124

Esme

Maryanne and Alistair warned me of the message they received from Adrienne, the nice witch who helped me out back when I first came to the estate. Since Alistair and Maryanne both have set duties to attend to, and deviating from their schedules might draw the wrong kind of attention, I've been assigned to interact with the staff to find out who is a potential traitor.

Maryanne warns me that I need to not draw attention to them, and that we need to be careful since it might just be a distaste rather than a specific tendency of betrayal. Which is how I found myself putzing around the estate while Galina and Bellamy train with Emmanuel and Pierre.

At Alistair's instruction, I started by observing his siblings, since we know that Talon is likely to be marked. Unsurprisingly, a glowing, red circle with a slash through it marks his forehead and the back of each of his hands. I'm hoping that their presence means that Maryanne's detection ward is working as intended.

By the time I finish making my rounds, I've noticed about a dozen people with marks, though nobody who is close to the main happenings. After reporting my findings through the mind link, I retreat back to the training area to join Galina and Bellamy, enjoying the sight as Galina and Emmanuel race through the air, playing a sophisticated version of tag to work on her reflexes.

I was surprised to find that, before her imprisonment, Galina was a bit of a friend to Emmanuel. We still need to sit down and sift through all of her memories, but with how busy everyone has been, it's taken a bit of a back burner.

"They're pretty amazing, aren't they?" Alex asks, a soft smile on his face as he leans next to me against the fence.

"Sure are. Are you here to train, too?"

"Yea. Maryanne and Noel have decided that it's important for me to learn more about our family's latent magic."

"Makes sense. Have you made any progress?"

"It's only been a few days," he says, screwing his face.

I chuckle and shake my head, unsurprised by his irritation.

"What's the matter, bro? Upset that you're not a magic prodigy too?"

He bumps my shoulder and shakes his head, a soft smile on his face.

"From what I hear, you got the magic prodigy part of the McKnight gifts."

I grimace as I remember my first display of magic, and how I accidentally took control of the entire estate with my enhanced glamour.

"Doesn't prodigious functioning include control?"

He chuckles and bumps my shoulder.

"I heard about your... control issues. Do you try to control those big men in bed, too, sis?"

I can feel my face heating as I roll my eyes. Alex has never been much for boundaries.

"Leave my circle alone, you can whore all you want with everyone else around here, Al."

"Fine, fine. Tall dark and handsome isn't really my taste, anyhow." His brow furrows as he watches a few members of the guard stroll into the yard and take up positions near where Pierre and Bellamy are sparring.

His attention makes me curious. It's not a look of interest, or concentration really, but more of suspicion. I inspect the group closely, noticing that at least three of the five have flickering marks on their skin. *Interesting.*

*Alistair?*

*Yes?*

*Is there anyway to get Maryanne down to the training yards to look at something?*

*What is it?*

*Marks, but different.*

*Different how?*

*Flickering. And perhaps spreading.*

The feel of Alistair's alarm is the last thing I notice before the connection is abruptly cut. No doubt he's getting Maryanne himself, and they'll both be here soon.

As I watch, the mark flickers on the three, before a fourth takes up a flickering mark. They take up ready positions and begin to spar, jokingly shoving each other between bouts and moving closer the Pierre and Bellamy. What are these fuckers up to?

Alex dips his head towards them and leans closer, whispering in my ear.

"There's something wrong with them."

I wrap my arms around his shoulder and hug him.

"What do you mean?"

"There's like this... cloud... of darkness hovering around them. It almost reminds me of an attempted possession... We saw a few at the rebellion not too long ago, and it looked pretty similar."

His words have my filling with dread as I pull back and plaster a wide smile across my face.

A few moments later, Alistair is wrapping his arms around my waist and leaning down to kiss me, Maryanne bustling over to fuss over us.

"You haven't eaten all day, Esme!"

"I know, Maryanne," I say contritely, glancing at the group.

She nods and inspects them from the corner of her eye while fussing over me.

As we watch, Ariel appears on the far side of the ring with a bucket of water, a wide grin on her face as she approaches the group of men.

Alex sucks in a breath and leans closer to our group.

"It's coming from her."

"She doesn't have a mark," I say softly.

They nod, chatting aimlessly while we observe from the corner of our eyes.

Ariel approaches the men, giving each a sip from the ladel. As they drink, the flickering marks solidify, their eyes changing from youthful mirth to a hard, coldness reminiscent of hardened and bitter soldiers.

"Why isn't she marked if she's part of this?"

"I'm guessing that she doesn't actually wish the chain harm... she's just a tool, likely." Alistair whispers in my ear.

"So is she against us?"

"We'll have to observe her."

Alistair calls Pierre and Bellamy over when Ariel moves to offer them water too. She smiles at us, waving happily before going about her other duties.

"Is it the water?" I ask.

"No, I think it's something else." Alex murmurs, oberving the men.

The ones who didn't have flickering marks remain unchanged, as if they're not effected by whatever the hell just happened.

"Do you really think it possession?" Maryanne questions.

Alex nods, glancing around.

"I'm guessing that they were weak willed... likely the ones who had the mark flickering, as Esme said, were fighting against the influence or possession. Whatever Ariel did pushed them over the edge."

"How do we deal with Ariel, though?" I wonder aloud.

"We don't, not yet." Alistair murmurs.

We spend the rest of the afternoon brainstorming a way to figure out Ariel's endgame without tipping her off, and to block further possessions. Maryanne and Noel indicate that adding more layers of wards might not be the best idea, so it's back to the books to find another solution. This will probably be one of those issues where we have to bring more that just our little circle in to figure things out.