“No, Magnum will stay with Blake.”
“What? No way. You are not speaking to V without me.”
On his muttering of her nickname, Cinder and Ceci appeared, both wielding daggers in their expressions.
“Hello, son.” My mother greeted me with an icy peck on the cheek. “I see you’ve returned to do the right thing. Good boy.”
I knew better than to use my powers on my mother, but I sure wanted to make her feel a sting like I was experiencing. “I’m not a good boy. I’m here because Tulya needs help, and until I deal with everyone else and their mistakes, no one will go to her.”
My mother served me a deadly stare.
Hours later, after settling Valerie in a room with Blake, making sure she knew I was on her side when it came to her daughter, and Cinder being occupied by Ezza, I sat at my desk. It was the only space I felt comfortable discussing the matter; my office was both private and a room I called my own. My mother was seated across from me, Magnum next to her, and the Minister on his other side. The single reason they’d agreed to this arrangement was because they knew I was the only onewith a vested interest in removing Valerie. When it came to my brother, it was apparent he would be fine with her never leaving.
I cleared my throat, gave a chin nod, and waited for Ceci to go first. She was always better operating under the illusion of having the upper hand.
“Thank you for chaperoning Tuvy,” my mother opened with. She could be as skilled at warfare as me. “But we have a problem. The human has to go. It’s bad enough we have a leak and have been outed.”
Leaning forward, I narrowed my gaze on Magnum. “Obviously, this isn’t my problem seeing as how I didn’t start the leak.”
“But they always call you in to control me,” he rebutted.
“Enough!” Elon, the Minister, his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back, sat cool as a cuke in his navy pinstriped suit. “The human leaves, the child stays. Period. After it’s settled, someone will pay the human and her family a visit. They will get regular updates on the girl as long as they keep quiet. You take care of this, and the medic goes to Tulya, who is my niece by the way, suffering every minute you waste.”
“And visits.” Two words. I allowed them to settle.
“One visit to make sure the human and her family understand the circumstances. It’s not your business to know this, but once before this happened, and that woman was exiled to Alaska with her ailing father—”
“No!” my brother stood and shouted.
“Sit down,” Ceci demanded, and he obeyed like Pavlov’s dog.
I put a pin in all the secrets that had been withheld and the craziness in which we lived, making a note to get out as quickly as I could. Living a life alone would be better. I then clarified, “I am not talking about the visit to see Valerie, the human. I mean Valerie will be allowed visits with her daughter.”
“Absolutely not.”
“She will. I plan to handle all this in exchange for the medic going to Tulya and Valerie having visits. No one will learn of us. Blake will live here and be raised Rubian. My mother can get her wedding. Period.”
Elon threatened me with a glare. “You don’t call the shots.”
“I do, considering Valerie’s mother is sitting with Tulya, doing us a favor and privy to everything that has happened and will happen.”
“Do you want the serum?”
“What? What serum?”
“The one that will flush Tulya’s system of the negative effects. The medic has one from the last time a Rubian used their powers beyond their realm.”
I stood and spoke to the Minister in a way no one ever dared. “Fuck you.”
I watched my mother’s eyes bulge and thoughtgood. I wanted her to know I would not be following her rules when it came to an arranged marriage.
“Careful, son, you seem to be showing a hand I don’t think I like—”
Ignoring her threats, I turned back to the Minister. “I want that serum and the medic on a plane as soon as I depart with Valerie, you hear me? I will let her mother know she is coming back but arrangements are being made.”
“Get her out of here. If she wants to see her daughter, it’s best for her to go now.”
“Gladly,” I stated, thinking I’d won this round, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think there wouldn’t be many more.
