Abaddon's Call

Chapter Forty-Nine

"What in the everloving—" Naena started.

"Language," Graydon muttered as they approached his father's study. He wanted to warn her but struggled with how to say it. "Learn."

The winter formal was happening that evening. It made sense that the lords would finish their convening to prevent the mages from panicking, but he didn't know what was so crucial that Lord Pan had summoned them. There was a nervous, frightened energy to the estate.

They shared a look, and Naena nodded, then looked away.

They stepped into Lord Pan's study as one.

Lord Pan sat behind his desk, hands clasped on his desk, dressed formally. Lady Pan stood just at his side, her hands on his shoulder, dressed formally.

Graydon almost turned and walked back out.

His father was one thing.

Lady Pan was quite another.

Graydon walked Naena to his father's desk, aware that the visitor chairs had been removed to force them to stand. He knew that because he had helped his father remove the chairs on more than one occasion, and on two occasions, he had removed the chairs himself, forcing his father to make a point.

"This will be announced formally in twenty minutes," Lord Pan said. "First, the ladies have taken control, not full control, but control. I expected this when I laid us out, as I explained to the council. We are opening education discussions for the daughters of mage and Seven families. Reading and mathematics will be expected, and for prospective ladies of the Seven, a full education will be required except on an exceptional basis. Understood?"

"You're going to educate my sisters with those mages?" Graydon asked.

"If you have a problem with that, fix it," Lady Pan snapped back at him.

She didn't mean protest or shout or yell at them. She meant fix the issue, the reason why he protested. He didn't want his sisters at Amos because the mages were reckless, sex-crazed magic users.

"My protest instead is that the first girls to attend should be prepared," Graydon said. "They should enter in two to four years after we've winnowed them down with Naena and Alena. Once we know how the boys will react and can prepare the first generation so that they don't go running for the hills. It's not about them being mages. It's about them being boys and not wanting to share with the cootie-carrying girls. The problem will be generational until we can change how the boys are raised to hold their cocks in their hands while the girls are taught that the men will try to get a cock near them. Gay is weird, not women, and I'd appreciate it if my mother didn't act like I thought otherwise."

"You are your mother's son, aren't you?" his father muttered. "I suspect that means you and I need to have a talk about consent."

"I think I know a bit more than Mother about consent," Graydon grumbled.

His mother's eyes narrowed. She slapped her husband's shoulder and then scowled at him.

"What?" his father asked. "Oh? Oh... Of course," his father touched his nose and then gave Graydon a look. Lord Pan returned. "It is my unfortunate duty to advise the pair of you that Jasor Salord cut off his band and has had access to magic for some time. He has since hidden this and passed Theon and, I assume, Naena because she knows the handbook front to back."

"Theon stole the test for me," she said.

Lord Pan's lips twitched upward.

Graydon wished she hadn't just admitted to cheating on a Seven test. He wasn't sure what his father would require in response to such an admission.