The introductions seemed to drag on forever, and the number of mages who appeared intent on matching with the girls was considerable. Most did not draw their interest.
Erich watched, unsure of how he felt. He had become close to Ariel and Astrid in the weeks they had been together, and he wished them well. Still, he wished they could have married in a more conventional fashion. This struck him suddenly as much the same as a village marketplace.
When the introductions finally ended, the four of them moved across the room to where the musicians were playing. Erich realized with a start that all of them were automata. He nudged Walther.
“They play well.”
“Yes. The head of the school of artificers here is a true master. What I know, I learned largely from him.”
Erich watched as the trim brass figures, all dressed in formal clothes, deftly worked their instruments.
“And it is all I can do to make one of those clean my house and swing a sword,” Walther remarked.
Erich felt a hand on his arm. It was Ariel.
“Will you dance with me?”
Erich inclined his head toward her. “I cannot have the last dance, so the first will have to do.” She smiled.
They joined the other couples on the floor. “I am out of practice at this,” Erich said.
“I doubt I will be able to tell. I am sure I am a terrible dancer.”
“Just follow my lead.”
They moved with the others around the floor. One or twice, Ariel stepped on his feet, but he pretended not to notice.
“Is there anyone here who caught your eye?” he asked.
“A few. It is difficult to know for sure.”
“Do you need to decide tonight?”
“No. But we might. There is little point in dragging it out for days.” She smiled. “And I want you to be there.”
“I will do my best.”
They danced for a few more minutes before Erich returned her to Walther. Astrid was waiting, and he extended his arm. She took it.
“You dance well for a swordsman,” she said.
“I have had practice, though it has been years.”
She was pensive and did not talk to him much as Ariel had. But as the music paused, she spoke up. “What if you returned and sought your brother’s forgiveness? Would it matter?”
“He has spent a great deal of money trying to have me killed, or at least captured. I suspect it is far too late for apologies.”
“I keep trying to think of a way out of this. There must be a way to resolve this vendetta of his somehow. You cannot run from him your entire life.”
“I seem to have no choice.”
When they returned to Walther, Ariel was already dancing with another mage, a blonde man of about thirty. Another came up and took Astrid back out to the dance floor.
So it went for an hour or more. Footmen were circulating with cups of wine, and Erich drunk more than he should have. He needed to keep his wits about him, but there was too much he did not want to think about.
As the university clock struck ten, Erich noticed Walther and Johannes in conversation at the edge of the dance floor. Johannes seemed to be pressing Walther about something, and there was surely no mystery what it was. He looked for Franz, and soon saw him standing off to one side.
Erich was not about to insert himself into their negotiations, but he felt like talking to Franz.
The young man saw him approaching, and seemed to realize who he was after a few moments, despite the mask.
“Are you enjoying the ball?” Erich asked.
“Yes. You are Walther’s man, are you not? I am afraid I have forgotten your name.”
“I am no one. My name is of no consequence.”
Franz fidgeted. “I saw you dancing with Ariel and Astrid.”
“I am here to help them make a good match. It might even be you.”
Franz frowned. “I do not think they like me.”
“You are trying far too hard to make that happen.”
“It is Father. He is pressing me most unreasonably on the matter.”
Erich glanced over at the two men. “You are not the only one.”
Franz followed his gaze, then looked back at him. “What do you recommend I do?”
“Dance with them. Just dance. Don’t worry about the rest of this. They are quite pleasant to be around if you let yourself relax a bit.”
“Yes. Thank you. I think I shall.”
Franz gathered himself up and went over to where Ariel and Astrid were talking to some other guests. He asked Ariel to dance, and the two of them went out on the floor.
Johannes noticed almost immediately and stopped talking to Walther. The two of them watched closely as Erich sighed to himself.
♦ ♦
Franz danced with both girls several times. Walther grew more grave, while Johannes’ face gradually filled with satisfaction. Other suitors came and went, but Franz seemed to have crossed a hurdle with Ariel and Astrid, and they stayed with him.
Near midnight, Johannes pulled Franz aside and took him off to a corner of the room to talk. Erich drifted over to the girls.
“Do I detect some progress?”
Ariel patted her face with a handkerchief. “He seems more tolerable than he did the other night.”
“He may have more potential than I thought,” Astrid said. “But we are still back to the issue of being stuck here in the university with him.”
“Could you not devote yourself to your studies for a few years?” he asked. “You are young; there is plenty of time to see the world.”
Astrid sighed. “I suppose you are right.”
“I think he would make an acceptable husband,” Ariel said. “At least more than anyone else we have met tonight.”
“Yes,” her sister replied. “Not that I count that as a compliment.”
“He seems kind. And intelligent.”
“And dull.”
Ariel’s face dropped a bit. “There is that. Yes.”
Walther approached. Erich could still see Johannes across the room with Franz.
“Johannes would like to test you with Franz. Are you amenable to this?”
The girls looked at each other, but said nothing immediately.
“Remember there is no guarantee he is compatible. There may be no one here who is.”
Ariel sighed. “All right. If Astrid is ready.” Astrid nodded.
“Come, then.”
Erich was unsure if his presence was necessary or appropriate, at least until Astrid briefly took his hand and pulled him along.
When they approached Johannes and Franz, Johannes immediately looked at Erich as if he wanted to say something, but seeing that the others did not appear to object to his involvement, was silent.
He and Walther led Franz and the girls, with Erich following, to a side room off the hall.
“This won’t take long,” Johannes said. “I just need you to focus inward.”
He had Ariel stand on one side of Franz and Astrid on the other. Erich watched as Johannes closed his eyes, though he seemed to be reaching out mentally. Oddly, Erich could feel something going on. With a sudden shock, he realized he could feel Johannes probing at him, somehow. Which made no sense.
“Something is wrong,” Johannes said. “I can sense compatibility here, and yet there is something blocking it.”
“Have you cast the spell?” Walther asked.
“No. I am simply trying to get a feel for the three of them first.”
“And?”
“There is a strange texture here.” He took a breath and exhaled slowly. “But let us begin.”
He muttered a few words under his breath and extended his hands.
A strange blue luminescence grew around them. Then there was a sudden flash of light—a flash that was identical to the one Erich had seen in his head when the girls had cast the strength spell on him.
Johannes staggered backwards.
“What the devil was that?
” Walther asked. Franz, Ariel, and Astrid looked equally surprised.
Johannes looked around in a daze. “This . . . what on earth?” He seemed to focus himself again. “There is already a match here. Your daughters. They have matched with someone already.”
“How?” Walther asked. “That’s impossible. They have had no chance to.”
“But who?” Ariel asked, eyes the size of dinner plates. “Who are we matched to?”
Johannes’ gaze swung slowly around to Erich.
“Him.”
26.
For a few moments, no one could speak. It was Erich who found his voice first.
“I am not a mage,” he said blankly.
“You are not,” Johannes said. “Yet the match is there.”
Walther, thunderstruck, looked back and forth between Erich and his daughters.
“Is there something the three of you should tell me? Something I should have been aware of?”
“Father, no,” Astrid gasped. “We have done nothing.” Ariel simply stared at Erich, jaw agape.
Johannes stepped closer to Erich and extended a hand, palm forward.
“I have seen nothing like this. It is like a familiar bond . . . yet it is not.”
“A what?” Erich asked.
“You saw my weasel? Like that. Mages can bond to animals. But it is not the same as a marriage bond.”
He looked at the girls, revolted. “I am bonded to them like your weasel?”
“It can happen with non-mages, in very rare circumstances. But this is more than that.”
Johannes looked back at the girls. “Have you ever cast a spell on him, or through him?”
Astrid gulped. “Yes. On the trip here. We cast Cryfder Arth on him, to help him move a stone.”
“And what happened?”
“It was much stronger than it should have been. It gave him the strength of a giant, not a bear.”
“There was a blue flash in my head,” Erich said. “Like the one just now.”
Johannes’ face paled. “This should be impossible. And yet, I think I see what happened here.” He looked at Ariel and Astrid. “This deuolhud, this twin-magic you told me about. That may have supplied the two magely flows that are necessary for a match. All it was waiting for was a compatible flow, of any sort, to match with.”
“That makes little sense,” Walther said. “Their flows are conjoined. They would still need a mage to match with, would they not?”
“Two into one, but still two,” Johannes said. “I wonder now if they could even have matched with another mage. It might have been one magely flow too many. So when they cast that spell through him, the three of them were conjoined. That would explain the surge of energy that made the spell so much stronger. Of course, it could not have happened had the three of them not been perfectly compatible, but clearly that is the case.”
Ariel finally found her voice.
“Erich is our match?” she said softly.
Erich held up his hands. “Wait. I do not understand any of this, but I understand one thing. I will not be anyone’s pet, not even theirs.”
Walther turned to him.
“You misunderstand, indeed. You are not matched as their pet. You are matched as their husband. They can marry you, or no one at all.”
Finally it dawned on him. But all he could do was return their shocked gazes.
Johannes put his hand on Franz’s shoulder. “Well, it seems this entire undertaking tonight was a waste of time. But this is at least of some scholarly interest. I hope, when the dust has settled here, that you will allow me to conduct an examination. Perhaps tomorrow or the next day?”
Walther nodded, then turned to Erich and his daughters.
“I am sure the three of you have much to discuss. I will be in the hall.”
He followed Johannes and Franz out of the room.
♦ ♦
Erich sat on a bench, Ariel on one side, Astrid on the other. Both had taken one of his hands.
None of them said anything for a few minutes.
“I wished for this so desperately,” Ariel finally said. “Yet now I am not sure of what has happened.”
He swallowed roughly. “Well.”
“Does this seem so terrible?” Astrid asked.
That made him start. “It is not terrible, not at all.”
“Do you not wish to marry us?”
“Is what your father said true? It is me, or no one?”
“Yes. But please do not let that make your decision. You did not ask for this.”
“I will not deny part of me wanted it.”
Ariel kissed his hand. “Then what is it? Do you not think we would be happy together?”
He took his hand and brushed back her hair. “I think we could be happy. But the life I live, it is not all parties and dresses and gaiety.”
“And what made you think that is what we want?” Astrid said. “Have we given you that impression? At all?”
“We want what you want,” Ariel said. “We want to go places, and see things. Have adventures.”
“Be that as it may, these ‘adventures’ are dangerous.”
“We can take care of ourselves,” Astrid said. “Did you not see that on the journey here? Did you not see what we did to hold the ogre off?”
“I did. That was brave. Many a girl your age would have gone into fits of terror.”
“Because you were there,” Ariel said. “You made us brave.”
“That is good to hear.” He sighed.
Ariel kissed his hand again. “We will try our best to make you happy. And—and—we know what appetites a man such as you must possess,” she said in rush. “We are quite prepared to satisfy them.”
Hearing this put so boldly made Erich laugh, despite his continuing shock.
“Are you, now?”
“Do you remember the book Father asked Ariel about, of Mothers’, before we left?” Astrid asked. “When you were working with Fortitude?”
He thought for a moment, remembering. “Yes.”
“It is a book about such things.”
“We know what to do,” Ariel said. “We have studied it. There are spells. Caruhud, it is called. Love-magic. It is a small discipline of naturalism, related to healing.”
“Children result from that, I assume you know.”
Astrid shook her head. “No. There is a spell for that. We will not bear children until we wish to.”
He laughed again, though weakly. He took their hands and kissed them together.
“All right. I am not saying no. I am just asking for a little time to think all this through.”
“Of course,” Ariel said.
“That is fair,” Astrid added.
“Should we go back to the apartments?” Ariel asked.
“Yes. I am tired, and I expect you are as well.”
♦ ♦
Erich lay awake. The four of them had returned to their rooms in silence, the girls going to bed without a word. He and Walther mumbled a few things to each other, then retired themselves. Since then, Erich had lain trying to think, but his mind was spinning in circles.
There was a light tap on his door. “Are you awake?” It was Walther.
“Yes.”
He entered and found a chair. “I see this has kept you up the same as me.”
“Indeed.”
“I assume no decisions have been made.”
“No.”
“Good. Because I have one thing I wish to say, and several things I must tell you.”
Erich sat up, leaning against the headboard.
“Go on, then.”
“First, I want you to know I have no objection to your marrying my daughters. You have proven your worth and character these past few weeks, and the girls are clearly very fond of you. So you have my blessing, if you wish it.”
“Thank you.”
“The other matters are more grave.” Walther leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, pausing a moment. “D
o you know what an undine is?”
“A river spirit? The Rhine-maidens?”
“Yes. What do you know of them?”
“Only the legends. I have certainly never seen one. They seek to marry human men, do they not?”
“Correct. They have no souls until they marry a human man and bear him a child.”
Walther was silent a moment.
“I am sure there is a point here, though it is lost on me,” Erich said.
Walther looked back to him. “Did it never occur to you to wonder how a fat, ruddy, dark-haired bastard like myself managed to father two such sylphlike creatures? You never wondered about that silver hair, those blue eyes like a mountain stream? Where those came from?”
Erich gasped softly. “Are you telling me that your wife—”
“No. Her mother. The girls’ grandmother. She was an undine who bore my wife for the man who married her. Normally, the child is another undine, but now and then, they are human enough to be born with their own souls.”
“So Ariel and Astrid . . .”
“Are one-quarter undine, more or less. But the blood runs strong in their veins. It is why they look the way they do, why they have such talent for naturalism. My wife was a master naturalist, and I am sure they will be as well.”
“Amazing. I would never have thought.”
“But you need to understand that there are drawbacks. An undine’s soul is a fragile thing. Should her husband ever betray her, lie with another woman, it will dissipate and she will die.” His eyes bored into Erich. “Do you understand? If you marry Ariel and Astrid, you must be faithful to them. It is a matter of life and death.”
“But they are not undine. I mean—not that I plan to betray them—but you really think it will kill them?”
“It will.”
“You are certain of this?”
“Yes. And that is the next matter. If I tell you this, you must never repeat a word of it to anyone. On your honor, if you care about the girls’ happiness, they can never know of this. I am only telling you so you can understand the seriousness of it.”
The Wizard's Daughters: Twin Magic: Book 1 Page 14