Page 35 of Claiming the Tower (Council Mysteries #1)

“ W hen do you expect your friend back?” Papa looked up from his desk, taking a minute to stretch. “And would you pour me a glass of brandy, my dear?”

“Of course, Papa.” Hereswith stood up from where she’d been reading companionably on the sofa to go to the decanter.

It was Tuesday, which meant Bess had gone into Trellech for an afternoon at the Field.

And then to another gathering. “Some friends invited her for the evening. A small celebration for the first harvest, some people around her year at Schola.”

Hereswith herself would be going out in an hour for the White Horse celebration. Some future time, she might bring Bess. It wasn’t impossible or even entirely uncommon, especially the gatherings like Lammas that were about people coming together to turn the wheel to the harvest in the quieter ways.

“Ah.” Papa nodded once, which made Hereswith certain he had more to say.

She had not been his daughter for nearly forty years without having a sense of that.

She took her time pouring the brandy, then one for herself, before bringing the glass to him and setting it where he could reach it without effort.

It wasn’t until she sat down that Papa spoke again. “I like your friend.”

“I’m glad, since Mistress Marley is keeping you so much company.” Honestly, Papa was dancing around something. The question was what.

“And you like her as well.” That was not a question, and Hereswith just raised an eyebrow. Papa’s eyesight was not what it had been, but she was close enough the attitude and angle of her head would carry it.

“Papa.” Hereswith added the comment when he said nothing further.

“You smile, these days. Like your mother used to smile when she was happiest. The deep contentment.” Papa turned his hand palm up.

“You haven’t before. Not in years.” Then he reached for his glass, taking a sip and savouring it.

His Healer had advised him to be cautious about alcohol, which meant he drank lightly, but what he liked best. Hereswith was certainly not going to tell him no, especially when he was moderate compared to so many.

“Do I?” She supposed it would show. Not that Hereswith didn’t have friends, she did.

However, she had admittedly few people she felt she could relax around.

Marcus and William, when they were in private.

But of course, she and Marcus saw plenty of each other in the service of their work.

Other friends, it depended on her obligations, and theirs.

And most of them had children of an age to need time and attention when Hereswith was more likely to be free for a call.

“Oh, yes. Keep on doing it.” He then made what appeared to be a change of topic, and Hereswith rather thought he was making a particular point.

“Mistress Marley is quick on the uptake. That is a great deal of why I have resisted someone, of course. I can’t be wasting my time explaining things three times.

I’ve rather a lot of books to read before I die.

Can’t have the wrong sort of person looming. ”

“A long time from now, Papa, I hope,” Hereswith considered. “And still so formal?”

“She said she would be content with whatever I chose. Tell me why she makes you smile, and I will consider greater informality. Give her a pleasant surprise tomorrow.” Papa made it into a negotiation, and Hereswith snorted.

He’d done that all her life. He was where she’d begun to learn the diplomatic dance of proposal and counter, in aid of everyone getting something they wanted.

It meant that Hereswith considered what to say.

She honestly did not know what Papa would say if he knew it was more than friendship.

Or at least, that Hereswith was actively sorting out what she felt.

There was precious little in her life to compare it to.

She’d not had the experience of seeing her parents as a married couple as an adult, as most people did.

Her brothers were happy enough, she supposed, but in particular modes, neither of which she wanted to emulate.

“It’s a pleasure to make Bess happy.” Hereswith could start there.

“She’s had such a hard time of it. No big awful thing, other than the deaths of her parents, though that is certainly a significant loss.

But since then, she has, she has been a plant in poor ground, no one offering much in the way of sustenance.

I like to see her flourishing.” She risked, then, “You like to see me smile. I like to see her smile, it turns out. Or to share some pleasure. It was a delight to go to the Crystal Palace with her. All good company and better conversation. Far more enjoyable than going on my own, but also more enjoyable than it would have been with many friends.”

“This is where Horse House shapes you. Both.” Papa considered. “Owls, we do not care so for that. We care for the words and the facts and the research, not the bloom of contentment.”

“You care very well for my contentment, Papa. You have been supportive of my desires. You have challenged me to build the skills I need to claim my wants. And it is because of you I can speak the various languages of diplomacy.” She wrinkled her nose.

“Also Anglo-Saxon, which is not much use for that these days, but it makes a pleasant parlour trick at the occasional parties.”

Papa laughed. “So it does.” He seemed about to launch into one poem or another, and then waved a hand. “You know very well what I might quote, imagine it please. So, you wish Bess to flourish. Do you think that is here, in the months to come?” The name was deliberate this time.

“We’ve talked a little about it. What options she has.

She has talked to an agency, but for the moment, she prefers to be here and not seek another place.

I don’t know about after the Challenge. When we’ve talked about it, I think neither of us knows how to plan beyond that.

If I succeed, then having someone who can be here with you is even more important, I suspect.

Someone you enjoy and who we both trust. If I am not successful, well, it is still good for you to have company.

And Hargrave is finding it useful to spend his time seeing to your comfort in other ways. ”

“He’s a good man. And Bess is fine company. She does not fuss. If she chooses to find another employer, you are to get me someone who does not fuss. Someone intelligent and curious.”

“Yes, Papa.” It was easy enough to agree to, though Hereswith did not think companions with both those qualities were as numerous as they might be. On the other hand, Papa was quite right that that was what suited best.

There was silence again as Papa finished his brandy, taking his time with it. He set the glass down, a slight clunk against the wood, then cleared his throat. “And the Challenge?”

“Ask, Papa, please. You are the one who trained me to ask specific questions.”

He snorted, leaning back a little in his chair. “Are the preparations to your satisfaction? You have not told me all of it.”

“You would be bored by the dressmaker, Papa. And there are other things of that kind. Magistra Ventry— Blanch— has provided me with some advice, and that has been especially helpful from another woman. One who also does not duel with magic, not the way the word means.”

“You’re content with her advice?” Papa was probing now.

Hereswith considered. “I am certain she has a dozen reasons for suggesting I make the attempt. I believe she thinks I have a reasonable chance. She is—” She paused, considering how to lay out the ground.

“Blanch Ventry has a sharpness of attention that I find reassuring. She has standards, and she feels I can meet them. While I am certain she has a number of her own plots, the ones I can see mostly involve having a competent colleague in the future.”

“And your current work?” Papa leaned forward now.

“You could have asked that weeks ago.” Hereswith pointed that out. “Why didn’t you?”

“I wondered what you’d say about it. You haven’t, so I am now asking.” He shrugged. “Indulge my curiosity.”

Hereswith contemplated. “I am not, by nature, an ambitious woman. That sort ends up in Fox House or marries into it. But I want there to be competence in the world, for affairs to be sensibly run. I am not na?ve, I do not think that sense would prevent war or drought or famine or the hundreds of things people do to each other in hurt and greed and selfishness. But I like to think that somewhere, when it comes to the larger policies, the inducements and such, there is room for competence.” Now she looked away, across to the far corner of the room, a little out of focus.

“I have gone as far with that in the Ministry as I am likely to. I do not have the influence or pull to advance, and I am a woman. I would never be in the room where the larger decisions happen.”

“You are also not made to be the power behind the throne, as some women are,” Papa said, tapping a finger on his desk.

“That has generally worked better for queens and mothers of kings. I am decidedly neither. Nor likely to be, not that the kingship aspect is relevant. That river of power is also closed to me. The Council, however, there’s at least a chance.

I’m certain I will learn things that disappoint me there.

They are people, they are human. Vivian and Nimue, it’s not as if I don’t know a fair bit of gossip about most of their flaws.

And I have enough experience of the world to have a sense of what’s not said. ”

“You are a quick learner, my dear. You always have been.” Papa nodded.

“And you are right. There is no reason you should not make the attempt. Some risk, and that worries me, but you are a woman grown. And you have been a most thoughtful and diligent daughter.” He snorted, softly.

“Your brothers suggested I try to forbid you. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I understand how that would not get me anywhere.

” Then he stretched. “If you’d get Hargrave, my dear, I think I will go to bed early and leave you to your evening. ”

Hereswith nodded, taking the close of the conversation as a given, and went off to let Hargrave know it was time for that routine. From there, she claimed a shawl and went off through the portal, following the instructions to find the gathering spot for the night.

Some of the White Horse would stay until dawn.

She never did. She was not made for that particular kind of stamina.

And besides, she had tasks tomorrow that could not be put aside.

But she had a pleasant time with the food and drink.

Hereswith did her share in the dancing, moving from place to place in the ever-changing patterns and feeling the magic stir under her feet.

Perhaps one reason she liked the White Horse so much was that it felt like it did something solid.

So much of the rest of her life was words that might or might not become seeds of something in the distant future.

Past midnight, she came back to the house and climbed up to her rooms. Bess was settled there, hair in a braid, reading on the sofa. “A good evening?”

“Yes, it was. You? Oh, and I had a lovely conversation with Papa. He has decided he will begin calling you Bess, so you be suitably amused in the morning.”

“I believe I can manage that.” Bess came in, closing the door behind her. “He enjoys having time with you just— there.” Her voice quavered on the last word. “I’m glad someone has that.”

“The gathering was good and challenging all at once?” Hereswith had suspected that would be the case.

It had been made of people around Bess’s age in Horse, with different shapes to their lives that didn’t know what to do with Bess.

“I’m sorry you don’t. And I’m sorry for all the people who don’t have that kind of fondness from their parents.

Far too many people we both know. Right now, I’m glad he’s taken to you so well.

” Hereswith came around to the other end of the sofa.

Bess set her book aside and slipped her fingers into Hereswith’s hand. “He’s very pleasant.”

“Much better than your previous.” Hereswith tugged Bess a little closer with her fingers. “Papa made a point of noticing that I’ve been smiling a lot more. In a way he likes and approves of.”

“Oh?”

“Then he changed the topic— or made it seem like he was. Papa made a point that you were quick on the uptake, and not likely to loom in the wrong ways.”

“Do you— are you worried he?” Bess cut off then.

“I have been thinking about it since I set off back here. I know I said he wouldn’t notice, but I suppose he would notice me being happy.

Contented, deeply contented, as he put it.

Which I am. Besides the more visible parts of enjoying your company.

If you made me put it into words, it was about his approval, in all spheres. Without ever coming out and saying so.”

“Ah, well.” Bess took a breath. “Will you come to bed so we can talk for a little? You’ll be interested in some bits of the gossip.”

“Will you read to me for a bit after?” Hereswith liked that as well, the part where she could drift off to the sound of Bess’s voice.

“If you like.” Bess stepped back, so Hereswith could get up. Within a few minutes, they were curled up on Hereswith’s bed with the charmlights just bright enough to allow for reading comfortably.