‘Town?’ Nava responded. The mansion was not exactly close to anywhere.
‘Alliance City. It’s only thirty minutes or so to get there.’
‘By rocket?’
Mitsuko giggled. ‘Courtney has a contragrav licence. We can borrow a car. We have… an indeterminate number of them in the garage.’ Courtney and Kyle were somewhere else in the complex the Trentons called a mansion. Possibly, they were testing the bed in their room.
‘Your family is really rich, isn’t it? Most people can at least count the vehicles they own. On one finger, usually.’
‘I could say something at this point which would make me sound like a really terrible person. You know the kind of thing. “Oh, wealth is really a curse.” “Money can’t buy you happiness.”’
‘I’m glad you decided not to say anything like that.’
‘It’s not all a bed of roses. There’s a reason I know how to cast Detect Poison. Taken as a whole, however, I’d much rather belong to one of the most powerful families on the planet than not.’
‘I don’t think I can blame you,’ Nava replied, ‘but you have to stop buying me clothes. I have little in the way of outgoings. I can afford to spend money on myself.’
‘Well, you’ll have the opportunity to do just that tomorrow. Shopping will be at least one aspect of the trip.’
‘It’s Chess and Kyle I pity.’
‘Oh, don’t worry. We’ll take them lingerie shopping.’
‘It’s Chess I pity.’
~~~
Nava had put a loose shirt on over her swimsuit and gone searching for the sound of gunshots. She traced them to one of the lawns at the back of the house and Zackery Trenton’s shotgun.
‘Pull!’ At the command, something hidden out of sight in some dip in the lawn launched a missile of some kind into the air. Zackery’s gun swung through the air and fired. The missile was reduced to powder at some thirty metres from where Zackery was standing.
Nava watched three more of the red discs being destroyed before Zackery had to stop to reload his weapon. At that point he noticed her and pulled off the ear protectors he was wearing. ‘I hope I’m not intruding,’ she said.
‘Not at all. Suki’s not with you?’
‘I left her baking in the sun. The gunshots drew my attention. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing?’
Zackery raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve never seen clay pigeon shooting? Sorry, that’s a foolish question. A lot of people have never actually seen it, but most would recognise it if they saw it.’
‘I had something of a sheltered upbringing,’ Nava said, trotting out her usual excuse. ‘Those projectiles don’t look much like pigeons.’
‘Ha! No. Not that I’ve ever seen a pigeon, but no. The idea is to recreate the sport without having to slaughter animals. Would you care to give it a try?’ He shifted the weapon in his hand as though ready to hand it over to her.
Nava walked over to where he was standing, beside a small table set up with a box of ammunition for the shotgun, but did not hold out a hand for the weapon. ‘I don’t believe I would be particularly good at this using that weapon, sir. I’m a reasonable shot with a pistol, but even using a multiple-projectile load such as this, I doubt I would be able to reliably hit a target travelling at around twenty metres per second at thirty metres.’
‘It’s always best to know one’s limitations. I’m impressed that you’ve learned to use a pistol, being a sorceress.’
‘I had a sheltered but unusual upbringing. Might I try an alternate method of destroying these pigeons?’
Zackery’s eyebrows both went up this time. ‘Be my guest. The launchers are voice activated. When you call for a clay, either of the launchers can fire one.’
Nava nodded. She had worked that out from watching. She raised her hand toward the empty field. ‘Pull!’ A clay launched from her right and she swung her arm to follow it. She was unsure whether Zackery spotted the distortion in the air, but he certainly saw the pigeon evaporate into a puff of smoke. ‘Pull!’ Puff. ‘Pull!’ Puff.
‘Impressive,’ Zackery said.
Nava switched tactics. ‘Pull!’ This time she snapped off a shot almost immediately, cutting the range of the shot while forgoing the benefits of aiming. Still, she blasted the clay to pieces. Then she took out three more the same way. ‘This is definitely a worthwhile test of reflexes and marksmanship,’ she said.
‘I’m feeling old. You’re using a Concussive Force spell, aren’t you?’
‘A cantrip, but yes.’
‘Never got the hang of the difference. I have to shoot a couple of hundred pellets at the clays to hit them and you’re doing it with one pulse of magic. Without aiming.’
‘Yes, but–’
‘I can see why Suki wanted you as a bodyguard, young lady. And I can see why Devin Girard stood no chance in that duel.’
‘He lost because he was playing a game and didn’t understand the rules. Or, he didn’t understand that the rules had changed.’
‘And you did?’
Nava shook her head. ‘I wasn’t playing.’
~~~
Mitsuko was not actually out on the patio; she had gone inside to get drinks – and for a break from listening to Rochester explaining how knights moved – only to discover that her mother was in the kitchen.
‘Ah, Suki, I wanted to have a little word.’
Parents saying something like that was never a good sign. ‘Oh?’
‘Your father and I… Please don’t immediately jump to the wrong conclusion.’
Really not a good sign. ‘I’ll try.’
‘Your father and I were wondering what your intentions are regarding Nava.’
Mitsuko frowned. Her parents had shown every sign of considering Nava a ‘good find.’ Certainly, there had been no issues with them sharing Mitsuko’s bedroom after the party back in February. ‘I’m not entirely sure how to answer that.’ Definitely not to her mother. Mitsuko was still grateful to her mother for never even broaching the subject of ‘the
