The House of Grey- Volume 4 (34 page)

“A
r
th
u
r,” said Grayson
,
his south
ern
accent
quite noticeable.
“
A
ren’t you like
zero
for a million
?
I think if we leave the
‘
womenfolk
’
to you
,
the human species
will
be in serious danger
of premature
extinction
.”

Laughs permeated the air around them
;
Monson actually heard a snort coming from Casey’s direction. Art
o
rius’ angry voice sliced through the laugh
t
er
.

“
W
atch it
,
newbie
.
Just because you have a crush on Grey doesn’t mean you can get away with mouthing off.”

“
Oh,
I think I touched a nerve
….
”

Monson noticed Grayson’s pause and felt compelled to sit up. He was glad he did.

Standing regally in front of them was an extremely lovely
girl with long
,
dark hair, very pale skin
,
and slightly plu
mp
lips. She had on a knee
-
length
black
dress, a
frilly
white apron
,
and
a
white cap.
Despite her maid costume, t
he
re was
an
air of refinement about her
.

“Ah
,
Marie,” said Grayson with great amusement at the look on Art
o
rius’ face. “You finished
up
faster th
a
n I expected
.
H
ow was your trip?”

“Delightful
,
and how are you
r
studies
,
Master Garret
t
?”
she responded in her girlish voice as she curtsied.

Monson level
ed
a gaze at Grayson, his signature eyebrow up as if to ask
,
Master?

Grayson simply winked at Monson
,
then made to answer
.
Marie
cut him off, already
at his side
making
a fuss.

“I don’t like the weather here
,
Master Grayson
.
Y
ou may
come down with something
. You should return to the summer manor. Your tutors could be contacted
and
I’m sure they would love to return to your service.  Mistress Avery and Miss LaParo would be especially ecstatic
at
your return.”

She
lightly
touched the corner of his sleeve
.
“I too would be overjoyed
.
”

Monson attempted to stifle the laugh cultivating in his throat, but Casey and Art
o
rius’ expressions were making it difficult
for him
to hold
onto
his composure.

“Never mind that
.
” Grayson
’
s
voice pinged authoritatively
.
“
D
id you bring what I asked?”

“Of course
.
” Monson stared at Marie
as she replied.
Her pout made him want to rush over and whisk her away to the Bahamas. Monson froze when he realized he actually had the means to do that. Weird.
“
B
oth parcels are in your room
.
”

“Excellent
.
” Grayson leveled the merest half
-
glance at Monson
and
abruptly changed gears. He pointed at each of his companions in turn
.
“Marie, these are some of my friends I told you about. Monson, Arthur and the gentleman under the tree
is
Casey
.
”

Grayson ignored the spiteful look Art
o
rius gave him
at the unauthorized use of his hated nickname
. Marie curtsied to each of them.

All three boys waved as Grayson point
ed
, which warranted a warm smile from the girl.

“My name is Marie Delastar
.
I
t
i
s a pleasure to make all of your
acquaintances
.”

She refocused her attention on Grayson.

“What would
you
have me do now
,
Master
Garrett
?”
she asked
in a polite voice
.

“Head back to the room. I will be there shortly
.
”

“Yes
s
ir
,
” answered Marie
softly
. She turned and started to walk
back
towards the dorms
,
her conflict and emotion
obvious
.

Such a sharp contrast to her controlled confidence
a few
moments ago
, Monson thought
. He turned his attention to Grayson
,
who was watching the girl retreat
.

Grayson
called after her.
“Oh
,
and Marie
?
”

She turned to peer over her shoulder.
Grayson
smiled
s
lightly
,
whispering the words “
T
hank you.”

An endearing smile appeared and lit up Marie’s countenance. Monson hid his own smile.

“I think things just got more complicated,” Monson whispered to Casey
.
“I wonder what their relationship is.”

Casey replied in the same low tone
.
“
S
he looks like a servant to me, but really young. I wonder old she is
.
”

“
Eighteen,
” said
Grayson, overhearing their conversation
. “Her mother served my parents so she
’
s
kind of always been around
.
” 

“Childhood friend
,
h
uh
?
” said Monson with a slightly malicious grin
.
“
Y
ou
wouldn
’
t happen to be
in love with yours
,
too, would
you? I think our little posse has had more than enough drama
in that arena.
B
esides
,
” Monson pointed at Casey
,
“
t
he track record in this group for that kind of thing is
n
’
t
exactly what I would call stellar
.
”

Casey, catching on to Monson’s teasing, jumped up
.
“
Y
ou’re going to pay for that one
,
Grey.”

Monson rolled and hit his feet in
the
blink of an eye. Casey was already in
a crouch,
reminding Monson how
incredibly
fast he was.  They circled one another
,
Monson watching Casey closely
,
waiting for him to change
his
stance
. They remained
like that
for
a
short period
,
though
to Monson, his senses
heightened
,
it
felt much
longer. Many of their sparring matches started out this way
,
so
it was a
consider
able
surprise when Casey dropped his guard and stood
looking confused
. 

Monson
kept
his guard
up, but
curious as to Casey’s sudden
absence of
aggression
, looked over his shoulder
. Indigo Harrison
stood nearby
with a couple of other girls from their class
.  She
grinned deviously. This was odd considering that Indigo
rarely
came around
anymore,
ever since Monson
had
started seeing Taris.

Monson rolled his eyes the instant he thought
this
.
“
Seeing
”
—a
s if you could really even call it that.
Besides, he hated that expression. Seeing someone? What did that even mean?

Indigo’s absence
had
prove
n
to be quite the problem for Art
o
rius
at first
.
H
owever
, he
no longer
talk
ed
about it much
,
so Monson and Casey assumed that all was well.

“And
to
what do we owe the honor
?
” asked Casey
,
all thought
s
of retribution apparently forgotten. “It is so kind of you to grace us with your presence. Forgive me if I don’t curtsy.”

“Can it
,
Ca
s
s
ius.
” Indigo stuck
out
her tongue
at
him
.
“
A
ctually
,
I have two birds to kill here and you just happen to be one of them.”

Artorius giggled. “She just called you a bird.”

“Shut it, Arthur.”

Casey made a show of rolling his eyes
.
“
W
hat do you want with me
,
Harrison?”

“Actually it has nothing to do with me
,
” spat Indigo with a snotty sneer. She gestured over her shoulder
.
“Christy would like to talk to you about the dance.”

Christy was going to ask Casey to the dance! Now
that
was a
n interesting
development. Monson knew that Christy and Casey
had spoken
a few times
,
but nothing that would warrant this kind of forwardness. Then again, it was getting closer and closer to the
event
. People were starting to get desperate. There was also a rumor that Christy, who had been
dating
an upperclassman,
had
just got
ten
dumped in the most brutal of fashions.
Apparently in high school dance situations,
desperate time
s
sometimes
call
ed
for desperate measures
.
Monson
gave an inward
sigh
.
Poor Casey.

“Hi Casey
.
” Christy beamed at him
,
looking both empty-headed and embarrassed. “Can we talk for a moment?”

Casey gave Monson a goofy little smile
,
then
followed a nervous Christy a ways off
,
leaving
the group
in their wake.

“I think I
’
ll be leaving as well
.
” Grayson started to rol
l
towards the sidewalk
.
“Monson
,
stop by later
.
I have something you might find interesting
.
”