“We will see,” she said, as the food arrived. “But I’ll try and stay out of his way for a while.”
“You should watch your back,” Melissa said. “Fulvia will not leave this insult unsettled.”
“It might be hard for her to drum up support,” Markus pointed out. “The only other person I’ve seen who made such a show of power was the old MageMaster, back in Third Year. There was an...an incident and he was not pleased.”
Emily sighed. She’d shocked them all — and she had a feeling that most of the crowd had been glad of the excuse to avoid a fight — but anyone who thought about it might have been able to work magic through her wards. Or simply keep hammering on them until they broke.
Melissa smiled at him. “What happened?”
“A Fifth Year thought it would be a good idea to cast a curse on one of his classmates,” Markus said. “The MageMaster went through the roof. Practically broke the idiot’s spine as he dragged him out the door. I’ve never seen anyone expelled so fast.”
Expelled, Emily thought, or drained of power?
She shrugged. There was no way to know.
“I’ll watch my back,” she said, finally. “But there’s only so much I can do.”
“Hire a bodyguard,” Melissa suggested. Her voice became teasing. “I’m sure Jade would be a good match for you.”
Emily snorted. “Don’t even go there.”
“It’s a good thought,” Markus said. “I could recommend a few combat sorcerers who might like the challenge.”
“No, thank you,” Emily said. Jade was spoken for...and besides, it would have felt weird to pay him for anything. And then there was Lady Barb or Sergeant Miles...the thought of hiring either of them was awkward, to say the least. She’d disliked Travis even before he’d been eaten by a Mimic, while Cat would still be in training. “I don’t want anyone following me around.”
“Apart from Frieda,” Melissa said. “Does she still follow you everywhere?”
Emily sighed. “Sometimes,” she said. “But she needs friends of her own.”
“She has them,” Melissa said. “And yet she really looks up to you.”
“I know,” Emily said. She shook her head. Who in their right mind would look up to her, when she had a remarkable talent for screwing up her life? And that of other people? Master Grey might have been right, after all, when he’d called her a child of chaos. “But what do I do about it?”
“Let her grow out of it,” Markus said. “My brother and sister used to follow me everywhere, even when I threatened them. It was maddening.”
“She is of the age when she needs someone to look up to,” Melissa agreed. “And there are worse people for her to admire.”
Emily blushed and changed the subject, hastily. “Like I said, you are welcome to stay here for the rest of the summer,” she said. “But you might want to stay away from the Faire.”
“It will be over soon,” Markus agreed. “And then...we can start to work on the bank.”
Emily rose. “Thank you,” she said. “And...and I hope it works out for you.”
“Thank you,” Markus said.
“Tell me something,” Emily said. She allowed her voice to darken. “Last night...did you mean to be discovered?”
Melissa and Markus exchanged glances. “Let’s just say we knew it was possible,” Melissa said, finally. “And we wanted it to be over.”
Emily sighed. “I know how you feel,” she said. “Even if I have never been in love.”
She looked at the two of them, sitting so close, and felt another stab of envy. It would be nice to have someone so close to her...nice, but also dangerous. The whole affair could have gone so many different ways, all of which could have led to disaster. Romance...could be dangerous. It had blighted her mother’s life beyond repair. She knew she shouldn’t be considering dating anyone...
...And yet she had to admit it was tempting.
Turning, she walked through the door, warding it behind her to grant them both a little privacy. They deserved it, after everything they’d gone through.
Good thing they didn’t kill each other after all, she thought. The feud would just have continued with a new rallying cry. And that would have been the greatest tragedy of all.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“THEY’VE APPROVED OUR PROJECT,” CALEB SAID, as she stepped into the workroom. “We’re good to go.”
Emily let out a sigh of relief. They’d worked too hard on it for her to entertain any other possibility, even though she knew nothing had been guaranteed. By now, rumors of the standoff between the Ashfalls and the Ashworths at Cockatrice had probably reached Whitehall, puzzling and alarming the Grandmaster. She was surprised that Lady Barb hadn’t been ordered back to the Faire at once.
But, in the end, everything had worked out fine. To her relief, the Faire had reached its conclusion without any further incidents, either because of rumors of her power or simply because the two noble families had left immediately after disowning their former heirs. Emily had attended the final ceremony, then left the committee to organize the next Faire without her involvement. She was damned if she was wasting any more of her summer.
“That’s good,” she said. A week after the Faire had concluded, it was almost as if it had never been there in the first place. The only remaining traces were the iron rails, which had been left there to mark the spot. “Can we complete it in nine months?”
“I think so,” Caleb said. He gave her a shy smile. “We could make a start on it now, if you want.”
Emily hesitated — she liked spending time with Caleb — but shook her head. “I have too much else to do right now,” she said. Now the Faire was over, she could actually spend more time with Frieda before she had to go back to Whitehall. “We can start once we’re back at school.”
Caleb nodded, slowly. “As you wish,” he said. “It should be a workable project, even if it takes longer than we thought to work the kinks out.”
“I certainly hope so,” Emily agreed.
“My family wants me home for a few days prior to returning to school,” Caleb added. “I don’t suppose you have some reason to keep me here?”
Emily smiled. “I could chain you up in the dungeons, if you like.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Caleb muttered. “It sounds heavenly right now.”
“You don’t want to go home?” Emily asked.
“My father will go on and on about my brother’s achievements, my brother will go on and on about his achievements...I’ll be bored stiff within the day,” Caleb predicted mournfully. “Mother will ask why I haven’t signed up for Martial Magic; my sisters will demand my return to Stronghold, so they have someone to help them when they go there.”
“You don’t fit in,” Emily said.
“Not for a very long time,” Caleb agreed. He sighed, then looked down at the papers. “I’ll send most of my notes to Whitehall before I go, if you don’t mind. We may as well ensure they remain safe.”
“Of course,” Emily said. She watched as Caleb packed up his papers, noting the smooth precision of his movements. He would be a natural in Alchemy class. But then, he had to concentrate to keep his hands from shaking. “I’ve enjoyed working with you.”
Caleb smiled. “I’ve enjoyed working with you too,” he said. “But I meant to ask: how did you produce such a powerful working, all on your own?”
“Magic,” Emily said, deadpan. “Magic, and desperation. I couldn’t allow them to rip the castle apart.”
“They would have done it too,” Caleb said. “That feud is legendary.”
Emily eyed him for a moment. “Do you think I did the right thing?”
“I can hardly complain about two people wanting to leave their families,” Caleb pointed out, after a moment’s thought. “Maybe you could have handled it better, but I don’t know how.”
“Thank you,” Emily said. It was odd, but part of her valued his approval. She still had no idea what Lady Barb would have to say a
bout it. “I hope they will be happy, wherever they end up.”
“Me too,” Caleb said. He smiled, tightly. “It brings hope to the rest of us.”
He rose, and bowed to her. “I’ll have these sent off with a courier tonight, then leave the castle tomorrow. And then...I guess I’ll see you in Whitehall.”
Emily frowned. Part of her wanted to urge him to hurry up and go, part of her wanted him to stay with her, even though she needed to spend time elsewhere. She closed her eyes, trying to sort out her own feelings, but nothing made sense. Was this what Alassa had felt, when she’d first started to talk to Jade, or was it something completely different? She honestly didn’t know.
“I guess,” she said. She wanted to ask him to stay, but she felt too nervous to make the move. “And I look forward to turning the world upside down.”
“Again,” Caleb said.
He bowed to her a second time, turned, and walked out the door, carrying his notes under one arm. Emily looked down at the empty table, fighting down the urge to call him back. It wasn’t like her to be so...demanding of another’s company, she was sure, and yet...the impulse was almost overpoweringly strong. Maybe Imaiqah had been right, after all, and she was attracted to Caleb. He wasn’t classically handsome, not like Jade, but that only helped. Or maybe she was just imagining things.
She sighed and reached out with her mind to touch the castle wards. It had taken days to repair them, even though she’d been able to ask for help from her friends. The ward she’d created had torn holes in the castle’s protections, causing a series of failures that had eventually brought the entire network down. Jade had commented that he’d never heard of anything like it, while Markus had talked about the Fall of Mountaintop. Emily had a feeling that the problems had only just begun. The castle was definitely not designed to handle elaborate wards.
Then I need a new castle, she thought. It was annoying, but it had to be considered. Part of her still wanted to give up the barony, to walk away from Zangaria; part of her knew she could do a great deal more good with land and property under her direct control. And I will have to talk the king into letting me build one.
It wouldn’t be easy. A castle was a symbol of strength — and dominance. If she held the castles in her land, she would dominate the land, perhaps even hold it against the king. There would be no shortage of reasons for Randor to refuse to allow her to build a new one, including fears of inciting the other barons to demand new castles of their own. But she needed somewhere she could ward properly, if she wanted to live there permanently. It was a minor miracle nothing of great importance had been stolen.
She looked up as someone knocked on the door. “Come in!”
The door opened to reveal Alassa, wearing a long white dress and a golden necklace that sparked with protections of one kind or another. Jade must have made it, Emily guessed, feeling a tinge of envy. It must be nice to have someone looking out for you, someone who cared for you as more than just a friend. Would he have been so considerate to her, she wondered, or would their relationship have been different? But there was no point in worrying about it now.
“I just received a note from my father,” Alassa said. “He wants to see us all back at Alexis.”
She swallowed, nervously. “This could be it, Emily.”
“The moment you tell your father you want to marry a common-born sorcerer,” Emily said, with some amusement. “Are you going to show more nerve than Melissa?”
Alassa shot her a sharp look. “I hope it won’t come to screamed accusations and banishment,” she said. “I missed the last part of the show. Jade dragged me out.”
“Good for him,” Emily said. She dreaded to think what would have happened if Alassa had been caught in the crossfire and killed. Zangaria had no other heir, no one else who could take the throne without starting a civil war. “What would have happened to Zangaria if you’d died?”
“It would have been bad,” Alassa said. She sat down, primly. “My father should want me to get married as soon as possible. Jade...is the best candidate we have.”
“He might not even let you return for Fourth Year,” Emily said. She recalled Lady Barb saying that Alassa might be expelled, just to avoid having to put her exam results on the record. “And make you start churning out children immediately.”
Alassa scowled. “I hope we can have children. But I can always find someone to adopt if worst comes to worst.”
Emily winced. “I’m sure you will be fine,” she lied. The Royal Bloodline was immensely complex and the Alchemists who’d designed it hadn’t really known what they were doing. It was quite possible that King Randor’s near-barrenness had been passed down to his daughter, eventually guaranteeing the extinction of his line. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Jade.”
“I saw his records,” Alassa said. “He’s a healthy young man, only a few years older than me.”
“And he can presumably sire children,” Emily said. “You should be fine.”
Alassa nodded. “Emily, there was an additional note for you,” she added, as she held out a scrap of parchment. “Lady Barb is waiting in Alexis.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed. Lady Barb could teleport. There was nothing stopping her from jumping all the way to Cockatrice, rather than heading to Alexis and meeting Emily there, once Emily had traveled back to the city. It was odd, to say the least. What had Lady Barb been doing that had called her away from Cockatrice? And why had it also caught up Sergeant Miles?
Or was it a trick of some kind? An attempt to lure her out of the castle?
She took the note and checked it. Lady Barb had taught her how to sign her name — and, more importantly, how to read other signatures. Lady Barb had written the note, Emily confirmed rapidly, and she had done so of her own free will. It was no trick.
“I’ll see her there,” she said, although she was unable to escape the feeling that her life was about to change, once again. “Do you know if I will be coming back here?”
Alassa shrugged.
“I was under the impression you were going to go back to school early,” she said. “But isn’t this a little too early?”
“I don’t know,” Emily said. She sighed, inwardly. Deliberately or otherwise, King Randor had caused her a whole series of new problems. “The Grandmaster is the one calling the shots.”
She rolled her eyes — she liked the Grandmaster — and then called for Bryon. When he arrived, she gave orders to have her coach prepared for immediate departure and then, on the assumption she would not be returning immediately, resume his duties as her steward. It wouldn’t be hard, now the Faire was over; Bryon could handle all the minor problems, then forward the harder problems to her. She knew she would have to keep a closer eye on what was happening, in future, but she had no idea when she would find the time. Perhaps she should join Alassa and leave school after the Fourth Year.
Don’t be stupid, she told herself, sharply. Cockatrice will still be here when you graduate from Whitehall.
They found Frieda in her rooms, reading an elaborate story written by a man who claimed to have sailed around the entire world. Emily had glanced at it, back when it had first been printed, but she’d had some problems believing some of the tales. Encounters with sea monsters were one thing — she knew there were all sorts of strange creatures in the world — but the writer had spent most of the book bragging about his experiences with women of all shapes, sizes, and colors. She was surprised he had managed to find any time for exploration.
“Hey,” Frieda said, sitting up. One of the maids had been busy; instead of her twin ponytails, her hair had been reshaped into an elaborate arrangement that perched neatly on the top of her head. “Where are you going?”
Emily felt a sudden bitter stab of guilt. She’d promised to spend time with Frieda and now she was being called away, again. And she didn’t even know if they were going to return to Cockatrice or not. Frieda could spend the rest of her life in the castle, if she liked, but it wouldn�
��t be the same. She certainly wouldn’t have anyone to explore the surrounding lands with, let alone study magic.
“Alexis,” she said, shortly. “Would you like to come?”
Alassa poked her arm, gently. “Come with us,” she said. “I can take you hunting, if you like.”
She winked at Frieda. “Emily hates hunting.”
Emily shivered. She disliked horses, she disliked riding through the forest...and she really disliked hunting wild boars that weren’t actually wild boars. The tradition of turning criminals into animals and then letting them loose in the royal hunting grounds appalled her, even though Alassa and Imaiqah seemed to take it in stride. She hadn’t realized until much later just how unnatural the boars had been, at the time...
At least Jade didn’t slaughter them with abandon, she thought. The princes had slaughtered the boars, then gone on to hunt deer for the king’s table. There is that to be said for him, at least.
“I don’t know where I will be going afterwards,” Emily said. “You could stay here, if you like, or you could go with Alassa.”
“Stay with me,” Alassa said, immediately. “I’ll probably need someone to calm me down after mother starts twittering on about wedding dresses.”
“Your mother treats me as a doll,” Frieda protested. “Last time, she was trying to make me wear a glorified nightgown.”
Alassa laughed. “She did that to me, too,” she said. “And to just about every other young woman who entered the palace. I think Emily was the only one to make her escape.”
Emily snorted. The queen’s enthusiasm for dresses was terrifyingly strong. Emily wouldn’t have minded so much if the queen hadn’t wanted her to undress, practically in public, and don the latest in a set of private creations. There weren’t many people who could say their dresses were made by a queen, but it was an honor she would have gratefully foregone.
“I always said you look like a doll,” she said, mischievously. Alassa did sometimes look like a porcelain doll, although she wasn’t quite as unreal as Barbie. “Dressing you up comes naturally.”
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