“Oh, yes. I’ve been graced with his presencemultipletimes,” Elle groused. “He hasn’t a sense ofhumor.”
“What a shame,” Severin drylysaid.
“But I’ve noticed when I bring up street magic, he gets a little line right on the bridge of his nose.” Elle pointed to the spot, a devious grin twitching on her lips. “Naturally, this meant we had to have an in-depth discussion aboutit.”
Severin rolled his eyes. “Heaven, help me.” He turned to Angelique. “Thank you for your willingness to talk to the mages. Now, if you will excuse us, it seems I’ll need to adjust tonight’s seating arrangement.Again.”
Elle, grinning widely, trailed in his wake, pausing just long enough to waggle her fingers infarewell.
Angelique smiled as she watched them go, then sat back on her stone bench. “Well, then. How am I going to convince ‘granite face’ that we should flaunt the Veneno Conclave’s inaction and take out thesorcerer?”
Unfortunately, she had noanswer.
* * *
She still hadno answer by the time the mages gathered for the private chat in the chateau library the followingmorning.
The dark and serious tone of the meeting was not at all relieved by the equally dark atmosphere of thelibrary.
Though the furniture was comfortable and costly (going by the detailed carvings in even the footstools), everything was darkly colored and large, and only a few curtains were pulled back, so as to protect the shelves and shelves of richly colored, leatherbound books from sun damage. (There were so many shelves, the place was very nearly amaze.)
“Someone needs to deliver a copy of all the reports we’ve received to the Veneno Conclave,” Finnr said—his voice as cold as hismagic.
“It’s not a bad idea.” Sybilla folded her plump hands together and rested them on the polished table. “Then we’ll have proof, so when this enemy finally unveils itself we can say, ‘we told youso.’”
Finnr gave Sybilla a scathing glare—to which the woman smiled cheerily in response. “No,” he said. “Because the Conclave might be swayed intomoving.”
“Do you really think so?” Sano—the healer—settled deeper into his chair as he propped his arms up on the bulge of hisbelly.
“You don’t?” Glaze, the sour craftmage,asked.
Sano shrugged. “The way the Kozlovkan Emperor tells it, he’s been asking for help and submitting reports for ages. If a mage wasn’t already dispatched to help Kozlovka, I think it’s safe to say the Conclave won’t be of muchassistance.”
Angelique was more than a little surprised with Sano’s observation, but she elected to keep her mouth shut in favor of hearing someone else get scolded and chided about rules, foronce.
“But why?” Firra sat up straight in her chair with fire in her eyes. “Why won’t they domore?”
Finnr’s frown became more pronounced. “It’s possible the Council and other top officials in the Conclave are aware of the threat and believe it cannot be beaten at this time. Perhaps they are preparing for the worst-case scenario and are working to consolidate theirpower.”
Severin had guessed as much, but it still was a bit of a shock to hear a mage admit to it—particularly one as rule-abiding asFinnr.
“I agree with Sano,” Stil said. “It’s not likely the Veneno Conclave is going to change its tune. At best, some laws and regulations need to be altered so we don’t get caught with our trousers down like this again.” He leaned back in his chair and glanced atGemma.
She met his gaze, but swiftly returned to working on some fancy embroidery on what appeared to be a cloak. (Though she wasn’t a mage, she was still welcomed to the meeting—partially because she was Stil’s wife but mostly because all the craftmages had become absurdly fond of her due to her impressive skills as a seamstress. Given that craftmages needed high-quality goods to lace a proper enchantment into an item, she had become almost a hero to the finickymages.)
“These laws have worked for centuries,” a weather magesaid.
“Countries have shifted, and dynasties have fallen,” Sybilla cheerfully said. “It is naïve to think that we mages need not adjust to change aswell.”
“We can and should try to push for changes in our laws—they do need to be updated,” Firra said. “But I doubt we’ll get anything changed fastenough.”
Finnr narrowed his eyes. “You intend to follow in the footsteps of Apprentice Angelique and flaunt your disobedience to Conclaveregulations?”
Donaigh laughed and adjusted his straw hat. “You’re a bit late to the tea party, Mage Finnr,” he said. “Firra and I have been flaunting rules in Sole for the last few years. You know why?” He rocked forward and braced his hands on the edges of the table, his expression dark. “Because the Veneno Conclave’s obsession with rules would have allowed Sole to fall. Lady Enchantress Angelique’s so-called disobedience saved acountry. What haveyoudonelately?”
Angelique tried not to smile at the war mage’s loyalty.I don’t think I’ve heard anyone besides Clovicus and Sybilla stick up for me since Evariste was taken.When he glanced her way, she nodded her head in thanks, making Donaigh boyishlygrin.
“ApprenticeAngelique is not a Lady Enchantress,” Glaze said, her voiceharsh.
