“I hope that you have a good explanation for what happened yesterday,” Anne Claire demanded of Willem, not long after his talk with Dirk. She had cornered him in the streets just outside the Society of Assured Prosperity.

  “I have a lot of people to talk to today,” Willem said. “A lot of people were affected by what happened last night. I don’t want them to have doubts in the Society of Assured Prosperity’s leadership.”

  “No,” Anne Claire said firmly. “Catharina’s called together your siblings and your mother. You’re going to explain yourself.”

  “What’s there to explain?” Willem asked, hands in his pocket. “What’s the central government for, if not to bailout the poor, downtrodden rich people?”

  Anne Claire looked at him with evil eyes. “The king isn’t someone that anyone should want involved in their life, Willem. Do you know what they call him?”

  “His preferred pronoun is Your Majesty,” Willem said, grinning dumbly. “Even I know that much.”

  Anne Claire snapped shut her fan and wrapped his nose. He flinched back. “This isn’t a time for jokes. Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you come to any of us?”

  “I wasn’t taking a chance when it came to a potential invasion, a potential assassination of myself and Baron Tielman.” Willem rubbed his nose. “Fact is, there were problems. Generally I’m an advocate for lesser government oversight, but in this case? Nah. I won’t play around.”

  Anne Claire crossed her arms. “Well… alright. But don’t keep me in the dark next time.”

  “Sure. The next time there’s a secretive trap for Avarians that necessitates involving the king, I’ll tell you everything.” Willem smiled. “Now, I really must be going. I need to talk to the people affected last night.”

  Anne Claire hid her touched expression with her face. “Even after something like that… you’re think of them. Well… I can’t stop you, Willem. I’ll let your sister know you’ll be missed.”

  ***

  “So, Willem got amnesty,” Suzanne explained. “And that’s the end of that. Galahad is going to be conducting a deeper investigation, and… we’ll see where it leads.”

  “And you’re going to be staying in Gent?” Viviene asked her daughter, Suzanne, as they sat there having tea. Catharina was the host of this little tea party. Anne Claire had already informed them that Willem wouldn’t be attending.

  “Of course,” Suzanne confirmed. “Galahad has some work to do here, and he’s my teacher. I just follow him around, doing what he says. If he’s staying in Gent, I’m staying in Gent. If it means that I get away from Tielman’s pestering… so be it.”

  “That’s nice,” Viviene said. “It’s very nice that you didn’t think to breathe a word to me that you were studying magic in the capital under perhaps the most famous wizard in the kingdom. Very… nice.” She smiled a little chillily.

  “I was told to keep it quiet,” Suzanne said defensively.

  “Nevertheless, I’m very proud of you,” Viviene declared. “My daughter is a magic genius.”

  “I’m not—” Suzanne stopped and laughed. “I’m not a genius, mother. I have a rare condition. Conduit Leakage.”

  “Leakage?” Viviene looked concerned. “My grandfather had that in his old age.”

  “Conduit Leakage,” Suzanne said firmly. “Mother. It’s an incurable condition.”

  Viviene laughed, obviously joking.

  “A condition?” Catharina asked in concern. “Isn’t that bad?”

  “In my case, not at all,” Suzanne said. “I can use aura and magic interchangeably. And being as I have a tremendous reserve of aura on account of who my parents were… well.” She smiled. “Really, it’s my intelligence that’s holding me back. If I had Galahad’s brain, it… it would be so much easier. I need a lot more work to reach the same conclusions that he does. I just have a lot more fuel to use than most people.”

  “Like your father,” Viviene said. “A lot of power, but not much in the way of—” she cut herself off, then sighed. “I shouldn’t talk ill of him anymore.”

  Catharina looked at Viviene’s eye mask, obviously harboring a question. She didn’t bring it up, though.

  “It’s good to have all of us together again as a family,” Viviene declared. “Us ladies, I mean. I could do without the others.”

  Catharina didn’t agree or disagree, quietly sipping her tea.

  “Except perhaps Willem,” Viviene mused, placing her hands before her. “I should probably be helping him out in talking to the distressed society members, but… well, perhaps not. People might think I’m scary after last night.” She looked secretly pleased at the fact.

  Suzanne obviously looked to have something on her mind when that topic was brought up.

  “I’m very glad that you’re all safe,” Viviene said. “That was hard for me to say, but I mean it. I was quite terrified when I saw that man rampaging near you, Catharina. It was a very frightening ordeal, and I’m not fond of the fact that you had to go through it.”

  “Mother…” Catharina looked touched, but felt the need to say, “You were the one that ran in there without fear, swinging that rapier of yours.”

  “I know,” Viviene said with a big smile. “Wasn’t I just amazing? One of the knights called me the Belle of the Blade. Ah… it’s been so long. So, so long.”

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  Viviene basked in a daydream, thinking first and foremost of all that she’d done the days before.

  “Is it just me…” Suzanne began quietly. “Or has Willem changed?”

  Both of them looked at her and nodded fiercely. They gave various words of affirmation, and Suzanne looked between them with concern in her eyes.

  “Willem has gone through a very rough time,” Viviene said. “I won’t say too much, but I want both of you to be especially nice to him. I want you to let him know that you love him, and that he’s worthy of your love.”

  Suzanne shifted in her seat. “And it seems you’ve changed most of all, mother.”

  “I think that he fell in love,” Catharina managed to say, clearly having gathered her courage to do so.

  Viviene put her hand on her daughter’s. “It’s a very complicated tale, Catharina. He doesn’t like to talk about it overmuch. He had to drink himself into a stupor at the mere mention of it.” Catharina looked confused at the assertion.

  “No, I mean…” Suzanne put her hands on the table. “It seems like he’s fundamentally different.”

  “Hmm.” Viviene tapped her nails on the table. “I could see it. But there’s a very good reason for it, dear, I assure you.”

  Catharina gave a nod of agreement, and Suzanne leaned back, confused.

  “So… can either of you enlighten me?” Suzanne asked.

  Both of them turned inward at that moment, clearly unwilling to divulge what it was that they thought on the matter.

  “You were always quite close with Willem,” Viviene said. “If you approach it delicately… why not ask him yourself?”

  “Yes,” Catharina supported. “If it’s you, I don’t have much doubt that he’ll open up. He always liked you, Suzanne.”

  “Alright. I’ll do that.” Suzanne nodded in determination. “I’ll get an answer one way or another.”

  ***

  “…and then I said, ‘all you are…’” Willem imitated himself, deepening his voice. “’…is washed up, Gustav.’”

  Gustav laughed uproariously as her wife shook her head. Their dog Mr. Clean laid out across the table, licking one of the plates clean. The dinner had been a large one, but even with only Gustav, Willem, and Gustav’s wife in attendance, they’d cleared the table.

  “By the goddess…” Gustav’s wife caressed her forehead. “There’s two of you, now. One bad jokester is enough for me, boys. One.”

  “Alright, alright,” Willem said, holding out his hands. “No more puns. I promise.”

  He and Gustav shared a glance, then started laughing without saying a word. Gustav’s wife stood up and took the plates away, taking them into the back.

  “Ah, I needed that,” Willem admitted. “Been stressed out of my mind lately.”

  “Pfft.” Gustav huffed. “I’m just glad I’m not the only one.”

  “But all that’s over,” Willem said. “Right?”

  Gustav scratched at his nose. “That depends if you’re as good at paperwork as you are talking. I’m not about to get into something that I don’t understand just because you sell it right.”

  “Hell…” Willem reached into his shirt, pulling out a paper. “She can be your wife partner, Gustav. Me? I’ll be your life partner. I’ve been looking for a smart, ambitious man like yourself for a long, long while. Knew someone once, but… well, I won’t get into that.”

  Gustav took the paper, then eyed it briefly. “Sometimes, I forget that I’m older than you.”

  Willem leaned back in his chair, pursing his lips. “Eh, well… age, right? It’s just arbitrary, really.”

  Gustav looked over the papers. “So, you’re serious about this?” He asked. “About this being a partnership, not an employer-employee relationship.”

  Willem looked at him seriously, then nodded. “People are a lot more invested in something’s success when they’re an integral part of that success. It’s the same anywhere you go. So yes, Gustav. We’ll be partners. Partners in the good times, and partners in the bad. And as far as I’m concerned… I don’t see much bad on the horizon.”

  Gustav studied the papers, then held them up. “I’ll read these over. If they’re right… I’ll bring them to you tomorrow, and we’ll talk.”

  ***

  Dirk ran his hands through his hair and paced around his room, wondering how in the hell he was going to handle this new influx of knowledge that he’d received.

  Willem was eighty-seven.

  Eight. Seven.

  At first, Dirk had thought he had just been playing a joke. But as the time wore on, and Willem expanded on his childhood, his adulthood, all of the things that he’d done and all of the ambitions that he’d had—the going-ons of the society of his age, the level of detail with which he could recall things… he’d been forced to extremely reluctantly accept a fact.

  Willem was the world’s best, most convincing liar… or he was telling the truth.

  Considering the fact that he agreed took up Dirk’s offer to pay for a lie-detecting mage immediately, the latter was infinitely more likely. Dirk sympathized with the man’s situation somewhat. He’d woken up, and Tielman had been poisoned almost immediately. He was a known liar, and people were trying to accuse him of a poisoning that he frankly probably had committed.

  Dirk knew that if Willem got talking about who he was—who he actually was—that all hell might freeze over. Reasonably, his job was in jeopardy if he went along with Willem’s whims. But at the same time, the man had been so damn earnest it was difficult to refuse him.

  What do I do? Dirk wondered. Go along with it, or… something else altogether?

  Dirk heard a loud knock downstairs, and looked. He quickly got together his things and ran down the stairs, where he looked out the window. He saw Suzanne van Brugh standing there, and opened the door quickly.

  “Lady Suzanne,” he greeted. “How can I help you?”

  “Is Willem in?” Suzanne asked.

  “Uhh… he’ll be waking up shortly,” Dirk explained.

  “I’d like to wait inside, then,” Suzanne said. “I have something very important to discuss with him.”

  Dirk opened up the door and let her in, watching her warily as she walked inside. Once he shut the door, he caught her looking at him.

  “Have you noticed any strange behavior from Willem, lately?” she asked.

  Dirk blinked. “I… suppose, yes.”

  “Like what?” Suzanne indulged.

  Dirk laughed nervously. “How long do you have, my lady? He’s not usual.”

  “Have you noticed any dramatic shifts?” Suzanne asked. “As if he’s become a different person?”

  Dirk swallowed.