“Oh, fresh berries,” Kendra exclaimed, leaning forward to better inspect the cake. “Wherever did you find those in winter?”
“We have a few greenhouses in the gardens,” Kaherdin said, with a quiet smile. “I like having fresh fruit the year round.”
Hallie had another moment of disorientation, remembering another similar conversation around a very different dining table a long distance from here where the person exclaiming about the berries had turned out to be a vicious killer and theperson providing the fresh fruit was a powerful magician. The sense of displacement faded and was taken over by warmth blooming in her chest. She had spent a long, long time apart from her father and it felt new and strange and yet completely right to be back in his presence again. She knew that there was no magic involved in what her father could achieve with plants, just many years of learning and quiet skill.
As Rosalia lifted a knife to cut into the cake, loud banging sounded at the house’s front door.
“Are we expecting anyone else?” Hallie asked, looking at her roommate, who was frowning.
“No,” Rosalia said, knife still held in mid-air. She put it down on the platter. “Let me see who it is.”
“I’ll go,” Aaron said, and put a gentle hand on Rosalia’s arm as he moved around her, heading for the front of the house. The quiet, simple gesture told Hallie everything she might want to know about their relationship and how well her former apprentice was treating her roommate.
The table fell silent, everyone listening with open curiosity as Aaron went to the front door and opened it.
“Good evening, ma’am,” he said, a note of puzzlement in his voice. “How can I help?”
“Where is she?”
The angry tones that snapped into the air could only belong to one person. Wilona Talbot. And there was no good reason for her mother to be here at this hour and sounding so furious.
Dread slid across Hallie’s skin. She pulled out her phone, unlocking it and passing it to Rosalia, who was still standing next to her.
“Call Cotovatre. Now,” she told her roommate.
Rosalia started, but she didn’t argue, moving away from the table into the kitchen area as loud footsteps sounded on the floor preceding the arrival in the doorway of Wilona Talbot, flankedby two other men who Hallie vaguely recognised as other members of the Talbot family vine.
Wilona’s eyes scanned across the table, pausing on Morgana’s face with a pinch of her mouth, and then her mouth flattened into a straight, displeased line as she saw Hallie.
“Enough of this playing around. You will come with me and return to the vine immediately.”
Chapter twelve
Thewholeroomwassilent and still, apart from a quiet murmur from Rosalia, tucked away in the kitchen, then Hallie got to her feet. She didn’t want to face her mother at a disadvantage.
“I will not. As you well know, you have no claim on me any longer,” Hallie said, proud that her voice was calm and steady.
“Wilona, what is the meaning of this?” Kaherdin asked, getting to his feet as well and standing shoulder to shoulder with Hallie.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” Wilona said, the open contempt in her voice and face making Hallie want to stand in front of her father and protect him. But Kaherdin didn’t flinch. He stayed where he was. The show of support made Hallie want to hug him.
“Magravine, I don’t understand,” Morgana said, in a calm voice. “You have severed Hallie from the family vine completely. She can only go back if she consents, and she has clearly not consented.”
“I’m not interested in your opinion or her wishes,” Wilona said. She was white with anger, dark eyes burning in her pale face, dark hair pulled back in a severe knot which accentuated the lines and bones of her face, and made her look older.
“That’s too bad,” Hallie said. She took a step away from the table, drawing Wilona’s attention to her. “I am not coming back to the vine. You know that. I don’t understand why you keep trying to insist that I do.”
Hallie had a couple of ideas about why Wilona was so adamant that her rejected daughter be forced back into the vine, and neither of them were particularly nice. Either Wilona thought she could wheedle even more money out of Cotovatre in payment for Hallie’s continued freedom, or Wilona was quite serious about wanting Hallie’s magical abilities within the vine. In either event, Hallie knew her mother well enough to understand that nothing she said or did - no matter how hard she tried - was going to change Wilona’s mind. Which was why, when Wilona had first tried to get her back into the vine, Hallie had called for backup in the form of Cotovatre. The lady had, after all, been the one to secure Hallie’s release from the vine. But despite weeks of talks between the lady’s and Wilona’s lawyers, the Magravine had not yet given up.
Seeing her mother’s face, Hallie had a sinking feeling that she would never, ever release her supposed claim on her daughter. It made her want to scream and cry at the same time. Wilona did not want her as a daughter, and had not wanted her since the aftermath of the night a decade before when Hallie had been attacked and left for dead. It had taken a few days after the attack for Wilona to realise that her youngest child was no longer completely human. Not suitable to be part of the Talbot blood family. Tainted, in Wilona’s eyes. But Wilona did see Hallie as a useful resource, and Wilona liked to keep hold of useful resources. It was one of the traits that made her asuccessful head of the family vine, and one of the richest women in low city, even if her wealth was not apparent from her drab and threadbare clothes. Hallie had long ago accepted that her mother did not have any warm or maternal feelings for her. The acceptance didn’t stop the hurt, though and Hallie could feel her throat closing as she was once more faced with the harsh truth that her mother didn’t love her, not one bit.
Rage was easier, and Hallie had plenty of that as well. Over the past two and a half weeks she’d been given a glimpse into what life could be like if she could live it on her own terms. She’d travelled to places she’d never truly thought she would get to visit. Although she’d been working, it was a job she’d chosen. A career she was excited about. And with Girard, who she did not want to lose.
“You don’t need to understand,” Wilona said, her voice a cold slap, bringing Hallie back to the here and now. “You just need to do what you’re told.”
“No,” Hallie said, folding her arms. Partly from defiance and partly for protection. She could feel the stares of everyone else in the room, and realised that Rosalia was no longer talking on the phone. She glanced over her shoulder at the dining table and saw that everyone was on their feet, with expressions she could not read. “I’m sorry that you had to be here for this,” Hallie told them.
“Sorry?” Kendra repeated, eyebrows lifting. “How is this your fault, young thing? Seems to me the Magravine ought to spend some of her pennies on getting herself some manners. Barging into a house like this, setting about with demands.”
