I warn Elsie as well, once she appears in the dining hall and joins and Edward. Though I think she might be in a different kind of danger to the rest of us. Because Mildred still sees her as a potential follower, rather than a sworn enemy.
“But… why would she join the Reformists in the first place?” Elsie asks. “If she hates their policies.”
It’s a reasonable question. Mildred is not a reasonable person. “Because she wanted to be relevant. Important. Powerful. And she thought that if Carling’s gambit worked, it would offer her that.”
Elsie stares blankly at . “That’s… stupid.”
“Yup,” says Edward.
I think I see her problem. She thinks it’s stupid enough that she couldn’t imagine soone doing it. Especially not Mildred, who is not stupid, whatever else she may be.
“You think Ariana Carling manipulated her?”
I shrug. “Probably. To so extent. It’s hard to be sure.” I don’t entirely want to know, either. Though it would probably be useful, to have a better understanding of what Carling is capable of.
Classes that day are unremarkable, even Countering Magical Effects. Electra is nicer than usual, which makes a little uneasy. I’m not the only one; Edward confidently predicts that she’ll have a surprise test or so brutal practical exercises in store for us next lesson.
I have lunch with Robin, as I promised her I would. It’s a little awkward, especially since I can’t help being conscious of Edward’s eyes boring into from across the dining hall. After a while the conversation turns to her asking questions about my family, about my childhood, and eventually more personal things.
“I’ve heard of Genford,” she says. “So noble families send their daughters there, if they don’t want to pay for tutors. Not the Siaril families, though. Education looks a little different when you know the child will beco a magician.”
“That makes sense,” I agree, thinking of the advantages those families have. Of how different my life would be if I had been able to prepare for the last few months.
“Did you like it there?”
My first instinct is to laugh bitterly, and my second to give a polite lie or half-truth. I suppress both and pause. “No,” I say. “I never belonged there.” The admission is a little scary, but also freeing.
“And yet now you’re… with Edward.”
“Would you say Edward is similar to your average rich girl?”
She laughs. “I suppose not. It just seems unlikely.” She’s right, but it still stings a little to hear her say that. “How did you two beco friends in the first place?”
I pause, wondering for the first ti what her motive for all these questions is. Whether she’s still looking for information about Edward. Half-truths it is, I decide. “He was the first student I t here. And I was probably the first student he t here who wasn’t… well.”
“From one of the Siaril families.”
“Yeah. I guess we just stuck together because of that, to make things less awkward, in the beginning. And then we realised we kind of liked each other’s company.”
In reality it was probably a lot more Electra’s scheming that initially brought us together, and gave us what in stars’ nas is this woman doing and how concerned should we be? in common. But I don’t want Robin connecting us to Electra and wondering what exactly she found interesting about us. Even though that particular incident has nothing to do with the anomaly.
Robin shrugs. “Fair enough. Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked about Edward, given the circumstances.”
I don’t reply, because I can’t honestly tell her that it’s fine.
“If it’s not too personal – were you bullied, at Genford? Is that why…”
Why you Fell? That might be a little too personal. “I wasn’t bullied. But I was… excluded, I think.”
There was the occasional an remark, yes, but people didn’t go out of their way to be nasty to . It was more that most people there barely acknowledged my existence. All the conversations about luxurious enchanted goods my family could never afford. All the slacking off on tests when I always knew I couldn’t do that and stay at Genford. All the parties no-one bothered to invite to.
“It was just…” I pause, trying to think how to explain that in a few simple words. “Everyone else there was so different from . They lived in a different world, almost. And no-one cared enough to try and include in it.”
“You know what it’s like, then. To be the one who’s always left out. To be the one no-one notices and cares about.”
I understand a little better why she was asking so many questions, hearing that. “I do. Yes.”
“That explains so things.”
Why I’m sitting with her now, she ans, instead of with Edward and the others. Why I’m not giving up on her despite what she did. Is that the explanation? I hadn’t thought about it in that way before. But I suppose in so ways it is. If I hadn’t been through that, would I have noticed how she felt in the Regal, and done sothing about it?
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She might be right. But part of hopes she isn’t. Because I want to believe that people can try to help others without having experienced the sa problems. Because it makes a little sad, to see how she’s desperately searching for an explanation for sothing that shouldn’t need explanation.
In the evening, for the first ti since I got back, I don’t have anything urgent to do. Well, that probably depends how I’m defining urgent. But I have so amount of choice in what I do next, at least.
I decide that I should start on my research of Ernest Hampton and his nephew, the man who killed John. I want so understanding of exactly how much influence they have, and of who their enemies are. I hate the idea that sothing like this could beco just another turn in the endless political ga. But stars, if that’s what it takes to get justice, to start sothing that could beco real change… I’m prepared to play.
If my actions – well, Tara’s, more likely – are going to have political repercussions, I ought to talk to Lord Blackthorn about it first. I don’t particularly want to, but after the Regal I’ll probably have to compromise with him more. I’m hoping that the more I give him what he wants when it’s not that important to , the more I’ll be able to go against him when it matters.
Not that any amount of credibility I build up will be enough if he finds out my secrets.
But anyway… the Academy library’s weakness is that it doesn’t have that many recent books on topics other than magic, and in particular tells nothing about Ernest Hampton. So I’ll have to find other sources. The City Library will probably have what I need, but finding a ti when it’s open and I’m not in classes is another challenge. Which ans I have to turn to my consultant on political matters.
“Edward. Tell everything you know about Ernest Hampton.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“No. But you’re not talking out of it.”
“Promise you won’t do anything that will reflect negatively on the Blackthorns with this?”
“It would be hard for to do anything that would make your family’s reputation worse than, you know, your father is doing.”
“I’m serious, Tallulah.”
“Fine. I promise.”
“Good. What do you want to know?”
I’ve thought before that Edward is utterly disinterested in politics. He’s not. He’s studied it extensively – sohow, despite the fact he’s spent most of his life studying magic – and he knows about more or less every notable political figure from the last three decades. Including quite a bit of information that isn’t strictly public, which ans he has to be careful what exactly he tells . He understands how Parliant works, he has his thoughts on the political dramas currently unfolding and their implications.
He just doesn’t want anything to do with it. It’s an academic exercise, a curiosity, soone else’s problem, a waste of ti that could be better spent on magic.
But he’s happy to help , at least, and in that way I get a lot of the information I need. The only struggle is getting him to slow down enough for to take notes. I realise as he talks just how much I don’t know about recent politics. After the ti I’ve spent in Georgiana’s company, I’m probably better equipped to talk about the political situation leading up to the Second Civil War than about the political situation right now.
But soday this will be history, too. I wonder what future historians will make of Carling’s attempt to form a minority governnt. An exercise in futility, or a sign of things to co? What issues will they focus on, when they’re writing about the political conflicts of the early 1040s?
While that’s an interesting question to ponder, it’s not relevant to the problem I have at the mont, which is trying to understand what Edward is telling . Ernest Hampton is retired from politics now, but he’s still a well-respected figure.
A friend of the King, so Edward tells . He doesn’t need to remind that when the King is the highest court of appeal, that could make things a lot harder. Or that many lords and nobles let their opinions on most matters be determined by the King’s. And his only real political enemies were the most ardent of the Reformists.
It doesn’t look good. But there is one flicker of hope. “So of these Reformists are still active in politics?” I ask.
“A few. The only one still doing anything of note would be one Victor Wilson.”
“I’ve heard the na sowhere before,” I say. “He’s a spokesperson for the United Reformists now?”
“On education,” Edward agrees. “He was deputy leader of a smaller reformist party until he defected to the United Reformists about six months ago. Which, by what I’m sure is a complete coincidence, is around when Ariana Carling first beca a notable figure.”
“You don’t think it’s a complete coincidence,” I say.
“Not many people do,” he agrees. “He’s one of the pri candidates for the power behind Carling’s throne.”
“Do you think he is that?” I ask.
Edward hesitates for a long mont. “My opinion on that question is biased by non-public information. So I shouldn’t comnt.”
I sigh. “Fine. But you think he’d want sothing like this to beco public? If it beca a scandal about Ernest Hampton?”
“Oh, absolutely. It would be a major victory for him and the Reformists. A major blow against the establishnt. Which is exactly why you can’t work with him.”
“…you might need to spell that out for in more detail.” I could probably work it out for myself, given enough ti, but I know Edward is going to want to say it anyway. So this is quicker.
“If the King supports his friend, then those who break this scandal and use it as a political weapon would earn his disfavour.”
“Which would include .” That’s not ideal. It’s a bit of a scary thought, honestly. But if I’m honest, it doesn’t imdiately make want to abort the whole idea.
“Yes. And you are known to be my friend. Which ans your only real connection to politics is through the Blackthorns. Which ans that your actions will inevitably be connected to those of the Blackthorns.”
“…which ans that the King will be annoyed at your father?”
“If that’s the way you insist on phrasing it, yes. And that? Cannot be allowed to happen.”
I blink. I’m vaguely aware that with the number of enemies Lord Blackthorn has, the only way he still has a job is that the King is not among that number. I just hadn’t realised my actions had the power to jeopardise that. I still can’t quite believe that’s the case, even hearing Edward spell it out.
“So… what do you propose I do instead?” I ask.
“Well, ideally I’d suggest choosing a case with fewer political associations, but…”
But he doesn’t think I’d listen to that suggestion. And he’s not entirely wrong. Practically speaking it does make sense to pick my battles, to focus on Malaina rather than the reputation of a forr Pri Minister. At the sa ti, though, I feel as if not fighting this particular battle is a concession to the idea that power and influence are more important than law and morality.
“…it should be fine if you’re very deliberately apolitical about it. No working directly with this Victor, and if he or the Reformists try to use it for political points – “
“This isn’t about politics,” I say. “It’s about the fact a boy was unjustly killed.”
“Exactly.”
That’s not true, not really. I’m learning that everything is political. But it’s close enough to the truth that I can live with it.
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