Page 29 of The Iron Flower

I look to Diana, stunned at the idea of a female alpha. At the idea ofherbeing a female alpha. I’m so used to living in a society where the High Mage can only be a man. It’s hard to wrap my mind around such a possibility.

Diana seems lost for a moment in her own thoughts, then appears to have an idea. Her eyes light back on Andras. “There is a man of Amaz ancestry in my father’s guard—his beta. You should speak with him. My people found him in the forest when he was a baby, and he’s lived with us all his life. He has a mate and a child. He’s happy and completely accepted.”

“Diana...” Andras says, shaking his head.

“No, Andras. You don’t have to live like this. Youcouldhave a place and a family.”

I catch Yvan’s intent gaze through the fire, and he quickly looks away.

Trystan stands and abruptly sheathes my white wand. “It’s been fascinating hearing about everyone’s love lives and cultures,” he tells us evenly, “but I think I’ll go work on some spells. Alone. Where I can concentrate. You can all stay here and figure out who is joining the Lupines.”

MAGE COUNCIL

RULING

#199

Defacing the Gardnerian flag shall be punishable by execution.

CHAPTER EIGHT

WANDS

Aunt Vyvian is already seated before a well-appointed tea table when I enter the small receiving room on tremulous legs. She doesn’t rise to greet me, which sets me even more on edge.

“Ah, Elloren,” she says, her voice silken. Aunt Vyvian gestures toward a chair across from her. “Join me.” She has a charming smile on her lovely face, but her eyes are glacially cool. I force a cordial smile in return as I cautiously take a seat.

It’s a nice room they’ve given her for this visit. Perhaps the nicest one in the whole Gardnerian Athenaeum. Heat radiates from a beautiful woodstove wrought in the shape of an iron tree, and flowing roots are artfully rendered on the tile work beneath us in rich browns and blacks that fan out over the floor. Stained-glass vines rim the huge, arching windows that overlook the wintry Southern Spine.

Aunt Vyvian is just as I remember her, elegant beyond belief in luxurious black silk exquisitely embroidered with tiny acorns and oak leaves. Her posture is perfectly regal as an elderly, lavender-skinned Urisk servant hovers nearby, ready to tend to her every whim.

She looks like a queen holding court—a queen who’d chop your head off for the tiniest infraction.

“Would you like some tea, Elloren?” she inquires.

“Yes, that would be lovely,” I say with measured politeness, even though I’m too much on my guard to be hungry or thirsty, my stomach clenched tight.

Rafe, Trystan and I have spoken at length about this impending visit, privately agreeing to placate her as much as possible, and I know Trystan has been writing friendly letters to Aunt Vyvian to keep her at bay. But it was inevitable that Rafe’s very public relationship with Diana would eventually bring her down on our heads.

Aunt Vyvian gives an imperious flick of her hand, and the Urisk woman springs forward, silently pouring tea and setting out a plate of small cakes for me. My aunt’s eyes remain fixed on me while she stirs her own tea with a tiny silver spoon.

As soon as the Urisk woman finishes serving us, Aunt Vyvian gets right to the point. “You need to cut off contact with Aislinn Greer,” she says bluntly. “I know you’re friends with the girl, but she’s fallen in with the Lupine twins. She was spotted in the library with the male. Fortunately, she’s open to reason and is now back under her family’s protection. Sheseemsto realize the danger, but one can never be sure about such things.”

Aunt Vyvian takes a deep breath and shakes her head disapprovingly. “We can only hope that her family intervened in time. They could have had another Sage Gaffney on their hands.”

She taps at her china plate, tiny vines painted along its edging. Her servant springs over with a tray of assorted breads, fresh from the oven. They smell nutty and sweet, but the aroma only heightens my roiling nausea as outrage swamps over me.

It’s terrible what you’re doing, I inwardly rail against Aunt Vyvian and Aislinn’s awful family.You’re ruining my friend’s life, the whole lot of you.I want to protest Aislinn’s impending fasting right then and there, but I know I would only make things worse for my friend.

My aunt selects a roll studded with gooseberries from the plate. “Perhaps the Greer girl trulydoessee reason, but for the time being, take care, Elloren.”

“I will, Aunt Vyvian,” I tell her with flat and completely false assurance. I clutch at the edge of my chair to hide the angry trembling of my hands.

Blackthorn wood.

A hot flash of energy blasts through my arms, clear up to my shoulders, jettisoning through my earth lines. Startled, I yank my hands away from the wood, squeezing them into tight fists on my lap, my heartbeat quickening.

What was that?

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