Eight - Isabel
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Glancing at theclock in the blue salon on my way out of the library, I realized that I had spent longer than I thought browsing the shelves. Noon had come and gone. I hurried to the dining room, but Felix and Marc must have already finished their meal.
“I guess it didn’t occur to anybody to summon me for the meal,” I muttered, looking at the empty table. I wasn’t used to depending on someone else to provide my food.
“I did tell you luncheon was served at noon.”
I jumped sideways, then glared at the duke. “Tsy take it! Can’t you wear a bell or something?”
He jumped onto the table and licked his front paw. “Where is the pleasure in that?”
“I’d take great pleasure in hearing you coming.”
“Knowing that I am soon to be in your presence brings you joy? I am touched to hear that, Isa.”
“You’re touched all right.” During our meeting with Marc, the duke had stopped calling me Miss Cardh. I considered insisting on formality, then decided I’d do better to embrace informality. I could use it to drive home the point that I was a person, not a tool to be used. Besides, polite formalities had never been a strength of mine.
The duke—Felix—laughed. “I assume you are here in search of a meal?”
“Yes, though if you don’t want to summon it for me, you can direct me to the kitchens instead. There is a kitchen in the castle, right?” The Truths recorded in the journal I had read this morning mentioned that the ingredients for the dishes called in by magic had to be on castle grounds.
“There is. Under normal circumstances, all the meals served here are prepared by mundane means. If you’d prefer to cook for yourself, I’m sure you’d find everything necessary in the kitchens.”
“I’m not much of a cook, so I’ll accept the magically prepared food, if you’re still offering.” I pulled a chair out and sat, then removed the contract from my pocket.
Felix reached out with a front paw, and I focused my attention, straining to hear the magic. His claw plucked at an invisible string, and I heard the chime of node power. A bowl of beef stew materialized in front of me. Another chime brought a glass and a bottle of wine.
Ignoring the wine, I picked up my spoon and unfolded the contract. I forgot about the duke, who still perched on the table near my right elbow, as I smoothed out the paper and read.
There were four main sections to the contract. The first section was a very robust, thorough, and intricate non-disclosure agreement. I didn’t particularly care about exposing the duke’s secrets, especially not after I had realized he was trying to prevent a new version of the Node Wars, but I still read that section carefully. It might help me keep my position with the constables if I could at least hint at some part of why I had disappeared without a word. It didn’t take me long to determine that was a futile hope.
The second section detailed the duke’s commitments, which were basically limited to letting my father go free and not persecuting him for attempted theft. I could see in a few of the phrasings areas where Father must have negotiated more favorable terms and ensured that Felix would have no loopholes to exploit.
The third section laid out what my father was to do, which, apart from maintaining the secret of Felix’s curse, amounted to not stealing anything from the duke.
Then I reached the section describing my responsibilities in exchange for my father’s freedom. It only took two sentences to ruin my life.
In exchange for the protections previously stated, Edwin Cardh’s younger daughter will serve Duke Felix Truthholder, doing all in her power, to the best of her ability, to aid the duke in returning to his human form. She shall pursue any path to achieve that end that the duke asks of her as well as any avenue she herself judges apposite.
“Bastard.” I shoved the contract away and caught sight of Felix, with his ears pinned back and his tail wrapped securely around his paws. “The sentiment applies to you, too, but I was actually referring to my father. He didn’t even try to negotiate any safeguards for me, did he?”
I didn’t need his confirmation. The phrasing of the contract left me with no doubt. Not only was I required to do whatever Felix asked of me in order to try to break the curse, I had to do anything I thought might help, too. There would be no passive rebellion—not that I had planned on one. I could not hide anything from the duke. I could not make excuses. If he or I had an idea, I had to test it.
“I’m sorry.”
“You signed the contract, so you must not be that sorry.”
His gold-green eyes looked anywhere but at me as his tail wrapped around his front paws. “I drafted the terms to favor myself, but I expected him to negotiate before signing.”
“And he did. Just not the terms that concerned me.” I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t against using Felix’s guilt against him. “We could always renegotiate the terms of the contract right now.”
He shook his head. “It wouldn’t work. There are three signatories on that contract, even though your father signed for both you and himself. In order to renegotiate the terms of the contract, all three signatories would have to agree. Without your father, we cannot change the terms.”
“After I break your curse, I am going to make sure the law that allowed my father to sign for me is repealed.” It wasn’t enough that a new law made the old pointless in almost every situation—one scenario where a man could sign away a woman’s rights was one too many. That the one situation involved a powerful node made overlooking that old law a critical oversight.
“I’ll help you.”
My power didn’t work on Felix, but I suspected that if it did, I would have heard the clarion bells of an absolute truth.
But that didn’t change the fact that he had used that law to trap me here.