Lady Brislyn sat back in her chair. “As head of the General Council, Mage Lindin, I will not presume to comment on matters of illegal magework. I want to know only one thing. Do you possess the skill to turn back the tide of destruction unleashed upon us by you and Lord Danfey?”

Another cold silence. Another onslaught of hostile stares. Barl felt her eyes sting.

“I don’t know, Lady Brislyn. But I want the chance to try.”

“As do I,” said Remmie. “I’ll do all I can to help put right what’s gone wrong.”

“So.” Sallis Arkley drew the word out. “Remmie Lindin. Are we to take it, then, that you do not approve of your sister?”

Remmie looked at Lord Arkley steadily, as he’d so often looked at a pupil who’d said something crude. “My lord, I love my sister. A man may love with all his heart, yet have that heart broken by a foolish, thoughtless act.”

“In other words—” Sallis Arkley was sneering now. “You’d have us believe she acted without malice?”

“Completely without malice. On that you have my word.”

“Then how do you explain her destructive behaviour?”

“I don’t, my lord,” said Remmie, curtly. “Not here, and not to you. I won’t read this Council a shopping list of my sister’s faults. I don’t see that as a provident use of my time.”

Lord Arkley’s face flushed. “You’re as arrogant as she is.”

“And you, my lord, seem intent upon proving her right about ranked mages.”

“That’s enough,” Lord Varen said, forestalling Sallis Arkley’s furious reply. “Mage Lindin is right about one thing, at least. We have not assembled here to indulge in petty brawling. Now, I think that before anything else is decided, we must hear what Lord Danfey has to say for himself. This time, however, we will not go to him. Mage Lindin—”

Still surprised by Remmie’s defence of her, sick with fear that he’d made of himself a target for Sallis Arkley’s revenge, Barl looked up.

“Yes?”

“You say you left Lord Danfey warded in his mansion?”

“I did, yes.”

“You’ll provide me with the unwarding key, then wait in the Council’s antechamber with your brother while Lord Danfey is sent for. Neither of you will speak of this. Is that understood?”

She nodded. “Yes. My lord.”

For a moment he looked at her, his sickened, tired eyes searching. Then he sighed. “I wonder, Mage Lindin, if you truly comprehend what you’ve done?”

More tears gathered, desperate to burst free. There was a terrible pain in her chest, as though guilt and grief were grinding her heart to a pulp. “I do, my lord.”

He grunted. “So you say. But that remains to be seen. The unwarding key?”