James’s mind was filled with a torrent of unending swear words. “Who – who’s James?” he managed to stammer out. “There must be some mistake, I’m – “

“You,” Georgie said calmly, “are James Wilde. Friend and advisor of so-called King Charles, reckless combat magician, and definitely not someone who should be working as a bodyguard of the Mage Theola.”

Yeah. He wasn’t fooling her, was he? It had been worth a try. “All right,” he said, raising his hands. “You got me. Hello, Georgie.” He took a breath, slipped easily into a combat stance. If it came to a fight and she hadn’t brought backup, he would win: she’d never been his equal in a fight, and he’d improved immeasurably in the last seven years.

That wasn’t what he was afraid of. It was what happened after. What he might have to do to keep his secret. “So, is this just to catch up for old times’ sake, or are you planning on turning me in to be executed?” He tried to keep his voice casual, but he was afraid.

“That depends very much on why you are here and what you do next,” Georgie said. “So I suggest you tell me the truth, now.”

Georgie had always been a little scary; these calm threats were enough to terrify most people into submission. She got it from her father, unfortunately. James had never expected that he would be the one on the wrong end of them, though.

He considered his options. She wouldn’t believe for a second that he’d really betrayed Charles for Theola, which left only two reasons he could be here. The truth was the safer of those two options. “I’m here because of Theola,” he said. “To find out whether she’s a real Mage.”

There was a good chance Georgie knew the answer to that question, he realised. Felix certainly did. Which meant that if he was careful, if he made the right moves for the rest of this conversation… no. The priority was making sure she wouldn’t destroy his cover. Anything else was a secondary concern for now.

Georgie nodded. “I thought so. I’m surprised Charles sent you. With all due respect, James, you’re the furthest thing from a good spy imaginable. You don’t have a deceptive bone in your body.”

“I made it this far, didn’t I?” James snapped.

“My point exactly. A good spy would have let me continue to believe they were a bad one.”

James grimaced. He might be able to defeat her in a straight fight, but in this strange kind of conversational battle he didn’t have a chance. “How did you get in?” he asked. “I warded – “

“I’m the High Princess and a master-level wardsmith, James. I can go wherever I choose.”

High Princess. Yes, she was. Felix’s only child would naturally be his heir. The idea was still a horrific one: if something happened to the usurper, the only obstacle between Charles and the throne would be Georgie.

“What do you want?” he ground out to hide his discomfort.

“What do I want?” Georgie echoed. “Isn’t it obvious?”

It really wasn’t. For once he remained silent, not wanting to anger her with an incorrect guess.

“I want my father and my best friend to stop trying to destroy each other. I want them to stop destroying my country in the process. I want an end to this endless bloodshed. Peace, James. I want peace.”

James laughed bitterly. “Is your father prepared to abdicate?”

“Well, no, but – “

“Then there can be no peace.”

“Not unless,” Georgie said, “a Mage decrees there should be peace.”

So that was what she wanted from him. To – to manipulate Theola into something that was in neither his interests or hers – stars – “I’m not using her for you.”

Georgie laughed. He glared at her.

“I take back what I said. Clearly you must have a deceptive bone somewhere in you, because that is really a remarkable act of self-deception. You are using the Mage,” she spat. “You are here explicitly to spy on her and remove her from the field. Is it really so different because the agenda is not your own?”

“It’s war, Georgie. I have to do whatever it takes.”

She shook her head, then raised her hands above her head. “I surrender.”

James stared blankly at her. “…what?”

“You heard me. I surrender. Here I am, Felix Blackthorn’s beloved daughter and heir, at your mercy. I imagine there are a lot more concessions he’d be prepared to offer with my life on the negotiating table.”

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“You… want me to take you hostage…” James said slowly. What in stars’ names was she playing at?

“No,” she said. “Stars help me, I’m not willing to be a martyr. That could lead to peace, or it could lead to nothing more than my death. But, if you want to take me hostage… I can’t stop you.”

James met her gaze; she didn’t look away. He considered it. She had a point: he knew how much Felix cared about her. Whether he’d actually consider abdicating in exchange for her life, he wasn’t sure, but there was at least a chance of it.

But she also had a point that it could lead just as easily to her death. If Felix refused to yield. If Charles decided that taking away his enemy’s heir was more valuable than she would be alive. It scared him a little that he wasn’t quite sure whether Charles would kill her, if it came to it.

He couldn’t do that to her. Stars help him, even if they’d been apart for so long, he still cared about her. He still wasn’t prepared to gamble her life without her consent, even for a chance at victory.

And that, he realised, was precisely her point. “Stars, Georgie. I hate it when you’re right.”

“You should know by now, James. I am always right.”

This was the old Georgie, the one he’d known, not the withdrawn girl who’d dined with Theola and her father only a few hours ago. He’d missed her. “So,” he said. “I persuade Theola to advocate for peace… or you turn me in?”

She shrugged. “I’d give you a few hours’ warning. You’d have time to escape. I’m not prepared to kill you any more than you are me. But… you wouldn’t have your answers. You wouldn’t have the Mage removed from the field. You’d have to go back to Charles with nothing. Surely a Mage advocating for peace is better than a Mage fighting for your enemy?”

She wasn’t bluffing. If she hadn’t offered him the warning he might have thought she was, but she would have no problem with forcing him to flee the City in defeat. “I don’t even know if I can,” he said. “I’m her bodyguard, not her advisor.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’ve risen from nobody to bodyguard in only two days, after all.”

“How do you know how long I’ve been here?”

“I do now,” she said, grinning.

Stars damn it.

“No, just messing with you. I did my research before coming here. The paperwork trail was easy enough to follow, especially when you don’t even change your initials. Jacob Winter, indeed. So however you did that, I’m sure you can manage it again.”

James had managed that more by luck than anything else – though his natural talent and good looks had also played a part, of course. Wait, his good looks weren’t entirely natural any more, were they?

“I’ll be generous,” said Georgie. “You can have a week. After that, if nothing has happened, I’ll assume you never intended to try. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes,” said James. It was the obvious answer, regardless of whether he intended to honour it. It bought him more time at the least.

Would that be long enough to tell whether Theola was a Mage and do whatever came next? He wasn’t sure. But having a week was better than not having a week.

“Good. I should get back, then; I’ll be missed.” She stood and took two steps over to his window. “It was nice seeing you again, James. I missed you.”

I missed you, too. The words caught in his throat. She was Felix Blackthorn’s daughter. She’d just outmanoeuvred and blackmailed him. Maybe some day there would be peace and they could be friends again, but for now he couldn’t miss her.

She opened the window deftly and perched herself on the sill. “And… when you see Charles again…” She swung herself around so that her legs were dangling over the air below. “Tell him I miss him, too.”

“I will,” James said. “Bye, Georgie.”

“Bye, James.” She vanished. It had to be invisibility; even the best of magicians couldn’t teleport while sitting down. It certainly achieved the dramatic effect she no doubt wanted, though.

James walked over to the window and felt around it to make sure she was gone, then pulled it tightly shut. He’d have to rework his wards and improve them if she had subverted his work so easily, master wardsmith or not. That would occupy his mind for a little longer, at least.

It wasn’t nearly long enough. He was soon alone with his thoughts. It all came back to the one question, really: was Theola a Mage? If she wasn’t, then he only needed to prove it and the legitimacy she offered Felix would be gone. And assuming he could do so within a week he would be safe from Georgie’s threats besides.

If she was? Then trying to persuade her of anything would be trying to change the will of the stars themselves, and what chance did he have of achieving that?

It was impossible to be certain. If he was forced to guess, though, he would say that Theola was an imposter. She was capable of extraordinary feats of magic, there was no denying that, but the only true miracle she had performed was turning day to night and revealing the stars at Clirith. And he couldn’t be sure that she had done that on her own; it would have been quite possible for that to have been done by a group ritual.

And she seemed… human. Mortal. James didn’t have much of a template for how a five-hundred-year-old immortal would act, but he was willing to bet it didn’t extend to being so lonely she’d start a romance with her bodyguard.

Unless she’d done that many times before. Unless he was just the latest in a centuries-long chain of lovers. If James were five hundred years old he would have had many casual flings over the years. For some strange reason it hurt a little to think that was all their afternoon had been for Theola.

If she wasn’t a Mage, though, how was she so much better than him? What was her secret? There was only really one answer: a more extreme version of his story for why Jacob Winter was so talented. She simply didn’t understand the meaning of the word impossible.

And that gave him an idea for how she could be defeated. He hated himself for even having the thought, but once it had occurred to him he was certain that it would work. Unless, that was, she was a real Mage. In which case it would probably get him killed.

Georgie wanted peace. James could understand why: being so close to both Felix and Charles, it couldn’t be easy watching such a bitter conflict between them. He’d laughed in her face at the suggestion, but honestly he hadn’t given much thought to it. It had just been a fact of his life for years: they were at war, and there could be no peace without victory.

Charles wouldn’t settle for anything less than the throne. James wouldn’t, either. But seeing Georgie again had reminded him of how close they had once been. He’d give almost anything for things to go back to the way they’d been then. Perhaps, if there was peace, it would be the first step towards that.

What harm could it do, anyway? If Theola was an imposter, he would expose her and it would make no difference. If she was a real Mage then better she fight for peace than for the usurper.

Yes. He would try. For Georgie, for the friendship they’d once shared.

It felt a little like a betrayal, but there was no choice that wouldn’t have felt that way.