“She is gifted,” Reagan replied. “She will benefit from practice.”
“They were reared among humans,” Malory said. “How are you qualified to oversee their adaptation? How are you more qualified than the Healer’s Hall?”
My heartbeat leapt. It took effort not to interrupt.
“I can offer better tutors, with stronger qualifications than the Healer’s Hall,” Reagan answered firmly. “What was the point of those crucibles if not for me to show compassion in situations like this?”
Malory regarded him. “Among all your duties to the estate, you wish to take responsibility for this as well. Why?”
Reagan’s mouth curled, irritation threading beneath his tone. “Could it not be my good nature?”
She waited, as though the answer were obvious.
The slow inhale he took told me he was hesitating, unsure of the honeyed promise he had given me outside.
Sweat trickled down my spine. I wrestled with the objections on the tip of my tongue. If he was about to yield and let this woman send Joy somewhere away from me, the plan be damned.
“We were expecting to reveal this later,” Reagan said. “Jane Darling will be Lady of Mountheim.”
His bored tone almost belied the weight of his words. Silence fell, my air vanishing with it. Reagan pointedly avoided my eyes, instead keeping his trained on the judge.
“I refuse to be parted from her, as is my right,” Reagan argued, his voice steadfast. “Naturally, I take interest in her tutorship, and she takes interest in her sister’s. No institute can provide what I can. I am prepared to contest this.”
Malory gave a quiet hum. “Do you confirm this, Miss Darling?”
As it turned out, lying was rather hard when the judge who had been known for her unforgiving nature was observing every flicker of my throat. Yet I tried.
“Yes. It’s true,” I said, steadier than I felt. “I’m still adjusting to the idea.”
A fragment of truth, tangled with the lie.
The flat angle of her brows suggested she was either tired of us or unwilling to prolong the meeting. “We shall proceed your way,” Malory said. “The Darling sisters may remain under your care at Mountheim Hall. I expect regular assessments of their father’s recovery and their development.”
Reagan inclined his head curtly.
“As for Miss Darling’s sentence, it remains until her examinations are conclusive. Unless she can wield at will, she will leave these lands within months, and you will find yourself a different Lady.” Malory seemed to contemplate Reagan. “I’m aware of Quarrel’s letter to you. You don’t have much time. I suggest you work quickly on that proof.”
Chapter 10
Jane
Dust puffed beneath my boots as I stepped onto the rug. Outside, clouds had smothered the sun, leaching the Hall’s foyer of colour and leaving the light flat and grey.
I could barely stand the heat lingering on my skin. My heartbeat hadn’t slowed since we left Malory’s office, still pounding as if it were trying to outrun what had just been said.
“When were you going to tell me?” Joy asked. She stood frozen in place, not queasy despite Finn having flung them back to the Hall.
“Tell you?” I let out a huffed laugh.How about tell me?
Finn pivoted into view. “It was a solid argument,” he said, already defending it. “Without that, Malory would have had no reason to accept our arrangement.”
I didn’t know why my focus snagged on his hair, but it had grown longer, blonde waves falling around his ears. His round ears.
He studied me as if my face might betray what I was thinking.
Right.
I turned, finding Reagan still where I had left him, hands resting at his waist, his expression stern, conflicted enough to confirm that I hadn’t imagined that conversation.
