External Forces (The Marrowbone Spells) by Shannon Fay

Author:Shannon Fay [Fay, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2022-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

I was taking a piss when I heard Gabs’s voice behind me. When I turned to see her peering at me from the bathroom mirror, I jumped and nearly hit my head on the roof of the boat. Once I got over my shock she looked away so I could button up my trousers and wash my hands.

“Jesus, Gabs, you scared the life out of me.”

“I’m sorry, dear heart. I tried calling, I tried visiting your studio, I tried everything. In the end I had to use magic.” Her dress had a large neck ruff made of silver silk panels. Maybe that was what allowed her to speak through mirrors? Did she need to know my location, or did it just allow her to peer out of any mirror while searching for one person? Could she figure out where I was from what she saw in the bathroom? There was a tiny porthole above the mirror, letting in some air and light; could she use that to piece together that I was on a boat?

It felt odd to be so suspicious of Gabs—we used to be each other’s closest confidants. But now that she was moving in the upper echelons of power, I wasn’t quite sure where we stood.

“Well, Madam Interim Court Magician, a lot has been going on while you were abroad,” I said. “I’ve decided it was in my best interest to lay low for a bit.”

“I know more than you think, dear heart,” Gabs said. “I wish to speak to you in person. Talking to you through a dingy bathroom mirror is beneath both of us, and I want to see your lovely face up close.”

“Well, Gabs, if anyone could get me out of hiding, it’d be you, but surely you won’t take it personally if I turn you down.”

“What if we met somewhere that guaranteed safety?” she said. “Tomorrow is the prince’s funeral. Let’s meet afterwards in some corner of Westminster Abbey. No one, not even our most base enemies, would attack us in that place or on such a solemn day.”

I noticed her use of us and our and even though it was a blatant attempt to make it seem as though we were on the same team, it still made me feel warm and relieved: if Gabriella von Melsungen was with me, I had nothing to fear. I wasn’t so naive to believe that she was with me, but it was a nice feeling to experience briefly. I didn’t know how she had ended up getting the plum job of fill-in Court Magician, but for all I knew it meant she was already on Godfrey’s side.

The offer to meet at Westminster Abbey was clearly meant to appeal to an ex-choirboy like me. But I’d read history books as well as the Bible—in England being in a church was no guarantee of safety, not if the Crown was against you. I did not want to be Becketed.

But was the Crown against me? The Court Magician

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