Dominion 4 - Ascendance (16 page)

“Do you want me to go?” he asked.

“Naw, keep working. I’m going to start on dinner while I do this; it will help keep me calm.” I began pulling out ingredients for dinner, then dialed into the meeting. Timothy vanished into the giant dining room. There were four windows in there to be covered. The phone beeped.

“Hello, who joined?” Luca asked.
“This is Seiran Rou,” I replied.

Two more beeps followed mine: Jamie and Kelly. Then another beep: Max.

“Everyone is here. I’m going to introduce everyone and then we can begin.” Luca rattled off a bunch of names I wrote down and planned to research later. No one else spoke. “Now that the introductions are complete, I’m going to hand the meeting over to Seiran, who is currently in place for Charles and Dorien Merth, and is 40 percent shareholder. Seiran?”

Wow, talk about pressure. “Thanks, Luca. I asked for this meeting for several reasons. The first of which was to introduce myself and designate the extra chair. Secondly, I would like to review my agenda and some general changes that Charles Merth’s will makes to the organization.

“I will be taking my father’s seat on the council, and I would like to ask Kelly Harding to take Charles Merth’s seat, so we have a full twelve members.”

“Kelly, do you accept the position?” Luca asked.

“I do,” Kelly replied. I wondered if he was as nervous as I was.
“In his will, Charles Merth left the bulk of the finances to me, and to help with management of those monies, I would like to appoint Jamie Browan as Financial Advisor,” I told the group.

Luca spoke again. “Jamie, do you accept?”

“I do.” Everyone was so quiet, I wondered what they were thinking.
“This is Max,” Max spoke up. “I am designating Seiran Rou the 20 percent I own of Ascendance and providing him with full control and disclosure of all properties and monies.”
My jaw dropped again. What was he doing to me?

“This means Seiran Rou is 60 percent shareholder and therefore head of the council. All actions must be approved by the head before it can be taken,” Luca stated to the group. “Any events forthwith that occur without the consent of the acting chairman can be punished with excommunication from the organization and blacklisting.”

It seemed harsh, even to me, but changes had to start somewhere.

 

“This is ridiculous. They are children,” one man spoke up.

 

“Pillar or not, this is a business, not a playhouse,” another stated.

My mind reeled. It was like being placed as head of the Dominion by default. My heart pounded. The link to Gabe, still thrown wide, provided me with a bit of calm. I could do this, he assured me. In fact, this could benefit everyone. I ran through the ideas I’d been working on most of my life for equality among witches. How much could I propose? And now that I was the head of the group, how much power did I really have? I sucked in a deep breath and prepared for battle.

“Like it or not, I’m in charge,” I pointed out. “I have appointed Jamie and Kelly because they both are wellprepared to help run this as the nonprofit business it should be. They are both male witches who have strong wishes for equality among witches, just as I do, and that is the vision of this group, is it not?”

There was a grumbled reply of assent.

“Good. Since we are agreed, the first step I would like to take is to communicate with colleges and universities who offer magic studies programs. I would like for them to begin testing and accepting any and all natural witches, male or female.” I specified natural because those who were stealing power by killing others had no right to the training they could get in school. If I could find a way to remove that inflated power from them, all the better.

“We’ve asked for that for decades and have always been denied.”

“I just graduated from the magic studies program at the U of M. Kelly is enrolled, along with three other males. There will be almost two hundred males testing in the spring for the fall semester. I think many more schools are going to begin opening options to male students. Since two of the five Pillars are now male, they can no longer ignore us.”

“Luca can begin contacting other schools. He’s good at public relations,” Max stated. I wondered for the first time if Luca was his focus, since he seemed to rely on him so much.

“Equality needs to extend further than education,” someone on the phone stated.

“Understood. However, we cannot expect the Dominion to offer jobs to uneducated male witches. I believe the road to equality must begin somewhere. Just like any other group facing discrimination, we must take one step at a time and not expect everything to change overnight. Gaining education and recognition is a big step.”

“Agreed,” Jamie, Kelly, Luca, and Max all said.

Time to drop the bomb. The ring and all its evil would end with me if at all possible. “I am also stating from this day forth, no witch, male or otherwise, shall be subjected to any sort of power enhancement spells. No rituals, curses, death magic, or anything to give one witch’s power to another.”

The gasp from the group was audible. Was it not something they talked about in the council meetings? Did they not understand how bad it was to have power that was hard to control? None of them seemed ready to make a statement on the phone that they supported the murder of other witches to inflate their own power.

“Anyone found practicing these evils will be released from the group, reported to the authorities, and likely punished publicly for their crimes. Let it be known here and now, I will not tolerate murder.”

“How can you say that when you have committed murder yourself?” someone demanded.

“I killed Brock Southerton in self-defense. He was trying to kill me to increase his own power. I did not take his power in return. I sent all that stolen power back to the earth. Had there been another way, I would not have killed him.” How long had I beat myself up over that very bit of truth? After the fact, I thought of a million ways to protect myself, to stop the rape, to stop Brock from hurting me. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, common sense gave way to fear and adrenaline. I would likely regret that night for the rest of my life, but survival had been more important. Which of us deserved more to live? That was not my decision, but I certainly wasn’t going to let myself be killed for someone else’s selfish goals.

“The Dominion would have anyway,” one of the council members said.

“Because he had killed others and murder is against the law, human and magic. Why is this even a debate?” I demanded. “The ends do
not
justify the means.”

“Brock’s death is what made you Pillar, and becoming Pillar is what sparked the change within the Dominion.”

Jamie spoke up this time. “That is only partially true. The changes were happening. Seiran was already in the magic studies program. He was already considered for several positions in the Dominion, and it was his persistence that got the university to begin accepting more male students. That was all before he became Pillar.”

“Again, this is not up for debate,” I told them. Just how far would they let me push them? “Murder is unacceptable.” “This statement will be written into the Ascendance Code,” Luca stated.

I figured I’d probably stirred up a hornet’s nest and should give them all some time to digest it. “Any more statements before we adjourn this meeting? I have no further changes at this time.”

No one said anything.

“All statements have been documented and will be used as record for changes applied immediately. We will schedule the next meeting in a few weeks.” Luca took control of shutting down the meeting. “Any complaints or questions can be filed through the proper channels for review.” He closed out the call and let everyone go. I took the phone out of my ear, feeling a little dizzy and nauseous all at once. Timothy had stopped working on the curtains and just stared at me like he’d never seen me before.

“You totally just ripped apart the Ascendance.” “I tried to do the right thing.”

“Not all of them will see it that way. They will probably come after you.”
So be it. Having people trying to hurt me wasn’t new. Bring it on.

Chapter 18

I
FELT
Gabe’s gentle questions and told him most of the house should be safe for him to travel through as long as he took the back stairs down. He appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later. He smiled at Timothy but crossed the room to kiss me like he meant it. I wallowed in his lips, loving the taste of him and his wonderful kissing skills. No one locked lips like Gabe could.

Timothy’s eyes were wide. Did he not know I was gay? He cleared his throat and got up from the counter. “I should go finish those windows.” Then he was gone before I could protest.

Gabe chuckled, but hugged me. “You are amazing.” I let him go and went back to making dinner. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Taking over the world, one crazy at a time.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Do you have your lawyer on speed dial?” Whomever Gabe used was good, and I needed to make some changes fast.

“Yes. Why?”

“I should probably make sure if something does happen to me, the Ascendance gets nothing.”
Gabe’s expression was unreadable, but I could feel his stillness and the pain the idea brought.
A tapping at the window interrupted us. We both turned, but the new curtains covered the glass. Again with the tapping. Gabe moved to the other side of the room, and I carefully peeled the edge of the fabric back. The little fairy tapped at the window, expression fierce. Was he going to dive-bomb me again if I let him in? Couldn’t he just go through the window like he had my bedroom door? I pushed the window open a crack and he flew inside, then I shut the drapes, locking them down with the magnets.

Gabe returned to the counter, watching the fairy fly around the room like a bee on steroids. “This your new friend?”

“Heh,” I said. Friend. Sure. “Lyden, right?” I asked the bug.

 

He landed on the counter.
How do you know my name, child of Dorien?

“’Cause I watched you attack my dad in the tree in the foyer. What’s with that, anyway? Didn’t I free you? Why are you back?”

You planted things for us.

I glanced at Gabe, who shrugged. “Yeah, I thought you’d like that and maybe leave the rest of the yard alone. I’d really like to not have to mow it every day just to walk to the gate.”

He flew up and landed on my shoulder, big eyes blinking at me in confusion.
You want us to stay? But you released me.

“Just because you don’t have to serve me doesn’t mean you can’t stay. The yard is plenty big for a couple of fairies.” Now if they could only tell me how to get rid of that damn cursed fairy ring, things would be even better.

How many?

“How many what? How many of you can stay? As many as you want. How many are there? Do I need to expand the gardens? Because I can. I just don’t want to cut down any trees.”

He flew up again, rushing around, darting across the room and back. I feared several times that he’d run into the wall and hurt himself. This time he couldn’t seem to leave unless I opened a door or window for him.

Let me out, child of Dorien.

“You got out just fine last time.” I sighed and went to the window. Gabe shrugged. The sun was setting. As long as it didn’t hit him full on, he’d be fine.

“Maybe if you invite him in, he can come and go as he was,” Gabe suggested. “He is a thing of magic and the new wards are pretty strong.”

“Fine. Lyden, I welcome you and all your kind to come and go in peace within these walls and my home.”

Lyden suddenly vanished. I blinked a few times and wondered if I’d just missed seeing him move, but no, he was really gone, no open window or anything. I went back to my work, finished stuffing the chicken with cheese and peppers, and popped it in the oven. “This has been a really odd trip.”

Gabe pulled out his phone and dialed his lawyer. “Let’s get this legal thing done while dinner is cooking. Sam will be down soon.” Gabe’s lawyer would draft up the paperwork and send it to my e-mail.

Timothy came back into the kitchen after finishing all the windows. I invited him to dinner. He said he’d go clean up and come back. No reason for me to eat alone. Gabe and Sam couldn’t touch the stuff. Gabe was at the counter on his computer, reading through some sort of history on fairies. I suspected Timothy wanted to check on Lily too.

“I’m going to take a peek at the new garden,” I told him. Gabe just nodded. He could join me outside if he needed to.

The side yard bloomed with ivy and flowers. I didn’t remember all those things showing up that morning. Caleb must have been working fast to get it all planted. A red blur buzzed around me several times on my way toward the back to where I heard digging and movement. A fairy, probably, but he didn’t seem all that interested in talking to me. Or maybe it was a she. Hadn’t Gabe said females were more common?

Caleb’s blond hair was darkened with sweat, tank top stained with dirt and perspiration rings, but he dug and planted like a machine. He paused and glanced up at me.

“Your garden is growing like a possessed thing.” He gestured to the blooming flowers he’d planted earlier in the day. “The second I put them in the ground they take, grow, and blossom. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I wondered if he saw the whirring dashes of color flying around and thought they were bugs. “The earth magic here is pretty strong,” I told him. He’d carved out ground all the way to the fence, on both sides of the path and around the yard, like edging. “You work fast.”

“Planting is easy. Churning up the ground was pretty easy too, since I have a machine that does it, and I’m not going that deep. I’ll come back tomorrow with mulch to keep the weeds out.” He shrugged at the yard. “You’ll probably want to hire someone to maintain all of this.”

I smiled to myself. Wasn’t that what the fairies were for? “Thanks, Caleb. Let me know if you need anything.”

He tipped his missing hat to me and went back to work. I headed back inside through the kitchen door. The smell of the spicy chicken made my mouth water. Sam sat beside Gabe at the counter now. The timer went off on the oven. I checked the temperature of the chicken and pulled it out, since it was exactly 160 degrees.