Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 27

"We have a strict rule that one family cannot monopolize the position of Lord." continued the earl. "I suspect the Lord has been putting it off to find some sort of loophole so he can pass the title to Nestor but in less than a year he will have to choose. This is the first time in centuries that my family has had a chance to obtain the title of Lord. I'm on pretty good terms with the Lord I'd rather it not be ruined."

"You see, this whole situation with you, Gregor and the destruction of my property has put us all in a very precarious situation. If I am too harsh it will upset Lord Lankeshwar and if I am too lenient it will disappoint him. I'm not sure how he'll react when he finds out about you. He's very unpredictable, for example when I stole this from his armoury," said Earl Alfred pointing to the shield on the wall behind him.

"He laughed it off. But when Nestor tried to get back his magic when Lord Lankeshwar stole it, he gave Nestor back his magic, fought him and stole his magic again after giving Nestor a thrashing."

"Did he also find that funny?" I asked. Maybe I should give up on trying to understand demons and their behaviour.

"No," chuckled Earl Alfred. "Lord Lankeshwar was furious. It's very hard to gauge his reactions. Maybe he'll find this whole debacle hilarious, maybe he'll level the rest of this manor in revenge."

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked growing bored of his lecture.

The earl straightened his postured. I wouldn't be surprised that he was so distracted by his own sermon that he forgot why he brought me to his office in the first place. "Right. Since your test was interrupted earlier I'll have to arrange another one for you to do later today. But for now you can try to remove Gregor's bindings without the silver tools used to cast them."

"Alright," I nodded and turned hoping to escape. The door was still closed when I reached it.

"And another thing," said the earl.

I turned around hoping that he wouldn't tell me another story. I was eager to return to Gregor. "Yes?"

"Once the other families find out about you they might get curious. So it would be in your best interest to ally yourself with either me or the Canaan family," said the earl scribbling something on a piece of card.

He held up the card and I walked all the way back to get it from him. It was his business card with a seven digit number written on the back.

"If you are calling me from off realm use dial those numbers first," said the earl.

"I haven't finished the tests. You said you'll offer me a job after," I replied glancing at the rose embossed on the corner of the card.

"Tristan, you're a plague." The earl paused, taking in a sharp breath. "However you're involvement with Gregor and therefore both the Canaan and Lankeshwar families complicates things and might be more trouble than you're worth."

I put the card into my pocket. "So?"

"So think about it," said the earl opening the door with a flick of his hand.

I nodded and quickly left his office. I headed to the library before returning to my room. I opened the door and Cin was there but instead of her laptop she had her hands on a glowing glass orb.

"Did you like your surprised in your room?" she asked taking her hands away from the orb which swiftly went out.

"Yeah," I muttered taking my box of darkness from the table.

"Did boss offer you a job?" she asked.

"I think so? He was a bit vague... he gave me his business card and said some ominous things about allying. He also called me a plague...I don't know if that's a good thing," I replied.