The Veil - Chapter 31 Part 3

Conya fluttered her eyelashes. “What an impression to leave for just a few words spoken to each other in passing.”

Indeed… Lekan frowned. Obi had only been back in the country for a few months. How had his uncle and mother gotten so close so quickly? He smiled as broadly as he could. “What can I say? You have quite the pull. I must have been drawn to you.” He knew his tone was off when Obi frowned.

“Make sure you sound sincere, not like you’re going to lure her into the shadows to ravish her. Now she doesn’t know if you’re being sarcastic or if you’re dangerous,” Obi offered softly, blinking slowly as Lekan’s gaze shot up to meet his.

Feeling something dangerous burning under his skin, Lekan had trouble returning his eyes to his mother who was watching him carefully. Unlike Obi, she could tell something was off, and she was confused. Lekan could see it in the wrinkle between her eyes. He wanted to slam the table across the room, demand if she was truly confused or just pretending to be the caring mother even though she was changing. She was so different than the woman he had followed around the city dutifully, always amazed at how she could weave through a crowd without making a ripple or causing a disturbance. He’d always thought she was most beautiful when she was in the middle of a crowd and yet making no impact on it at all as if she was ethereal, above the muck and mire of reality. Her light skin compared to his father’s and his own skin had lonely made him more convinced that she was not one of them.

Yet here she was, playing one of Obi’s silly games with them. She would have never done so before. She wouldn’t have even come into the room if Obi was his father.

It had been silent too long. It was very likely that she had said something, and they were both waiting. He tried to pause, tried to assess why he was so angry. He understood that his father hadn’t been good to her. He understood that Obi had gone out of his way to make life easy for Conya and himself. He found the one thing that was burrowing under his skin, making him itch and burn with an anger he couldn’t quite reach.

She was paying more attention to Obi than she was him.

He was about to go off to Velod and probably kill himself, but even now, during this stupid exercise that was supposed to be helping him, his mother and uncle were sharing a glance. The room was stifling. For some odd reason the curtains were open, letting the sun heat the room. Lekan swore he could feel the air vibrating around him. He could see a gardener through the window, taking care of the native desert plants that the Eshe family had clung to even though shrubbery and flowers were very popular. The lights weren’t on inside though. It seemed very dark.

Who knew how long the silence had stretched on now. They could have been monologuing this entire time, and Lekan would have had no idea. It was a skill he had developed.

They hadn’t been monologuing though because now that he gave the effort to listen, he could hear a maid singing halfway down the hall. Obi and Conya were looking at him expectantly. He opened his mouth, paused, thought.

“Miss Picine, are you aware that you murdered your husband?” He thought he’d been thinking, but the words that slipped out seemed unrelated to the words that had been running through his mind. The room had frozen.

The sun quickly thawed it, and Conya straightened, raising an eyebrow, laughing. “Lord Lekan, I think you got your titles mixed up. Miss signifies a woman who has never been married.”

“Because you want to forget you ever were married?” He glanced up at Obi. “Both of you want to forget.” Frozen again. Obi seemed to be stuck between two breaths. Conya was in the process of becoming angry.

Finally Obi cleared his throat. “Miss Picine is a fictional character, Lekan. I know it’s strange to do this with your mother, but we don’t have much choice at this point. You should-”

“Did he know?” Lekan pointed at Obi while staring at his mother. “Did you two plot it out together? One little tumble down the stairs, and he could have control while you could have him. You useless son wouldn’t get in the way, of course.”

Obi was forgotten now, a gasp in the corner of the room. Conya’s face, surprised then resigned then livid, was Lekan’s entire focus. He smirked at her silence. “Don’t know what to say to that, do y-”

She slapped him, standing suddenly, an angel above him. “How dare you. Your uncle has only been charitable to you, and I have tried to be supportive, but you turn away from us again and again. Get out. I have no taste for your ingratitude. Leave.”

Lekan stared at her, mouth slightly open. He stood slowly as her glare only hardened. “Yes ma’am.” He turned and left.