Jack blinked.
“Watch my lips.” Declan pointed to his mouth. “You will never be sent to Hawk’s. You don’t have to run away from home to escape. However, in the near future, you will wish you had been sent to Hawk’s.”
“You are grounded until you forget what color the sky is,” Rose said.
“We’re giving you to Lorimor,” Declan said. “You will be doing laundry. You will be peeling potatoes. The pool needs replastering.”
Laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep inside George. He tried to hold it in, but it was like trying to block a flood. It kept coming out in snorts and stifled giggles.
“Like I beat you,” Declan growled. “Like I chained you in the dungeon or something. You ran away. On a Mirror agent’s wyvern! What the devil is wrong with the two of you?”
“We are so sorry, Master Mar,” Rose said. “We hope they weren’t too much trouble.”
“Not at all,” Kaldar answered with a straight face.
“What’s this?” Rose asked, looking at the cat in Jack’s arms.
“This is my cat. I rescued him.” Jack tensed the way he did before a fight.
Gods, George prayed silently. Please, no fight. Please, no fight.
“If you want him inside, you will be responsible for cleaning his fur off the furniture,” Rose said.
Jack gazed at her, stumbled forward, and Rose hugged him.
“We love you,” she told him. “I love you. It will be okay, Jack. It will all work out.”
“We’ll talk more later,” Declan said, his voice no longer indignant. “Nancy Virai is inside in the study. She’s waiting to speak to all of you.”
They went inside and sat in the chairs by the study. Kaldar and Audrey went in first.
Rose sat next to George and hugged him and Jack. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he heard himself say. Jack sniffed.
His sister looked at him. “Please stop giving me gray hair. Take a couple of weeks off. Just for me.”
“THE diffusers.” Kaldar placed a wicker box on the surface of the heavy mahogany table.
Nancy Virai opened the box, reviewed the two diffusers cushioned in a piece of white cloth, and looked at them from behind the desk. He scrutinized her face. He’d sent a preliminary dispatch to the Mirror’s office when they had crossed into Adrianglia, outlining the events that had occurred. He hid nothing. Experience had taught him that with Lady Virai, honesty was the best policy.
Lady Virai’s face was unreadable.
Her gaze shifted to Audrey.
“This is my fiancée,” Kaldar said. “Audrey Callahan. She is a victim of circumstance . . .”
“Kaldar,” Lady Virai said. “Shut up.”
He clamped his mouth shut.
The two women looked at each other.
“You’ve been exposed to the secrets of the Mirror,” Lady Virai said. “You understand that there is no way back.”
“I do,” Audrey said.
“You will work for me. On a conditional basis for the first six months, with promotion to full agent if you don’t screw up.”
Kaldar quietly exhaled.
“And if I say no?”
“I wasn’t asking,” Lady Virai said. “You will find that ‘no’ is not a word I find acceptable.”
“Can we have two weeks for our honeymoon?” Kaldar asked.
“Yes. Given that she risked her life against seven Hounds to save you—I can’t imagine why—I would say two weeks of holiday are acceptable. And Kaldar, next time, do try to do your job without dragging children into it. You may go. And send George in.”
THE door opened. George tensed.
Audrey emerged, her eyes huge on her face. “She’s the scariest woman I’ve ever seen.”
Kaldar followed. “Your turn.”
George rose and walked through the door.
Nancy Virai sat behind the desk. She had eyes like a predatory bird: when she looked at him, a vision of deadly talons aimed at his heart flashed in his head.
George carefully closed the door, approached the desk, and stopped, his hands at his sides.
“Sit.”
He sat in the chair.
“People who work for me are trained killers. Once in a while, an exception is made for those with a special talent, like Audrey. This isn’t a business for tender hearts.”
“I can be a killer,” he told her.
“It’s not a natural state of being for you.”
“It’s what I want,” he told her.
Lady Virai leaned forward. “Why?”
“Because I believe someone must protect the country from the Hand. That someone might as well be me.”
“Very articulate. Try again.”
George opened his mouth, and the ugly truth spilled out. “Because I’m tired of always being seen as a second-class citizen. I would rather work for you and be the best agent you’ve ever had than fight a hopeless battle to prove myself to people who will always see me only as an Edger.”
She pondered him for a moment, then pushed a piece of paper to him across the desk. “These are your goals for this school year. You will receive one just like it every year. Fail to meet them, and our relationship is over.”
George scanned the list. Several subjects, with examinations and scores required. Necromancy testing.
“Your summers belong to me.” Lady Virai leaned back. “If you agree, your childhood is over. Do we have a deal?”
He didn’t hesitate for a second. “Yes.”
“You are dismissed.”
George rose. At the door he paused. “What about my brother?”
“All in good time,” Lady Virai said. “Don’t worry. The realm won’t run out of enemies while the two of you grow up.”
THE air smelled of ripened grapes. Sunshine warmed Spider’s hands and face. He tilted his head to the sky, rolling his wheelchair to the stone rail of the balcony. He loved it here. Below him, rows and rows of grapevines crossed the green hills. He used to walk there, between the rows of vines.
It felt like an eternity ago.
Footsteps echoed behind him, uneven. Someone was limping.
Spider turned.