“In peace, without the interference of others.” I strode off and joined Cyclops who stood alone, trying to look inconspicuous near another potted palm on the opposite side of the room. “You look bored.”
“These ain’t my people, India.”
“They’re not mine, either.” I sighed. “I’m sorry I dragged you here. We’ll leave as soon as the lecture is over.”
“Is that the toymaker magician?” he asked, nodding at Mr. Trentham.
It was the man behind Mr. Trentham who caught my attention. Oscar stood alone, his icy glare directed at Louisa and Fabian, speaking quietly to one another. She looked relieved at something Fabian said and shifted closer to him. She fingered his lapel before lightly pressing her hand to it.
Oscar stiffened and marched off. He did not head towards them but corralled Lord Coyle by the door. I could no longer see Oscar’s face, but from the way Lord Coyle’s nostrils flared, I suspected he was confronting his lordship over his involvement in Oscar’s dismissal from the newspaper.
It was the very thing Louisa asked Oscar not to do tonight.
Lord Coyle folded both hands over the head of his walking stick and shook his head. He said something to Oscar then went to move off.
Oscar grabbed his arm. Coyle glared down at it, but Oscar did not let go. By now, several guests had stopped their conversations and watched.
“It wasn’t me!” Lord Coyle bellowed.
“Wasn’t it?” Oscar asked, voice also raised. “It seems like the sort of thing you’d do to force me to give up the book.”
“You have given it up, so you tell everyone. Or is that not the case?”
All conversations stopped and an eerie hush blanketed the room. Louisa had gone very still. She appeared frozen to the spot, but I suspected I was the only one who noticed. Everyone else’s attention was on her fiancé and Lord Coyle.
“You’re a fool if you think it was me, Barratt.” Coyle had lowered his voice but it was still audible in the quiet room. “Why would I want you dismissed from the paper when that would give you more time to work on the book?” Lord Coyle smacked the end of his walking stick into Oscar’s shin. “Out of my way.”
Oscar’s chest heaved with his unsteady breaths. For one heart-stopping moment I thought he’d assault Lord Coyle. I’d never considered Oscar to be a violent man, but being dismissed from the Gazette had clearly rattled him. When added to his troubles with Louisa, it might cause him to be frustrated enough to lash out.
Louisa clapped her hands to get our attention. “Time for the lecture, everyone! Mr. Trentham, would you like to make your way to the front.”
Footmen positioned chairs into rows as Louisa directed Mr. Trentham where to stand.
I sat near the back and Fabian occupied the chair beside me. “That was a curious show between Barratt and Coyle,” he said. “Did Coyle lie about having Barratt dismissed, do you think?”
“It’s difficult to say.” I tried not to look at either Oscar or Lord Coyle and directed my gaze ahead. “He is a good liar.”
“And capable of costing a man his work.” Fabian clicked his tongue. “I despise him. He cares for no one but himself. But Barratt should not have confronted him here. Not in front of everyone.”
“Louisa asked Oscar not to.”
Fabian frowned. “Then why did he?”
“Why indeed?” The only explanation I could come up with was frustration and perhaps jealousy. When Oscar had seen Louisa touching Fabian’s lapel in an intimate gesture, he’d done the very thing he knew would get her attention.
If he was jealous then that meant he loved her. Perhaps he wasn’t marrying her simply for her money, after all. It explained why he continued with the engagement when he’d abandoned the book and no longer needed her money.
Poor Oscar. Louisa only had eyes for Fabian.
Fabian leaned closer to me. “There is a madness in the air tonight. Do you feel it, India?”
“A little. Why did you come? I thought you were trying to avoid Louisa.”
His dark eyes sparkled. “She sent me a message this afternoon to say you would be here. Of course I want to come to see my friend. I miss you.”
I chuckled. “You mean you miss making spells with me.”
He pressed a hand to his heart and fought against a smile. “You wound me, India. I miss my friend.”
“You can call on me whenever you like. Just because we’re no longer creating spells together doesn’t mean we can’t see one another.”
“I do not wish to make Glass jealous of me.”
I laughed. “You’re so French, Fabian. I assure you, Matt won’t get jealous.”
“Then I promise to call on you.” He turned to face the front where the toymaker was inspecting the contents of the trunk while the rest of the audience took their seats. “His magic is curious but not strong. He wants to meet you, very much.”
“I’ll talk to him later, but I won’t create a spell with him.”
“I was not asking you to. You must come to me if you change your mind. I will not trouble you.” He sounded genuinely disappointed in me for thinking he would.
“Sorry, Fabian.” An uncomfortable silence filled the space between us which Fabian thankfully broke after a moment.
“I can bring you the carpet, if you like. I retrieved it from the field near Brighton. It was dirty but my servants cleaned it.”
“It’s your rug, Fabian. You keep it.”
“But your magic made it fly.”
“Yours too. I couldn’t have managed it without your iron magic in the supports. Besides, I have nowhere to put it.” I glanced at Lord Coyle, seated two rows in front. “Whatever you do, don’t let his lordship know he didn’t buy it.”
He smiled slyly. “I would never. Tricking him makes me happy.”
I smiled too. “It does give one a sense of satisfaction. Speaking of that spell, I’ve been meaning to ask you for it.”
“You wish to keep it?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Will you destroy it?”
I hesitated before saying, “I don’t know.”
There was nothing to stop Fabian making a copy before he gave it to me, so it didn’t matter if I destroyed it. I couldn’t imagine Fabian bringing himself to release the one and only written copy of our flying carpet spell, no matter how many times he said it was mine to do with as I wished. I suspected he would keep it simply for the sakes of future studies into magic. He couldn’t use it himself; his magic couldn’t make the rug fly, only the iron supports beneath it. Iron and wood magic needed to be used in conjunction with our new spell to make the whole structure fly.
“I will bring it to you tomorrow,” he said.
Louisa called for quiet then introduced Mr. Trentham.
During the applause, Fabian bent his head to mine and whispered, “Perhaps you will use the spell to create another in secret.”
I stared at his refined profile as he watched Mr. Trentham. This was one of those times when it was impossible to know if Fabian was teasing me. While he’d been upset when I first told him I no longer wanted to create new spells with him, I thought he’d come to accept it. But his response seemed to say that he held out hope I would change my mind. Fortunately he did not pressure me to change it. I liked Fabian and I didn’t want to argue with him or have to stop seeing him altogether.