Chapter Text
Inside the walls, Lem could hear anything.
The space in-between always was her kingdom, buried deep under the dust and cobwebs gathered here throughout decades. It belonged only to her, because Lem knew how to keep a secret, even from her brothers. Every night after her maid put her to bed, Lem squeezed herself into the narrow passages with only a candle to guide her steps. She explored, finally free to do as she pleased. There was something exhilarating in being the spectre inside her own home, unseen and unnoticed as she made her way through crowded corridors. Once, these were the passages that would lead her family to safe escape, then, in times of peace, they were turned into a storage for broken furniture and forgotten baubles. In some, old toys stood in rows along the walls like a perfect army awaiting their commands, in others, books perched precariously over the heads of the passers-by. She took them with her sometimes, small trinkets for her brothers spirited away from heavy jewellery boxes and decorated chests. If any of the adults noticed, and she was doubtful they cared enough to look, they never mentioned the glimmer of gold on Tonio's ears. Or the abysmal stuffed creature Herbert took with him wherever he went.
Her brothers asked her about it, but Tonio was far too busy to be persistent, had been too busy for years, and her little brother never stayed in the house for long anyway, loving their gardens and the fields around the estate far more than cramped rooms filled with dozens of their family members. While Tonio struggled between his lessons and growing responsibilities, and Lem hid whenever she could escape her tutor's clutches, Herbert was always running from one thing to another. Every day it was something else. Sometimes he came back home with gifts: a jar of honey from that time when he helped the beekeeper build a new hive, a wooden spoon he made himself under the eye of the carpenter down by the river, and once, memorably, a wyvern egg almost bigger than himself. Most days, he came back only with a myriad of new scratches on his knees and blisters on his hands, which went unnoticed when he dashed straight to the kitchen with a wide smile that still missed a few teeth.
When she heard his name in conjunction with trouble, Lem was not surprised. The walls were thick in some places and thin in others, enough to let the sounds of a conversation slip through, and she could not help but listen as moving away would surely get her caught. Her father's voice was angry, but it was her mother that made Lem pause and listen intently: lady Trevelyan never cried. And yet, now her voice was trembling and broke suddenly as she started to sob.
"I knew something like this would happen, this child has been given too much freedom as it was," Lem's father proclaimed as he circled the room anxiously. "No method would be able to purge the demons from this child."
"But we can't send him to the Circle," her mother said and sniffled quietly. "Imagine the scandal! We have worked for so long to get the standing we have, one word of this and our lives will be ruined!"
"There is no other option. We can't keep this monster in our house any longer, we both know it's not safe. The templars serve for a reason, they have to be notified and soon, or else we risk being seen as accomplices."
"Nobody in their right mind would accuse us of helping a mage!"
"They would, as long as he is our son."
"Perhaps there is another way," Lem's mother said slowly. "They may never find out if we play this right."
"You propose to hide him?"
"No, don't be ridiculous, they would hunt him anyway. The security measures themselves would cost us a fortune!" She paused, still thoughtful. "But what is not possible to resolve publicly, may be solved differently. An accident, perhaps?"
"It's not... You've read too many of those rubbish novels, it wouldn't work."
"Some bards can even make it as painless as falling asleep, you know that."
"I need to sleep on that," he said finally. "It's not a decision to be made lightly."
"But it might be the only one which saves us all from shame."
Inside the walls, Lem could hear anything.
That one time it broke her heart.