Chapter Seventeen
WHEN ERIC WENT back to the estate managers, it was Ned, the ‘ he didn’t want to give the man a conniption.
“Prince Ixthan will be covering the initial costs, but don’t let him just throw endless money at it.
I want to stay apprised of how much I owe him at any point.
If I know anything about him, he’ll want to cover the walls with gold flake or some such nonsense. ”
“Of course, milord. We shall be sparing with the gold flake. And speaking of the Prince...” Ned Williams suddenly looked very contrite.
“We’re so very sorry, we should have let you know that the prince covered the amount to the Allegreian Temple when he approached us to find out how much it was.
” Ramsay must have let them know that Eric hadn’t been aware.
“No, I can guess, he implied he’d already spoken to me about it,” said Eric.
He could imagine exactly the casual way Ix had gone about it, making it seem like such a small thing.
He might be a prince but he still lived on a monthly stipend from the crown.
Eric had no idea where he’d had that amount of gold stashed, or if he’d asked the Treasury for it – at which point the king would have heard – and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Eric sighed to himself. No, he did want to know, he’d made the mistake of telling Ix he didn’t want to know about something already.
“He did but nevertheless we work on your behalf so we must take responsibility,” said Ned with some relief. “I shall look into the details of this at once and keep you informed of the amount.”
They moved onto other affairs then. Most of the farmers and tenants had responded quickly, wanting security for their livelihoods, so Eric was grateful for that.
Ned wanted to arrange for someone to travel up to the country house to see the state of affairs at the house, and Eric let him know that Petra might go up herself, as well as warn him that she might want to do something drastic with the gardens.
“Milord. What–” Ned Williams stopped explaining the letters from the bailiffs, pointed at Eric’s chest and backed away.
Eric looked down at where a faint light was glowing, only noticeable now that the room was dark.
He reached inside his shirt to fish out the amber pendant.
He knew it protected him from magic, but there wasn’t any in the room with him, not unless Ned was secretly a demon.
“It’s an enchanted necklace from Prince Ixthan with protection charms, don’t worry.
It’s meant to – well, I don’t know actually, I’ve not seen it do this before. ”
“Are we in danger, milord?” asked Ned, looking around. The office was empty aside from the two of them, with only the faint scratch of quill pens from their clerks in the other room and the occasional noise of passersby outside the window.
“Good question. I do not believe so.” Eric decided not to mention the hundred tiny demons he might have set loose in the city.
“Eric!”
Both of them jumped. That was Ix’s voice, slightly muffled as if through a wall, but clearly emanating from the crystal. Eric touched the pendant tentatively. “Ix? Is that you?”
“Who else would it be?” Ix sounded more grumpy than angry or scared.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting anyone’s voice in a stone!” snapped Eric. Honestly, he needed to start prying into Ix’s spell inventions just to prevent finding himself knee deep in a dozen enchantments that Ix expected him to know about.
“Where are you?”
“At Williams the trunk was lined with pure silk, extending as the lid opened to reveal multiple shelves. The contents were covered in another swathe of silk.
“Demonic artifacts, milord?” asked Ned mildly after Eric just looked at it all for a moment.