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It took me a while to find the Constantine matriarch, sticking my head into room after room until I finally found her in a brightly lit sitting room presiding over a tea tray. She was pouring tea for her daughter-in-law when I arrived, and I saw a flash of something calculating and curious in her gaze before she quickly covered it with a false grandmotherly warmth.
“Welcome, child!” she called. “Would you like to join us for tea?”
I nodded, dropping a belated curtsy.
“I had been hoping one of the newcomers might join us.” She patted the sofa at her side invitingly. “I would so love to hear about life on the mainland.”
Yes,I thought sourly.Because you haven’t had your curiosity and free thought sucked out of you by a lifetime of manipulation.
On the outside, I smiled and accepted the offered seat. The elderly woman made no move to pour me a cup, however, instead reaching for my hand with both of hers. I braced myself.
After all my practice on the ship, I was confident in my ability to mesmerize. But this would be a challenge—both due to her strength and experience and because she would be trying to simultaneously mesmerize me.
My one hope lay in our deception. She had no reason to be suspicious, and unlike Ignatius on the docks, she wouldn’t be in a hurry. Which meant I had a chance to get my mesmerization in first, before she began to confuse my mind. It would be a delicate matter, however, since I would need to watch my words. Ambrose’s wife, Kendry, must be a healer as well, and she would sense any lie I uttered from the other side of the small table holding the tea set.
As soon as the grandmother’s hands brushed my right one, gathering it up into a warm grasp, I sent my power slithering into her. I threw out only the tiniest tendril necessary, rushing into speech as I did.
“We’re so grateful for your hospitality. Especially Grey. He has longed so much to be here with you all. And he’s so strong.”The strongest!my power echoed. “He clearly belongs here with his family.”You can trust him!“I can only imagine how much you must miss his mother, your daughter, Chloe.”She was your favorite. How glad you are to have her son back.
The grandmother’s face instantly softened. “You’re right, my dear. What a thoughtful young thing you are. But it is our pleasure to have Grey back where he belongs. I couldn’t be happier to see him again.”
Across the table, Kendry watched us with a slight crease between her brows. But her focus wasn’t on me or my words but on her mother-in-law. Was she worried about her attitude toward Grey? I had suspected from the beginning that the younger generations viewed him as a threat, and his aunt’s expression seemed to confirm it. Her son, Barnabas, already had enough competition from his younger cousin.
I hoped Grey didn’t expect me to mesmerize every member of the family, starting with his grandmother and working my way down. I had a sick feeling that might be his plan, however. If he didn’t, they were going to turn on him sooner rather than later.
“But I hope you know you are also welcome,” the grandmother continued, her words ringing in my mind with truth. “You can trust us to take care of you.”
“Of course,” I said, the agreement coming easily and naturally. “I feel fortunate to have made it to such an incredible place.”
The grandmother smiled in satisfaction, dropping my hand and exchanging a lightning-fast look with her daughter-in-law that triggered a queasy feeling in my middle.
Responding to that feeling had become instinct at this point. I threw up my wall, driving the lingering effects of the woman’s power from my mind.
As soon as it was gone, I could think clearly again. As soon as my mind was my own, exhaustion crashed over me. I couldn’t stay in this room where I had to watch every word and expression.
I jumped to my feet. “Please don’t call for an extra cup,” I said in a rush. “I would be embarrassed to interrupt your afternoon ritual.” I curtsied again to both women. “You’ve already done so much by welcoming me into your home.”So much damage,I added silently.
“You really are a most considerate child,” the grandmother said with a smile that showed more of her true calculating nature than her earlier expression had done. “I don’t know what my third grandson can have been thinking. He’s becoming fanciful in all the excitement.”
I kept my expression neutral, pretending not to notice the hint of pleasure on Kendry’s face at this criticism of Ignatius.
Curtsying again, I backed out of the room as if they were queens. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I fled down the hall, not stopping until I was back in my own room.
My heart raced, and I didn’t even think about slowing it down. Had I really just done that? I had matched wits and power with a woman who had spent decades mesmerizing people, and I had come out on top. It was only because I had been the one with the element of surprise, equipped both to mesmerize and to protect myself against its effects, but I couldn’t deny the feeling of power.
I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. This reaction was what I feared most. I couldn’t let myself become enamored with this new and dangerous ability.
I had regained some of my calm before the evening meal, but even so, it was a fraught event. Every look and word was measured—not just by me but by everyone else around me—until it felt less like conversation and more like the thrust and parry of a fencing match.
Costas seemed the most honest and open of the group, but far too often I felt his curious eyes on me. By the end of the evening I wanted to snap at him to stop looking at me—unless he was trying to put a sign around my neck for the rest of his family to see.
The pounding in my head became so bad that I couldn’t help massaging it, reaching out with my power to ease it at the same time. My face relaxed as soon as the pain eased, but it tensed again when I looked up to see Costas watching me with an arrested expression, his eyes narrowing. I hurriedly turned to Kendry next to me and launched into speech, but I could still feel his eyes on me.
Even at the end of the interminable evening, Grey insisted on walking me back to my room. Ignatius’s knowing look made my skin crawl, and Grey’s pleased praise when we were alone had nearly as uncomfortable an effect.
By the time I closed my bedroom door and leaned against it, I never wanted to emerge again.
ChapterThirty
