Page 186 of Fortress of Ambrose
Knox smiles. My mother pinches my arm and winks. “Proud of you, ma’am.”
A group of débutants trails behind my mother, chattering among themselves with excitement. She brought them with her from their hideaway. Nova Misa won’t be a legend or a secret anymore. Now it will be real. Dexler whisks them all away to their seats before I get too mushy-eyed.
At the long head table is a place for the Order’s leadership. Drew is in their appointed Headship seat, having their champagne refilled, while Nore, beside them, gushes about something that must be quite funny.
“She looks like she’s recovering just fine,” I tell Jordan. After the Dragunhead was buried, with Erla’s help, Nore underwent a similar extraction procedure to remove the seed of toushana that had begun to grow in her. She was truly free, as she’d always wanted to be. The procedure’s success ended up being a great help to my mother as well, who was able to offer it to any in hiding with her who wanted free of the toushana they didn’t ask for. Some kept it; others did not. But their hideaway was disassembled, and everyone was invited here today to join the Order properly if they’d like. A Nova Misa for everyone.
“Is Litze here?” Jordan asks, scanning.
“Oh, did I not tell you? Ever since Drew ousted her as Headmistress by popular vote, she’s been on sabbatical in Fiji for an indeterminate amount of time.”
Jordan rolls his eyes, and I giggle. Former Draguns fill the seats, along with many from Zecky’s safe house. I can’t imagine they are all here, but whoever wants into Nova Misa will be given the benefit of the doubt and a chance. Everyone gets a clean slate, and a chance to pick their own path. If they choose violence and carnage, they will be dealt with accordingly. But they won’t be judged by their past. Knox leads a line of friends bound to dark magic to a row near the front before flagging down Willam to say hello to him. But he sits in the last seat at the farthest end of the table, tying and retying his bow tie.
“You should really help him,” I tell Jordan.
“You’re right. Poor guy.” He heads that way.
The audience chairs are nearly filled, with all eyes on the center of the ballroom at seven raised stands. One for each House. There is a hand-painted sculpted fleur-de-lis I found in my grandmother’s study on one stand. An ancient set of Duncan-esque balancing scales on another. A tied bushel of dried yew leaves is in an ancient stone vase from House of Ambrose, a bouquet of the most beautiful red roses with spiky thorns is wrapped with a leather strap courtesy of Adola, an ornately hand-carved and painted mask preserved by Drew Oralia, a hand-carved sun on another, and a golden heart on the last stand.
Dexler gestures for me to join her at the front, and my stomach’s nerves never cease to surprise me. This is the first time the Order has ever welcomed anyone who wants magic to take their pick on Houseandtype of magic. I look for Erla but realize she’s beaten me to the front, decked out in a jade-green dress ornamented with jewels dangling from her ears fit for ancient gods. She’s breathtaking.
“Headmistress.” She greets me with a hug before handing me a slender box. I peek inside, and there are two daggers there, the one Lady Ruby gave us imbued with dark magic, and the other an ancient leather-handled blade Dexler found in the Chateau’s attic.
“You did it!” I asked Erla to move the Sphere’s mwertae—proper—magic from the diadem into a dagger as well, to make sure they present equitably to the masses. Neither is favored anymore. Toushana will be as available and as revered as any other kind of magic.
“And you’re sure it’ll work for people who have already used some born-magic inside them?”
“Being anointed by binding with the Sphere’s magic directly issuchan overwhelming amount of power directly to the heart, it’ll reset their magical affinity. If they want to keep training in the strand of mwertae magic they already know, they don’t need to be reanointed. But if they want to try a new strand, of either variety, they can plunge the dagger into their heart, and it’ll function like a fresh anointing of Sun Dust.”
“Saying ‘Thank you’ doesn’t quite seem enough.”
“You can forgive me.” She winks and hip-bumps me. “For abandoning you.”
I purse my lips, pretending to give her a hard time.Everyonegot to choose their own House. And Erla really loved Dlaminaugh. So that’s where she’s chosen to stay. They are making her a maezre to head up their Anatomics section.
“You will do well there. My hope is that together we can steer this ship in a better direction.”
“We will.” She gestures at the table. “Look at our leadership.”
I hug her again just as the horn blows, signaling the start of the ceremony, when I realize there are still two chairs empty at the head table. Yagrin enters the ballroom with his cousin Adola on his arm. They hustle to the front, to their respective seats. Adola, Headmistress of House Perl.
And Yagrin, the new Dragunhead.
Of anewbrotherhood.
I step up on the dais. All eyes are on me. Dexler clears her throat, making her way to the front with a walking stick. She’s been on the mend still, but it’s a relief to see her awake and up on her feet. When I spot my mother in the crowd, she winks. I search for Jordan and find him leaning on a back wall. He blows me a kiss and taps his watch.
I finally stop rehearsing in my head what I want to say and just start. “Welcome, everyone, to the inaugural induction into Nova Misa, a magical guild of mwertae and toushana!”
The audience erupts in cheers. I look out to the crowd and see there are all manner of people—ancient House families, newer ones, former safe housers, ambitious young Marked ones, older ones, too. And I can’t help but feel likethisis what Sola Sfenti envisioned when he discovered magic. Something special. Something lasting. Something for everyone.
“Before I go any further, I’d like Yagrin Wexton to stand.”
He shuffles awkwardly as he stands. Nore beams. I told her my plan, and she loved it to pieces.
“Today you will also have the choice to select admission into thebrotherhood. No longer by invite only and with abrand-new mission.Yagrin, tell us about it.”
His cheeks flush. “I have to admit I never saw this role for myself. But, um, I’m looking forward to leading anewbrotherhood that, instead of punishing people for how they live, serves toprotectthe rights of all members to pursue magic of their choosing.”
