They were waiting for us.
There was a part of me that had been expecting to see Remy Harlax and Joi Inon in front of the house, but it appeared that we hadn’t made it up to that level of importance yet.
Except for her blue eyes, Rayna Harlax looked nothing like her grandfather. Golden skin like her daughter standing next to her and brown hair were a sharp contrast to the black hair and silver skinned man who had been on the billboard. She was also short, though I had no idea how tall he was, but she was definitely not much over five foot if she even was that tall, because she had on heels and was still only as tall as Fray’s five foot two.
Astrid looked like a taller version of her mother, but with the same blazing red hair as her twin. Her piercing blue eyes locked on to me as I took in the five people waiting for us. I could feel anger in her eyes, though it wasn’t directed at me. I started to feel almost like I had when we’d first met Vena. She seemed to have that same fire inside her. It was also something Rix possessed, which made me wonder if it was an innate Shooter trait.
The Inon’s seemed very happy to be there to greet us, while the Harlax seemed like they were angry and upset about something.
Pete Inon had the same light red hair and blue eyes as his mother, but his skin was much darker than her silver pigment that I’d seen on the billboard. Mara Inon had jet black hair, red eyes and silver skin, but with much stockier features than Pete and Joi. They each had their hands on one of Zel’s shoulders.
The strawberry blonde had vibrant red eyes and silver skin. She was the shorter of the two candidates, though that could have been due to Zel being the only woman not in heels. She was lithe and dressed in blue light armor with a row of knives around her waist interrupted only by a pair of short swords on her hips. The other four were in what I assumed was more formal clothes, while she’d come dressed for the Dungeon and in our team’s colors, which I thought was funny because Gesai’s team color was green.
“Mister Vowler!” Pete walked forward and offered my teacher his hand. “It is the highest honor of my life to entertain you at this humble abode.” He turned to me. “And you must be his son!” He grabbed my hand and started shaking it as he turned back to Trent. “I see the family resemblance so strongly between the two of you. How ever did you manage to hide him for so long?”
Ether snickered behind me. I was just glad that Gesai’s RV had missed a light, so they were just now pulling in. Aelin was going to be a handful with all this glamor.
“Survival instincts.” Trent smiled back. “I only have part of my team, but this is Ether Klix, Fray Harror, Rix Zeb, and Mitchel Zarboe.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“A Zarboe, such a wonderful line of Tanks.” Pete looked at Shelly. “I trust your parents are still well? I see your aunt from time to time at functions. Such a wonderful lady Miss Wesh is.”
“Thanks.” Shelly looked at his feet.
“Well.” Trent cut into the conversation. “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you and I can see you have come out to greet us and I truly appreciate it, but we’ve been on the road for almost twelve hours, so if you could show us to our rooms, I’m sure my team would like to get settled in.”
“VEE!” Pete clapped his hands and a seventy something black haired man with silver skin came out of the house and bowed.
“Whatever you need while you’re here...” Pete motioned at the older man. “Just ask Vee and he’ll see to it.” He stepped out of the way.
“Could you show us to our rooms?” Trent looked at the manager.
“It is an honor.” Vee saluted and walked towards the house.
“We’ll see you later after we’ve regrouped upstairs.” Trent nodded to the Nobles, then motioned at the top floor. “Does this place still have the conference room on the third floor?”
I had to bite my lips to keep from smiling. Of course Trent would have been here before, especially if it was the place where they put people. But the confusion that was on all three of the adults' faces was satisfying.
Vee paused in the doorway and half turned back towards us. “I’m sorry, but that was converted into a records room almost fifty years ago.”
“A shame,” Trent shook his head. “I liked the view from the window. Oh well.”
“There is room in the library for all of your team, though I’ll have to move some chairs.” Vee rubbed his hands together like he was cold.
“That sounds wonderful.” Trent nodded at us. “Head upstairs and once you’ve got your rooms, meet in the library for tomorrow’s assignment.”
”We’ll be waiting for you in the common room when you finish.” Mara guided her daughter to the edge of the steps, while Rayna and Astrid barely moved.
Trent half turned and motioned for Gesai’s group to follow him in, then motioned for us to go.
I made it to the door when I realized that Trent wasn’t following. I turned around to see that he was looking at the two women.
“We’ll be having a team meeting to go over our schedule for the next few days while we’re here.” Trent motioned towards me. “Until you’re told otherwise, you both are part of this team which means when I said head upstairs, I meant both of you as well.” He looked at the Nobles. “I know you were wanting facetime, but we’re behind schedule and I’m very tired, so any meeting you would like to have will have to wait until morning.” He waved his arm towards the road.
Astrid tried to cover the smirk on her face with her hand, but it spread to mine and I couldn’t bite it back. As much as I wanted to watch the rest of how Trent was kicking the Nobles out of their own home unfolded, I knew me standing there smiling wasn’t going to help anything. I turned and hurried to catch up to Ether.