Sons (Book 2) (7 page)

“You haven’t noticed that you’re a little faster now?” Peter asked me quietly, turning his back to the audience.  “That you can see a little better?  Why would it surprise you that you can hear a little better?  I don’t think the Fae power is changing your body, but it does seem to be improving your performance physically.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” I replied absently staring at the open door instead of paying attention to Harris and Fuller.  It took a moment for me to remember them.

“You didn’t see what he did on the patio, Clifford.  A human-fucking-
elf-king
just claimed a Breach of Hospitality on
my front lawn
and you say it’s not a problem?” Fuller said in a loud whisper hoarsely.  Too loud, I thought, to not be heard by others nearby, till I noticed the privacy shielding Fuller had erected around them.  It gave them a dull, hazy look and muffled their conversation so it should have been extremely difficult to hear them.

“No, Darius, I said I have taken care of that problem,” Harris said softly, absently smiling and waving modestly at no one in particular.  “If they bring it up, we’ll apologize and discuss it.  However, they were right.  By all accounts but one, they agreed to compromise on all points but one until the situation got threatening.  And we did threaten.  We were warned off and we threatened again.”  He turned to make sure he had Fuller’s attention when he said this.  “
He
reacted, just Seth.”

Fuller studied Harris for a moment then looked out over the filling room smiling at new arrivals he didn’t know like old friends from his college years.  “What are you getting at?” he asked Harris, inching his way down the wall toward the front of the room.

“I mean that if Seth was serious about a breach then all five of them would have torn this place up until you were standing in the center of a half-circle in front of them.  That was a display of power.  Seth was saying, ‘yes, I am as good as you’ve heard, now back down.’  The big problem there is, Seth does not—and I stress,
does not
—like doing that.  Big brother and the blonde kid seem to be teaching the other two in some pretty esoteric magic.  Most of us can’t even see what they’re talking about much less manipulating.  And rumor has it that Seth believes that both Ehran and Ethan are more powerful than he is.  That was before his ‘coronation,’ though.”  Harris followed him deeper into the room.

“So how am I supposed to be acting here?” Fuller asked nervously.

“Like you’re having dinner with anyone else you don’t know,” Harris said nonchalantly.  “Just remember that they
can
see you.  They are an extremely honest and forthright group of men and they expect that in return.  Don’t play games and don’t be condescending.  Seth will shove both of those right down your throat and have you smiling while he does it, trust me.”

“Señor Florian!” I called through the room once I saw him.  “You won’t be joining us here?”

“No
, mi amigo,
” Florian said from two rows out from the dais and smiling sheepishly.  “I have found it safer to observe from a distance where you are concerned.”  Kieran laughed as the blush ran up my face, turning quite a few heads when the peals reverberated off the walls.

“That’s why we didn’t want to wait in the van,” Ethan said loudly, grinning down the table at me.  That got the rest of us laughing, but it panicked Harris and Fuller.  They nearly sprinted the last half of the room to get to the dais.  Peraza followed at a more sedate pace but he knew what was going on.  Phillips was with him, whispering in Peraza’s ear the same story he’d told Fuller. 

Another gong sounded in the background.  Apparently this was a universal signal that I wasn’t clued in on that meant it was time to eat as everyone started moving more directly to tables.  If there was assigned seating, I didn’t see how anyone knew which was theirs, but there weren’t any disagreements on seats that I saw.  Fuller came up behind his chair nervously as I watched the room fall into order.  The two vice-presidents, I think the North American man was called something else, were the last to walk up the side aisle from the door and take their seats on the dais.

As Phillips started to pass behind him, Fuller stopped him with a whispered, “Where’s Seward?”

“Still working on that third issue,” Phillips whispered back.  “I’ve sent someone to remind him of his priorities, sir.”  Fuller nodded curtly and pulled his chair out.

He took a more pleasant and conversational tone with me, almost like flipping a switch.  “I hope you’ve had a pleasant evening so far, Mr. McClure,” he said.

I choked on the water I was sipping, laughing a bit.  “I guess you could say that.  It’s been interesting, anyway,” I said, noncommittally.

“So I’ve just been told,” Fuller said to me as Phillips sat between Peter and me.  “I apologize for your earlier… difficulties and appreciate your discretion in not bringing down my house because of them.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Fuller,” I said.  “I didn’t think it necessary to destroy such a magnificent building just because some officious twit felt the need to test me.  Speaking of… Mr. Phillips, where is Mr. Seward?  Still having problems, is he?”

“He should be here momentarily,” Phillips answered, avoiding the poke at Seward completely.

“I doubt that,” I said chuckling.  Seward was actively trying to overtake the wards along with three other men at the moment.  From what I could see, they were a good distance away in the house.

“You’ve been a busy young man the past few months, Mr. McClure,” Fuller said, changing the subject.

“Yes, it has been a busy and difficult few weeks, that’s for sure,” I answered as a small mob of waiters took to the floor carrying wine bottles and an assortment of beverages.  “I think we’ll be able to slow down a little after Thursday.  We need to slow down anyway.”

“I can’t imagine, truthfully,” he said, picking up the cork from a wine bottle a steward had just placed on his right.  He glanced at the bottle being presented to him, then felt and listened to the cork as he squeezed it lightly.  He nodded once and the steward poured a small amount in his glass, which he twirled, looking for some quality lost on me.  “Did you know what you were getting yourself into, when you took that power away from the elf?”

“No, not at all,” I said.  “I was just trying to kill him before he killed me.  And there was no question that he had to die that day.  He’d already tried to take Ehran and Ethan, probably my Dad, too.  Then all of us at Grammand on top of that?  The Rat Bastard had to die.”

“Will you be taking over his agreements as well as his kingdom?” Fuller asked, then he sipped the sample of wine.  He nodded again, so the steward filled the bulbous glass halfway, stepped to my right and filled mine the same, leaving the bottle sitting on the table between us.

“I didn’t take his kingdom,” I answered, shaking my head.  “His kingdom was in the Wyldes of Faery and was destroyed quite thoroughly by the Queens after his demise.  And even if I did, I would not take on his obligations.”

“I was told you saved some portion of his Fae when he died,” Fuller explained.  “We thought that meant you had a place for them to live.”

“I did take them and I do,” I said smiling at his grasping for understanding.  “My realm is not part of Faery.”

“How can that be?” he asked, confused.

“How can
I
be an elf-king?” I asked, shrugging.  “I plugged power into a world and it blossomed.  I was in Faery at the time and it was a Fae power—I have no other explanation than that.”

Another flurry of waiters hit the room, this time carrying plates.  The smell of food started me salivating.  Lunch was a long time ago and on the plane.  When our waiter slipped a small plate down in front of me, I was disappointed and hoped this was a starter.  I hoped really, really hard.  Five slices of medium-rare steak rolled in cracked peppercorns wasn’t going to get me through the night, no matter how good it was.

“That could be very problematic for us,” Fuller said, seemingly to himself, taking a bite and chewing slowly.

“And why is that?” I asked, tossing back the last piece of meat and reaching for the wine, a red.  It would need to be a very robust wine to compete with the heavily peppered steak.

“While MacNamara’s main concern was always his fights,” Fuller said cautiously.  “He did maintain a few sidelines, some trade, that a number of us availed ourselves to.”

“Then I suggest you find other providers,” I said, probably condescendingly.  “I’m in no position to even think about trade right now, even if I had what you’re looking for, and there’s no way I’m continuing with that vile concept of gladiatorial games for entertainment.  I participated
once
only because I was forced to.”

“And by all accounts, you did remarkably well,” Phillips remarked.

“I had a lot of help there, too,” I said, turning to Phillips.  “And nearly lost my best friend because of it.  The only thing I have to be proud of there, Mr. Phillips, is that Peter left as my brother instead of a corpse.”

“You threw the two first Princesses of Faery out of the Arena.  That is quite a display of power, Mr. McClure,” Phillips replied.

“They were set to attack us, Mr. Phillips,” I said.  “I was faced with two choices: one, throw them out, or two, let them attack and have Ehran and Ethan kill them.  Which of the two do you think was the safest?”

There was a mild shift of attention to Kieran and Ethan as a number of people considered my statement.  Could they have killed the Princesses?  Surely not.  Could they?  I heard Harris snicker softly behind me.

“Also, why would I want to ‘display’ power?  That’s suggests to me that you believe me to be rather pompous, or maybe you believe me to be a puffer fish, growing bigger than I really am to fake out the competition?”  I sat back in my chair with my wineglass, swirling the bowl and watching Phillips panic.  Peter peeked around Phillips, grinning at me.

“Seth,” he said, giggling a little, “You’re not just torturing
him
.”

“Really?” I said and turned back to Mr. Fuller to see in a state of shock, not quite shutting down, but having difficulty picking from many paths.  The entire right side of the table continued eating, though Peraza kept track of the conversation when he could.  He was getting anxious about it, but Kieran kept him distracted.  “You’re right, Peter.  Mr. Fuller also seems to be confused about this.  I’m not terribly certain as to why, though, when it seems to me that Marshal Harris’ descriptions and suggestions were so on target.  ‘Amazingly honest and forthright’, ‘don’t play games,’ and ‘don’t be condescending.’  Simple rules of conduct.

“Perhaps,” I continued, my tone light but still far too heavy with the sarcasm, “I am too young to recognize the complexities involved here?  Is it something that requires a middle-aged mind?”  Fuller was still lost, but he was able to cut away a large number of limbs from the decision tree of his options.  He smiled suddenly, realizing the word game I’d caught him in.  His references to my age weren’t impolite
per se
, but they were jockeying for position on a track that I didn’t even want to be on. 

“I believe I see Cliff’s point,” he murmured.

“And you are smiling,” I said.

“But isn’t that exactly what you did?” Phillips persisted.  “With that single display, you cowed Faery, both Courts.  There were no reprisals.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Mr. Phillips,” I said, turning back.  “It would be fairer to say that there have been no reprisals
yet
.  And I seriously doubt that I ‘cowed Faery.’  Certainly defeating one of most powerful had more weight than merely tossing two around a little.”

Another round of servers rushed through the dining room, serving another course for dinner.  Good, I was beginning to get a little worried about the food.

“The way Cahill and Harris described your first meeting with the Fae after defeating MacNamara certainly appeared to be a display of power,” Fuller said confidently.

“And it most definitely was, on all three sides,” I agreed.  “Cahill did an excellent job there, too.  Felix and Enid are quite understandably proud of him for it.”  I watched Fuller as he cycled through the possibilities of who was manning the Castle’s defenses to come up with an answer.

“But Gordon was…” he whispered.

“With me, yes, I know,” I whispered back.  “Young or not, you do what you have to do.”  More loudly, I said, “But even then, I didn’t use power so much as attitude.  Peter used more power than I did.  I mostly just ‘out-snottied’ them.”  A small laugh cascaded around the room.  “And officially, that never happened and even though the incursion taught us a few things, we have to accept that fact and act accordingly.”

A server slipped in behind me, removing the plate in front of me.  Seconds later, another slipped in a salad, thinly sliced Roma tomatoes between equally thin white goat cheese on a bed of torn green leaf lettuce and radicchio with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  I’d have to remember to ask Peter if these people ate normal food.  If not, I’d need to eat before coming out to dinner again.  I’d starve otherwise.

“And trust me when I say that you do not want to see the extent of the Queens’ power when they’re angry,” I said, thinking back to watching them stand by that oak tree, impatient but waiting for me to leave the arena.  By then lower case letters sufficed.  “Their ferocity is not easily forgotten.  I do not wish to fight with them.”

“So MacNamara was not their equal?” Fuller asked.

“Hmm, I haven’t considered that question,” I said.  “At least in the sense you’re asking it.  Ehran, what do you think?”  Kieran was a little startled I pulled him into our conversation but he rolled with it admirably.

“There are several differences between them that make defining equality difficult,” Kieran said, sitting back in his chair to see Fuller around the podium on the table.  “In the Arena where Seth and he fought and when they fought, it would be safe to say the Rat Bastard and the Queens were fairly equal at that point.”

Fuller looked between us, eyebrows arched high in question as he decided which to ask in what order and calculating how far he could go.  He decided to start with Kieran, probably thinking it a safer route.  He may have been right.

“What differences?  And won’t Seth also suffer from them?” Fuller asked.

“They are in the manner in which Fae magic flows and affects the universe,” Kieran explained, turning in his chair completely.  “The Queens are completely vested in their power and with their realm.  Likely at a much later date, MacNamara found the fountain in the Wyldes and carved out a kingdom with it.  For whatever reason, he chose not to vest himself to it.  This caused period problems that required the elf to reset the binding.  MacNamara was weakest before the binding took place and strongest just afterward.”

“When had he last bound himself?” he asked.

“At the opening ceremonies of the games the previous week,” Kieran said, a sly grin lit his face.  “Recent.”

Fuller turned back to me, still smiling and confident.  “So, not to denigrate in any way, but your reputed history doesn’t support the kind of training for the magic you’ve been witnessed wielding personally.  You managed to kill a king of the Fae at full power.  How?”

“I’m not sure what my reputed history is to you,” I said coyly.  “I’ve heard all sorts of odd rumors.  Well, odd to me, anyway.  As far as I’m concerned, I lived a fairly typical life of a fairly typical lower, upper-class couple.  I was privately tutored all my life, well educated, well cared for and loved by my parents.  It’s only in the past year that I’ve found there was nothing typical about my parents and upper class as a financial status stopped being meaningful when an entire realm opened up.

“As to how, I had a lot of help, to start with,” I continued, “then I disconnected him from his power source.  That took a while.  I had to start while I was fighting with him.  If it weren’t for my dad, he would have killed me.”

“You… disconnected an elf from his power,” Phillips said.  “How did you do that?”

“No, I disconnected the Rat Bastard from the Fountain,” I corrected.  “And I did it by repeating the binding, then taking the Fountain myself.”