It was a week of Benjamin sticking close to Rory’s side, but eventually the usual mania that followed an attack came to a crest. Benjamin’s team identified the aggressor as Benedict Freeman - a man who’d been dead for five years.
“Clearly the man stole Mr. Freeman’s identity, which puts us at square one as far as tracking down whoever ordered the attack on you. I’m too old to assume he was acting on his own. The threat isn’t neutralized simply because he’s dead.” Benjamin was matter-of-fact, while the other guards in the household had been reassuring to the point of making up outright lies to pacify Rory’s mother.
Leah Johnstone was in a state in the wake of her daughter’s abduction. She attended her daughter’s lessons, and even rode with her alongside Benjamin to drop her off at work. After one tutoring session with Tyren, Leah ruled him unsuitable for instructing her daughter. She fired him, handing the reins of her daughter’s education back to her brother-in-law.
Studying under Remus was far less stressful for Rory, even with her mother watching. Cordray had been taken into the fold once Benjamin had informed Remus of the above and beyond magic of which the man was capable. Remus was enthralled at the prospect of tutoring someone so naturally gifted, a giddy gleam dancing in his eyes whenever he uncovered a new layer of Cordray’s abilities.
“Uncle Remus, I’m certain I’m standing incorrectly.” Rory frowned, embarrassed at her lack of ability. It had been years for her, and the china cup had never budged. She’d made her peace with her limitations over the course of her life, but now that her boyfriend had been brought into her sessions, it renewed a competitive drive in her she’d long put aside.
Remus moved next to her and adjusted her gait. “You’re standing just fine. Hey, don’t beat yourself up. You’re back with me now. Tyren isn’t here to run you down simply because you’re fallible, like the rest of us.”
“There’s fallible, and then there’s failing. In front of my boyfriend, no less.” Her voice lowered, adding a tightness to her facial muscles.
Remus tapped his finger under her chin, which was prone to drooping when she was caught in melancholy. “Cordray is gifted. No matter who he’s studying with, he would outperform them.”
“Stop being gracious and logical. Call me a child and have done with it.”
Remus touched her nose, as he’d done when she was little. “You’re being a child. So you have limitations. We all do.”
She shot him a dubious glare. “Name five of yours.”
“I’m far too handsome, far too gracious, my magic is sometimes too powerful, I’m too wealthy, and…” He looked up at the ceiling, and then shrugged. “I’m afraid I can’t think of a fifth fault that I have.”
Rory sniggered. “You’re impossible today. Whenever you get around Cord, you get all goofy. You love that you finally get a student who challenges you.”
Cordray glanced up from the book he was studying titled “Timeless Spells for Timebound Magicians”. “It’s fine, Story. I run circles around you in the kitchen, too. Get used to staring at my sweet backside.” Cordray turned a page and began scanning it. “What does it matter if you’re better than me at some things, and I’m a little ahead of you at others? Isn’t that how a good team works? Plus, you know all this stuff – in Latin, no less. It’s only a matter of time before your body catches up with your brain.”
Remus gave her a book to study while he went over his notes with a zealous glow as he sat at his desk. Rory watched her uncle organize the lesson plans for two vastly different levels of ability, never looking ruffled or impatient with her. His boyish fascination with the unusual was triggered at working with Cordray. The promising student learned everything so quickly, and performed each task with mastery. Rory knew her uncle well enough to know that working with Cordray had given Remus hope that perhaps there were still things out there that could surprise him. He’d been sought after by many gifted students for tutoring, but had turned them down so he could protect her. That she’d brought someone so uniquely talented to his doorstep was just the treat he’d been longing for, so she felt slightly mollified that if she couldn’t be the star pupil, she could at least usher one into the study.
When the door opened near the end of their session, the Chancellor strolled in with a politeness to his tight smile. “I see you’re all hard at work. The snow is really coming down out there. I think you two might want to wrap it up for the night.”
The fatherly air of “get the crap away from my daughter” was tamed by the “I don’t want my sweet girl to die alone,” but still made for slightly awkward interactions between Cordray and the Chancellor. Rory’s father had been slightly more on-edge after learning that the pill that helped them all sleep better at night only took Cordray’s abilities down a couple notches, instead of muting them altogether. While most fathers went through the dance of learning how to gracefully handle suitors when their daughters turned teenagers, Rory’s social standing was such that the screening process to get a date with her left precious few to throw their hats into the mix, and those were often deterred by taking one look at Benjamin.
Cordray stood and stretched, and then offered his hand to the Chancellor. “Thank you for letting me study with Remus, sir.”
Stefan took Cord’s gloved hand, and then reached into his pocket. “I almost forgot. Your additional medication came in today.” He presented Cordray with a bottle that held only a single pill rattling around inside. “Take this with the other still in your system, and let’s see if it takes away your magic for thirty days. I know there are downsides to muting one’s magic, and if you were seeing any other woman in the land, perhaps you could go off the pill altogether and just rely on your gloves. But seeing as you’re dating the future Chancellor of Avondale, safety comes first. I hope you understand.”
“Yes, sir. Couldn’t agree more.”
Rory let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Cordray had every right to refuse just the one pill, but to take two? No one had ever tried that before, nor had they needed to. That Cordray saw the man behind the council chair and didn’t flinch away from the hard line put her mind at ease that not only would he do anything to keep her safe, but he would also do anything to keep the peace with her parents.
The Chancellor’s eyes fixed on the bottle, as if he was addressing it instead of the man before him. “Though I’m sure it seems cruel to you to take away all your magic, it was a long road to get to this point. In the medieval times, there was torture and all kinds of deprivation therapy to try and ‘cure’ the Lethals of their desire to harm others with a solitary touch. Of course, we now know that’s preposterous. People can control their desire to do harm, but they can’t control what their Pulse is. Nature does what it does, and we do what we do – those are two separate things.” He looked Cordray up and down with a note of fatherly advice to him. “I can see what kind of man you are by the fact that you wear these gloves, and only invoked your Pulse to defend my daughter. Admirable.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Stefan, Cordray. Call me Stefan.”
Cord shook the pill into his gloved hand, and his voice came out tremulous. “Listen, I care about your daughter, and I know that probably makes me someone you don’t like all that much. But I straight up love you, man. If I take this, I can’t hurt her?”
Stefan’s eyes narrowed in on Cordray with kindness that was laced with a subtle hint of a threat. “You will never, ever harm my daughter.”
Rory and Remus looked on as Cordray downed the pill, their matching expressions of hope lighting up the room brighter than any manmade illumination ever could. Rory had been focusing on the unfair side effect of losing his magic; she hadn’t counted on him not caring about that loss as much anymore, if it meant he could touch her skin without a barrier between them.
“How long does it take to kick in?” Cord asked, his eyes on Rory with unconcealed longing.
“Should only take an hour or so before it’s in your system and working at its full effect. I appreciate your caution.”
“Then I’ll be going.” He shook Stefan’s hand again, but instead of leaving his gratitude at that, he pulled the older man in for a tight hug. “Thank you.”
Though Rory could tell Stefan wanted to resist Cord, she loved her father for clutching her boyfriend tighter, offering acceptance Cordray didn’t often get. Stefan patted Cordray on the back a few times, unable to keep the paternal smile off his face. “Think nothing of it, Son.” Then he watched Cordray pack up his things and head for the door. “Do you have plans for the weekend at the end of the month?”
“No, sir.”
“I’m going to be taking my family to go skiing a week after Aurora’s birthday. Would you like to join us?” With a twinkle in his eyes, he added. “With you in the picture, I’m planning for Malaura’s curse to be defeated within the hour my daughter should fall ill. I’m making all sorts of plans for the week after Malaura is made a public fool, showing the kingdom that her brand of hatred has no place in the land.”
Remus’ shoulders rolled back. “I love that sentiment. Malaura hates it when she fails, all the more when it happens publicly.” Then he met his niece’s eyes. “And make no mistake, her curse will fail.”
Cordray nodded with a flood of warmth at being invited in on a family vacation, but Rory frowned at her father. “We have a council meeting that weekend.”
Stefan inhaled slowly as he stood straight, donning a tired smile as he looked on his pride and joy. “Change of plans. I’m considering taking on a partner who can run things, so I can take the occasional weekend away with my family. The Baron suggested it, and I think it’s a good idea.”
“What?” Rory screeched, forsaking her ladylike decorum for indignation. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m quite serious, and quite through talking about it. This was my decision, no matter what you might think.”
Rory’s hands balled into fists, and she glanced at Remus, who looked equally shocked. “They’re using my curse to force your hand to give up some of your authority! Tell me it’s any different, and I’ll let it go.” When Stefan merely looked away, Rory’s nostrils flared. “That’s what I thought.”
A wave of exhaustion seemed to come over Rory’s father, painting his eyes with pain he didn’t bother to conceal. “Do you truly think I’d cower to the Baron? I’m tired of it, is what’s happened. My daughter’s been abducted for the last time! Let someone else deal with malicious malcontents attacking their child to try and make us comply. I belonged to you and your mother long before I belonged to Avondale. It’s not the Baron forcing my hand, it’s me handing over part of my authority so I can be a better father. I wanted a better life for you than this.”
Rory shook her head, her voice tight with emotion. “Dad, this isn’t the way.”
“It’s my way, and it’s not up for discussion.” Stefan turned to Cordray. “We’ll see you tomorrow after work for more tutoring. Always a pleasure, Cordray.”
“This isn’t over,” Rory warned her father.
The moment Cordray exited, Stefan held up his hand to stave off Rory. “Enough. This is my decision. You’re my daughter, and I’ll not let you concern yourself with things I’m to take care of. It wasn’t until you took up with a Lethal, and I was actually happy to have the extra protection around you, that I realized how very backwards I’ve been doing things.”
Remus’ eyes were narrowed in anger. “Stefan, Rory will never be out of danger. Think about it; the people who’ve abducted or attacked her have never asked for ransom. It’s never been about the money.”
“Exactly! It’s about my position, and I’ll not let it be a danger to my family any longer.” He rubbed the creases across his forehead, his shoulders slumping. “King Hubert and I had a discussion about what might happen if you don’t wake up.”
Rory’s mouth went dry. “That seems like a conversation I should’ve been present for.”
Stefan made no apologies. “You’re the heir to the head seat on the council. If you’re in your coma, and something happens to me, then what? Who will run the council? It will fall to chaos, and you know it.”
Remus shook his head. “No. We’ll think of another option than you choosing the Baron as your co-chair. No ruler at all would be better than him, and I can say the same for his snake of a son. Put this decision off, Stefan. You’re acting out of fear. If Rory manages to escape her curse…”
Rory’s head snapped in her uncle’s direction. “If? If I manage to escape the curse?”
Remus shrank, and held up his hands. “I misspoke. When. When you put Malaura’s curse to shame, you’ll be sought after even more.”
“Actually, it’ll be you everyone’s buzzing about, since you’ll have been the one to overthrow her curse by casting the counter-curse to begin with.”
Remus inclined his head to her. “Ah, but people are afraid of me. They’d never try to attack me.”
Rory’s mouth set in a hard line. “Right. And I’m just a stupid Deadpulse.”
Her father stiffened, but Remus pointed his finger in his niece’s face. “There’s about three things wrong with that sentence. Rethink yourself, Rory.”
Rory had plenty of things to say on the subject, but she kept the bulk of them to herself. Stefan left the room and retired to his bedchambers, so he could toss and turn, as the rest of the household did that night.