Page 10 of Forsaken Fate

Until tonight.

He paced in front of me, his open cuffs flapping as he gestured wildly with his hands. Little balls of lightning danced from his fingertips. His magic ran hot. The part of him that was wolf flared too. His fangs dropped. I don’t even think he realized it. “That old fat cocksucker,” he shouted. “My mother’s not even cold and he has the shriveled-up balls to think he can fuck me around.”

“He’s coming tonight, isn’t he?” I said. I sat on the edge of the bed in my black lace slip. Grayson had changed his mind three times about the dress he wanted me in, so I finally gave up until he calmed down. “He wouldn’t if he weren’t planning to endorse you right off the bat. Honey, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Tonight, you’ll solidify the backers you need. Once you’ve done that, no one can touch you. The election, whenever they hold it will be a formality.”

Before he could find a way to knock down my logic, I went to him. I took one of his hands in mine and fastened his cufflink. His eyes softened when I looked at him and my own heart started to beat a little steadier. Maybe tonight would be easy. I moved to his other wrist. When I was done, I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him. He accepted it but didn’t kiss me back.

“Just put the black dress on,” was all he said.

The black dress was a simple, spaghetti strap silk number. Simple except for the plunging neckline. Grayson’s would-be political backers were going to get an eyeful of side boob this evening. Fine. I know he wanted to parade me around to show them what he could get. A beta wolf with a woman who was clearly an Alpha’s mate on his arm. Let him use me. Let them all look. For the ten thousandth time, I reminded myself it would be worth it. It had to be worth it.

What mattered more was this was Diana’s house. Grayson had only ever brought me here once and now we were in it, and she was gone. I couldn’t believe my luck when Grayson suggested we sleep here after the dinner party tonight. It was his now, after all. It was a gorgeous home, yes. An eight-thousand-square-foot Victorian-style mansion overlooking Lake Bliss. It had gardens and a reflecting pool, ivy-covered white brick walls. I cared about none of that. I cared that Diana herself had lived here and somewhere, tucked away in one of those cavernous, obscenely expensive decorated rooms ... I might find one of her secrets and now she wouldn’t be able to stop me.

“Brynna!” Grayson’s shout made my blood run cold. “Some of my guests are starting to arrive. I’m going down. Get your dress on.”

“Wait,” I said. “You haven’t told me what jewelry you want me to wear.” I knew he’d say he didn’t care, but if I chose wrong, he would make sure I knew it later.

Grayson narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t care. My mother’s got some boxes on her vanity, I think. Just pick something. Nothing that looks too expensive, though. I’m not broke – yet – but I’m gonna need some of these people to dive into their checkbooks for me at some point.”

“Right.” I smiled. I took a step toward Grayson. He was nervous, I knew. I could feel sympathy for that. Being Diana’s son had left scars on him that I don’t think even he knew how deep they ran. Maybe, I thought. If he knew what happened, what she had done to me ... maybe he would help me anyway. “Good luck, baby,” I said, blowing him a kiss. “I’ll be down in five.”

Grayson closed the door and left me alone in Diana’s bedroom. Patience, I thought. You’re not going to find what you need stashed under her bed. That would be too easy. Of course, I looked. But when I peeled back the lace dust ruffle of her four-poster canopy, all I found was a dust bunny and a discarded tube of lip gloss.

I went to Diana’s vanity table. Like most everything about her, it was over the top – a heavy wooden dresser painted white with a great gilded mirror against the wall. She had several jewelry boxes stacked against it and I picked one up at random. It held dozens of rings. Each of them more ostentatious than the next. The next box held brooches too heavy to go with my simple silk. A third box held a ring of old-fashioned keys. The house had original doors with crystal knobs and classic keyholes. These keys might be important if I could find the chance to try them out. I placed them back in the box.

Finally, I picked up the smallest jewelry box on the table. It was a simple, square teakwood box with a broken latch. It seemed almost out of place here. I opened the lid to find blue velvet lining and just a few pieces.

I chose a teardrop diamond pendant with matching earrings. With the dress Grayson picked, not a soul would pay attention to my accessories. Like at the funeral home, all eyes would be on my tits, just like he wanted. I might as well pick something I liked. I combed out my hair, letting it hang straight. It covered the earrings but at least I would know they were there. Then I headed downstairs to play my part.

Most of the invitees were people I met at Diana’s service. Lieutenant Governor Jeffries was there. His wife was not. No members of Diana’s coven were here. I didn’t think Grayson realized how telling that was. Much of Diana’s political power she’d gained from her standing within the coven. As soon as people started to realize Grayson wasn’t respected by the mages like she was…that he didn’t have anywhere close to the power she had…it could doom his career before it even started. I scanned the room. No shifters had shown up either except… My heart raced. A pulse thrummed through me that didn’t feel quite like my own. There, leaning casually against the far wall was Theo Dorran.

It was Theo’s attention I caught first as I descended Diana’s marble staircase. His were the only eyes that didn’t sneer when they saw me. Instead, they flashed silver, purely predatory as a slow, smooth smile came across his handsome face. I focused on him. It didn’t matter if the others judged me: I knew. Still, Theo’s gaze gave me strength I hadn’t realized I needed as I made my way through the gauntlet until I reached Grayson’s side.

Grayson turned slightly and smiled. He put a possessive arm around me, the other held two fingers of scotch that he gestured with while talking to the mayor. I listened. I painted on the pretty smile that Grayson expected. I said nothing more substantial than comments on the weather or agreement on how lovely the service or the flowers were for Diana. Some of those still lined the staircase, reminding me of the sweet, sickly smell of death.

Dinner was worse. Grayson sat at the head of the table though I told him it was a terrible choice. No one should. He wasn’t a king. I sat at the far end next to the mayor. When another man sat down beside me, every nerve ending in my body erupted in fire. I couldn’t breathe. His stench. His magic. It permeated my senses. He was an old, powerful mage. One who had been masking his aura until he got close enough to me to touch.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Carrington,” he said. His eyes glinted. He let his hand brush mine. I quickly folded my hands in my lap.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” I said. “Mister…”

“Padgett,” he said. “Abraham Padgett.” My mind raced. Padgett. Padgett. I’d heard the name before but couldn’t place it. When I asked him what he did for a living, both he and the mayor laughed. I found myself looking for Theo again. It was no good. He was seated at the same side of the table as me but too far down to engage in conversation. I was on my own until after dessert.

But Grayson kept the drinks flowing and soon enough dinner ended. It was a roomful of egos and fat wallets and people saying nothing. Grayson floundered at the head of the table and later they moved into the other room for even more drinks. He wasn’t smooth. He asked for commitments with no finesse. He expected people to open their wallets right then and there. Grayson was spell-drunk. He’d taken a hit off something when I wasn’t looking. He wanted to seem more powerful than he really was. I could help him, I knew. If he hadn’t insisted on dressing me as his slut, his trophy. But I still hadn’t decided whether Grayson’s political ambitions might help or hinder what I needed. Better to watch and wait.

I needed air. I walked out Diana’s double French doors to the terrace overlooking her perfectly manicured, perfectly vulgar gardens with a maze of hedges leading to a reflecting pool. How much did she pay every year to maintain them? Probably more than the median income of the people of New York. People were still suffering out there after the war. Still rebuilding. It felt obscene to throw a party like this.

The air held a chill, and I was glad for it. It kept everyone else inside so I could steal a minute alone. Grayson would pass out before he made it to bed. He wouldn’t touch me. He knew I wouldn’t allow it. Not until I let him mark me. He would leave me alone with my thoughts and my doubts and in the morning his memory of tonight would be clouded by wishful thinking and revisionist history.

An hour might have passed. No one missed me. I would have stayed out longer but I heard shouting coming from the other end of the courtyard. Squinting, I could see a light on in one of the first floor sitting rooms. Grayson and Theo were inside. Grayson held his hands out, his shoulders in a shrug but even from this distance I could make out a smirk on his face. Theo’s hands were balled into fists, and he slammed one down on the cushion of one of Diana’s green wing-backed chairs, nearly toppling the thing over. Hugging the ivy-covered wall, I crept closer until I could hear their words. My God. He looked ready to shift. The two men circled each other. Theo was pure Alpha. Grayson would never be able to best him in hand-to-hand combat.

“You wanna get into this now? We can get into this now,” Theo said.

“There’s nothing to get into, Theo. You’re here. Look around. I’m not hiding anything. I don’t have a map to some pirate treasure stashed away here.” Grayson still held his arms out and he reared his head back in an over-exaggerated fake laugh. He did the same thing to me whenever I called him out on how much dark magic he was using. By the flexing of Theo’s hands in and out of fists, his reaction was about the same as mine.

“Okay ... so I’ll explain this again slowly so maybe it will sink in. My mother had jewelry, pictures, things she was saving to give to my sister or me when we were older. I want to know what happened to them. That’s all. They’re probably not worth anything. They are definitely not worth anything to you.”

Theo had something in his hand, something shiny. I couldn’t tell what it was until he slipped it over the first knuckle of his pinky. It was a diamond ring. “Thank you for this, okay?” He wiggled his pinky in Grayson’s face. “But I remember she kept this with other things. I just want my own mother’s things back. You owe me a hell of a lot more but that’s the only thing I care to make an issue of right now.”

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