“And haven’t contacted her since, I’m guessing,” he said.
“Yes.” I frowned. “Why?”
His smile held a bitter edge. “You really have to ask that?”
I stared at him for a second, then swore softly. “They placed a spell on her so that she’d inform them if and when she heard from us?”
“So my father said.” He glanced at Belle. “But it’s doubtful the spell would have lasted much longer than a few weeks, so you’re probably safe to contact her now if you wanted.”
An almost wistful smile touched her lips. “As much as I’d love to, I don’t really think we can take the chance.”
He shook his head, disbelief evident. “I hate to be blunt about this, Liz, but it’s been twelve years—do you really think Edward has any remaining interest in you? He has grandchildren now—four of them.”
“Juli has children?” I said, even as Belle said, Well, hell, there’s a scary thought.
Extremely. My brother had been a conceited twit barely able to look after himself, let alone four kids of this own....
“Yes, and he dotes on them,” Monty said. “He has no need to chase after someone who doesn’t want to be found.”
Meaning he didn’t know the whole story. And if he didn’t, how many others wouldn’t? Of course, a lack of knowledge didn’t make me safer, as not even my father could make legally signed and submitted documents go away. Nor could Clayton move on until I’d been found and the documents voided.
Though I doubted moving on was what Clayton would want, even now. Not given the fool I’d made out of him.
I raised an eyebrow and tried to ignore the renewed churning in my gut. “You worked in Canberra, and you certainly know my parents. Does my father seem the type to forgive and forget to you?”
He frowned. “Well, no, but—”
“This isn’t just about my sister’s death, Monty. While he certainly held me accountable for that, my bigger crime was the fact I embarrassed him. Me—an underpowered nobody—made him look like a fool in front of a man who wasn’t only a good friend but a powerful member of the council. He won’t ever forget that.”
Neither of them would ever forget that.
Monty’s confusion increased. “I certainly can’t remember anything along those lines being spoken about—”
“And probably never will. My father is not one to air his dirty laundry, even amongst his own family.”
He leaned back in his chair and eyed me for a moment. “Let’s do a deal.”
Belle and I glanced at each other; though her expression gave little away, I could feel her uncertainty as strongly as my own.
“What sort of deal?” she asked warily.
“For a start,” he said, “you stay out of my goddamn head.”
“And?” I said, because there was obviously more.
“You tell the truth about the wild magic. In exchange, I won’t mention your presence here in the reservation in any of my reports back to Canberra.”
“That by default means you can’t mention the wild magic in any of them.”
“Why the hell not? There are certainly traces of it both in your spell work and in your energy output, but the former, at least, isn’t particularly unusual in a reservation all but awash with the stuff.”
“But the latter is,” I replied. “So if you want the truth then you have to agree to not mention the wild magic.”
“Except I’m not only here as the government’s representative but to investigate the rumors of the wild magic’s unusual pattern of behavior.”
So someone had read Ashworth’s report and had been curious enough about his comments to word Monty up. “
What exactly were you told about it?”