Unless they’d done it under instructions. Or duress.
Voices coming through the archway on the left distracted her from the main door, from freedom. She had to know more before she left. She moved closer.
“Do stop harassing me, Leah, you know it upsets my appetite.”
“I wouldn’t want to upset your appetite, Mother dear. It may be our last meal, after all.”
Mother? Still cloaked, Harrison stood in the doorway, hesitant to enter until she knew what she was dealing with.
Three Magian females, wearing old-fashioned dresses that looked surprisingly faded against the grandeur surrounding them, sat at a pretentiously long dining table. They were differing shades of blonde, all of them with features that instantly told her they were related to Jacob. Full lips, dark eyes…frowns.
The youngest one, who
couldn’t be any older than twenty, was radiant. She was a tiny, feminine version of Jacob. Her golden waves bounced off her shoulders as she shook her head at the older woman seated at the head of the table.
The woman from the portraits. Her face and figure were fuller, her hair the brassy blonde that came from excessive magical coloring, but it was definitely her. She slurped her soup and made a face, waving her hand in the air impatiently until a servant came to take it away before looking back at the younger woman. “Why can’t you be quiet and thoughtful like your sister, Leah? Sara knows I don’t like to be bothered.”
Leah snorted. “You want me to be catatonic? I suppose that would make life perfect for you. You’ve already silenced my father and sister and guilted Jacob into submission. I must be such an inconvenience.”
Sara. She must be the other female at the table. Harrison thought she might be in her early thirties, but her sallow skin and sunken cheeks made her look far, far older. Her white-blonde hair hung in frayed hanks down her back, and she sat at the table, expressionless, unresponsive, hardly breathing. What was wrong with her? And what was Leah saying? Father? Why had she mentioned only one?
“Impertinence. That’s what I should have named you.” Her mother took a sip of her tea. “You should be helping your brother and I. Applauding his ingenuity. After all his screw-ups, he is finally doing something right. In fact, I wish I’d thought of it myself. Kidnapping is so much easier than courting.” She set down her cup and wagged one pudgy finger at her daughter. “You don’t know the kind of favors I had to call in to get him to that Triune without alerting Magian law. What I had to do. The only way you will ever be allowed a chance to find your matches is if he is successful. Until then you are just a drain on this family. Wasting food and wasting my time.”
So the kidnapping hadn’t been planned by his mother. The thought gave Harrison a strange sort of comfort.
Leah pushed back her chair impatiently. “I’m going to inform the Magian authorities myself. Whatever punishment they could mete out would be better than watching this joke of a family self-destruct due to your vanity.”
She started to turn and her mother threw up a hand, sending a wave of ice toward the girl. Harrison opened her mouth to warn Leah, but the young girl was fast. She blinked and Leah was surrounded by flames, the ice melting, puddling harmlessly at her feet.
“Nice try, Mom. And you wonder why I lock my door at night.”
Her mother chuckled breathlessly. “I’m sorry, dearest. I lost my head for a moment. My nerves are a bit frazzled.” She looked down and swore. “And now my tea is cold.”
It was more than cold—the cup was frozen. Frozen. The chill in the air, the ice, it all hit Harrison with a blast of clarity that had her uncloaking on instinct and stepping into the dining room. This was why Jacob hadn’t been worried about who was after her. He’d known exactly who it was. “You. It was you that night.”
The person who’d been attacking her was Jacob’s mother. “Why? If you wanted your son to be my match why would you try and kill me?”
Jacob’s mother dropped her cup and nearly toppled out of her chair in an effort to get to her feet. “Miss Abbott! I didn’t expect to see you so soon. I should have known. Such a powerful pairing must be hard to resist. I told myself, Esther Gryffin, that girl will never be able to resist…” Her smile wavered, as she seemed to register what Harrison had said. “Kill you, dear? Whatever are you talking about?”
Harrison felt her magic pulsing inside her, building, heating her blood at the woman’s audacity. “The other night, before I was brought here against my will, I was attacked. By someone hidden. Someone who knew where I was. Someone with the power to freeze.”
Mrs. Gryffin paled, swallowing audibly. “I don’t like what you’re insinuating, child. Certainly there are others with this ability. People who are not about to be members of your family, perhaps.”
Harrison sneered. “You are not my family. Nor will you ever be once I tell my brother, the protector, what you tried to do.”
“Cold hearted. I’ll show you cold hearted.”
Harrison flinched, and all three women looked over toward the woman at the table. She was rocking back and forth in agitation, her eyes staring, unfocused, at Harrison. “Cold hearted. He called us cold hearted.”
Leah stepped forward. “She’s talking. Sara? Are you all right?”
“Leah, stay away from her.”
Harrison turned. Jacob was up. Leaning as though exhausted against the doorframe, but up. She should have left while she had the chance, but she couldn’t deny she was glad to see him.
Had she been wrong? It wasn’t his mother, but his sister who had attacked her. Why hadn’t he told her? And why on earth had he brought her here without any magic to protect herself?
She turned back to Sara, who was standing now, and not looking so good. “Can’t let him call us cold hearted, Mama. I’ll show him cold hearted.” Sara tilted her head at Harrison, narrowing her bottomless black gaze. “You.”