Free Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) by P.S. Power Page B

fighting, and using a crin, so I think I can do those things, a bit. It gets so boring, being hidden in the back of my own head all the time, so I watch things. I don't know for a fact, but I think I can make bread, too." There was a sound then, as Ethyl choked on a laugh.
    It was a bit mean. Not the kind of thing that Kate threw around, but enough that the girl glared at the older lady.
    "You don't believe me?"
    Mrs. Vernor, her eyes dancing a tiny bit, smiled, then covered it with a hand. It was polite, but also, Gwen was coming to see, what you did when you were trying to show someone that they'd mis-stepped socially. It would have been helpful to know that before, since she'd seen it directed at her enough. Gwen couldn't see how bread making was a problem though. Even if Kate had been the sort to look down on common skills like that before. No one could doubt that it was healthy for her to learn new things, even if they felt a bit low class.
    Gwen cleared her throat, and took over then.
    "The point being, I think, that I don't have to blow my own head off just yet? Or more to the point, Katherine promised to do it, if you two didn't clear her."
    Heather ignored all of it and went on, grilling Kate for long enough that the girl started to get antsy. Most of it was about her involvement with Erin Debussey, which was about what Gwen had always suspected it was. It was so clear that the older woman had tricked her into things that even she normally wouldn't have even thought of doing.
    Katherine waved her hands as she spoke, not understanding the abuse that she'd been put to, and made faces at Ethyl, as if pleased to be making her uncomfortable. Having been wronged didn't mean she wasn't a bitch now.
    "We were lovers. Friends. I'd thought so, anyway. I don't know, now. I guess that I'd believed her when she said that the Elder Ones would bring me back, after we sacrificed Gwen to them. Now I know that wouldn't have happened, but I think Erin meant it, back then. Until that hole opened up in the underground, on the day of the ceremony. She loved me."
    Gwen made a face, but didn't comment. After all, it didn't really matter that much anymore. Debussey was dead.
    Finally, after an uncomfortable half hour, or slightly more, Heather released Beth from her telepathic state and waited for the complete report.
    The other Westmorland just shook her head a little.
    "Katherine Vernor is a most unpleasant person, inside. Vain, petty and vile. Guilty of things that I won't speak of right now, to save Gwen pain. She doesn't just look down on Westmorlands as beneath her, but everyone in the world, including her own parents, and Erin Debussey. You aren't wrong about your thoughts there however, Gwen. The woman used her tricks in full measure on the girl." There was a long breath, and silence then, for a good long time.
    Gwen spoke softly, her words more gentle than she'd thought they would be.
    "But, even if she takes over, she can't hurt anyone? Not any more than a regular woman might be able to? She can't rift, or use my force blasts?"
    There was a long look then, a lingering one that focused her friend's blue eyes on her own face. Just as it was about to become uncomfortable, a nod was added.
    "That's all true enough, Gwen. She can no more teletransport, fly, or release magical blasts of force than I can. That doesn't mean she isn't dangerous however. I think we can all see that portion of things, after the recent events."
    It was Ethyl that nodded, getting the point there before Gwen did by several seconds.
    "Yes. She's a body thief, and a murderer. Both things that would have her put to death, if she were in control of her body again. Even now only the fact that Gwen is in there too is saving her. By order of the King, due to the great debt we all owe there."
    That got nods from everyone, including, to her own surprise, Gwen.
    Because it wasn't her that was in control of the body at the moment.
    "I know that, mother. Miss Farris is a