“I don’t want to go,” Melissa said. She reached out and took Markus’s hand. “I’m not going through the holy steps with...with him.”
Emily fought down the urge to bang her head against the nearest wall. “Your family is expecting you to dance,” she said. “You may not be required for any of the other dances, but you are required for this. What are you going to do about it?”
“She doesn’t have to go,” Markus said.
“And are you two willing to reveal your relationship now?” Emily demanded. Really, this was too much. “Are you going to run and hide? Or are you going to dance a farce of a dance?”
Melissa stared at her. “You don’t understand!”
“I understand that you’re running out of time,” Emily said. Why couldn’t they just have fled yesterday? They could have stepped through the portals or simply teleported to a private destination, and no one would have been able to find them. “Either go tell them the truth, or dance, or run, or...”
She broke off. Melissa was staring past her.
Emily turned slowly, already knowing what she would see. Gaius was standing in the doorway, staring at Markus and Melissa in absolute horror. Beside him, a maid stared at Emily, clearly aware she’d made a mistake. Emily cursed herself under her breath for missing the signs. Gaius hadn’t been trying to flirt with the maid, he’d been asking her where Melissa was hiding. And the maid, quite innocently, had led him to the library.
“You...” Gaius started. “You...”
“I don’t want to marry you,” Melissa snapped. “I am not going to marry you.”
“You filthy whore!” Gaius shouted. “You...”
“That will do,” Markus snapped. He raised one hand, ready to cast a spell. “She isn’t yours, and...”
Gaius launched a fireball right into his wards. There was a flash of light, and Markus was hurled back into the bookcases. Books fell from the shelves as he hit the ground, then threw back a spell of his own. Gaius dodged it, magic sparkling around his fingertips.
“Enough,” Emily said. “You can’t fight here!”
“You knew,” Gaius snapped. “All that time! You knew!”
Emily had no time to react before he threw two spells at her. One froze her in place, while the other picked her up and threw her right across the room. The first spell cushioned the impact — there was no pain, even when she slammed into the wall — but she was briefly stunned. She heard Melissa scream in rage, then saw, as she fell, Markus blow Gaius right out of the room.
And then she hit the ground, unable to move. Fuck, she thought.
It took two tries to summon the mental discipline to break the spell. She’d underestimated Gaius, she realized sourly. Fulvia might have picked him for more than just an inability to question her, or family ties she could use to further her own plans. He hadn’t tossed two separate spells at her, he’d actually combined them into a single spell. She would have been impressed if he hadn’t used it to keep her from intervening.
The spell snapped and she sagged, for a long moment, before pulling herself to her feet. Melissa stared at her, her face despairing, wringing her hands as if she didn’t know what to do, while Emily heard the sound of people shouting in the distance. Behind Melissa, the maid was frozen in place, caught in one of the spells hurled by the combatants. The wards were sounding a whole series of alarm bells in Emily’s head, warning her that the guests were readying spells and protections as quickly as possible. They were on the verge of tearing her castle apart.
“Emily,” Melissa pleaded. “What do we do?”
“You can help me fix this problem,” Emily snarled. She reached into her pocket and touched the battery, then pressed her fingertips against the valve and embedded a spell into the wood, ready to be triggered. “Come on.”
She swore as they reached the balcony. The families were separating rapidly as Gaius hurled accusations at Markus, accusing him of everything from rape to deliberately seducing Melissa. Steven stood next to Markus, holding a long staff in one hand, while two boys Emily vaguely recalled from the near-clash at the Faire flanked Gaius. Fulvia’s face was dark with fury; on the other side of the room, Marcellus looked shocked. He hadn’t known his son was courting Fulvia’s great-granddaughter.
But you already knew that, Emily said, as dozens of magicians readied fireballs. You knew he didn’t know.
“You bitch,” Gaius shouted, as he saw Melissa behind Emily. “How could you?”
Markus snarled and threw a spell. As if that had been a signal, every magician opened fire or ducked for cover. Emily caught sight of Jade covering Alassa with his body — there was no sign of Imaiqah — and then reached into her pocket, placing the valve into the battery.
“Emily,” Melissa said. A fireball struck the balcony near them, blowing chunks of debris into the air. Melissa hastily erected a ward to cover them both, redirecting the pieces of debris down to the floor. “What are we going to do?”
“This,” Emily said.
Bracing herself, she triggered the battery.
Chapter Thirty-Six
IT WAS IRONIC, PART OF EMILY’S mind noted, that she’d mastered the basic anti-magic ward at Mountaintop, where most of the magicians in the Great Hall below had studied. It was simple enough — all it really did was break up spellwork, without any discrimination between different types of spellwork — but the ward demanded so much power that creating a blanket ward was impossible, at least without a nexus point. And they could be overcome, if someone had enough skill to adapt their spells to work within the ward’s zone of influence...
She watched, grimly, as the ward’s zone expanded outwards with terrifying speed. Fireballs winked out of existence, protective wards fractured and shattered; magicians hastily preparing spells to defend themselves or attack their foes watched in horror as their spellwork came apart, fading into nothingness. Emily wondered, vaguely, if there was a way to absorb the rogue magic into the ward, making it stronger, but pushed it aside as all eyes turned to her.
“If you want to fight like common mundanes,” she said, knowing the insult would grab their attention, “you can fight like common mundanes!”
They stared at her in stunned silence. They’d had plenty of time, she knew, to work out just what sort of wards she used to protect the castle. They knew she’d never prepared the wards that would allow her to disrupt everyone else’s magic, if she’d been able to anchor them in the stone walls — and that had been impossible. No magician should be able to channel so much magic, not even a Lone Power. And yet, they couldn’t deny the evidence of their senses. She was holding the ward firmly in place.
For a few minutes, she thought. She honestly had no idea what would happen when the magic ran out. Or if they started trying to overcome the ward. She didn’t have the connections to it that would allow her to counter their work. She’d hoped to test the battery first, before using it to save lives.
But time had run out.
“Look at you,” she said. She pushed as much contempt into her voice as she could. “You’re preparing to fight each other, ready to kill hundreds of people, over a stupid feud. How did it actually start? Do any of you even know?”
Several people looked at Fulvia, who said nothing.
“This is my castle,” Emily said. “These are my people. And I will not let you harm them!”
“You allowed him to touch her,” Gaius snapped. He waved a hand at Markus. “You let it happen! He seduced her, and you let it happen!”
Markus opened his mouth, either to retort or issue a challenge to a duel, but Melissa spoke first.
“I don’t want to marry you,” she said. “I never wanted to marry you!”
Gaius blinked in genuine surprise. Emily frowned, inwardly; had he believed Melissa would want to marry him, or had Fulvia told him that Melissa wanted to marry him? She knew which way she would bet.
“The wedding is not going to take place,” Melissa added. “I love Markus!”
“You
are under the influence,” Gaius said, desperately. “He made you drink a love potion, and...”
“As if we didn’t have protections against such games,” Melissa snapped. She sneered at him. “He couldn’t have fed me anything without my consent!”
“And he defiled you,” Gaius added, ignoring her. “This is a slap in the face...”
He pointed a finger at Marcellus. “He sent his son to seduce Melissa!”
“I most certainly did not,” Marcellus said. He sounded torn between amusement and horror; his son, his favored son, had almost sparked off a fight that would cripple both families. “It never crossed my mind that the Ashfall Heir could act in so unthinking a manner.”
“I love her, father,” Markus said, simply.
His father scowled. “And are you ready to take the consequences of that love?”
“I am.”
Fulvia’s lips thinned. “Melissa is not free to give her love to anyone,” she said. “What does love matter? Marriage is for the benefit of the families...”
“Then let them marry and reunite your families,” Emily said. “End this stupid feud!”
“You are young and were raised in isolation,” Fulvia said. “You could not understand just how much we have done to one another, in the name of the feud.”
“And would you prefer to keep the feud going?” Emily asked. She felt the battery quiver in her pocket and swore, inwardly. There was no way to know how long it would last. “Each successive generation killing its counterparts, never even knowing why it was killing its counterparts, until one side manages to wipe out the other? Or the necromancers kill you all?”
Fulvia eyed her darkly. “I would not expect you to understand.”
“You were there when the feud started,” Markus said, suddenly. “I think you’re the only person on either side who knows why the feud started. Why?”
Fulvia ignored him. “It seems we are to be embarrassed and humiliated,” she said, curtly. “But at least the Ashfalls have been humiliated, too. We will leave.”
She looked up at Melissa. “Melissa. Come.”
Melissa stepped forward until she was standing next to Emily. “You killed my father!”
For the first time, Fulvia looked uncertain. “Don’t speak of things you don’t understand, girl,” she snapped. “Your father died in an accident!”
“I can’t prick my fingers in Ashworth House,” Melissa snapped. “The wards are so complex that accidental harm is rare, almost impossible. How could someone drink enough of a disgusting potion to kill himself by accident?”
She glared down at her great-grandmother. “Why did my father die?
“I can guess. He was the direct-line heir, while you married into the family. Grandpa should hold real power, not you, but Grandpa always defers to you. My father must have wanted to claim power for himself, and so you killed him!”
“Do you really believe,” Fulvia said, “that I would kill my grandson?”
“You were prepared to marry me off to...to that milksop,” Melissa snapped. “Why wouldn’t you kill your own grandson? And how long until I have an accident of my own?”
“Our marriage is for the best,” Gaius said. “The families will grow stronger...”
“No, they won’t,” Markus said. “You don’t have the strength of character to do anything but what you’re told by superior authority. The Matriarch could keep you in line for the rest of your life.”
“And what happens to the family,” Melissa asked, “after you die?”
“The family will survive,” Fulvia said.
“It won’t survive if you keep killing or breaking everyone with the strength of character to lead the family,” Melissa hissed. “Your son does what you tell him. I’d bet he doesn’t have an original bone in his body. Your grandson is dead. I am to be married to a milksop weakling, while Iulius...Iulius is a brat. You’ve even been encouraging his bratty tendencies to make it harder for him to win friends!”
You can talk, Emily thought, silently.
“The family is doomed,” Melissa said. “And I am damned if I will marry that man!” She jabbed a finger at Gaius. “I don’t want to marry you, and if you were half the man you claim to be, you would respect that!”
“The family comes first,” Fulvia said.
“What sort of family do we have,” Melissa screamed, “if we bring our children up in loveless marriages?”
There was a long, agonizing pause.
“You overstep yourself,” Fulvia said, finally. She made an odd gesture with her hand, but nothing happened. “You...”
“You can’t use magic,” Melissa crowed. “And what are you without magic? You can’t punish me now!”
Emily winced, inwardly. How long would the ward actually last? She wasn’t sure she dared test the battery, even though it was her magic inside the ring. Touching so much magic could drive her mad.
And if Fulvia used magic to discipline the children, she thought, it might explain a great deal about Melissa.
It crossed her mind, suddenly, that Fulvia could be in very real danger. She had to have used rejuvenation spells to keep herself alive for so long, if she wasn’t stealing life energy from her family...had that been what had happened to her grandson? As soon as he’d sired a couple of potential heirs, his grandmother had turned him into a walking transplant? Or had it really been an accident? Accidents did happen, Emily had learned, and sometimes they looked more than a little suspicious.
And if Fulvia can’t use magic, Emily thought, what will it do to the spells keeping her alive?
“We will not stay here,” Fulvia said, instead. “Melissa. Come.”
“No,” Melissa said.
“Your marriage was agreed by the family council,” Fulvia said. “You have to abide by it.”
“Or leave the family,” Melissa said. She reached for the icon on her dress and tore it free, then tossed it down to the floor. “I choose to leave.”
“You’re the Heir,” an Ashworth Emily didn’t know said. “You can’t leave.”
“Iulius can be the Heir,” Melissa said. “Maybe he will live long enough to actually take on the role.”
She eyed her great-grandmother, sharply. “Or maybe you will just seek to dominate him like you dominate your son,” she added. “I wish him luck.”
Fulvia looked furious, her eyes flashing with fire. “If you leave now, you will be cut off completely from the family,” she snapped. “You will have no schooling, no contacts, no nothing...you will be alone.”
“She won’t be alone,” Markus said. “I will be with her.”
“No, you won’t,” Gaius said. He bunched his fists. “You sullied my bride!”
Markus dropped into a fighting crouch. Emily stared from one to the other, unsure of what to do. The ward wouldn’t let her cast spells of her own, if only because there had been no time to tune it before she’d triggered the spell. And she couldn’t stand between them again, not when Gaius hated her as much as he hated Markus. He was stronger than she’d realized, stronger and better trained...
A woman is always at a disadvantage against a stronger man, Sergeant Harkin had said, years ago. And training can only go so far.
Melissa ran forward and stood next to Markus. “Are you so desperate to have me that you are prepared to fight for me?”
Gaius stared at her, then at Emily. “I didn’t know...”
“No, you didn’t,” Melissa said. “And maybe I should have talked to you earlier, but you never listened. You were so impressed with the idea of becoming Patriarch that you didn’t even think to question what I wanted. What could I say that would dim the shining light in your eyes?”
“You are no longer part of the family,” Fulvia said. Her voice was very cold. “Your destiny is your own. You’ll excuse me, I trust, if I don’t wish you luck.”
“But...”
Fulvia ignored Gaius’s protests. “But there is another issue here,” she added. Her gaze sought out Marcellus. “Did you
know your son was courting my great-granddaughter?”
“I did not,” Marcellus said. He took a step forward, and held up one hand. “I swear this on my life and my magic.”
“Then I must demand recompense, in line with the ancient traditions,” Fulvia said. “The balance must be maintained.”
Emily frowned. What was the ancient woman doing?
“I must decline,” Marcellus said. “This was not deliberate harm.”
“But you cannot deny it nearly proved disastrous,” Fulvia said. “Indeed, were it not for Lady Emily, most of us would have died.”
Marcellus’s face tightened. “Markus,” he said, never taking his eyes off Fulvia, “I cannot condone your actions. You knew she was the Ashworth Heir when you courted her.”
“I understand, father,” Markus said.
“And are you willing,” his father said, still keeping his eyes on Fulvia, “to face the consequences?”
“I am,” Markus said.
Emily looked at him. He seemed...nervous, but ready to do what his father commanded.
“I cast you out of the family,” Marcellus said. It was a formal recitation. “You have no name, no kin, nothing but yourself. I will no longer speak with you, I will no longer hear you, I will no longer speak for you.”
Markus sighed, but remained still as his father advanced on him. Emily watched, knowing she could do nothing to interfere, as Marcellus ripped his son’s icon off his chest and dropped it on the floor, then ground it under his feet. Markus remained impassive, but Melissa stepped up to him and took his hand.
They’ll make it, Emily thought, suddenly. They do love each other.
“The balance is maintained,” Marcellus said. He looked at Fulvia. “Satisfied?”
“We are,” Fulvia said. “And so we will take our leave.”
She looked at Emily, sharply. “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said. “Perhaps one day we shall repay you in kind.”
And if that wasn’t a threat, Emily thought, she had no idea what it was.
“We will not attend the remainder of the Faire,” Fulvia continued. “Nor will we return to Cockatrice.”
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