The Pirates of Pacta Servanda (Pillars of Reality Book 4) by Jack Campbell

would have done it no matter whether it helped or hindered anything else.”
    “In love?” the old woman asked. “You taught a Mage to love?”
    “She did,” Alain said. Mari saw him relax his face, let some feeling show, and while it was a small display compared to what non-Mages would reveal, it was nonetheless shocking to see in a Mage. “She gave me back my life, a life that my Guild had taken from me.”
    The old woman began laughing, drawing startled glances from the others. “The oldest magic of all! And it ensnared both of you, did it? You saw the man beneath a Mage’s mask, Lady Mechanic, and helped the Mage see the woman beneath your Mechanics jacket! I would not have believed it. See this!” she told the other three. “Those rings do not mark just the alliance of those two, of Mechanic and Mage. They also mark an alliance with us, for they show that these two believe in the same things that we do. That they believe in something other than power and wealth. That they would risk all for someone and something other than themselves! And that a new day can truly come. What else could you call a world where a Mechanic and a Mage are not enemies, but partners in life, joined by love?”
    “But the safety of the city—” the woman in uniform began.
    “The daughter is right! Give our people a reason to wait, a belief that the new day is finally coming, and they will wait.” The old woman shook her finger at Mari. “Don’t make it too long. Wherever you go, do not disappear. Let word come back to us. We will keep it from the Great Guilds as best we can, but our people must know you are pursuing their overthrow.”
     
    “I will do that,” Mari said.
    “General Shi,” the old woman said to the woman in uniform. “Your soldiers are already on alert?”
    “Yes,” Shi confirmed.
    “These two,” the old woman pointed to Mari and Alain, “do not exist as far as your soldiers are concerned. The soldiers do not see them. The same for the harbor guard, Colonel Faron. They will protect these two, but our soldiers will not see them.”
    “What about the city council?” the middle-aged man asked. “They need to—”
    “The city council,” the old woman interrupted, “will be told about this tomorrow, when there is no longer any possibility of them arguing other courses of action to death, or of one of them betraying the presence of our guests before they depart. The daughter should be welcomed in the home of her ancestor, and I would hope in the days and years to come that the daughter would remember the special status of Julesport in her family.”
    The man nodded reluctantly. “The good wishes of the daughter are of immense value. And it is true that too many secrets have become known to the Mechanics and the Mages.”
    Mari, uncomfortable from the repeated references to her as the daughter, felt a sudden suspicion. “Your city council chamber. Does it have electric lighting?”
    “Mechanic lights, you mean?” the man asked. “Yes. Two large fixtures in the ceiling.”
    “Can I see them?”
    “Why?” the old woman asked, her eyes intent.
    “I may be able to do you a service,” Mari said, “by finding the means by which the Mechanics Guild has learned your secrets.”
    The old woman gestured briskly, and with a bow Colonel Faron led the way out of the room and into a long hallway. Mari and Alain followed him, while General Shi and the other man brought up the rear, the old woman staying behind to await their return.
    Faron halted before an impressive set of double doors. Opening one side, he looked in, then nodded to Mari and opened his mouth to speak.
    Mari silenced him with a strong gesture, then walked into the room. It was perhaps four times the size of the room they had left and much brighter, with a long table along one side and two massive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. She looked up, studying the lights. Turning back to the mystified leaders of Julesport, Mari pantomimed the