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.“And I’ll be in London with the reserves.”“I’m glad you won’t be in the front lines,” David said, quietly.“At least Colonel Sebastian was man enough to admit that he was wrong.”Gwen scowled.Colonel Sebastian had begged an interview with her a week after she’d faced the Privy Council and, puzzled, Gwen had agreed to see him.He’d told her that his niece had been one of Howell’s victims and that he had been wrong about her all along.Gwen had thanked him, then arranged for him to join the magicians based near Maidstone.She wasn’t really sure if she was rewarding him or putting him somewhere where he might well die.But it had won her some points from the other senior magicians.“Yes,” she said, finally.“Do we have enough time to make our alliance with the Turks work?”“We should pray that we do,” David said.“Besides, even a handful of Talkers would make their operations easier.As far as we know, Russia has few magicians and Persia is still burning any magician they catch.”“Let’s hope so,” Gwen said.“But we know almost nothing about Russia’s research.”Russia was an enigma; they had to have a magical program, but almost nothing had leaked out from the vast country.Even the wars Russia had fought with the Ottoman Empire, after the advent of magic, had revealed little of Russia’s magic.It would be nice to believe that the Russians had simply followed the Vatican’s lead and concentrated on exterminating magicians, but she knew better than to indulge in wishful thinking.“The Russians may join France if war comes,” David reminded her.“We might find out the hard way.”Gwen nodded.Russia could attack British North America through Alaska, or try an advance through Central Asia to attack India.or, more practically, concentrate on invading Turkey and Persia.Once the British-Ottoman alliance was announced, it was quite likely that Persia would throw in with Russia; the Persians suspected that the Turks would happily crush them if they had the opportunity.The new Sultan’s army was far more capable than anything the Persians could build for themselves.“Yes,” she said.Between them, the French and the Russians might have more magicians than anyone realised.“We might.”She winced as a thought crashed into her head.LADY GWEN, the Talker said.Gwen could sense the panic flaring through the Talker’s mind, enough to almost infect her own thoughts.She bit her lip to maintain her concentration.You have to return to Cavendish Hall!David stared at her.“War?”“It could be,” Gwen said, as she stood up.Her body swayed; she closed her eyes and centred herself, wondering just who had allowed a half-trained Talker to call her.He hadn’t been ready to contact minds that weren’t pure-Talkers.“I have to get back to Cavendish Hall.”She walked outside, grabbed hold of her magic and hurled herself into the air.Flying in public still bothered her, but there was no choice.The moment she was high enough, she saw a pillar of smoke rising up from the direction of Cavendish Hall, reminding her of the early hours of the Swing.Thankfully, Cavendish Hall seemed to be the only victim this time.The damage didn’t look as bad as she had feared, she realised, as she flew closer.One of the outbuildings seemed to have exploded; it was commonly used for training Infusers, who might accidentally blow up the entire building if they weren’t careful.Gwen remembered her own training sessions with some embarrassment – and she’d had nowhere near the power or dedication of pure Infusers.Quite a few Infusers had been sent to join the army in the hopes that they’d blow up the enemy instead of themselves.“Lady Gwen,” a voice called as she dropped to the ground.She was surprised to hear Martha running towards her.“She’s gone!”Gwen felt a sinking sensation in her chest as she turned to look at her maid.Martha looked terrified.Could the explosion have been intended as nothing more than a diversion? Everyone had run to deal with it at once, fearful of the consequences if the flames had been allowed to spread out of control, clearing the way for someone with bad intentions.They should have prepared better for an assault on Cavendish Hall, she thought, and cursed herself.The Swing should have taught her that chaos could strike at any time.“Who’s gone?” She asked, although she feared that she already knew the answer.“What happened?”“Olivia,” Martha said
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