Page 25 of Seducing Jenny
I made a face at her. “Oh, shut up.”
She laughed and teased, “My god, Jennifer Leigh Hollinger, you are becoming a real adult.”
I waved a hand in the air. “Whatever. Am not.”
Sarah’s expression turned more serious. “I’ve never seen you take responsibility for anyone but yourself. It’s nice to see this side of you. Lean in to it.”
“Anyway,” I huffed, uncomfortable with her praise, “I want to help them. Once we get the situation with Mal under control, I want to focus on the Illiapol ghosts.”
“Good, I—”
A knock at the door cut Sarah off.
“Come in,” she called out.
Deacon, Jac, Tiger and Silence entered her office. Silence Bateen had been born a princess, but had fallen in her father Justice’s eyes when she had succumbed to her love for Valor Ladrang, Deacon’s father.
Once she was pregnant by Valor, Justice had him beheaded and Silence thrown into the royal prison. Jac and Tiger had rescued her and delivered her to Halla, where she and Valor, in his ghost form, lived with their children. I thought about thatchain of events every time I saw her or Deacon. It was the original sin that had brought me and my sisters to the worlds of Ladrians in the first place.
Silence stood tall, composed and regal in spite of everything. She had two adorable children in tow, a boy and a girl, both around three. They clung shyly to her skirt.
I smiled at her. “And who do these little ones belong to?”
Her honey-brown eyes sparkled with warmth as she looked down at them, and when she spoke, her voice soothed some part of me I didn’t know needed it. “They belong to me, Jenny.”
“I thought you just had the infants,” I said, confused.
She laughed softly, almost musically. “These are them. Vox and Zenith.”
“No, they’re too old,” I said, still perplexed. “I mean the new babies—”
“These are the same children,” Sarah said, her expression a little smug. “One of the abilities I have as contra is to accelerate aging.”
“But it took a lot out of her to do it,” Deacon said with a tight jaw. “So we’re not doing that again for a while,right?”
Sarah rolled her eyes at her companion and spoke to me like Deacon wasn’t even in the room. “He doesn’t want me to do any big magic during the pregnancy, even though I think it could speed things along if I were to do it to the fetus.” She arched a brow at him, and he adamantly shook his head.
From across the room, I caught the anxious look in Tiger’s eyes, and I stood, knowing he was eager to leave. “Sarah, it was great catching up. And Silence, not that I’m not happy to see you, but we’re on borrowed time, and—”
“That is why I am here,” she said, cutting me off. “Deacon asked me to help.”
My eyes widened and hope had my heart racing in my chest. “You know where Mal is?”
“Not quite.” Her expression shifted. “My father…he is quite fond of Malice. Always has been. Clearly, he could not execute him, not even for the treason of helping you at Illiapol. Malice is the only person I have ever seen my father be soft for.”
Silence sounded bitter, and it was strange to hear it from her. But considering everything she’d been through with Justice as his daughter, could I really blame her?
“I don’t believe he would kill Malice, but hewouldstow him away someplace safe. Somewhere away from prying eyes. I suspect he would be on my grandfather’s island.”
“That’s great!” I glanced back at Tiger, seeing the grim look on his face. “Why don’t you look happy?”
He sighed. “There’s more.”
Silence continued. “I don’t know where my grandfather is being kept. The only people who know that are his children. My father Justice, my aunt Thunder, and my uncle Volatile.”
“Ourfather,” Sarah mumbled.
“Oh, hell,” I said beneath my breath.
