The Magic Council (The Herezoth Trilogy) (30 page)

“You listen here, you deserve that
kindness and more.”

On a spark of impulse, Vane kissed her.
She was startled at first, and some words that were about to leave her mouth
dissolved in the back of her throat. When she realized those words were not the
only things to disappear—that the bricks in her stomach had evaporated
too—she kissed him back. For twenty glorious seconds, she forgot she had
no home and no way to earn a living; she forgot he was soon to be a duke. She
let go of her unfounded guilts and her reasonable apprehensions. They stood
there smiling at one another, though Vane’s expression turned more serious by
the instant.

Vane was realizing that delaying Ursa’s
request would only make it more of a shock, and more unpleasant, for her
sister. He took a seat against the wall, and August joined him.

“Ursa left a message for you,” he said.
The flush of pink to August’s cheeks was gone in a flash.

“What kind of message? Another threat?”

“No, nothing like that. She wants you to
visit her.”

August gulped air.

“I think you should,” said Vane. “She’s
scared and alone. She’s utterly lost.”

“Good,” said August, though her voice
shook. “I’m glad. Maybe now she has some idea of what the boys were feeling all
that time she kept them locked up.”

“Ursa will be locked up the rest of her
life. And she should be. It’s not that I feel sorry for the woman, but I do
think you should visit her at least this once. I don’t know what she wants to
tell you, but it’s not a threat. She’s in no position to threaten you. She’s
completely broken. I promise you, I’ve never seen anything like it. Arbora and
Dorane are faring much better than her, and she is
your sister.”

August turned defensive. “Would you visit
your uncle?”

“I never knew my uncle. He never put a
roof over my head. This isn’t about Zalski, not at all. It’s about you, and
you’ll regret it later if you don’t go see her. Listen, I’ll go with you. I can
wait right outside.”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll be there with you, at the prison.
August, it’s only natural you’d have doubts about this, given how Ursa’s
treated you. If you could have seen her yesterday, you’d understand. You need
to do this, I’m telling you that as….”

“As what?” she demanded. “As a friend?
I’m pretty sure friends don’t kiss like we just did.”

Vane put a hand on her shoulder. As her
voice had turned gruffer, his softened. “Have I earned your trust to some
degree? That’s what it comes down to.”

August twisted a strand of hair around
her finger. She bit her lip. “When you put it that way, Val….”

“I won’t let you go alone, I swear.”

“And after that visit?” she asked. She
shrugged his hand away. “What are we? We can’t have a relationship, not if
you’re a duke. A duke couldn’t marry me. I’m a commoner, sure, but I won’t be
someone’s tart.”

“I’m not your run-of-the-mill nobleman,
August. I’m a sorcerer raised by an innkeeper. To put it bluntly, marrying a
commoner would be the least controversial thing about me. Anyone I marry,
peasant or countess, would have to deal with a whole mess of conflict. As for
us two…. I don’t know where this will go, in all honesty, but if we do
want to marry at some point, we’ll
marry. I wouldn’t throw you aside for the sake of court gossip, or of threats.
At this point you have only my word for that, but….”

“Would there really be threats?”

“There might be. And they could have
nothing to do with your birth at all, but with me, with my magic. If threats
did come….”

“I’ve faced threats before, and I won’t
let threats scare me off. You only have my
word for that, so I guess we’re on equal footing, aren’t we? For now, I
guess we should take things one day at a time. At least, I’d hate to go our separate
ways when we get back to Herezoth and wonder later what might have happened
between us. I’d like to see this through. Wherever it might lead, however hard
it gets, that’s better than not knowing, isn’t it?”

“It’s better than not knowing,” he agreed.
Then he paused. “Does this mean you’ll visit Ursa?”

“I’ll see her. It’s against my instincts,
but I’ll go, if you go with me.”

“The choice is yours. I won’t think any
less of you if you decide you can’t go through with it.”

“I know the choice is mine. Val, you’ve
met with her in jail. You’ve struck me from the first as someone with good
judgment, and you say I should go, so I guess…. I guess I’m choosing to trust
you, like you said.”

“Thank you,” he told her. “That means a
lot.”

The words to express what August felt
were beyond her grasp, hidden in the fog of the most wonderful incoherence in
her thoughts she had ever known. She would have liked to say she was grateful
for Val’s friendship; that he made it less scary not knowing where she might
go, or what would happen to her; that his smile reassured her, and to know the
king and queen respected him made them less imposing figures to her; that she
rarely in her short life had felt so relieved as when he had walked in just a
few minutes past; that she admired him tremendously for taking up his title,
and she was sure he would work much good both at court and outside it. The
words escaped her, so she leaned her head on his shoulder and gave his hand a
gentle squeeze. Then the clock in the living room struck noon. They could hear
it, and August said, “I need to go fix lunch.”

“I’ll help you,” Vane offered.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

Of Jobs and Jails

That night, after dinner, August was
settled in the room she had previously occupied at the Crystal Palace. She felt
exhilarated as well as terrified to think of the coming months. The trip back
to Podrar had exhausted her, and she wanted nothing more than to sleep, but it
was still too early for that, so she was reading the tale of Sir Adage while
letting her mind wander here and there. Should she go back to Yangerton? Try to
find a station somewhere in Podrar? She was qualified for little in terms of
work. She sewed well enough to mend her own garments and fix a ripped lace
lining, but to try to establish herself as a seamstress seemed a poor idea. She
was decent enough in the kitchen, but fixed no dish particularly well, and
lacked the experience for a cooking post in a tavern or inn.

She could clean, she supposed. She hated
cleaning, but if she could find someone to take her on as a maid, that seemed
her best option for gainful employment.

Lost in her musings, she almost didn’t
notice when a summons came from the queen. August followed a butler to Gracia’s
antechamber, where Gracia was still clad in the day’s gown and jewelry; that
sight had always intimidated August, and did so all the more after several days
of separation. August curtsied respectfully, and the queen led the way to the
room’s lush armchairs.

“I wanted to thank you,” Gracia said.
“From my heart, dear, thank you. Valkin told me you saved Neslan’s life after
that serpent bit him, getting him back to the Portegs’ home as quickly as you
did.”

August did not expect such a warm
greeting, as guilty as she felt for the snake incident in the first place. She
muttered, “It was nothing, Your Highness,” staring more past Gracia to the wall
beyond than at her. The queen continued:

“I have some business to discuss with
you. You’ll consider it an offer, but I would deem it more a favor to myself, I
truly would. Melly seems to have grown attached to you while you were in Traigland
together, and now her nanny has to leave us. The woman’s with child herself,
and her aunt is ailing. Would you care to replace her? You would have a set of
rooms here in the Palace, and meals as well for no cost. You’d have one day off
a week, whichever day you choose, and earn forty gold pieces a month.

August’s jaw almost dropped. The figure
seemed exorbitant, especially without rent or food to pay for. It was double
what she could expect to earn elsewhere. “Forty gold pieces a month?” she
repeated.

“It’s the same we paid Deana.”

“That’s too much for me. I’m on my own,
Your Highness. That amount of money, it’s….”

Gracia smiled at her.
“I consider the wage fair compensation for the work, and as such, I won’t pay
less. You don’t have to take the post, of course. I know you hail from
Yangerton, and if you’d prefer to return there….”

“I wouldn’t. Your
Highness, I adore your children, and I can’t imagine I’m half as good with them
as you believe, but I’m honored you would trust me to care for Melly. She and I
did get along better after the first day. I’d be honored to take this post.”

“If you’d like a day
to think things over….”

“I don’t believe I
need it. I don’t have other prospects, and I’d like to stay in Podrar, at least
for a while. Your Highness, thank you. Thank you ever so much.”

“You’re most welcome,
my dear. As I said, you do me a good turn in this. Now, you’d better dart off,
if you don’t mind. Rexson and I hoped to speak with Valkin before he goes to
bed.”

“I’ll go at once,”
said August. “Your Highness, again, I…. Thank you.”

August left the room
feeling unsteady on her feet. She had not been gone five minutes when the king
came for Gracia, and without a word the two walked down to Valkin’s chambers,
where they found the boy sitting on the rug, elbow on his knee, staring at his
empty fireplace. He glanced over at his parents and said, “It’s not time for
bed yet, is it?”

“Not yet,” said
Rexson. “We wanted to ask you if something’s the matter.”

“Not really,” he said,
“no.”

“Are you certain?”
asked Gracia. “You haven’t been yourself today. You’ve been distracted since
you came back.” She gave him a hand to help him to his feet, and they all sat
on a settee placed against the wall, Valkin in the middle.

“Nothing’s really the
matter. I guess I feel uneasy about lying so much while I was in Traigland:
lying about who I was, who my parents were…. It just feels wrong. Kansten was
really nice, you know?”

“Kansten?” said
Gracia.

“Kora’s oldest,” said
Rexson. He caught Gracia’s eye, and as angry with him as she was, she consented
to his mute request to speak to his son alone. If there was one thing she could
say for the man, he was an excellent father, so she excused herself with, “I’ll
just go see if Hune’s washed up. He’d gladly go to bed dirty if we’d let him.”
The queen darted off after kissing Valkin on the cheek.

Rexson asked,
“Kansten’s about your age, isn’t she?”

“We found her uncle’s
spellbooks and tried to do magic as a joke, but she couldn’t, and she got
really upset. She said her mother and uncle are sorcerers, so she should be one
too, and…. She told me a lot about herself, Father. I told her nothing but
lies. I mentioned the Palace once without thinking and had to say you worked here.”

“I do a fair amount of
work here.”

“Not as a butler you
don’t.”

“Not as a butler,”
Rexson conceded. He was trying to get over his shock that Kora Porteg’s
daughter worked not a stitch of magic. “Son, you shouldn’t lie under ordinary
circumstances, and certainly never to me, or to your mother. You hate deceit, I
know that, and I’m sorry I had to ask you not to tell people in Traigland who
you were. You and your brothers hold a unique position because I happen to be
king, and while you understand what that entails, other children might not
comprehend how important it is to be discreet.

“First of all, it’s
not a bad thing your conscience bothers you for having lied. You know
deception’s wrong, and that’s to your credit. Secondly, I’m proud of you for
obeying me and keeping your identity to yourself. Let me explain why I asked
something so difficult: the monsters who put you and your brothers in that basement,
we didn’t capture them at the time we rescued you. More than anything else we
wanted to get you home, which we did, but Dorane and Ursa were still at large.
They were threatening to spread rumors about the family, and I worried those
rumors might put you in danger again. That was why you went to Triflag.”

Valkin nodded. “Did
you get them in the end?”

“Oh, we got them.
They’re in prison, and I swear they’ll never trouble you or anyone else again.
But before we arrested them, they could have spread those rumors.”

“About our
telekinesis,” said the prince.

“And that would have
been dangerous, as you very well understand. If people heard about our magic,
and then learned you were in Traigland because you told Kansten your real name
and she innocently mentioned that name to someone else, who told a third
someone…. You understand the risk? You see why we needed to be cautious?”

Valkin nodded, and his
father clapped him on the back.

“I know how hard it is
to keep these secrets. To tell you the truth, I’ve always loathed it. I had to
hide my real name from a friend once, for a rather long time. For weeks. I
thought it was for her protection, and it was, but I felt guilty all the same,
and even more so after she found out the truth from someone who…. Well, who
didn’t care much for me.”

“You had to keep your
birth secret?” asked Valkin. “From whom?”

“Kansten’s mother, of
all people.”

Valkin’s eyes got
huge. “Really?”

“Really. So I know how horrible it feels.
I promise you, son, you did the proper thing. You did the only thing you could
under the circumstances. Sometimes the right thing doesn’t feel like the right
thing, if that makes sense. Sometimes there’s not a choice available that will
do right by everyone. I put you in a position where you had no alternative but
to lie to a new friend. You did nothing wrong, is that clear?”

“I guess so,” Valkin said. “I do feel
better now that you told me the reason I had to lie to her.”

“I’m glad. And my God, am I proud of you.
You’ve been through so much, and you’ve handled it all so responsibly. You’ve
been strong for your brothers through the whole ordeal. So keep your chin up,
do you hear?”

Valkin nodded, and asked the king, “I
won’t see her again, will I?”

“Kansten? I’m afraid that’s unlikely.”

“I figured it would be. At least she
won’t know I lied, right?”

“Chin up,” said Rexson again. “I love
you, Valkin.”

“I love you too, Father.”

* * *

The day after returning to Herezoth,
August went to see her sister. If she had to go eventually, she would rather go
sooner than later to be done with the unpleasantness, so Vane waited with her
in the same depressing, poorly lit room where Dorane had blackmailed Zacry.
When a guard led Ursa in, Vane followed him out with a reassuring nod at the
royal family’s newest nanny.

August felt nervous and uncomfortable,
until Ursa spoke. Then the awkwardness remained, but all fear was gone. An
infant would not fear the woman who shrank back into the corner. August
understood instantly why Vane had wanted her to visit, and she blessed him for
urging her to come.

“What’s he doin’ here?” Ursa demanded.
August could tell she had lost weight she had not needed to do away with,
unless that were an illusion of her formless, colorless prison frock,
ill-fitting and a far cry from her fashionable wardrobe back in Carphead. Yes,
the clothing was to blame; the woman had been captured that week, which gave
her no time to thin out as she looked to have done.

August said of Vane, “He brought me here.
From Podrar.”

“He ain’t got other business? Ain’t gonna
poison Dorane’s food or, or transport me out to the woods and have me shot?”

“Ursa, what are you talking about? You
think someone will poison you? Have you stopped eating because of that? Listen,
you’ve already been sentenced. If death’s not a part of that, no one’s going to
kill you.”

“They want to,” Ursa protested. “The king
wants to, you damn well know he does.”

August’s voice was soft as always, but
firmer somehow, and more confident than Ursa had ever heard it. August even
surprised herself, for she had grown used to Ursa’s foul tongue and took no
offense from it; the swear provided a foundation, though, from which to build a
display of strength, and the younger woman set right to work.

“I’ll walk out if you use language like
that around me. And most people have self-restraint, Ursa. They don’t do
everything they have the whim to. They don’t blackmail their enemies or kidnap
people’s children to get something they want…. Here, take a seat.” August
pulled out one of the worn wooden chairs for her sister, and they sat around
the table. “I heard you asked to see me.”

“That’s ‘cause I did. First off, I wanted
to apologize. I shouldn’t have threatened to sic my bear on you. That wasn’t
real sisterly o’ me.”

“It wasn’t,” August agreed. “You had me pretty
well scared at times, but the boys, what you did to those boys is worse. I try
and I try, and I can’t understand. Why
did
you…?”

“I’ve been askin’ myself that,” said
Ursa. “Got lots o’ time here to think, you know. So I’ve been doin’ some
thinkin,’ an’ I ain’t so sure it didn’t have somethin’ to do with Dorane.”

August blinked in the glare of the wall
lamps. “Well, of course it had to do with Dorane. It was his idea, wasn’t it?
Please, Ursa, tell me it wasn’t you, that you didn’t think to kidnap….”

“Course I didn’t. It was Dorane’s plan,
an’ I went along with it. Part of me didn’t want to, but I was head over heels
for him an’ didn’t even realize I was that far gone. Love makes people take
risks they wouldn’t normally….”

The younger woman shook her head. “Risks
are one thing. Risks are one thing and they’re okay. There’s a difference in
taking risks and doing something inexcusable. What you did, it….”

“And who made you a philosopher since you
left home?”

August replied, “That mansion was never
my home, Ursa.”

That statement brought the old, vibrant
Ursa back. The spark in her eyes, the disdain in her voice, they returned so
suddenly August pushed her chair away to create distance.

“I took you in! When your grandma died, I
took you in! Don’t you insult me like that. You’re an ingrate, that’s what you
are! Don’t you go givin’ me no lectures like no smarmy…. Love? What do you know
about love?”

August whispered, “I think I have some
idea.”