Page 38 of By Mistake
"Not at all," she replied breezily, like they and everyone around them weren't aware he'd only gotten all those invitations because nobody would dare ignore someone loudly declared a friend of the royal family."Come, come, let's get you introduced to everyone, shall we?"Her smile was pleasant, but didn't entirely reach her eyes.He was another duty on her list, which he was more than fine with.
He braced himself as she took his arm and led him into the crowd, introducing him to so many people that his head spun trying to keep all the names straight.Someone pushed a cup of punch into his hands, and it was strong enough to worsen the head-spinning and add some floating on top.He hadn't wanted to drink, had barely drunk anything beyond cheap wine and perhaps two shots of even cheaper liquor that hopeful men had bought him before starting in on the groping.
Eventually, after dance number…something, he begged needing to refresh himself and slipped away into the many hedges lining the area where the party was taking place.Strange for there to be this amount of space in a city home, but the Whyte family was as old as the city itself, and they'd made certain to secure an enormous tract of land before the rest of it got broken up and parceled out.It seemed wasteful, but then again it would have only gone to yet another fancy mansion so was a garden really the worse of the two?
Unfortunately, just as he found the perfect little nook to hide in, complete with cover from the light snow and chilly wind, it was to find that someone else was already there, bundled up against the weather and clearly enjoying his solitude.
He looked to be about Andrus's age, with light brown skin and dark brown hair cut unfashionably short and severely tousled.There were glasses tucked into the front pocket of his blue velvet jacket, and beside him on the bench was a tray of food and drink.
He looked up and froze, eyes widening."You—"
"Can I hide here with you?Please?Just a few minutes, and I'll leave before anyone comes to find me."
The man relaxed at that, giving a small huff of amusement."Enjoying yourself then?Lord Bothwell, I presume?You should hear the things they say when you're not around."
"Oh, I can imagine," Andrus said, relaxing so abruptly he nearly fell over, dropping onto the bench with a sigh."Uppity little tart is probably the nicest thing they say.Friend of the king, being courted by Prince Oresti—"
"You'rewhat," the man hissed, dropping his book, staring at him wide-eyed."Prince Oresti?Son of the king's favorite wife?Who has refused hundreds of suits and shows up to events maybe three times a year and no one knows where he goes otherwise?That Prince Oresti?Iscourtingyou?"
"Is there a second one running around somewhere?Yes, that one."
"Don't let the unmarried crowd catch wind of that without a wall of bodyguards between them and you," the man said as he retrieved his book, delicately brushing off the snow."My brother alone will do alarmingly violent things to you as he still has delusions of making His Highness fall madly in love with him.A homeless, starving dog wouldn't fall in love with that—" He stopped, face flushing."Sorry, here I am gossiping about my brother while displaying no manners of my own."
"I don't have siblings, so I can't commiserate, but my understanding is they are often vexing.I'm Andrus, obviously.You look very much like my dear hostess."
That got him a grin in reply."She is indeed my mother.It's my brother, Lanse, then me, Coret, and finally my sister, Masha."
"Coret, a pleasure to meet you.What are you reading?"
He closed the book and offered it, almost seeming amused."A book about demons; snuck it out of the restricted section, since I don't have the required license quite yet.Academic interest only.I'm not looking to summon anything.I'd be lucky to manage summoning a teaspoon."
"Summoning is not to be trifled with, that is true," Andrus said.He flipped carefully through the pages of the old, delicate book."How did you smuggle it out?Surely there must be wards and the like."
Mischief sparkled in Coret's eyes."I can't go spilling my secrets to someone I just met."
"Well, that just seems unreasonable."
Coret laughed."So how did you and His Highness meet?"
"At a market, actually.I was buying groceries, he was doing his princely things, our paths crossed by pure chance."
"You know people have bribed staff and more just to get close to him for five minutes, right?The moment the rumor gets out he's courting you…"
"Why do you think I'm searching out hiding spots already?"
Grinning, Coret offered up his wine glass."Good luck, my friend.For what it's worth, my mother isn't a bad sort.Strategic as any general at war, but she doesn't approve of backstabbing and the like, so you can trust her.My brother is going to be married off if my mother has to drag him to the temple herself, and my sister's wedding is in six months, and she is constantly throwing potential suitors at me.She's determined to find someone I like more than my books."
"Worse things to love than books.Why demons?"
"My dissertation for my crown mastery was on summoning, specifically the fatality rate of high level summons and why it is.I don't think it's as simple as 'overtaxing the body' as has always just been believed.Nobody even studied it when it first happened, just made an assumption and everyone stuck to it."
"Fascinating," Andrus said.Also fascinating that Coret already had a crown mastery.As far as Andrus knew, it normally took scholars until their thirties to achieve that."So what's your theory?"
Coret's face lit up, and it really wasn't hard to tell that people didn't ask him about his interests very often, or at least not with any sincerity."I think it's external energy, after a fashion.Sort of like when you've been in your cool house all day, and then when you step outside you're struck by a massive wall of summer heat."
"Or you've been freezing all day in the winter weather and stand by a fire, and it's almost painful to thaw out.That is terribly clever."
"Thank you.Unfortunately, absolutely no studies have been done on this sort of thing, and I don't think it's one or the other, I think it's both—summoning is taxing on the body, and it's met with that blast of heat, so to speak, and the combination does the killing.With no previous studies of any sort done, though, I'm stuck with what I can glean from accounts of other things, essays on magic in general, records of past summonings…" He lifted the book, and once again seemed faintly amused by something as he met Andrus's gaze."This one is a history of the few times that any of the Five has been summoned.Fascinating stuff.Kressen of the Blood has been summoned three times that we know of.Hashti of the Shadow, Tashka of the Marrow, Renik of the Hunt….Four to six times each.Shimari of the Harvest, though… only once that we know of.Strange how the others have been brought forth so many times, relatively speaking, but Shimari of the Harvest… makes you wonder how terrifying he is, even compared to his brethren."
