Bryn called Clint and Ivy to see if they were okay with her plan. Once they were on board, she went to stare into her armoire. No matter what she wore, she wouldn’t be mentally prepared to deal with Ferrin. She reached out and touched her favorite pair of jeans. How funny would it be to show up for dinner in jeans and a sweatshirt? Her grandmother probably wouldn’t find it amusing. Speaking of her grandmother, maybe she should touch base with her.
“You’re having dinner at Westgate Estate tonight?” Her grandmother sounded surprised. That wasn’t good.
“So I’m guessing you’re not?” Bryn said.
“Not that I’m aware of,” her grandmother said. “Maybe Lillith wanted to keep it just the immediate family.”
“That is not a good idea,” Bryn said. “There won’t be anything to distract Ferrin from his hobby of disliking me.”
“If he’s hosting the dinner, he shouldn’t be openly rude to his guests,” her grandmother said.
“I don’t find that comforting,” Bryn said.
Bryn changed outfits three times before settling on a black skirt with an aqua cashmere sweater set. It wasn’t super fancy, but it was upper class, and that’s what she was aiming for.
When Jaxon came to collect her at six o’clock he was wearing a black suit with a navy tie. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“Why does that feel like a trick question?”
“Probably because it is. No matter how you think my father is going to react, you never know what he’s actually going to do in a social situation.”
“Fabulous.” Bryn followed him to his car. “According to my grandmother, it’s just us. They weren’t invited, and neither was my mother.”
“Really?” Jaxon looked perplexed. “That’s strange.”
“Maybe your mom just wants to see you,” Bryn said.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Jaxon drove them to Westgate Estate in his fancy black sports car.
His mother waited for them inside the foyer with Asher on her hip and a huge grin on her face. “I’m so happy to see you two. Come with me.”
Either Asher made her supremely happy or she’d been drinking wine before they arrived.
“Where are we going?” Jaxon asked.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Lillith said. “It’s a surprise.”
Jaxon didn’t love surprises. His mother had to know that,but it’s not like she could say that to Lillith, so they followed her down the hall, up a flight of stairs, and past several closed doors before reaching a small dining room with an oval mahogany table set for four, plus a bassinet in the corner.
“This is cozy,” Bryn said.
“I thought so, too.” Lillith sat. “I’ve missed interacting with people and Ferrin is rarely home, so I thought it might be nice for us to catch up.”
This seemed a lot more low pressure than she’d expected, especially if Ferrin wouldn’t be joining them.
“How’s Asher doing?” Bryn asked.
“He’s wonderful,” Lillith said. “Would you like to hold him?”
“Sure.” Bryn took the baby, holding him in the crook of her arm like she’d seen Lillith and her grandmother do. He was sleeping at the moment, making soft snuffling noises that melted her heart. “He’s adorable.”
“I know.” Lilith sighed. “Especially when he’s sleeping.”
Ferrin entered the room. He stiffened when he saw Bryn. Was it her presence or the fact that she was holding Asher? Did he think she’d rub off on him in some weird way? If she was marrying one of his sons, holding the other one shouldn’t be a big deal. And that was an odd thought.
“Bryn, what an interesting surprise.” Ferrin said the word interesting like he meant unwelcome. “I wasn’t aware that you’d be joining us this evening.”
“I did say I wanted to have dinner with our family,” Lillith said.
“It would seem we define that term differently,” Ferrin replied.
“This is going to be loads of fun,” Bryn told Jaxon, not bothering to keep her voice low. If he could be obnoxious, so could she…in a respectful grown-up way, of course.
“Ferrin doesn’t like surprises,” Lillith said. “That’s all.”
Bryn was pretty sure that wasn’t the root of the problem but knew when to keep her mouth shut.
“Any news on the Quintessence-siphoning dragons?” Jaxon asked his father.
Nice topic change.
“No. We’ve followed down the vague leads given to us, but the imbeciles don’t know who they were reporting to.”
Asher started to fuss, so Bryn handed him back to Lillith before Ferrin could accuse her of doing something to the baby.
“I still wonder if the whole thing isn’t some sort of distraction,” Jaxon said. “But I’m not sure from what.”
“Or a way to throw suspicion on the new students,” Bryn added.
“It’s not the students from Sanctuary that are the issue,” Ferrin said. “It’s the adults.”
And there was no way that wasn’t a slam against her parents. Bryn sat down, put both of her elbows firmly on the table, and leaned forward, smiling at Ferrin. “Is this how it’s going to be? You’re going to spend the evening slighting my parents? Because I’d like to point out that you’re the one that agreed to the marriage contract.”
Ferrin turned away from her and walked to a sideboard that held a crystal decanter full of amber-colored alcohol. He poured himself a glass, took a sip, and then said, “Believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you. I wasn’t referring to your parents, because as far as I’m concerned, the Sinclairs are your guardians. Anyone else that you may unfortunately share DNA with is not worthy of my recognition.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bryn turned to Jaxon. “From now on when your father speaks I’m going to hear that teacher from Charlie Brown who goes, ‘Whah Whah Whah Whah Whah Whah.’ So you can handle the rest of this conversation.”
Jaxon looked like he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or be outraged. He sighed and said, “Okay then. Let’s rewind the conversation to your concerns about the adults in Sanctuary. What’s going on?”
Ferrin glared at Bryn and then turned to his son. “We believe there are some dragons living in the old mines below the town. The residents who have registered and are settled into the new housing have passed all of our tests, but we think there are some hold-outs.”
“I still think it seems like too much of a coincidence that they targeted students connected to the Directorate,” Jaxon said.
“It takes training to be able to siphon Quintessence from another dragon,” Ferrin said. “So even if this isn’t the Silver Cult brought back to life, some group is draining students and sending them out to do the same to others.”
Bryn regretted removing herself from the conversation. She tried to mentally prompt Jaxon into asking his father what happened to the two men they’d questioned. Were they locked up in the cells below the library? Apparently, she and her future husband weren’t telepathically connected because he started talking to his father about something else. Bryn leaned over to Lillith.
“What happened to the Silver dragon-pires they arrested?”
Lillith frowned. “It might be better not to ask such questions. They attacked the Speaker’s son, so once the Directorate collected all the information they needed there wouldn’t be any reason to keep them around anymore.”
“Oh.” So maybe she’d turned the one guy into a giant ice cube, but she hadn’t wished him dead. Then again, he was going around feeding on other dragons’ life force and he had dumped her unconscious body in a field by the stadium.
A maid with a W sewn onto her uniform pushed a trolley full of food into the small room. She glanced around and then said, “Are you ready for dinner, or should I come back?”
“You can serve the food now.” Lillith stood and took Asher over to the bassinet in the corner. After placing him inside, she pushed a button and the basket slowly swung back and forth. Why didn’t they make beds like that for adults?
Bryn was already seated on the long side of the oval. Jaxon sat across from her. Ferrin sat at what must be the head of the table, and Lillith sat on the other end. The maid delivered plates of something brown and squishy. She made it a rule not to eat anything she couldn’t identify, even though it smelled good. Her three companions dug in. Jaxon caught her staring at her plate.
“It’s basically steak with truffles,” Jaxon said.
“Steak with chocolate?” Chocolate was awesome on most things, but on beef?
“Not the candy,” Jaxon said. “The mushroom.”