“No, but I do,” Farrin replied. “And I agree with Lord Ryder. Talanwill be addressed properly, or you will be dismissed. I will not tolerate any prejudice against him.”
“Fine.Talan, then. He and Professor Fontaine are the only ones in this room who have been directly under Kilraith’s thrall by way of theytheliadanchors. And now you want one of these tainted men to set up camp among the Roses? This man with traces of gods-know-whatlingering in his veins?”
“General Haldrin does have a point, Lady Farrin,” General Pallien said quietly. “Kilraith is a being beyond our current understanding. We don’t know what he’s capable of or what latent weaponry he and Jaetris might have implanted in Professor Fontaine’s mind.”
Gareth shot her a sardonic smile. The happy light was gone from his eyes; in its place was a startling flatness, just as I’d seen in the ballroom, as if everything good in him had vanished.
“I assure you, Generals,” he said, “if there were a dormant piece of foul magic living in me, waiting with bated breath to be awakened by some secret act of malice, it would have come to life during this conversation and flattened you both.”
Ryder let out a choked laugh before he could stifle it.
I looked at Gareth with new eyes. Saying such a thing in front of the royal councils and the generals of both armies required nerve I hadn’t realized he possessed.
“Gareth,” Farrin said, a warning in her voice.
“Some might consider what you just said a threat, Professor,” said General Pallien.
“Some might, yes, and I do,” added General Haldrin. “And that right there should be enough evidence to convince you all of his inherent instability. May I remind you that he is a Fontaine? He would not be the first in his family to crack under pressure and become a danger to everyone around him.”
Gareth blanched. I didn’t know what the story was there—Farrinhad never mentioned his mother—but his face told me enough. That was a deep, old wound. I hated the sight of his hurt. It was unfair. And this was an injustice I actually had the ability to correct.
“Are you a reader of theFairhaven Courier, General Haldrin?” I asked. “It sounds as if you may have read one too many columns authored by an acquaintance of mine.”
The general frowned, but before he could talk over me, I pressed on. “The Warden knows better than any of you the strength of the women under her command. She has read the Mhorghast reports, same as you have, and yet she has still requested the professor’s presence. That should be enough to satisfy everyone here today. And,” I added, “I must ask you, General: What of the soldiers underyourcommand? What of the Roses under mine? The violence they have committed, the horrors they have witnessed—do these things make them dangerous? Should they, by your logic, be under lock and key along with Professor Fontaine?”
I hadn’t meant to say quite as much as all that, but it seemed to do the trick. General Haldrin glared at me for a moment and then returned to his seat without another word. I was glad to receive that glare of his. It was fearsome, but so was I.
“Lord Thirsk,” I said, turning to the man, “I will of course facilitate the relocation of the professor and his team to Rosewarren. Shall we consider the matter settled? I wonder what the next item on our agenda might be.”
A soft wave of relieved laughter passed through the room as Thirsk began reading from his notes. I caught Talan’s and Ryder’s stifled smiles and the merriment flashing in Gemma’s eyes. Even Farrin, dutifully stoic, looked ever so slightly amused.
And Gareth—I sensed him looking at me and couldn’t resist checking his face. That was a mistake. When our gazes locked, the emotion in his was so raw and grateful that it embarrassed me. He gatheredhimself quickly and tucked whatever he was feeling behind a mask of bland attention. I did the same, determined to listen carefully to what Thirsk was saying. But my cheeks were warmer than they should have been, and for the rest of our meeting, I couldn’t seem to cool them.
Chapter 7
I spent the next day at the university, helping Gareth and his team prepare for their journey north.
Their equipment—strange gadgets and sensors with clockwork pieces that whirred and buzzed—required protection from the barrage of wayfaring magic that would transport us to Rosewarren by greenway. I told them everything I could about the route, as well as what to expect upon arriving at Rosewarren. The priory was closer to the Mist than any of them had ever been, and they would need to be on the lookout for curious Roses and erratic Mist-touched magic alike. They needed to know everything: the layout of Rosewarren, our schedules, the procedure when the breach bells rang, and what would happen if a breach opened on the priory grounds.
I grew increasingly agitated the longer I spoke with them. It wasn’t their fault; they were bursting with eager questions, every one of them thoughtful. But all day I’d been glancing out the windows at the dark northern horizon, where storms endlessly churned now that the Mist was in constant turmoil. What were my sisters in the Order doing? What new disasters had they faced in my absence?
The questions tore at me with quiet persistence. I hadn’t beenaway from Rosewarren for so many consecutive hours in ages. The distance made me itch. Memories of flying sparks, ashen girls, and the nymph child’s corpse in my arms kept tugging at the corners of my mind. It was worse when I had the rare moment to myself. What had the Warden said?
This is what happens when you stop moving, isn’t it? All the mean thoughts wriggle in.
And I had so many mean thoughts. They clawed at the doors of my mind incessantly.
At least Gareth was so occupied with his own tasks throughout the day that I saw mere flashes of his messy blond hair and the occasional glint of his glasses, only heard his laughter and his hearty, teasing voice rise above the chaos a paltry few times.
Whenever I thought about the way he’d looked at me during the council meeting or recalled the sensation of his hands on me as we danced, my stomach clenched uncomfortably. A dangerous feeling, and one I hadn’t experienced in years. What a silly thing I must have seemed to him, no better than any of the other giggling women he’d managed to seduce over the years. Me and my provocative shoulders. I scowled at the thought and longed for Rosewarren, where the Warden quite wisely allowed no beverages that made one lose their senses.
It wasn’t until eleven o’clock that I finally retreated to the rooms set aside for me in the palace. We would leave at dawn. This time tomorrow, I would be going to sleep in my room at Rosewarren, and Gareth and his team would be doing the same in theirs.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and rolled out my aching shoulders. I couldn’t decide who was likely to cause me more trouble: the intruding librarians or my curious fellow Roses. All I knew was that I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night without first training or finding someone who wanted a quick tumble. But thinking about sex made me think of Gareth, and his pretty face was not welcome in my thoughts,nor were my mind’s distracted musings about what he might look like underneath his clothes. So training it was. I would punch him right out of my head.
But when I reached my room, Farrin and Gemma were there in their nightclothes, talking quietly on a settee by the hearth. Farrin had her knees pulled to her chest and was staring at the fire. Gemma was braiding her hair.
“There you are!” Gemma sat up and scooted over. “Come sit. You look tired. Have some of these cookies I found in the kitchens.”
