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.“Either way, the Allied Lands lose a magician.”“He can’t back out or deliberately allow someone to win,” Jade said.“If he did, someone would call him a coward.”Men, Emily thought.Did dueling win someone the post of most powerful magician in the world? It couldn’t, she decided; she hadn’t seen Void or the Grandmaster dueling with their rivals.Or Lady Barb, for that matter.It clearly wasn’t necessary to duel to earn accolades.“If someone challenged me,” she said, “could I avoid having to fight?”“Depends,” Jade said, thoughtfully.“If you were a duelist, you couldn’t really avoid the challenge without conceding your position without a fight.If you’d insulted someone so badly they felt the urge to wipe the smile off your face, you couldn’t avoid the duel without sacrificing all the respect you’d earned.Otherwise.you could simply decline the duel without consequences.”He smiled.“But most people are too scared of you to pick a fight.”Emily shivered.Her status as the Necromancer’s Bane – and now the person who had defeated a Mimic – had given her a formidable reputation, but it was largely undeserved.There was no easy way to duplicate the trick that had killed Shadye, while the Mimic had been overwhelmed by the combined power of several magicians.If Master Grey or someone on the same level challenged her to a duel, she would lose.“Let’s hope it stays that way,” she muttered.She looked up, meeting Jade’s eyes.“Why doesn’t he like me?”“I think he thinks you upset the natural order,” Jade confessed.“He wasn’t too happy over me writing to you, I can tell you.”Emily flushed.Master Tor had been the same, judging her by her reputation before he’d even met her.And Master Tor had tried hard to get her blamed for the Mimic’s first attack and then expelled from Whitehall.He’d had political motives.if she’d realized just how many problems King Randor making her a baroness would cause, she might have refused the honor, even if she had to speak up in front of a giant crowd.Emily might have hoped to fly under the radar, but Baroness Emily was a political figure.“I didn’t mean to make life difficult for you,” she mumbled.She clutched Lady Barb’s pendant, silently grateful for the protective glamor.“I’m sorry.”“Don’t be,” Jade said.“It wasn’t your fault.”“It might well have been,” Emily said.“I.”She was interrupted by the arrival of the waiter, two trays of food floating in the air behind him.Emily smiled at the display, then watched as the trays were unloaded and spells removed, allowing the aroma of the food to reach her nostrils.The smell was good, although not quite as good as some of the places she’d tried in Dragon’s Den.She waited for the waiter to withdraw, then tasted the chicken.It tasted more than a little dry.“Someone made you a political pawn,” Jade said, once the waiter had vanished again.“I don’t think that was your fault, no matter what Master Grey says.”Emily rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.She knew, intellectually, that people talked about her, but she was still unprepared for the reality.It hadn’t been something she’d had to worry about on Earth, not when she was so utterly unimportant.Here, someone could make a decision concerning her in the White City or Alexis and she would never hear of it until it was too late.“Still, you might want to be careful,” Jade added.“King Randor might not have expected you to be more than a baroness in name only.”“I know,” Emily said.The handful of lessons she’d had in estate management had only underlined just how little she actually knew.Aristocratic children, even Alassa, were taught the basics at their parents’ knees, but Emily had only recently been ennobled.How could she hope to learn enough to keep her from depending on subordinates? “But I couldn’t say no.”“He might have thought he was doing you a favor,” Jade pointed out.“You saved his throne; he had to reward you in a manner consummate with your deeds.Most people would be delighted to be ennobled, even if they didn’t have lands added as part of the deal.”Emily shuddered.Baroness was no empty title.She was, to all intents and purposes, the owner of hundreds of square miles of land – and thousands of people, some of whom were effectively bound to her family line.The sheer weight of responsibility had fallen on her like a hammer from above, forcing her to hire managers to handle the task.And she’d hidden from it afterwards, she knew.She didn’t really comprehend what she’d been given, not at an emotional level.“He should have given me a smaller title,” she admitted.Even the smallest title brought a stipend from the Crown, one that could only be canceled in the event of outright treason.“I might have been able to handle it.”She shook her head.Stipends were one of Zangaria’s major problems, although the coup attempt against King Randor had allowed him a chance to take aim at some of the useless aristocrats infesting his court.Their ancestors had done something useful and had been rewarded, but the current crop merely drew on the King’s money and protested loudly when he hinted they might want to find proper jobs.But then, there weren’t enough positions suitable for all of them in Zangaria.Or at least positions consummate with their titles, she thought.Muckraker sounds about right for most of them.“But then he wouldn’t have given you a suitable reward,” Jade said.He smiled, then changed the subject.“I understand that Lady Barb is a hard taskmaster.?”Emily blinked, then realized that Lady Barb had told him that Emily would be busy on the first day.“She is,” she confirmed.“Healing was the hardest class at Whitehall.”“Cat told me that she gave no quarter,” Jade said.“And now you have her all to yourself.”Emily snorted and turned the question back on him.“What sort of person is Master Grey?”“Tough, very tough, but fair,” Jade said.“He’s taught me more than I ever learned from the sergeants.”“You should have gone into Martial Magic in Fifth Year,” Emily said, rather tartly.She liked the sergeants.Men less like her stepfather were hard to imagine.“We spent the year learning how to crack defenses and pick our path carefully through Blackhall.”“So I heard,” Jade said.“And Alassa started her own Ken team?”“She did,” Emily said.“And she’s definitely having fun.”She felt an odd flicker of envy.She’d never liked team sports on Earth, yet part of her had always envied those who could throw themselves into the game.Alassa and Imaiqah had done just that, but Emily hadn’t been able to follow them.She couldn’t even play for fun.“Good for her,” Jade said.“Cat had quite a lot to tell me.”Emily groaned [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“Either way, the Allied Lands lose a magician.”“He can’t back out or deliberately allow someone to win,” Jade said.“If he did, someone would call him a coward.”Men, Emily thought.Did dueling win someone the post of most powerful magician in the world? It couldn’t, she decided; she hadn’t seen Void or the Grandmaster dueling with their rivals.Or Lady Barb, for that matter.It clearly wasn’t necessary to duel to earn accolades.“If someone challenged me,” she said, “could I avoid having to fight?”“Depends,” Jade said, thoughtfully.“If you were a duelist, you couldn’t really avoid the challenge without conceding your position without a fight.If you’d insulted someone so badly they felt the urge to wipe the smile off your face, you couldn’t avoid the duel without sacrificing all the respect you’d earned.Otherwise.you could simply decline the duel without consequences.”He smiled.“But most people are too scared of you to pick a fight.”Emily shivered.Her status as the Necromancer’s Bane – and now the person who had defeated a Mimic – had given her a formidable reputation, but it was largely undeserved.There was no easy way to duplicate the trick that had killed Shadye, while the Mimic had been overwhelmed by the combined power of several magicians.If Master Grey or someone on the same level challenged her to a duel, she would lose.“Let’s hope it stays that way,” she muttered.She looked up, meeting Jade’s eyes.“Why doesn’t he like me?”“I think he thinks you upset the natural order,” Jade confessed.“He wasn’t too happy over me writing to you, I can tell you.”Emily flushed.Master Tor had been the same, judging her by her reputation before he’d even met her.And Master Tor had tried hard to get her blamed for the Mimic’s first attack and then expelled from Whitehall.He’d had political motives.if she’d realized just how many problems King Randor making her a baroness would cause, she might have refused the honor, even if she had to speak up in front of a giant crowd.Emily might have hoped to fly under the radar, but Baroness Emily was a political figure.“I didn’t mean to make life difficult for you,” she mumbled.She clutched Lady Barb’s pendant, silently grateful for the protective glamor.“I’m sorry.”“Don’t be,” Jade said.“It wasn’t your fault.”“It might well have been,” Emily said.“I.”She was interrupted by the arrival of the waiter, two trays of food floating in the air behind him.Emily smiled at the display, then watched as the trays were unloaded and spells removed, allowing the aroma of the food to reach her nostrils.The smell was good, although not quite as good as some of the places she’d tried in Dragon’s Den.She waited for the waiter to withdraw, then tasted the chicken.It tasted more than a little dry.“Someone made you a political pawn,” Jade said, once the waiter had vanished again.“I don’t think that was your fault, no matter what Master Grey says.”Emily rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.She knew, intellectually, that people talked about her, but she was still unprepared for the reality.It hadn’t been something she’d had to worry about on Earth, not when she was so utterly unimportant.Here, someone could make a decision concerning her in the White City or Alexis and she would never hear of it until it was too late.“Still, you might want to be careful,” Jade added.“King Randor might not have expected you to be more than a baroness in name only.”“I know,” Emily said.The handful of lessons she’d had in estate management had only underlined just how little she actually knew.Aristocratic children, even Alassa, were taught the basics at their parents’ knees, but Emily had only recently been ennobled.How could she hope to learn enough to keep her from depending on subordinates? “But I couldn’t say no.”“He might have thought he was doing you a favor,” Jade pointed out.“You saved his throne; he had to reward you in a manner consummate with your deeds.Most people would be delighted to be ennobled, even if they didn’t have lands added as part of the deal.”Emily shuddered.Baroness was no empty title.She was, to all intents and purposes, the owner of hundreds of square miles of land – and thousands of people, some of whom were effectively bound to her family line.The sheer weight of responsibility had fallen on her like a hammer from above, forcing her to hire managers to handle the task.And she’d hidden from it afterwards, she knew.She didn’t really comprehend what she’d been given, not at an emotional level.“He should have given me a smaller title,” she admitted.Even the smallest title brought a stipend from the Crown, one that could only be canceled in the event of outright treason.“I might have been able to handle it.”She shook her head.Stipends were one of Zangaria’s major problems, although the coup attempt against King Randor had allowed him a chance to take aim at some of the useless aristocrats infesting his court.Their ancestors had done something useful and had been rewarded, but the current crop merely drew on the King’s money and protested loudly when he hinted they might want to find proper jobs.But then, there weren’t enough positions suitable for all of them in Zangaria.Or at least positions consummate with their titles, she thought.Muckraker sounds about right for most of them.“But then he wouldn’t have given you a suitable reward,” Jade said.He smiled, then changed the subject.“I understand that Lady Barb is a hard taskmaster.?”Emily blinked, then realized that Lady Barb had told him that Emily would be busy on the first day.“She is,” she confirmed.“Healing was the hardest class at Whitehall.”“Cat told me that she gave no quarter,” Jade said.“And now you have her all to yourself.”Emily snorted and turned the question back on him.“What sort of person is Master Grey?”“Tough, very tough, but fair,” Jade said.“He’s taught me more than I ever learned from the sergeants.”“You should have gone into Martial Magic in Fifth Year,” Emily said, rather tartly.She liked the sergeants.Men less like her stepfather were hard to imagine.“We spent the year learning how to crack defenses and pick our path carefully through Blackhall.”“So I heard,” Jade said.“And Alassa started her own Ken team?”“She did,” Emily said.“And she’s definitely having fun.”She felt an odd flicker of envy.She’d never liked team sports on Earth, yet part of her had always envied those who could throw themselves into the game.Alassa and Imaiqah had done just that, but Emily hadn’t been able to follow them.She couldn’t even play for fun.“Good for her,” Jade said.“Cat had quite a lot to tell me.”Emily groaned [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]