Read Online The Conclave of Shadow by Alyc Helms - Free Book Online Page A

I dreaded the question I knew was coming.
    â€œAnd you left them?”
    I sagged in on myself, folded my knees up so I could hug my legs and rest my chin on them. Johnny didn’t say after Mitchell left you ? He didn’t have to. That thought had dogged me for three years. Part of the reason I’d taken on my grandfather’s mantle was to escape the realization that when shit got too hard for me to cope, I’d done the same.
    Or maybe I just thought that if I could understand my grandfather and why he’d left me, then it would make leaving my kids not so bad.
    â€œIt… wasn’t the same. They had their father.” I studied my twisting fingers as though they were the most interesting thing in the world. “And it wasn’t like it was easy for me. But I couldn’t stay. Not after…”
    â€œMei Shen says you left without saying goodbye.”
    I lifted my chin. “When?”
    Johnny lifted one shoulder. “We hang out sometimes to play Kingdom Hearts. Don’t change the subject.”
    â€œWell, when you learn that the man you loved used you as a walking baby incubator, let’s see you make good life choices,” I snapped.
    â€œWhen you have kids, you can’t afford to make bad life choices.”
    â€œThanks for the free advice.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t tell me. I thought we were… and you didn’t tell me. I could have helped. I could have reached out to them and made it easier. For all of you.”
    I hated Johnny the most when he was right. I hugged myself and let out a shaky breath. “So what do I do now?”
    Johnny rose to his feet and held out a hand to help me up. “Accept that you messed up and that your kids have every right to be pissed at you. And go downstairs.”
    I took his hand. “Downstairs?”
    â€œLike I said. You can be dense. Can you imagine Doris Han closing her restaurant for anything less than a State visit?”

Five
    Light and Shadow
    I would have dashed downstairs with bootlaces trailing, but Johnny made me take the time to do them up proper. He said his insurance didn’t cover broken necks in the stairwell.
    The kitchen staff – half of them part of the extended Han clan – barely looked up from their steamers and fryers when I hurried through. However, the two agents at the door to the dining room stopped me cold.
    â€œPrivate function,” one of them said, holding me firmly by the shoulder in a grip that could easily dislocate with the proper application of weight and leverage. I tensed, ready to down him, but Johnny came up behind me and tapped the back of the fellow’s hand like we were sparring students.
    â€œIt’s okay, Franz. She’s with me.”
    The agent released me and let Johnny lead me past. I looked back at the two men – both definitely Chinese.
    â€œFranz?” I asked Johnny.
    â€œOne of them got uppity about me being Korean, so I’ve been calling all of them that. Annoys the hell out of them.”
    I stifled a chuckle. “Johnny, don’t ever change.”
    The dining room of the Dragon’s Pearl was an open space that hadn’t been redecorated since some time in the mid twentieth century. Red dominated – carpet, drapes, upholstery. The chairs were flocked gold, the table cloths a startlingly crisp white, and all the wood was dark and heavily carved. And none of it mattered. Folks didn’t come to the Pearl for its decor.
    The tables in the main room were placed together as closely as Doris could get them and still allow the dim sum carts to pass. She refused to get rid of the carts and go to table service the way so many places did these days. But today, all those tables were empty. Crisp. Set. Waiting. Empty.
    I headed for the private banquet room that Doris only opened for New Year’s and family birthdays. Two more agents stood at the doorway, but I didn’t need Johnny’s help getting past