Page 30 of Claiming the Tower
“I was sent out like a small child sent to bed with no supper. For pointing some of this out, because people kept ignoring it. I should have done that better.” There were questions to be asked there, eventually, but Bess didn’t interrupt and Hereswith continued. “A few minutes later, they sent Marcus out, and as he and I were trying to figure out our next steps, Magistra Ventry came to speak to me. She permitted him to stay. You see the distinction?”
“Yes. And?” That did not yet seem entirely terrifying.
“She came in, she spoke with us. But there was something odd about it. She drank most of a cup of tea when neither Marcus nor I noticed. She had a whole string of questions. Excellent questions, well-informed ones, thoughtful. But she did not tell us much, of course.”
“I gather that of everyone on the Council, Magistra Ventry is perhaps least likely to be gratuitously informative.” Bess tried to keep her tone light and failed. “What happened then?”
“Somewhere in there, she asked what I’d do, and I gave her an outline— sending observers with specific goals. She thanked us and left.” Hereswith looked up, sighing. “Marcus said I made a good impression and he managed to avoid unpleasant notice, but there are some kinds of impressions that have consequences. This was definitely one.”
Bess considered. “All right. What if, tonight, tomorrow, you sat down and made a list of what that would involve? Your observers. Who would be involved, how they’d be selected, what skills and supplies and travel arrangements would be needed. Then you presented that to her as a, as a map of sorts.”
“That...” Hereswith took a deep breath, let it out. “Would you help me? Talk it through with me?”
“Of course. I’m honoured you think I could help.” Bess hesitated. “After, might I perhaps see about easing the strain in your neck? You seem to be aching more than desirable.”
Hereswith blinked, looked at Bess for a long moment— a good twenty seconds, maybe more— then she nodded once. “As you wish.”
It took some time to get to that, by which point Hereswith’s shoulders were obviously bothering her. After another ninety minutes of conversation and some note-taking, Hereswith had a working plan to tidy up and send off the next day. Then Bess got the chance to touch, in a way she’d not hoped for. Nothing terribly intimate, nothing a Healer or a masseuse wouldn’t have done. But feeling Hereswith be still and begin to relax, that was worth a great deal of effort indeed.
Chapter 21
July 7th, three days later, in London
Hereswith was deep in the final details for the next day. She and Marcus were invited to a garden party, followed by hosting a supper here at the house for a select group. A decidedly select group, since of course the dining room here only seated twelve comfortably at the most. It was not the most intricate of their summer plans, but it had several delicate points. Everything needed to be correctly managed and deliberate.
Marcus had gone out for a round of visits to his clubs. That was also a necessary activity, and one that Hereswith could not do for him. Not here in London. And of course, in Trellech, he was a member at the Owlery and also Wishton’s, where they overlapped. The London clubs barely admitted women to the guest dining room, and that only under strict observation. When he got back, they’d go out to supper and be visible.
She was most of the way through confirming the final lists when she heard his knock on the door. Without turning her head, she said, “Urgent?”
“Letter with a Council seal on it, so yes?” His voice was more bemused than worried, though.
It was more than enough for Hereswith to make a quick note of where to pick up with her work and swivel in the chair to face him, picking up the letter opener with her right hand as she moved. “Anything else?”
“A few notes about next fortnight, it looks like. Nothing pressing.” Marcus considered, then sat in his own desk chair. The room was set up for that, desks for both of them, one on either side of the window that looked out to the street. They didn’t do most serious work here, but it was sometimes handy for both of them to work through invitations and letters in the same place. And she could scarcely go to his office tucked into the Foreign Office’s realm and do anything.
Now Hereswith could focus on the letter in her hand. First, she touched the seal, and was startled when it gave way in her hand. “Did you touch this?”
“It was addressed to you, so no. Not other than bringing it up. Nothing with the seal.” Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Charmed, then?”
Hereswith nodded, looking closely now. She pulled out two folded sheets of paper, unfolding them to reveal exquisite copperplate writing. Hereswith’s own hand was entirely competent, better than competent, but this was a thing of beauty. Used for what, at first, appeared to be trivial correspondence. Then she stared at it, her eyes widening. “May I read this out to you, Marcus?”
“It was sealed. Is it private?”
“It— well. It comments on my judgement, and I judge I will be better off if I read it to you.” She glanced up. Marcus nodded once, and she went on. “The letter is from Council Member Ventry. It begins with the usual proper greetings and pleasantries. She then says,” Hereswith took a breath and began quoting, doing her best to let her voice fall into the right rhythm. “Having had the opportunity to review your notes, I commend your attention to detail and to including context that far too many ignore. Your eye for the historical considerations does you credit, and my compliments to your father for his training in that matter. It is certainly not something you learned from the current Ministry standards.”
“As I said, you have her attention.” Marcus leaned forward. “She’s not wrong about either your eye or your father.”
“Papa will indeed be pleased. She gives a number of specifics, then— you can guess well enough, we can come back to them. She ends with, let’s see.” Hereswith took a breath, figuring out where to pick up. “Should you wish a different environment for your skills, I believe you would be a credit to a number of lines of work. Your current superiors do not, I believe, understand what they ought to value.”
“That’s it?” Marcus tilted his head. “Not that that’s not complimentary, though you could hardly share it at the office. Given how she’s accurately naming their flaws.”
“There’s another sheet.” Hereswith pulled out the second one, much briefer. She had to blink at it several times, certain her eyes were deceiving her. “It has the information for making a Council Challenge. Briefly. Entirely too briefly.”
Marcus grunted, the sort of human and uncontrolled sound he never permitted himself in working hours. “Oh.”
“Don’t go ‘oh’ at me like that.” Hereswith put the letter down, pushed her chair back, and moved to walk a little. The room they used as a study was long enough she could make a circle behind the small sofa and back. Even if her skirts took up more of the space than made that entirely easy. “She can’t be saying that.”
“I was thinking it was actually rather blunt. She is not a woman known for saying things she doesn’t mean. She is not outright proposing you, is she?” Marcus didn’t move to look at the letter, so apparently he was more than a trifle uncertain of its impact as well.I’
