“Henry, Charlotte,” he said. “You haven’t seen Tessa, have you?”
“She’s likely in her room,” said Charlotte, bewildered. “Wil , is something the matter? Oughtn’t you be resting? After the injuries you sustained—”
Wil waved this away. “Your excel ent iratzes did their work. I don’t require rest. I only wish to see Tessa, and to ask you—” He broke off, staring at the letter on Charlotte’s desk. With a few strides of his long legs, he had reached the desk and snatched it up, and read it with the same look of dismay Henry had worn. “Charlotte—no, you can’t give up the Institute!”
“The Clave wil find you another place to live,” Charlotte said. “Or you may stay here until you turn eighteen, though the Lightwoods—”
“I wouldn’t want to live here without you and Henry. What d’you think I stay for? The ambiance?” Wil shook the piece of paper til it crackled. “I even bloody miss Jessamine—Wel , a bit. And the Lightwoods wil sack our servants and replace them with their own. Charlotte, you can’t let it happen. This is our home. It’s Jem’s home, Sophie’s home.”
Charlotte stared. “Wil , are you sure you haven’t a fever?”
“Charlotte.” Wil slammed the paper back down onto the desk. “I forbid you to resign your directorship. Do you understand? Over al these years you’ve done everything for me as if I were your own blood, and I’ve never told you I was grateful. That goes for you as wel , Henry. But I am grateful, and because of it I shal not let you make this mistake.”
“Wil ,” said Charlotte. “It is over. We have only three days to find Mortmain, and we cannot possibly do so. There simply is not time.”
“Hang Mortmain,” said Wil . “And I mean that literal y, of course, but also figuratively. The two-week limit on finding Mortmain was in essence set by Benedict Lightwood as a ridiculous test. A test that, as it turns out, was a cheat. He is working for Mortmain. This test was his attempt to leverage the Institute out from under you. If we but expose Benedict for what he is—Mortmain’s puppet—the Institute is yours again, and the search for Mortmain can continue.”
“We have Jessamine’s word that to expose Benedict is to play into Mortmain’s hands—”
“We cannot do nothing,” Wil said firmly. “It is worth at least a conversation, don’t you think?” Charlotte couldn’t think of a word to say. This Wil was not a Wil she knew. He was firm, straightforward, intensity shining in his eyes. If Henry’s silence was anything to go by, he was just as surprised. Wil nodded as if taking this for agreement.
“Excel ent,” he said. “I’l tel Sophie to round up the others.”
And he darted from the room.
Charlotte stared up at her husband, al thoughts of the news she had wished to tel him driven from her mind. “Was that Will?” she said final y.
Henry arched one ginger eyebrow. “Perhaps he’s been kidnapped and replaced by an automaton,” he suggested. “It seems possible . . .”
For once Charlotte could only find herself in agreement.
Glumly Tessa finished the sandwiches and the rest of the tea, cursing her inability to keep her nose out of other people’s business. Once she was done, she put on her blue dress, finding the task difficult without Sophie’s assistance. Look at yourself, she thought, spoiled after just a few weeks of having a lady’s maid. Can’t dress yourself, can’t stop nosing about where you’re not wanted. Soon you’ll be needing someone to spoon gruel into your mouth or you’ll starve. She made a horrible face at herself in the mirror and sat down at her vanity table, picking up the silver-backed hairbrush and pul ing the bristles through her long brown hair.
A knock came at the door. Sophie, Tessa thought hopeful y, back for an apology. Wel , she would get one. Tessa dropped the hairbrush and rushed to throw the door open.
Just as once before she had expected Jem and been disappointed to find Sophie on her threshold, now, in expecting Sophie, she was surprised to find Jem at her door. He wore a gray wool jacket and trousers, against which his silvery hair looked nearly white.
“Jem,” she said, startled. “Is everything al right?”
His gray eyes searched her face, her long, loose hair. “You look as if you were waiting for someone else.”
“Sophie.” Tessa sighed, and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “I fear I have offended her. My habit of speaking before I think has caught me out again.”