Dianthe appeared in the doorway, prompting Sienne to exclaim, “You’re back!”
“Did you think I wouldn’t be?” She sat in the chair Perrin had vacated.
“No, I just…did you see Denys?”
Dianthe shook her head. “I went to talk to Corbyn.”
A chill went through Sienne, settling in her stomach. Alaric said, “Oh?”
“This is why I love playing hazard with you, Alaric. You are terrible at hiding your emotions.” Dianthe leaned back in the chair. “I turned him down.”
“Turned who down?” Perrin said, entering the room. He held a small sack in one hand and his paper in the other.
“Corbyn,” Dianthe said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. His job is…well, it’s difficult, complex work, and I’d be good at it. It would be a challenge, true, but I’ve never backed down from a challenge, and the truth is, I think I’d like it. But it would take me away from all of you, and I’d hate that.” She paused for a moment and carefully studied her fingernails. “And it would take me away from Denys.”
No one spoke for a moment. Finally, Sienne said, “Have you…made up your mind? About marrying him?”
“Thank you for not challenging me on not mentioning it to you,” Dianthe said dryly. “He only asked me two weeks ago, before we went to the Lepporo estate, and then everything was so busy…well, you know what happened. But now…I think we should wait a while longer. This business with the murder charge has showed us both we need to be more careful of our relationship. We need time to get past the misconceptions we both had. However, you should all know I do intend to marry him. I’m just not sure when.”
Sienne rose and flung her arms around Dianthe. “I’m so happy for you!”
Alaric laid the book down. “So am I,” he said.
Dianthe laughed. “You are not.”
“I’m happy for your happiness. I’m sorry I’m selfish enough to want to know what that means for us.”
“Well, I won’t live here anymore, that’s for sure,” Dianthe said, “but I don’t see why anything else has to change. Denys and I certainly can’t afford for me to sit around taking care of his house while he goes to work every night. And I love what I do. So I’ll still be part of the team.”
“That is good to know,” Kalanath said. “We would miss you.”
“Corbyn took it better than I thought,” Dianthe said. “He’s disappointed, but he had to admit nine years is a long time in a person’s life, and I’m not the same young woman who had to disappear from Sileas back then. If it hadn’t happened…my whole life would be different now. That’s such a strange feeling, to know I might have been another person.”
“Everyone can say that,” Alaric said. “It’s not everyone who has such a clear view of who that other person might have been.”
“I feel so good. Like I could float away, except I’d want to come down eventually.” Dianthe squeezed Sienne’s hand and released her. “So what have you all found?”
“Recipes, and rituals, and direction.” Alaric closed the book.
Sienne stood. “There’s plenty of time before dinner for me to make a first visit to the university library. You’ve given me pages worth of references. I’d like to see what I can find.”
“There’s no rush, Sienne.”
“I know, but—” Sienne let out an awkward laugh— “if I don’t do this quickly, I might lose my nerve.”
“Then we should go with you.”
“They won’t let you in unless you’re a student or a graduate of an affiliated school. You’d just wait around outside. Don’t worry, no one’s going to accost me and lock me up until my parents can arrive.”
“All right,” Alaric said, “but if you’re not back by dinnertime—”
“Storm the library for me.”
The afternoon was pleasantly warm, and Sienne had time during the short walk to the University of Fioretti grounds to dwell on all the unpleasant possibilities. For all her bold words, she really wasn’t sure what her reception would be. She’d visited the university twice on school trips, and been awed and inspired by the beautiful library. She’d never gone in her own name before. What if they didn’t believe she was who she said she was? She was certain Stravanus didn’t send lists of its graduates to all the other institutes of higher learning in Rafellin. Well, if they turned her away, her team would at least know where they stood.
The university was a collection of red-roofed buildings east of the palace, which crouched on its island like a lion guarding Fioretti. Unique in Fioretti, which had a long history of repurposing buildings far beyond their initial design, the university had been designed by a single hand and constructed about one hundred and fifty years before. It bore the marks of that period: lots of arches, lots of marble, and bas-reliefs rather than statuary. Even if her family had been able to afford to send her there after her schooling in Stravanus was complete, Sienne didn’t think she’d have wanted to go. The place was cold and forbidding, suggesting that those who studied there were aloof from the concerns of the warm, human world.
The edifice housing the library was a three-story terror with three peaked roofs above round windows, which in turn lay above a row of arches defining a colonnade circling the second floor. There were three doors, two of which, Sienne knew, were for the use of faculty and graduate students. The third was the main entrance. Sienne swallowed a nervous lump in her throat and opened the door.
There was no entrance chamber; the door opened directly on the library. Sienne stopped inside the front door and gaped, not caring if it made her look like a back country yokel. She’d remembered correctly the smell of a hundred thousand books, rich and welcoming like a High Winter garland or her father’s rose garden. She’d remembered how brightly lit the place was, with magic lights outshining the sunlight that would damage the older, frailer books. What she’d forgotten was how big the place was: three stories of galleries filled to bursting with books, two doors leading to the annex that had been added forty years earlier, pillars holding up the galleries and long tables filling the center of the hall where people sat and read or took notes.
She breathed in the scent again and felt a sense of peace envelop her. She’d never been an outstanding student except where magic and languages were involved, but this made her wish she was a true scholar.
She walked forward to a lectern where stood a red-gowned academic flipping the pages of a book. “May I help you?” the woman said, adjusting her spectacles on her narrow nose.
“I’d like to use the library,” Sienne said. “My name is Sienne Verannus. I’m a graduate of Stravanus.”
The librarian raised one thin eyebrow. “Verannus? Are you related to Duke Pontus Verannus?”
“He’s my father.”
“I see. And you went to school in Stravanus.”
“I graduated almost two years ago. I don’t…I didn’t bring any proof of that.”
The woman waved a hand dismissively. “Very few people claim credentials they don’t have. We’re more concerned that you treat the books well. Don’t worry, we won’t make you wait while we send off to Stravanus for your records.” She smiled, a thin-lipped but pleasant smile. “Have you used our library before?”
“Only visited. But they explained your system.”
“Do you need more help than that? We’re short on staff today, but I’m sure someone can show you around.”
“No, I think I can manage.” She felt wary of revealing what she was looking for. The whole situation made her nervous that they’d change their minds and throw her out, the nice librarian notwithstanding.
“Very well. The catalogues are along the back wall, along with paper and pencils. No ink pens allowed, and of course taking notes in the margins is forbidden. If you have need of a book for longer than a day, speak to me and we’ll arrange for it to be held for you. No reserving books for longer than six weeks. Do you have any questions?”
“Not yet.”
“Then—good luck, my lady.”
Sienne didn’t correct her form of address. Probably she was still entitled to the honorific, even if she felt she’d left it behind. She crossed the room, furtively peeking at what the other patrons were reading—she loved the feeling of kinship when she found someone reading a book she knew—and ended up facing the row of lecterns where the catalogues were kept.
The huge volumes, each three to four inches thick, gave her a fleeting feeling of despair that she would ever be able to find anything useful. They were labeled by subject—mathematics, linguistics, philosophy, and so forth—and their edges were ragged with pages that had been inserted after they were bound, to allow for writing in new acquisitions. Sienne realized in dismay that she didn’t know what subject a book about ancient, non-necromantic rituals would be catalogued under. She read the pages Alaric had given her. Mostly titles, a few authors, but no hint as to subjects. She’d just have to guess. Or read the entirety of every catalogue volume, she thought, and tried to suppress that little voice of pessimism.
She decided to start with the history catalogue, on the grounds that all of the books on her list were probably ancient. Some of the pages were printed, but after each printed page were three or four pages of handwritten entries. The university acquired books often, Sienne saw, and it was hard not to feel more despair when she saw just how many there were. She squashed that feeling into a corner of her mind and kept looking.
The sound of the university bell startled her out of the reading fugue she’d fallen into and made her drop her pencil. She bent to pick it up and found the librarian standing beside her. “We close in half an hour,” she said. “Did you not find what you were looking for?”
“Oh! No—I mean, yes, I did, but I wanted to be thorough—I think I should come back tomorrow.” She’d found, to her surprise, two of the titles Alaric had listed and exhausted the possibilities of the history catalogue. She also realized she was hungry. She returned the pencil to its bin, smiled at the librarian, and made her escape.
Two titles. Out of…she’d forgotten how many were on the list. And she’d only looked through one catalogue. It was more success than she’d dreamed possible. She had to fight the urge to skip all the way home.
Sunlight slanted low and in her eyes as she turned the corner onto Master Tersus’s street. The smell of roast pork wafted down the hall when she opened the back door. “Sienne?” Dianthe called out. “We were almost going to come looking for you.”
Her fingers were gray with pencil lead. “Just a minute,” she said, stepping into the bath house to wash up. She splashed water on her face as well, relieving her tired eyes.
The others were seated around the table when she entered the kitchen, and Leofus had just set down the pork roast in front of Alaric. Sienne took her seat next to him. “What did you find?” Alaric said. He took up knife and fork and began carving. “You have a look that says you found something.”
Sienne accepted a plate and passed it to Kalanath on her other side. “We’ll know tomorrow. But it’s a promising start.”
“I have to say I never thought scrapping would ever end up being research,” Dianthe said, taking her own plate, “but this isn’t the first time we’ve had to look up information on ruins. Not that these books are ruins. But the principle is the same.”
“Did anyone give you trouble over your name?” Perrin asked.
“No. But it’s only a matter of time before it gets out. I’ve decided not to worry about it.” Sienne took a bite of roast. It was juicy, and delicious as all Leofus’s meals were, and she savored it.
“Let’s hope it’s a long time coming,” Alaric said.
After dinner, Perrin said, “I believe I will go for a walk before bed. I—what is it?”
Kalanath blushed. “It is nothing.”
Sienne had caught the edge of the skeptical look Kalanath gave Perrin and agreed silently that it didn’t look like nothing.
“You wish to know what illicit things I do on my evening walks,” Perrin said. “It is nothing sinister, though were I to be discovered, I would be chastised. I go to see my children.”
“I thought you were disowned. Does your family let you do that?” Dianthe asked.
“Not at all. In the eyes of the law, I have no children. I observe them in secret.” Perrin laughed. “I probably look like a criminal, examining a rich house for points of entry, but I merely wish to know they are well.”
“How can anyone take your children from you?” Sienne exclaimed. “You’re their father. A law can’t change that.”
“Certainly not in my heart.” Perrin shrugged. “I likely should have told you sooner, on the chance that I am arrested one of these nights for loitering and you are summoned to pay my fine. But it is…humiliating.”
“It is not,” Sienne declared. “Any of us would do the same.”
“Just be careful,” Alaric said. “Lysander Delucco is a vindictive man. He might yet do worse than disinheriting you.”
“I am ever careful,” Perrin said, saluting him with a self-mocking smile. “I will return shortly.”
When he was gone, Kalanath said, “I did not think it would be that, but it is not a surprise. I will practice before bed. We have studied all day and I am restless.”
“And I’m off to see Denys. I’ll spend the night there, so don’t wait up,” Dianthe said.
“That leaves us,” Alaric said when the two left the kitchen. He put his arms around Sienne and pulled her close for a kiss. “Alone, and with nothing and no one demanding our time.”
Sienne was stricken with an unexpected shyness. She kissed him again to cover it and said, “So what shall we do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should look in your room,” Alaric said.
“My room? Is something there?”
“Go find out.”
Alaric’s mysterious smile sent Sienne up the stairs to her room. She pushed the door open and stopped, breathless. A beautiful dress, red like the heart of a rose, lay spread across her bed, its full skirts winking with sparkling crystals that would shine like diamonds under the lights of a dance hall. Its bodice scooped low enough that it would slide over her head easily. She walked forward and fingered the smooth satin. “Beautiful,” she said. “How did you know?”
“I see your face every time Dianthe goes out dancing with Renaldi,” Alaric said. She turned to look at him, standing in the doorway, and he smiled. “It’s true I’m not much for dancing, but anything you want that much, I’m happy to do for you.”
Sienne crossed the room and took his hand, pulling him fully into the bedroom and using her invisible fingers to shut the door. “I love it,” she said. “I love you. Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure. Go ahead and change, and I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
Looking up at him, at his eyes shining with love for her, her shyness evaporated. “Tomorrow night,” she said. “Tonight I have something else in mind.”
His eyebrows went up. “Then you’d better move that dress.”
Sienne’s invisible fingers whisked the beautiful dress off the bed and hung it neatly on a peg on the wall. “Is that what you had in mind?”
Alaric put his hands around her waist and lifted her, making her laugh before he stopped her laugh with a long, breathless kiss. “My love,” he said, “it’s just the beginning.”
Sienne’s Spellbook
Summonings:
Summonings affect the physical world and elements. They include all transportation spells.
Castle—trade places with someone else
Convey—teleport an object
Fog—obscuring mist
Jaunt—personal teleportation
Slick—conjure grease
Evocations:
Evocations deal with intangible elements like fire, air, and lightning.
Burn—ray of fire
Force—bolt of magical energy, hits with perfect accuracy
Scream—sonic attack, c
auses injury
Confusions:
Confusions affect what the senses perceive.
Camouflage—disguise an object’s shape, color, or texture
Cast—ventriloquism
Echo—auditory hallucinations
Imitate—change someone’s entire appearance
Mirage—visual hallucinations
Mirror—creates three identical duplicates of the caster
Shift—small alterations in appearance, such as eye or hair color
Transforms:
Transforms change an object or creature’s state, in small or large ways.
Break—shatters fragile things
Cat’s eye—true darkvision
Drift—feather fall
Fit (object)—shrink or enlarge an object; permanent
Fit (person)—shrink or enlarge a person; temporary
Gills—water breathing
Mud—transform stone to mud
Purge—transmute liquid
Sculpt—shape stone
Sharpen—improve sight or hearing
Voice—sound like someone else
The Small Magics
These can be done by any wizard without a spellbook, with virtually no limits.
Light
Spark
Mend
Create water
Breeze
Chill/warm liquid
Telekinesis (up to 6-7 pound weights)
Ghost sound
Ghostly form
Find true north
Open (used to manipulate a spellbook)
Invulnerability
About the Author
In addition to the Company of Strangers series, Melissa McShane is the author of more than twenty fantasy novels, including the novels of Tremontane, the first of which is Servant of the Crown; The Extraordinaries series, beginning with Burning Bright; and The Book of Secrets, first book in The Last Oracle series. She lives in the shelter of the mountains out West with her husband, four children and a niece, and four very needy cats. She wrote reviews and critical essays for many years before turning to fiction, which is much more fun than anyone ought to be allowed to have.
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