Chapter 225

Luca and I fly through the halls of the castle and I have to laugh a little, because there’s something fun and exciting about rushing around with my hand warm in my mate’s. Luca, feeling it too, sends me a grin over his shoulder even as he moves fast, even as I can still feel his anxiety at facing my father again thrumming in his heart.

I send him a little pulse of love and support as we arrive at the door where our meeting is apparently going to be held and Luca, grateful, gives my hand a squeeze. We slow and Luca raises a hand to knock on the wood when suddenly it opens and, to my shock, a familiar person steps out.

“Tony!” I say, my face bursting into a grin at the boy I saw every week in magic class last semester. “Hi, how are you? It’s good to see you!” My heart swells with warmth to see him and, as my eyes sweep over his tall, lanky figure I’m surprised to find that I’d missed him.

“Oh, hey, Ari,” Tony says, giving me a distracted smile and glancing again over his shoulder. “Um, are you going in there next? Do you…did you know that the meeting is with…the King and the Queen?”

“Um,” I say, giving a little shrug. “Yeah?”

He returns his eyes to me with a frown. “Oh, I forgot they’re your…aunt and uncle, right?”

“Yeah,” I say, a little awkwardly, reminded again that we need to bring Tony into the loop a little more. Tony returns his eyes to me and then blinks rapidly, leaning away a little as if in surprise. And then he frowns, glancing back towards the room – towards the Queen inside who looks, I’m very aware, exactly like me.

I laugh a little, seeing him put the pieces together and I quickly hope that we have time for a little chat sooner rather than later.

“Hi,” Luca says, stepping forward, a little frown on his face as he drops my hand and holds his out to Tony. “I’m Luca Grant. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Holy shit,” Tony says, focusing on Luca for the first time and reaching out to shake his hand. “What a morning for meeting celebrities. It’s nice to meet you, man.”

The two shake hands warmly and I frown between them. Have they really never met?

“What track are you?” Luca asks, frowning and letting his eyes drift over Tony as he slips his hands into his pockets. “How do you know Ari?”

“Um…we have…class together,” Tony says, cagey, and I realize that of course Luca doesn’t know about Tony being in our magic class – we agreed to keep it a secret. And as I look up at Luca with a frown I realize that…well. That he might not know…anything about any of it. I mean, he was there that day I melted the glass but…

Honestly, have we told him anything? I wrack my brain, trying to remember. I mean, I know that I promised not to tell him Jackson’s magical gift but…does he even know about mine?

Feeling my hesitance and slight guilt, Luca turns to look at me with a frown.

Tony takes the opportunity to slip away. “See you in class, Ari!” he calls, waving to me. “Good luck in there!”

“Bye, Tony!” I call after him.

“What’s going on?” Luca asks me, stepping closer, looking down into my face. “How do you…how do you know him? Is he espionage?”

“Um, can I tell you later?” I whisper, grimacing a little as I look up at him.

“Ari?” my dad calls from inside the room. Anxious, I glance inside, not wanting to keep him waiting. Luca sighs and gives a shrug, lifting his chin towards the room. Together, we step inside, and Luca closes the door behind us.

To my shock, my mom does not jump up to greet me immediately. Instead, she stares into space a little bit, looking shaken and worried.

“Mom?” I ask, my voice tense, moving immediately to her side. Dad, too, looks over at mom with concern.

Mom blinks, coming back to herself, and holds out her arms to me as she stands, wrapping me in a warm hug when I come close enough. “Hi, baby,” mom murmurs, holding me tight.

“Are you okay, mom?” I ask, pulling back a bit, and studying her. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’m all right,” she says with a little sigh, glancing towards the door. “Just…”

I glance towards the door too. As Luca and my dad murmur greetings to each other, Luca reaching across the table to solidly shake his hand.

“Just what?” I ask, ignoring Luca and dad. “Was it something with Tony?”

She sighs and shakes her head – not denying it just…wanting to move on. “It’s nothing, Ari – just…a strange interaction.”

“What was strange about it?” I push, wanting to know.

“Just, something odd about the way my magic interacted with his,” she says with a sigh, shaking her head. “Odd and…intense. I’ve only experienced something like it once before – my magic calling to someone else’s like that – and this time it was very different. A long time ago, before you were born.”

“What was odd and intense, mom?” I ask, worried.

“He was just so cold, baby,” mom says, turning to me with another sigh. “He felt…god, he felt like….” She looks worriedly towards the door where tony left.

My eyes go wide as I stare at my mother’s drawn face. “Like what?”

“It felt like he was…already dead…” she whispers, shaking her head.

I go completely pale. Tony – Tony feels like he’s death to her? “You felt that from his magic?”

“Wait, that guy – he’s got magic?” Luca asks, his mouth falling open a little as he spins back towards the door.

I grimace, knowing that Luca wasn’t supposed to know that. Mom sighs, realizing what she did and clearly feeling guilty about it.

“Let’s move on,” mom whispers, tugging on my sleeve and gesturing towards the chair next to her. “We wanted to meet with you and Luca about something else – something much better.”

I nod, agreeing to move on, but instead of sitting I quickly cross to give my dad a quick hug and a kiss.

“It’s a good meeting!” mom says, smiling around at all of us. “No need for all of this seriousness.”

“It is serious, Ella,” dad says, giving her a little frown as he returns my kiss and I move back to my chair at Luca’s side.

“Yes, but it’s also fun,” she says with a happy sigh, giving me a smile as she folds her hands in her lap. “Spending money is always fun.”

Dad sighs and pulls a little folder out of the briefcase at his side, but I can see by the smile pulling at his lips that he’s not actually frustrated by mom – that he thinks she’s funny and right. I beam a little, looking between them, loving their relationship, basking in the glow of it and letting it wipe away the weird thing my mom said about Tony’s magic.

“All right,” dad says, firmly placing the folder in front of him and looking between Luca and I. “Let’s get started.”

I sit up straight, prim and focused, curious and a little nervous. At my side, I can feel that Luca feels largely the same, though his curiosity is run through with a slightly desperate desire to do and say the right thing.

I reach out and take his hand under the table, wanting him to feel my support, my insistence that he doesn’t need to impress my dad – that I love him no matter where he stands with my father.

Luca squeezes my palm, interlacing our fingers.