Love's Labor's Won (44 page)

“Melissa is young,” she said, finally. “Give her some time to grow accustomed to the thought of marriage.”

Fulvia’s face darkened. “It is my observation that giving youngsters
time
tends to result in problems.”

And the hell of it, Emily knew, was that Fulvia was right.

She couldn’t help a flicker of irritation as the bandmaster started calling the next dance. Jade was already leading Alassa onto the dance floor, followed by Imaiqah and a male magician Emily didn’t recognize. Even Frieda had found a partner, a young magician from one of the smaller families, and was starting to dance with him. But
Emily
couldn’t find anyone, not if she wanted to keep her eye on events. Next time, she promised herself, she was
damned
if she was hosting anything, even a tiny party. Someone else could do the work and handle the nerves.

“Lady Emily,” Marcellus said. “I thank you for a wonderful dinner.”

“You’re welcome,” Emily said. She was sure he wanted something, but what? “My cooks will be pleased to hear that you liked it.”

“It is our intention to withdraw tomorrow morning,” Marcellus said, “if you will not take offense at our departure. We do not wish to be here when the wedding takes place.”

“Your consideration does you credit,” Fulvia said. Her voice was so dry Emily was sure there was a hidden meaning buried in her words. “You do not, of course, wish to witness a shift in the balance of power.”

“I would sneer, had I no sense of dignity,” Marcellus said. “I do not imagine that Gaius will shift the balance of power in any direction. Marrying him to Melissa is a waste of her potential.”

Fulvia shrugged. “Keep thinking that, if you like.”

Emily cleared her throat. “You will all be leaving?”

“We will decamp to the Faire tomorrow,” Marcellus said. “Tempers are already running high and the wedding, no matter how...
unimportant
, will only make them worse.”

“I see,” Emily said. If she hadn’t known about Markus and Melissa, she would have been relieved. Having the two families so close was hair-raising. But as she did know about them...what would they do, if they knew their time was about to run out? Run away? Confront their parents? Or split up? “I thank you.”

Marcellus gave her a wintry smile that said, very clearly, she owed him one.

“I thank you,” Fulvia echoed. “No doubt you will make us pay for the favor in due course.”

“No doubt,” Marcellus agreed. He bowed to Emily and smiled. “Do you happen to know where my eldest son is?”

Emily looked around the hall. There were countless Ashfalls in the room, including several cadet families with tangled links to the main branch, but there was no sign of Markus. She cursed under her breath as she realized there was no sign of Melissa either, only Gaius, who was wandering around looking lost and out of place. Emily would have felt sorry for him if she hadn’t known he’d passively accepted the marriage contract against the will of the bride.

“I imagine he’s wandered off somewhere,” she said, feeling the comforting weight of the battery in her pocket. “He may be exploring the battlements, or leaning on the balconies...”

Marcellus made a show of looking up. “I see no one on the balcony,” he said. “Do you not have a way of tracking people in your castle?”

“No,” Emily said. She was getting tired of answering that question. “I have no idea where he is, not right now.”

“Well, I dare say I will see him when I see him,” Marcellus said. He bowed again, and turned to leave. “And I thank you for your efforts, Lady Emily. It is nice to snipe without fear of death.”

Emily watched him go, feeling more than a little bemused. Marcellus seemed less inclined to do anything about the feud, apart from sniping at Fulvia. But some of the stories she’d heard, of bloody massacres and stealthy assassinations, suggested otherwise. Maybe he’d just thought he had to be on his best behavior at the castle, she told herself, finally. Or maybe he’d just enjoyed the chance to bicker more than yet another battle.

“He is right, of course,” Fulvia observed. “It
is
nice to snipe.”

“But someone might say the wrong thing,” Emily said. “And then you start a real fight.”

“A magician without the self-control to remain
in
control is a poor magician,” Fulvia said, primly. “And words cannot cause any true harm.”

Emily shook her head, mentally. Words could always cause harm, even if they didn’t inflict physical damage. She’d spent far too long listening to her stepfather telling her she was useless that part of her had believed it, despite all she’d managed to accomplish at Whitehall and Mountaintop. Beatings would have been kinder.

If nothing else
, she thought sourly,
I could have shown the bruises to the police
.

She pushed the thought aside with an effort. Her stepfather was a dimension away, no longer a problem. She was free of him, free to build her own destiny as she saw fit.

“Lady Emily?” Fulvia said. “You’ve gone quite pale.”

“Just an old memory,” Emily said. She wasn’t going to confide in this woman, whatever happened. Fulvia saw people as pieces on a Kingmaker board, not living beings with their own thoughts and feelings. God alone knew what she’d do if she knew the truth. “And, if you will excuse me, I have duties to attend to.”

“The work of a host is never done,” Fulvia said. “Just make sure you find some time to chat with people, Lady Emily. You could make some new contacts here.”

And that, Emily knew, was good advice. But she’d never had the knack for small talk, let alone forming superficial friendships with people. All of her friends had met her by accident, even Imaiqah and Aloha. If she’d been assigned to a different room when she’d arrived at Whitehall, she might never have seen the relationship between Alassa and Imaiqah for what it truly was.

And you wouldn’t have made it better, either
, she thought, as she walked around the edge of the hall.
It would just have stayed poisonous...

“Lady Emily,” Gaius said. “I have been unable to find Melissa.”

Emily scowled for a moment before pasting a concerned look on her face. “I’m sure she’s fine,” she said, tartly. “You’ll see her at the wedding.”

“By tradition, we are supposed to lead the bridal dance,” Gaius said. “I need her here.”

Idiot
, Emily thought, although she wasn’t sure if she meant Gaius or Melissa. The bridal dance was always held two days before the wedding, for reasons she suspected had something to do with fertility, and the prospective bride and groom were indeed meant to lead it.
Where the hell is she
?

“I’m sure she will be here when the dance starts,” Emily said. She rather doubted Fulvia would take it lightly if Melissa failed to show, embarrassing her right in front of the Ashfalls — and the rest of her own family, for that matter. “You’ll see her then.”

She glanced around the room, looking for Markus, but saw nothing. Was he with Melissa?

“It is really quite annoying when one’s bride refuses to talk to one,” Gaius continued. “How am I meant to get to know her?”

Emily fought down the urge to put her head in her hands. They were idiots. They were
all
idiots. Markus and Melissa, for developing a relationship; Fulvia and Marcellus, for continuing a pointless feud; Gaius, for assuming that Melissa would happily abandon her life to follow orders and marry him. How could anyone just assume that their sons and daughters would be happy to keep feuding unto the end of time?

“I think you should wait,” Emily said, crossly. She fought down the urge to just abandon the matter, to let the affair explode in their faces. “I’m sure she will be here for the dance.”

She turned and stalked towards the stairs, walking up to the balcony. Down below, she saw as she turned to look, Jade and Alassa were following a complicated set of dance movements, while Imaiqah and her partner were literally dancing on air. Several of the other magicians were doing the same, although Emily couldn’t help noticing they were only the ones who wore trousers. Everyone wearing a dress was remaining firmly on the floor. She smiled — she would never have the nerve to levitate herself in public, no matter what she was wearing — and then looked for Fulvia and Marcellus. The two family heads were standing at opposite ends of the hall, talking with their friends and allies. Emily couldn’t help noticing that Fulvia seemed to be issuing orders, while Marcellus was actually chatting in a friendly manner.

That seems to be their style
, she thought, mordantly.

She looked for Gaius and saw him, talking to one of the maids. Her eyes narrowed — no more incidents had been reported, but wiping memories was easy if one knew the spell — then she relaxed as it seemed to be a friendly conversation. She shook her head tiredly, wondering just what Gaius would have to say to a maid, and turned and walked towards the library, where it had all begun. If Markus and Melissa were together, they wouldn’t have dared go too far from the dance.

Unless they wanted to embarrass their families
, she thought.
Would Gaius refuse to marry Melissa if she showed him up in public
?

She gritted her teeth at the thought. Gaius
might
be humiliated enough to refuse to go through with the wedding, but he had plenty to gain and little to lose by marrying Melissa. It was unlikely
his
family would let him refuse, even if he wanted to walk away. And besides, Fulvia would be
furious
. Melissa could look forward to nothing, but painful or humiliating punishment for embarrassing the Matriarch in public.

Silly girl
, she thought, as she reached the library door. Another aversion ward had been worked into the castle’s wards, neater than the last one. If Emily hadn’t known it wasn’t hers, she suspected she would have been fooled; anyone else would have thought it was her work and thought no more about it. But it was a major security problem, she knew; someone nesting their own wards within hers was a potential disaster in the making.

She shook her head, dismantled the ward with practiced skill and stepped into the library. Melissa and Markus were standing beside the bookshelves, kissing. Emily felt her cheeks flush as they jumped apart, fighting down the urge to look away. They weren’t naked, or even half-dressed, but she still felt embarrassed for intruding on a private moment.

“Emily,” Markus said. She couldn’t help noticing that he’d moved to cover Melissa, protectively. “What can we do for you?”

“You have a bridal dance,” Emily said, looking directly at Melissa. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t want to go,” Melissa said. She reached out and took Markus’s hand. “I’m not going through the holy steps with...with
him
.”

Emily fought down the urge to bang her head against the nearest wall. “Your family is expecting you to dance,” she said. “You may not be required for any of the other dances, but you are required for
this
. What are you going to do about it?”

“She doesn’t have to go,” Markus said.

“And are you two willing to reveal your relationship now?” Emily demanded. Really, this was too much. “Are you going to run and hide? Or are you going to dance a farce of a dance?”

Melissa stared at her. “You don’t understand!”

“I understand that you’re running out of time,” Emily said. Why couldn’t they just have fled yesterday? They could have stepped through the portals or simply teleported to a private destination, and no one would have been able to find them. “Either go tell them the truth, or dance, or run, or...”

She broke off. Melissa was staring past her.

Emily turned slowly, already knowing what she would see. Gaius was standing in the doorway, staring at Markus and Melissa in absolute horror. Beside him, a maid stared at Emily, clearly aware she’d made a mistake. Emily cursed herself under her breath for missing the signs. Gaius hadn’t been trying to flirt with the maid, he’d been asking her where Melissa was hiding. And the maid, quite innocently, had led him to the library.

“You...” Gaius started. “You...”

“I don’t want to marry you,” Melissa snapped. “I am
not
going to marry you.”

“You filthy whore!” Gaius shouted. “You...”

“That will do,” Markus snapped. He raised one hand, ready to cast a spell. “She isn’t yours, and...”

Gaius launched a fireball right into his wards. There was a flash of light, and Markus was hurled back into the bookcases. Books fell from the shelves as he hit the ground, then threw back a spell of his own. Gaius dodged it, magic sparkling around his fingertips.

“Enough,” Emily said. “You can’t fight here!”

“You
knew
,” Gaius snapped. “All that time! You knew!”

Emily had no time to react before he threw two spells at her. One froze her in place, while the other picked her up and threw her right across the room. The first spell cushioned the impact — there was no pain, even when she slammed into the wall — but she was briefly stunned. She heard Melissa scream in rage, then saw, as she fell, Markus blow Gaius right out of the room.

And then she hit the ground, unable to move.
Fuck
, she thought.

It took two tries to summon the mental discipline to break the spell. She’d underestimated Gaius, she realized sourly. Fulvia might have picked him for more than just an inability to question her, or family ties she could use to further her own plans. He hadn’t tossed two separate spells at her, he’d actually
combined
them into a single spell. She would have been impressed if he hadn’t used it to keep her from intervening.

The spell snapped and she sagged, for a long moment, before pulling herself to her feet. Melissa stared at her, her face despairing, wringing her hands as if she didn’t know what to do, while Emily heard the sound of people shouting in the distance. Behind Melissa, the maid was frozen in place, caught in one of the spells hurled by the combatants. The wards were sounding a whole series of alarm bells in Emily’s head, warning her that the guests were readying spells and protections as quickly as possible. They were on the verge of tearing her castle apart.