Magic Rises

laughed when he read that letter. How did Lorelei even find out about this entire affair?
    “Who knew about Curran coming over to arbitrate?” I asked.
    Desandra shrugged. “I didn’t know until two weeks before Lorelei showed up.”
    “So she had insider information,” Andrea said. “I wonder where she got it.”
    “That I don’t know.” Desandra grimaced. “I can tell you that when she got off the ship, she was really friendly. Really. She had the whole sweet and innocent act going.” Desandra fluttered her eyelashes. “ Oh poor me, I am a sweet and honeyed flower, too delicate and . . . What’s the word when you are like, Oh, I am so honest and I just want to help ?”
    “Earnest?” Andrea suggested.
    “Yes, that. But I did the same thing at her age. I could tell she was a snake. Once she realized I wasn’t about to be her best friend, this whole big holier-than-thou thing came out. I had a fight with my father and she told me that I was inappropriate. Then one time . . . okay, so pregnant women get gas. Your stomach is the size of a backpack, and when you do get gas, it hurts to breathe. So I farted. I couldn’t help it. She called me vulgar. I told her to mind her own business, and she said that I was shameful and no self-respecting person would associate with someone like me. I was an embarrassment to my father and my husband. I had no honor.” Desandra grimaced. “She must’ve grown up in a fish tank or something. She has all these weird ideas about how people are supposed to interact. Like she is some kind of nobility and we’re all just peasants.”
    Interesting. “What did you do?” I asked.
    “I’d checked up on her. Her dad is some big alpha in the U.S., but her mom couldn’t stand him so she took Lorelei and moved back to Belgium. There is only one major shapeshifter pack in Belgium, and Lorelei’s grandparents are running it. They didn’t really want her mother or her back, so they let them come back on one condition: neither of them can have anything to do with the running of the pack. There is some family money and they are not hurting, but neither of them can ever be an alpha. They didn’t want them to compete with their son. So when Lorelei told me I was an embarrassment, I told her I was daughter of an alpha and wife to two future alphas, and that three packs were crossing the sea because of me. I asked her how fast did she think they would throw her into the sea if I asked them to do it.”
    “Ha!” Andrea grinned.
    I wouldn’t mind throwing Lorelei into the sea, but right now the need to punch Curran was much stronger. “What did she say?”
    “She got all shocked, worked up some tears, told me I was a horrible person, and ran away. We were eating at the time, and nobody followed her, which probably spoiled her plan.” Desandra leaned forward and winced. “Ow. I keep forgetting not to do that. Anyway, I grew up in a pack that was a minefield. I like that word, by the way. Very nice. I’ve seen her type before. Lorelei is intelligent, meaning she has some brains, but she’s also young and inexperienced. She doesn’t understand what makes people tick and she thinks that everyone is much stupider than her. She’s a classic sociopath: she’s charming and manipulative, she believes she’s entitled, she never genuinely feels guilt, and when she offers an apology, it’s superficial. She mimics happiness and she can probably mimic love. She isn’t psychopathic—her temper is pretty even, she isn’t necessarily predatory, and I can’t see her trying suicide. Way too narcissistic.”
    “How the hell do you know all this?” Andrea asked.
    Desandra sighed. “I’ve read a lot of psychology books. I started when I was a kid. I was trying to diagnose my father.”
    Well, that was a surprise. “What’s the verdict?”
    “He is a severe megalomaniac. He has intense narcissistic personality disorder, complete with occasional paranoia. He displays every one of Hotchkiss’s seven deadly sins of narcissism. That’s how I learned to manipulate him. Unfortunately, knowing that didn’t help me with my mental health any, and he also knows which buttons to push.”
    “Why don’t you . . .” Andrea struggled for words. “Act more sane?”
    “Self-defense,” I told her. Suddenly many things made sense.
    “She’s right,” Desandra said. “How long do you think I would survive if they knew I had a brain? The only reason I’m not locked up is