Wish upon the Stars chapter 992

My dad looked shockingly caught off guard. “Do I…know you?” He asked slowly, clearly trying to match her face to what I assumed was a list of relatives that had probably gotten way out of hand given how familiarly even distant Wyndhams had taken to referring to each other.

“I’m Victoria,” she said with a sigh. “Natasha is my mother.”

He nodded in understanding. “Ah, that does make sense. Have we…met? I feel like I would remember meeting a niece.”

“No,” she explained. “I was born after you left, so you wouldn’t know me.”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Then how is it that YOU know ME? Just recognizing me at first glance is a tad suspicious. Do you have some sort of mission to try to kill me? Because I remember Percy was handing those out a few decades ago.”

She blinked at him in confusion. “No…you’re…well you’re red. And you have horns. And you look like grandpa.”

He stared at her for a moment, assessing, before nodding to the rest of us. “She checks out.”

My mother smacked him upside the head with a glare. “Go stand over there,” she snapped in exasperation. He sulked, but did as she told him, and she rolled her eyes, muttering to herself. “Honestly, man’s the next best thing to an intergalactic information broker and can’t even recognize his own niece.”

My dad, who had stalked off to stand under a roof where she’d point, called back over his shoulder (he was facing away in a fit of pique) “I have like twenty of them! I cannot be reasonably expected to keep track!”

I caught a slight smile on my mom’s face, but she buried it. It was enough for me to suss out that this was a bit of theater to help my cousin feel a bit more at ease. My father’s reputation among the WCP was pretty fearsome, and a lot of my relatives were terrified of him (which, having seen him rip the souls from living A-rankers I couldn’t exactly fault them for). It made sense that they would want to help him seem more approachable for my potential cabinet members.

My mother turned to Victoria with a warm smile. “I’m sorry about him, dear. He can get a little focused. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

My cousin snorted. “Oh, not at all. Honestly I was kind of relieved he didn’t know me.” Her eyes widened. “Not that I’m not pleased to meet him. It’s just he’s…well…Uncle Eli. He’s kind of the family boogeyman.” She shot him an appraising look. “He’s not what I expected.”

“You’re RUINING my reputation, woman!” My dad called dramatically without glancing at them.

My mom just winked at Victoria. “Now, I don’t think that’s true. Vicky seems like a lovely girl. You can keep a secret, can’t you dearheart?”

She shrugged. “I mean, sure. Kind of the family business. At least when you’re like me. I don’t get to participate in much of the other stuff.” Her smile was bitter. “No one has much use for the defectives.”

My dad actually did turn at that, his eyes narrowing. “Are they still using that term? Moronic mindset. Everyone can be useful, if you have the brains to put them to work.”

Staring at him, she looked…surprised. “That’s…I can’t actually tell if that’s sweet or not. But…thank you? And the term has fallen out of favor. It’s not something people say to my face, really, it just kind of goes unspoken.”

“Well, we actually DO have a use for you,” I said dryly. “If you’re interested. Not to mention you’ll get to participate in plenty of the ‘other stuff’. If you know who he is I’m guessing you know who I am?” I was a bit surprised she hadn’t commented already, but to be fair my parents were forces of nature who could not be denied. Thankfully their dramatics and magnetic personalities seemed to have skipped a generation.

She raised an eyebrow. “Do I KNOW who the next Wishmaster is? Yes, I have a passing idea of who the future leader of my whole faction is, thanks.”

“Then do you know what a cabinet is?” I asked with a laugh.

Frowning, she shook her head. “I mean…a place where you put your dishes? From context I’m guessing you mean something else though.”

“Yeah, the Wishmaster gets a small council of…you could call them advisors maybe? It’s not a requirement but anyone sane would avail themselves of the opportunity.” I grinned at her disbelief. “Which of course is why Aiden doesn’t have one, and you’ve probably never heard of the concept.”

Vicky was around my age, I was pretty sure. Maybe a bit older, because she was born after dad left, but he’d left the WCP well before having me and Chelsea, after the last succession war. She could be anywhere from a hundred to twenty, come to think of it. Managing to reach this level (she was a late D-ranker) with no wish power at her age was pretty impressive, though I guessed growing up in the Palace probably had its perks.

Regardless, because she was a member of my generation (give or take), it made sense she wasn’t familiar with the concept of cabinets any more than I was, since Aiden didn’t have one, and I doubt he’d have enjoyed everyone else talking about how dumb that was.

“So this cabinet,” she said slowly. “I take it you’re interested in me being on it. Which I can’t really understand because you just watched me make tea and what could that possibly qualify me for? But assuming that IS what you’re looking for, what exactly would it entail and what would I get out of it.”

I laughed at her forthright question. “If I had any doubt we were related, that would have put it to rest. ‘What’s in it for me?’ might as well be the Wyndham family motto. But your Tea Ceremony has more to do with you being picked than you might expect.” I gave her a brief explanation of the cabinet positions.

Luckily, she was smart enough to pick up my intentions after I explained. Smart enough, but still not EXPECTING it to happen. She just kind of stared at me. “You want me to…work for you? To become a member of your cabinet and be part of the ruling council of the entire WCP?”

“I mean, ish,” I said with a shrug. “The elders kind of run things. The Wishmaster is sort of ceremonial, and we share the power with the old guys. And don’t think of it as an opportunity. Think of it as having to do all my work like all the time. Because that’s what you’re signing up for. All my work. At least as it relates to planning events.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re not a great salesman?”

“Only right before I sold them something,” I responded solemnly. “But I know this probably sounds too good to be true. It’s not. I don’t want you joining up thinking I’m offering you a one way ticket to easy street. This is MY ticket to easy street, and if you ALSO think you don’t have to do any work then my whole strategy kind of falls apart.”

That got a snort of laughter. “Well, at least you’re honest. Or partly.” She shot me a wry smile. “I think you want to make sure I go into this with my eyes open so I don’t have regrets later.”

“He does,” Callie said with a snicker. “He just doesn’t want to admit it. He gets that from his dad.” She held out a hand. “I’m Calliope, Shane’s wife. It’s nice to meet you Victoria. We were really impressed by your Tea Ceremony, and we think you’d be an excellent fit for the cabinet. We ALSO think you could help us find other talented and trustworthy cabinet members, since you’d know this place a lot better than us.”

I felt my heart warm. Not because she decided to weigh in, but because I could feel WHY. She’d seen what I had with my parents, that they were trying to make Vicky feel more comfortable, and she’d been inspired. Seeing how they’d worked together seamlessly and played off each other’s personalities had driven her to try to be a more active partner in my recruitment.

It was successful too. Despite my approachability, I was still the future Wishmaster. I wasn’t exactly an easy casual conversation partner. Callie though, she was sweet and friendly and cheerful. Easy to talk to for anyone.

From the surge of amusement that came through the bond, she didn’t agree with that assessment at all, and I must have sent it directly if she knew what I’d been thinking that exactly. I shook off that thought though, focusing on my cousin. “So, what do you say? Are you interested in being a Mistress of Ceremonies? You’ll probably end up having to help take charge of this absurd coronation festival right away even before being sworn in. That’s a lot of work for no credit.”

She snorted. “Considering they’re letting LUTHER plan it right now? I don’t think I want credit. Even I can only do so much to save a party.” At my cocked head, she explained. “I’m a big fan of event coordination, you don’t master Tea Ceremony with an interest in organization and arrangement. Anyone here could tell you who the current event coordinator is. The branch heads take turns nominating their people. Luther is from Desmond’s branch, and he’s…not well liked.”

“Desmond is one of the ex-Wishmasters right?” I asked, turning to where my dad was pretending not to listen ten feet away. “I’m guessing Luther was HIS Master of Ceremonies?”

He shrugged, turning around and dispensing with the farce. “Before my time, but I would assume. I’ve met Luther before, he’s…a little much. He’s very enthusiastic about bloodsports, for one. Uses a lot of antlers in his decorating. He was the one who tried to restart the Wild Hunt in the WCP a few generations ago, but it didn’t take. If he’s in charge of the coronation, I would expect hunts.”

I grimaced. “Ew, forests, gross. Vicky, you’re hired, go stop this from becoming a thing. I don’t want to spend my coronation in the woods. I hate the woods.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” she protested. “We were just having this whole conversation about how big a commitment this is and then you just press gang me?” She glanced at Callie in faux outrage. “Don’t you have anything to say here?”

“Nope, I hate the woods even more than he does,” my wife denied. “But you weren’t going to turn us down anyway, were you?”

Vicky just pouted. “No, but it doesn’t bode well for me that I’m already being taken for granted and I haven’t even started yet. Guess I should put together a list of possible cabinet members too. Though I imagine you’ll still check the tournaments. How many positions are open?”

“Oooh! I know!” came a familiar bubbly voice. “It’s four! So far we have you and me and Crell.” Bethy came bouncing out of the group we’d brought with us, throwing her arms around Vicky in a friendly hug. “It’s SO nice to meet you. I can just tell we’re going to be best friends. Your tea stuff was so pretty! I want to learn to do that with wine! I make wine by the way, also I drink blood. I’m a vampire you know. My name is Bethy and I’m Shane’s bestie and his Mistress of CHALLENGE!” She bellowed the last word like she was proclaiming to to the cosmos, stepping back to spread her arms wide.

Vicky just stared at her in confusion. “You’ll get used to that,” I lied. Maybe I should have been honest with her, but this seemed like it was the kinder option. Besides, she wouldn’t get USED to it, but it would at least become less jarring. She’d learn to love Bethy as much as the rest of us. Probably.