“If a Falconer can’t live in the Mews and accompany their Falcon, the whole system falls apart. The serenity of the Empire depends on the loyalty of the Falcons, and we can’t win their loyalty without giving them freedom.” He lifted rueful eyes to my own. “I may have already gotten an earful from Colonel Vasante about what an impossible situation it is militarily that you’re across the lagoon from your Falcon. For Zaira personally, it’s a prison sentence.”

“I don’t want to do that to her.” I started shredding my leaf. “If the jess binds Zaira’s magic, she’s not a threat, is she? Those with magic too weak to bear the mage mark don’t have to stay in the Mews. They can live their lives however they want. With the jess on, Zaira has less power than they do. Couldn’t you set her free, Lieutenant?”

“Please, my lady, call me Marcello.”

“Marcello, then.” My face warmed. It was the legacy of my barely remembered Callamornish father; I blushed far more easily than a pure Raverran would, with their darker, olive-bronze skin.

“And I wish we could just let her go, but it’s not that easy.” His tone became somber. “What do you think would happen if she wandered the city alone, without you there to unbind her power if she needed to defend herself?”

“I’m guessing the answer you’re fishing for isn’t ‘She could live a normal life, happily ever after.’”

“She’s a warlock,” he said. “Even artificers and alchemists have to guard against kidnapping. There are murder attempts on our two storm warlocks every year. If we let Zaira go, she’d be dead or captured within the week. And if someone found a way to get the jess off, they might turn her fires on Raverra.”

“I thought the whole point of jesses was that you couldn’t get them off. At least, not without the Falconer’s permission and the Master Artificer’s help.” It was the key to the Serene Empire’s power. Hundreds of years ago, when all the other nations and city-states of Eruvia either hunted down the mage-marked or fell under their rule, Raverra’s invention of jesses offered an alternative. A way to hold the mage-marked accountable to the rule of law and keep them from being used against their own country by the unscrupulous, at the cost of their independence. The slim golden bracelets had remained one of the Empire’s most closely guarded assets ever since.

“No magic is absolute, as you saw when Zaira’s fires fused her jess shut. They’re supposed to be indestructible—I’ve never heard of jesses being so much as scratched before.” Marcello shook his head. “We can’t take the chance someone could find a way to remove or circumvent them. Not with a fire warlock.”