I smiled faintly at the memory. “Yes, you were very judgemental. But after a few dinners, you realised she wasn’t a snob. You even liked having her around.”
She glanced up at the ceiling again. “It’s not the same here.”
“It is the same,” I said softly. “I know they seem disdainful, grating, even. But if you give them a chance, they can be kind.”
“I’m not staying,” she whispered. “I don’t want to. I’ll leave as soon as Father wakes.”
I exhaled slowly, my heart sinking. Maybe things would change once she’d settled, once she saw what this place truly was.
Chapter 5
Reagan
Gwinifer stormed into the room and slammed a page of the newspaper onto the breakfast table. “Are you out of your mind?”
She shoved it toward Reagan, the edge of the paper sliding beside his half-eaten plate. He glanced at it deliberately calm, still chewing.
“What am I looking at?” he asked, knowing very well how much that irritated her.
Her grin was vicious. “Please tell me you hit your head this past week so we can say this was a moment of temporary insanity.”
Jane peered at the newspaper, face blanching as she scanned the tiny print in the corner.
Varian Ilya is admitted into the Staff of Mountheim Hall.
Cerridwen reached for the paper, brows pinching. “When was this decided? And by whom?”
Reagan had anticipated questions. Not just about allowing Varian into Mountheim, but also into the Hall, into the midst of those he held dearest. He’d thought long and hard aboutit, weighing every angle, and concluded this would provide the longest win—if only he could be patient.
It wasn’t his strength, he admitted begrudgingly. Decisive action, and sometimes violence, came far more naturally to him, but the cost of his recklessness had grown too high. He’d promised Jane he’d never again risk slipping into a cursed state, not after waking in his own skin in that cabin. But he knew something had to be done about Varian.
Jane’s calm voice followed his Second’s. “Why allow him on the staff?”
Reagan measured his words, unwilling to reveal too much. “For a long time, I kept Varian far from the estate, but he is more dangerous that way. It’s better to keep him close, to watch his movements. He’ll present his ideas to improve Mountheim, or so he’s been told. I want him to share them here. For us.”
It wasn’t the full truth, but it sufficed.
“But Varian is still answering for impersonating you,” Cerridwen said, her brows furrowed. “What does that say about the sort of man you trust with the affairs of this estate?”
“For impersonating?” Jane’s eyes narrowed, incredulous. “And the rest?”
“For now, this is the only transgression he is answering,” Finnegan said. “The court dismissed the accusation that he had abducted you. Impersonating a Mage Lord was considered… the real crime.”
Gwinifer sank into her chair with a derisive huff. “A lack of judgement that didn’t come from Malory this time. Varian was tried in a court in Ashenagth.”
When he first heard, Reagan wasn't surprised that Ashenagth's magisters had responded this way, especially since the son of the noble Ilya family was involved. In his experience, this was precisely the sort of shadiness Ashenagth's courts were known for. He suspected some magisters there adhered to aselective code of ethics, twisting the law to suit a person's bloodline.
“Ashenagth has a history of leniency toward magekin, often at the expense of hybrids,” Finn explained for Jane. “The whole country should follow the same order, but the court’s judgement is their own interpretation of the law. They said there was insufficient proof that Varian committed any other transgressions that day. The hexes were cast by the Scion, not Varian directly, and there was no proof he connected with a Wraith. The connecting relic was never recovered. They were able to justify that Gwin and I already hated the prick, and you and Reagan were victims. In the end, it was our word against his.”
“We should’ve taken that relic,” Gwinifer muttered. “Stupid to let him walk off with it.”
“What happened to the Scions?” Jane asked.
Reagan’s eyes snagged on her hands, on the fingers twisting nervously.
He had hoped for better news. The patrols he’d dispatched after the Scions had yet to locate the Order’s members.
“Still missing,” Reagan said. “But we have battle mages searching for them.”
