Within These Wicked Walls(15)

“You must really need this job,” Kelela said.

Magnus smirked, and looked off at the wall.

Esjay seemed the only one to miss the sarcasm. “What an honor it must’ve been to be selected to train with Jember.”

Not selected so much as bought was the honest answer, but it was more information than these rich snobs deserved. “A true honor. He’s the best there is.”

“I’m dying to meet him and ask him a few things. I keep trying to invite him for dinner but can never seem to get ahold of him before or after church.”

Why would you want to spend any amount of time with that heartless addict? Another honest answer I wasn’t going to share. “Evenings are when debtera do most of their work.”

“He refused to cleanse my house,” Magnus said. “Why do you think that is? I mean I know why, but I want to hear what you think.”

I don’t know. We don’t see each other. “He’s not really a fan of long-term jobs. They require too much socializing.”

“That’s not the reason,” Magnus mumbled.

“I heard him sing in church the other day,” Kelela said. She looked smug about it, as if it had been a private concert instead of a regular service. “He doesn’t sound shy to me.”

“He’s not shy,” I said. “He just doesn’t have patience for people.”

“Especially you, apparently.”

“Little sister,” Esjay warned. “Be nice.”

“Who made your amulet?” I asked her, eager to change the subject. “It’s poor work. I’m surprised something in this house hasn’t killed you by now.”

Kelela lifted her amulet quickly to examine it, while I stuffed my face with rice.

I knew pettiness was a poor survival habit—one I would have to put aside, despite this blue-haired irritation across from me.

And I would. After dinner.

“I found an interesting quote circled today,” Magnus said. “‘I have been so long master that I would be master still, or at least that none other should be master of me.’”

“So poetic,” Kelela gushed.

I pursed my lips at her response. “It sounds a bit like a threat.”

“It’s a quote from Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” Kelela said. She leaned her chin in her hand and grinned at me. “You don’t read much, do you? Oh, I’m sorry. Can you read?”

Ridiculous snob. “I actually read a few languages. One of the benefits of being raised in a church.”

Kelela gaped ever so slightly, just enough that I knew I’d won.

“Kelela,” Magnus said, standing to stretch, “let’s find somewhere to digest.”

Kelela pulled her glare from me, circled the table, and took his hand without giving me another glance.

I vaguely heard Esjay say something, but my ears were throbbing with the sounds of my elevated heart. If the other debtera didn’t leave because of the workload, this was definitely why. Everyone in this house was either oblivious or insane.

You could leave now, Andi. They won’t even notice you’re gone. No amount of money is worth all this.

“Andromeda,” Magnus said. “Join us.”

I wanted to knock Magnus over the head with something. Just once, to get it out of my system. He wasn’t that big. Taller than me, but not much wider. No real core strength, from what I could see, judging by the way he’d slouched in his chair all evening. I could take him down, easily. But hitting him was risky, seeing as he was the one paying me.

This is your only option for a patronage. Grin and bear it until the job is done.

I followed Magnus and Kelela out of the dining room. We headed down the hall, ending up in a game room. But instead of engaging in billiards or darts Magnus went straight to the couch beside the fireplace. Kelela sat beside him without question. I, on the other hand, took one of the two armchairs across from them, if only so a coffee table could act as a bit of a barrier between me and the two irritants in the room.

I guess Magnus didn’t care much for coffee ceremonies, because hot coffee was already brewed and laid out on the table. Then again, the ceremonies were about togetherness, and he didn’t seem to care much for that either. He picked up a deck of cards from the table as Kelela poured.

“Our new guest should be served first,” he said, shuffling the deck.

There was a brief moment of suffocating tension in the air before Kelela handed me the small cup of coffee.

“So, what do debtera do, other than bind curses?” Kelela asked, and, for once, there was almost a light of humanity in her eyes. “Do you tell fortunes?”

“Debtera don’t practice black magic,” I said.

The light was extinguished almost immediately. “Maybe they do tell fortunes, but you got thrown out too soon to learn.”

Magnus cut the deck with one hand, shifting the top of the pile to the bottom with a quick spin, keeping his eyes on the cards as he did it. “What would you want her to say, Kelela, if she could tell fortunes?”

“That I’ll have a rich husband, of course,” Kelela said.

“Your brother is rich enough.”

“I’m twenty years old, I can’t stay under his care forever. I need a kind, rich, generous husband.” She hugged Magnus’s arm as she said it. “Who dresses well and adores me.”