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“Your friend Quinn? The young man you grew up with?”
Lothain folded another finger down as he watched her eyes. He went on to name other longtime friends, folding a finger down each time he spoke a name. When he ran out of fingers, he opened his hand and started over naming people she knew and folding over a finger with the mention of each one.
“We know where each one of them is, and we have men standing by, keeping an eye on them in case they are needed,” he said. “I have but to give them the word and every one of those people will be suffering just like Tilly here by the end of tomorrow. Each one of those people will know that it is because you have demonstrated through your selfishness, your unwillingness to help the people of the Midlands, that it is because you are a traitor and you have brought the same fate down on them, since they, too, must be part of your conspiracy.
“Like you, they will be charged and found guilty of treason against the Midlands. Under torture, they will all eventually confess. They will all go to their eventual deaths cursing your name.
“You will be able to hear them cursing your name because you will be chained up close enough to hear their every scream. And then, when every one of them passes beyond the veil into the world of the dead, we will start in on you, and I can assure you, for being the leader of such a vile conspiracy against the Midlands, we will save the best till last. And I promise you, when we are finished with you, you will confess. Publicly.”
Magda swallowed. She was trembling all over.
“Now, Lady Searus, we have seamstresses standing by, back in the apartment of the First Wizard, my apartment, waiting to make you the wedding dress of your choice. I’m a generous man. The choice is to be up to you. They will make any dress you wish to be wed in. You see? I wish you to be pleased. Now that I think of it, though, I guess I would prefer that it not be white, because, well, you have been married to a First Wizard before.
“We have food and drink being prepared for tomorrow afternoon’s grand event. We have people from far and wide coming to attend the momentous gathering, everyone hoping to see the Midlands brought back together under a new First Wizard, hoping to see Lady Searus leading the way by giving her hand in marriage to the new First Wizard, showing that she places her trust in me, and thus, so can they.
“So, you see, the choice is yours.”
Magda tried to think, but listening to Tilly’s muffled cries was making it impossible to think. She couldn’t figure out what she could do. She couldn’t come up with a way out of it.
And then she realized that there was nothing to think about. There was no choice.
Magda swallowed again. “All right.”
“All right, what?” He smiled a wicked smile. “If you accept my proposal of marriage, then say it.”
With Tilly’s life hanging in the balance, this was no time to tempt his temper. Magda had never felt so low, so humiliated.
“Yes, First Wizard Lothain, I accept your proposal of marriage. I’ll do it. I’ll do as you say.”
“And exactly as I say. With grace and dignity.”
“Yes. Just as you say. I promise. Now let her go.”
Lothain smiled at Tilly’s wide-eyed terror. He turned back to Magda. “In due time, my dear. In due time.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that after you keep your word, after everyone sees that you are recanting all the accusations you made against me in the depth of your mindless grief, and after you prove to everyone your sincerity in that retraction by becoming my wife to show your support of me and your belief that I am the man to be First Wizard, then we will release her. But not before.
“If you carry out your part with a smile and gracious good cheer at my appointment as well as our marriage, all your other friends will never know how close they came to suffering a terrible fate. Their lives will be in your hands. If you do as you have promised, then they will celebrate in your joy at being the new wife to the new First Wizard.”
Magda was nodding. “As long as you promise to keep your word.”
“My word? My dear, my word has nothing to do with it. You carry out your part, do as you are told, and I will see if you have been cooperative enough to warrant me granting mercy to Tilly here, and to all the rest of your friends. But I can tell you that if you do it all correctly, and make everyone believe in your sincerity, then I will be in such a good mood that I will be far more interested in the pleasure you will bring me on our wedding night than harming anyone. Do we understand each other?”
Magda swallowed back her rage. “Yes.”
“Good.” He smiled. “Good.” Lothain turned and patted Tilly on the cheek. “She is a good person, is she not?”
Tilly, tears of pain and terror streaming down her cheeks, nodded. Magda doubted that Tilly even knew why she was nodding.
“Don’t worry, Tilly,” Magda said. “I will do what I have to do to keep you safe.”
Tilly’s eyes squeezed closed as she wept. Magda could just make out her muffled words of gratitude.
Lothain lifted Magda’s chin. “You know, I was going to kill you for all the trouble you’ve caused, but then it came to me that it would be much better to subvert you instead and have you undo all the harm yourself. Much better solution all around, don’t you think? Better that you live to see it, than to be dead and unaware of my triumph.”
“You had better let her go after I do what you want.”
Lothain chuckled. “I don’t care about this scrub woman. She means nothing to me. I have no need to kill her. It’s all up to you what happens to her.”
“I told you that I would do as you say.”
“Indeed you did. And I believe you mean it.” He leaned back a little as he took her in with an appraising look. “You are so weak that you would do it to save a handful of lives. You foolishly value the life of an individual over the greater good.
“You don’t have the courage it takes to be a part of such an epic struggle.
“That is why you are a nobody.”
He gestured to the guards. “Take her back to her room so that she can have the women there make her wedding dress. Stand guard out in the hall tonight. No one goes in or leaves but the seamstresses.”
The men saluted before yanking Magda away.
She could hear Tilly weeping behind her.
The corridors she was dragged though were empty. The Home Guard had apparently been dismissed by the prosecutor’s private army. The men’s bootsteps echoed through the halls. The Keep was gradually being subverted by Lothain’s looming rule. His influence, his control, was tainting everything and everyone.
In the depths of her despair, as the men were dragging Magda down the hall, in a crystal-clear instant of inspiration, it came to her.
Magda knew what she had to do.
More clearly than anything she had ever known before, Magda knew what she had to do.
Chapter 81
“Are you sure, Mistress?” The seamstress stretched her arm out to indicate all the choices that had been laid out. “Wouldn’t you like something a little more resplendent? After all, this is a big occasion, a big moment in your life in front of so many people. Wouldn’t something with more dazzle be appropriate?”
Magda smiled her assurance to the concerned woman. “Thank you, but I believe that my choice is quite striking. Adding layers of lace, needlepoint, and beads isn’t necessarily an improvement. There is power in simplicity.”
The woman’s face was a tapestry of worry lines. “If you say so, Mistress.”
“I do.” Magda, driven by an overriding purpose, made an effort to sound pleasant. “Please, make it exactly as I have shown you I want it done.”
The seamstress nodded reluctantly. “Yes, Mistress.”
It was clear that the women were concerned that they would be blamed for less than a masterpiece of layered glamour.
“And I don’t want any of you to worry,” Magda said to all the women watching her. “I will let it be known
that the dress was my choice, and my choice alone.”
That seemed to ease the tension in the room somewhat.
