Page 28 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty (The Legacy of Aquila Hall #1)
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
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“Calm down, Nate, they’ll be fine,” Jesse patted our brother’s shoulder as we sat at our table in the dining hall.
Getting kicked out of bed by a furious Nathaniel wasn’t something I wished upon anyone.
Maisie had given him a quick call with the message that they had decided to go on a suicide mission alone into the woods and that Gwyn had knocked Doe out. At least, those were the words my friend had told me. I’m sure she’d told him more and worded it differently, but he wasn’t in a good mood to speak to anyone in long sentences right now.
When he had mentioned Doe, there was this weird feeling building up inside my chest. It made me want to vomit and break something all in a single breath. Some would consider this feeling concern, but I doubt that I felt such emotion towards a girl I barely knew. It was just the promise I stuck to. I promised her she wouldn’t die, and I'm not someone to break their promise.
“Don’t touch me, Jesse, and don’t call me Nate,” he hissed, shrugging his hand off.
When we were leaving the building, Professor Kane saw us and informed us that the dining hall was down the corridor. It was too risky to leave since he had already seen us. Because if we went missing, the focus would also fall on the three other girls not appearing for breakfast.
They were stupid. Fucking stupid to sneak out to the chapel in the early hours completely alone.
“I’m just saying, you know they can take care of themselves,” Jesse continued, clearly not aware that he should just shut up instead of continuing to poke the bear.
Nathaniel had barely thrown on his clothes, and his knee was bouncing up and down beneath the table, driving me insane. His eyes hadn’t left the entrance door once since we sat down.
“I’m well aware that they can take care of themselves. What I’m worried about is that my girl is the only one not able to see if anything or anyone is coming for her.”
“Aren’t you two, like, untouchable for spirits?”
“In theory. Fuck knows if that’s the truth. We’re still connected to the spiritual world, even if we’re different from you.”
He was right. We knew more about how much power spirits had over us than Mai and him. For a long time, I assumed they just simply weren’t like us, and truthfully, I didn’t believe either of them when they told me about their abilities.
Mai first told me when we were eleven and warned me not to get on my bike one afternoon in summer because it would end in a trip to urgent care. She’d said that she had seen it. As much as I adored her, I laughed in her face and mocked her like the little shit I was.
The day indeed ended for me with a sprained ankle and a scraped chin.
“Nathaniel’s right. We know shit about anything,” I muttered into my hands, rubbing them roughly over my face in an attempt to wake myself somewhat up. I was damn tired, and I didn’t even remember the last time I had a really restful sleep.
“Has Mai said anything other than the few words you hit me with when you woke me?” I asked my friend, but he didn’t respond. “Nathaniel, stop being so ill-tempered and just tell–” I shut up when I saw his eyes shifting wildly from side to side and his hands tightened around the edge of the table.
“All good, mate, I’ve got you.” Jesse, who sat next to him, lay his arm around his shoulders and held him upright in case he lost control over his body as the vision took hold of him.
It had happened before, and he’d landed face first in his oatmeal. Not the most pleasant thing at seven in the morning. At least he got the day off because Miss Kendrick thought the poor bastard desperately needed some sleep.
I nudged his knee with mine under the table. Just because we had difficulties at the moment didn’t mean I didn’t care for the guy who I respected like a brother. “You’re fine, Nathaniel,” I mumbled quietly for no one other than us to hear.
None of us knew how these visions felt to them, but both always looked like they were in some kind of pain when the sight took hold of their minds.
Nathaniel blinked slowly as he snapped out of it and rubbed his hands, which had now let go of the table, over his tired eyes. “Let go of me, both of you,” was the first thing he said when he regained control over his body.
A smile tugged on the corners of my lips—good old Nathaniel.
“What did you see?” Jesse asked, keeping his hands to himself for now.
Nathaniel looked towards the door where Mai, Naomi and Dorothee walked through.
“They solved the first riddle.”
“Saw that a little late, didn’t ya?” Jesse joked, but Nathaniel took it seriously, his expression twisting to worry. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s like they are in delay or something, and when they finally reveal themselves, they practically slam into me far more intensely than usual.”
Mai was the first at our table, and without saying a word, Nathaniel pulled her in by the waist, placing her next to him and pressing his lips firmly to hers. For a moment, she looked a little surprised before she returned his kiss.
They rarely ever kissed in public like that. To be honest, I think I’ve only ever seen them kiss with passion when they were around our circle or thought to be in private.
“A good morning to you too,” Mai grinned at him when she pulled back, but her boyfriend didn’t look as joyful as she did. She hit him gently in the ribs with her elbow. “Oh, come on, Grumpy Bear, we made it back safe and sound.”
“And we solved the riddle before you could,” Naomi taunted happily, brushing her knuckles playfully against Jesse’s cheek, who pushed her away with a look of jealousy. “I would have figured it out one of these days,” he argued. “Close. I was so close, but you ruined it.”
“Sure, just keep telling yourself that.” Naomi shrugged her shoulders, grabbing the apple from his plate. “That was mine,” he commented, but didn’t make any attempt to get it back.
Naomi bit into it and chewed loudly. “You don’t get a say in this,” she replied calmly, hinting at the dozen times Jesse had stolen from her plate over the past few years.
Dorothee sat down beside me and placed a book on the table in front of her. The leather that bound the book was covered in daisy wheels. I frowned, reaching out and stroking my thumb over the engravings.
From the way her hands clenched the book, I assumed she was going full dragon protecting her treasure, but she just kept looking at me until I returned her stare.
Her eyes were red and a little swollen, which hinted that she had cried a few hours ago, and something inside me ached at the possibility that this could be my fault. Could be . But it didn’t have to be. I didn’t hold her as the kind of girl who cried over some arsehole. Because that was what I was. Just some dumb arsehole, and I deeply hoped she viewed me the same way.
Mai explained everything that had happened and what they had discovered through a dream Doe had of Gwyn's memories.
I listened half-heartedly as the girl beside me added a detail every few sentences.
“So, the necklace was a gift from James?” The fact that Doe wore the necklace around her neck bugged me. If James was Dottie’s killer, then Doe wearing his gift was only a sign that history was catching up to us.
She reached for the rose quartz, ivory necklace and cupped it in her hand.
“Yes. He presented it to Dottie as described in the riddle. It also explained why you don’t like me,” she said, her gaze fixing on the jewellery as my eyes met my friend’s, and Naomi slightly shook her head, telling me she didn’t know the truth.
“How come? I never said I loathed you,” I questioned coolly, taking a sip of my coffee.
She finally looked up at me. “Gift of peace, born in rivalry,” she quoted. “The Kingstone family and the De Loughrey’s must have been rivals for decades. The gift was a sign of peace and a seed of their love that would bloom out of it. I didn’t know that the Kingstone’s were De Loughrey’s rivals. But you certainly did.”
I certainly did not.
But if this was what she wanted to hear…
“The De Loughrey family goes back to the days Owley was founded.” I knew that because I’d read all about her family when I first found the pictures in the hideaway. She comes from a smart family. Both economically and politically smart. The De Loughrey’s are old money, like all of our families. It started when Cedric De Loughrey became a lawyer. Just a little-known lawyer in the seventeen-fifties, until he became one of the most well-known lawyers in England's history as attorney general for England and Wales in his later years. There was one particular article that stuck out to me. Written by Susan O’Mally in seventeen-seventy-two, about how unusual it is that De Loughrey’s clients always won in court, despite how much evidence there was to prove their guilt, plus how impossibly fast he worked his way up in position. In her last article, she wrote ‘this must be witchcraft’ , even though the trials ended at the end of the seventeenth century. Another article had been published a day later, but half of it was censored, and I haven’t been able to find the original documents. Only the fact that Susan was sentenced to death by hanging for the attempted murder of Cedric De Loughrey a week later. My guess, she never committed a crime, and he got scared by whatever she said in that last article, so he had to get rid of her.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked back at Doe beside me. “You come from a family of lawyers, right? It’s a generational tradition that every De Loughrey studies law to continue your family’s boring legacy.”
Doe didn’t flinch at my insult in calling her family’s career boring. I could say the same about mine. I was the heir to the Kingstone bank. One of the biggest banks in the United Kingdom. Couldn’t think of something more boring to do for the rest of my life.
“My mother is a lawyer. She actually met my father in court,” she answered without a smile at the thought of her parents, and her eyes saddened, which told me more than words ever could.
Jesse snorted. “Hopefully not as a client.”
Doe made a face and chuckled. “No, if they were different people, I’d actually adore their love story. They were rivals, defending opposite positions. After the case, he asked her out for dinner, and that was it. Now they are married and have me.”
“Dinner must be interesting with lawyers as parents, do they debate over what stuffing belongs in a turkey?” Jesse joked, the sadness over not solving the riddle forgotten. At least it looked like that. As I knew Jesse, he’d think about being a failure quietly for the next few days. Even though it wasn't really that deep.
Doe traced the circles on the back of the book. “When my father is at home, they fight like our dining room is actually a courtroom, but he works in New York since I was three and barely visits, so that’s not often the case. They are still married, though.”
The table went quiet until Doe cleared her throat. “Anyway, we got off-topic, why do the Kingstones view the De Loughreys as rivals?”
“As far as I’m told, one of your grandfathers tried to sue the Kingstone bank in a case of fraud. I don’t know who won or what happened, but the rivalry between our families started then. The hate was mutual. My father asked me to keep away if a De Loughrey attended this school.” I easily came up with the lie.
In reality, I’ve got no clue why the fuck we were supposed to be rivals. However, it was a significant step toward the James and Dottie issue. Maybe they had been killed for going against the whole family rivalry.
“Apparently, James and Dottie proved that our families are each other’s ruin.” It wasn’t an ideal lie, but it certainly made more sense than just being an arsehole without reason. Though I had lots of experience in that part. For some reason, I felt disgusted by making the girl beside me sad.
Doe shrugged. “Whatever you say. Despise me or don’t, that’s on you,” she said carelessly to me before turning her attention to the diary laying on the table. Her ginger hair fell in front of her face, hiding her from me. I fought the urge to brush her hair back over her shoulder, just so I could look at her a little longer.
She opened the book to an inscription written in Latin.
Mysteria i tenuit in corde meo, ut protegatur astra sanguine
– Dorothee Odette De Loughrey
Confusion crossed Doe’s face.
“It’s roughly translated to: Mysteries I kept in my heart so that the stars were shielded with blood,” I translated for her. She’s taking Latin class, but she was terribly bad at it. Which was probably because she never studied it before until she attended Aquila, and all of us had an immense advantage.
“Or, secrets I have held in my heart may be protected by the stars’ blood,” Jesse added, and frankly, his translation made a little more sense in this context, now that we knew Dorothee was The Star .
She flipped the page, but the next was empty. So was the one after. The one after that too.
Doe flipped through the entire book, but not a single word or scribble revealed itself to her.
“All of this for an empty book?” Naomi muttered, upset at the thought that their adventure was for nothing.
“Or, her words are hidden. Shielded.” Doe’s eyes gleamed at the thought, and I understood what she meant in an instant.
“Dottie protected her secrets for only her blood to decipher them,” I continued, causing her to look me deep in the eyes with a big fat grin on her lips because this was undoubtedly what this girl loved.
The adrenaline of the hunt.
“Protected by the stars’ blood or that the stars were shielded with blood… whatever she did to hide her words, it’s blood that deciphers them. De Loughrey blood. My blood .” Her eyes lightened at the obvious answer, and she reached for the butter knife that lay beside Jesse’s plate. I grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her at the last second.
“That would look very much like self-harm, and as we are currently under extreme watch because of your little stunt, I wouldn’t recommend trying to get your therapy sessions back up to three times a week,” I warned her and loosened my grip around her wrist.
We didn’t need anyone to get suspicious and believe we’re doing some satanic shit because of our ‘delusions’ , especially not Chadwick.
He acts like a bloody saint, and that’s why something rubs me wrong about him. No one treats people like us with gentleness. It sounds rough, but it’s nothing but the sad truth.
I’m not a patient of his, since I managed to sound sane enough to convince the previous psychologist of this school that these sessions weren’t necessary anymore. The process of getting to this point had been difficult because the voices hadn’t been quieting down, and ignoring them is like a bleeding cut on your palm that burns every time you try to touch something. The sensation of the constant pain is the same as the headache these voices are giving me. Unignorable.
It didn’t physically pain me, but my head was never quiet. Sleepless nights tend to make me look lifeless, and that was precisely how I felt. Like a vessel to unheard voices talking over my own.
“You’re right. We’ll meet an hour after curfew in the hideout to test our theory,” Doe agreed with me.