“Dad,” I said, hoping I sounded reasonably normal. “Hi. How’s it going over there?”
“Oh, very well,” he said in his warm baritone. He did sound happy. Killian must be getting on board. “I’m taking my time to do my due diligence, but I do think my instincts were right. There’s a good partner for you here.”
“I guess it’ll be easier to tell when I actually meet him,” I said.
“Well, yes.”
“Dad,” I dove in. “I had an idea—not to do with the consorting. Well, sort of. I thought it would be a good way to take my mind off of everything that happened with Derek. And your mind off Celestine’s leaving. I know how hard that was for you.”
“I’ve made my peace with that,” Dad said.
He didn’t take the bait. Didn’t mention her death. Trying not to distractmefrom my consorting? How long did he think he could hide that information?
Then again, Evianna hadn’t bothered me again. Maybe he had reason to believe no one would ever mention it in my presence. I knew how much one spell could control what people said.
I restrained a shiver. “I know,” I said. “But still…”
“Why don’t you just tell me about this plan?” Dad said. He sounded curious, not suspicious. That was good. “What are you up to, Rose?”
“Well, that Cairo deal was so important for you, and I feel bad that you couldn’t properly celebrate it because of all the wedding plans—but now that those have been postponed, I thought we could host a party at the manor this weekend. You won’t have to do anything other than invite the right people. I’ll take care of getting the house ready. It’ll give me something to do. So it’d be for you and for me. What do you think?”
Dad was quiet for a moment. “Are you sure, lamb?” he said. “Having a bunch of my business associates in the house, when you’re dealing with so much?”
He made it sound like he cared. He made it sound like my well-being meant something to him. My fingernails dug into my palm. I forced myself to smile, as if he’d be able to hear my expression over the phone.
“I really think putting this together will help me deal. Wipe all that pain out of my mind. Let me start over with a clean slate.”
“Well, I suppose I could start getting in touch with people… And at least you would have some company. It might take some pressure off, early on.”
My smile faltered. “What do you mean?”
“I’m arranging with Killian for him to come by for an initial visit this weekend,” Dad said. “If all goes well, that’ll be your first meeting with the man you’ll marry.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jin
“It should be fine,” Rose said, but from the set of her mouth, she was trying to convince herself as much as me. “It’s not as if he’s going to throw me into a consort ceremony with some new guy the second he sets foot on the estate. It doesn’t have to affect our plan at all.”
She was perched on a stool in my studio, ankles hooked around the wooden legs as she sketched the light impression of one of her magical glyphs on a square of wood about the size of her palm. I was holding and painting another of those squares, the plastic-y tang of acrylics in my nose. Not my favorite medium, but we needed something that would dry quickly. The brush whispered over the faintly textured surface, tracing the lines of the glyph and blending them into the broader pattern of colors.
“Couldhe force it on you?” I asked. “If it’s even possible for you to take another consort now.”
“I don’t know.” She frowned at her drawing. “If he’s got the power of the Assembly behind him… I don’t know what anyone’s capable of anymore. I thought it was just my stepmother and some twisted sense of jealousy. But it goes so much deeper…”
“Hey.” I finished one last brushstroke and set the piece down in the trough of my easel. With a swipe of my hands against my painting jeans, I went to Rose’s side and slid my arm around her. “We’re getting everything in place. They have no idea how deepyourpowers go now that you’re awake, Briar Rose.”
She twirled the pencil between her fingers. “If this even works.”
“Well, I can’t comment on that, since I’m not the one with decades of magical study behind me. Butyouare.”
“I just never learned how to use my magic but keep it hidden at the same time.” She dragged in a breath and recovered her smile, even if it was a small one. Tipping back her head, she gave me a quick kiss. “How’s the painting coming along?”
I showed her the fifth one, which I’d just finished. She hummed approvingly. “It’s perfect. You can’t make out the glyph at all. But it’ll still hold a magicking like my pendant.”
“And these are just meant to amplify the main attraction?” I said.
She nodded. “I can put these around the table—I’m thinking as coasters under the vases. I won’t put any magic in them yet. If the larger spell doesn’t have as much impact as I intended, I can call on those to enhance it without having to do a casting overt enough to be noticed.”