Page 20 of By Mistake
"I don't know if you've looked in a mirror lately, Ori, butyou'rea little flashy."
"Oh, shut up."
Laughing, Telish closed the secret panel, pushed open the curtain, and rose."Come on, back to work before Alina finds us.I promised I would not keep you overlong.By now she knows I was lying."
Oresti laughed with him as they rejoined the crowd, chatting their way through it until they finally reached Alina, who eyed them reprovingly."Well, it's about time.I was about to send a search party.Oresti, come and meet this fine gentleman.No, it's not a marriage attempt, calm down."
Meeting her reproving look with a peeved one, Oresti nevertheless joined her and smiled politely at the man in question.He was older, maybe fifties or sixties, handsome and…vaguely familiar, but Oresti could not say why.
"Lord Pinslow, I make you known to my brother, Prince Oresti, son of the late Queen Lyria.Oresti, this is Lord Emlis Pinslow, Duke of Chary, from the queendom of Wistrin.He is here on a quest to find the son he never knew about until three months ago."
"Greivs," Oresti breathed as the realization hit him like a brick to the face."Oh, my gods, that's why you seemed familiar to me.You look like Greivs."
The man stared at him in astonishment, looking very near to tears for a moment."You know him?"
"He's my best friend and personal assistant.Come on, I'll take you to him at once."
"Thank you," Pinslow whispered, bidding Alina a thank you and farewell before following Oresti from the room.
This time, he had no qualms about ignoring everyone trying to get his attention, using what his siblings called his 'investigator walk' to encourage them to leave him alone.
Normally, he would insist on speaking with Greivs before letting Pinslow anywhere near him, but Greivs had spoken his whole life of wishing he could have met his father, the family he'd never known because his mother had run off for reasons she'd never spoken of, had eventually taken to her grave.
Outside his private drawing room, which had both its own door and one that connected directly to his bedroom, he said, "Wait in here, your grace, and I will go speak with him."
"Here, give him this, if you please.It will prove the truth of my words."
"You have his face and eyes, but I understand," Oresti replied.He took the little crushed velvet pouch that Pinslow held out and left him to get settled.
In his room, Greivs was stretched out in one of the armchairs by the fire reading a book of magic.He looked up in surprise."You escaped earlier than I thought."
"I didn't escape; I have something to tell you."Oresti presented the bag."I was told to give you this as proof of what I'm about to say."
Greivs eyed him warily as he slowly closed the book and stood."What's going on?"
"Your father," Oresti replied quietly, and explained.
Hands trembling faintly, Greivs pulled the drawstring bag open and tipped out its contents—and gasped as he stared at the silver necklace pooled in his palm.Half of a necklace, actually.Each half was a glass rectangle, hollow and filled with a shimmering liquid—red in the one he held, blue in the one that had been around Greivs throat nearly all his life.Once they were linked, the magic-formed barriers would dissolve, the liquids merging into a single purple elixir.Only those who wore the necklaces knew the exact makings of the elixir.If the wrong two were combined, the magic would fail."I can't…I don't…"
"Go, he's waiting to speak with you.Take all the time you need.I'll see you when I see you."
Greivs hugged him tightly, then headed off, the necklace still gripped tightly in one hand.
At least something about this day had gone well.
Stifling a sigh, he tucked the necklace he and Telish had found away in his safe, then headed back to dinner, because if he didn't, his sister would actually kill him.And as much as he hated to admit it, the distraction was helping.
Just a couple of days.He would focus on work and family, and then he would go back to Andrus's house and beg the man to forgive him.To give him a chance.To at least not completely throw Oresti out of his life.
He would do whatever it took to remain as close to Andrus as he would permit.Not even a demon would keep him away.
Seven
Andrus woke with a piercing headache and was sorely tempted to just go right back to sleep.He needed to piss, though, and drinking some water might help with the headache.
It wasn't until he was standing that he realized he had no idea where he was.The bedroom was the most beautifully appointed thing he'd ever seen, in fabrics and colors that would have made his mother cry.The window seat was covered almost entirely in pillows, and in a large, golden cage hanging from the ceiling were several songbirds filling the room with cheerful music.He'd always wanted songbirds as a child, an entire house of them, an aviary where he could keep them so they were not confined to gilded cages.Or at least, they'd have a larger, grander cage where they'd be happy and free of predators.
He approached the window, familiarity gnawing at his mind like a hungry dog at a bone, and pushed back the curtain—and froze, swaying slightly on his feet, to seehe was in his own house.He dropped the curtain and stepped away from the window, looking around the luxurious room in bewilderment.
