“My name is Leif.” He greeted her in the same way he had me. “I’m part of the Eastwoods coven. Milo here mentioned you may be part of Westwoods Coven?”
“He’s not wrong.” Her eyes flickered to me, and I saw nothing but disdain in their depths. “Can you read?”
“I can.” His gaze didn’t leave her face. Both of them were rigid, poised, as if they were going to attack each other at any given moment. “But I’ve been working in the stables all day, so I am also very tired.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Then maybe the two of you should pay attention to my reading then. You know, since I am the only one here who can.”
There was a sharp edge to her voice, something I hadn’t heard before, and it had me taking a step back. “Sorry, Collum.”
Collum’s jaw flickered, and I knew she was likely waiting for Leif to apologize as well, but he remained as he had been during their discussion, back straight, shoulders back, head tilted to the side in a way that gave him an air of being in charge.
I thought for a moment that they might attack each other right then and there, but Collum’s jaw simply clicked a final time before she left, returning to the front of the room to begin reading anew. I hadn’t noticed it before, but most of the servants had been watching the exchange, their eyes filled with curiosity.
“You shouldn’t let her boss you around like that.”
Leif’s voice broke through my thoughts and let out a breath. “We should pay attention, otherwise she will just get angry again.” My voice was low, just above a whisper.
“I thought you said she was your cousin, not your mother.”
His words hit me straight in the chest. That’s exactly what she was. “She raised me. My parents died when I was fifteen.” The lines were rehearsed and flowed from my lips with ease, despite the fact that I left out the bulk of the true details.
“I see.” It was silent for a few moments, the only sound in the room was my cousin’s voice. “I still think she doesn’t value your opinion, and that’s not how it should be.”
I crinkled my nose, confusion clouding my thoughts. But when I turned to ask him to clarify, I noticed the space next to me was empty.
Then I glanced around the room, searching for the head of sandy blond hair, but it was no use.
He was gone.
CHAPTER 11
Ithought I was tired that first night Collum read to the servants. But with an entire week of my reading all day, followed by reading to the servants at night, by the time it came for Collum to read to Viscount Adis, I could barely keep my eyes open.
Between the two of us, we had read both the red and green books to the servants, giving them the power of empathy, and, as it turns out, the power of persuasion. Something that would come in handy as we all worked to keep the servants’ newfound powers hidden. I hadn’t seen Leif since that first night, something I found a bit odd, but I didn’t question it too much, as this was a favor Collum was doing for them. She wasn’t their boss—not like Adis.
All of the servants now had the same gold-rimmed eyes as Collum and I. And when I questioned Collum on whether or not she trusted them to follow her instructions and hide the nature of our nightly meetings, she stated she did.
I was on edge, and I had been since Collum’s arrival. I had thought having my cousin with me would ease some of my stress, and make it easier to keep my secret, but the opposite was actually true.
Collum and I hadn’t spent much time together before, mostly because she worked nights, and because I’d had Milo—someone who knew me far better than anyone else on the continent. Someone who knew everything about me. Though we had spent some time together, a lot of it was Collum helping me maintain my ruse, or correcting one of Milo’s mistakes. Though Leif was right and she wasn’t technically my mother, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that was the role she had been playing in my life for years.
Maybe that explained why I was feeling empty.
Maybe that explained why I hadn’t told Collum about the black book, which was still hidden behind the brick in my cell.
It didn’t matter, though. How I was feeling had no effect on my daily life.
Adis pushed another black book into my hands. It had silver lettering instead of gold. The routine was ingrained now, and I wasted no time before I flipped it open and started to read.
Like before, I read until my voice grew hoarse. But this time, when I could no longer speak, the book was passed to Collum.
“Start where he left off.” Adis’s voice was void of all emotion.
“Yes, sir,” Collum replied before she started her reading.
If he noticed her fluid reading, despite having only trained a supposed week, he said nothing. She had barely started, though, when Adis stopped her with the snap of his fingers.
All eyes in the room snapped up to his face.
