Chapter 22: Terms of Return

I did not sign the paper that night.

I carried it home folded in my coat.

In the morning I laid it on my grandmother's kitchen table and wrote across the back of it with a pencil.

Ambrose sat across from me in his shirtsleeves with a mug of June's chamomile, and he did not say a word.

"Terms," I said.

"Yes."

"One. I keep the money."

"It was always yours."

"Two. You don't go away for nine months and tell me to ignore your family."

"No."

"Not for nine weeks, either. Not for nine days, without a phone call at eleven."

"Done," he said.

"Three. The court comes to the lake when it has to. I don't live in that house."

His mouth moved.

"Tempest House is closed. I signed the order this morning."

I looked up.

"The aunts have been moved to the town house in the city."

He shrugged.

"The Council sits at the lodge on the water, forty minutes from here. I'll be home by dark."

"You closed the house."

"I thought I would see how it felt to be a king who lives in a kitchen."

I had to put the pencil down.

"Four," I said, when I could.

I looked him in the eye.

"If I ever want the cut, I take it, and you don't talk me out of it."

"If you take it, I'll carry your bags to the car."

"You say that very easily."

"I've had a week to practise." He turned the mug round.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Paid to Leave, Pregnant With the Vampire Kings Heirs from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.