“Then I ask of this Council,” Talisid said. “Is there one among us willing to take on this charge?”
That was my cue. “I am willing,” I said, stepping forward.
“And what do you extend?”
“To teach her in lore and magic; to protect her from others and herself; to aid and sustain her whatever may come; and to take responsibility for her deeds for good or ill.”
“The offer of Mage Verus is accepted,” Talisid said. “I stand witness.”
“I stand witness,” Ilmarin said.
“Then it is agreed,” Talisid said. “This Council is adjourned.”
With the ceremony done, the atmosphere in the hall relaxed. Luna was approached by other mages and before long she was at the centre of a loose crowd of people. “I didn’t expect this many,” I said.
“It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise,” Talisid said. We were standing a little way to the side, watching from a distance, each of us holding a glass of wine. “You’re acquiring something of a reputation.”
“Really?”
“I didn’t say it was a good reputation,” Talisid said dryly. “You’re now suspected of having a hand in the disappearance of two separate Light mages. With good reason, I might add.”
“I could say they started it.”
“Somehow I don’t think that would help very much.”
Luna was talking with Ilmarin, with Sonder hovering nearby. The silver mist of Luna’s curse was more tightly concentrated than before, surrounding Luna in a radius of one arm’s length rather than two. The practice I’d made her put in seemed to have paid off. “They seem more interested in her, anyway.”
“Verus,” Talisid said. “It’s nothing to do with interest. Belthas had a well-deserved reputation as one of the most dangerous battle-mages in the country. That you had a disagreement with him is not a secret. People are expecting him to finish what he started. When he doesn’t return …”
I watched the crowd, not answering. “Ah, I’m sorry,” Talisid said. “Let me correct myself. If he doesn’t return … then a great many people are going to become very interested in you.”
“Can’t wait.”
“I expect some will be quite impressed,” Talisid said. “Possibly not for the reasons you’d like. But either way, you’re going to be quite famous. And your apprentice as well.”
I looked at Talisid sharply. He met my gaze, eyes calm. “You should probably spend some time considering the subject. I suspect that in the next-oh, let’s say two months or so-you’ll be approached by quite a few people with propositions for you. If I were you, I’d think carefully about how to respond.”
“And what about you, Talisid?” I said. “What do you get out of all this?”
Talisid looked back at me for a second, then smiled slightly. “Perhaps some day I’ll be able to tell you. Good night, Verus.”
I watched Talisid go.
It took the best part of an hour before Luna and Sonder could disengage themselves and make their way over to me. As Luna got out of range of the other mages, I saw her slump a little. “Whew,” Luna said as she reached me. “Alex, can you back off? This is hard.”
“I saw,” I said, keeping a safe distance. As Luna relaxed her control, the silver mist of her curse spread out again to its usual range. “Good job.”
“You thought I’d get the lines wrong, didn’t you?”
“I was starting to wonder if you’d even show up.”
“You’d be slow too if you had to do your clothes and hair without anyone else touching them.”
“Was everything okay with Anne?” Sonder asked.
Luna shook her head. “It was fine. She didn’t even ask why.” She gave me a half smile. “Didn’t invite Cinder?”
I laughed. Cinder had been as good as his word back on that night. Despite his injuries he’d brought Sonder and Luna back to London after I’d gone and even dropped them off at my shop. Then he’d taken Rachel with him, still unconscious, and vanished into the darkness. “Is it going to be okay?” Sonder said seriously. “I mean, none of the others are going to be coming after us, right?”
I shook my head. “Belthas is gone. His men don’t have any reason to come for us anymore. Same goes for Meredith. She was only in it for herself.”
“What about Levistus?” Luna said quietly.
Sonder glanced around, nervous, but no one was within earshot. The gathering was starting to break up, mages strolling towards the doors. “He was the one behind Belthas, right?” Luna said. “I mean, this is twice we’ve messed up his plans. He’s not going to be happy, is he?”
I nodded. “We can’t do anything about him. Not directly.” I smiled slightly. “But look on the bright side. Every time he’s taken a shot at us, it’s turned out badly for him. Maybe he’ll think twice before trying it again.”
Sonder looked around to see that the hall was all but empty. “Should we …?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s not keep her waiting.”
We travelled across London and onto the darkness of the Heath. A particularly stupid pair of muggers tried to squeeze some money out of us. That didn’t work out so well for them. After the brief interlude, we made our way to Arachne’s lair.
Walking back into Arachne’s cavern felt like coming home. The walls were covered with colours again, hangings and tapestries and rugs making a background of red and green and blue, while the furniture was as piled with clothes as it had ever been. The chairs and couches damaged in the attack had been replaced, and the blast marks on the floor had been cleaned away. Only in the side tunnel to the storerooms was there any sign of violence: Although the rubble had been cleared, there was a blackened gash in the roof where Garrick’s mines had brought it down.
It was the first time I’d been back inside. The dragon had given me another tooth-but one that had worked differently. When I used it on Arachne, she’d been transported, but I hadn’t. There’d been no way for me to know where she’d gone or if she was even alive. I’d had no choice but to leave, and when I next returned, the entrance to her lair had been sealed. I’d managed to talk to Arachne only once since then and I hadn’t seen her. I hoped she was all right.
The three of us moved a little way inside and then stopped. “Arachne?” Luna called. “Are you there?”
There was a moment’s silence-and then with a rustle, Arachne appeared from the tunnel, cobalt-blue highlights shining off her black body. “Luna, Alex!” Arachne called. “There you are! And who’s this?”
“Um, I’m Sonder.” Sonder gave an awkward little bow. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Of course, Alex has told me about everything you’ve done. And Luna, I hear I should be congratulating you?”
We clustered around Arachne and I reached out to stroke one of her legs. She looked as healthy and well as she’d ever been and I found myself smiling. Somehow, it felt as though everything was right again.
We stayed late that night. Arachne’s a charming host once you get over her appearance and it didn’t take her any time at all to put Sonder at his ease. It was the first time all of us had been in one place and able to relax and I’d forgotten how nice it felt. Luna was the focus of the evening, wanting to know everything she could about what being an apprentice would be like, and both Sonder and Arachne had a lot to tell her. Arachne’s seen whole generations of apprentices grow up and Sonder himself had only been a journeyman for less than a year. Oddly, I had almost as much to learn as Luna. I’d never seen much of the Light mage’s apprenticeship system-and the apprenticeship system I had seen was one that I was absolutely not going to inflict upon her. Luna wasn’t the only one who was going to need to learn some new tricks.
It was after midnight when Sonder started yawning, with Luna following a little way behind. After the third set of yawns I spoke up. “All right, kids. Time for bed.”
“Really?” Sonder said. He sounded disappointed; he’d been in the middle of quizzing Arachne about some obscure historical period I’d barely heard of.