Alchemy and Argent by Charlotte E English

Author:Charlotte E English [English, Charlotte E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, funny fantasy, humorous fantasy, urban witches
Publisher: Charlotte E. English
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

We were not much more than an hour delayed before we reached home. I’d stuffed Jay with a stack of sandwiches and scones and myself with a piece of cake — just the one, I occasionally have some sense of proportion I swear — and thus revived, he’d managed the return trip smoothly enough. We emerged in the preserved henge in the cellar at Home, and I clattered straight up the stairs.

Jay followed at a more sedate — weary? — pace. As such, I had thirty whole seconds to stare my fill at Crystobel Elvyng before he caught up with me.

She was seated in the library with Val. Not languishing in front of the head librarian’s big, imposing desk, the way most of us do. The matriarch of the Elvyng dynasty merited the red carpet treatment. There’s a handsome fireplace with a brick surround in the main hall of the library, flanked by a pair of silver brocade chairs. I don’t think I have ever seen a fire lit in that hearth; there is no earthly way Val would risk the books like that, however cold it may be. I have never seen the chairs used, either.

Until today. Val had taken possession of one, and her august guest sat at her ease in the other.

I received a peculiar impression of there being a third presence in the room, which was probably House. The building mostly leaves us to get on with things, but once in a while it takes an interest.

I couldn’t blame it for taking an interest in Crystobel Elvyng. She’s about my age, or only a little older; mid-thirties at the most. She has all the poise of a much older woman, though. In pictures she tends to appear exquisitely well-dressed, and positively oozes confidence.

Comes of growing up entrenched in privilege, I suppose. She’d been an Elvyng since the moment of her birth, and in the magickal world, they’re the next best thing to royalty. Better, in some ways.

It’s a matter of power. They’re all remarkably well-endowed with it (though as a minor point of interest, they have yet to produce a Waymaster). They are also incredibly rich, of course. In what world will the perfect mix of wealth and power not confer fame and glory upon the wielder? Not this one, anyway.

For my part, I have a horrible fascination with their entire lifestyle. Which puts me on a par with most of the rest of magickal Britain, I suppose.

After years of admiring her from afar, now I beheld Crystobel Elvyng relaxing in the best chair in Val’s library, and I did not know what to think. If she could only have managed to be ordinary looking, she might be more believable as a real, breathing human like the rest of us. But of course, she isn’t. Whether Cicily’s Yllanfalen heritage has bred true down the centuries, or whether she is just lucky, she has excellent features, clear skin the colour of peaches in milk, and a wealth of honey-brown hair.

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