The Perilous Sea (The Elemental Trilogy #2)

“You have to first go to Mrs. Hancock’s office to sign a visitor’s register. She is determined to keep unwholesome influences out of this house,” Iolanthe told him.

“Then what are you doing inside?” West retorted good-naturedly.

“Obviously her vigilance is no match for my cunning.”

A visit from the future captain of the cricket team turned out to be a far bigger deal than Iolanthe had imagined. Mrs. Hancock herself accompanied West up the stairs, looking as flustered as a young girl at her first ball. Wintervale, whom Iolanthe had thought to be beyond such things as cricket and school teams, after a moment of surprise broke out in a grin of such delight that Iolanthe would have thought he’d already defeated the Bane.

Other senior boys lined Wintervale’s wall, while junior boys piled outside his door.

Iolanthe had to push her way out when she realized she still hadn’t changed for cricket practice. She looked into Titus’s room—this would be a good opportunity for him to see West up close and perhaps find out why West was interested in him.

But Titus was not there.



From the laboratory, Titus returned to his room to grab an overcoat. He had told Fairfax that he would come and take West’s measures at the cricket practice, and he intended to be warm and comfortable while fulfilling his promise—or at least as warm and comfortable as possible, on yet another dreary, chilly day.

As he buttoned his overcoat, he poked his head into Wintervale’s room, to see how the latter was getting on. Wintervale’s room was empty. But a quick look out of Wintervale’s window showed Wintervale and Cooper not far down the street, moving in the direction of the playing fields.

He left the house and caught up with them.

“Come to watch the cricket practice with us, prince?” said Wintervale.

“That is my intention.”

“Excellent,” said Wintervale. “Then you can be my crutch. Sorry, Cooper, but His Highness is a better height for me.”

Cooper yielded his place and gave a full recital on how grandly West’s visit to Wintervale had gone off. And Titus was stuck listening to the detail-laden account, as Wintervale proceeded at the pace of a sleepy snail. It took them a ridiculous amount of time to arrive at the playing fields, where half of the boys from Mrs. Dawlish’s house—plus Mrs. Hancock—were on hand as spectators.

Crouched behind Fairfax, keeping wicket, was a boy whose face was instantly familiar.

West.

Even if one had very little interest in the school’s sporting elite, one still ended up knowing who they were. But that was not the reason for the recognition that reverberated in Titus, producing ripples of what he could only label as fear.

Fairfax struck the ball and took two runs, returning to her original position. West left his spot, approached her, and spoke to her briefly.

As he took his place again, he glanced in Titus’s direction, studying him, almost, before returning his attention to the game.

Titus felt as if he had fallen through thin ice.

When he had had his brief glimpse of the Bane on the night of the Fourth of June, he remembered thinking the Bane looked vaguely familiar. Now he knew why. There was an eerie resemblance between West and the Bane.

They were at least thirty years apart in age, and the Bane had sported a perfectly groomed beard. But there could be no doubt about it, their features were of a remarkable similarity.

If the Bane could resurrect, who was to say he would not be able to look a few decades younger? And come to Eton to hunt for Fairfax himself, where his lieutenants had failed?

Fairfax scored another two runs and was once again talking to West—to the Bane himself, possibly. Titus had to sit down for a minute so he could try for a measure of calm.

What if West simply reached out and grabbed Fairfax? How fast could she react? How fast could Titus react? And how fast could he make Wintervale, also seated on the ground and avidly enjoying the game, by the expression on his face, understand that he was to unleash all the power at his disposal to keep Fairfax away from harm?

Yes, he was willing to expose Wintervale’s elemental powers for her. Yes, he was even willing to risk Wintervale’s life for her. He ought to be ashamed, but he did not care.

The match, however, went on quietly, placidly. As the sun touched the western horizon, West signaled that they would disperse for the day. And Fairfax walked off with no idea that for two hours straight she had been within touching distance of the Lord High Commander of the Great Realm of New Atlantis.



The prince was capable of enormous sangfroid—sitting with apparent nonchalance atop the back of a chair at his own Inquisition, holding completely still and acting bored when he must have believed that Iolanthe was on the cusp of being hauled away—but for the duration of the practice he sat down and stood up at least three times.

It was the equivalent of someone like Cooper running down the street, screaming and tearing off his clothes.