Page 75 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
I frowned. “Yes, I do. She fled from you for the very same reason.”
“I was never violent.”
I waited. There had to be more. My mother had run from him for years, well after Lord Coyle died.
Finally, he gave in. He cleared his throat. “I admit I was…cruel to her in other, non-physical, ways. I took advantage of her anger and fear at the situation she’d found herself in, and her youth and loneliness. I let my feelings about women in general color my interactions with her. I was angry, too, at finding myself in that predicament. Coupled with the fact that I had to hide my natural instincts when it came to loving men rather than women,andhide my magic, as we all had to in those days…Ilashed out at someone weaker than myself. I realized later that I should have protected her, should have talked to her. If I’d been willing to be her friend, perhaps we could have found a way to be content. We had James, after all. But I won’t take the entire blame. She wasn’t willing to try either.”
“She’d been raised with a violent father and a mother who turned the other cheek. She didn’t know how to love.”
I’d meant it as an accusation against his lack of understanding for her situation, but he seemed to think I was absolving him from blame entirely. “Shewasrather difficult. I suppose you’re wondering why Coyle chose us to be parents when we were clearly not suited.”
“Is it not merely because you two owed him considerable favors?”
“That, and your mother’s silver magic. It’s incredibly rare. Some thought it had disappeared altogether. Did you say James inherited it?”
“We never discussed magic, but he alluded to it in his diary.”
“Pity,” he muttered.
I didn’t know if he meant it was a pity James had died before he could learn more about his own ability, or that he’d inherited silver magic and not paper. “Did Coyle demand my mother use her magic to create silver pieces for him?”
“Most likely, but not for financial gain. He simply liked to possess magician-made objects. He was a collector. He appreciated them.”
“Are there other couples like you and my mother? Magician couples blackmailed by Coyle into having children?”
“I’m quite sure we were the first, although I suspect we wouldn’t have been the last.”
“His death put an end to his plans,” I murmured.
“If it hadn’t, bringing magic out of the shadows would have. Giving magicians freedom from persecution would have diminished the power Coyle had over them.”
“You mean the freedom that Gabe’s parents were instrumental in bringing about? As a magician, you would have been free, too, if you hadn’t attacked Gabe’s mother and needed to go into hiding.”
His lips flattened. “Ironic, isn’t it?”
As ironic as the fact my very existence was thanks to Lord Coyle, a man who’d caused Gabe’s parents so much trouble.
Melville pulled the journal toward him and opened it. “You should study this closely. We can practice the spells together, if you like. You seem intelligent, so I’m sure you’ll pick up the nuances in the language quickly.” He flipped through the pages until he stopped at the moving spell. “You should learn to control flying paper first. It’s perhaps the most important spell.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Not if you learn to control it. It’s a weapon, and like any weapon, it can be used to protect yourself. I want you to be safe out on the streets, Sylvia. There are some evil men out there.”
I watched him carefully, but he showed no sign of recognizing the irony this time. “My mother taught me some self-defense moves.”
“So I noticed. Now it’s my turn to teach you other ways to protect yourself. No one expects paper to be turned into a weapon, so the element of surprise will work in your favor.”
“I have already used it, as it happens. It was effective, but chaotic. I’ll practice focusing until I’ve learned to control it.”
I thought he’d be pleased to hear my promise, but he looked concerned. “You had to use it? What happened?”
I’d not wanted to go into it, but I’d come this far and I didn’t want to brush him off entirely. “A corrupt bookmaker namedThurlow abducted me in an attempt to lure Gabe, for reasons I don’t really want to go into.”
“Abducted you!” He reached across the table, but I withdrew my hands before he could touch them.
I crossed my arms. “I escaped by using loose paper to cut him and his assistants.” I touched the cut on my neck. It no longer stung, and I’d quite forgotten about it in the turmoil of the previous two days.
“Well done, Sylvia. I like that you’re a capable woman, not a silly flibbertigibbet.”
