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Vincent

E verything made sense in the worst possible way.

Darius’s distrust for me and my father’s words that night at the restaurant that I’d been far too distracted to focus on.

He’d said they’d stopped by the paper to talk to me about my feature piece—a piece they shouldn’t have known about.

They hadn’t stopped by the paper before…

ever.

I couldn’t believe it had taken so long for everything to come together in my mind.

I’d been trying so hard to get Luna away from them that night that nothing else had sunk in.

Patricia’s phrase was the last clue: this is simply the way of things.

My father said that phrase more often than talking about the benefits of magic.

It had been a staple my entire childhood in Andiveron House.

“Why don’t we see the fae from other courts?”

“That is simply the way of things.”

Or my personal favorite.

“Why don’t we follow the human laws?”

“That is simply the way of things. ”

I was at Andiveron House before I realized where my feet were taking me.

The picture hadn’t fully formed yet, but I knew they were involved, and I’d get to the bottom of it.

I knocked.

This was no longer my home, though I could count those aware of the fact on my fingers.

It struck me how easily I’d given Luna that information.

I’d wanted her to see me as separate from my parents.

To know that, though we shared a family name, we shared no other beliefs.

Jeffrey, the butler, answered.

“Vincent, I didn’t know you had an appointment today.” He smiled warmly.

“I don’t.”

His smile turned to a frown.

Even though Jeffrey had always liked me, he was never one to allow the disruption of the process .

“I’m not sure your parents have time today.”

“They’ll see me,” I said.

He sighed and opened the door, granting me entry to the home that would presumably be mine someday—unless my parents finally disinherited me, favoring Skye.

Eventually, I hoped they would do it, but whatever their part in the paper fiasco, I saw it for what it was: interference in my independent life.

It must have angered them so much that I got away and could have made something of myself without Andiveron finances.

I wondered how true that was.

If my suspicions were correct, my parents pulled Patricia’s strings.

I could only imagine this being possible if they bought their way in, financing the paper or bribing Patricia directly.

I wanted to believe they hadn’t always controlled the paper.

They would have never approved my hire if they had.

How long had they been meddling, though?

My father was in his study when I stormed in, laid my hands on the wooden desk, and leaned toward him with as much authority as I could muster.

“What have you done? ”

He glanced up at me, unimpressed by my display.

“Vincent, do sit down, you’re being rude.”

“Father, I want to know what you have done to force the paper to publish the story on Darius Pierce.”

The corner of his lip curled into a smug smile, though he quickly tried to flatten it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play coy, now. You were eager to ask me about the assignment a few weeks ago. Did you provide the tip?”

“Your sister said you wanted to write features. We’re helping.” He glanced at me before flipping through the papers on his desk.

I shook my head.

“You are not helping. You are playing your own game and trying to use me to do it. It stops now.”

His smirk was back in full force, not even attempting to hide his assurance.

“And what are you going to do? Quit? You’d have to come home.” He spread his hands.

“We both know how…distasteful that would be to you.”

“Is that what this is about?” I asked.

“This isn’t about you, Vincent,” he said.

“It’s merely a convenient way to stop Darius from causing further trouble.”

My brow furrowed.

My parents didn’t like Darius.

They didn’t like any fae from other courts.

They barely liked fae from their own court.

But how was Darius in their way?

“You’re the one trying to block the school from being built?” I said, finally figuring it out.

“We’re not blocking anything. We’re reminding the governor that there is value in exclusivity.”

His words made my skin crawl.

Hadn’t I said something similar to Luna when we first started talking about recommending the inn?

I pushed my shoulders back.

I was nothing like him.

I’d chosen differently.

I would continue to choose differently.

“I’m not writing the piece.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He wiped his hand through the air in dismissal.

“The piece will be published whether you write it or not. If you decide not to, we get the added bonus of you crawling back to Andiveron House.”

My jaw clenched.

I couldn’t let him get away with this.

“It was inconvenient that you decided on a dalliance with the Pierce girl. A half-fae, Vincent? You should know better.”

I should have known they had an agenda when they’d run into us at the restaurant.

My parents were calculated in everything they did.

Their words had been targeted to wound Luna; they’d known exactly who she was but had not acknowledged it.

“I don’t ever want to hear you speak about Luna that way again,” I said coldly.

My wind rushed around the room, rattling the obnoxious trinkets on the bookshelves.

“She has more character and more integrity than you ever will.”

Father continued to look unimpressed.

“She’s not fae.” He held down a few rustling papers as my wind whipped past him.

“You really should be better able to control yourself.”

“I won’t spend any more time trying to convince you to change,” I said, fuming.

“I’ll find a way out of this. I won’t come back into this house while you still live in it. And I won’t let you do this to Darius.”

“We’ll see,” he said, not even bothering to look up at me this time.

I turned and exited the room the same way I’d entered, letting my wind slam the door behind me.

I frowned when I realized I wasn’t heading out of the house, though.

My wind swirled down the hall toward the front door, and I went in the opposite direction.

The front door opened and closed with the power of my element.

Before I considered what I was doing, the hall closet opened, and I slid inside.

I don’t know what came over me.

One minute, I was heading toward the door, desperate to put this house and my parents behind me.

The next minute, I was hiding in a closet per my wind’s impulsive plan.

Footsteps echoed down the hall.

“Did he leave?” Father asked.

“He must have. I heard the door close,” Jeffrey replied.

“Headstrong boy,” Father mumbled and then sighed.

“It’s not like he can do anything about it now.” His footsteps echoed down the hall in the opposite direction.

I had to move quickly.

Father was probably right.

The article was going to get printed whether I participated or not, but there was a hopeful part of me that wanted to change the text of the article.

Another part of me wanted to ensure my recommendation of Cliff House Inn made it into this issue.

I knew Patricia would pull it if she didn’t get the desired feature.

A reckless hope had overtaken me—a hope that I could make this right.

I had to believe it was Luna’s voice in my head telling me not to leave a stone unturned when it came to something I wanted.

And I wanted to clear Darius’s name, not only for Luna but for myself.

My father was right.

I did love that job at the paper.

Even if I only continued to write recommendations.

I felt good about the new angle on how to feature Luna’s inn, and it made me realize there was so much I could do, so much I could explore while still writing the recommendation column.

I was a little ashamed it had taken me so long to realize, and even then, it had only been because of Luna’s words.

But to keep writing, I had to have content for this article.

I could see the headline: Old Fae Family Works Against Magic School.

With the right proof, it didn’t have to be Darius’s name in the text.

I sent my wind through the keyhole of the door.

It unfurled and flew through the hall, searching for bodies as I had searched for whatever was in Luna’s locked room.

The hallway was empty.

Now was my chance.

I slid from the closet and let myself back into Father’s study.

Quick steps led me across the room, behind the desk.

I wasted no time finding the account books.

Father was too meticulous not to keep a record of his payments.

He was accurate to a fault.

This was even easier than searching Darius’s study because I knew what to look for.

I opened the account book and skimmed the last few weeks of entries.

Finding those I was looking for neatly labeled, I tore the page from Father’s records and took it with me.

I returned the book to its drawer, hoping Father wouldn’t notice the missing page tonight.

It wouldn’t matter.

I was going to the newspaper office now to draft this.

He wouldn’t have time to stop me.

The issue was off to the printer tonight.

My wind checked the pathway to the exit.

I was clear.

Quiet feet in my favorite boots led me across the office.

I opened the door to the hallway and was halfway through when I ran directly into Skye.

“Vincent, what are you doing here?” I held her arms to steady us both.

“Keep your voice down,” I hissed.

She shook her head.

“Father is in an uproar. He’s yelling at someone now. He won’t hear us.”

“He’s out of control. Trying to ruin Luna’s father and my job at the paper.”

Her face fell.

“I’m so sorry, Vincent. What are you going to do?”

I held up my paper.

“I’m going to fix it.”

She ushered me down the hall toward the front door.

“You need to get out of here.”

“So do you,” I said.

My parents had never given Skye a hard time like they had me, but living here couldn’t be good for her.

I resolved to work harder to get her out of this house .

“I’m working on it, Vincent,” she said.

“Don’t worry about me. Take care of this—of Luna.” She winked.

“I liked her.”

My smile grew as something loosened in my chest.

We were almost to the door when my wind alerted me to someone else in the hallway.

Jeffrey cleared his throat behind us.

“Vincent, Skye.”

I glanced over my shoulder.

“Jeffrey.”

Skye held back a giggle.

Jeffrey had always caught us getting into mischief.

He had always been much more lenient on us than our parents, but this was different.

He looked down at the paper in my hands.

Though it was folded in half, it was still evident to anyone with knowledge of the household what it was.

Father used red and black ink on the paper to track his ledgers.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Jeffrey asked, holding my gaze.

I dipped my chin.

“I haven’t been surer since the day I left this house.”

“Very good, sir.” He turned his back on us, freeing me to leave Andiveron House with my pilfered evidence.

Skye shoved me out.

As the door slowly closed behind me, I let out a breath.

I laughed, not believing my luck, not believing I’d gotten out of there with the document.

I had no time to celebrate.

The sun was setting, and I had to make it across town quickly.

Tucking the paper in my jacket, I took off at a run.