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Carla was lounging on a long couch with a tall-necked glass in one delicate hand. Mason and Lucien were standing in front of the crackling fireplace. While Lucien carefully watched my eyes, as if he was trying to communicate with me telepathically, his father prodded at the logs in the fireplace with a fire poker.
When he was done, he turned to look at me, the glowing red fire poker still held threateningly in his hand. “How good of you to finally join us,” he said.
“I didn’t know I was being summoned today,” I said, swallowing the desire to retort sarcastically, “Otherwise I would’ve been dressed and ready.”
“You have already set my plans back several days, what’s another few minutes?” It sounded like he was joking, but I could feel the venom in his words.
A thought suddenly occurred to me, pushing me far deeper into panic mode than I would have wished to go. What if they’re about to tell me they have Max? They were all here, after all, and it seemed to me like Mason was a theatrical man. He would want the pomp, the flash; he would want to see the shock as it broke across my face.
“Can we please move this along?” Carla asked, taking a disinterested sip from her long glass.
“Right,” said Mason. He gave me his attention again. “You’re useless to me right now, Ethera,” he said.
I nodded. “Awesome.”
“Until we have your brother and the amulet, you are a burden on our resources. We cook your meals, wash your clothes, change your bedsheets. You are living in my fantastic mansion, ‘rent free’ so to speak, and that cannot stand.”
They don’t have him.
I instantly relaxed. “I like to think I’m a good house guest, at least.”
“If you recall,” He continued pointedly, choosing to ignore my light-hearted quip, “We will need to decide what to do with you, and your brother, after you retrieve the Engine for us. You can continue to be useless—but I promise you that won’t end well, or you can work for your keep.” .”
“I’m not sure what you want from me. You said it yourself, until you have the amulet, there’s not much for me to do around here. Unless you want me mowing the lawn?—”
“—if you shut up, I’ll tell you what I want from you. How about we start there?”
Lucien’s eyes flashed wide, and worried. He wasn’t speaking to me telepathically, but I got the gist of what he was trying to tell me anyway. They were words I had already said to myself at least once. Be careful, Beatrice. I had to remind myself who I was talking to, and just how thin his patience for me was.
“Right,” I said.
Mason paused, examining me for a moment while Carla took another sip of her glass. I couldn’t tell what was in it. Something sparkly, and purple.
“I want you to show me what you’re capable of, Ethera,” said Mason.
“Capable of?” I asked.
“Somewhere inside of you is Ethera magic, no doubt your parents taught you at least a thing or two. I want you to show me what they taught you; what their most valuable gift to you was.”
I had to swallow the bile rising in my throat, my utter contempt for him. I had spent the last few days trying to move past what happened to my family, and in an instant, he had reminded me the wound was not even remotely healed.
“What’s that going to accomplish?” I asked.
“That’s for me to decide. Now, show me something interesting.” He stuck the poker into the fireplace, twirled it around until it glowed red hot, and then pulled it back out. He wanted me to see it. He wanted to imply the kind of pain that might follow if I didn’t do as he asked.
He didn’t have to kill me.
He could just hurt me.
I scanned the room. “Are your men going to kill me if I use my powers?” I asked, “The last time I tried to use them, your demons weren’t happy, either.”
“My men have been instructed to wait for my order. The demons will also not pose a threat to you… so long as you don’t do anything threatening.”
I didn’t have many options available to me. Comply, or don’t; that was the long and short of it. I decided compliance was the safer option, so I walked toward the door to the study—the same door I had walked through to get into this room.
“Where are you going?” barked Mason.
I looked at him and Lucien across my shoulder. “To show you what I can do.”
