Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling (24 page)

Son

I have been informed by your sister that you have good reason to be angry at me and, by extension, the rest of the family. The fault is mine and I do not attempt to deny it. However, we cannot escape the fact that we are related in blood. We share more than just a name, but a bloodline that carries weaknesses as well as strengths.

Johan gritted his teeth as he read the last line. Weaknesses as well as strengths? Did he mean Johan’s apparent powerlessness or something altogether different? Jamal’s sense of entitlement, that the world owed him everything and that he could get away with anything, no matter how vile? Or was he referring to something that had never been shared with the poor little Powerless?

I do not deny, also, that the news of your magic is a great relief to me, as indeed it must be to yourself. Please do not hold the actions I was compelled to take to keep you safe against me; I feared for your safety as well as that of our family, no matter how harsh and unfair I must have seemed at the time. Now, we can rebuild our relationship and add your magic to the family.

Johan growled incoherently. How was it, he asked himself, that his father, even when trying to apologise, sounded like an arrogant asshole? And he was
still
trying to get Johan to return home. Hadn’t he
read
the letter Johan had sent? He should have sent the first one, despite Elaine’s veto. It would have made his feelings quite clear.

Towards this end, I wish to invite you to dine with us in two days. Your elder brother will not, I am afraid, be able to attend, but the remainder of the family should be present. I offer the word of Lord Duncan Conidian, Patriarch of House Conidian, that you will be free to return to the Great Library after the dinner, should you wish it. And I also pledge before the gods that our efforts to change your mind will be purely verbal, with not a hint of any form of coercion.

Johan had to smile. Did his father think that he didn’t
know
Jamal was in prison? Or was he trying to hide it from everyone else? But the only other person who might see the letter was Elaine and she already knew the truth.

And he’d offered his word that Johan would be free to go.
That
was interesting. It suggested that he was serious. And the pledge to avoid coercion ... any attempt to invoke family rights would break that pledge outright, with disastrous consequences. Out of habit, he checked his father’s signature. It was genuine.

As a gesture of good faith, I have instructed the bank to provide you with a trust vault comparable to the vaults I opened for Jamal and Charity. The key should be provided to you, along with a draft book, within the next day or two. Whatever decision you make, that money will be yours permanently. You may wish to speak with the bankers to consider investment opportunities.

I await your reply, as does the rest of the family. Whatever you may think of us, I know that Charity, at least, misses you – and was prepared to put herself on the line to explain to me just how badly I have acted.

Yours

Lord Duncan Conidian, Patriarch of House Conidian.

Johan stared down at the letter with mixed feelings. He knew just how much money Jamal had been given, enough to ensure that he wouldn’t have to work for the rest of his life, if he was careful. Charity would also have had the same amount, although some of it would have been part of her dowry. But
he
had never been given a vault. How could he even have accessed it without another magician?

The money would be useful, he knew. He could take Jayne out, shower her with presents, treat her like a queen ... or pay Elaine for his apprenticeship. But he didn’t want to take
anything
from his father, not now. No matter what his father said, the money came with strings attached. His gratitude would lead him to pay attention to his father’s attitudes in future, if not honour his requests. And there
would
be requests. Even when his father was trying to be nice, there was manipulation involved.

And he had already asked for something in return.

Johan
hated
dinner parties, the few he’d been allowed to attend. Mostly, he’d been told to stay in his suite and the door had been charmed to prevent him from leaving. It wouldn’t do to let the guests see that House Conidian had produced a Powerless. He’d told himself that he preferred being alone to watching everyone fawn over Jamal, but the truth was that he’d resented his exclusion bitterly.

He could attend one now ...

Everyone would fawn on him, he knew. There were two days in children’s lives that were celebrated: their birthdays and their sparks, when they came into their magic. But he had never had a spark, not until now. There would be the best food and drink, expensive presents, perhaps even entertainment and ... the thought made him sick. If they hadn’t considered him worthy until now, why should he consider
them
worthy of him?

Shaking his head, he folded the letter and put it in his pocket. Elaine would have to see it; she could tell him if he should go, or if he should refuse the invitation – and the money. But what would he do for money if his father took it back, no matter what he’d said?

Apprentices are supposed to be given an allowance
, he thought. The book had told him that much, although there was no fixed scale.
How much would Elaine give me
?

He would have to ask, he knew. And then make up his mind.

Chapter Twenty

Elaine felt somewhat refreshed as she stumbled out of bed in the morning, although the combination of sweaty clothes and lying in a bad position didn’t help. She undressed, ran a hot bath and enjoyed a soak, then dressed in new clothes and sent a message to Johan to join her for breakfast. When he entered, he was carrying another creamy-white envelope in his hand.

“Another letter from my father,” he said, as Elaine scanned it quickly. “Should I go?”

Elaine scowled. She wanted to take it easy for the day, not grapple with complex political and personal problems. “Do you
want
to go?”

“No,” Johan said. “But if he’s offering to actually
talk
... and not try to hold me there ...”

“He has given his word,” Elaine agreed, neutrally. There were hidden implications here, she was sure, but she’d never been raised as a member of the Great Houses. “And he’s giving you a great deal of money. Maybe he’s sincere about wanting to rebuild connections between you and him.”

“
Build
them, more like,” Johan muttered. Dishes of food appeared in front of them and they started to eat. “Do you think I should go?”

“I don’t know,” Elaine admitted. Clearly, she would never cure Johan of his habit of talking while eating. “I think that he could make life difficult for you, particularly now that your secret is out and spreading. What you did yesterday will be all over the city by now and ... and people will be asking questions. Something will leak, sooner rather than later.”

“Because my father will
want
it to leak,” Johan agreed. “And he’d want to dispel any rumours about my status as a Powerless.”

Elaine rubbed her forehead, wishing that she could see all the implications. “Work out what you want to say to him, then go,” she advised. “With Jamal currently in jail, you might not have a better chance to talk to him as an equal.”

“He won’t be alone,” Johan objected. “Inviting me to a full dinner party means that the entire family – well, everyone who can make it – will be there. But I can talk to him alone afterwards.”

He was interrupted by a purple-edged envelope that flew into the room and landed in front of Elaine. She swore under her breath and opened it, finding a card and a single note written on fine notepaper. The card informed her that a full meeting of the Privy Council would commence in precisely two hours; the note, written in Light Spinner’s own hand, told her to attend. Elaine, who would have preferred to avoid the meeting, scowled. She was in no fit state to listen to the various councillors arguing about the current situation.

“I have to attend a meeting at the palace,” she said, crossly. “What are your plans for the day?”

Johan hesitated. “Read more books?”

Elaine smiled. It would have been
her
ideal day as a child, although somehow she doubted that Johan felt the same way. “There are quite a few you should read,” she said, “although I made a deliberate decision not to give you the standard spell and textbooks provided to new students. Given the nature of your powers, they would probably only confuse you.”

“I suppose,” Johan said. He didn’t sound happy, which made Elaine smile. If he thought she was keeping the books from him, he would look them up for himself. “Can I ask a cheeky question?”

“You may,” Elaine said.

“I ... I would like to take Jayne out for a meal,” Johan admitted. “But I don’t have any money.”

Elaine frowned, inwardly. Was
that
why Johan hadn’t dismissed his father’s offer of a bank vault out of hand? But she could understand him wanting a social life, even if it wasn’t a desire she shared. Daria had always been the one dragging her out of the apartment to go places, mostly places where she’d been nothing more than a wallflower. And yet she’d met Bee at one such place.

She stood up, walked over to a chest of drawers and waved her hand over it, muttering unlocking incantations. Once it opened, she reached inside and produced a small bag and a handful of gold coins. Daria had always taught her to keep some cash on hand, although that hadn’t normally been a problem. It was only recently that she’d earned enough money to open a vault at the bank.

“There should be enough money here to go just about anywhere,” she said, as she dropped the coins into the bag. “I would suggest” – she allowed her voice to harden – “that you do a little research before picking a place to go. Most of the fancier places are often far more expensive than they deserve. Vane would be able to offer advice, if you asked her.”

Johan took the bag, staring at it as if he’d never seen so much money in his life. The chances were, Elaine knew, he hadn’t. As a Powerless, he would have been vulnerable to both magical and mundane thieves. His father would probably not even have given him an allowance to spend on sweets or whatever else took his fancy.

“I will have to get dressed and go,” Elaine said, feeling tired again. If she tried to stay at the Great Library, Light Spinner would probably send the Inquisitors out to drag Elaine back to the palace. “You have the books in your room?”

“Yes,” Johan said. “What are you going to tell them about me?”

“As little as possible,” Elaine said. “Or at least as little as I can get away with telling them.”

She found herself mulling the letter over as she dressed in her finest robes, then started to walk towards the Imperial Palace. Was Johan’s father serious about trying to rebuild connections with his son or was he hoping to take advantage of Johan’s new powers for his own purposes? Or was he merely hoping to ensure that the entire world knew that he hadn’t birthed a Powerless after all? There was no way to know.

For once, the interior of the Imperial Palace was buzzing with life. Servants moved from room to room, carrying out the orders of the Privy Councillors; outside, guards thronged the grounds, looking for potential threats. Elaine wondered, as she made her way through wards that provided more protection than a whole army of guardsmen, if Light Spinner was making a point. Whatever the Privy Council might think, most of the regime’s instruments of compulsion were firmly in her hands.

There were twelve Privy Councillors, all politically and magically powerful – and wealthy, of course. To some extent, Elaine knew,
she
was the sole exception to that rule; her magic was subtle, rather than powerful. If it came down to a duel, she would be beaten by any of the other Privy Councillors, although the unwritten rules of the chamber insisted that Privy Councillors could not fight each other, no matter how strongly they disagreed. The knowledge in Elaine’s head whispered that the original Grand Sorcerer had wanted to ensure that some of the most powerful magicians in the world didn’t start fighting – and, while trying to kill each other, damage his city.

Elaine took her seat at the stone table and watched as the others sat down. Deferens gave her a twisted smile that told her that, despite serving under a Grand Sorceress, his views on women had never really changed. As always, he wore a bright red outfit under his purple robes, having altered them to show off his clothes. Elaine had often wondered if his hyper-masculinity was actually an act that compensated for something, but from what little she knew of his homeland she suspected that it was actually the standard behaviour for men there. And women, there, were expected to be obedient and silent. Any female magician born there would be lucky to reach five years old before being killed.

Two seats away, Lord Duncan Conidian sat down. Elaine eyed him with some interest, uncomfortably aware that he was studying her too. He looked like an older version of Johan, with lines on his face that suggested a man under heavy stress. Not too surprising, Elaine knew, with one son in jail and another estranged from the family. There was a faint hint of a glamour surrounding him, probably hiding the true state of his hair. At his age, it should have started to turn white.

Elaine sighed, fighting the impulse to shrink back into her seat and hide. She didn’t belong here and she knew it, no matter what Light Spinner said. The others in the room had grown up wielding power; they could snap their fingers and expect obedience from just about everyone. But she ... she’d been an orphan, then a mediocre student and then a librarian. All she’d done to earn respect was drain the Blight and save the city from Kane - and only a handful of people knew the full story.

As soon as the final Councillor sat down, Light Spinner entered and took her own seat. The Privy Council didn’t stand on formality, not when they were alone. Light Spinner held her hand in the air, casting the first privacy ward; one by one, the other members added their own wards to the mix. No spying magic, as far as Elaine knew, could penetrate such a powerful set of wards. Picking one’s way through thirteen wards with thirteen different signatures and styles would take hours, at the very least. It made the room the most secure place in the Empire.