Page 118 of Whispers of Wisteria

I knew it!

“I-I’m sorry!” I burst out. My heart raced as I gripped a section of my skirt. “It wasn’t on p-purpose.”

Damen looked up from glaring at the floor.

On the other hand, Uncle Gregory cocked his head. “What areyouapologizing for?”

“I—” He’d heard, right? He had to have. “I lost control of my abilities! People—people could have died.”

I wasn’t sure if this was true, but I was familiar with the stories. Like, the mean nurse witches had said this could happen! That was why they didn’t let me talk.

“No one is dying,” Uncle Gregory said, touching his forehead. “And I wasn’t referring to your enchantment. But now that you’ve brought it up, let’s discuss what happened.”

I held my breath as my shoulders tightened.

What the crap?

This wasn’t about me at all then! I glanced at Damen from the corner of my eye.

He was still staring at me.

This was allhisfault! He’d been hiding from me since yesterday. He had to have known there was no way I wouldn’t be worried!

And because I was worried, I’d opened my mouth and now I was the subject of another lecture.

Ergo, perfect sense.

“You used an enchantment to beguile the room,” Uncle Gregory continued, and I gritted my teeth. “That is normal, as your energy has had no outlet before now. No one was harmed other than a sudden influx of campus breakups and several young men sobbing behind the gymnasium. So that’s about par for the course.”

People actually took my advice?

“You do need to learn to wield it properly, however,” he continued, expression turning serious. “You shouldn’t delay much longer.”

“Okay,” I said, shifting my weight. “Brayden—”

“You need to talk to Bryce.”

I looked at the light on his table as my breath got stuck in my throat. I’d just known this day would come—that I’d be beholden to him for knowledge. But I hadn’t thought it’d be so soon!

I wasn’t ready!

But then again, he’d helped out yesterday. I glared at the green lampshade.

It was time. I would command it to be so.

But first—

“Why?” I asked.

What would Bryce know that Brayden didn’t?

Gregory paused a beat, eyes flickering to Damen as if measuring how much to say, before he answered. “It’s a matter of fae inheritance. The second son and so forth hold different roles. Bryce is the Dubois heir. Brayden’s position is to act as the family’s guardian. This belongs to you. You and Bryce must work together.”

This—this—was what my elderly sage had warned me about! I still had no idea what anyone meant by ‘inheritance’; the books mentioned nothing. It was very secret after all. But he had not said that I’d be working directly with Bryce.

How very in-tune with his manipulative nature. I was impressed.

And as for Bryce—it seemed his plan of making me his protégée had come full circle.