Magic Under Glass (17 page)

27

My attempt to sit alone in my bedroom, weeping quietly into a pillow for a while, was interrupted by Linza’s gentle rap on my door.

“Miss Nimira?”

“I’d rather be alone now, Linza. Thank you.”

“You haven’t eaten all day.”

“I know. I’m not hungry.”

I heard her body shift against the door. “I’m so sorry about what happened.”

I wiped my eyes and finally opened the door. “Oh, Linza . . . that’s all right.” I certainly didn’t want Linza to think she’d done anything wrong, when the rest of us were already brooding on our mistakes.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I came for a reason. Master Parry would like to see you in the tower.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t say. I’m sorry.”

I smiled. “You don’t have to keep telling me you’re sorry.”

In the tower room, Hollin stood by his chair, awaiting me, just as he had on my first day at Vestenveld. I accepted my chair grudgingly. I knew I lacked the energy this conversation would require.

We sat, filling our plates with food I suspected neither of us had any intention of eating.

He buttered a roll. Surely no roll was ever so buttered as that roll was. I wondered if he would ever speak.

“Why did you save me?” I finally asked.

“If Smollings had taken you, he’d probably have put you in prison, and you would likely die there. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Mmm.” I didn’t like this, as if I owed him something now, and yet I was frightened of prison. I’d heard enough tales. As if the poor food and stale air didn’t weaken prisoners enough, typhoid and cholera ran rampant. I could hardly think of a more horrifying way to die than the lonely filth of prison.

“What did you say that convinced him to let me stay?”

“I said I would tell the world about his involvement in covering up Annalie. I told him you had just gotten swept into this, that you were inconsequential, and that Miss Rashten would surely keep a close eye on you from now on.”

“And what if I wanted to leave this house, knowing all your secrets?”

He shook his head. “I imagine she would stop you.”

“So I’m as much a prisoner here as Annalie.” I pushed my plate back, disgusted by even the pretense of dinner. “What do you intend to do with me?”

“Nimira, I must be blunt.”

“Be blunt, then.”

“You will not deny your affections for the fairy now, I’m sure.”

“No. I’m sure you must know precisely all my thoughts and feelings.” My tongue turned out more vinegar than I intended. “But it no longer matters, does it? He is gone.”

Gone.
A horrid word, in any language.

He made a faint gasp or sigh, like some small wound had pained him. “Nimira, you must—you must realize how impossible it would have been. You could never have a future with him.”

I knew it, perhaps, but I didn’t believe it.

“I spoke with him,” Hollin continued. “He told me he doesn’t want to assume the throne. But it doesn’t matter what he wants. He is the lost heir that many of his people have been hoping for. And once the fairies know he’s been found, it will have a dramatic impact on their government, not to mention our own relations with the fairy race. Whatever happy ending the two of you may have wished for, you must have known it was impossible.”

“Maybe he can’t escape being the heir, but surely he can escape Smollings, at least? Maybe Erris is the one to bring peace, the one who can prevent the war you keep implying will happen.”

Hollin carefully dusted his food with salt, grimacing all the while. “You’ll have a good life here,” he said, without much conviction.

“Do you really want to sit back while Lorinar and the fairies go to war?” I asked. “Countless people will die!”

“Well, what do you want me to do? I don’t see any way to halt the course we’re on. Smollings has Erris and the council will use him to their best advantage.”

“Which means he’ll take care of Erris the way he took care of Garvin.”

Hollin got very still, but his eyes flashed danger. Had I pushed him too far, this man who had already risked a great deal for my sake? If only I could show him he must go further, however painful. He must tell the truth, to me and to the world.

“Well. You’ve spoken to Annalie, I see.” He cut off my response. “Yes. She told me, too. I know what Smollings did. But it’s still no use trying to fight him. He’s too powerful.”

“I would rather fight them than run.”

“He’d win, Nimira. He’s got the council in his control. He’d ruin us.”

“I think he’s already ruined you.”

“I know he has!” Hollin shouted, his voice ragged. He pounded the table, then buried his head in his hands.

“Hollin, wait,” I said. “There is strength in you. I know it. I haven’t always been strong either. I ran away from home, and ever since then I’ve been more lost than ever. You saved me when you took me away from that stage. I would return the favor, if I could.”

“But . . . you know what I’ve done. How on earth can I stand against Smollings?”

“But you also know what he’s done, don’t you?” I met his eyes square. “You know he doesn’t want the world to know about how he’s using Annalie to access dark spirits. If you confess, you’ll prove his part in this, too. He’ll suffer more than you will. What do you have to lose at this point?”

For a moment, his expression turned inward. I knew he did still have much to lose. His home, his reputation. But he had already lost everything that truly mattered. If only he understood that.

He did understand. I could see the moment his resolve sharpened, the way his eyes took on the sudden light of purpose. His head lifted. “Very well, Nimira,” he said. “We’re paying a visit to my wife.”

I heard Annalie call, with a hint of apprehension, “Yes?”

“Let me in, Anni.”

She opened the door right away, a few orbs fluttering behind her. When she saw me, her lips pursed anxiously. “What is going on?”

Hollin motioned for me to go ahead, and when we’d both crossed the threshold, he shut the door. He gave Annalie a long look, full of emotions more deep and numerous than I could read.

She pushed back her hood, which had covered her hair. “What is it?”

Hollin bowed his head a little at her, like a lady he’d passed on the street. “Are you—well?” he asked.

“Well enough,” Annalie said. “Please, tell me. Hollin—please. Something has happened.” She put her fingers to his shoulder, so delicately that he might have been a soap bubble she feared to break.

“Smollings was here. He took . . . the automaton.”

“Erris?” Annalie looked at me. “I heard the spell worked. You brought him back to life?”

“In a way,” I said. “He’s alive, he moves, but he’s still clockwork inside somehow. And now Smollings has him.”

“Oh, no,” Annalie said, placing her hands over her heart. She looked up at the orbs, as if looking for Garvin among them. Of course, they all looked the same to my eyes. “Yes, yes,” she whispered. She didn’t seem to be speaking to us. “I know . . .”

“Is Garvin here?” Hollin asked, looking alarmed.

“Not now.”

“Could you . . .” Hollin tugged nervously on his necktie. “I’m not sure how it works. Would you be able to summon him on command?”

Annalie clasped her hands, a glimmer in her eyes. “Why?”

“Because . . . I—I have a plan. Or rather, Nimira does. But only if . . . you’re willing. I’ll need you.”

“Most willing,” she said, and the orbs danced around her head, as if they, too, were hopeful.

28

Annalie now motioned for me to stand at her side. She squeezed my hand. “What is your plan?”

“It won’t be easy,” he said. “Smollings has the—Erris. He’ll be showing him to the council, to try and prove Garvin had secret plans with the fairies—plans that would lead us into war if Erris were restored to the throne. Smollings has already stirred up a lot of anti-fairy sentiment.”

“I thought you agreed with Smollings,” Annalie said. One of the orbs hovered near her shoulder, and she brushed it away. “He does,” she whispered to it.

Hollin frowned. He seemed very uncomfortable in the presence of Annalie and her orbs, but particularly when she spoke to them.

“Smollings has gone too far,” Hollin said. “I still think the fairies are dangerous and no friends of ours, but . . . I am growing increasingly unsettled by Smollings. What he’s done to us . . . to you . . . I’m beginning to realize just how dangerous he is—not just for us, but for the country.” His pale cheeks flushed, and he shifted his stance. “I don’t like Karstor, but he’s . . . he’s not a
cruel
man.”

“There is no question about our plan, then,” Annalie said. “We must go to the council.”

“And you can . . . summon Garvin?”

“I believe so. I’m sure he’ll want to come, when I tell him. But summoning any spirit does take a little time.”

Hollin nodded, looking nervous. “Very well, then.” His eyes flicked to the door. “The only trouble is Miss Rashten. I know she has powers, but I’m not sure how much. She won’t let us leave without a fight. I’m sure of that. And if we do make it out, she’ll tell Smollings immediately.”

“If you stand with me, then I know we can overcome her,” Annalie said, and with her words, she seemed to grow old and ageless at once, like the Queen of the Longest Night. “Ever since the lost souls began visiting me, they tell me things . . . and other things, they didn’t have to tell me. I simply
know,
somehow. I’m somewhere between their world and yours now. They’ll work for me.”

“Anni—I don’t care what they’ve told you. Look what they’ve done to you.”

“You don’t understand them as I do. They don’t
mean
to hurt people, exactly. Only, when the barriers open, they’re like starving men. They can only think of food. They try to possess people because it’s their one way to get the only thing they want. They can’t die properly without closure, but they can’t have closure without life.”

“They whisper terrible things,” Hollin said. “For beings who supposedly don’t mean to hurt us.”

“Well . . .” She relented. “There are good spirits and bad.”

“Are you quite sure you can control them?” he asked.

“Oh, yes. Of course, we should go in together. Two against one.”

He nodded.

I supposed that left me behind. I knew I was no sorceress, but after I had summoned the Queen, and helped Hollin fight the spirits before . . . didn’t that show I had some ability? I didn’t want to miss the look on Miss Rashten’s face when she realized her day had come to an end, after the way she’d treated me.

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked. “My singing helped before. And my candle.”

“Nimira, this is serious sorcery,” Hollin said. “You’d get hurt.”

“Nimira can help,” Annalie said. “I can’t bear the light of day. I’ll need someone to guide me. It shouldn’t be you, Hollin—you’ll be busy enough fighting her off.”

“Yes, I can do that.” I smiled, for the first time in what seemed like an age. I think the truth of it all rushed in, when I thought of protecting Annalie in a fight. We would fight Miss Rashten. We would save Erris.

I dared not consider any other outcome.