Chapter 13: The Ball

Kim helped me dress.

I felt like mutton dressed up as lamb, but he said I was handsome and if I didn’t get propositioned at least ten times, he would be most surprised.

I’d let Ian take the carriage since I could blink Kim and me to the party. We arrived, just as a carriage did and helped the ladies out. Tycha introduced me to her sister Wella and her brother Locke and then her parents, Lord Brace and Edith. We walked inside with the family.

Tycha asked Kim why he hadn’t been around the last couple of days and he explained that he had become working class. At Brace’s raised eyebrows, Kim explained that he had accepted a job to be my Estate Manager and had never worked so hard in all his life.

Lord Brace looked at me, “What? You have truly got some use out of the rascal?”

I shrugged, “He is smarter than he looks and he is learning to meet my needs.”

Kim had to cough to hide his laugh at my double innuendo, and Tycha gave him a strange look. I got the feeling none of them had realised Kim had left with me from Mathew’s and he hadn’t told them of our relationship.

I had noticed if we were in public, he didn’t act as my lover but as my friend or employee, I found this also curious. I guessed that he had his reasons and I’d find out in time why. But then, I didn’t act any different I realised. I’d never been big on public demonstrations of love. I now wondered if he was taking his cues from my actions.

Tycha and Kim took it upon themselves to introduce me around. Tycha hung on my arm, and Kim just stood beside me. He winked at me on one occasion, and he had repeated his story several times that he worked for me and that he had moved out of Bernice’s, as he felt he had overstayed his welcome.

I didn’t contradict him, as what he said was true it just wasn’t the whole story. I was introduced to the birthday girls and presented each of the girls with a gift. They opened them there and then, and both gasped at the necklaces I had given them.

“I hope they are acceptable, I wasn’t sure what to give you,” I explained.

Samar looked at the gifts then at me, “I hope they didn’t put you too deep in your pockets.”

I smiled, “You told me your granddaughters were beauties, so I thought it only fitting they received something as beautiful as them.”

The girls cooed at me and got their mother to exchange the necklaces they wore as they wished to wear mine. I know it was naughty of me, but I put a truth spell on both of the necklaces and a couple of other spells.

I had told the spell to ignore statements meant to flatter if they were close to being true. I know women in particular often tell other people, things like this to be friendly or polite. I didn’t want to totally ruin their evening.

I was introduced to one of the visiting families and was not impressed by them, particularly the boy, Siegfried. He was here to score a wealthy wife, and something about the family told me they were not very well off. Siegfried’s sister wasn’t anything to write home about, and I didn’t take to her, either. A bitch if I had ever met one.

Siegfried wore a novices ring, and when I shook his hand, I dropped a truth spell on the ring as well. The fact he didn’t feel it didn’t impress me either. I was actually wondering how he even managed to get the ring to stay on. I detected no real ability in him at all. The ring had a wrongness about it as well.

I was then introduced to the other family. The husband made my skin crawl, and he and the two sons were insipid and hugely fat. I suspected they were simply gluttons by nature. The oldest also wore a novices ring and had no talent at all.

I was beginning to wonder who gave the rings out. I had a sneaky suspicion they were purchased and spelled to accept any wearer whether they wanted to, or not. Neither of the parents wore medallions, and the fathers had novices rings that I believed were obtained the same way.

As far as I was concerned, both boys and their fathers were fakes. I truth spelled all of their rings. We soon ended up with Mathew’s crowd. I was amused by some of the comments, as most of the lads hadn’t taken a fancy to the visitors either.

I tapped Mathew on the shoulder and asked him to step outside with me. Once we were in a darkish corner, I blinked him back to my place and presented him with his box. He happily repeated the vow and put on his new bling.

“Oh my goodness, Storm this feels so much better,” he said.

I was happy and pocketed his medallion after re-spelling it. It had a lot better feel to it, and I noticed the difference immediately. I told him his box would follow him home later and popped him back to the party.

Kim gave me a suspicious look when we returned. It wasn’t hard to tell Mathew was glowing with happiness. Mathew looked at Kim and grinned. He put his hand up to his collar so Kim could see the ring he now wore on his middle finger.

Kim reciprocated, and Mathew laughed, “You devil, now I know why Kim is working for you.”

“Oh?” I said innocently. Kim also kept his face bland.

“Jim said he was your Estate Manager when I asked the other day if he had seen Kim recently. I can understand why you’d want a mage as you call us, for that position,” he said.

“Yes I do like honest employees,” I said. “Kim had proven to be very conscientious at his tasks, and I think he fits into my household well.”

“He taught us how to swim today in that lake he made,” Kim said to change the subject. I smiled at Kim I could feel his happiness that I was also telling him, I wanted him around.

“Yes, we must organise a day at your lake. I love swimming,” Mathew said.

“Mathew you are welcome to use it anytime you wish. Did I not build you your own bridge so you could enter my property?”

He nodded happily at me. Kally wandered over to join us, and then she looked at Mathew. She tilted her head at him, “There is a glow about you tonight, Mathew. It makes you look very sexy.”

Mathew smiled at her, and she had to smile back. ‘I think you may find she will accept if you offer for her, ‘ I sent to Mathew.

He flicked his eyes at me to see my smile and then looked at Kally. “Come, walk with me,” he said to Kally and put her hand on his arm, and the wandered off.

Kim watched the couple in interest, “You know once one gets married, the rest will soon follow.”

I grinned at him, and he burst out laughing. “Who is next?”

I looked at James and nodded, “I believe he has carried the torch for a while but thought you were in love with Bernice.”

“But I recently moved out,” Kim stated. We grinned at each other, as James and Bernice walked over to us.

Bernice said, “I hope you haven’t found Kim to be tiresome, Lord Storm?”

“On the contrary, he has been most diligent in the tasks I have set him, and I have little to complain about,” I said.

Poor Kim had a hard time keeping a straight face. He cleared his throat and said, “Thank you for putting up with me for so long Bernice. I’m as surprised as anyone that I actually enjoy my new job.”

“Storm likes to work me hard, but I get the satisfaction of a job well done. I am most happy in my new position.”

This time, I had to keep a straight face. I looked at James. He wore neither a novices ring nor a medallion. “James, shake my hand, as if in greeting,” I asked him.

He gave me a strange look but did so. I smiled broadly at him and winked at Kim who also smiled back as he realised what I was telling him. “Excuse me Bernice, but I just need to borrow James for a minute.”

I directed him out through the doors. This time, Kim knew what was going on, so he distracted Bernice for me. I walked James into a quiet corner. I pulled the medallion from my pocket and showed it to him.

“James accepting a medallion is a great responsibly, do you wish to accept this duty?”

“Yes,” he said. He looked at the medallion with desire and I determined it was because he felt its pull rather than a desire to have it because it would give him powers he didn’t have.

I got him to repeat the phrase I had the others say. I also added a couple of extra spells that I thought would help him and put the medallion around his neck. “Wear it with pride but remember, you are now a servant of the people,” I reminded him.

I saw a calmness come over him and felt I’d done the right thing. “By the way, Kim isn’t in love with Bernice. But I think she loves you.”

His eyes lit up, and I think my answering smile reassured him. We walked back inside, and he collected Bernice and said he’d be back shortly to us.

“Oh my goodness, you’re going to start an epidemic,” Kim said shaking his head.

“Well, it at least clears the playing field if we know who is and isn’t available,” I told him.

Kim nodded in agreement. I had a feeling he didn’t think his girl was here, though. This intrigued me. I knew we had to go find his apprentices box, but I’d been busy here, and it wasn’t time to leave yet.

Kim nudged me as Lindell came in with her father. The guy had a pompous look about him; I didn’t like him from the moment I set my eyes on him. He was a driven man and full of his own self-importance.

Lindell, however, was a different coin. While she carried herself like a queen, I didn’t get the same, ‘I’m better than you, ‘ feeling about her.

Lord Tyson come over to us, he looked me up and down. I kept my face neutral but otherwise didn’t react. Kim did the introductions. I put out my hand, and Veldor took it. I detected a medallion, and again it didn’t feel natural. I felt it was forced to be in his position. I felt that it was in pain somehow.

He squeezed my hand hard and went to tip my hand over, so his was on top. I smiled politely and simply let my hand be turned and then placed my other on top of his. Indicating I was top dog, not him.

I dropped a truth spell on his personal ring. A massive monstrosity, it was designed to show wealth, but not taste. It said a lot about the man. Personally, I detested him. He was a mean bully, and I didn’t think he ran a particularly happy household.

I gently squeezed his hands and said, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, sir. I understand you knew my broker, Ben Grayson, I hope he doesn’t owe you any money, paying off his debts is sending me broke.” I released his hand.

“No, he doesn’t owe me money,” Veldor said. I smiled as I could clearly detect he had thought of saying different. He frowned at me, as I released his hand. He hadn’t picked up my lie, either.

I gently took Lindell’s hand and kissed the back of it. She was the one who should have been wearing the medallion. I detected several gifts in her. I also gathered her father knew where the real talent lay.

“My Lady, I’m delighted to meet you at last. I observed you shopping the first day I was in town and was fascinated by your beauty,” I told her. This was no lie on my part I assure you, she was gorgeous, and I had to tell Junior to behave.

I felt her shiver as my lips touched her hand. She was attracted to me, at least. I felt we had a connection, but I didn’t feel it could last long. I felt sadness for no reason, at all, but wasn’t able to immediately detect why. I released her hand.

She smiled, “Yes you were hard to miss. Did you enjoy listening to me buy vegetables?”

I grinned, “I did, thank you. Are you aware that you taught me a lot that I didn’t know and it has stood me in good stead ever since?”

She tilted her head and gave me a look as if she felt I meant something entirely different to what my words implied. She obviously had strong psychic ability and truth telling was one of her specialities.

She, if no one else other than Kim and I, would enjoy tonight’s entertainment I felt. Her father took back over, “Lord Storm, at your convenience, I would like to meet with you to discuss some mutually beneficial business.”

I notice him scratching at his chest. No, it wasn’t mutual, he would make it seem so, but it wasn’t. “Certainly Lord Tyson, I’d love to hear what you have to say. Unfortunately, I’m tied up with other arrangements next week. My Broker had left me a mess that I am still trying to clean up.”

This displeased him. “What say you come to dinner in five days’ time?” he inquired.

I looked at Kim, “Am I busy that night?” I asked him.

Veldor looked at Kim with distaste, which immediately put him in my bad book. Well, I moved him higher on the list of people whom I didn’t like or trust since his name was already on the list.

“I’m sorry my Lord, I’ll have to get back to you on that as we have several engagements on your calendar and I prefer to double check before committing you,” Kim said pompously.

I sent him a mental kiss and felt his happiness being projected back. I noted Lindell’s narrowed eyes. She had guessed that our relationship was close but wasn’t sure of what it entailed.

I now knew why Kim was acting as he was. He got another mental kiss and had to drop his eyes, as his desire for me was evident to me.

“Well, I would like to get this business matter with you addressed,” Veldor said and waited for me to reply.