New Blood by Gail Dayton

Author:Gail Dayton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Magicians, Magic, SteamPunk, Paranormal, Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Fantasy Fiction, General, Love Stories
ISBN: 9780765362506
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2009-01-01T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Everyone stared, most of them gave Jax pitying looks. Mr. Tomlinson’s expression was neutral. Mr. Carteret blinked, then grinned and extended his hand.

“Felicitations, my dear.” He bowed over her hand, then shook Jax’s.

Tomlinson followed suit, looking as if he had much he wanted to say, but wouldn’t for now. No one else congratulated them, or even looked congratulatory.

“But—” Gathmann said, “if you haven’t been educating her in some secret school, where did she come from?”

“Transylvania.” Amanusa rather enjoyed shocking them all again. “I came to the British council because I am Yvaine’s successor and her membership was in Britain. And because the Austrian Empire is even less amenable to sorcery and female magicians than you are. Especially in Transylvania and Hungary.”

The way the conclave officers stared seemed to hold more than surprise at her origins, more meaning, more portent, more—

“You came to Paris through Hungary?” Gathmann asked.

“Why?” Tomlinson spoke up. “What’s been happening?”

“Our investigators finally reached Vienna and Budapest, and have been able to send word back to us here. No one was available in the national offices to answer our questions because all of the magicians in the Austrian Empire were called out to hunt down a dangerous criminal.” Gathmann’s gaze fastened on Amanusa at those words and tried to bore inside her head.

She refused to let him in. The man was an alchemist. Only blood magic could see inside another’s heart and mind. “If it is a crime to be female and practice magic—and it is illegal in Hungary—then I suppose I am indeed a criminal.”

Amanusa let go of Jax, hoping he’d spoken truly when he said the white made her look delicate and ethereal. She held out her hands, wrists together as if already bound. “Do you agree? Am I evil? Should I be locked away and punished? Then do it. Arrest me.”

It was Sir William who cleared his throat, who looked away as if embarrassed. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

“The reports claimed this criminal magician left a trail of death and destruction.” Gathmann didn’t back down.

Amanusa lowered her hands and raised an eyebrow. “Is defending oneself from attack considered a crime now?”

“If that attack comes from duly-constituted authority, yes.”

“And if they had succeeded in destroying me, would you have scolded them for hiding evidence of sorcery’s return? Or would you have ever known of it?”

Gathmann frowned as he opened his mouth for a retort, but apparently could find nothing to say.

“If you ask me,” Tomlinson said, ignoring the fact that no one had asked him, “the criminals are the ones who were hunting her down. Simply practicing magic shouldn’t be a crime, no matter who’s doing the practicing. The only crime is what’s done with the magic. And any councils that have laws saying this person or that can’t have magic should be told to change their laws or get out of the conclave.”

“This is not acceptable!” The Egyptian governor jumped to his feet. “The laws of the—”

“We are not here to discuss changing national charters.

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