Page 6 of The Lies We Conjure
Ursula turns to me.
I’m dressed in the suit she chose and standing so as not to wrinklethe fine Italian craftsmanship. The open button at my throat could hardly be classified as unnecessary and impolite, and it’s obvious I haven’t had a drink, not to mention Ursula knows me well enough to be sure I don’t intend to.
Still, I’ve violated her expectations, the same as my cousins.
Turns out it’s not what I’ve done, but what she expects me to do.
“The High Families are our peers as much as they are our responsibility. You are no longer children—I expect you to be polite, courteous, and respectful toallof our guests, but most especially to the Blackgate heirs.” I think that’s it, but only when our grandmother continues and adds the use of my first name does it truly dawn on me how much of a liability she must believe I am. “Auden, I do not have to remind you, I’m sure, that a renewal of your previous littleanimuswith Lavinia Blackgate will not be tolerated this evening.”
“Understood,” I answer with a drop of my chin that I hope appears remorseful.
I wait out Ursula’s appraisal for what seems like several moments too long before she inhales thinly.
“Now that we’re all reacquainted with our expectations, I must finish my preparations.” I raise my gaze just in time to see her spear Evander right through the heart. “Because, yes, Evander,she doeshave something planned tonight.”
With that, Ursula Hegemony turns on her heel and walks out.
The moment her steps are swallowed by the plush hallway carpeting Evander crumples.“Shit.”
The side of Winter’s mouth lifts ever so slightly at his mortification. “You got roastedandyou didn’t even learn anything. That takes some talent, Evander.”
He grumbles at her but makes it a point to glower at me. “Wipe that smug grin off your face, Auden.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Exactly the point and the problem.”
Winter rolls her eyes and sweeps a ribbon of strawberry blond behind her ear using her watered-down reflection in the windowpane.“If she won’t tell us, I’m just going to go ask the Blackgates myself why they’re here—politely, courteously, and respectfully, of course.”
Evander fusses with an impeccably turned cuff at his wrist, clearly already wishing to rip off his jacket. The man cannot stand to feel confined. “Win, you’re wasting your time. Marsyas wouldn’t fly those girls forty-five hundred miles and not prep them.”
“I suppose I’ll find out, won’t I?”
At sixteen, Winter’s the youngest of the three of us, and appropriately stubborn. Especially when Evander tries to play patriarch at eighteen—he’s just graduated high school, after all, and we’re only a year behind him. Winter spins and heads for the doorway that leads from the solarium onto the sprawling elevated stone terrace, down the steps to the gardens and the Rocky Mountain wilds beyond.
“Be nice,” I shout at her back.
“I’m not the one who was given a direct warning,” shetsksbefore pausing and turning around, one immaculately sculpted brow mischievously arched. “Anyway, I will be—to them. To Hex? I make no guarantees.”
“Nor should you.”
If Hex Cerise is still standing by the night’s end, it’ll only be because Winter is making him suffer instead of putting him out of his misery. The guy’s basically been pulling her hair for attention since they were both in diapers. It’s as pathetic as it is predictable. And it makes her cling harder to the people she likes best—namely Infinity.
As Winter vanishes, Evander stalks away from the windows, heavy footfalls pointing toward the serpentine halls of Hegemony Manor. “I’m going to the source.”
“Ah, yes, because interrogating Ursula during her stated preparation for the most important gathering of her calendar year after she already roasted you for being uncouth is a most excellent plan for both obtaining the truth and going unscathed.”
My older cousin pauses to glower at me yet again, thick brows lowered to match his frown. “I’m not stupid, I’ll start with an apology.But I amtheoathed heir and do have the right and obligation to know her plans as part of my training.”
I don’t tolerate his infantilization any more than Winter does. If I’d been born six months earlier, I might be the patriarch-in-waiting. If Ursula preferred me as much as my cousins believe she does, those few months might not have mattered anyway. I smirk at Evander and raise an invisible glass. “Top-notch argument. I’m sure that’ll go over swimmingly.”
“Shut up, Auden.”
With that, Evander straightens his jacket and leaves. His footfalls echo down the hall, and I have no doubt he’ll stomp the whole flight up to the third floor. A fool’s errand and tantrum rolled into one, in my opinion. Not that he’ll get anything out of it.
When I’m alone, I finally step to one of the many floor-to-ceiling solarium windows and peer out onto the grounds. Everyone is accounted for, as commanded by the mighty ink and envelope of Ursula Hegemony.
The Cerises. The Starwoods. The Blackgates.
