Vitus held still, silent, not jostling her. It took her a good minute, one finger marking her place on the list, before she pulled a small notebook out of the bag and peered at it. “I’d have to look in more detail. But some of these. they’re the same things on some of Aunt Metaia’s notes were focusing on. I thought they were about her investments, though, the ships coming and going.”
“And that might give you a way to learn more about what it was supposed to do. Or the rest of her notes?” Thessaly nodded, and Vitus went on. “So, posit a device to …” The brunt of it hitVitus, and he grunted. “Something to go around the Pact. To step sideways from what the Pact dictates. Make a space where it didn’t bind. The thing doesn’t work, I don’t know if it could work. But this doesn’t.” He gestured feebly. “Like a portal, but it made a room instead of a door, maybe?”
“It doesn’t work. But trying is, is it treason? I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of anything like it.” Thessaly was gnawing on the problem. “And if Aunt Metaia was getting glimpses of it, it explains why she was so careful. It is exactly a Council problem.” Thessaly then looked up. “Lady Chrodechildis mentioned something, you remember when I was at that awful supper where everyone else seemed in disgrace? That she thought the Pact too limiting. They couldn’t have found a way around that, could they? With this? It doesn’t look, well. Enough.”
“Honestly, it really needs the Penelopes. But that, again, is the Council’s problem.” Vitus felt he was in that liminal state where staring at it would just make things worse. “Help me put things back together?”
They repeated the dance with the cover and the latches in reverse, which took a little longer. Vitus’s shoulders were beginning to ache by the time he heard both latches snap closed, then he finally stepped to the side. “Let’s go— go.”
“Home,” Thessaly said. “Do you think of Bryn Glas as home, then?” Her voice was suddenly hopeful in a way Vitus hadn’t expected. It was a pure illuminated joy, the way the sun caught amber or citrine and everything glowed gold.
“I do. Let’s.” They packed everything up, each doing one more scan of the room to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind. Then they went out, pulling the door closed behind them. They were perhaps a third of the way back when they met up with Garin, who was in one of the side gardens. No one seemed to be with him, not a nanny or governess or tutor, certainly not his parents.
Thessaly nodded. “Garin. Good afternoon. How are you doing? We’ve permission to be here.” She didn’t explain, of course she didn’t.
Garin looked her up and down. “Were you over by the river? Father said it’s not safe there. People get hurt.”
Vitus did not know what to say to that. Thessaly took a moment. “We were careful. Do you know about people getting hurt there?”
“I kept dreaming about it. For a bit. Not so much recently? But Isembard’s in the nursery, he wakes me up in the middle of the night.” Garin shoved his hands in his pockets, which was certainly not the sort of thing a nanny would approve of.
Thessaly grinned. “Ah, but having a younger brother, or sister, I have a sister, gets better. The crying is a lot, though. I hated that. I bet you’re old enough you could have your own room with a charm, so the crying didn’t wake you. It’s the sort of thing people sometimes forget would be a help. You ask your nanny or, um. The housekeeper?”
Vitus nodded. Garin looked at them, rather dubiously, but then he shrugged. “I can ask. Will you come back sometime and show me more duelling? In the salle here?”
Vitus heard Thessaly inhale. “Maybe. I can’t make too many promises right now, and I don’t want to break one to you. But if I can, I’ll sort it out with your parents. All right?”
It got her a considering solemn nod, then Garin said, “I’d walk you to the portal. That’s polite, isn’t it? But Nanny said I was supposed to stay on this side of the gardens.”
“Then that’s what you should do,” Vitus agreed. “Were you bored?” Garin shrugged, very much put upon. Vitus considered. “What you could do, if you wanted, is get a list from the gardeners or the housekeeper of the plants that are out here, and one of the guides for identifying them, and work through. It’s a good time of year for it, things flowering properly. Youcould even start making sketches. If you want to go into alchemy like your father, it’s good to know the materia. Thessaly and I both do, for the magic we do.”
“If you say so.” Garin said it with a grand dubiousness, which was about what Vitus expected at his age. “It’s better than playing with a hoop, though. Or tin soldiers. And Maman would like it if I asked about a good book, I think, or Father.”
“There you go. And if they get a few minutes, it would give you a chance to come out in the garden and talk about something together. I think they’d like that.” Thessaly gestured. “We ought to get on. Have a good afternoon.”
Garin stood at attention— Vitus looked back at the garden gate, the path that cut across the back of the house— until they were out of sight. “He’s a very serious child.”
“I think he understood that something has been very wrong, but he has no idea what it was or is. And it’s not our place to tell him. For one thing, we don’t actually have answers yet.” Thessaly paused. “I’ll write to Laudine, though, and mention keeping him in informative books.”
That was what they could do at the moment. Vitus offered Thessaly his arm, escorting her to the portal and then back to Bryn Glas. Which, yes, had somehow shifted to being home inside his head, all without him noticing.
41
JUNE 14TH AT ARUNDEL
“Iam glad you agreed to this conversation.” Magistra Hereswith folded her hands. Thessaly kept quiet. Her role here was— well, it was complicated. They were in the ritual workroom at Arundel, with all sorts of enchantments in play, few of which Thessaly entirely understood. They were not quite the ordinary judicial enchantments, but they touched on that.
It was not the truth-telling magics in play, not exactly. As Lord, Dagobert could call them. But as Thessaly understood it, the Council had not asked for that. Perhaps because they knew he’d be no good for the conversation if he did. As it was, Dagobert looked pale. They had brought a sofa in. He and his wife were seated on it, their hands barely touching. Magistra Hereswith and Council Member FitzAlan had their own chairs, as did Thessaly and Vitus. Cousin Owain stood by the door, keeping watch on the space, she thought, rather than participating in the conversation proper. There were small tables with glasses of water, but no other items, not even a notebook and pen.
Vitus, for his part, looked cautious about everything. If she hadn’t been in any gathering like this before, Vitus certainly hadn’t. And Thessaly at least had some experience with FitzAlannow. Though in this moment, there was something sharply honed about him. He was all work and formality, with none of the good humour and love of life he showed during duelling sessions.
“I know that we did not precisely have an option. Or rather that the other choice involves a full investigation by the Guard, the Penelopes, and who knows what else.” Dagobert’s voice was quiet, but steady enough.
“Just so. FitzAlan is here in that role, as the Council’s point of contact with the Guard and the Ministry. He has not heard the details we’ll be speaking of, and I also wanted his judgement coming to it fresh.” She then nodded. “And for the record, Thessaly Lytton-Powell and Vitus Deschamps are here as witnesses. They are the ones who have significantly aided in bringing this to what we all hope will be sufficient resolution. We may have need of their information, stated again.”
Dagobert flinched at that, though Laudine didn’t move. Thessaly shifted just enough to take Vitus’s hand. If they weren’t doing truth-telling charms or something like that, it wouldn’t matter. Or rather, it did matter. She found it reassuring, and she was certain Vitus did as well.
Magistra Hereswith went on. “You may, any of you, formally request us to stop speaking. But in that case, yes, our next step would be bringing this to the Courts and the full weight of the Ministry. And we have reasons to avoid that, of our own.” She inclined her head once. “If you would state what your oaths permit and give as much explanation as you can in your own words.” That was directed at both Dagobert and Laudine, though Thessaly noted they had not been named, not since the ritual circle had been called into place around them.
