The door burst open. Alastair stalked inside, his black eyes snapping. He looked furious, and also rather—in Thomas’s view—glorious. Proud and strong as the Persian kings of old. “Then stop,” he said to Charles. “I don’t need your protection, not where this is concerned. I’d rather everyone know than that you let a dozen good people be dragged down by lies, just because you fear Bridgestock.”
Charles’s face appeared to crumple. “None of you can possibly understand what it is like to hold on to this kind of secret—”
“We all understand,” Thomas said forcefully. “Myself as well. I’m like you, you idiot. I always have been. And Charles, you’re right, it isn’t as easy as it is for Matthew, who has never cared what anyone thought. Most of us do care. And the secret is your own business, and it is disgusting of Bridgestock to have used it against you like this. But neither can Will and Tessa, and all our parents, pay such a terrible price for his criminality.”
“They will be vindicated by the Mortal Sword,” Charles said hoarsely. “Then this will all be over.”
“Charles,” said Alastair. “Don’t you know how blackmail works? It’s never over. It’ll never be enough for Bridgestock. He’ll hold your secret over you for as long as he’s able. You think he won’t want other things in the future? That he’ll simply give up his leverage? He will bleed you dry.”
Charles looked back and forth between Alastair and Matthew, his expression anguished. Thomas felt for him; Charles was being a coward, but he knew well how difficult bravery could be in such a situation. “If we seek to bring down Bridgestock,” Thomas said, “will you help? Even if you cannot disclose the… the contents of the blackmail?”
Charles looked at them helplessly. “It would depend on what was being done, and what its consequences might be—” he began.
Matthew shook his head, his fair hair flying. “Charles, you are being a milksop and a blockhead. Let the record show that I tried. I tried, despite how little you deserve it.”
With that, he stalked out of the room.
Charles looked at Alastair, as if there was no one else in the room. No one else in the world. “Alastair, I… you know I can’t.”
“You can, Charles,” Alastair said tiredly. “And there are people in the world like us who don’t have what you do. A family that will never abandon you. Money. Safety. People who could lose their lives for confessing such a thing. All you will lose is prestige. And still you will not do the right thing.”
There seemed nothing more to say. Charles seemed visibly shrunken, but he was still shaking his head, as if denial could ward off the truth. Alastair turned on his heel and left; after a moment, Thomas followed.
He found himself alone in the corridor with Alastair. Matthew was already long gone. Alastair was leaning back against the wall, breathing hard. “Ahmag,” he snarled, which Thomas was fairly sure meant idiot; he was also fairly sure Alastair didn’t mean him.
“Alastair,” he said, meaning to say something vague and kind, something about how none of this was Alastair’s fault, but Alastair caught hold of Thomas and pulled him close, his fingers cupping the back of Thomas’s neck. His eyes were wide, black, feverish. “I need to get out of here,” he said. “Come for a carriage ride with me. I have to breathe.” He leaned his forehead against Thomas’s. “Come with me, please. I need you.”
“Daisy, you summoned a demon? All by yourself?” Lucie exclaimed. “How enterprising and brave and—also a terrible idea,” she added hastily, catching James’s dark expression. “A very bad idea. But also, enterprising.”
“Well, it was certainly interesting,” Cordelia said. She was perched on the edge of a table, nibbling the corner of a piece of shortbread. “I wouldn’t do it again, though. Unless I had to.”
“Which you will not,” James said. He gave Cordelia a mock-stern look, and she smiled at him, and the stern part of the look melted away. Now they were gazing soppily at each other.
Lucie could not help but be delighted. It was as if James had been going around with something missing, some small piece taken out of his soul, and now it was put back. He was not perfectly happy, of course; being in love did not mean one did not notice anything else going on in the world. She knew he was worried about Matthew—who was currently lounging in one of the window seats, reading a book and not eating—and about their parents; about Tatiana and Belial and what was happening in Idris. But now, at least, she thought, he could face these things with his whole self intact.
They were all gathered in the library, where Bridget had set out sandwiches, game pies, tea, and pastries for them, since, as she loudly complained, she did not have time to put together a real supper for so many people on short notice. (Besides, she had added, the brewing storm was giving her the worriments, and she could not concentrate enough to cook.)
Everyone except Thomas and Alastair—who had, according to Matthew, rather inexplicably gone on some sort of errand in an Institute carriage—had gathered around the food. Even Charles had turned up briefly, taken a game pie, and stormed out, leaving them to an inevitable discussion of Belial’s plans.
“Now that we know this whole dreadful bracelet business,” Anna said, sitting cross-legged in the middle of a table near a shelf holding books on sea demons, “surely it points toward Belial’s goals. Certainly breaking James’s heart and tormenting him was part of it,” she added, “but I do not believe it was a goal in itself. More of a treat to enjoy along the way.”
“Ugh.” Cordelia shuddered. “Well, clearly he sought to control James. He always has—he wishes James to collude with him. To offer up his body for possession. He no doubt hoped he could talk him into it using Grace.”
Christopher, holding a chicken sandwich as delicately as he might hold a beaker of acid, said, “It is a terrible story, but an encouraging one in a way. The bracelet was Belial’s will made manifest. But James matched Belial’s will with his own.”
James frowned. “I do not feel ready for a battle of wills with Belial,” he said. “Though I have wondered if my training with Jem has helped me to hold out against him.”
The courtyard below seemed to flash in colors of blue and scarlet as lightning speared through the clouds. And the clouds themselves—Lucie had never seen anything like them. Thick but jagged-edged, as though they had been drawn onto the darkening sky with a razor dipped in melted gunmetal. As they heaved and collided with each other, she felt her skin prickle, as if snapped by a dozen elastic bands.
“Are you all right?” It was Jesse, his look quizzical. He had been quiet since James had told his story. Lucie could understand why; though she had told him over and over that no one could possibly blame him, she knew he did not, could not, entirely believe her.
“I feel awful,” Lucie said. “James is my brother, yet I allied myself with Grace, even held secret meetings with her. I did not know what she had done, but I did know she’d hurt him. I knew she’d broken his heart. I just thought…”
Jesse said nothing, only leaned against the window, letting her gather her thoughts.
“I suppose I thought it wasn’t real heartbreak,” she said. “That he didn’t really love her. I always thought he’d come to his senses and realize he loved Daisy.”
“Well, in a way, that was true.”