Edmund’s mouth twitched. Eleanor kissed him, and he kissed her back. Then she walked with him out toward the entrance to see him off.
When she came back, she sat down with her sons again.
"Gareth, have you remembered everything you need?" she asked. "It’s your final year. I don’t want to hear that you left something important behind."
"Mara has packed everything I own, Mother," Gareth said easily. "Twice."
Eleanor turned to Owen. "And you. Look after yourself. Eat properly."
"I will, Mother."
"You say that the way your father does."
Owen smiled, and she smiled back at him.
They finished breakfast together. Then Owen excused himself and went back upstairs.
* * *
Hugh and Agnes were in his room, finishing the packing.
Several cases had already been lined up beside the door. Agnes was going through one of them, checking his clothes and belongings one item at a time, while Hugh sat at the desk going through his papers to make sure nothing important was missing.
Owen sat down on the edge of his bed and watched them.
After a while, Agnes glanced over at him.
"You do realise, Young Master," she said, "that very soon you’ll have to start doing this yourself."
"I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself without you."
Agnes gave him a long look. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.
"If you lose something at the Academy," Hugh said without looking up from the papers, "I imagine the instructors will be a good deal less forgiving than Agnes."
"I’m not going to lose anything."
"Of course not, Young Master."
"You don’t sound like you believe me."
"I’m sure the instructors will," Hugh said.
Agnes laughed under her breath.
She closed the case and fastened it, and as she did, Owen realised that neither of them was coming with him.
He had grown used to them being there. On the training ground, in the capital, on every stretch of road between here and there. Agnes knew where everything he owned was kept. Hugh knew what needed to be arranged before Owen had thought of it. At the Academy, he would have to manage all of that on his own.
It didn’t make him want to stay. But it made the morning feel different.
Once the last case was fastened, Hugh called for the luggage to be taken down.
Owen stayed in his room a little longer, looking around at it, before he went down to join the others.
* * *
The Academy’s carriage arrived about three hours after breakfast.
It came up the approach with uniformed outriders riding on either side of it. The carriage itself was dark and polished, and the Academy’s insignia was painted on each door and repeated on the banner carried by the lead rider: a silver sword encircled by a golden laurel wreath, set against a deep, dark background. The workmanship was fine, and the gold of the laurel caught the light as the carriage drew closer.
The guards at the Ferrers gates stopped them and checked their papers before waving them through.
The carriage rolled into the courtyard, its wheels rattling over the stones, and the servants who had been stacking the brothers’ luggage near the doors stepped aside as it came to a halt.
Two of the Academy’s people dismounted. They were received at the doors and shown inside, where Eleanor came forward to greet them on behalf of the house.
"Your Grace," the elder of the two said, with a bow. "We’re here on behalf of the Imperial Military Academy to collect Gareth Ferrers, returning Officer Cadet in his third year, and Owen Ferrers, invited to sit the entrance examinations." He paused. "Is His Grace the Grand Duke available?"
"My husband left for the capital this morning," Eleanor said. "On official business."
"I understand, Your Grace. In that case, we can proceed with the collection."
Owen and Gareth came down the stairs a short while later, both dressed for travel.
Gareth looked entirely at ease. He had done this before, and it showed in the way he walked out into the courtyard, as though it were any other morning.
Owen took in everything.
He looked at the insignia on the carriage door, and at the Academy’s people. Their uniforms were dark navy, trimmed with silver at the cuffs and collar, with the sword and laurel stitched on the left breast. They were cut differently from the Ferrers uniforms Owen had grown up around, more fitted, with a high collar. Some of the outriders had small silver marks on their sleeves that the others didn’t. Owen had no idea what they meant.
Outside, the luggage was being loaded carefully into the compartments at the back and beneath the carriage.
Hugh checked Owen’s travel documents one last time and confirmed that every one of his cases had been accounted for. Agnes went over them again herself before she stepped back. Nearby, Mara was doing the same with Gareth’s things, with Gareth’s aide standing beside her.
Eleanor came to her sons.
She went to Gareth first. "Look after yourself," she said. "And keep an eye on your brother."
"Everything will be fine, Mother." Gareth bent and kissed her cheek. "I promise."
Then she turned to Owen.
"I’m very proud that you’re going," she said. "But don’t make yourself ill. I know you. You’ll get so caught up in training that you forget to rest."
"I’ll be careful," Owen said.
Eleanor pulled him into her arms. She held him for a moment, and kissed his cheek, and held him a moment longer before she let him go.
Agnes came forward next.
"Good luck in the examination, Young Master," she said. "And keep your things in order. Please."
Owen smiled. "Thank you, Agnes. For everything."
Hugh stepped up after her.
"Safe journey, Young Master," he said. "The household will be waiting to hear how you did."
"Thank you, Hugh," Owen said. "For all of it. The training, the capital. I mean it."
Hugh inclined his head. Owen thought he saw something in his face, just for a moment, before the usual composure settled back over it.
A little way off, Gareth said goodbye to Mara and his aide. Then he came back and stood beside Owen at the carriage.
"Everything is ready, my lords," the Academy representative said.
Gareth climbed in first and dropped into a seat with the ease of someone who had made the journey before. Owen followed him.
It was roomy inside, with cushioned seats facing each other and wide windows on either side. Owen sat down opposite his brother and looked out.
Eleanor was standing near the entrance with Hugh and Agnes beside her, and the rest of the household behind them. The Ferrers guards were at their posts, and the servants had already begun clearing the courtyard.
Gareth saw him looking. For once, he didn’t say anything at all.
The door closed.
The outriders moved into their positions around the carriage, and the driver called to the horses. The carriage lurched gently and began to roll forward.
Owen raised his hand and waved.
His mother waved back. She kept watching as the carriage turned across the courtyard and made for the open gates.
Owen watched the house grow smaller behind them.
He had spent nearly his whole life here, inside Ferrers territory, surrounded by people he knew. Instructors, soldiers, servants and family. Now he was going somewhere he had never been, to compete for a place against people whose abilities and backgrounds he knew nothing about.
He turned away from the window and looked at the road ahead instead.
Gareth was sitting across from him, and Owen still had plenty of questions for him.
For now, though, he settled back into his seat, and the carriage carried them on toward the edge of Ferrers territory.