A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1)(93)

“Did you let them hurt Lilly?” Dee’s face turned crimson. I’d never seen him this angry.

Agrippa winced, his shame evident. Dee balled his fist and walloped Agrippa across the jaw, knocking the man over the arm of his chair. Lambe instinctively moved to tend to our Master, but Wolff held him back.

“Where have they taken him?” I said, tucking Porridge just beneath Agrippa’s chin. He brought his hand to the already swelling right side of his face.



“I have no idea.”

“We trusted you,” I said.

Agrippa closed his eyes. “I wanted you to trust me. I never dreamed any of this might happen.”

The sincerity of his tone nearly undid me. “This has happened. Now help us find him.”

The library doors opened and the butler entered, holding a letter. He didn’t seem to notice anything amiss as he threaded his way through one bewildered, heartbroken boy after another, nor did he seem to observe that I was in the act of threatening the master of the house. He approached Agrippa’s chair.

“This just came for you,” he said. Agrippa reached for the letter, but the butler handed it to me and left.

“What is it?” I said, bewildered. The envelope bore my name, and nothing else. Agrippa moved, and I pointed my stave at him again. “I won’t let you up until you help me,” I snapped.

“How am I supposed to tell you what I don’t know myself?”

“God save us, if he’s hurt, I’ll—”

“Er, Howel, maybe you should read your letter,” Magnus said. He reached over to take the envelope.

“In a minute. Don’t move!” I cried as Agrippa again tried to rise.

“It’s rude not to read a letter addressed to you. Here, I’ll open it.”

“Well, it’s my letter, isn’t it?” I clutched it to my chest.



“Just open the letter,” Blackwood said, struggling with a sense of urgency.

“Why is everyone so bloody interested in my letter?” I cried, half crumpling the thing in my fist. All the boys responded with gasps and pained expressions. Wolff pulled at his hair, and Lambe reached as if to snatch it from my hands. Mystified, I tore open the envelope. “This had better be something miraculous.”

I screamed as Mickelmas exploded out like a malicious jack-in-the-box. He rolled across the floor, sprang up, and hobbled close to the fire. Groaning, he rubbed his back and straightened his legs, composing a symphony of cracks and pops as he did so.

“Oh, my poor bones. Poor back. And you,” he said, whirling to face me. “The next time you get a letter, open it! Were you raised in a barn, you uncivilized snipe? It’s rude!” I cried out in joy and hugged him, which softened his anger. “Well then, there’s a good apprentice,” he said, patting my back. “I forgot how compressed one feels traveling by post.”

“That is ever so much better than coming through the front door,” Magnus said, watching our reunion with an amused expression.

“You.” Mickelmas noticed Agrippa and walked toward the sorcerer. “I want my cloak and I want my chest, and I want them now.”

“I don’t have them.” Agrippa stood and backed behind the chair.

“Come, a magician’s rune cloak and an enchanted box? Those are priceless artifacts for a collector. This room holds books and paintings and tapestries enough to put the National Gallery to shame. Now, give me my things.”



“Palehook took them when he came to collect the boy.”

“Have you hidden them in the servants’ quarters? Shall we turn each room upside down in a merry investigation?” With a few muttered words, Mickelmas exploded the armchair in splintering wood and fluff. Agrippa stumbled aside.

“I tell you, Palehook has them!”

“Mr. Hargrove. I mean, Mr. Mickelmas,” I said, gripping his arm. “They kidnapped Rook. If you help us get him back, we can find your things.”

“How on earth did you escape?” Agrippa said, staring at the magician with horror.

“That tower is not exactly a challenge for one as skilled as I, particularly when the guards are tired or drunk. In this case, they were both. The thrill of the chase injected some excitement into their otherwise excruciatingly dull lives. Sadly for them, I was uncatchable.” He studied his fingernails with smug satisfaction.

So that had been the shouting and running I’d heard.

“I wanted to swoop in and rescue Miss Howel,” he continued, “but without a runic cloak, my methods of transportation were limited. Fortunately, your young charges,” he said, bowing to the boys, “are far more open-minded than I’d come to believe sorcerers could be.”

And this explained how the boys knew what I was.

“You remembered the porter’s circle,” I said.



“And told your young friends, who sent a disguised Mr. Magnus in to save you, which I thought brave and ridiculous.”

“Well, I’m wonderful like that,” said Magnus.

“Just so we’re clear as to what happened,” Mickelmas said to me, “Palehook rounded up my children. He told me that if I didn’t give myself up and say those horrid things at the commendation ball, he’d kill the whole lot of the little darlings. I wasn’t about to see my charges murdered. Do you understand?”