The Blood of Amietta

VIII. Noelani's Promise

"I'd like to speak to Mayor Desai, please."

The receptionist practically shrinks four inches in her seat. To be fair, she didn't get a great first impression of me the last time I was here. It's not my fault– she wouldn't let me see Noelani no matter how much I pestered her.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asks in a small voice.

Based on her reaction, I'd say that she already knows the answer to that.

"I don't," I tell her. "But if you tell her that it's Mila Wilde, she'll let me right in. I promise."

That's a little presumptuous of me to assume, but it's already been four days since the dinner party and I've been dodging Noelani's calls left and right. It's safe to say that she'll be at least a little anxious to see me.

The girl looks skeptical as she gets up, but at least she actually goes to talk to Noelani this time.

She returns two minutes later with a relieved smile. "You can go right in," she informs me.

Noelani's office is huge, lavishly decorated in a warm cream color. The centerpiece of it all? A large glass desk that glitters in the sunlight streaming in from the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.

Yes– it glitters.

I wouldn't expect anything less from the mayor of Moonwake.

Noelani sits behind the desk, perfectly poised beside a stack of paperwork as she scribbles something down on an open notepad.

"Miss Wilde," she greets, absently waving towards one of the plush white chairs across from her desk. I take a seat with a sigh. Aren't we on a first name basis yet?

"I presume you are here to begin your training?"

I frown. "I haven't agreed to anything yet," I say.

Something flashes across her face, but she hides it too well for me to decipher. "I never said you have a choice," she says darkly.

I raise an eyebrow, my anger rising quicker than it should. It always does when I'm around Noelani.

"If I let you teach me magic it will be on my terms," I seethe.

The mayor throws her hands in the air, her own annoyance getting the best of her. "You're going to ignore the fact that you are the only one that can break the seal?" she spits vehemently. "Do you have any idea how selfish that is? You would let an entire town of people sit here and suffer in silence."

Like mother, like daughter.

She doesn't say the words, but I hear them all the same. This is all Ettiana's fault, after all.

"Answer me," Noelani demands when I stay silent.

I fumble in my seat. I've never seen Noelani like this before. Sure, I've annoyed her, but this seems like more than that. She seems genuinely angry– hurt even– on behalf of the town. I had no idea that she could be so righteous.

"I didn't mean that I'm not going to help the town," I clarify a beat too late. "I'm going to break the seal. I just never said that I was going to let you help."

"And why's that?" Noelani spits through gritted teeth. I can tell she's really trying to keep it together. At least I know I'm not the only perpetually annoyed one in our relationship.

I meet Noelani's gaze, squaring my shoulders. "Because I can't trust you."

Noelani's eyes narrow. "You can't trust me?" she repeats incredulously. "Your mother trapped me in a hitchstone and abandoned you in a foreign land–"