Wrexham cocked one eyebrow at me in enquiry; I hesitated, then nodded firmly.
With the Boudiccate’s inspectors lurking ominously nearby, and no notion of what was waiting for me, it would be madness to refuse his magical assistance. More importantly—marital issues notwithstanding—if I had only a few hours to spend with my husband, I wouldn’t give up a single minute of his company.
Wrexham stayed a careful half a pace behind me as I followed Miss Banks down the corridor and broad public staircase. Still, the heat of his presence made the skin on my arms prickle, and I could feel his watchful gaze sweeping the space around us with professional intensity. It wasn’t how I’d planned to introduce him to the renovations that I’d made to our new home—but it was an undeniable relief to have his silent support at my back.
Miss Banks led us at a swift pace through the maze of rooms on the ground floor to a room I hadn’t yet shown any of my students. I’d planned to gather them all there tomorrow morning, after breakfast...but the library door stood open already, and the voice I heard through it made my jaw clench.
“My goodness, Caroline, I never imagined you’d develop any interest in magic yourself!” Annabel Renwick’s light, edged laugh held every bit of lurking menace that I remembered from countless private encounters in my past—and Miss Banks paled at the sound, coming to a sudden halt with her hand already stretched out toward the door.
“She can’t—shemustn’tsee us!” she whispered. “If she finds any proof of me and Caroline—!”
Annabel wasn’t theexpectedcrisis, then. She must have simply come snooping through the house with—as usual—the most horrific timing possible.
Never mind. I wasn’t about to let her frighten any of my girls. Giving Miss Banks a firm nod, I swept toward the door—and whispered in her ear as I passed, “Fix your buttons before you come in!”
Miss Banks dropped her hands to her bodice with a gasp, and I stalked through the door with Wrexham at my heels.
Miss Fennell stood by the fireplace, which lay cold at this time of night, with no visitors expected. Her own gown was perfectly done up, her strong shoulders squared and her expression composed, and she held her hands loosely behind her back—a natural pose for reporting to her superior.
When I cast a quick glance about the room, I saw nothing to alarm me—no faults exposed to Annabel’s rapacious view—but when I looked back, I finally caught the hint of redness lurking on Miss Fennell’s cheeks.
Her gaze fixed on me with unmistakable relief. “Miss Harwood.”
“Miss Fennell.” I nodded graciously. “AnddearAnnabel.” It was the first time I’d ever addressed her by her first name, and I enjoyed the flaring of her nostrils in offense as I granted her a brief, dismissive nod. “Have you come looking for late-night reading? I could recommend a few introductory texts, if you’re curious.”
“Hardly.” Annabel gave a disdainful sniff. “Someof us are successful enough in our own sphere that we needn’t go rooting around gentlemen’s leavings to make ourselves interesting. Isn’t that right, Caroline?”
Miss Fennell blinked rapidly, her jaw flexing, and did not respond.
“But then...” Annabel’s gaze rested pointedly on my unbound hair as her lips curved into a knowing smirk. “Perhaps I should be asking whatyourpurpose is tonight, Miss Harwood. Is your own school library really the most appropriate place for evening assignations?” Her gaze moved smoothly past me to Wrexham. “I wonder—would Lionel Westgate be pleased to discover where his wayward protégé is tonight, when he’s meant to be working halfway across the country?”
“Oh, come off it, Annabel.” Rolling my eyes, I strode across the room to plant myself on a comfortable bronze-colored wingchair with the weight and presence of a throne. “You can hardly blackmail me over spending a private evening with my own husband. And Lionel Westgate is far too wise for your games. You may invite him to join us right now, if you’d like. Wrexham?Areyou escaping any of your work by being here?”
“Not noticeably.” Wrexham rested one hand lightly on my shoulder as he stepped into place beside my chair. “More’s the pity,” he added, and I had to restrain an unexpected snort of laughter.
“Wewereplanning,” I said, buoyed by that laughter, “to look through the texts here together and choose the best to pass on to an advanced student for her private study. If only we hadn’t found the library so cluttered with politicians...” I sighed pointedly, then raised my voice, looking toward the open doorway. “It’s all right, Miss Banks! You may safely enter now. I’m sure our friends from the Boudiccate won’t stay too much longer...that is, if they really do find magic so tedious as they’ve always claimed.”
Miss Banks hurried obediently into the room, her downturned face pink but her buttons perfectly lined up. There was nothing that could be done about her disordered hair, but as she took her place in the chair beside mine, even the most suspicious eye couldn’t have drawn any connection between her and Miss Fennell, whose indifferent gaze passed over her without pause.
“The Boudiccate,” said Annabel, “has no need for anylessons. But certainly...” She smiled pityingly at my student as she stepped away from the mantelpiece, dusting off her hands. “You must take advantage of these unheard-of opportunities whilst you have them. Within a handful of days—one never knows, does one?—they may be gone for good, and all memory of this hopeless little school along with them.
“Caroline?” She tilted her dark head at Miss Fennell. “Do walk me back to my room, if you please. I believe we have need of a private conversation.”
“Certainly,” said Miss Fennell woodenly, and gave my side of the room a curtsy. “Miss Harwood...Mr. Wrexham...Miss Banks.”
At our polite murmurs of response, both politicians left the room.
The door closed behind their elegant figures.
“Phew.” I slumped against the wide, padded back of my chair, and Wrexham gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Thank goodness that’s over!”
“But it’snot,” Miss Banks said. “She’ll be going on at Caroline all the way back to their rooms. She’s a nightmare! And she has Lady Cosgrave entirely under her thumb, which gives her free rein to make Caroline’s life a misery.”
“Oh, really?” My eyebrows shot upwards. “I never knew Lady Cosgrave to bend to anyone—and I never thought she cared for any of Annabel Renwick’s opinions.”
“She has to, now, whether she likes it or not. Didn’t you notice how she treated your sister-in-law, who was her dearest friend for so long? Caroline thinks she must be acting on Mrs. Renwick’s orders by cutting that particular connection.” Miss Banks’s face tightened. “I don’t know what Mrs. Renwick is holding over Lady Cosgrave, but she’s been sniffing after Caroline’s own secrets for months now and harassing her at every chance she gets. If she works out our plans and tells the others before I’ve safely graduated with a degree in magic to make myself a suitable match...”
She shook her head, her face flushed with distress. “Lady Cosgrave would force Caroline to choose between me and her career in politics, I know it! She never minded Caroline preferring women—Caroline suspects she might secretly prefer them herself—but she’s always said that a woman has to give up any dreams of romance to claim a place in the Boudiccate. So she gave up her own romances before she was married, and as far as she knows now, Caroline is planning to find herself a suitable magician husband soon as well. Shemustcontinue to believe that until we’re in a strong enough position to stand against her and the others who feel the same way.”
