Excerpt: The House of Anwell

Miles quickened his pace. Stephanie hurried to keep up, and slid into the Hall of Gifting just behind him. Lord Hemsfeld nodded in her direction. She nodded back with her best attempt at a smile, then tried to join her group as unobtrusively as possible.

"Where have you been?" asked Josh crossly. "They’ve had to hold up the evening for you."

Stephanie didn’t answer him. She concentrated on fighting down the panic that insisted on rising. Her heart was skipping beats, and she alternated between feeling chilled and flushed.

Lord Hemsfeld was finishing up his speech. "...and so, Lords, Ladies, gentlemen and gentlewomen, the House of Hemsfeld is please to present to you this year’s new arrivals. May everything that follows further Cardona’s best interest." He raised his goblet in a toast. "To balance!"

Two hundred people echoed his words and drank to his toast. The candles flickered in the alcoves and up in the chandeliers. A wind blew through, short and sudden. The light dimmed, then shifted color for a second before returning to normal.

But not everything was back to normal. It was subtle, but noticeable. Every one of the new arrivals had changed slightly. They all looked slightly less like modern Americans in fancy clothes, and slightly more like people who were taking the adventure seriously. Josh looked leaner. Dave’s balding patch had disappeared under thick hair. Jackie’s face, the hard haggard face of an alcoholic, had softened and smoothed out. The circles under her eyes were gone, and her cheeks were a rosy pink. Stephanie looked around in amazement. It was as if they had all become a more ideal version of themselves.

But everyone else was looking at her.

For a moment, no one spoke. Lord Hemsfeld’s mouth was open, but nothing came out. From the back of the hall, someone murmured. Stephanie glanced around her, looking for someone who would tell her what was wrong, but no one caught her eye. They were too busy with their own surprise.

One of the House Lords was the first to say something coherent. "This has never--has this ever happened before?"

"Has what?" asked Stephanie, her hand reaching up to her neck to hold onto her necklace for support. "Would someone please say what is going on? What’s wrong?"

Miles appeared at Lord Hemsfeld’s elbow. He looked at his Lord. Lord Hemsfeld was still not saying anything. Miles jumped in. "Nothing is wrong," he said. "And you don’t need to be upset. It’s just--" His voice trailed off.

"Just what?" Stephanie asked, starting to panic again. If another person told her it was all going to be all right, she was going to go crazy. She twisted the necklace in her fingers. She realized that she hadn’t been wearing a necklace when the evening started. Looking down, she saw that her dress, which had been a pastel shade of grey-blue, was now turquoise with gold trim. The necklace which had appeared around her neck was a chain holding an ornate gold pendant in the stylized shape of a shell’s cross-section, a spiral which curved around and around until it reached the center where it held a pink stone.

"Cardona has chosen a very specific role for you," he said. "You’re the heir to a House."

Chapter 2

Stephanie was still speechless. The hall filled up with murmurs and whispers, half-coherent mutterings which were a combination of awe and confusion.

"How is this possible?" asked Lord Strong. "I don’t recognize the symbol."

"I do," said Lord Danson. "It’s House Anwell."

"House Anwell?" asked Lord Hemsfeld. "How do you know that, Lord Danson? Do we have a historian present who could check? Where is Lord Ariad?"

An old man stepped forward, leaning on his aide’s arm. "I am here, Lord Hemsfeld," he said, his voice strong in spite of his frail appearance. He peered at Stephanie, staring hard at her necklace, then stood back. "It is the symbol of House Anwell," he said.

Stephanie stood rigid, her eyes darting back and forth. "What does this mean?" she asked.

"I think it means you’re something special," said Jackie with a smile.

"This can’t be," protested Stephanie. She moved jerkily, looking for escape. She caught sight of Liesl standing by the doorway. She must have come in time for the transformation. She smiled at Stephanie and sent her an irritatingly knowing look. I told you so could not have been better communicated through words.

"I didn’t know there was a House of Anwell," said a woman from the House of Ariad, standing behind Stephanie.

"That’s because there hasn’t been one," said Lord Danson loudly. "It’s been dead. For the last five hundred years. Deservedly so." He strode up to Stephanie and towered over her, glowering. He kept his eyes on her as he called back over his shoulder to Lord Hemsfeld. "You cannot allow this to take place. House Anwell died for their crimes against House Danson. She has no right to bring the House back."

Stephanie shrunk back from him. "I didn’t do anything," she protested.

Lord Hemsfeld spoke at the same time. "You’re not blaming me for this," he said. "I have no control over how these things happen."

"If Cardona wants to re-awaken House Anwell," said Lord Ariad, "Then that is in the best interest of our balance as a land."

"You may have forgotten Anwell’s unforgivable insult toward House Danson, but I haven’t," said Lord Danson. "The line of Anwell was cut off after their deliberate actions killed the last Healer in our line. They destroyed our Gift. If balance is to be restored, it should be in returning Danson’s Gift to our House, not bringing back a defunct House."

"Could someone--" Stephanie began, but Lord Danson cut her off.

"Quiet," he snapped. "You shouldn’t even be here."

A few eyebrows went up at this, but Lord Danson had turned back to Lord Hemsfeld and didn’t notice. "I demand that the combined Houses declare a verdict on House Anwell."

Lord Hemsfeld looked like a man utterly out of his depth. "We can’t call judgment on a House whose alleged crimes were punished five hundred years ago."

"Why not?" asked Lord Strong. "If Danson’s Gift is still cut off, it seems unfair that Anwell should be given a second chance."

Lord Hemsfeld threw up his hands in frustration. "I don’t control the Gifts!" he said. "It’s not up to me or anyone else. If this is Cardona’s way of restoring balance, who are we to argue with it?"

Lord Ariad cleared his throat. "Technically, the combined Houses can not reach a conclusion on this," he said. "House Verdon is still counted among us, and they are not present. House White is also absent, and surely House Anwell," he nodded at Stephanie, "Will not cast a vote for your actions."

"And House Hemsfeld will not take side in this matter," said Lord Hemsfeld.

"There. You see?" said Lord Ariad. "Without a two-thirds majority, the Houses cannot take that action."

Lord Danson looked around at the other Lords present. "If the combined Houses won’t do anything, I will."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Lord Strong.

"I’m declaring war on House Anwell for grievous insult and irreparable damage in the form of the loss of our House Gift," said Lord Danson. There was a hush in the Hall following his words.

Stephanie was tempted to laugh. The idea of anyone declaring war on her made no sense. She had no armies for them to fight against. It was like using a sledgehammer to squash an ant. But Lord Danson was quite serious. He turned to face her, and with a curt nod, said, "You have been notified of the intentions of my House, Lady Anwell." Then he stalked out of the Hall, followed by his retinue.

A minute later, Lord Strong and his attendants followed. The remaining House Lords waited to see what Stephanie was going to do. Lord Hemsfeld gestured to her as if to give her the floor. She looked around her. Everyone waited.

Stephanie cast about for the most intelligent thing she could think to say. "What just happened?" she asked.