The words landed like a physical blow; I had to clench every muscle to hold back a flinch. “This is not about me,” I said through a tight throat. “It’s about every magical young woman in Angland who deserves—”
“What of your own sister-in-law?” he inquired. “What doesshedeserve? Oh, she’s a clever politician, everyone agrees on that. She could have become a member of the Boudiccate years ago. But your brother’s insistence on following his personal passion for history rather than studying magic, ashisduty required, kept her from achieving her own dreams. Now, she’s lost her career entirely—becauseyoucouldn’t bring yourself to admit that you had failed to prove a woman could be a magician after all.”
His words struck hard at my rawest wounds. Still, I held his gaze with a physical effort. “Amy chose to marry Jonathan, knowing full well that he would never be a magician.Hedidn’t take away any of her dreams.” That much, I knew for certain. I’d never met any couple more shiningly content in each other’s company.
“Perhaps,” said Mr. Westgate skeptically. “But you? You must have known how precarious her political position would become when you announced the creation of this scandalous establishment. Did you even think of what would happen to her?”
No. Curse it, I hadn’t. I’d been far too focused on my own bright goal to see any details beyond it. But... “I told Amy she could denounce my school to save herself.”
“But your own husband had no such option, did he?”
“What?” I took a quick step forward, my breath accelerating. “What are you talking about? What’s happened to Wrexham?”
It had only been five weeks since I’d seen him; surely,surely, he would have told me in one of his letters if anything dreadful had occurred! He’d mentioned nixies and marsh-spirits and obstreperous farmers, but he’d certainly never mentioned any injuries. If he’d been hurt, and I didn’t even know—!
“Even you,” said Mr. Westgate with withering disdain, “must have noticed what the Boudiccate has been doing to him of late. Do you think he’s always been flung about the countryside with never a moment to stop and rest? Or that any other officer in Angland is givennodays off, for weeks in a row?”
“Obviously,” I said through gritted teeth, “they’re keeping us apart. But—”
“Oh, it’s far more than that.” The light in Mr. Westgate’s eyes was pure fury. “As the man who has supervised every officer of magic for the pasttwenty years, I can tell you that they are intentionally driving him to resign.Rajaram Wrexham! One of the most brilliant, most astonishing magicians I’ve ever worked with—you must know he was meant to be my second-in-command within the next few years. Heshouldbe my replacement not long after that, and one of the most admired magicians in our country! But because ofyourselfish and reckless decisions—yourcontinuedrecklessness beyond belief, even after all this time and all the lessons that any sensible woman would have learned by now!—the Boudiccate is treating him as so much rubbish to be discarded by the wayside.
“Thatis why I asked for this private word with you: to give you one final chance, here and now—if you have any real affection or respect for your own husband—to give up this mad endeavor for good. Onlythinkof who will pay the price for your folly this time! If you go, tonight, to the visiting members of the Boudiccate—if you swear to them that you truly regret founding this school, and you agree to abandon it now, quietly, before any more damage is done...”
He gave a heavy sigh, and his strong shoulders slumped. “Well. I won’t say that it would necessarily save his chances at the heights to which heshouldhave risen. But it might at least save his career.”
“...And shatter mine forever.” My voice shook uncontrollably; my hands knotted into fists as emotions swirled within my chest.
Ofcoursethey were trying to push Wrexham into giving up his post in defeat. How could I not have seen it until now? But then—the truth was bitterly inescapable—Mr. Westgate had been right: I’d been so intent on my school and my own ambitions, I hadn’t spared any time to consider Wrexham’s prospects. They’d always seemed far too sparkling to require any concern on my part.
All those years that he’d risen inexorably through the magical ranks of our nation whilst I’d languished, forgotten by the world at large, as every magical employer refused to hire me...
It had never even occurred to me that when I did finally carve out a place for myself, it would steal the space that Wrexham had earned.
My stomach twisted so hard, I nearly doubled over. But I was standing on Harwood ground—and whatever Lionel Westgate might think of us,thatwas a legacy I would not shame with weakness.
“My marriage is for myself and my husband to discuss,” I said as icily as I could manage. “I’ll bid you goodnight now, Mr. Westgate, and wish you a pleasant night’s sleep.”
His eyes narrowed into an outright glower. “And I suppose you’ll sleep perfectly well yourself, even after everything I’ve said!”
“Undoubtedly.” I couldn’t stay a moment longer. I spun around to stalk back toward the house before my illusion of control could shatter entirely.
So much for consulting with Miss Banks and Miss Fennell before either of them went to bed! If I could only make it safely to my own room before releasing my tears of helpless fury, I would call it the highest of victories.
I had never been so thankful for Thornfell’s unassuming back entrance, half-hidden by the ivy that grew over the small wooden door. It led to a narrow flight of stairs that allowed me to bypass every public room and stay safely hidden until I reached the level of my bedroom, a full storey above any of my students’ quarters. I took the steps at a near-run, desperate to release my frantic emotions in any way that I could.
By the time I reached my doorway, I was panting, strands of hair slipping and sliding free from my chignon. I turned the handle and collapsed inside...
...To find warm fey-lights burning in the room and my husband sprawled loosely in the chair before my desk, his long legs crossed and his smile wry as he looked me up and down with one dark eyebrow raised.
“A good first day of work, then, Harwood?”
5
“Ohhh!”
He wasn’t a dream or a fey-illusion. Wrexham washere, in the flesh, sittingfinallyin our bedroom where he belonged!
I lunged across the room before he could disappear again.
