Ransom was tempted to haul Aldous to the edge of the well and pitch him headfirst down the shaft. The fall might kill him.
At that moment he didn’t really care. The pressure he’d been feeling had reached a breaking point. What if he’d come too late? What if the man had pitched Devon down the well, as he’d clearly planned? What if he’d been killed?
He didn’t know what to do, but his children were both all right. If anything, Aldous had been injured more by the confrontation. Beyond that, he didn’t wish to display more violence in front of his boys now that the danger had passed. Taking a deep breath, Ransom released the man’s wrist and stepped away from him. Aldous massaged his lower arm and sidled away from the tree, keeping his eyes fixed on Ransom’s face, like a fox backing away from a wolf that had recently held it in his jaws.
“They dropped something of mine into the well,” Aldous said scathingly. “I’m going to get some people to fetch it out. They may be children, but they’re nasty ones.”
“Say no more,” Ransom declared. “Or I’ll break your jaw next.”
Aldous flashed a menacing look at the two boys, who met his ill intent with defiance, hands on hips. The Espion left his dagger, and his dignity, and fled the garden swiftly.
Léanore came up sniffling. “I told you we shouldn’t have done it,” she sobbed. She looked at Ransom guiltily. “It’s our fault.”
“Hush!” Devon said to her, but it was too late.
Ransom cocked his head to one side. “What did you throw in the well?”
Willem looked chagrined. “A bit of iron from the forge.”
Devon threw up his hands. “You’re going to tell him everything?”
“We got caught, Dev,” said Willem. “Show him.”
Léanore sniffled again. “I knew it would end badly. I knew it.”
“It was a good plan—it worked,” Devon said. “We just didn’t count on how angry he’d get.” He fished into his pocket and pulled out a key. It had a star emblazoned on the end.
Ransom closed his eyes. Nothing excused Aldous’s reaction, but the boys had started it. He looked at Devon in disappointment. “That’s a key to the Star Chamber.” It was the room Lord Longmont had turned into the headquarters of the Espion in the palace. He’d engraved stars on the ceiling to add to its mystique. Only the most trusted Espion were allowed there.
“I know,” Willem said sheepishly. “It’s the only place in the palace we haven’t been in . . . yet.”
Léanore spoke up. “We took a used bit of iron scrap to try and make a key, but that didn’t work. Then Devon said he could steal Aldous’s key and pretend to throw it into the well.” She was trembling but seemed relieved to be telling the truth at last.
“So you tossed the scrap into the well instead to make it convincing?” Ransom asked. He was impressed by their resourcefulness but alarmed by the extravagance of their deception.
“It needed to sound like a key as it slid down the stone,” Devon said with a guilty look.
“Give it to me,” Ransom said, holding out his hand. Devon handed it over, his cheeks flushing with shame.
Ransom pocketed it. “You must take care. The people who run the Espion now are dangerous men,” he said. “They’re not like Sir Simon.” He dropped down to his knee and pulled his children close. They hugged him, and he looked over Devon’s shoulder and saw Léanore staring at him as if she, too, wanted a hug.
She was Jon-Landon’s daughter, but that wasn’t her fault. He gestured with his palm to come closer, and she smiled in relief and hugged him and Devon.
“I have some bad news to share, boys,” he said with a sigh.
“What is it, Papa?” Willem asked worriedly.
“I’ll tell you later,” he said. “What you did today was not honorable. I need to think of a punishment first.”
His sons pulled back and looked at each other.
“Very well, Father,” Willem said somberly. He looked like he was bracing for the worst.
“I’m glad none of us ended up in the well,” Léanore said. “Do I get a punishment too?”
“I’m going to tell the queen,” Ransom said. “That is for her to decide.”
She bowed her head and looked genuinely regretful.
Devon was still wrestling with his feelings. “I’m sorry, Papa.”
“Let me think on it. Go play in the kitchen. I’ll come for you later.”
The three children nodded, and they walked away together. He looked down at the grass and saw the dagger he’d wrenched from Aldous’s hand. Stooping, he picked it up and turned the blade over in his palm. Then, clenching it in his fist, he slammed it into the tree, blade first. He walked to the well and sat down at the edge, grateful he hadn’t let his anger overcome him. Although Aldous had overreacted, and violently at that, his children had been in the wrong. Now that he knew the full story, he felt less threatened by what had just happened.
Had he broken Aldous’s wrist? It would have been so easy to have done worse. His magic bubbled soothingly inside of him, but he didn’t feel worthy of it at that moment. He sensed someone approaching and turned his neck to see Cecily heading toward the well.
When she reached him, she looked over at the tree and saw the dagger plunged into the bark. “Well, at least you didn’t pin Aldous there with it. I don’t think he’s strong enough to have pulled it out.”
Ransom felt so weary, he could barely summon a smile. “Are more Espion coming?”
“There’s a lost key in the well, or so I’ve heard,” she said.
Ransom reached into his pocket and handed it to her.
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “A trick? The boys stole it?”
“They threw down a bit of scrap to mimic it. They were trying to get into the Star Chamber.”
Her brow furrowed. “I didn’t encourage it.”
“I almost throttled Aldous. I thought he was trying to drown my boys. I might have killed him.”
She sat down next to him at the edge of the well. “No. You wouldn’t have.”
“I almost did,” he said, looking at a nearby shrub. “I’ve always had this . . . part of me. It’s like a beast . . . a ravening monster . . . trying to come out. I think the first time was when James and some of his lackeys tried to humiliate me back when we were training together.”
“I haven’t heard that story,” she said in a kindly way. “What happened?”
“I’d done well in the training yard, performing better than the others. James was the son of a duke, and I was just a lesser nobleman’s second son.”
“Already a famous one, though,” she pointed out.
Ransom held up his hands. “Famous for almost getting hung. They ambushed me. It was four against one. Or five. It was a long time ago. I beat them all. And there was this part of me that delighted in it. I’m good at fighting. It comes naturally.”
“So I’ve seen,” she said. “You should be proud of your abilities, Ransom.”
“They frighten me, though.” He looked at her. “If I ever lost control . . . I’m afraid of what I might do.”