The War of Six Crowns: The Vanished Knight

Planting a Seed of Doubt

"She's a trainer at our riding club in London," James's father said.

They had a riding club in London? Fancy that.

"We felt sorry for her," his mother murmured.

Aha. He answered that statement with harsh laughter. "Are you serious?"

"You didn't see her at the club, James."

He started to interrupt, but his mother brought up an open hand to stop him. "She just...collapsed in on herself. When I looked in her eyes—"

The retort jumped out of James's mouth before he could stop it. "Let me guess, suddenly you wanted a new daughter."

His mother's face reddened further. James bit the tip of his tongue. If he wanted the urchin gone, he had to make them doubt their decision. His mother continued as if he hadn't spoken. "And she's so..."

Perfect timing. "Scheming perhaps? Oh and talented—gifted even," he supplied with as much venom as he could muster and followed up with a pitying shake of his head. "I can't believe you two could be so naive."

That would be all it took. His mobile's message tone jarred the brief silence between them.

"No," his father protested. "She's not like that."

James pulled the phone from his pocket. He read the message. Some girl he'd flirted with at school.

"Yes. Yes she is." James said as casually as he could and snapped the mobile closed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Ward's waiting for me." He headed downstairs.

"We are not finished with this conversation," his father blustered.

James paused at the bottom step and lifted an eyebrow to anger his father even more. "Yes, we are. You finished this conversation for me the moment you decided to take in a human being without as little as a warning." He waited for his words to settle in and fertilize the seed of doubt he'd planted. "I get that. God knows you do it often enough. But what I don't get is Little Orphan Annie hitting the jackpot because you two refuse to realize it's staged. You don't know her. How do you even know what she's like? She could be an ax murderer for all you know. But you don't think about it. Not in your quest to play Happy Family."

He sauntered past his parents and pulled open the kitchen door. The girl stood right in front of him. His parents gasped at the sight of her. She could have listened in all this time. Had she? She didn't look bothered even if she had.

She took a small step back and ventured a peek at his parents. James held his breath. If she appealed to their sympathy—if she said anything, really—she'd shoot his strategy to hell.

The girl glanced over his face, making him shudder. In his whole life, he'd never met someone who had such dark, stony eyes. They held no visible emotion. She had the ashen complexion of a corpse.

Callan took off her earphones and her pale lips turned up into a reptilian smile. "Um...where's the bathroom?"

James almost cried with relief. She didn't even know what she'd missed.

He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Ask your parents."

He shoved past her into the kitchen. Ward waited for him at the counter. As soon as the door swung shut, James shook his head at himself.

Okay, so maybe that had been an overreaction. He had no idea whether anything he'd accused her of was true. But the girl would threaten the way of life he'd grown used to. He'd sprout another arm before tolerating that. Even if the girl had to be collateral damage.

Ward pushed a plate to the spot before James's breakfast chair. The scrape of porcelain on marble gave James an extra reality check. He sat down and rubbed his face.

"Interesting." Ward inspected his congealed pizza slice.

James took a bite of his own. Tasted like shit. He dropped it onto his plate. "You spoke to her?"

Ward shrugged one shoulder. "She didn't say anything back."

No surprise there. Creepy looks or no, the urchin didn't even have the personality of a wilting flower. "Did she do anything?"

"Nope."

James sighed and picked the pizza slice up again.

Whether she was a freak or not wasn't relevant. Whether she really put herself out to be adopted didn't matter.

She had to go. 

So, it looks like James is a smart guy. Doesn't bode well for Callan, wouldn't you say? 

Before you go, please don't forget to vote. And please feel free to let me know if there are any bits that need further cleaning up. I'm going to be publishing The Vanished Knight soon, so the cleaner I can get it, the better. 

Thanks for reading!