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“And perhaps that wasn’t wise of your father, but times are changing. If our family is to expand and grow, we need to forge stronger ties with other magical families. In any case, this isn’t something I need to be discussing with you, nor do I need your approval. What I want is your obedience and attendance. You’ve already caused enough damage; we can’t have another disaster tonight.”
Frowning, I chewed the inside of my mouth. “Alright,” I said, forcing the word out. “Can I leave, now? Or are you going to shut the door on me again?”
My mother gave me her cutting, vicious eyes. With a lazy flick of her wrist, the gymnasium door unlocked. I didn’t spare another second in her presence. The gym was usually my safe, sacred place, but all I wanted to do now was get as far away from it as possible.
So, I fled.
I didn’t know what I was going to do for the rest of the day. I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere near my mother or father, and I doubted if Max was going to be interested in talking to me after last night—if he even remembered any of it.
All I could do, really, was go back to my room, and spend the day dreading about how I was going to have to meet other mages tonight.
And hope my mother found the amulet before then.
Chapter
Six
My father couldn’t find the amulet, and neither could my mother. It was gone, and that meant until I learned whatever techniques my mother had been talking about earlier in the gym, it was going to stay gone.
I had to admit, I’d been sitting with a knot in my stomach the entire day. The things my mother had said to me, and the way she had said them, had really struck a chord. It wasn’t often that I walked away from an argument with her feeling like she was right, but this time was different.
She was right.
I had been reckless, and foolish, and for what? So I could give Max a decent twenty-first birthday… or so I could see Him again? I couldn’t admit to myself having purely selfish motives for going out last night, but the longer I sat in solitude thinking about it, the bigger the knot in my stomach became.
Whatever the motive, and wherever the amulet was, I had to put it all aside, because we were preparing ourselves to receive the Diaboli family. Max and I were in the study, sitting nervously, waiting. We had barely said a word to each other all day, leaving me to wonder if I had done something to upset him, or if he was just really hungover.
Probably a little of both.
I opened my mouth. “What do?—”
“—I think?—”
We both spoke at the same time. “You first,” I said.
He reached for the glass of water on the coffee table, sipped it, and set the glass back down. “I think I’m never drinking again,” he said.
Smiling, I nodded. “You’re going to say that a lot.”
“I mean it. I’m done. One night was enough.”
“So, you’re not mad at me?”
He looked at me and frowned. “Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?”
“I don’t know… because I screwed up last night.”
Max shrugged. “They’ll find it,” he said. “Or you’ll find it. It’ll turn up… I know it will.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “It will,” he said, a glimmer of light in his eye. “You’ll find it.”
My mother appeared in the archway leading out of the study and into the main hall. She looked taller than normal, confident, and her demeanor gave away none of the day’s anxieties. Her stern gaze, though, was as cold as ice.
“They’re here,” she said, her words curt and short. “We will greet them at the door.”
Max and I got up. My mother didn’t wait for us at the entrance to the study, turning around instead and moving out of sight.
