Page 52 of Hearts of Stone

“I don’t believe I asked for a date with dear Jonathon,” I said, through gritted teeth, my expression quickly turning to a grimace when one of the old codgers sucked in a breath to speak. “Nor with any of your sons, nephews, or brothers. Not even with your cousins three times removed. On top of which, I havenointention…” I swallowed hard to shift the lump forming in my throat, “of marrying anyone any time soon. James.” I turned to Mellors. “What are my legal obligations to this First Families club?”

“Now, hold on a minute…” David said, standing up at the other end of the table, and puffing his chest out, looking very much like the giant pigeon sculpture in Rundle Mall.

“No.Youhold on.” I stared directly at him, and then at those nearest to him. “If your families were the ones who founded South Australia, then I know my history well enough to know that you’re all direct descendants of people who took the land from the indigenous people who lived here first. And you’re all beneficiaries of that bloody and disgusting dispossession.”

“You can’t—”

David was turning an unpleasant shade of purple.

“Your forebears would’ve been fleeing religious persecution in the UK,” I continued, “seeking to take advantage of the creation of a new colony in Australia, and grabbing as much land as they could, by whatever means possible. And because that advantage has put you all in a position of privilege, you somehow think you’ve got the right to dictate to others.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” one of the other men said, eyes narrowing.

“No, I don’t, and I’d politely asked for that information before this old prick piped up with his 19th century ideas that there’s ‘no point educating the girls, because they just get married’.” My nails dug into the table’s polished wood surface and I saw several men wince at that, but I wasn’t going to give them and their petty concerns any more attention. They didn’t deserve it. I turned to James again, “So, let me ask again: what obligations do I have to the First Families?”

“Well, the Wildfyre Club has been meeting here since Whiteley House was built,” he informed me.

“And there’s a lease or an agreement in place that covers that?” I asked.

“We don’t need such things,” Savoy answered. “A man’s word is his bond.”

“Well, here are my words.” I straightened up. “Whatever this is…” and I waved my hand around in a circle, indicating them all, before slapping it down again for emphasis, “it’s not happening anymore in any building that belongs to me. In other words, pick up your shit and get out.”

“What?” “No!” “You can’t do that!”

“Can I?” I asked Mellors.

“The building does belong to you,” he said, stroking his chin. “There might be some argument about a habitual arrangement becoming a kind of unwritten contract of sorts.”

“That’s exactly right,” one of the men said, leaping to his feet. “We’ve always met here. This is our club—”

“Held in my building.”

Each one of these old misogynists saw menow, didn’t they? As that thought crossed my mind, I had a sudden epiphany.

Part of me had believed that it had been my fault all of these bad things kept happening, because I could’ve just stood up to Trevor, pushed back more, forced Septicaemia out or, better, done what Daniel had suggested and gone after Trevor’s assets.We might not have been married, but in Australia, a de facto relationship could entitle the other partner to 50% of all assets. I’d thought of myself as weak because I just couldn’t find the energy to do any of that, but the reality was that, like a lot of people, I’d been hemmed in, beaten down and pushed into a corner by a string of shitty events I had little to no control over.

But those days were done and dusted.

Now, I had money, power, and the ability to do something about people who tried to push me around. And I was going to relish sending this old boys’ club packing. With a growing sense of confidence, I stood there, my head held high and my spine straight and strong, waiting to see whether a coherent challenge would emerge from amongst the spluttering. But as I cast a glance around, I realised that they had stopped complaining and were simply staring at me in stunned amazement, and I realised why when my eyes were drawn down to my hands, resting on the table in front of me. My palms had lit up bright white and were glowing like the moon itself. That was what had the men around the table staring, one of them most of all.

Adam had seemed eternally amused by, well, everything, but for the first time tonight that smile faltered and he stared at me with the kind of rapt fascination men usually saved for women who did not look at all like me. And that added to the feeling of power within me. However good that made me feel, I still needed to deal with the problem of these cantankerous old men. I focussed back on the table, sucking in a breath and feeling something move inside me, like the tide going out. It was as though hidden forces shoved all of that energy, back, back, back, only for it to come rushing back in again in the form of a wave.

“Get out…” I said, barely even whispering the words, because I didn’t need to shout them. I felt the gargoyles cluster closer, a faint hum setting up in my ears, right before the sound of many chairs being shoved backwards filled the room. When Ilooked up, each of the heads of the families was moving slowly, robotically, as they filed out of the room.

Except for one.

“You…” It felt like my voice echoed through the room, filling every corner; but the only person I needed to hear it was Adam. “You can stay. You promised me a history lesson and you’re gonna give it to me.”

Chapter 30

Seneca

I hadn’t been around him for long, but already I hated this smug bastard, Adam. His face was that of a stone brother who I did my best to forget most days for I feared I would go mad from the memories, but it was more than that. Those knowing eyes, those smug smiles hinted at a hidden knowledge of my mate that the man couldn’t possibly possess, so when she told the heads of the families to leave, I was happy that he would no longer be near her. But then my mate made her decree.

“You promised me a history lesson and you’re gonna give it to me.”

Not him! I wanted to shout. Not him, not any of them. My mother had warned me of how it would be when I found my fated mate, and yet still I was unprepared for this feeling of possessiveness that overwhelmed me. I struggled to fill my lungs properly: my chest heaving with the effort of it, the breaths coming in harder and faster the longer this man remained in Jade’s presence. I had a desperate urge to step between them so as to block her sight of the warlock and draw her eyes back to me, but I forced myself to keep my position by her side, becauseshe was my queen and this was what she wanted. The only indication of my inner turmoil was the way my tail twitched, then commenced swishing back and forth with such violence that Carrick stared at me with a frown. But I refused to be deterred: he wasn’t my focus, she was.

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