Page 31 of Sweeter than Honey
“Wait,” I call to her, looking around at the bedraggled bunch of students. “Don’t they need to be graded, or supervised?”
“Oh, Damien will give them a mark, or something,” she says with a shrug. “Nobody’s really keeping track of grades, to be honest with you. Too much paperwork.”
Without another word, she disappears, leaving me with a dozen completely untrained, magical young adults who have probably never had a real job or even visited the city in their entire lives.
“Um, did she say no one is keeping track of ourgrades?” Hallie asks with a frown.
I ignore her, and turn to Lexi, who is eying up one of the shifters. “Lexi, take the students to the boardroom. Find a standard internship agreement and make sure they’ve all signed it and filled in their medical records.”
Lexi groans. “What, why me? You know I’m bad at forms!”
“Because I asked you to!” I snap, waving my hand at her.
“Do I have to fill out an internship agreement?” Hallie asks.
“No, but could you help Lexi with the other students, please?” Celine says. With a guilty expression on her face, she begins ushering them out of my office. Lexi pouts but ultimately gives in, taking a drink from her bright pink tumbler as she follows the students to the boardroom. Celine gives me a quick wave. “Well, I should probably also…”
“Youstay here!” I shout at her.
Amara tries to leave as well, but I turn on her before she can. “You too!”
Both of them share a look of resignation. Amara waves a hand to magically shut the door, and Celine comes over to my desk.
“Listen, Renata,” she says, her voice taking on that charming, smooth inflection she always uses when trying to make a deal with the other mafia leaders, or charm the mayor, or whatever it is she does all day. “I know you’ve got a lot to do, but…”
“There’s nobut!” I interject. “I’ve got a lot to do, and I would appreciate it if you could have my back, instead of letting Amrita and the witches waltz around the hotel like it’s their hovel, or whatever witches live in!”
“Cottages, usually,” Amara mutters.
“Don’t Lavinia and Amrita have enough to do without making my life so difficult?” I continue, addressing my sister directly. “I know you’ve been busy dealing with them since Tudor’s been gone, but I need yourhelp,Celine. I can’t run all of the operations of the hotel and keep the witches out of our hair.”
“I’mtryingto keep the witches away, Ren, but it’s a lot more difficult than you would think,” Celine says. “Damien was right, the vampires in the the surrounding regions are starting to stake out our territory. We’ve been trying to fend them off…”
“Well, you’re not doing a very good job,” I snap. “Because of you, those intruders managed to get onto the holding floor. You and Damien should have been up there. Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to protect Lily?”
I cross my arms over my chest. I told Celine about the incident, but I left out the part where I gave Lily some of my blood to heal her. Sharing blood is an intimate activity, and I don’t want to admit that I engaged in such a thing with my assistant. But I had no choice. I couldn’t watch Lily die right in front of me.
She was so brave, standing up to the intruders, even though she doesn’t have any magical abilities. When I think of her lying on the ground, in a pool of blood, fury rises up inside me. But before I can round on my sister once more, she puts her hand out.
“Renata, Iwouldhave dealt with the threat if you had told me what was happening,” she says. “If you remember correctly,yougot the text and stormed out of the dining room!”
“Well I’m sorry if I’m the only one I can count on right now…”
“I’m stretched as thin as you are! Every time we get on top ofsomething, it seems like something else happens…”
“We don’t even know who the intruderswere,” Amara says, a worried expression on her face. “You said it was a witch and a vampire?”
“Yes, definitely,” I confirm.
“Well, that could be anybody,” Celine sighs. She runs a hand through her dark brown hair. There are lines around her eyes, and her pale skin is drawn and even more colourless than usual. “We’ll just have to stay vigilant.”
She gives me a nod, and exits my office. But Amara doesn’t follow her. She leans over my desk with a tender expression. I look at her suspiciously. “What?”
“Renata, when was the last time you had any blood?”
My lip twitches. “Amara, I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I’m perfectly well-fed…”
“I know Lily takes care of you when she’s here, but she’s been off for almost a week. I just wanted to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. You seem a little on edge, even more than usual.”