Chapter 11

“ S tay here,” I ordered my stepmother once I saw Jack at the end of the hall.

Still clutching her handbag in a death grip, she nodded agreeably and fell back.

“Well?” Jack asked in a stage whisper the moment he got within earshot. “What did she want?”

I fumbled for words as I balled and unballed my fists, eyebrows knitted together. “She offered to submit my father’s proposed bill to King Wensecles to grant mages full rights—without asking for anything in return.”

Jack’s white eyebrows jumped up into his hair. “But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” He glanced down the hall, where Valencia waited patiently, smiling at us in the distance.

“But she also said that she would give me the documents about my father’s estate and testify to the magistrate of their authenticity if I drop out of the competition.”

“Isn’t…isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yes,” I answered slowly, “but it doesn’t feel right.”

“What’s not right about it? You would have your father’s estate and we could…I mean, if you wanted…we could…see each other.” Jack’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “I’d like that.”

“I would too, but…she wouldn’t just give up like this. I know my stepmother. She plays to win. She wouldn’t give up the entire estate for the possibility of one of her daughters marrying the prince.”

“But if she keeps her word, you would get everything you want. We could be together and you could reopen the school?—”

“I know, I know.” I wrapped a coil of hair around my finger and released it again. “I’m just trying to see how this would benefit her. She wouldn’t offer otherwise.”

“If you drop out and it’s her girls left, they do stand a good chance of being the last ones here. It would benefit her greatly to thin out the competition. She doesn’t need an estate if one of her daughters becomes queen. What does it matter to lose an estate if you gain an entire kingdom? Knowing what your opponent wants is the key to any successful negotiation. She’s willing to sacrifice for a greater gain in the end.”

“But why the offer to get the bill passed? That doesn’t benefit her at all!”

“It does if it gets you to agree to her terms. She must have known she would need to do something to make up for her previous actions and that you would hesitate to agree to any requests otherwise.” Jack reached for my hand but, with a quick glance at Valencia, simply swung his arm back and forth instead.

“She has all the necessary signatures to send the bill to the king besides mine. Then of course, we would need to get him to sign, too?—”

“He will. I told you, he cares about mages. He’ ll sign.”

“Then…I can’t see any reason why I shouldn’t agree,” I said slowly. “Will you look at it first?”

“Of course.”

Jack and I walked back to Valencia.

“Do you accept?” she asked eagerly. “It would benefit you both so much.”

“May I see it?” Jack asked, hand outstretched.

Valencia reached her talon-like fingers into her bag and withdrew the proposed law, clutched between her blood-red nails. “It’s all in order,” she assured us as Jack’s eyes skated from side to side.

I stared at the paper with Jack. It looked perfectly legal and binding, and I recognized the signatures of the other nine lords. This was everything I could have dreamed of, and it was all within reach. For several long minutes, Jack and I studied every inch of the parchment, scanning for any possible flaw or error, but found nothing. The language was word perfect to what a bill should have sounded like, the signatures were correct and dated, and the seal of approval from the scribe’s guild was stamped to validate that it had been reviewed.

We handed it back and withdrew a short distance to discuss.

“I don’t see any downside to signing it,” Jack whispered, so quietly that Valencia couldn’t hear.

“Nor do I,” I admitted. “It doesn’t make sense, but as long as we get what we want, it shouldn’t matter. And Stephen is free to select whomever he wants to marry. It just feels…”

“Too easy,” Jack finished, shaking his head in confusion. “But I also can’t see a reason not to accept.”

“Nor can I.” I took a deep breath as steely resolve flooded me. “And I don’t want to wait too long and risk her changing her mind if it really is valid. I only have two days left to get the funding to renew the license.”

“Are you okay withdrawing? You’d give up the possibility of marrying Stephen.”

“I don’t want Stephen. I want…I want you.”

A look of pure joy lit up Jack’s every feature, brightening his face so much that his hair nearly glowed. “Let’s tell her.”

Valencia must have known what I was planning to do, because she had the inkpot and quill ready for me, the document already stretched out on a hallway table. “Once you sign, we can take it to the chamberlain and set up an appointment to present it.”

I took the quill, the point suspended over the paper. Why did it feel like I was signing my life away? Valencia nodded, eyes hungrily staring at the bill clutched in my hand. Her expression made me want to throw the quill down and run. But my gaze settled on Jack. We could have the possibility of a life together if I simply signed.

It was worth any sacrifice.

Before I could second-guess myself, I scrawled my signature beside Valencia’s. The ink gleamed in the light from the flickering torches, and Valencia fanned it to hurry along the ink drying.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” she purred. “Shall we go make the arrangements to be granted an audience?”

“Yes.” If I had already signed my name, I may as well commit fully. Every inch of my body tingled with anticipation as wariness and excitement flooded my system in equal measure. Jack accompanied us as we sought out the lord chamberlain .

“We’re seeking an audience with His Majesty, King Wenceslas,” Valencia announced. “We bring a proposition from the ten lords for a new bill.”

The lord chamberlain consulted a complicated calendar and flipped pages in a leather-bound book with neat charts and lists of tasks. “I have an opening tomorrow afternoon at lunch time for twenty minutes, or if you need something farther out, I can do?—”

“We’ll take the appointment tomorrow,” Valencia said quickly, not even attempting to disguise her eagerness.

Jack shot me a look and mouthed something, but I couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell me.

“Noelle, dear?” Valencia crooned in that syrupy sweet voice I hated so much. “Is that acceptable for you?”

“Yes, that’s fine.” My stomach writhed and my heartbeat accelerated. Things were moving too quickly for comfort, even though this had been the end goal for years.

“Very well.” The chamberlain jotted down our names and made a note, then instructed us when and where to arrive.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Valencia told me after we left the chamberlain. She flounced away down the hallway with far too much of a self-satisfied spring in her step.

“I can’t do tomorrow,” Jack told me once she was gone. “Not that it requires me being there, but I have some duties to take care of in Fayrond, the next town over, before the final ball tomorrow night.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, hoping it was true. “Will you be at the ball tonight?”

“Taking notes, just as always,” Jack said with a ghost of a smile. “I have to assess everyone’s poise and grace.”

“You could always dance with me and find out for yourself about my poise,” I suggested, “instead of just writing down what someone else tells you. You said yourself that it is very similar to ice skating.”

He grinned. “I shall find a way to be the lucky one to dance with you, and will try to appear like I’m not enjoying it too much.”