listen – I bet they love him more than you think. And if they don’t now, they will. When they get older and smarter, they’ll know who he belonged to, even if they don’t know they know. That’s how it works with friends like Emmett, who have been so dearly loved. They wear that love like an invisible coat. It never comes off, it’s always there, and in the quiet moments, you can feel it. Wolfram and Guntram will feel it one day.’
Morrigan wanted to find reassurance in his words, she really did, but she knew they were just that – words. He was trying to make her feel better. She didn’t believe a bit of it.
Jupiter frowned. ‘What in heaven’s name were you doing there, anyway? You shouldn’t be using the Gossamer Line on your own, Mog – I told you, it’s dangerous!’
‘Oh. Right. Um …’ She shook her head as if trying to dislodge water from her ears, feeling ridiculous all of a sudden. Why was she talking about her toy rabbit? The visit to Crow Manor had thrown her so completely, the real news had fallen out of her brain. ‘I … I went to find a cure. Squall said—’
‘Squall said—?’
‘Yes, on the rooftop that day, remember? I told you, he said he had a cure for the Hollowpox and he’d hand it over if—’
‘If you agreed to become his apprentice, yes I do remember that conversation, believe it or not.’ Jupiter had his hands over his face now and was watching her through the gaps in his fingers. ‘Mog, please, please tell me you didn’t—’
‘No!’ she said quickly. ‘I mean … I was going to find him –’ (Jupiter uttered a faint moan) ‘– but the Gossamer Line got confused and took me to the wrong place and I met – Jupiter, will you stop pulling at your hair like that and listen – I met President Wintersea!’
He stopped pulling at his hair. He listened.
‘Right.’ He stared at her. ‘Okay.’
‘Yeah.’ Morrigan shrugged. ‘I think … I was thinking of the wrong thing and the Gossamer Line misread my intentions and – anyway, it doesn’t matter. I met her, and she knows who I am, and that I’m a Wundersmith, and she knows about the Hollowpox and everything.’
She told him all that had happened in the Chancery, and Jupiter listened intently with his mouth slightly agape.
‘—and then Maud said the Wintersea Party was like a big old dragon, impossible to steer—’
‘Wait – you’re on a first-name basis,’ he interrupted her, ‘with the president of the Wintersea Republic?’
‘Yes, shush. Maud said the Wintersea Party might help if there was a squid crow po.’
‘Quid pro quo?’
‘Right, one of those. She said they won’t do something for nothing, but if we could convince Prime Minister Steed to meet with her, just to have a conversation, then she would try to convince her party to share their cure. So, can you? Or can the Elders? One of you must know Steed, surely.’
‘I do know him, as it happens, and I can’t say I’m overly fond of the man, but Morrigan …’ Jupiter paused, shaking his head. He looked horrified. ‘President Wintersea is the leader of our enemy nation. Making a deal with her on behalf of the Free State government without their knowledge or permission is technically, well … treason. We can’t tell anyone about this.’
‘It’s not treason, it’s negotiating! It’s asking for help! Anyway, it’s not like she’s asking to rule over the Free State or chop off the queen’s head or anything, she just wants to talk to Steed. Even so-called enemy nations should have an open dialogue.’
Jupiter raised an eyebrow. ‘Your words, or hers?’
Morrigan ignored the question.
‘Maud wants to change things. She was actually really – I mean she seemed …’ Morrigan faltered. She couldn’t say the president was nice, exactly. There was something far too intimidating about her to be called nice. ‘Real.’
He made a sceptical face. ‘I know many Wintersea Republic citizens who would strongly disagree with that statement.’
‘She doesn’t have to be a perfect person, Jupiter, she just has to help us save our friends!’
‘Morrigan,’ he said, squeezing the bridge of his nose, ‘I don’t believe for a second that the Wintersea Party wants to help any Wunimals, let alone ours. It’s their laws that keep Wunimals in the Republic downtrodden and make their lives so dangerous, they’re the reason smuggling rings exist. It’s been that way for Ages.’
‘But what if she really does want