Rebel Magisters (Rebel Mechanics #2)(66)
For a moment, I even felt bad for the governor and what we’d done to him, but I reminded myself that it was his own policies that had led to these events.
*
I didn’t get a spare moment alone with Henry to report what I’d learned, but that evening after dinner, Mrs. Talbot knocked on my door. “Miss Newton, Lord Henry has asked me to invite you to join him and some friends in the parlor. He says they need one more hand to make up a game. I’m not entirely sure it’s proper, as they are all young gentlemen.”
“I trust Lord Henry completely, and do you think he’d allow his friends to take liberties with me?” I said.
“I suppose, when you put it that way…” Her expression was pained, but she eventually sighed and said, “It’s good for you to spend time with people closer to your own age, and I doubt those young men would even look at a nonmagister girl.”
She was probably right, I thought as I headed downstairs. Henry’s friends accepted me as a party to their cause, and they respected my abilities, but I doubted they even saw me as a girl. As for Henry, it was hard to tell. How much of what I thought I saw in the way he related to me was merely the product of my own fancies and wishful thinking?
I found Henry and his friends seated around a card table, looking just enough like they were playing to satisfy any servant who might look in, but anyone who watched long enough would know that no game was actually in progress.
Henry started to get up to greet me when I entered, but Geoffrey put a hand on his shoulder before coming over to hand me a glass of champagne. “It’s the woman of the hour!” he said, raising his own glass.
“All I did was write the article and pass it on,” I protested. “Lord Henry did the hard part.”
“I think I’d rather pull off the robbery than have to write,” Philip said with a grin. “Even with people shooting at me.”
Henry motioned for me to take the seat next to him. “The response has been more than any of us could have hoped.”
“Even my father is talking about there needing to be change,” Philip said. “Old Scratch must be strapping on his ice skates about now.”
“I’m worried that it may be premature,” Geoffrey said. “It might have been better for this news to come out when we were more prepared.”
“On the other hand,” Henry argued, “this may be what we need to get enough funding and support for the cause. I’m hearing from people all over who want to join up. Someone else has even invited me to a meeting, not knowing I’m already involved.” He turned to me. “Now, what’s the word from the governor’s home?”
“Apparently, there have been calls for his resignation, and there’s a lot of concern within the government,” I said. “The governor wants to track down the people who leaked this information. Lady Elinor suggested that the betrayal seemed to have angered him more than the corruption.”
Henry winced guiltily. “It is a kind of betrayal, isn’t it? I was his guest, and I’ve exposed him to public criticism.”
“He’s the one who was keeping secrets,” Geoffrey said. “If he’d been running things the way he’s supposed to, he wouldn’t have been in any danger.”
“Do you think he’ll trace it back to you?” Philip asked Henry.
“I don’t see how he could. For all he knows, I was coming down with influenza that night and was too ill to get out of bed the next morning. I was traveling when the information was published in the newspaper. He’d have to already suspect Verity and me to put the pieces together and find any kind of pattern.”
Philip stood and raised his glass. “Then we should all stop worrying and celebrate. A toast to our glorious and righteous cause, which may now come to fruition, thanks to the daring and skill of the greatest bandit in the colonies and the intrepid reporter who spread the news.” He drained his glass and said, “And now, to formally launch our organization. I’ve been to see the locksmith, and here are our first keys.” He pulled small, ornate keys hanging on blue ribbons from his pocket and handed one to each of us. “I have more for when we gain new members, but I would suggest a magically binding loyalty oath before we issue a key, and I have the lock to use for testing when you meet someone new with a key, to ensure it’s genuine.”
I held my key in the palm of my hand. As small as it was, its importance weighed heavily. The Rebel Mechanics were an illegal group, but they weren’t taken entirely seriously by the authorities. This key represented rebellion at the highest levels of magister society. And to think, I now was part of both groups. “We probably shouldn’t get in the habit of openly wearing these,” I suggested.
“No. We’ll just bring them out discreetly,” Geoffrey agreed. “We’ll need to begin vetting our recent contacts.”
“That’s work for later,” Philip said. “Tonight, we’re celebrating. Henry, do you have a music player in this place? I’m in the mood for a dance.”
Henry waved his hand at a finely carved box sitting on a shelf, and piano music, slightly tinny, began playing. Philip listened for a moment. “Not quite what I had in mind, but it’ll do,” he said with a shrug. “Miss Newton, would you do me the honor?”
He hardly waited for me to agree before he whisked me away in an exaggeratedly stately waltz. He made each move with a gallant flourish, and his expression was a perfect mockery of the nobles I’d seen at balls. Soon, I was laughing so hard I might not have been able to stay on my feet without someone else holding me up, and it took me a moment to notice when my partner had changed.