Taviano’s ridiculous hair fluttered in the winds. His lip curled into a snarl. A look of doubt crossed DeLaguna’s wrinkled face. His eyes cut to the apprentice standing at his side.
I gathered Brigette closer.
She mustered some strength and whispered to me, “Hold on, Evie.”
Prickling, tingling energy swirled around us, but it was weak. Diluted. I doubted she had the power to get us out before DeLaguna and his men stopped us. Obviously realizing what Brigette intended, the older Magician shifted his weight and raised a hand. He opened his mouth, but his breath came out in a thick spurt of condensed vapor.
The air chilled, raising goose bumps on my arms and neck.
Jackie appeared, inches away, and wrapped his arms around us. “Trust me,” he said as blackness and vertigo swirled through my vision. “And don’t let go.”
Before the unsettling feeling of teleportation could register, Jackie had transported us from the west wing hallway on the first floor to Fallstaff’s open front yard. We set down hard, and Brigette tumbled to her knees. I wrenched her to her feet. Jackie took her other arm and together we ran.
“What are you doing, Jackie?” I snarled. “Why are you helping us?”
“You heard what I told Thibodaux in there. I won’t let the Council take us.”
“Do you expect me to fall at your feet in gratitude?”
“No.” His silver eyes flashed. “I expect you to survive. I expect you to win.”
We sprinted across the yard, sights set on the cover of the stables. Gideon must have been watching for our approach. He raced through the stable doors but skidded to a halt. “Evie!” He pinned his gaze on something behind me. Distress carved lines around his mouth and across his brow. “Run!”
I turned, glancing behind me. The shock of seeing a large crowd of Magicians emerge from the shadows of the forest was so swift and sudden, I felt as though I’d slammed into a wall while running full speed. My breath fled in a gust. My knees turned to water, and my grip on Brigette slipped. She sank to the ground.
“What’s going on, Jackie?” I wheezed.
He gave me a worried look, the first slip in the confident façade he’d worn ever since his fever had broken aboard the Velox. “It looks like the Council has called in reinforcements.”
Chapter 31
As though he hadn’t been recently wounded, Gideon lumbered across the yard to meet us. Crossbow drawn and cocked, he aimed at the Magicians behind us but held his fire. He reached our group, hauled Brigette over his good shoulder with a pained grunt, and escorted us to the yard in front of the stables.
“What is Faercourt doing here?” he asked, snarling.
“I’m on your side, for now, Faust.” Jackie waved toward Brigette as Gideon set her down to slump against the stable wall. “It appears you could use my help.”
“It’s possible that he and Le Poing Fermé have parted ways,” I said.
Gideon’s eyebrows arched. “We’re not trusting him now, are we?”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” I shrugged. “That’s not the same thing as trust.”
DeLaguna, Taviano, and their associates emerged from the house and joined the other members of the Council of Magic advancing on us, perhaps twenty in all.
“Where’s the rest of your cabal?” I asked.
“Dead or running for the hills.” Jackie spat in a thoroughly uncivilized way. “If they’re smart.”
But in contradiction to his assumption, a small group trooped into view, rounding the corner of the house from the rear. Ruelle Thibodaux, Baron Fontaine, and another man and woman I’d never seen before stumbled across the lawn in jerky, graceless movements. Thibodaux and his associates had not come willingly, it seemed. A group of scowling Council Magicians marched behind them, poking and prodding with some invisible force that seemed to compel the members of Le Poing Fermé to trudge into the clearing. I raised my estimation of opponents from twenty to two dozen, not including Le Poing Fermé, who appeared to have been neutralized.
“Is that all?” I asked. “I thought your cabal would be bigger, Jackie.”
“Don’t underestimate Thibodaux. He looks properly cowed. Trust me when I say he is not.”
From the crowd of newly arrived Magicians, one woman emerged. Tall and elegant, she held herself in a regal way: chin high, shoulders back, neck elongated. Her dark skirts billowed about her, and she wore a black jacket nipped at the waist. A sapphire brooch sparkled on her lapel, and her dark hair was wound into a high chignon at the crown of her head.
Brigette gasped. “That’s the woman who was looking for us when we were in Florrenco.”
“Then you should be honored,” Jackie said. “That is Belladonna Armati. She’s High Magus, the head of the Council of Magic. Some would say she’s the most powerful Magician in the world.”
“More powerful than you?” I asked. “I once heard Thibodaux call you a prodigy.”
“Not all of us seek the spotlight. And not all of us have such limited vision.”
“Wanting to be the head of the governing body of Magic is a limited vision?”
Jackie said nothing, but a silver sheen rippled across his eyes. Its coldness chilled my blood.
“Evelyn Stormbourne, Lady of Thunder.” The High Magus raised her voice, calling out over the roar of the rising winds. The skies swirled, thick with angry, bruised clouds. “You must answer for your crimes. Come forward, come peacefully, and you shall be treated with the dignity and respect due to your station.”
I gave Gideon’s good shoulder a reassuring pat. His nostrils flared, and the muscles in his jaw bulged. He did not look reassured.
Pulling the lightning close, I approached Magus Armati but stopped far enough away to leave myself room to fight. I folded my arms over my chest and assessed Fallstaff, taking in the smoking roof, broken windows, crumbling masonry, and the furrows and ruts scarring the grounds. “Peace? You want to talk about peace?” I gestured to my house. “My home is in ruins. Again. My kingdom has been stolen from me and held hostage by a wicked cabal willing to kill any who would oppose them. I have returned to my homeland to restore peace, but here you are, waging war on my sacred grounds, the homeland of my ancestors.”
I turned my gaze to DeLaguna, who had moved to Magus Armati’s flank, probably eager to receive her praise for his part in bringing down Le Poing Fermé’s wards and capturing Thibodaux and his associates. Taviano, however, was nowhere to be seen. If the coward were smart, he would already be running away.
“You speak of violations. Of crossing lines that can’t be ignored.” I raised both hands. “What do you call this? Is justice only in the eye of the beholder?”
