“?‘Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell what is like me.’?”
“Oh go on, do the French accent. I’ve never heard anything so funny. Ow! Why did you hit me?” We spent the next hour or so reading through the play, and I never laughed so much in my life as I did for that one hour. For a little while, the stress of the last few days evaporated. The supper gong sounded, and we rose. “Howel, would you go with me to a party in Hanover Square this evening?”
“A party?” I grew uneasy at the thought. I didn’t want to go into public until I had my lessons under control.
Which might be never, at this rate.
“It will only be a few other Incumbents. Dee and Cellini are coming, too.”
“What if people stare?” I pushed open the door, and we walked into the hall.
“You’d have me at your side all evening. No one will pay you any mind when they could be looking at me.” He winked.
“I’m not much use at a party. I don’t know how to flirt, I can’t dance, and I’m not funny.”
“What do you mean? I think you’re hilarious.” I stopped walking and struck him lightly on the arm. “That’s the funniest slap I’ve ever received. Just don’t drink so much punch that you wind up sleeping under the stairs.” When I didn’t answer, he spoke more softly. “You’re going to be commended. These people will be your allies. It’s not a bad idea to make them like you.”
Was I going to be commended? These people wouldn’t be my allies if they knew what I was. What Hargrove had said I was.
“That’s easy for you, isn’t it?” I blushed. “Being liked.”
“It’s what my music master always told me. Practice. Listen to me now!” He belted out some lines from an Italian opera in a voice so off-key and wretched I ran down the stairs to be away from it. He raced after, singing louder and louder.
“I’ll go to the party if you’ll never sing again,” I cried.
“Done!”
Perhaps gaining a few more allies was exactly what I needed right now. And for all I knew, with Magnus about, it might be fun.
—
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY at these things,” Dee said, staring into his empty glass of punch. “All the girls want to dance, and I’m no good at dancing. Then they giggle and walk away.”
“I can’t think of anything to say, either.” We stood guard by the punch table and watched the whirl of activity. Couples danced while members of a string quartet played by the side of the room and sweated in the close glow of candlelight. Old-lady chaperones in black crepe and lace dozed upon straight-backed chairs.
The music was wonderful. The dancing looked a great deal of fun. Magnus took to the floor with a beautiful red-haired girl.
“Is she from a sorcerer family?” I said, trying not to pay much attention to Magnus’s new partner. It didn’t matter to me anyway.
“That’s Eugenia Whitechurch, the Imperator’s daughter. Her magic lines go all the way back to the Conqueror.” Magnus and Eugenia danced a quadrille, laughing as they turned around and about each other.
“I wish I could dance,” I muttered.
“I’ll teach you,” Dee said, grinning shyly. “I’m no good, but I at least know how.”
“Oh, would you? I feel stupid just standing here.”
“See, it’s easy.” He took my hand in his and made a couple of paces forward and back. Unfortunately, he took too great a step and trod on my toe. “I’m sorry,” he said while I bit my lip and bobbed up and down to manage the pain. “I’m better when it’s not crowded.”
“I’m sure. So long as my slipper’s all right. Lilly will kill me otherwise.”
“Oh, she wouldn’t. She’s the kindest girl in the world. And the prettiest,” he murmured. So he liked Lilly, did he?
“Does she know you admire her?” My voice held a slight edge. Servant girls who caught a master’s eye could be pressured into things they did not want to do.
“Oh no.” Dee blushed. “I wouldn’t want to make her uncomfortable.” He was utterly sincere.
“You’re a true gentleman,” I said, slipping my arm through his. Dee smiled.
Cellini appeared out of the crowd and waved at me. Two boys stood beside him, one dark-haired and one fair. They whispered to each other and followed Cellini as he came over to us.
“Howel, you are beautiful this evening.” Cellini kissed my hand with a grand gesture. He swayed on his feet and smelled strongly of punch. A slow, contented smile stretched across his face. “Beautiful. Bella ragazza.” He muttered some more Italian, impossible to follow. I patted his arm, and Dee helped him stand. “These are my friends,” he said with a flip of the wrist. “Lovett”—the fair-haired one smiled—“and Hemphill.” The black-haired boy nodded as well. “Very fine fellows, these two. They’re Master Palehook’s Incumbents, but we mustn’t hold it against them.” He said this very slowly, waving a finger in Dee’s face as if he were making a point. “They always lose at cards. That’s so helpful.”
Lovett and Hemphill bowed to me.
“So you are the prophesied one, Miss Howel? Charmed to make your acquaintance,” Lovett said. He was a handsome young man, but there was something off about his smile.
“Thank you,” I said, hoping I sounded confident.
“Perhaps we’ll be inspired to fight in petticoats and bonnets from now on.” Hemphill laughed. “Won’t it surprise old R’hlem to see an army of sorcerers charging uphill in women’s clothing?”
“Perhaps it won’t shock him so much, then, to see a woman leading the charge,” I said.
“You’re going to lead us, Miss Howel?” Hemphill grinned. “That’s quite an ambition.”
“Well, not immediately, of course.” I took a small step away from them, pressing my back into the wall.
“Ah yes, take it one step at a time. How wise.” Lovett said. “How are you, Dee?” he asked, changing the topic. “Have you danced tonight? There’ve been no screams of pain from the ladies, so I’d assume you haven’t.” He laughed. I didn’t find it amusing.
Dee said nothing, though his face flushed.
“I’m grateful there’ve been no more attacks the last few nights,” Hemphill said. “It must all be down to you, Miss Howel. You walloped the old Shadow and Fog, they say. Some might think that display of strength unbecomingly masculine.”
“Some might consider what you did unnatural,” Lovett said, hastening to add, “but we don’t think that.”
Cellini looked drunkenly puzzled. “You boys aren’t being friendly.” He squinted at Dee. “Are they? I can’t tell; it’s all fuzzy.”
“They’re not being friendly,” Dee muttered. Cellini left our group and staggered away, back into the crowd.
“They also tell us,” Lovett said, stepping closer, “that you’ve brought an Unclean boy with you into the city. Is that true?”
I bristled. “Who’s told you that?”
“Master Palehook, of course. Everyone’s wanted to know all about you, and you’ve strangely kept so silent.”
“So kind of you to look after anything so damaged,” Hemphill said. “I imagine the sight of it turns the stomach.”
“See here,” Dee said, turning crimson, “why don’t you leave us in peace?” The two young men paid him no mind.
Yelling at these fools would do nothing for me. I tried to push my way past them, but they blocked my path.
“You’re lucky to be our chosen one, Miss Howel.” Lovett leaned close to whisper in my ear. “Otherwise, there’d be no power on earth that might persuade us to allow such a freak to live within the safety of our ward.”
I reached out my hand, perhaps to push him, perhaps to burn him, for at that moment I felt the flames nearly on my skin. Magnus prevented it by stepping in and grabbing the two boys by their shoulders. Cellini had brought him just in time. The cretins cowered before Magnus. However jovial his nature, he could be fierce when he wanted.
“Get out of here,” he said, his voice menacing and low. He released them, but they lingered for a moment.