“Lady Blazeann has gone into her mother’s room,” said Busy, appearing at the door and bowing. “Does my Lord have instructions?”
“No, Busy, take yourself down to the party now. I won’t be needing you again tonight. Sharlee, go get me some of those nice spiced nuts we had at dinner, will you? I find myself a little peckish.”
Once the servants were out of the way, Lucy gave me his blue and white porcelain jar of smokeweed.
“Mother bought these jars as a pair,” he said fondly, explaining why the jars looked so similar. “Thanks so much for doing this, Shine. I know Mother isn’t the best Matriarch in the world, but believe me, Blazeann would be a lot worse. At least Lord Impavidus pays the servants.”
I thought I did a very good job of slipping into Splendance’s room without being seen, though since most of the mages in the house were at evening prayers or off looking for the night’s lover, it wasn’t very hard. The smug feeling lasted until I tip-toed up to Auntie Splen’s dressing table and realised that she’d locked her smokeweed jar into another of those cursed mage-proof strong boxes. Did no one in this cursed family trust anyone else? And what was the point when untrustworthy people like Blazeann knew the code?
Lucient would probably know it, because someone as vague as Auntie Splen could not be expected to remember it without help. I tiptoed back to the door and opened it.
Hagen Stellason stood in the hallway, hand poised to turn the door knob.
This time his reaction was different. Fast as lightning, he thrust me back into the room, slamming the door behind him. He pushed me back against the wall so violently, I lost my hold of Lucient’s drug jar.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed as the drug jar slammed to the floor and shattered.
“Hell!” I cried before a hand was shoved over my mouth.
“Quiet,” hissed Hagen. Such was the authority in his voice that I stood passive while he held his hand over my mouth and stood listening. I was beginning to think about struggling when he relaxed and looked down into my face.
“What are you doing here? Are you going to scream if I take my hand off your mouth?”
I shook my head and he took his hand away.
“As if I’d scream over some stupid mundane like you,” I hissed at him. “What are you doing here?”
“This and that,” he said. He looked at the mess on the floor. “Are you stealing Lady Splendance’s drug jar? Why?”
“It’s not hers. It just looks like hers.”
“Why are you in here with an identical drug jar?”
“This and that,” I said, pointedly
“I wouldn’t have thought you were so friendly with Lady Blazeann. Did she offer to send you to university?”
“Blazeann. No! She wouldn’t help me.” I saw where his questions led. “And I’m not helping her. Never.”
He sighed and seemed to come to some decision.
“So you know Lady Blazeann has drugged Lady Splendance’s smokeweed.”
“Maybe,” I said.
“You can’t steal the smokeweed. There’d be an outcry.”
“I’m not,” I snapped. “And now thanks to you there’s going to be an outcry anyway.” I crouched down and started collecting the pieces of the jar.
“So you’re stealing Lady Splendance’s weed and replacing it with another identical jar. That’s very good. You’re quite the intriguer, aren’t you?” Patronising sod, but at least he looked impressed.
“But I haven’t managed to do it yet,” I snapped. “And we’re going to have to get a mage in here to clean up this mess. Hundreds of lumins worth of weed wasted.”
“Brush it under the carpet for now. The maids are going to be in any minute to put in the warming pans. So you haven’t made the exchange yet?”
“Not yet,” I said. I looked at the box. “I don’t have the combination.”
He smiled, but it was an understanding smile. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it.”
He stepped to the chest, spun the little wheels till he was happy and opened it. He took a package out of his pocket and unwrapped that.
“Curse it,” he said. “I need something to put the fouled stuff in. Have you a handkerchief?”
I pulled it out. It was clean, if ragged.
“How’d you get the combination?”
He grinned. “All the mages know it, and most of the servants too.”
He spread the handkerchief out, tipped the contents of Splendance’s drug jar into it, ran his fingers round the inside of the jar to check it was clean and poured the contents of his package into the empty jar.
I picked up the handkerchief and tied it securely.
There were voices in the corridor outside.
“Someone’s coming,” I hissed.
“Quick! Under the bed.”
He seized my elbow and I didn’t think twice about following him.
One of the maids who came in was very quiet and serious and went quickly about her business. The other two, local girls here for the Blessing festival, hovered in the doorway chattering and laughing about the coming party and speculating as to whether they could both give a rose to Lord Scintillant that night.
I was very aware of Hagen Stellason’s body leaning against my side. His hand was on my shoulder. Halfway through the maid’s conversation, his fingers began stroking my neck. My favourite touch. The delicious feel of it flowed all the way down into my belly. He pressed his lips against my temple. I turned my head to glare at him and he kissed me on the lips. I suppose I should have pushed him away, but he was a lovely kisser. I only shoved him away when I noticed that the room was quiet again. I shot out from under the bed.
“You’d better get out of here,” I snapped. He smiled up at me from the floor, a slumberous smile full of offers.
“Yes, I enjoyed it too,” he said, holding out his hand. “Here, give me the weed.”
“No. It has to go back to the person who lent me that stuff we spilt.”
“They’d be very unwise to smoke it.”
“That’s up to them,” I said, dancing backwards as he made a grab for my ankle and darting out the door before he could get any more ideas.
AS I WAS scuttling along the landing with the bundle of smokeweed clutched to my chest, an imperious voice called “Marm Shine! Come here.”
My Great Aunt, Lady Glisten, was standing at the end of the balcony beckoning to me, while the rest of the women who had attended family prayers on the roof of the Eyrie filed down the stairs behind her. Had she seen me come out of Splen’s room? I couldn’t be sure. Maybe I should confide in her about Blazeann’s plot. Lady Glisten? She was clearly close to Blazeann. A doubtful prospect, and one not to be tried unless desperate.
I followed her into her room and stood before her as she arrayed herself in her chair. Her current consort, a tall, white-haired retainer with overly regular features, made to leave, but Glisten held up her hand and he relaxed back into his chair by the fire. She had left the door open, too. So this was not to be a private conversation.
This chamber had originally been earmarked for Splendance, as it was the best one in the house. When she had arrived, Lady Glisten had greeted Eff with an airy, “Don’t worry about me. Put me in any room,” but as a member of the Council of Family Elders (among many other things) and an older generation, Lady Glisten outranked Lady Splendance, so Eff bumped Splendance down to the second best bedroom and put Glisten in here.