—and a little less expensive? Walden thought. But she was now at the bottom of this room’s hierarchy, and so she did not say it. Besides, she’d been in the Ops meetings, she knew enough about Chetwood’s finances. The governors were right. Laura’s suggestion—doubling the Marshal squadron that the school paid for, bringing in the crack frontliners of the Order, the active-duty demon hunters—Knights Mareschal Venitant—would be wildly expensive, and unsustainable. Especially if eleven-plus entry was down.

“We have decided to bring in a magical security consultant,” said the Chair. “Say hello, Mark.”

Walden’s hackles immediately rose. ‘Consultant,’ what did that mean? Magical security was her job. It looked like they’d planned a replacement for her, not for Laura. David gave her a warning glance. It was clear he’d used plenty of his own capital with the governors, fighting to save her career. She’d said so many times to him that Chief Marshal Kenning was obstructive and unhelpful. That had probably fed into his decision to back the governors getting rid of the Marshal now. Office politics—don’t think about it! Who was Mark?

The man at the far end of the table gave a charming, faintly embarrassed smile and a little wave. He had been introduced at the start of the meeting as a representative of the school’s ‘wider community,’ a phrase so vague it could mean absolutely anything. His expression now seemed to say: Sorry about that, bit of light skulduggery! He was a white man with conservatively cut curly hair, a slight tan of the just-got-back-from-Provence variety, and the faintly ageless look of a person who had always been good-looking and was now committed to maintaining it. Walden guessed he was in his forties, but equally he could have been mid-thirties and outdoorsy, or mid-fifties with some light plastic surgery. He was wearing a very good suit, with a shirt open at the collar. No tie, no wedding ring.

Walden had an unaccountable sense of familiarity. Her field was not huge. Had she met him before?

“Mr Mark Daubery, Dr Sapphire Walden,” said the Chair. “Mark is an expert on magical security in general and demonic issues in particular. He’s worked for the highest levels of the government, and we are very fortunate to be able to call on his expertise at Chetwood. He’s going to do a full review of the school’s magical position. He’s also going to take over Chief Marshal Kenning’s role as active security lead, until the end of this academic year. So you’ll be working closely together.”