No longer a secret

"Excuse me," Geoffrey spoke before Arthur could answer. He briefly scanned the room before he introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you; I'm Geoffrey Jonard." 

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Duke Henry Valentia and these are my daughters, Peggy and Evelyn."

"You came just in time," Arthur called over his shoulder as he poured another dram of whiskey for Geoffrey. "We all just got here ourselves."

Geoffrey took a seat in one of the open club chairs and carefully eyed the girls. Arthur handed him the sniffer before he settled into his own seat. After he took a small sip of whiskey, he placed it on the end table and turned his attention to Henry.

"I guess we should get down to business then. I'm sure you're wondering why I invited you to join us," he said.

"Yes, it doesn't seem like we are here to simply play games before dinner," Henry joked lightly as he met Arthur's gaze.

Arthur nodded, "you're correct. I wasn't sure how to go about this, but I know that you are not the kind to beat around the bush," he stroked his chin and briefly looked down. "I'm sorry, but I do need to ask you, have your girls inherited Laurens powers?" 

Henry sighed and looked at his girls, "I guess there is no point in denying it as I have already heard from Evelyn that she encountered a werewolf last night." He looked around the room for a moment. "Am I safe to assume that they are all members of your pack?" He asked.

Arthur nodded his head, "yes, both my boys, Geoffrey, and Max are indeed members of my pack."

"I see," Henry sighed and gave the girls a reassuring smile. "First, I'd like to apologize; my girls did not mean to cause you any trouble. But to fully answer your question, yes, both Peggy and Evelyn are witches."

Evelyn's knuckles turned white as he clutched her dress and hung her head low. She felt everyone's eyes on them, and it was starting to get to her. Peggy felt Evelyn's nervousness and placed her hands on top of Evelyn's. 

"There isn't anything to apologize for," Arthur looked between Henry and the girls. "With that in mind, there is something else I need to ask. You mentioned that Evelyn encountered my son, Quincy, last night; were you alone in the forest?" He looked at Evelyn.

Evelyn bit her lip and looked at Quincy before she turned her attention to Duke. She nodded her head, "I was alone. I'm sorry," she softly answered.

"What was that magic?" Quincy eagerly asked. "I've never seen anything like it!"

At this, Henry raised his eyebrow as he looked at his daughter. "What do you mean?" 

Evelyn lowered her head again and rang her hands together. The magic she used last night was something that she had been secretly practicing. After reading about it in her mother's diaries and learning how she had used it to help out their duchy, Evelyn wanted to master it before she told anyone about it.  Knowing that she could no longer keep it to herself, she turned her head and shyly smiled at her father and sister. 

She was becoming even more visibly shaken and let out a deep breath. "I didn't mean to hide it from you," she looked at her father and Peggy. They both gave her a puzzled look. "Well, in mom's journals, I read about how she would use her magic to control animals in order to keep an eye on things. I thought that if I could do it, I could help like she did."

"What are you talking about?" Peggy exclaimed and looked between her father and Evelyn.

"I see." Henry sighed and paused to look at the faces around the room. He looked at Peggy and wondered how it was that Evelyn knew about this, but she didn't. "Your mother had the ability to project her magic to control animals and see things through their eyes." 

Peggy, her eyes wide in shock at what she just heard, looked at Evelyn, "you mean to tell me that you have learned how to do that?!"

Evelyn looked around the room as she felt everyone's eyes on her, "yes," She answered barely above a whisper.

"Wow!" Max exclaimed. 

Geoffrey looked at Evelyn. "I do need to ask you what you were doing.  Quincy and Carl informed us that you guided a crow around the forest. Were you looking for something?"

Evelyn gasped, "no!" She realized that she had accidentally shouted and tried to calm herself. "I was just practicing," she replied. 

"Why were you doing it here? Why not seek the guidance of the coven nearby to have a safe place to learn?" Geoffrey asked.

Henry shook his head and sighed. "I am sorry for the trouble. I instructed the girls to refrain from using their magic while we are guests here. As for contacting the coven, I was not sure if it was a good idea. I'm sure that you've already contacted the coven, so it is probably not a surprise that many are unaware that both girls are witches. Only Peggy is a member of Lauren's former coven and a select few know that Evelyn is also a witch." He looked at Duke Arthur before he continued, "I have refrained from contacting the local coven because I am not familiar with them and I'm sure that you that you can understand why I am being cautious." 

Arthur nodded his head, "I understand. I do not blame you; I would feel the same if I were in your shoes. All I can tell you is that we are regularly in contact with the coven in my territory and Roxanne, their head, is very trustworthy. If you'd like, I can introduce you to her if the girls would like to have a safe place to practice."

Henry glanced at Evelyn and sighed. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid that it will be rather difficult to get Evelyn to agree to that."

Arthur looked at Evelyn, "is there a reason you are refusing to join a coven?" 

Evelyn flinched at his accusatory tone and her eyes stung with unshed tears that were forming. Duke Henry was quick to comfort his daughter as he knew exactly what she had gone through all those years ago.  "Peggy, you may leave us once you promise in front of them that you will not use your magic while you are in this duchy."

Peggy was taken aback but knew better than to speak back to her father. She rose from her seat and bowed her head to those present, "I'd like to apologize for using my magic while we have been here," she wrung her hands together nervously, "I am not sure if you are aware that we both did use our magic yesterday after we got here so that Evelyn could guide me while using my wind magic. I know that we were not supposed to do so, but it is not very often that I can seek her guidance. I promise that I will refrain from using my magic while I am here."

After Peggy left the room, the tension became palpable, and Duke Aurthur nodded to his boys, and they took their leave as well.