Chương 19

The current seasonal countermark sat beneath the address, exactly where it ought to have been. Elara ran her thumb over the mark before allowing herself to read further. The paper had arrived from Veymoor stiff from its leather cover, with the proper household cypher worked into the heading. Her father's seal had sunk deep into the red wax. Even the pressure was familiar. This is real. The thought came too quickly. Elara checked the countermark again.

Dorr waited behind his desk with his hands folded over the edge of his writing slope. Beyond his half-open door, a clerk sorted documents at the outer counter. Paper brushed paper in a steady whisper. A lean young woman stood by the window in a plain wool skirt, ink staining her fingertips as she hugged a heavy document case and waited to be admitted. Elara had come straight from class.

She still had her notes beneath one arm, and the ache behind her eyes from practise had returned during the walk through the crowded corridors. It receded now. Her jaw unclenched. Then her grip tightened around the letter hard enough to bend one corner.

"The courier?" she asked.

"We verified each stage of his route independently," Dorr said.

"He departed from Veymoor's lower barracks with the dispatch entered at the Gate Hall. The relay records agree with his account." Nodding, Elara broke the seal. Lord Casmir's handwriting crossed the page in narrow, disciplined lines, each one set beneath the last like men formed for inspection. To the Lady Elara Vey, seventh daughter of Lord Casmir Vey, presently resident at the Academy in Asterhall, under charter.

Daughter, Word of the assault upon your escort reached Veymoor by the Academy's courier, and the registry's request for confirmation four days after it. Both have been examined. This House answers once, so that the matter may be closed. No recall order was issued. No replacement escort was authorised. No instruction concerning your person has left this House since the escort contract sealed at Concord.

The document presented to you under our arms is a counterfeit, and the counterfeiting of this seal is an injury House Vey will pursue by its own means and in its own time. You are not required to concern yourself with this. It is directed as follows. First. You will remain within the Academy charter and under its protections for the duration of your enrolment. Your petition for provisional sanctuary was correct under the circumstances and is hereby ratified as an act of the House. Second.

Mistress Saye will preserve the false order, its seal, and every paper touching the journey, intact and unaltered, and will render copies to the registry and to the House's legal office at Aldenmere. Third. You will cooperate with the Academy's inquiry in all particulars proper to it, and volunteer nothing beyond them. Fourth. No further instruction touching your person is to be honoured, by you or by any member of your household, unless it bears the relevant authentications.

Any party presenting itself at the gates under household credentials outside these conditions is to be reported to the wardens and refused. The House expects that your conduct, in studies as in this affair, will give no one further occasion to write about you.

Given at Veymoor, under the Lady Day mark of the house, and in my own hand Casmir, Lord Vey Margrave of the Gloam March, Warden of Veyr Pass Elara could almost picture the Gate Hall beneath the family apartments, its tables crowded with reports from the pass and the signal towers. Her father would have read this one among petitions, toll accounts and garrison returns. Nothing in the writing suggested haste or any form of elevated concern.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"The supposed escort never arrived?" she asked.

"No one presented the forged order at the south gate." Dorr drew a narrow file towards him.

"The guardrooms, inspection court and registration desks were watched from the moment your sanctuary request was entered. Whoever intended to collect you appears to have withdrawn once the document came under formal examination." Nodding, her thumb found the rough edge of the broken seal. The wax pressed into her skin. She cleared her throat, though nothing obstructed it, and rubbed the top edge of the paper together in case she had missed a second page folded beneath the first. There was only one sheet.

Dorr looked down at his slope. It was a small courtesy. She did not look up. Her father believed her. He wanted her protected inside the Academy. He had confirmed that she had acted correctly, which was more praise than she commonly received from him in person. She wasn't particularly sure what to make of that.

"Lady Elara?"

"I am quite well." The answer arrived with embarrassing speed. She looked up.

"You mentioned new procedures." Dorr slid a written notice across the desk. Further household orders concerning Elara would require a current cypher, independent confirmation of the courier's route and a reply through a second channel chosen by the Academy. Until those checks were complete, no recall could remove her from the district.

"That should make another attempt considerably harder," he said.

"How reassuring for whoever next tries." Dorr's mouth moved at one corner.

"Quite." Elara gathered her class notes. The authenticated letter remained under her hand.

"May I take this?"

"Though it is addressed to you, the registry will require either the original or an attested copy for the inquiry." She looked once more at her father's final sentence. Correct under the circumstances still gave her nothing to feel.

"I will have Mistress Saye send you a copy."

"Very well, my lady." Everyone was in the sitting room when she arrived. Mirelle sat at the writing desk with household accounts open before her. Nessa was mending a cuff by the window. Cal occupied a chair near the door, one long leg stretched out as he polished a dagger. His grey sash was tied correctly today, and the bronze badge at his left hip caught the late light. They looked up together.

"Veymoor has answered," Elara said. Nessa's needle stopped in the cloth. Mirelle rose.

"Are you certain?"

"Completely." Elara gave her the letter. Mirelle read it standing, one hand resting on the desk. Her gaze paused at the last paragraph. Then she handed the page to Cal. He looked at it without taking it.

"This concerns the recall order," Elara said.

"You were in the infirmary when it arrived."

"Recall order?" His face remained half-lidded, though his outstretched hand stilled. Elara explained the forged instruction and the promised escort, but held off on the seasonal error that had prompted her to require the Academy verify it. Cal listened without interruption. When she finished, he accepted the page and read it in its entirety.

"I could have sworn you were aware," Mirelle mused.

"I wasn't."

"The timing was close to your warning about House Agnew." Cal returned the letter to Elara.

"I warned you about what I knew. I hadn't the faintest idea of this." Which remained very little that he could explain. Elara had learned where further questions led: a shrug, a silence or a statement too blunt to be useful.

"The escort seemed to have disappeared when word broke that I had invoked sanctuary," she said.

"No one came to the gate." Cal's attention remained on the letter.

"Sensible of them." Nessa put the cuff down.

"Sensible?"

"They avoided being arrested."

"Yes, I understood that part."

"Then we agree." Nessa stared at him. Cal leaned back, apparently satisfied with the exchange. When Nessa wouldn't stop staring, he asked, "Don't you have a letter for Lady Elara?" To that, the girl made a small choking noise. Curious, Elara turned.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, my lady."

"Nessa." The maid glared at Cal, who merely arched a brow in response. A moment later, she looked down at the cuff in her lap, then towards the side table. Beneath a folded napkin sat a silver-edged card.

"There may have been an invitation for you," Nessa said. Mirelle closed her eyes for one brief moment. Then sighed.

"How long has that been there?" Elara asked.

"Since before midday."

"You forgot it?"

"I had other duties." Elara held out her hand. Nessa surrendered the card with the air of someone returning a knife to its owner. Seraphine's name appeared across the front in a fine, fashionable hand. The invitation announced an upper-year welcome salon the following evening, with music, light refreshment and an opportunity for newly arrived students to meet established members of the Academy. A handwritten addition filled the lower margin. Elara should bring her 'interesting new retainer.'

She passed the card to Mirelle. Mirelle read it. Nessa watched her. Cal remained by the door until Mirelle handed the invitation across. He sighed loudly. The room went still.

"Master Rook," Mirelle said.

"Mistress Saye."

"You are in Lady Elara's sitting room."

"I noticed."

"Then perhaps you might restrain yourself from responding to her correspondence as though you had been assigned an extra watch in the rain." Cal examined the silver border.

"I simply tire of the needless entanglements nobles enjoy getting themselves involved in." Nessa covered her mouth. Her shoulders moved once. Elara looked down at her document case. A smile would be improper. Worse, Mirelle would see it. Elara pressed her lips together until the danger passed.

"We do not enjoy it," Mirelle said. Cal glanced at the invitation.

"Of course."

"Seraphine expects me to refuse," Elara said. Her voice came out clipped enough to end the discussion.

"If I do, she will describe my absence however she pleases." Mirelle's attention returned to her.

"And if you attend, she will try to provoke one or both of you."

"Yes."

"The salon will be full of her friends."

"I am aware." The card lay between Cal's fingers, silver edge flashing whenever he turned it. Seraphine had written it in her own handwriting and sent it into Elara's household. Elara reached for it.

"I shall accept." Cal released the invitation. Then he sighed again, shorter this time. Mirelle drew herself upright.

"You gave an oath to preserve Lady Elara's person and lawful confidence. I trust that includes preserving her dignity where possible.'

"I'll be on my best behaviour."

"Hmph! You'd better."