Hugh Mercury, the Silver Sugar Viscount, was at his secondary residence in Lewiston. He had traveled there to report to King Edmond II about the work Anne and the others were doing.
Anne, Keith, and Kat arrived at the three-story mansion near Lewiston’s eastern market before noon. Conveniently, they had already been shown inside by the time Hugh got back from his audience with the king.
The three crafters were allowed into the mansion, along with Challe, who was traveling with them as their bodyguard, and Mithril, who’d grabbed onto Challe and come along for the ride.
The group of five was shown to a spacious parlor and told to wait. The windows had been left open, and the breeze carried the invigorating scent of greenery inside. The room’s tables and chairs looked as if they had been imported from abroad, and the furniture and ornamentation were elegant and refined without being too ornate.
After they’d waited a little while, Hugh appeared in his brown jacket, and, grinning, sat down in the farthest chair from the door.
“What are you all sitting around silently for? Did you come to announce your surrender, perhaps? Sorry, but I won’t accept it.”
“You jerk… You really know how to piss a guy off!” Kat grumbled.
As he straightened the cuffs at his wrists, Hugh answered calmly, “Of course. That was my intention.”
“And you think that’s clever, riling us up right outta the gate? You can’t even muster a single word of encouragement?”
“Well, if you didn’t look so glum, I might have given you a pat on the head and said ‘good job’ instead. So what’s going on?”
As usual, Hugh was quick to pick up on things.
Keith stepped forward, seeming downcast. “It’s the fifteen fairies we gathered at the fairy market,” he said. “None of them are interested in working. If this keeps up, none of them will be fit to train as a silver sugar fairy.”
“Is it an issue of temperament?” Hugh asked.
“No, they’ve got motivation problems,” Kat answered.
Hugh narrowed his eyes and smiled, putting on a cool expression. “If they aren’t willing to work, just send them back to the market. We can bring in the next fifteen.”
Anne mumbled, “I think it’s likely we won’t find even one who has the knack for it, no matter how many we bring in…”
Those words revealed how naive they had been, but there was no avoiding the truth. Hugh saw Anne’s sour expression and decided to clarify.
“So you’re saying the problem isn’t that this round of fairies is particularly unmotivated, but that you doubt any fairies will take interest in the work?”
“Yeah,” said Kat glumly. “All the fairies I met at the fairy market had the same attitude.”
“Did you try bargaining with the current group?”
“Yes,” Keith said. “We sent for Noah, who has his freedom and is currently working as a candy crafter, and tried showing them firsthand their prospects for the future. However, the results weren’t promising.”
Hugh leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers. “And have you tried a different approach?”
“A different approach?” Keith asked, puzzled.
Hugh’s gaze shifted to Anne. “Have you utilized your best asset?”
“Asset…?” she repeated.
For a moment, she didn’t understand what he was saying, but it soon came to her with a start.
He couldn’t mean…Challe?!
Challe was the fairy king. If she told the other fairies about his identity, they were sure to be surprised. And given Challe’s aura, they probably already knew he was someone special. If he gave the other fairies orders, they would likely follow them.
However, Challe had made a vow to Edmond II to conceal his position from both humans and fairies. There was no way Hugh, who had been present when Challe made that oath, had forgotten this. And yet here he was, suggesting they use Challe to achieve their ends.
“We can’t possibly do that,” Anne mumbled.
Hugh chuckled. “Given the circumstances, I don’t mind petitioning His Majesty for limited permission.”
“I can’t say it’s a good idea,” Challe said, leaning against the wall near the door with his arms crossed. He kept his eyes closed and his voice soft. “Enslaved fairies only want one thing from their more powerful brethren: to help them take back their freedom. If I ignore their deepest desire and start giving them orders, the fairies won’t work. Surely you understand that. No one will listen to someone who only makes demands of them and ignores their pleas.”
“What are you talking about?” Keith cut in, giving Hugh a displeased look.
It couldn’t have felt very good to have a secretive discussion take place right before his eyes. But Hugh casually waved him off.
“I’ll tell you someday,” he said. “Anyway, now that I’ve heard what you all have to say, was I right that you’re here to announce your surrender?”
“We won’t give up,” Anne declared. “The three of us talked it over and came here to make a request of you. Hugh, please. Negotiate with the fairy dealers and tell them that, while we are borrowing the fairies, we also want to borrow their wings. We’d like to give the fairies their wings for the seven days they are working with us. We’ll promise them seven days of freedom.”
“Return their wings?” Hugh repeated Anne’s words in disbelief, then put a hand to his forehead and burst out laughing. “I was wondering what you were going to say! Are you people in your right minds? Do you think those fairies will agree to stay and play with silver sugar in exchange for seven days of freedom? And then, when the week is out, hand their wings back to us and obediently go back to the fairy market simply because we judged them without talent? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. They’ll run away as fast as they can. I’d do the same if I were a fairy.”
“They promised us they wouldn’t run, and that after seven days, those without talent would go back to the market.”
“A promise, huh? And you believe them, Anne?”
“I can’t say for sure that everyone will keep up their end of the deal. But they did make the promise, so I’d like to believe them.”
Hugh rose to his feet, the remains of a smile lingering around his eyes, and walked over to Anne. Then his gaze turned cold, like he was pitying her for her foolishness.
“They promised you, so you want to believe them. It’s a beautiful sentiment. But that’s not the way the world works. You ought to know that. We can’t afford to fail in this endeavor. We’re using state funds, and I have a duty to report to His Majesty the King. If we go around freeing fairies and racking up unnecessary debts, our work will be jeopardized.”
His words were very reasonable.
Despite what Anne had said, she didn’t fully trust the fairies. But she wanted to believe in them, so she had purposely declared that she did. It was more a desperate prayer than a statement of fact.