Page 17

“ H e laughed, Mama,” Miranda said as she picked up her embroidery from its resting place on the table by the window seat.

Against the combined advice of herself, Dominick, Tante Reina, and Thorpe, Lady Wodesby had insisted upon being moved from her bedchamber to the sunnier morning room in the front of the house.

Ensconced in a pile of pillows, with a bright blue turban upon her head, her mother made an exotic, if somewhat wan, appearance.

Thorpe was still making his displeasure known, stalking back and forth in a pelter, with his fur ruffled.

“When I told Lord Brand what it meant to be under Wodesby protection, he simply sat there and laughed until his sides were aching. Tante Reina was ready to wring his neck and by the Merlin, I was ready to let her do it.”

Lady Wodesby eased back into the mountain of cushions and gave a gurgle of laughter. “What I would not have given to be a fly on the wall, last night.”

“Do not even think of a transformation at this time, Mama,” Miranda said firmly, stabbing her needle into the cloth. “Not after what you did last night! To attempt a summoning hard upon the Weakness. When Damien hears of this!”

“Your brother will not hear of it from you, I presume.” her mother said, leaning forward sternly.

“Or you, Thorpe.” She fixed the cat with an annoyed glare.

“I find myself tiring of your hissing fits and when I think that I could have chosen a nice quiet toad for my companion, your tantrums become all the more wearisome. Now you may put your fur down, both of you. I did what I thought necessary and even Damien cannot gainsay me, for all that he is now Chief Mage of England.”

“I will keep my silence, Mama,” Miranda agreed, watching as Thorpe settled himself at her mother’s feet.

“And so will your familiar, but only because we know that you will have more than enough on your dish when Damien returns. He will be livid, I am sure, even if we succeed in keeping him ignorant of the risk that you took in getting him here. You were far too weak to expend the energy to contact him across the Void.”

Thorpe meowed in agreement.

“To send for him when he is needed at Wellington’s side is bad enough, but to do so because you have placed our seal upon a man like Lord Brand?

” Miranda continued, ignoring her mother’s frown.

“I cannot fathom your purpose in putting him under Wodesby protection. Why would you wish to support a man who would like nothing better than to make you into a laughingstock? He mocks all you are, reviles all that we believe in.”

“To the contrary, my love. He would unmask the charlatans who trade upon magic, who defame us by preying on the gullible,” Lady Wodesby said. “Is that not a worthy goal?”

“If that is indeed his goal,” Miranda said, doubt in every syllable.

“From what I see, he is bent on self-aggrandizement. While you slept this morning, I asked Dominick to see what he could discover about Lord Brand. What he has found is less than pleasing, you may be sure. Apparently, every servant in Town knows that Brand will pay for information. If milady or milord chooses to have a reading or a séance, it is worth the footman or maid’s while to make sure that Brand hears of it.

Naturally, his lordship somehow wheedles his way into the ritual. ”

“A difficulty to be sure, to read with a disbeliever present. But if one is truly Gifted, I see no harm to it,” Lady Wodesby allowed.

“No harm?” Miranda fumed. “All the mediums and card-readers in London are looking over their shoulders these days for fear that the marquess will defame them, not to mention the threat he poses to anyone who professes to have talents in finding, or dowsing, or reading the portents of the stars. Brand’s wager to expose Professor Gutmacher as a charlatan healer is the talk of London.

” She jabbed at her embroidery before setting it aside with a sigh.

“I thought initially that the marquess was beyond the common run, but he is no different from Lord Petersham and his snuff boxes for each day, or the Green Man, who dresses entirely in verdant color clothing. It would seem that magic is Lord Brand’s means of calling attention to himself. ”

“You seem rather disappointed,” Lady Wodesby said, watching her daughter’s expression carefully.

“Disappointed? Why should I be disappointed, Mama? I have long ago learned to expect nothing from those people who style themselves the cream of society. It is the results of Lord Brand’s public affectations that disturb me,” Miranda said, trying to convince herself that her feelings were no more than just outrage.

She chose a color from the basket of threads and tried to slip it through the eye of the needle, but her hand trembled.

“With every false mage that he reveals, are there not fewer people who will put faith in magic at all? How many wise women are losing their custom to physicians, men who often kill more than they cure and then charge dearly for the privilege? Due to people like Brand and their mockery, May Day becomes nothing more than a chance for bawdy frolic. The old ways disappear, becoming no more than hollow ceremony.”

“And you blame Lord Brand for all that? My what a busy man he must be, to hear you speak he has singlehandedly destroyed the old worship,” her mother chuckled as she took the needle and thread from her daughter’s hand and handed it back ready to resume stitchery.

“How can you make light of this, Mama?” Miranda asked, taking up the needlework frame again. “After all that has been lost since King James began his witch hunt after the death of Elizabeth.”

Fire ignited in the core of Lady Wodesby’s jade eyes.

“Do you dare think that I would be flippant about such matters? Your Great-grandmother LeFey very nearly went to the block and, were it not for a hefty bribe, would have been beheaded. But much as you might desire, you cannot turn back time to those days before the Great Persecution. It was not the halcyon era that you young ones wish to believe, though it might seem so. T’was not all virgins dancing round a Maypole. ”

“I know that,” Miranda said. “It is just that things seemed so much simpler.”

“Seemed is the key word, my dear,” Lady Wodesby said, her tones softening.

“King James might have been the igniting spark, but do not forget that it was we who built our own pyre. There were many who abused their Gifts, some who sought power and wealth through the darker side of our art. The Black Grimoire , with its instructions for human sacrifice and its violations of Nature’s covenants, is not the invention of a twisted fancy, but the receipt book for evil. ”

“But so few have ever—" Miranda protested.

“A few were all that were needed, a few whose selfish actions sufficed to give the odor of truth to the calumnies that our enemies brought against us. Witchkind stood back and did not intervene to stop the corruption in our midst, as was our obligation. For that arrogance, we have paid dearly and many innocents perished with us. Remember that child. Remember that for the few who prostituted the Gift, others paid the price, some were men, but mostly it was women who suffered.”

“And their only crime was to be odd, or old and without protection,” Miranda said softly, knotting her thread and securing a stitch. “I know.”

“Aye, child, I am well aware of the extent of your knowledge,” Lady Wodesby said, pride in her voice. “But do not be so quick to condemn a man who sees deceit and thinks to right it.”

“Lord Brand is wrongheaded and arrogant,” Miranda asserted, her needle flashing as it pierced the linen again.

“I have yet to meet a man worth knowing who does not sometimes exhibit those traits,” Lady Wodesby said.

“Martin is never arrogant and I have never known him to be the least bit stubborn,” Miranda said.

“You prove my point, my love,” Lady Wodesby said with a gentle laugh.

“But let us not speak of Martin when there are more important matters to discuss. Will he or nil he, Lord Brand is under the shield of Wodesby protection. However, in my present condition, my capabilities are limited. Until Damien arrives, we must contrive some means of keeping Lawrie’s nephew under safeguard. Perhaps a warding spell . . .”

“No!” Miranda said firmly. “You will not even charm so much as a wart, Mama. I have taken the liberty of putting your Tarot away for safekeeping and after last night, I sincerely doubt that you could even begin to try a cardless reading again. So we are safe on that score.”

Lady Wodesby nearly exploded in fury. “How did you dare do such a deed? You will return my cards, young lady, at once! There are portents that must be probed immediately.”

“So, Thorpe was correct in his assessment,” Miranda said, catching an ‘I told you so’ look in the cat’s eye. “This morning he was entirely certain that you would seek to scry the signs and be entirely heedless of your well-being. How could you be so foolish?”

Lady Wodesby’s eyes narrowed as she regarded Thorpe with a look of disgust. “‘Choose a toad,’ my Mother told me, ‘they are mild, compliant, unobtrusive creatures who cause no trouble. Cats are the most capricious and devious of familiars.’ But did I listen, fool that I was?” her Mama muttered between clenched teeth, “I elected to befriend a furry turncoat.”

The cat quietly padded to the fireplace, his look of feline amusement doing little to calm his mistress’s temper.

“I assure you, that my thoughts were galloping along the same road as Thorpe’s,” Miranda said, taking a deep breath; better for the bombs to burst all at once.

Her mother might as well know the full measure of her family’s perfidy.

“However, I also removed your athame, herbs, and talismans for safekeeping before the Tarot occurred to me.”