Page 59 of Unleash Hades
I pulled away and looked at her face. And while she was close to tears, she didn’t let them fall. Was she as overwhelmed as I was? Or was she holding back?
“Come,” she took my hand, pulling me like she used to when she was a little girl. “Our families must meet.”
“Oh, goody!” Bellamy materialized beside me, preceded by his silk neckerchief. “This young man is your nephew and he has been talking my ear off about you and your exploits!”
Romulus followed behind Bellamy with a blush to his sweet cheeks. “I haven’t been talking that much.”
“Oh, yes he has,” Bellamy said, punching him lightly on the arm. “This boy’s ability to hold information is astonishing, truly! The level of detail is absolutely baffling. You should listen to what he says about you.”
He paused to take a breath, then looked at my sister and turned on a charming smile.
“I, of course, know you from your bravery in Kemet.” Bellamy took my sister’s hand, and bowed over it in a courtly way, like they were about to start some kind of Regency dance. He bent atthe waist, one hand up in the air, as the other brought my sister’s hand to his lips.
Chloe looked at me, then back at Bellamy, her eyes wide with astonishment. She was shocked. And I didn’t blame her. Everyone’s first reaction to Bellamy and his ways was always shock, astonishment, and sometimes even fear.
“Uh, thanks,” she said, pulling her hand away. “I’ve got a van so we can ride together, it’s in the garage if you’ll follow me.”
“Delightful! I’ll drive so all you Laurents can catch up, yes?” Bellamy offered his hand out for the key.
Chloe gave it, and for a moment, I felt the compliment he had paid me. He had called me a Laurent, not a Davenport.
We rode together from the airport, and the boys talked. Well, mostly Asa forced people to talk.
“You’re American?” he asked accusingly of my boys.
“British,” my boys responded.
“And you?” Remus asked, lifting a curious brow at the child.
Asa had a head of tight, thick black curls, shaved short. His face was angular, and strong, his skin a very deep, rich, warm brown. His thick lips pursed to the side, as he looked up at my boys with large, intelligent eyes.
“I’m from Donostria,” he said, crossing his arms. “But my Maman is French, and my Papa is American.”
“So where do you hail from?” Remus said, leaning forward and crossing his arms in kind.
“Switzerland,” he said. “I go to St. Michael’s School on Lac Leman.”
“And you’re… what? In Seventh Year?” Remus was smirking, his sarcasm showing as he asked the obviously young child if he was in middle school.
I sat by Chloe, and grabbed her arm. I leaned to her and whispered, “I don't think I’ve heard Remus make a joke to a stranger before.”
Chloe smirked, “They’re not strangers. They’re cousins.”
I turned back to the boys.
“I’m in First,” Asa said. “Don’t patronize me.”
Remus smiled, “And your aspirations?”
“To be powerful.”
Remus leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. “I like this one.”
Back and forth they went. Interrogating each other, and discussing the best ways to attain said power - they determined that politics was an avenue, but that money was the real tool for such things.
It was like a little Machiavelli conference.
When we came to the old winding road that marked the start of our estate. There were no fences, but just a long line of untended forest and wilderness that harshly ended at an expansive manicured lawn that surrounded a stone house. It would have been a castle, were it not for the lack of turrets.
