A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1)(47)

“To give you this.” He offered another book. Henry V, Shakespeare. “I thought, since you’re so fond of history and I’m so fond of theater, we might bring them together.” He took a seat beside me, the sunlight catching in his hair. “I always wanted to play Henry.”



“You wanted to wear armor and make grand speeches with thousands of men hanging on your every word.”

He gave a dramatic sigh. “My one childhood dream.” He took the book and opened to a page near the end. “?‘Fair Katharine, and most fair,’?” he said, his voice deep and soft and almost pleading, “?‘will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms such as will enter at a lady’s ear and plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?’?” He closed the book and looked at me with an appraising eye. “On second thought, you wouldn’t make much of a Katharine.”

“No? Too sullen? Too dark?”

“Too bold. You’re more of a Henry. You’ve the name, sort of. What if I called you Henry from now on?”

“What if it rained in your bedchamber throughout the night?”

“You’re finally learning how to be a true sorcerer!” He gave me Henry V again. “You should read it and tell me what you think.”

“?‘Your Majesty shall mock at me,’?” I said in a bad French accent. “?‘I cannot speak your England.’?” Stunned, Magnus grabbed the play and found that I had spoken the next line perfectly. I rather liked seeing him surprised.

“You’ve read it before?”



“Mr. Colegrind had a copy of Shakespeare’s histories.”

“Well, they’re nothing to his tragedies. We’ll have to start you on a strict diet.”

“Don’t I have enough work already?”

“It won’t be work. It’ll be fun.” We opened the play back to the scene, and continued. “?‘O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?’?”

“?‘Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell what is like me.’?”

“Oh go on, do the French accent. I’ve never heard anything so funny. Ow! Why did you hit me?” We spent the next hour or so reading through the play, and I never laughed so much in my life as I did for that one hour. For a little while, the stress of the last few days evaporated. The supper gong sounded, and we rose. “Howel, would you go with me to a party in Hanover Square this evening?”

“A party?” I grew uneasy at the thought. I didn’t want to go into public until I had my lessons under control.

Which might be never, at this rate.

“It will only be a few other Incumbents. Dee and Cellini are coming, too.”

“What if people stare?” I pushed open the door, and we walked into the hall.

“You’d have me at your side all evening. No one will pay you any mind when they could be looking at me.” He winked.



“I’m not much use at a party. I don’t know how to flirt, I can’t dance, and I’m not funny.”

“What do you mean? I think you’re hilarious.” I stopped walking and struck him lightly on the arm. “That’s the funniest slap I’ve ever received. Just don’t drink so much punch that you wind up sleeping under the stairs.” When I didn’t answer, he spoke more softly. “You’re going to be commended. These people will be your allies. It’s not a bad idea to make them like you.”

Was I going to be commended? These people wouldn’t be my allies if they knew what I was. What Hargrove had said I was.

“That’s easy for you, isn’t it?” I blushed. “Being liked.”

“It’s what my music master always told me. Practice. Listen to me now!” He belted out some lines from an Italian opera in a voice so off-key and wretched I ran down the stairs to be away from it. He raced after, singing louder and louder.

“I’ll go to the party if you’ll never sing again,” I cried.

“Done!”

Perhaps gaining a few more allies was exactly what I needed right now. And for all I knew, with Magnus about, it might be fun.

—

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY at these things,” Dee said, staring into his empty glass of punch. “All the girls want to dance, and I’m no good at dancing. Then they giggle and walk away.”

“I can’t think of anything to say, either.” We stood guard by the punch table and watched the whirl of activity. Couples danced while members of a string quartet played by the side of the room and sweated in the close glow of candlelight. Old-lady chaperones in black crepe and lace dozed upon straight-backed chairs.



The music was wonderful. The dancing looked a great deal of fun. Magnus took to the floor with a beautiful red-haired girl.

“Is she from a sorcerer family?” I said, trying not to pay much attention to Magnus’s new partner. It didn’t matter to me anyway.

“That’s Eugenia Whitechurch, the Imperator’s daughter. Her magic lines go all the way back to the Conqueror.” Magnus and Eugenia danced a quadrille, laughing as they turned around and about each other.

“I wish I could dance,” I muttered.