9. Sage
SAGE
The moment the door to the study opened, Sage was met with a deluge of spent magic.
It was overpowering in the worst sort of way.
All he could think to compare it to was indulging in a favorite food or drink until the inclination to vomit was unavoidable.
It was not so bad if you were present when the magic was cast, but to happen upon it after the fact was an altogether miserable experience, particularly in an enclosed space like a study.
The more people casting at once, the stronger it was.
“Ugh,” Sage gagged out, perhaps more forcefully than was really necessary. “Open a window, would you!”
“Oh!” Roger hurried to where the curtain was already pulled back and propped the window open.
“Apologies, we had it closed because of the rain.” It had only grown heavier since the morning.
Droplets began to collect on the sill almost immediately, but that was not Sage’s problem to worry about.
He sat in the same chair he’d been offered the last time and focused on what little fresh air he’d been able to pull into the room.
By the time Roger sat across from him on the opposite side of the desk, he was able to manage what lingered around them.
“Not all of us are able to handle others’ magic so well as you and Wyndham.” Sage glanced at the papers scattered across Roger’s workspace. Everything written on them was entirely senseless to him. “You would be wise to keep that in mind while hosting.”
Roger looked as though he was about to apologize again, but something seemed to shift in his expression before he spoke.
“I see,” he said carefully. “A-and what does it feel like to you?” He was not subtle at all as he reached for a clean sheet of paper and quill pen.
Sage instantly grew defensive. The last thing he needed was to become any part of what Roger was looking to study next.
“I am not here to talk about myself. I am here to talk about Wyndham. I have been waiting several days to do so, in fact, but each time I’ve attempted it, you have been too preoccupied to see me.” He hoped every bit of his frustration was coming across.
Roger’s shoulders fell with a small sigh as he abandoned the pen and paper.
“I truly am sorry about that. You must be able to recognize the opportunity that has happened upon us with Mr. Moore’s arrival.
When I wrote to invite you, I hadn’t the slightest idea that we would have such a shift in focus. ”
“Perhaps I should take my leave, then?”
The words came out impulsively. There was still a small part of him that did want to demand that his belongings be packed at once.
The entire experience had been less than enjoyable thus far.
But there was something else in him that deeply wished he’d not said it.
What if Roger agreed? Would he ever get another chance like this?
“As I said before, you are free to go whenever you wish.” Roger turned slowly to look over his shoulder at the rain.
The sill was slick with water now. His expression was pained when their eyes met again.
They both knew how awful it was to travel in poor weather.
“But I would very much like to continue with my plans, if you are willing.”
“I still do not even know what your plans are,” Sage snapped.
Even he felt the venom in the emphasis he’d put on that last word.
His jaw worked as he stopped himself from saying more.
Somehow, Roger did not seem particularly rattled by it.
Of course not , Sage thought. He’s married to Wyndham Wrenwhistle. He has likely heard far worse.
Roger’s gaze flicked to the closed door of the study, just as it had the last time they spoke. He did not lower his voice nearly as much this time.
“As I am sure you already know, Wyn is turning thirty, and I want it to be very special. I’ve sent out invitations to the rest of his family and mine. They’ve all written back to confirm they will be attending.” He gave an unsteady little laugh. “As such, it is too late to cancel now.”
“You could,” Sage reasoned. “There would simply be a lot of unhappy people to write apologies to.”
Roger gave him a tight grin. “We really do not know each other well at all, do we, Mr. Ravenwing?”
Sage arched a brow in acknowledgement.
“He is too clever for his own good sometimes,” Roger went on.
“My thoughts on inviting friends to stay with us for several weeks prior were to distract him enough that I could handle the planning without him noticing. We, er…spend quite a lot of our time together, when it is just the two of us.” The light flush of his cheeks said more than Sage wanted to know.
He slanted a look at the chaise where it sat empty in front of the fireplace.
“Yes, I can imagine he makes himself quite comfortable while you work.”
It looked exactly like the sort of place Wyndham would choose to perch himself with a glass of wine, a book, or simply that alluring smirk of his that was impossible to resist.
The man across from him had gone completely red. Roger adjusted and readjusted his spectacles and cleared his throat before he gave a sharp nod.
“As I was saying. Distractions. Er, friends, that is.” He gestured in the air a little helplessly.
“Wyn and I hosted at our townhouse during the winter holidays, but it did not go particularly well—and we planned everything together then. After I started getting the acceptance letters for this party, I arrived rather suddenly at the realization that I was mad to think I could do this on my own with any level of success.”
“Why not ask one of them to help you?” Sage tilted his head in the direction of the door, indicating the rest of the house guests.
“Because I am a terrible liar,” Roger admitted. “If I asked Torquil or anyone else, Wyn would want to know what we were doing, and…” he shrugged.
After a pause, Sage snorted a laugh. “So your best option was to ask the one person you knew that he does not care to know anything about?”
Roger shrunk into a rueful smile. “Precisely.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
“Will we be hosting it here, then?” The words felt uncomfortable as he said them, but Sage managed to keep a straight face. Roger, on the other hand, looked pleasantly surprised. It shifted swiftly into excitement.
“Yes,” he said as he pushed his chair back from the desk, making room for him to open the drawers.
After frowning into several of them, he finally found what he was searching for.
The stack of papers looked exactly like the ones covering the entire desk, but they’d been carefully folded in half and tucked between the pages of a book.
Roger smoothed the creases with his hand before he held them out for Sage to take.
At least the markings on these papers were words he could somewhat recognize, rather than the lines and symbols of human magic scratched into the rest. “Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. ”
Sage read what he could of Roger’s terrible handwriting.
It left him with more questions than answers, but there was a knock at the door before he had time to ask any of them.
It was the call for dinner. Roger took the papers and hid them inside the book again before returning it to a different drawer than the one he’d taken it from.
“We will make time to discuss it in more detail before the week is out, I promise,” Roger told him before he went to the window and shut it.
As they left the study together, Sage was entirely unsure how to feel. He had never been responsible for planning or hosting anything before. Why did Roger have so much trust in him to make this work?
* * *
It was decided before the second course that another round of charades would be the entertainment for the evening. Emrys all but demanded that Keelan and Silas stay to participate after they missed out on the fun the night before. Neither of them seemed particularly upset to have left early.
“Need we remind you that we ended our honeymoon early to be here,” Silas said. “You are lucky to be seeing us at all.”
Emrys waved a dismissive hand in Silas’ direction.
“Fuck him in this house, fuck him in another, it makes no difference.”
“Emrys!” Keelan turned pink and hid his face against his husband’s arm. Silas moved to wrap that arm around Keelan’s shoulders and held him protectively close, though there was a hint of a smirk on his features as everyone shared a polite laugh at the newlyweds’ expense.
“As I remember it,” Lady Anthea Fitzhugh said to Emrys, “you did not make a single guess last night. Your participation in the game was equal to theirs, all things considered.”
Emrys’ eyes lit with mischief. “And yet I consider myself the most fortunate of all. I enjoyed the game exactly as I wished to, and then I took my spouse upstairs to make love to them.”
Wyndham rolled his eyes so hard at the far end of the table that it was nearly audible. “Enough,” he said to his brother, but the implication was there for the rest of them, as well.
When the meal concluded, Miss Thackeray pranced her way into the adjoining sitting room followed by her loyal subjects, new and old.
Each member of the party returned to the place they’d been sitting the night before, with the addition of two chairs for Keelan and Silas.
After a moment of hesitation, Sage called to one of the servants and requested that his chair be turned to face the rest of the group, though not any closer.
He’d only just looked up from settling in his seat when he found a pair of large brown eyes on him.