smile in place. I only managed it by thinking of how happy I was to be leaving his presence.

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