Page 31 of The Maestro's Mates
As they reached the long hallway of the secondfloor, Sebastian turned to Justin, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder.
“When did you learn to be so…diplomatic? You were so nervous about coming here.”
“I am nervous!” Justin whispered intensely. “But I owe Freddie and Anthony. I’m not going to fuck it up. I’ve done my homework.”
“Oh.” Sebastian considered his mate for a moment. A single curl of blonde hair hung over the slender vampire’s right eye, and his skin glowed in the amber light of the ornate art deco sconces decorating the walls. Justin projected an air of certainty, even if Sebastian could sense the churning anxiety underneath it. “Come on. My mother’s office is at the other end of the hall.”
“Why does your brother hate you?” Justin whispered as they made their way.
“He doesn’thateme.” A tendril of sadness uncurled in Sebastian’s solar plexus, reaching upwards toward his neck. “Veronica hates me. Probably. Wolf just… He is the only non-magical child in a house of witches. It made him the outsider. He overcompensated for it by throwing himself into technology and engineering. And a weird obsession with crossbows. But my chaos affinity always screwed up his plans, even as a kid.”
Justin furrowed his brow in confusion. Sebastian understood. The dynamic between him and his brother sometimes didn’t make sense to him, either.
“Imagine a nine-year-old building an elaborate castle out of popsicle sticks with a working drawbridge and several functioning trebuchets for a class project. Then, imagine a jumpy little chaos spirit, your eleven-year-old brother’s best friend, zipping around the house, and thingsgoing haywire. And somehow you end up with a pile of garbage where a castle had once been. That kind of shit happened all the time.”
Justin frowned. “But as an adult?—”
“If that were it, maybe we’d be fine. But despite my mother’s protestations to the contrary, she was disappointed Wolf didn’t have talent. He was left out of everything. It’s the height of irony that, of the three of us, I moved away from the Circle, and my sister is attempting a coup. Meanwhile, he’s still here, masterminding all their technology.”
They stopped in front of the heavy door to Sebastian’s mother’s office. It was significantly more intricate than the other doors on this floor, an abstract pattern of whirls and lines burnt into the brown-stained wood.
“Wait. Technology? I don’t understand.”
“You will.” Sebastian turned the doorknob and revealed the office.
Justin let out a small gasp. Sebastian understood why. It was more like a laboratory than anything else. There were computers everywhere, as well as microscopes and other scientific tools. Several pieces of machinery were beeping softly in the background. The overhead lighting was dim, and the whole room was bathed in a blue-ish glow from the various screens.
At the center, sitting on an office chair and surrounded by three monitors, was Sebastian’s mother. Although she appeared to be in her early fifties, Sebastian knew she was actually more than a hundred years old. When he was born, she’d been in her nineties. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and was dressed in black pants and a black jacket. The only color in her outfit was the red silk scarf tied aroundher neck. Her head swiveled back and forth between two of the screens. One was playing black and white security footage.
“Mother?”
“Get your ass in here,” came the reply, his mother’s voice a brassy blast. “And bring the vampire.”
Justin’s jaw clenched, and Sebastian reached over and rubbed circles on his upper back. He hoped his mother wouldn’t fuck up his burgeoning relationship. Leading Justin, they entered the low light of the office-slash-command center.
“Grab chairs,” his mother said without looking up. Sebastian rolled over two black office chairs and indicated Justin should sit in one, which he did, albeit tentatively. Sebastian plopped down as well and scooted forward using his feet until he was next to his mom.
“What are we looking at?”
“Footage of your sister’s attack. Specifically, the moment she managed to get through the gate. She didn’t break the wards; she doesn’t have the power for that. But they were keyed to exclude her, and she somehow…tricked them.”
On the right screen was grainy footage of the house’s front walk. After several seconds of nothing, his sister Veronica appeared in front of the wrought iron gate. She stood there for a moment, glaring at the house, and then, without fanfare, she reached down and swung the gate open.
She proceeded toward the house. Several figures, hooded and cloaked, followed behind her.
Sebastian’s mother clicked a mouse, pausing the video.
“What do you think?” she asked, finally turning and making eye contact with him. She was exhausted. There were bags under her eyes, and her usually perfect hair wasaskew. Behind her, Justin sat frozen in place, watching the conversation with a look of confusion.
Sebastian shrugged. “She didn’t cast anything. Maybe one of her people did?”
“The wards didn’t break. They let her in. One of her renegade witches couldn’t have pulled that off without us knowing.”
Sebastian didn’t say anything. She was right. Besides, the wards were the work of the entire Circle. The chance Veronica had amassed enough power to break them was next to nil.
“Someone from the Circle let her in?”
His mother rubbed her eyes. “I considered it. But at this point, I think Vee’s alienated everyone. If it’s someone inside, they are a much better actor than I believe any of my witches to be.”
