“I suppose he is at least following his own dictates. And it would give Dagobert and Laudine a little space to sort things out. Bradamante isn't their matriarch.” Vitus offered it tentatively.
“No, she married out. That’s the point. And it’s a bit late now to have Yves marry in. Like it or not, Dagobert is Lord now. He has a son. With any luck there will be another inside six weeks.” Thessaly considered. “They’re still in shock, honestly, both of them. And the funeral was all sorts of demands. That’s why I took Garin for a walk. At least he could have a few minutes without having to be entirely proper in public.” Thessaly shookher head. “Laudine trusts her Healer, and, assuming nothing else happens, she has every reason to rest as much as possible now.”
“Quite.” Vitus certainly felt himself unqualified to comment on what she should be doing, anyway. “And you?”
“Well. It solves the problem of people pushing me to marry Sigbert,” Thessaly said, before she inhaled, the sort of sharp inhale that gave Vitus only a few moments warning. Then she was shaking, the sort of onrush of emotion she’d had, just as reasonably, a few times before. Vitus pulled his arm around her, encouraging her more into his lap, where he could hold her better, and just held on, as steady as he could.
It lasted longer this time than the others she’d let him see, until she was sniffling against his jacket, her shoulders still shivering. Vitus let his hand stroke her back, the way Lucas had taught him to stroke a nervous horse. The trick was in making long movements, nothing sudden or unexpected, the rhythm mattering as much as the touch itself.
Vitus just waited until finally Thessaly put her head up, sniffling. He met her eyes. “Bedroom? Would that be more comfortable?” Her face was blotchy. She rubbed it with the back of one hand.
“Let me, I’m a mess. Your jacket.” Her words tumbled out.
“None of that matters. How about you go wash your face, I’ll bring the wine in, and the jacket will keep.” Vitus was fairly sure that Collins knew some particular magic to clean such things. Or if not, she could recommend someone who did. And besides, the jacket didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
She wiggled out of his lap, standing. Shaky, perhaps, but not for terribly long. Thessaly looked back at him from the door to her bedroom, then disappeared. Vitus poured another full glass of the wine, and brought it into the bedroom, before covering up the food and making sure the fire was behaving. By the timeThessaly appeared, he was in bed. The sheets were warmed with a charm, and he’d changed into the pyjamas he kept in the wardrobe. He wasn’t sure if she’d want more intimate contact tonight or not. Now, he pulled the blankets back as she slid in.
“You didn’t go away.”
“Why would I?” Vitus blinked. “I don’t think you’re cursed, for the record. Have I said that yet? I have implied it, but perhaps it needed saying.” The thought had just occurred to him.
Thessaly managed an uneven smile. “It’s, I don’t even know what I feel about Sigbert. Felt. Any of it.”
That was also honestly reasonable. Vitus considered. “I’d be worried, I think, if you did know. It’s all confusing. We don’t have anything like all the relevant information. And there is honestly a lot of terrifying change going on, deaths and mysteries and more.” He considered. “Tell me some of what you feel about Sigbert? It doesn’t have to be all of it. Start somewhere.”
“An opening move.” Putting it in duelling terms helped, of course it would. She took a deep breath. “He shouldn’t be dead. I mean, I don’t know of any reason he ought to be. He was a good rider, on his estate, his own horse. Childeric could be reckless. Sigbert wasn’t.”
“In general, either?” Vitus said, clarifying.
“That.” Thessaly let out a sigh and fell back against the pillows with a soft thump. “I didn’t love him. I almost certainly wasn’t going to marry him— um. That came out not the way I meant. I’ll— that’s different?”
“Come back to it.” Vitus said, though he very much would like her to expand on that point. Not that Sigbert was a threat, but it was the question of what else she meant to do now that was relevant.
“He didn’t deserve to be dead. Or did he? I mean, if there is a curse, it’s a very precise one.” Thessaly lifted a hand and let it fall. “Four. And there’s Dagobert being ill. And Lady Chrodechildis.”
“How is she? Did they say?” Vitus asked.
“Glaring from her bed, but that’s about all she can do. Laudine and Dagobert are moving to Arundel, making over the first floor as they get a chance. There isn’t really much choice, even though Laudine doesn’t want to leave Essex.” Thessaly added, “I did tell you what I pointed out to Father. What if it’s the estate? I mentioned that to her. She said she’d had the same fear. She’s having things checked out thoroughly, but she doesn’t think it’s that.” Thessaly sat up. “Maybe she knows it’s something else?”
“What makes you think that?” Vitus hesitated, then went on. “I’m not arguing, but I didn’t see or hear whatever makes you think that.”
“I don’t know. Just the way she said it. And the way she looked at Dagobert. It was before everyone arrived this morning, just before all the expectations landed on everyone. But what? I mean, if she knew what it was, why isn’t she doing something? Or is she doing something, and it’s not obvious?”
“Maybe it’s not something she can control? Or not something she understands fully? Or something like that?” Vitus was trying to think through the implications. “There’s a lot of that in talisman work.”
Thessaly twisted to face him, now sitting with one foot tucked under her thigh, knee bent. “Tell me about that?” She had the quality of a child wanting one more story, one more joy before sleep. Vitus was taken again with how eager her passions were when she could let them show.
“Talismans, sometimes we’re making them. Oh, Niobe calls this closed and open, though there are better technical terms.Closed, you’re working in a system where the factors are known. The charms against lightning, for example. You know precisely what you want to prevent or discourage or avoid. It can be named, magically, in the description - lightning, plague, specific illnesses. Unwanted relatives, so you don’t run into them casually.”
Thessaly snorted at the last one. “Does that work?”
“Depends on who designed the talisman. Mine work fairly well, so far, based on observed data.” Vitus was rather proud of that, actually. They weren’t easy to do, especially with expansive families or sets of people. “And open talismans are more dependent on other factors. The one for Carrington, for example, that’s interacting with the environment in the moment. The state of the wearer, what is going on around them, if there are other circumstances. So it might be something where Laudine understands some of what the effect is. But not all of what’s going on, or how to change it. Just what experience suggests is affected and what is not.”
“I don’t know that we’ll ever know. Or be able to ask.” Thessaly sighed, and rearranged herself to settle on her side. “Can you talk through examples of talismans with me? More of them, I mean? When you have time?”
“Oh, ask me to talk about a subject I love with a person I adore? Whatever shall I do?” He hit the teasing note right. He saw her smile properly.
“Silly.” Thessaly took a breath, then said, her words coming out in a tumble. “Sigbert should have had more of a life. And he was trying to be decent, and mostly he was managing it. But I want, I want things that are about a future with you. Not anyone else. I don’t know how to get from now to there, though. Not without risking your work, your reputation. And I’m afraid Father’s going to, um. Be difficult again about marrying me off,sooner than later. Within a month or two, probably. Given prior evidence.”
