It was Victoria who responded. Every eye in the room was on her.
“You ask what changed that caused a sleepy town, drowning in its hopelessness, to turn violent? A few raindrops can begin a flood. A few snowflakes can cause an avalanche. First, Nox swanned in, out of nowhere, and took over a school that was damn near disappearing off the face of the earth. But she’s still here. And the school is bigger and better than ever. Then you galloped into town and snatched up the biggest, juiciest piece of property this side of Nantucket. I bet that was one hell of a negotiation, and you probably pissed off some people.”
“I will have to ask Headmistress Nox, since she negotiated the lease of the Viridescent Cliff…together with Mayor Fowler.”
Paloma gave Prudence an apologetic look. Victoria had no such sympathies.
“Well, now, look who pops in here like a bad penny. Sorry, kiddo, but we need to talk about the fact that your father, not so esteemed anymore, had exactly the same plans for the town as Moss. That damned museum. Stands to reason that the Rathcrosses were bankrolling him, too. So might I ask, Ms. Allende, can you see how you might’ve gotten on the wrong side of a particular sort of people? Because we all know, now that you’re mayor?—”
“Almost mayor,” Paloma corrected.
“Well, at least you admit that it’s happening soon,” Victoria acquiesced. “My point stands. Almost mayor here is not building any kind of museum, faith or no faith. You still think they were not after you?”
Paloma stared as all the Crowharts nodded in agreement with Victoria. Then, Seren spoke for the first time since they’d said hello to each other earlier.
“No matter if it’s one or two people, a goddamn foundation, or an army of orcs at this point. What are we going to do aboutany of this? Redding is a nice guy, but that’s not a job, and he’s currently not doing too well in the job he does hold. If the cops aren’t an option, who’s left?”
“We are. All of us. The Headmistress and whoever her wonderful source was for these records. The seventy-five percent of townies. Cops come and go, we remain. Let the Rathcrosses do their worst?—”
“I’d rather they didn’t. My head still hurts,” Deryn said, and everyone but Paloma laughed. The vision of Deryn lying in the pool of blood would not soon leave her mind, if ever. She closed her eyes to give herself a second, and the vision slapped her in the face with images that she knew all too well: Lynnie watching her through long, tangled lashes. Emerald eyes full of love and desire. And Isamar’s fingers tangled in those burnished locks, bringing their faces closer as the world all around them ended in screams of hatred and pain.
“We need a plan,” Paloma finally murmured as her eyes cleared of the images that felt more like a memory than a vision every day. “We need a plan, and we need information. The Headmistress is not the only one with sources, and my money will buy me access where goodwill will not. I’ll poke around and see what I can find out about this mysterious foundation and why the hell they want a piece of Dragons so badly.”
She watched Deryn’s eyes go a bit glassy and recognized desire. And behind desire there was affection, and something much hotter than that. Something she was too scared to think about. Too scared to give a name. Well, she would need a plan for this particular situation as well, and money or influence could not buy her a way out of it. She also had a feeling she wanted to find out what lay behind her own fear. And that was a major problem.
22
DERYN, APPLE PIE & MERRY CHRISTMAS
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE CAW!
That is all.
Watch this space and your Christmas tree. Leave some cookies for Santa and his dragons.
—Crow’s Caw
The house smelled the same.Deryn didn’t know how Seren did it, or even why, but the centuries-old Crow House smelled the same. Burning logs and fresh linen.
She turned, just in time to see Rhiannon sneak a few wrapped presents under the massive pine tree that Seren and Victoria had decorated earlier that morning. She made herself scarce, choosing to do prep work for baking that didn’t really need all that much prep to begin with. Still, Deryn hid in the kitchen and tried not to breathe in too deeply.
Rhiannon found her anyway.
“Have you seen what Seren has done with your room?” The middle Crowhart took a bite from an apple she stole from the pile Deryn had been peeling for the pie.
“No.” Deryn knew a ruse when one came in and introduced itself.
“This means you’ve not been upstairs.” Another bite, some chewing, more judging.
“Nope.” Deryn put an emphasis on thep. Rhiannon was undeterred.
“Victoria didn’t try to draft you into the tree decoration mayhem?”
“She tried. I am busy, though, as you can see.”
Rhiannon threw the core into the trash can a few feet away without even looking, her aim impressive.
“Lachlan and I used to practice throwing things into the trash can all the time when we were renovating Crow, Cat, & Possum. I miss those days.”
