Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) (10 page)

The main one was simply that giving into terrorism let the evil people of the world win without working for it. They should at least have to make an effort, if they were going to screw with her world.

As Bethany rushed out, she waved a hand at Ethyl.

"Odds are that anyone that hired assassins to get at you
won't
try to do it themselves. In public, either. It's a bit of a danger, but not that huge of one. We'll have some guards, and all that. For all we know, after failing once, whoever this woman is, she might just stop.
I
would. Don't you think that sounds reasonable, Katherine?" It was odd that she called the other girl out like that, but Gwen assumed she was trying to be polite.

Then, the very idea of killing a person for that kind of reason made Gwen want to punch someone, so she might not be the best judge of such things in the world.

There was a nod then, as Heather grinned. She had a good smile, and while her teeth weren't perfect, they were nicely white and well cared for that way. She also had a cute smattering of freckles across her nose. It worked for her, really well.

'You're only saying that because she's
you
. Truly, we're prettier than she is
.' The thought held Katherine's voice, and went on, as if Gwen had asked for her input. '
Not that it isn't a wholesome look, but you don't have to feel bad about it. You gained a lot, becoming me.'

It was true, because being a good looking heiress
was
better than being a sickly and crippled hermit. That one wasn't too hard to beat, really. Rather than call the girl on her obvious sucking up, she thought back, trying to be nice about the whole thing.

'Do you want to help plan the party? I don't have any skill as far as that goes. It might work, you know, with the whole being helpful thing?'
Which was true enough that Gwen didn't even feel bad about admitting it.

Katherine clapped her hands then, and looked at her mother.

"Gwen suggested that I help with the arrangements! Isn't that a splendid idea? If it's allowed, I mean, mother? I can only help for an hour, but if you think it's not a problem?" She went gently with it, which got a small, tired, nod in return.

"If it's fine with you, Gwen? I know that you find that kind of thing bothersome. Katherine always loved it. I'm still uncertain about the whole thing, given the current problems, but..."

Proving
the bitch was as mad as a hatter. It was frightening to consider what kind of mind would actually enjoy party planning. Still, it was a good thing to help with, and she'd been the one suggesting time share on the body. Since it wasn't hers to start with, and Gwen was the squatter in this situation, it felt right.

"Go to. Don't eat anything though. No fair cramming food into our face or anything. I'm planning a run when we're done here. I don't want to get sick." She really was getting a jog in if she had time, as well as a full practice in armor. It had been several days since she'd done that, and like anything else in life, constant practice was useful if you wanted to be good at something.

The other girl in her head snorted at her.

"We're too thin by far, but even
aside
from that, you shouldn't do anything in that dreadful armor. You've been ripping your head apart for a week, teletransporting like you have. That evil woman said you needed to rest your magical skills. Run like a person hunted if you must, but-" Then the girl just stopped, since Gwen was sitting back, and letting her run the show. If she really wanted to waste her time arguing about things like that with her, she could, but it wasn't what
she
would have done with her free time.

It seemed that, after a fashion, Gwen had always had the wrong idea about Katherine Vernor. She'd thought her spoiled, lazy, and a bit stupid. She was only
two
of those things, as it turned out. Lazy and spoiled.

Her ideas for the party, such as when to hold the darned thing, what music to have for it and so on, were all fine. Actually, Ethyl clearly agreed with most of it, and they made decisions in near lock step so fast that Gwen felt like she should be taking notes.

Really, that probably meant the girl wasn't totally lazy either. Just an evil witch.

A girl that had been more than a little brainwashed into thinking that one of the most evil people the world had ever known was her friend, and loved her. Literal mind control was used for it, too. Magically induced mesmerism. So it was probably mean of her to assume the girl was actually a bad person. She was just a person that had done bad things.

Gwen would have even been able to forgive the body stealing part of things, if she was nicer to people now. Write it all off as a young woman falling under the spell of a monster that had seduced her into being bad. It was hard to forgive bigotry however.

Worse, Kate was both smart enough to see that others being less than her wasn't a real thing,
and
to know that she should hide it, even if she really felt that way. It was made clear after about half an hour of planning things out. Meaning it or not, she did a heel turn mid-thought, that showed the girl was more than capable of learning.

"You know, mother, we should see if we can invite some of Heather's friends. Her Westmorland family? I found that Adam fellow charming enough, and if I'm not mistaken
Kelvin
Westmorland rather fancies Gwen." She was teasing a bit, but actually wrote the names down on the guest list.

It was Heather's turn to laugh though, which she did while shaking her head, almost as if rejecting the idea.

"You may be right about Kelvin. She's engaged though, to Duke Aubrey. Is it right to put temptation in their paths?"

There was a dual hand flip then, which required putting the pencil down first. Her own body moving like that, without her being able to stop it was strange still. Really, it probably always would be.

"More like putting temptation in
my
way? I don't think you have to worry about Gwen letting anything untoward happen. She's very
good
that way. Besides, other than flirt a bit, Kelvin has never done anything with her. He should have taken the chance, while he had it. Not that Gwen hasn't set herself up nicely that way in the end. She already has an agreement for both of them, the Duke and herself, to take lovers.
I
nearly passed out when she said that, but she really did."

That started a flow of gossip about her as if she wasn't there. It was interesting, since both Heather and Ethyl did it, and kept on when Beth came back in.

Now she was a bit less than happy to see Kate out and about, it was clear. It showed in her stiff posture and in how she barely spoke at all.

At eleven-twenty five sharp, which was exactly one hour according to the clock standing against the wall, an old grandfather type, Gwen found herself suddenly back in charge. Suddenly and without any warning.

She cleared her throat a bit.

"I'm back."

Beth smiled and touched her hand, warmly. "
Good
. I'm still very uncertain about this. It could be a ruse, meant to allow her enough freedom to set something up. For instance, could she have been responsible for hiring those men? I mean, she didn't make the payment herself, which I took from her mind, but she could have set it up. She truly isn't a good person. You need to remember that. There's more going on here than you may know."

It seemed almost out of place, warning her like that, Beth normally being a bit more trusting when it came down to it. If anything Gwen was the one that generally had to bring her buddy around to realizing how horrible people really were. Not that she was wrong about Kate. It just seemed... Like too much.

'It's because she likes you, I bet. She isn't into girls, but she still feels that way about you anyway, so it's making her afraid to have me around. After all, what if I kissed her or something? Then where would she be? Left all wet and confused. It's easier for her to dislike me, as if
my
evil ways are the problem here. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Truly enough, it's a common enough situation."

Gwen rolled her eyes, knowing firsthand how annoying that would be on the inside now. It
was
a theory, but not a real one, she didn't think. She wasn't gay either, but Beth was probably the one woman she
would
have tried it with, if her friend had wanted to give it a go. At least she didn't
think
she liked women that way. It was an odd thing, because she wasn't really certain, one way or the other. Most people had that one nailed down by the time they were in their teens. For so long in her life having any option at all was so unlikely she'd given up on ever having anything. When other kids knew what they were, sexually, she'd been pretty much resigned to being forever alone.

It left her feeling uncertain for a moment. Thinking about it, she had to wonder if she was more into Bethany than a regular gal pal would have been. It wasn't like she had a concept of what a real friendship would have been like.

Katherine snorted, in her head. There was enough derision in it she made a face in response.

'I'm only teasing you. I know, I shouldn't do that. I didn't realize you'd be so interested that way though. I figured on more conflicted whining about the whole thing, to tell the truth. You do tend to be good that way, not understanding yourself. You know, it might be a good idea for you to do some things before you get married. If nothing else you could at least read a book on the topic. Otherwise when Christophe fumbles the first ten times you won't know that it's just him being inexperienced, rather than love making always being like that.'

She didn't respond, even inside her own mind.

There were limits about what she was planning to do in life, and one of them was take sex advice from a girl whose entire reputation was this world's equivalent of... Honestly, Gwen couldn't think of who she was like from her own world. It wasn't good though. Slutty, in a place that thought of that as being a particularly bad thing.

'Loose, and perverted.'
This got projected, a bit more forcefully than Gwen meant it to be.

'You mean
fun
?'

The bad thing there was that Gwen actually feared that she kind of did. She'd never had sex, or done a lot of things that normal people had. Not even a little bit of it. The idea that she might get to try it someday, frankly terrified her. Not because it would be awful though. No,
that
she could handle. If sex ended up being her laying there while Christophe did things to her that mildly hurt, she'd deal with it well enough.

Pain she knew.

Discomfort was an old and constant friend who never stayed away for long.

The problem was that she might
like
it. Gwen knew that she could easily get a taste of that kind of contact and go crazy for it, wanting nothing else. That thought left her feeling lost. This time there was no snappy comeback, since the thoughts were hidden inside. That was her intent, anyway. It was weird, but she knew that Kate couldn't get what she was thinking most of the time, just like she couldn't tell the other way around. Both could make themselves known, but it wasn't the natural fallback of the thing. Otherwise it wouldn't be a fair and equal situation.

The party planning went on, with Beth holding her hand occasionally, in a sympathetic way that made Katherine snicker a little bit. No one else seemed to think anything of it however, since women did things like that in this world. Finally though, she managed to get up from the table, and go set up her workout.

It pained her not to do it, but she left off the practice of anything magical. Mona really had told her not to, for a week or so, if she could help it. Not that she wanted to follow the rules of that old bitch. She would though, since the woman was right. So she geared herself up in an old tan jumpsuit, slipped on her heavy boots, and went for a jog in the backyard, only to be followed into it by both Peter and Heather. Beth skipped out on it, in order to stay with Ethyl.

She was a bit of a wimp when it came to physical things like that. It was almost cute, the way she made excuses. As far as Gwen was concerned, she could have just said she didn't want to. Bethany was an adult, and while being in shape never hurt, Gwen wasn't the boss of her.

The training was still fast paced and violent enough to be interesting. On the good side Peter managed to hurt both her and Heather well enough when they practiced unarmed against him that he got to use his healing tricks too. It was good enough practice, and while he pushed into the realm of pain a bit, healing them a bit too fast, they were all presentable at the end of the session, which was at about three.

She was hungry, so moved her head into the kitchen as she walked past. There was no way she was going in, being all gross and sweaty like she was.

"Magda? I seem to have forgotten to eat today. Would it be possible to have some tea sandwiches set up? If it isn't a problem. Otherwise I can just wait."

The woman she spoke to was a bit heavyset. Not fat, but round in a way that women here seldom really were. They tended to a softer look than what was strictly good looking back home, but no one was really fat. Not that she'd ever seen. Even the head cook was more of a square shape, rather than chubby. If she could have hung out in America with Gwen, the woman would have looked thinner than normal, for her age.

"Oh, certainly my dear. For your friends as well? Would the second sitting room be good?"

She thought for a bit, and then nodded. After all, they weren't going to be working on anything, as far as she knew. Having a table was nice at times, but it felt like a shame not to use the entire house. Not that they did, most days. It was just far too vast for that.

"Sounds good to me. Thanks." She nearly asked when it would be ready, but knew the answer, which was before she got back down to eat it.