“That’s not all, though, is it?” Boaz studied him. “You’re dropping everything to hand deliver this to a reclusive colleague in Atlanta. What aren’t you telling us?”
“Mother’s interest in Grier is contingent upon her ability to practice.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets, but I saw them ball into fists through the fabric. “She views her as an investment.”
Boaz asked what I was afraid to wonder. “What happens if there’s no payoff?”
“Atramentous,” I whispered, folding in on myself, sick with possibilities.
“Double jeopardy,” Boaz soothed. “You can’t be tried again for the same crime after an acquittal.”
Unwilling to be coddled, I bit out, “Forgive me if I have my doubts about the legal system.”
“Mother can’t return you to the prison without weakening her reform agenda.” Linus mashed his lips into a bloodless line. “Calling your innocence into question allows for too much speculation on her role in your release.”
“You’re saying the danger isn’t in a direct strike,” Boaz reasoned. “You think, if it comes down to it, she’ll withdraw all support from Grier and let the problem handle itself.”
“Mother would never allow a weapon as powerful as a goddess-touched necromancer, whose fledgling magic might prove capable of binding her progeny to her, to fall into the Master’s hands.” Muscle fluttered along his jaw. “She would execute Grier before allowing vampires control of her.”
An odd lightness spread through my limbs and left me tingling. The wrongness of preferring death to life in a cage pinched my conscience, but only for a second. “Okay.”
“No,” Linus contradicted me, a frown tipping his lips. “Nothing about either scenario is okay.” Boaz grunted reluctant agreement with Linus, who wasn’t done yet. “That’s why I will do everything in my power to understand the connection between you and Amelie, if one exists, and nullify it before anyone suspects such a bond might be possible.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, wishing I had better words for what he was risking for me.
Linus, uncomfortable with my gratitude, inclined his head in acceptance of my appreciation.
Boaz scratched his jaw, his brow furrowed at Linus like he was working through a complex puzzle.
“Reardon’s only interests are in the pursuit of science,” Linus continued, “but there will be dangerous questions asked. Even if we present our case as wanting to examine an accidental bond between a Low Society necromancer and a familiar, he might uncover more of Grier’s secrets on a cellular level.”
A shiver twitched between my shoulder blades. “You’re worried about handing him a new specimen.”
“Yes.” His gaze cut to me then dropped to the floor. “There’s also the dybbuk contamination to consider.”
With Ambrose’s magic swirling through Amelie’s blood, there was no telling what the tests would reveal. It might act as camouflage for whatever havoc my sigils had wreaked on her, which might be a good thing as far as Reardon was concerned, but that also meant yet another layer for Linus to peel back to find our truths.
I was gambling with my future by allowing him to seek out Reardon, but I had no real choice.
“He doesn’t have to know why you’re there. I could tell him you’re one of my students, that I’m tutoring you. He knows I’m on sabbatical, but it’s not unheard of to tutor for extra cash,” Linus said, and I snorted so hard I almost choked on my own spit. Oh yeah. That was totally believable. The Grande Dame’s son needed pocket change. “Or favors if the student’s family has political sway.”
“That might work,” I allowed. “I have zero clout, but I can still trade on Maud’s name if I have to.”
Make no apologies for surviving.
As much as I hated using her name for leverage among the curious, I would do it to protect myself. She would understand. How could she not when she had given so much to keep me safe? Even from myself.
The thrill at his first mention of the campus shriveled. “I still can’t go.”
“Yes, you can.” Boaz reached across the table and took my hand in his, linking our fingers in clear view of Linus, staking his claim. “We can ask Odette to stay with Amelie for three days. Woolly’s a big girl. She can take care of herself for seventy-two hours.” He rolled his thumb over my knuckles. “A short break might do you good.”
“The new wards are holding…” I allowed, willing to be tempted. “But Woolly was just attacked. We don’t know who or what was responsible. I can’t leave her alone. What if they come back?”
“Have you considered hiring full-time security? You’ve just ascended as Dame Woolworth. Everyone will expect you to start building your staff. Why not start there? The rumor mill won’t think twice about why you’re fortifying Woolly if you act now. It’s expected for new heads of family to secure their residences if such measures aren’t already in place.” There was no point in him reminding me how long she had sat unoccupied, how many years she had been vulnerable, so I was glad he didn’t poke that particular wound. “It’s better to have the extra bodies and never use them than to need them and not have them. Say the word, and I’ll handpick a team for you and have them in position by the end of the week.”
More eyes meant more opportunities for Boaz to snoop into my life. I would have to hire a team without ties to the sentinels or to his family, if such a thing existed, to preserve my privacy. Low Society sentinels had cornered the security market. Meaning I would have to look outside the Society for guards loyal to me, a daunting prospect when you removed vampires from the candidate pool. “I’ll consider it.”
“You do that.” His mood buoyed, as if I had already agreed. “In the meantime, I can ask Taz to patrol the grounds while you’re away. Woolly is used to her presence. She might be miffed about her hurting you, but as long as Taz doesn’t touch the house, she ought to be safe. How does that sound?”
“Like you’re trying to get rid of me.” I was only half kidding. Shoving me together with Linus was not his style.
A more normal response from Boaz would have been to toss me over his shoulder and stomp from the carriage house while shouting “Go to hell” at Linus. A reasonable Boaz was a dangerous Boaz.
“Your eyes lit up like stars when he mentioned the campus. I might have been the lame older brother, but I know what you girls had planned. I know what college meant to you, and taking lessons, alone, in your own backyard is a poor substitution.” He glanced at Linus. “No offense.”
“None taken,” he said drily.
“It’s not like I can absorb the whole college experience in three days anyway.” I hated admitting, “Seeing what I can’t have might make it worse, actually.”
Until Maud…and Atramentous…I had dreamed big dreams as a kid. Getting a degree alongside Amelie. Planning how we would live together and how I would marry Boaz to make us real sisters. But those were old wishes for an old life. I wasn’t that person now, and neither was Amelie. Neither was Boaz. None of us were the same. Time and distance and life experiences did that to people.
But I couldn’t ignore the uptick of my pulse when I imagined walking those hallowed grounds.
If Maud had proclaimed me a practitioner instead of an assistant, I would have attended Strophalos the same as any Woolworth.
All this time I had been jealous of Amelie going to college here in Savannah when I was starting to think it was Linus and Strophalos I truly envied. Maybe Amelie had been right all along. Maybe I had been settling. But it had never felt that way, not to me.
These days I had no choice but to embrace my High Society birthright, and I’d had no clue how hard I had been tamping down my resentment until the limitations placed on me were wiped away thanks to a few drops of blood.
“Sleep on it,” Boaz urged. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but it might be a good thing for you to get out and see more than Savannah. You haven’t left town since you were released.”
For the longest time, I hadn’t had funds or a reason to go anywhere. My whole life was in Savannah.
I still had no reason to leave, but maybe…I wanted to go?
“I have calls to make,” Linus said in dismissal. “You’ve got time to think it over and make your arrangements.”
“Okay.” I blew out a breath and stood. “I’ll let you know at dusk.”
Boaz and I headed for the door but not fast enough.
Linus angled his head toward me. “What did the doctor say?”
“Doctor?” Boaz wheeled toward me. “What doctor?”
“There was no doctor.” I pointed through the wall toward Woolly. “There was no time.”
Wise man that he was, Linus said no more, but he let the disappointment shine through his eyes.
Much less circumspect, Boaz growled, “What doctor?”
It was like he hoped the third time would be the charm.
“Come on.” I hooked my arm through his. “I’ll explain on the way home.”
Seven
Amelie recovered from her fainting spell with no clue what had happened or why. Since we didn’t know either, conclusively, I elected to keep her in the dark. Truthfully, she might have to learn to like it there. Any explanation I gave about a possible connection to Woolly through wards I designed meant explaining this newly discovered quirk in my magic. That was impossible without also explaining I was goddess-touched.
That’s where things got tricky. Ambrose had known what I was from the moment we met. I wasn’t sure if that meant shades, the souls of deceased necromancers, had special insight from the other side or if his experience was more personal. As much as I would love to sit him down and play twenty questions, he had tried to kill me. Any information he shared would be suspect. Assuming we could communicate with him. Things would be so much easier if Amelie had retained his memories.