The Cerulean (Untitled Duology, #1)(60)
Ebenezer Grange stood behind his father, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“Agnes and Ebenezer?” Robert murmured, and Leo could sense his eagerness to spread this fresh gossip. Leo had had a few too many things on his mind to worry about his sister’s engagement. Besides, as fun as it had been to hang over Agnes’s head all summer, once it became a reality, he lost his taste for the jest. Especially after he’d seen the look on her face when he’d guessed as much, the bleak tears that had filled her eyes. He’d never seen his sister cry before.
“Hello, Ebenezer,” she said. “Mr. Grange, it is, um, nice to see you too. Excuse me, I think I need a refreshment.”
“I shall accompany you,” Ebenezer said, holding out an arm awkwardly. Agnes took it and they left the foyer. Mr. Grange followed them, craning his neck to search for Xavier.
“Do you think they rented those tuxedos?” Robert asked with a smirk. “Oh, I heard James Roth is here as well. He’s starring in this mysterious, one-night-only production, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“He must be sad Xavier’s getting out of the theater business. Your father made him famous.”
“Master Leo, there you are!” Kiernan came hurrying up to him. He looked a proper Kaolin gentleman this evening—gone was the kohl around his eyes and the seashell in his hair. His tuxedo fit him well, though the cummerbund was a bit tight around his stomach.
“Mr. Kiernan, may I present Robert Conway, of the Conway Rail family,” Leo said. “Robert, this is Ezra Kiernan. Mr. Kiernan has been instrumental in helping my father with this new endeavor.”
“How do you do,” Robert said politely, shaking his hand. But Leo could read the look in his eyes that said, So this is the Pelagan.
“A pleasure, dear boy, an absolute pleasure. My apologies, but I need to steal your friend away. It is nearly time for the demonstration!” Kiernan was close to bouncing up and down with excitement.
Leo thought he was going to be asked to recount his experience with the Arboreal and Sera’s blood. He hadn’t been looking forward to sharing that he’d been attacked by a tree.
“What demonstration?” he asked as Kiernan led him away into the drawing room. Xavier stood by the mantel talking to Robert’s father, both with drinks in hand. Mr. Grange hovered close by, pretending to be part of the conversation. But Xavier was focused only on Mr. Conway; he’d never invested in any McLellan productions, and Leo knew it was a sore spot for his father.
“Ah, Leo.” Xavier waved him over. “I was just telling Hubert that he’s going to be exceedingly grateful I invited him here tonight. I’m letting him in on the ground floor of an earth-shattering discovery. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, sir,” Leo said, but neither man was really paying attention to him.
“Now, Xavier, you don’t want to oversell yourself,” Mr. Conway said, wagging a finger.
“Oversell? Why, not at all. Just wait till you see what she can do.”
“She?” Mr. Conway raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on here, McLellan?”
Xavier smiled and put his glass down on the mantel.
“If I could have your attention, please,” he called to the room at large, and silence fell. Agnes and Ebenezer were standing off by the windows, and his sister kept glancing toward the stairs. Leo guessed she was worried about Sera. With a start, he realized he was worried too. And not just about her but about everything—this party, this new direction the business was taking, whatever role he would be expected to play in it. The future he had so confidently envisioned for himself only a few days ago was not so clear anymore.
“As many of you know,” his father continued, “I have been working in secret for quite some time on a brand-new venture, one that will reshape the McLellan empire. Ezra, if you please.”
Swansea came in with an easel and several large boards. Kiernan took one and placed it on display. It was a blown-up photograph of Boris, the one Leo had seen at dinner, only much larger.
“It’s just a tree,” Sebastian Horne scoffed. “What are you playing at, Xavier?”
“This is no ordinary tree, Sebastian,” his father said. “It is called an Arboreal, and it possesses a unique and wondrous power—laugh if you must!” he added, because there were some chuckles among his audience. “But this creature can turn a crumbling farmland into a green oasis. How many of you have ties to the agricultural industry? How many resources have been lost this year, burned in the wildfires, drained to dust by droughts, crops ruined by blight and rot? This tree can change all that. Plant it on your property and I guarantee in one week your soil will be as rich and yielding as if freshly tilled. In two weeks, you’ll be ready to plant, and by the third week, I promise you’ll have a harvest unlike any you’ve seen before.”
“Impossible,” George Wilkes cried.
“I assure you it is not,” Xavier said. “And I would appreciate being allowed to finish without any more outbursts.”
Wilkes fell silent, and Leo could sense his father’s pleasure grow. There was nothing he enjoyed more than dressing down one of his peers.
He motioned to Kiernan, who replaced the photograph of Boris with one of Errol. Leo had yet to see Errol out of his pond, and the picture was murky, mostly just a set of bulging eyes.