“I have known my desires since I was a boy, even before I showed promise,” Bacchus explained. “I have not faltered from my chosen path.”
He fought the desire to twitch under the scrutiny of eleven pairs of eyes.
“Indeed. Another admirable quality.” Master Phillips nodded. He folded his hands against the edge of his pedestal wall. “Your résumé and references speak for themselves, Mr. Kelsey. The assembly has discussed your petition previously, and we have agreed to approve your promotion to mastership.”
A bubble of pride swelled in Bacchus’s chest. All he had to do now was learn a master spell—prove he could absorb it—under the eye of an assembly member, and the title would be his.
“However, your request for the master ambulation spell is denied.”
The bubble popped, and it took every bit of Bacchus’s will not to let his shoulders slump. Not to look as though he’d been punched in the gut. Not to show his anger.
His throat tightened as he said, “I thank you kindly for the approval.” He bowed, if only to buy himself a few seconds to sort out his tangled thoughts. “Forgive my impertinence, but why have I been denied the requested spell? I do not ask for any others.” Desperation drove him to ask. It would be virtually impossible for someone to guess the words to a spell, which were both lengthy and in Latin. Certain spells could be acquired directly from spellmakers or opus collectors, but master spells tended to be dangerous, and were thus much more closely regulated. There was, of course, the illegal route, but the punishment for misusing magic in any way was hard and swift, and any aspector caught doing it would immediately lose his license, assuming he didn’t lose his head as well. “I will not drain any of the atheneum’s resources. I will not share the knowledge with any, save on the bed of my death.”
His mastership meant nothing if he did not have that ambulation spell.
His future would mean nothing, too.
“It is a powerful spell. Rare, valuable. As you know,” Master Phillips replied. He appeared to be looking just over Bacchus’s head rather than at his eyes.
“I am aware.” Bacchus carefully measured out his words. He could not unball his fists, so he stowed them behind his back. “But I do not request it for the sake of its rarity. It would prove very useful at my estate.” Not a lie. “I will compensate the atheneum generously and the drops, of course, will come from my own pocket.”
One could not master even a novice spell without paying for it in aspector drops—the universe’s wizarding currency—but Bacchus had been saving a long time. He was prepared for that.
“I do not doubt its usefulness, young man,” Master Phillips replied, “but the master ambulation spell is a treasure of the atheneum. It must stay among its people.”
His brow twitched. “Pardon?” He’d been a student of this atheneum since his childhood.
Master Phillips sighed very much like a parent tired of scolding his child. “Although none can dispute your talent, you are not truly of this atheneum, Mr. Kelsey. You are not one of us. Your request is denied. However, were you to make a substantial donation to the atheneum, we could work out another master-level spell for your repertoire and provide the necessary witness.”
Bacchus’s muscles tightened to steel. He understood every unspoken word. “My father was just as English as you, Master Phillips. And as stated by the assembly, my aspector lineage is pure.” Though they likely knew he was a bastard, and he did not doubt they’d gossiped about it prior to his visit. “The London Physical Atheneum administered all my prior testing.”
Master Phillips picked up a gavel and struck it against the edge of the wall. “Thank you, Mr. Kelsey. You are dismissed.”
His steel muscles instantly turned to pudding. That was it? He could not defend himself? Yet every defense surfacing in his tumbling mind would not win the favor of this court. No, the words piling upon his tongue were laced with anger; if he spoke any of them, he’d likely lose the chance of promotion entirely. So he kept silent as the assembly members rose from their seats and began filing out through a back door. The only person to give him a second glance was Master Ruth Hill. The pity in her eyes left a sour taste in his mouth.
The door behind him opened, his guards expectant. They forced his retreat, but this battle wasn’t over. One way or another, Bacchus would get his spell, the atheneum be damned.
He’d have to tell the duke he was extending his stay.
CHAPTER 5
Mr. Ogden had forgotten his trowels.
Emmeline discovered the error not thirty minutes after Ogden departed for another day of work at Squire Douglas Hughes’s estate. He’d left the plaster-stained bag by the front door—and then exited out the back. Elsie wasn’t sure he was plastering today, but if the man had taken the effort to stick the bag where he’d thought he wouldn’t forget it, then he must need it for something. And though Elsie was loath to get any closer to the squire than was absolutely necessary, she would be more loath if Ogden lost the job and could no longer fund her own. So she took the bag, holding it away from her so as not to get bits of dried plaster on her dress, and crossed Brookley to the squire’s home.
Squire Hughes’s home was very much like himself. Distant from the riffraff, gaudy in appearance, and generally pointless. Elsie’s sides were stitching by the time she arrived. Unwilling to wait in the line of servants at the back door, she decided a direct approach would be best. Striding up to the front door, she slammed the iron knocker against it.
It took a minute, but the butler answered the door, and Mr. Parker, the squire’s steward, approached as it was being opened, dismissing the butler with a nod of his head. Mr. Parker was an older man, with white hair and a well-fed belly. He dressed primly, if a little out of fashion, and had a receding hairline that was quite symmetrical. He was one of the few tolerable people in the squire’s employ, though during her time as a scullery maid here, Elsie hadn’t interacted with him often.
He blinked in surprise. “Miss Camden! How may I help you?”
She was surprised he remembered her. She looked different now than she had as a dirty eleven-year-old scrubbing dishes, and she very rarely saw the steward in town. Hefting the bag, she said, “I’m afraid Mr. Ogden forgot his trowels.”
She needn’t explain further—the steward nodded sagely and invited her in. “He’s just this way.” Once they reached a well-polished set of stairs, he added, “Would you like me to carry this?”
She would indeed, but it struck her that she’d have little reason to stay if she handed over the bag. If she’d walked all the way here, she might as well get a good look at the squire’s accommodations. See if he’d changed anything. Hidden anything. To sate her curiosity.
“I’m fond of the exercise, Mr. Parker.” She smiled. He looked only a little perplexed as he offered her a gracious nod and led the way through the house.
It was a far larger house than a simple squire should have, in Elsie’s opinion—more suitable to a baron. The sparse yet costly décor had not changed, nor did it seem to have aged, although her perspective was slightly different since she’d grown several inches in the interim. It struck her that perhaps the squire had kept things the same because he had not yet managed to convince a woman to marry him and refresh the place. All wood was polished, all windows were free of smudges. Every light fixture seemed dotted with crystal. Something with thyme in it was being baked in the kitchen, but Mr. Parker led her into the courtyard before she could determine what.