Chương 7: Chapter 6: The Cost of Choice

The reception began before Elizabeth's headache had properly faded. By the time she returned to the western hall, the awakening equipment had been cleared away. Long tables stood where the silver ring had been, musicians were setting a brisker pace from the gallery, and the flowers someone had brought in were sweet enough to make the back of her throat itch. Before she had taken six steps, an elderly woman caught Eleanor's attention.

"Lady Elizabeth. Congratulations. An Epic class at eleven is no small thing." The woman turned to Elizabeth.

"Experimentalist. Is that a kind of alchemist?"

"Not exactly." Eleanor's hand settled lightly between Elizabeth's shoulders.

"It's a research class," Elizabeth said.

"It develops through investigation and reliable discoveries."

"Ah." The woman nodded with sudden confidence.

"Experimental alchemy. I thought so." Elizabeth let her leave with that conclusion. It proved easier that way. A retired officer decided Experimentalist must involve the development of new combat magic. Another guest heard the word research and began talking about artificers. A baron congratulated Alistair on producing a daughter "suited to the royal laboratories," although Elizabeth had never mentioned laboratories at all. She stopped correcting them unless a mistake was likely to become inconvenient.

When someone asked directly, she said the class gave her a private research record, helped her structure experiments, and advanced through useful discoveries. That was enough to sound respectable without giving anyone a list of skills to carry away. Alistair heard several versions of the answer. He said nothing, but by the third conversation he was no longer speaking to the men around him. Eleanor guided Elizabeth towards the wall near one of the open windows.

"Sit down for a few minutes."

"I'm fine."

"You have a headache and you haven't eaten since breakfast. Sit." A nearby servant brought a chair before Elizabeth could decide whether arguing would draw more attention than obeying. Eleanor waited until she was seated, then went to intercept another cluster of guests. Alexander arrived with a plate a few minutes later. He handed it over without ceremony and took the chair beside her.

"Mother sent you?"

"She noticed you weren't eating. I was closer to the food." Elizabeth tore off a piece of bread.

"People are already asking whether you'll visit their institutes," he said.

"Lady Merton has funded alchemical work for years. She wants Father to bring you to one of the workshops outside the city."

"She doesn't know what my class does."

"Neither do we. That hasn't stopped her." Elizabeth glanced across the room. Lady Merton was speaking animatedly to Julian while Alistair listened to Duke Harcourt near the windows. Alexander followed her attention.

"Don't agree to anything today. You can disappoint people tomorrow, after you've slept." Elizabeth ate another piece of bread and said nothing. Adrian came over later, once his father had moved away from Alistair. He asked if he could sit, then spent several seconds adjusting the cuff of one sleeve before speaking.

"My father thinks the arrangement between our families may no longer make sense."

"Because Experimentalist isn't a magician class."

"That's what he said." His voice gave Elizabeth little to work with. He might have been relieved. He might have been embarrassed by having to tell her. He might simply have been repeating what an adult had told him because nobody else had bothered to discuss it with either of them.

"I'm sorry you had to be the one to say it," she said. Adrian gave a small shrug.

"I wasn't sure anyone else would." A moment later his father called him. Adrian stood, hesitated as if he had another sentence in mind, and left without saying it. Duke Harcourt departed not long afterwards. There was no announcement. He shook Alistair's hand, spoke politely to Eleanor, and left with his son while the musicians continued playing. Only a few guests seemed to notice. The reception dragged on for another hour.

By the end Elizabeth's cheek muscles hurt from smiling and the headache behind her eyes had settled into a steady pressure. When the final guests began leaving, a servant approached the family and said Alistair wanted them in his study. Thomas tried to follow.

"Upstairs," Eleanor told him.

"Why?"

"Because this is an adult discussion. Go." He appealed to Alexander, received no rescue, and left muttering. Marianne was not summoned at all. Alistair was behind his desk when Elizabeth entered. Eleanor took the chair nearest the fireplace. Alexander stood beside the mantel; Julian leaned against one of the bookcases. Elizabeth had barely closed the door before her father spoke.

"Harcourt has ended the discussion of marriage."

"I thought he might after the reception."

"Did the System offer you a magician class?" Alistair asked. There was little point pretending not to understand the question.

"Yes."

"What was it?" Elizabeth considered refusing. That would turn the answer into something larger than it needed to be.

"Prismatic Magician. Epic." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Alistair came out from behind the desk.

"You were offered an Epic magician class."

"Yes."

"After eleven years of preparation." Elizabeth kept her hands loose at her sides while he continued.

"Tutors, physicians, exposure crystals, every advantage we could provide," he said.

"You received the result those years were meant to produce, and you chose something none of us had ever heard of."

"I chose the class I thought was better."

"Better for what?"

"For what I intend to do with it." His hand struck her before she could say anything else. Her shoulder jerked a fraction too late. The blow caught the left side of her face and turned her head hard enough to fill one ear with a flat ringing sound. She tasted blood almost immediately. Elizabeth pressed her tongue along her teeth. Nothing loose. The jaw moved cleanly when she tested it, although the inside of her cheek had split against a molar. Her left eye watered.

She wiped it once, more irritated by the reflex than the pain. Then she became angry.

"Alistair." Eleanor had stood. He was still facing Elizabeth.

"You did this deliberately. You didn't want the Harcourt arrangement, so you waited until none of us could stop you."

"No."

"You expect me to believe you happened to reject the one class the arrangement depended on?"

"Adrian wasn't part of my decision."

"You're eleven." For one absurd moment Elizabeth considered explaining exactly how misleading that statement was. She did not. Alistair took another step towards her. Alexander moved away from the mantel.

"Father. Enough." Alistair turned on him.

"Stay out of this."

"You shouldn't have hit her." The words were quiet. Alexander did not move between them, but he was close enough now that Alistair would have to make a deliberate choice to continue. Eleanor had remained on her feet.

"She's already had a headache all afternoon," she said.

"Whatever you want from her, you can get it without doing that again." Alistair stared at Elizabeth for several seconds, then went back to the desk.

"Fine. What do you suggest we do with a research class nobody in this house knows how to train?" Alexander answered.

"Crownspire."

"No one here knows how to train Experimentalist," Alexander said.

"Crownspire will have people who at least know where to start."

"And she would be outside this house."

"She'd be a first-year. There are curfews, house staff, supervised practical rooms and instructors who report problems. You know what the place is like." Eleanor sat again.

"If she goes, I want Halvern to examine her before she leaves. And until someone understands this class, she does not experiment on herself without a physician or instructor present." Elizabeth turned her head towards her mother. Eleanor met the movement without apology.

"You heard me." Julian spoke from the shelves.

"The term starts in three weeks. A late petition now can be presented as a response to the class. If we wait, people will decide we kept her home because the awakening disappointed us." Alistair sat and rubbed one thumb along the edge of the desk. Alexander waited until he was seated.

"Vane recorded Experimentalist as Epic. That's what people will remember if we don't give them a reason to remember anything else." Alistair looked at Elizabeth.

"No one outside this room hears about Prismatic Magician. Or any other option you were offered."

"Understood."

"The same applies to your attributes and affinities. Experimentalist is an Epic research class. That is the public account." Elizabeth nodded. Alistair continued.

"I want a summary of the class before the end of the week. Not private System text. What you can safely disclose, what you intend to study, and what equipment you think you'll require. If Crownspire accepts you, you will send me a progress letter at the end of each month." Eleanor cut in.

"A progress letter. Not a demand for her System ledger." Alistair did not answer her directly.

"I expect to know whether House White is paying for useful work."

"I can report what I study and what I can demonstrate," Elizabeth said.

"Do that." He pulled a sheet of stationery towards him and wrote several lines before sanding the ink.

"If Crownspire accepts the petition, the steward will give you five hundred crowns before you leave. That is your initial academy allowance, for ordinary expenses and whatever reasonable materials you need. If you require more during the term, you ask." Elizabeth forgot about her cheek for a moment. Five hundred crowns was enough that she did not need a perfect understanding of local prices to recognise the scale of it. The books she had seen in household catalogues were priced in fractions of a crown.

Basic glassware cost less. Even specialised instruments that made servants complain about expense rarely approached sums like that. Alistair folded the paper.

"You will not arrive at Crownspire looking as though House White sent you there without means. Nor will you run debts in the family name because you decided some piece of laboratory equipment was essential."

"I understand."

"The steward will record the allowance when it is issued. Keep your own accounts. If you come back asking for more, I will want to know why." The money would be issued to her. Alistair could question a later request, but he would not see every purchase she made from the first sum. Elizabeth kept that to herself. Eleanor rose.

"Then we're finished with Elizabeth for tonight. She needs rest, not another hour in this room." Alistair gave a short nod and turned back to the letter in front of him. Eleanor remained by the desk as Elizabeth went to the door. Alexander stepped aside to let her pass, his attention dropping briefly to the swelling on her cheek, but he said nothing. The steward would give her five hundred crowns before departure. Anything beyond that would require another request.

By the time Elizabeth's hand reached the latch, she had already decided what she wanted first: a proper balance.