Page 9 of Thunder with a Chance of Lovestruck
Amice took my hand in hers and tugged lightly, nodding toward the stairs. “Henry, bring your sister’s bags up.”
“Yes, dear,” he said, making Nile grunt.
“Henry,” offered Nile. “A word in private, please.”
“Of course,” said my brother.
The two of them headed for the study while Amice and I went up the stairs. I didn’t need to be a fly on the wall to know Nile was about to rip into Henry. I could only hope that the aftermath left Henry in good spirits and not echoing our uncle’s outlook on things, as was often the case.
ChapterFour
Rachael
“Amice, you’ve outdone yourself,”said my brother as he came into the dining room from the kitchen. Henry cuffed the sleeves of his white dress shirt and double-checked the buttons on his gray vest. For a second, I thought he was going to admit her dinner party idea was a good one. “Rolling out the welcome mat for the enemy every timehecomes over is unnecessary. And all the food I just saw in the kitchen is going overboard.”
And just like that, he sounded like our uncle. Guess that answered my question about how Henry’s talk with Nile had gone. Nile had gotten into his head again.
I really hated the influence he held over Henry.
Amice finished arranging a vase of red, orange, and yellow flowers in the center of the table, her expression remaining pleasant despite my brother’s ill temperament. Amice was the epitome of prim and proper, always seeming to say and do the right things no matter the circumstance. How she hadn’t killed my uncle yet after living under the same roof as him for nearly two years was a testament to just how resilient she was.
“We’ve been over this,dear. Drest isn’t the enemy. He’s merely doing his job. Maybe, if you and Nile worked with him and not against him, his visits would go smoother.”
“You mean roll over and show our bellies,” chided my brother before going to his wife and kissing her cheek.
It was tense moments like this that reminded me why I’d spent a year abroad and went out of my way to avoid coming home.
“That isn’t what I was suggesting, and you know it,” said Amice, keeping her cool while dealing with my brother. It was a trick I had yet to master. She gave him a chaste yet passion-filled kiss on the lips. “Butyoucould be less argumentative with him.”
“I could, my sweet,” said Henry. “But I won’t. The sanctions are ridiculous and too aggressive.”
I refrained from commenting. No point riling him up. He did well enough on his own as it was. Plus, he had Uncle Nile firmly in his corner, whispering in his ear, filling his head with seeds of dissent. Nile’s hold on Henry hadn’t been quite as bad when our father was alive, but it had still been there to some degree. Now there were times the lines blurred, and it was hard to tell Henry from Nile. That was troubling on more than one level.
The idea my brother, who had always been kindhearted when I was younger, was turning into our uncle left me wanting to scream. They were basically two peas in a pod. My brother looked up to Nile and his rebellious ways. Unlike our father, the man saw everything the Nightshade Clan of Fae did to keep our family from repeating past mistakes as overreaching. Nile petitioned the ruling body to lift the sanctions on a semi-regular basis, and Henry was always right there with him, citing rules and laws that carried little weight in the matter.
“A perfectly good roast is going to waste on ourjailor,” said my brother as he caught hold of Amice’s waist and drew her around to face him. He grinned and dipped his head. “You’re lucky I love you.”
She tapped the tip of his nose. “I was just thinking the same thing about you. You are something of a handful, especially after your uncle bends your ear, Henry.”
“Lucky for me, your hands are tender and loving.” Henry glanced over at me, his smile fading. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
Amice tickled his sides. “Rachael looks fine. Let her be.”
“I’d hardly call jeans and a T-shirt fine,” said Henry. “Uncle Nile would agree with me. You know how he expects us all to be dressed accordingly for these check-ins.”
“Guess it’s good he had other commitments tonight, huh?” I asked. “And I already know his thoughts about my outfit. I was standing there when he saw it.”
“Yes, very good thing he’s not attending the dinner portion of the evening,” said Amice. “Therefore, he gets no say in what Rachael wears. What did he have to do again that was so much more important than making time for family dinner and handling his monthly check-in with our assigned Hunter?”
My brother looked uncomfortable with her line of questioning, and it made me wonder what, exactly, our uncle was up to. “Uh, he had a prior commitment,” stammered Henry, sounding anything but convincing.
“As he said. More than once.” Amice drew back from Henry and glanced toward the ceiling. She smiled. “Astria is up. Rachael, would you mind checking on her for me?”
At the mention of his daughter, Henry stiffened. “She only just went down for bed an hour ago. She shouldn’t be up at all. I can look in on her.”
“Nonsense, Rachael doesn’t mind, do you?” asked Amice, her expression telling me I should seize the moment to exit the conversation.
“Not at all,” I said. “She’s getting so big, so fast. I hate that I’m missing out on so much time with her while I’m away at school.”
