“You have lied to me,” Wilona said, bright spots of colour burning on her pale cheeks, eyes glittering with suppressed anger.
“What are you talking about?” Hallie demanded, exasperation clear. She’d done everything the woman had asked of her, and it still wasn’t enough.
“You possess magic. Abilities that would be useful for the vine,” Wilona said. Hallie couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her mother this furious. “And you have kept this concealed. All your life. That is not acceptable.”
Hallie felt ice close over every part of her, holding her in place. She knew what her mother was talking about. The truth sense that she’d always had - even before the attack ten years ago that had left her near death, the cure for which had transformed her into something other than human. The gift that seemed to be unique to her - the ability to tell if someone was lying. And, more recently, she’d learned that she also had the ability to compel someone to tell her the truth. That last made her deeply uncomfortable. She knew what it was like to have choices taken away, and didn’t wish to inflict that on anyone else.
And she’d hidden her gift from everyone. No one knew about it. Or, rather, no one had known about it until recently. Even then, she’d only revealed it to three people and she could not begin to imagine how her mother could have heard about it.
Wilona was right in one sense. Hallie had never told her about the truth sense. She’d known, since she had been still very young, that her mother would seek to use Hallie’s gift for the vine, and would most likely compel her cooperation one way or another. The Talbot family vine was one of the most powerful and wealthiest of all the vines in low city, and that was primarily thanks to Wilona’s single-minded dedication and ruthlessness. After all, she’d cut Hallie out of the blood family when it was clear that her troublesome youngest child was no longer quite human, so no longer useful to the Talbot blood line.
Even as Hallie stood there, feeling all her dreams and ambitions and the freedom she’d so longed for crumble around her, a bright core of anger lit inside her. The habit of obedience to her mother’s wishes was strong, reinforced time and time again since childhood. But she wasn’t a child any longer. And shewasn’t going to meekly do something just because Wilona Talbot wished it. Dimly, Hallie was aware that if Wilona had come to her a couple of years before - perhaps even six months before - she would have meekly obeyed the Magravine. But things had changed. Quite a bit.
“I do not know where you got the information from,” Hallie said, her voice sounding like a stranger’s, so cold and clipped. “But there were no conditions placed on my severance, so you cannot just drag me back to heel because you want to.”
She dug her phone out of her pocket and dialled a pre-set number. She might not be the same person she had been even six months before, but Wilona had not changed and Hallie knew - absolutely knew - that nothing she could say or do was going to sway her mother. So Hallie needed a different strategy. And she had access to far more resources than the scared young woman who’d been turned away from her family home ten years before.
“Do not speak to me like that. And put that phone away. You will obey me,” Wilona said, voice tight and brittle, body rigid. She expected her orders to be followed. She always did.
Hallie ignored her, listening to the ringing on the other end of the line. The call was answered and a warm, welcome voice spoke.
“Hallie Talbot. Greetings to you.”
“And to you, Emmet Lowery,” Hallie said, feeling some of the ice melt around her. The ancient being - asinisir, one of the ancestors of thehochlen- carried with him a sense of calm that seeped through Hallie even through the phone connection. Emmet, along with Hallie’s ancient many-times grandmother, Cotovatre, had been staying at the lady’s country residence, out of normal communication, for much of the winter. They’d travelled through the city en route to another country just a few days before, too quickly to allow for a personal visit, although the lady had sent Hallie a text to let her know she was nowcontactable by phone again. Hallie wasn’t sure exactly where they were, but right now was simply relieved she didn’t have to try and dig out the number for the lady’s country house with its single line of communication to the outside world. “I apologise for my abruptness, but I was looking to speak to the lady on a matter of urgency. Is she available?”
“She will be delighted to hear from you. One moment. She’s in another room. I will take the phone to her,” Emmet said.
“What are you doing?” Wilona demanded. She took a step forward and reached for the phone. “Give me that, foolish child.”
Hallie took a step back, out of her mother’s reach. She’d anticipated the move. Her mother didn’t like to be disobeyed or ignored, and Hallie was doing both.
She had to sidestep another grab by her mother before a different voice spoke on the phone.
“Hallie, how lovely. Are you alright? Emmet said it was urgent.” If Emmet’s voice had soothed Hallie, bringing a sense of calm, Cotovatre’s voice filled Hallie with warmth. It had only been Cotovatre’s intervention that had saved Hallie’s life after the attack ten years before. That intervention had changed Hallie’s life beyond recognition, bringing out the dormanthochlenside that she hadn’t known about, and leading to her dismissal from the Talbot blood family. Hallie couldn’t regret the change. Not now.
“I am sorry to disturb you,” Hallie said, and had to put up a hand to fend off her mother’s repeated attempts to grab the phone, trying to ignore the gathering fury on her mother’s face. “Wilona Talbot is in my home with a document she claims will rescind my severance from the family vine and call me back to its service.”
There was the smallest of pauses and then Cotovatre’s voice spoke, holding quite a different note. “Is she indeed? Is she with you now? If so, put me on speaker.”
Hallie made the necessary adjustment and tilted the phone so that the screen was towards Wilona. She still didn’t want to get too close, blocking yet another lunge by Wilona with her free arm. “I have you on speaker. Wilona Talbot, you are now speaking with Lady Cotovatre.”
“Magravine Talbot, are you trying to break the contract that we entered into?” Cotovatre asked, the hardness in her voice matching anything Wilona could produce.
“The contract was entered into on false pretences,” Wilona said. At least she’d stopped lunging for the phone now, perhaps realising it was too late. Her arms were folded across her body, as if holding herself still. High spots of colour burned on her cheekbones, lines pinching her mouth. It was mostly fury. Hallie was familiar with that expression. But she thought that Wilona seemed slightly embarrassed as well, now she was having to deal with someone other than Hallie.
“That’s nonsense, and you know it,” Cotovatre snapped back. “There were no conditions put forward by you or by me. A simple bargain was struck. If you are now looking to break that contract, you will face consequences.”
“Hallie lied to me,” Wilona said, her voice shaking with fury. “She’s got magic. She should have been using it for the vine. It could have been extremely useful. She got out of her service by lying.”
“Hallie,” Cotovatre said, her voice a shade softer, “did you lie to the Magravine about your abilities?”
As the lady spoke, Hallie’s breath caught in her throat, her mind spinning. Herabilities. She’d thought that Wilona had been talking about her truth sense, which Hallie had worked hard to keep hidden. Cotovatre - along with Emmet and Girard - were the only other people who knew about Hallie’s truth sense. They had all promised to keep her secret, and Hallie trusted each of them to keep their word. And yet, Cotovatre had all butconfirmed Wilona’s accusation that Hallie had magic. It wasn’t a break of the lady’s promise, Hallie realised. She’d recently learned that she might be able to work other magic, too. She’d had some lessons from Emmet, who seemed convinced that Hallie would be able to learn to wield her gifts, as he called them. She still couldn’t work out how Wilona had come to know about her magic, but it was possible Wilona didn’t know about the truth sense.
“No, Lady Cotovatre,” Hallie said, voice firm despite the uneasy twisting in her stomach. “The question of whether I had magic, or what I could or could not do, never came up.”
“Well, then, Magravine Talbot, you cannot claim false pretences.” Cotovatre sounded completely certain, the assurance in her voice carrying through the phone line and soothing more of Hallie’s nerves.
“That is not how contracts work in this city,” Wilona said. From the stubborn set of her jaw, Hallie realised that it didn’t matter what Cotovatre said, or what bargain the pair of them had struck, Wilona was not going to listen.
