The two guests settled back into their chairs. Alaric offered me his, but I sat on the hearthstone to warm myself.
“How were you able to take it?” Madame Sutton asked, demanded, really. She had the familiar look of resentment I’d seen from so many in my gender. I hadn’t expected that sort of reaction from this woman. She was obviously important on her own account, and if her title was accurate, married as well. Why did she care whether I was pretty or not?
I smiled politely anyway. “A good thief doesn’t reveal her methods.” I hoped the two would drop the subject. Instead, their eyes bore into me. I knew the look. They wanted something from me. And since they’d come to speak with me face to face, it was undoubtedly a mission no sane person would attempt.
“My dear,” Master Grey said, “so far you’ve only been biting at the heels of the nobility. It’s time to be more than an annoyance. It’s time to strike a death blow to the king.”
Strong words that, if overheard, would get one killed quickly.
I chastised myself for the thought. It was pointless to worry over words when my deeds were already sufficient to see me hanged a dozen times over. I swept my hair off my back and leaned closer to the fire. “You speak metaphorically of deathblows, I assume. I’m not an assassin.”
Many in the servant class believed our troubles came directly from the throne. King Leofric’s father and grandfather, after all, had raised the number of years that kept indentured servants tied to their masters from seven to twenty. When King Leofric had taken the throne ten years ago, he’d done nothing to ease the servants’ lot. I had no love for the man, but I had no death wish either. The king chose the most powerful wizards in the land for his protection. Not just one. Five. Any single wizard who tried to fight them would lose.
Madame Sutton gave me a patronizing, impatient smile. “No one would accuse you of being an assassin. In fact, we’ve noticed you’ve managed to steal from nobles without so much as even killing one of their guards. For that reason, some in our organization wonder about your methods. Some believe that only a person secretly working for the king could avoid capture as completely as you have.”
I flinched. Madame Sutton’s earlier expression wasn’t resentment. It was suspicion. I was so surprised by her accusations that I hardly knew how to defend myself. “Why would I work for the king and steal things for you?”
Madame Sutton laid her hands across her lap. “Money and power are the top reasons for betrayal, but there could be others.” Her eyes went over me again, like a shepherd about to shear wool from a flock. “What a pretty girl and yet you’ve no desire to settle down? Or do you have a secret beau we know nothing of?”
Not only was I under suspicion, an imagined boyfriend was also. I wondered when Madame Sutton thought I’d been courted by this illustrious person. “I find myself too busy in your service for such things.”
She made a huffing noise. But my personal life was none of their concern. I wasn’t about to tell her I’d stopped trusting men when Ronan sent me away.
I stood from the hearthstone. “If you no longer have confidence in my services, I’ll happily retire to Lady Edith’s estate and attend to the duties I’ve neglected there.” I’d always imagined the leaders of the renegades to be older versions of Alaric: a mixture of heroes and saints, ready to become martyrs to provide better lives for those who had no voice. Madame Sutton seemed no different than many of the noblewomen I’d met: disdainful and dismissive.
Master Grey held up his hands in a conciliatory manner. “Lady Marcella, we require your services more than ever, but we must be careful whom we trust. So, we’ll ask you again: How do you manage to get into noblemen’s chambers unseen?”
I’d never told anyone that I could wield magic. Women weren’t supposed to have it. Not even Alaric knew how I managed to accomplish the tasks he gave me.
Still, my superiors were waiting and had grown wary of me. I’d trusted the renegade leadership enough to risk my life for their cause, I could give them a vague admission. “I was raised in Docendum Castle.” It was the castle where the wizards instructed their apprentices. “I picked up some magic there that helps me steal.”
Madame Sutton outright scoffed. “Do you suppose us ignorant of wizardry? Magic can only be taught to those born with it, and unfortunately, only men are ever born with a wizarding mark. Are you saying you’re actually a man whosewizard’s mark was never discovered? I don’t see it on your neck. Have you cast a spell to hide it?”
I pursed my lips. It had been some time since I’d been openly mocked, and anger sparked in my chest, making my cheeks burn with its heat.
With one uttered incantation, I went invisible.
It was foolish to let her goad me into such an action, but when the three of them gaped in speechless astonishment, I felt triumphant anyway. Because what Madame Sutton had said was true. A wizarding mark was no normal trait like hair and eye color that any child could inherit. The mark was in the realm of beards and broad chests, only appearing in men, and even then, the trait was as rare as a unicorn. Usually, only one or two boys a year in all the country could boast of the sign that indicated they could use magic. For a few years, there had been no new boys at all.
Every parent checked their sons for birthmarks on their necks that would, as they grew older, darken and grow into the shape of a crescent moon. To have a son taught at Docendum Castle was not only an honor, it led to riches and power.
I spoke the invisibility counter spell and flashed back into the seen world. Alaric laughed and clapped at my performance. “Bravo, Marcella! But how is it possible? How did you learn magic?”
I couldn’t tell him the truth so I just smiled in a mysterious manner. “I’m a thief. I stole it.”
This was enough of an explanation for Master Grey. He grinned so wide I could see that one of his back teeth was missing. “Brilliant! We have the perfect agent. No one would ever suspect, let alone believe it—a woman with magic.”
Madame Sutton put her hand to her chest, still disbelieving. “How did you disappear? How could you possibly have magic?”
That was not a simple question and even thinking about it dragged me back to Docendum Castle.
There I was, ten years old, gangly and clumsy as a newborn calf, watching from the henhouse as the steward escorted the year’s new apprentice across the courtyard. Watching, though I didn’t know it, my whole life about to change.
CHAPTER 3
Eleven years earlier
On the dayI saw Ronan Clarke deposited at the courtyard of Docendum Castle, I wasn’t comely, but he certainly was. Even at twelve years old, he had a strong jaw and solid cheekbones. His black hair was as shiny as crows’ wings and his blue eyes shone like a summer wish. Confidence exuded in every footstep he took toward the castle. He hadn’t cried as I’d seen the boys last year do when their parents hugged them goodbye. He followed the steward into the castle, spilling out eager questions.