We ate breakfast and the women talked over trivial things, mainly things I knew nothing about. They concerned the grounds, the house, the staff problems, and finances. A lot of it had to do with the Longshore Estate and I knew that I should be listening. I tried to and a lot of it just went right over my head.

My thoughts went to Hope and I guessed that she was going to have a hard time trying to teach me before the academy started, which made me wonder when that would be. I had to wait until there was a lull in the conversation before I could speak.

“When does the academy enrolment start?” I asked.

“Next week.” Mona said. “Everyone knows...” She stopped talking and looked at Helena. “Our plans need to change.”

Helena nodded. “We'll need to push up getting the Longshore Estate in order.”

“I'll recall a couple of the crews from the docks and have them give you a hand.” Mona said.

“Thank you, mother.” Helena said and touched her mother's hand. “I hope that doesn't delay the work on the ship too much.”

“It should be fine. It's going to be in the dry dock for months. Another two weeks won't make any difference.”

“I'm glad to have the help.” Helena said. “David, we need to get changed and go to town. We have some important shopping to take care of, then we need to head over to the Longshore Estate and get to work.”

“I'm coming, too!” Selena said and jumped to her feet, then she groaned and put a hand on her head. “Owww.”

“Take a sip.” I said and handed her the partially used Healing potion.

She looked at the dark blue color that was very unlike the healing potions she was used to, and she took a sip. She closed her eyes and sighed as her pain disappeared. “Thank you.”

I corked it and put it back in my pocket.

“You really made that?” Selena asked as I walked around the table to take Helena's arm.

“I've lost count of how many of them he's made for the army.” Helena said with a laugh as she stood. “Mother, we'll be back for lunch.”

“Of course.” Mona said and stood as well to give her daughter a kiss on the cheek. “Don't be too hard on David while you're shopping for him.”

“He's going to have four.. no, five... no, six of us taking care of him.” Helena said as her sister Selena came over to her mother to get a kiss. “We're going semi-formal.”

“Oh, I wish I could come, too.” Mona said and pouted her lips a little.

“Just order Selena to stay home to do your duties for you.” Helena suggested.

“Now that...” Mona started to say.

“No! I'm too young to be the lady of the house! I can't receive guests! I need more practice!” Selena interrupted, quite loudly.

Mona took her daughter's hand and smiled. “I'm glad you've finally admitted you can't do everything right.”

“That... that's not what I said.” Selena whispered with a slight blush.

“Then go and have fun with your sister and her handsome fiance in town.” Mona said.

“Thank you!” Selena said and kissed her mother's cheek, then ran off to get changed.

Mona tried to hide her laugh as she turned to me. “You'll have to change again when you come back. We can't have you working in anything except proper clothing for the job.”

“The foreman will let us know what needs to be done when we get there.” Helena said to me and looked at her mother. “I assume that father...”

“Yes, he contacted the administrator last night.” Mona said. “It honestly sounded like the man was relieved that someone was coming over to take charge from him.”

Helena sighed. “I hate it when Marcus is right about something.”

Mona laughed and made shooing motions with her hands. “Go on, get out of here.”

I leaned in and kissed her cheek, like Selena and Helena had. “Goodbye.”

“Oh, you.” Mona pat my chest. “You might have to start calling me mother if you keep that up.”

“Not mother in law?” I asked, just to make sure.

“When you marry into the family, you become family.” Mona said and then her face seemed to loose the happiness.

“Mother, what is it?” Helena asked.

“I was thinking of telling him to treat me like his mother, and that is not what I want from him, since she was so stupid to abandon her child and he must hate her for that.” Mona said, her face pensive. “Then I thought to tell him to treat me the same as the woman who raised him, and that is definitely not how I want him to treat me, since she did such horrible things to him.”

“Mother, maybe you should consider the best way to handle this.” Helena said.

Mona shook her head and looked into my eyes. “You don't have a proper reference for how a mother is supposed to treat her son. I don't know what to say to reassure you that all I want to give you is my love and understanding.”

“Even after learning what I've done?” I asked.

Her hand on my chest slid up to cup the side of my face. “After seeing what you did last night at supper, I understand that the things you've done were because of what you thought was right.”

“Even the princess? Because I did that specifically to get her out of the army.” I said.

Mona took in a deep breath and let it out. “You still have her arm?”

“It's preserved and in Helena's vault.” I lied and both Mona and Helena looked surprised. “Can all mages tell when someone lies so blatantly?”

“No.” Mona said. “Where is the arm?”

“In my pack in the guest room. It's hidden under the bed. I wouldn't open it, because the yellow diamond snake inside is poisonous.”

“You brought a SNAKE into the house?” Mona asked loudly.

“Grand Mage Henrietta hasn't assigned me a vault yet and I needed a way to protect my property.”

“Then let's take care of that right now.” Mona said and strode from the room. Her heels clacked very loudly as she walked with purpose and intent. Helena and I followed her to the guest room. “Get your pack, David.”

I retrieved it and Helena told the maids to get our travelling clothes ready. I followed Mona to a different room that nothing else was in and she put her hand to the wall. The entire thing glowed as she infused it with mana, then it split apart to show six personal vaults mounted into stone.

Mona walked over to the one on the far right and put her hand on it. “Put your hand on it and infuse it with magic.”

I did so and she caught her breath as my magic mixed with hers inside the vault door. Her hand shook as she let go and pulled her magic back. My magic took it over completely and it clicked open.

“It will only work for you now, until you want to give ownership back.” Mona said and cupped her hand. “Then we reverse the order.”

“Thank you.” I said and put my pack in after retrieving my knife and sheath, then I took a replacement healing potion for the nearly empty one.

“You're welcome.” Mona said and I closed the door. “Now I'll prove that what I said is true.”

I watched as she put her hand on it and tried to infuse her magic into it. It wouldn't work.

“There.” Mona said, her forehead slightly sweaty as she leaned against the wall. “Whew, I'm out of practice with fighting an enchantment.” She took a deep breath and let it out. Her chest heaved up and down again with another breath.

“Are you all right?” I asked and stepped close.

“I'm fine. I just wasn't prepared for the backlash.” Mona said and seemed to be a little embarrassed.

“Most mages don't really practice their skills regularly. They all seem to cheat in some way.” I commented and she looked surprised. “Do you have a testing crystal like Helena does?”

Mona nodded and looked to make sure no one was coming in the door, then she bent over to show off nearly all of her chest to me. She was quite voluptuous and unlike what I had assumed before, that they were only slightly bigger than Helena's, they were actually nearly twice the size. Her dresses hid them well and no one could have suspected that she had such large mounds.

She dug her hand between her breasts for a moment and then plucked out the testing crystal. It was nearly a quarter full and she stood up straight to hand it to me.

I took it and it was very warm in my hand. “That's not a very convenient place to hide it.”

Mona gave me a smile. “I'm sure that only a very entrepreneurial man... namely my husband... was ever going to find it there.”

I raised my eyebrows at her and her smile became a sexy one.

“You weren't even going to look at my breasts until I bent over like that.” Mona said. “It's perfectly safe.”

“It's also very warm.” I said and her sexy smile became a genuine one. “Did your husband fill it?”

“It took him two days to fill it half way and I've used it a few times since then.”

“Do you want me to recharge it?” I asked.

“Oh, would you? I've been a bit stingy with casting larger spells to help the workers when they needed it. A bit more magic would be a huge help.”

“How much more?” I asked.

“I don't want you to be exhausted while going out with my daughters, so just a couple of infusions is enough. I'm sure I can get by with that much.” Mona said.

“You're going to need a pocket to carry it in.” I said and started to infuse it.

“Why would...” Mona's words trailed off as the crystal started to fill. It glowed brighter and brighter as the level went higher and higher. “D-D-David! Stop! STOP! You'll faint from...” She had to avert her eyes as the crystal's glow became brighter than a fully charged mage light. “By the Son's Light! I told you only a couple of infusions!”

I opened my vault and took out a piece of scrap canvas bag, wrapped the fully charged crystal, then took her hand and put the wrapped bundle into it. “That was only a couple of infusions.”

Mona gripped the crystal tightly and her hand tingled. “That's why my hand tingled when giving you the vault. You were sharing your magic with me.”

I nodded and walked towards the door. “See you at lunch.”

“David.” Mona whispered and I turned to look at her, which surprised her, probably because she didn't think I would have heard her. She hesitated for a second, then she very slowly bent over, made sure she kept looking at my face to see my reaction, and slid the wrapped crystal between her breasts and back into her hiding space. She slowly stood back up and it could no longer be seen.

“Only an entrepreneurial man will ever find it.” Mona whispered.

I understood what she meant and left the room to go back to the guest room.

“There you are! I hope there wasn't too much trouble with the vault. Father's much more powerful and the transfer happens quickly when he does it.” Helena said and waved me over to the boxes of packages. “Jill, Sara, Hope.”

The three maids nodded and I was stripped of my casual clothes and dressed in a semi-formal suit with the Henrietta Family crest on the shoulders. They told me that it was powder blue, whatever that was, and the grey tie fit well with a solid black shirt.

“I'm ready! Let's GO!” Selena yelled from the doorway, then she saw me and her face flushed red. “Please, I want to get shopping as soon as possible.”

Helena laughed. “We just finished, so we're ready to go.”

We left the guest room with the maids and climbed into the carriage. It seemed to take no time at all to get to the main part of the city and both Hope and I stared at all of the different structures and monuments spread all over that we hadn't seen the last time we had rushed through.

When we came to a stop, I was literally dragged by six women to every single shop in the district. Two Henrietta women and four maids, two of which were mine, had the best time of their lives as they played dress-up with me as the doll.