Page 26 of Claiming the Tower (Council Mysteries #1)
H ereswith was deep in the final details for the next day.
She and Marcus were invited to a garden party, followed by hosting a supper here at the house for a select group.
A decidedly select group, since of course the dining room here only seated twelve comfortably at the most. It was not the most intricate of their summer plans, but it had several delicate points.
Everything needed to be correctly managed and deliberate.
Marcus had gone out for a round of visits to his clubs.
That was also a necessary activity, and one that Hereswith could not do for him.
Not here in London. And of course, in Trellech, he was a member at the Owlery and also Wishton’s, where they overlapped.
The London clubs barely admitted women to the guest dining room, and that only under strict observation.
When he got back, they’d go out to supper and be visible.
She was most of the way through confirming the final lists when she heard his knock on the door. Without turning her head, she said, “Urgent?”
“Letter with a Council seal on it, so yes?” His voice was more bemused than worried, though.
It was more than enough for Hereswith to make a quick note of where to pick up with her work and swivel in the chair to face him, picking up the letter opener with her right hand as she moved. “Anything else?”
“A few notes about next fortnight, it looks like. Nothing pressing.” Marcus considered, then sat in his own desk chair.
The room was set up for that, desks for both of them, one on either side of the window that looked out to the street.
They didn’t do most serious work here, but it was sometimes handy for both of them to work through invitations and letters in the same place.
And she could scarcely go to his office tucked into the Foreign Office’s realm and do anything.
Now Hereswith could focus on the letter in her hand. First, she touched the seal, and was startled when it gave way in her hand. “Did you touch this?”
“It was addressed to you, so no. Not other than bringing it up. Nothing with the seal.” Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Charmed, then?”
Hereswith nodded, looking closely now. She pulled out two folded sheets of paper, unfolding them to reveal exquisite copperplate writing.
Hereswith’s own hand was entirely competent, better than competent, but this was a thing of beauty.
Used for what, at first, appeared to be trivial correspondence.
Then she stared at it, her eyes widening. “May I read this out to you, Marcus?”
“It was sealed. Is it private?”
“It— well. It comments on my judgement, and I judge I will be better off if I read it to you.” She glanced up.
Marcus nodded once, and she went on. “The letter is from Council Member Ventry. It begins with the usual proper greetings and pleasantries. She then says,” Hereswith took a breath and began quoting, doing her best to let her voice fall into the right rhythm.
“Having had the opportunity to review your notes, I commend your attention to detail and to including context that far too many ignore. Your eye for the historical considerations does you credit, and my compliments to your father for his training in that matter. It is certainly not something you learned from the current Ministry standards.”
“As I said, you have her attention.” Marcus leaned forward. “She’s not wrong about either your eye or your father.”
“Papa will indeed be pleased. She gives a number of specifics, then— you can guess well enough, we can come back to them. She ends with, let’s see.
” Hereswith took a breath, figuring out where to pick up.
“Should you wish a different environment for your skills, I believe you would be a credit to a number of lines of work. Your current superiors do not, I believe, understand what they ought to value.”
“That’s it?” Marcus tilted his head. “Not that that’s not complimentary, though you could hardly share it at the office. Given how she’s accurately naming their flaws.”
“There’s another sheet.” Hereswith pulled out the second one, much briefer. She had to blink at it several times, certain her eyes were deceiving her. “It has the information for making a Council Challenge. Briefly. Entirely too briefly.”
Marcus grunted, the sort of human and uncontrolled sound he never permitted himself in working hours. “Oh.”
“Don’t go ‘oh’ at me like that.” Hereswith put the letter down, pushed her chair back, and moved to walk a little.
The room they used as a study was long enough she could make a circle behind the small sofa and back.
Even if her skirts took up more of the space than made that entirely easy. “She can’t be saying that.”
“I was thinking it was actually rather blunt. She is not a woman known for saying things she doesn’t mean. She is not outright proposing you, is she?” Marcus didn’t move to look at the letter, so apparently he was more than a trifle uncertain of its impact as well.I’
“Not exactly. Or at least not, not in that letter?” Hereswith hesitated.
“More as if she is laying out the line of thought and seeing whether I will bite.” She added, off-handedly.
“Papa, in his younger years, enjoyed fishing, and I would go with him. It’s like that.
Quiet and intent and you don’t know what will happen. ”
“That, at least, seems entirely in keeping with her mien.” Marcus took a careful breath. “Do you want to?”
“I don’t have enough information to know what I want.
” She glanced up. “No idea of the protocol of it, what the rules are. The actual rules, and the silly rules that will bite if they’re not tended to, and certainly not the nuances of how a given choice might be read.
You know what I’m like about that.” Hereswith took a step back, so she could see all of him better, the way he was sitting. “What do you think?”
“I think—” Marcus’s hand was gripping the side of his desk, hard enough she could see the tension in his hand. “I think I will miss having you as a partner in diplomacy.”
It made her step back again, staring at him. “You can’t mean that.”
“If you decide to do this, you will give it your all. You always do. And if Magistra Ventry suggested it, even obliquely, she must think you stand a chance. She has far more information about what is involved than either of us does. That’s in the shape of what she’s said, making a path.
” Marcus was, fundamentally, a ritualist. “Besides, I’d give you better odds than the names I’ve heard so far. ”
“Who else?” Hereswith had not, in all honesty, really been keeping track. She had been distracted by Bess, and by the war, and by her work, not necessarily in precisely that order.
“Groves was going on at Wishton’s the other night about getting duelling robes made up. Tight breeches and all.” Marcus shook his head. “He has the body for it, but not the skills, I’m sure.”
“If it comes down to duelling, I certainly will not be successful,” Hereswith pointed out. “Not unless we are discussing duels conducted solely in floriography or perhaps unusual silverware utensils. I do know my way around an oyster fork or an aspic spoon.”
“Council Member Harrington wasn’t a duellist. He was a ritualist.” Marcus considered. “I could do a bit of research for you on that front. I know he published a handful of monographs.”
“The sort of thing the Owlery has in the library?” Hereswith asked, hopefully. “That might be useful, yes. And anything that looks like it’s actually got some solid foundation about the Challenges themselves.”
“Your wish is my borrowing list,” Marcus said, amiably.
“I meant it, though. I think you’ve a good chance.
” He took a breath, then went on, deliberately.
“You can’t deny you’ve been increasingly unhappy.
I don’t want to lose you, but you’re wasted on at least half of what we’re doing right now.
I’m not at all certain that’s going to improve.
” He stood up. “We have plans today and tomorrow. Go home after that and talk to your father and whoever else about it. I will find you books. You can think about putting your name in. The Challenge is what, end of August?”
“End of August.” Herewith took a breath. “Do you mind if I go home tonight, overnight?”
“No. After we’ve done the necessary.” He pushed himself upright. “Shall we go get ready for that?” He came closer. She offered her hand, and he made a slight bow over it. “Remember me fondly in the future.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Of course she was fond of him. He was a solid partner in what they did, in ways she appreciated more every time she had to deal with anyone else.
Late that night, after three hours of visible dining and conversational chatter with a dozen other people of the diplomatic set, Hereswith had made her way back to Verdant Court.
She wasn’t sure if Bess would still be up, but the light was on in the study.
Hereswith knocked lightly on the door. “Bess?”
“I didn’t expect you tonight.” Bess looked at her. “Is there anything wrong?”
“Could you make tea while I change? There’s something I’d like to talk out with you.
” Bess nodded and Hereswith went into the bedroom.
She had to fumble and contort herself and use three charms to manage this dress, but she didn’t want to bother any of the maids to come up.
Or Bess. After a little of wriggling, she got herself out of the various layers and into a nightgown and her favourite wrap.
It felt better to be home for this, at least. She’d made the right choice coming back, even if it meant an early morning tomorrow and more fuss.