Ten - Isabel
???
After eating thebreakfast waiting for me in my sitting room, I headed down to the archives. I had a few more questions for Marc. The secretary was hiding something, and I could feel the power of the node pulling me to discover his secrets. The more I had thought about my conversation with him from the day before, the harder the magic tugged at me.
When I reached the basement, I didn’t see Marc, but I could hear movement behind his desk. I walked over and found the duke attacking the drawer. He was so intent, he didn’t notice me.
“Is there a mouse inside or something?”
Felix sprang away from the drawer, his fur standing on end. “Isa. What are you doing down here?”
“I came to talk to Marc. What are you doing?”
“It’s my castle. I can do whatever I want.”
I bit my lip. Those weren’t the words of a haughty duke. No, those were the deflection of a guilty boy. And Felix knew it.
His fur smoothed out and he wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Marc went into Leort to restock our supplies. He won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon.”
It would have been nice to know he was leaving earlier. I could have written to Sofia and Frederic, and even if my contract prevented me from telling them exactly what was going on, at least I could have assured them I was alive and well. Then again, Felix probably hadn’t told me on purpose, not wanting word to get out that I was even at Rose Castle.
I sighed. Marc was already gone, so it was no use wishing I could write those letters. I glanced at the drawer. I wasn’t above snooping through the secretary’s things if I couldn’t question him. “Would you like some help getting into his desk, then?”
Felix nodded, still without looking at me.
I slid open the heavy drawer. “Are we looking for anything in particular?”
“He should have a copy of the contract he signed when he agreed to stay at Rose Castle with me. I wanted to review it.”
I rifled through the items in the drawer, but there were no contracts. Wordlessly, I closed that drawer and opened the next. There were several papers here, and after a few minutes I found the one the duke wanted. I placed it on top of the desk. “Found it.”
Felix hopped up next to the paper and we both read.
“That explains a lot,” I muttered as I made my way through the convoluted legalese. This contract sounded more formal than the one binding me. It also had enough loopholes to make me think they weren’t accidental. Unlike me, Marc wasn’t required to work under his own initiative. He only had to follow the duke’s orders, and only in limited circumstances.
Felix looked up at me. “Explains what?”
“How Marc can hide things from you. Look here.” I pointed to a particular section. “According to this, Marc must share what he has learned in pursuit of the answers you task him to find.”
Gold-green eyes blinked. “That sounds like the opposite of hiding things from me.”
“But if he knows the answer before you ask the question, he doesn’t have to share. And since—unlike me—he isn’t bound to pursue any avenue of inquiry he thinks of, only follow your orders, he can know where to find the answer and simply avoid it if you phrase your orders poorly. The only part of this entire contract that isn’t full of loopholes is the non-disclosure clause, and even that is far less stringent than mine.” I pulled out Marc’s chair and sat. “You work with contracts constantly. How can you be this bad at writing one?”
His tail twitched. “I don’t actually work with contracts. I witness them and tie the node’s power to them, but I don’t write them.”
“I was under the impression that you played an active role in negotiations when people come to Rose Castle. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal when you sent everyone away.”
“I do take part in the negotiations. I serve as a mediator. I make people compromise; I don’t write the legalese.” He must have seen my shock, because he sighed. “Go ahead, say it.”
“You mediate?” I looked him up and down, as if inspecting his feline form could make this new information fit my image of him. “You act as the voice of reason and try to keep people from becoming enraged? You?”
Another sigh. “I do. I am quite skilled, too. After a long day of mediating, however, I find it relaxing not to spend my free time catering to other people.”
“You mean you enjoy being contrary.”
“That too.”
I rolled my eyes, then focused back on the contract. “Marc wrote the terms, then?”
“He did.”
“Based on certain phrases, I’d say he knows something you would find interesting and doesn’t want to tell you. I discovered yesterday that he knows about a Truth that wasn’t listed in the journal of your notes. I doubt that is the only secret he is trying to keep.” I considered mentioning Marc’s certainty that Cecily hadn’t had access to the node at the start of her visit, but for all I knew, his familiarity with the lady had nothing to do with the curse. I’d wait until I had more information before I sprang that revelation on Felix.
“A Truth? What is it?”
“Something to do with weather control.”
His head cocked to the side. “Huh. That could come in handy, but probably doesn’t help with the curse. Still, that Marc hid it from me reinforces that I can’t rely on him.”
I opened the desk drawer and put the paper back where I had found it. “Did you send Marc to Leort in order to root around in his desk?”
“It was one reason.”
The duke sounded so defeated. I pushed the drawer closed and considered him. “Do you want to see anything else while I’m here to open drawers for you?”
He shook his head. “The contract is enough. Thank you for your help, Isa.”
He hopped off the desk and wove through the furniture filling the room. I watched him go, not sure what to think of this latest exchange. Felix couldn’t trust Marc, but he had me now. He could make me do whatever the secretary was supposed to, and I wouldn’t be able to hide anything. But it didn’t even occur to him to ask for my help.
I got up and followed Felix, walking quickly enough to catch him before he reached the stairs. “What does Marc do for you in the archives?”
He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. “He is hunting for scrolls that might help me understand how Cecily cast her curse.”
“Has he given you anything?”
“I told him I wanted to see any scrolls with only a single signature. He pulled a few copies of the Truthholder Contract of Inheritance, which did not help.”
“Contract of Inheritance?”
Felix turned and sat. “In order to inherit the title, the heir must sign a contract agreeing to the terms the first duke set. It is customary for the heir to witness that contract and pass it through the node themselves, so there is only one signature, just like with Cecily”s curse.”
It hadn’t helped Felix, but he would already know what was in the contract. “I’d like to see a copy of one.”
“Marc can pull one of the ones he located for you when he returns. If you still want to look at it then.”
Not hearing the truth under the duke’s words was always disconcerting, but at moments like this, it was also frustrating. His tone was off. He wasn’t implying that I might change my mind about the usefulness of the scroll, but I couldn’t understand why else he thought I might not want to look at the scroll after Marc returned.
The reminder that Felix was immune to my power, which still made no sense to me, called to mind the other tasks I had set myself. “I suppose I’ll go back to my research then. I don’t suppose you have any idea how the library is organized?”
“Probably the same way as the archives. So, if you figure it out, I’d love to hear how. If there is a specific book you are hoping to find, though, I can summon it if we have a copy.”
“Then why can’t you do that to find Cecily”s curse in the archives?”
“My best guess is because the scrolls in the archives are a product of the node’s magic. They cannot be summoned the same as mundane objects.”
“You’d think being made by the node would make them easier to summon with magic.”
“That would be nice. Since I can’t summon a scroll, however, is there a book you wanted?”
I didn’t know what I wanted, which was most of the problem. I was hunting through a vast library, sorted according to magical whims, with only the vaguest idea of wanting to find something that would help me understand nodes a little more. A biography of one of the mages who had locked the nodes centuries ago might be helpful. If I knew the name of any. The only mage’s name I knew from history was . . .
My eyes widened. “Do you have a copy of Demeret’s Theory of All Magics?”
Felix plucked at the air with a claw and a thick book landed on the floor in front of him.
I snatched it up. “Have you looked through this for clues as to how Cecily could have used the node? Can pregnancy grant a tie to the mother?” Even if Felix had gone through the book cover to cover, I still wanted to read it. Theory of All Magics was worth more than its weight in gold. I’d never have another chance to look through the rare book.
Felix shuddered. “I cannot stand trying to read Demeret. If you can make sense of anything in that book, then I will be in awe.” I didn’t care if it was written in High-Nemyan, the dialect used by court poets centuries ago. I’d slog through gladly. I was so impatient to dive in, I almost missed Felix’s next comment. “As for pregnancy, I don’t know how it might impact node-ties, but I am certain Cecily wasn’t carrying my child.”
I rolled my eyes. “A woman hoping to force a marriage might lie about a contraceptive enchantment.”
“Not at Rose Castle. And while Cecily might have attempted to trick me and say she had a contraceptive and then not use it, I was wary enough of her by the end that I demanded a straight answer on the possibility of a pregnancy before she left.”
“So much for that theory.” I tapped the cover of the book. “Hopefully, this will give me new ideas.”
One paw reached out again, and a red silk ribbon fell to the floor in front of the duke. “If you leave that in as a bookmark and don’t leave the book anywhere but a table when you aren’t reading, it won’t get re-shelved.”
“Does that mean any books I pull from the library will keep disappearing if I don’t use a bookmark?”
“If you leave them on the floor. If you keep them on a table, they’ll stay until midnight, even without a bookmark.”
“That wasn’t in your list of Truths.”
“It is an automatic function of the castle. It happens without any input from a person tied to the node.”
I picked up the ribbon, settling it between the cover and first page of the book. “You included the candles lighting themselves in the list.”
“That is because I can choose whether or not to activate that function. I can’t stop books from being re-shelved.”
“Your home is a strange place, Your Grace.”
???
Demeret had writtenthe most comprehensive book on magical theory known, and within two pages I understood why it was a rare tome cherished by scholars rather than a work that had been made widely available. Demeret used technical jargon to an extent that it almost resembled a secret language. He packed so many details into each sentence that I had to reread them a few times to ensure I caught everything.
The most frustrating part of reading Theory of All Magics, however, was that it apparently shared an organizational system with the library at Rose Castle. The chapters had no titles. Nothing indicated the subjects covered in any range of pages, because anything might appear on any page.
I refused to admit defeat, however. Making myself comfortable on the chaise in the spire room above the library, I read. I thought the first chapter was supposed to explain the different types of magic and how to classify them. I knew about power families and their relationships, so I would have skipped the chapter, if it weren’t for the random anecdotes. Demeret loved to go off on tangents. I had already read about an enchantment gone wrong and an odd application of chance-making magic that had never occurred to me before. For all I knew, I’d skip the rest of the chapter only to discover that the next page in the skipped section had a story of a node tied to an active power being used to perform a passive spell. Or an animate power being used on inanimate objects.
In fact, I was almost certain that if the answers I needed were in this book, they’d be in one of the little stories sprinkled throughout.
At noon, a tray appeared on the table next to me. Perhaps the only reason Felix hadn’t done the same for me the day before was because I had been wandering the library, not sitting near a table. I gladly stayed in the spire room, working my way through Demeret and avoiding another conversation with the duke. I didn’t like how often I came close to smiling while talking with him.
I didn’t smile while reading Theory of All Magics, which lived up to its name. Theory after theory about all the idiosyncrasies of magic that I had always accepted but never understood filled the pages. I wasn’t sure I fully understood them all now, either, but I was certainly learning plenty. Sliding the bookmark between the pages, I set the book on the table and tried to digest all the information I had read.
I rubbed at my breastbone, trying to decide what I should do next. I couldn’t decode another sentence of Demeret. Not without a break. But breaks weren’t a part of my contract. Well, since coming to Rose Castle, the magic didn’t bother me while I ate and slept. I wondered how that worked. That first night, before my father told me what he had done, the magic had tugged at me nonstop.
Much as it was doing now. But it shouldn’t be pulling at me right now; I was doing the same as I had all morning, and the node had left me alone, even when I put aside the book to mull over its contents.
Closing my eyes, I listened. The hum of power had a direction. Down and to the west. I was in the top level of a tower on the eastern side of the castle. Almost everywhere in the building was down and to the west.
I left the spire room, pausing at the landing on each level of the library to listen to the node magic once more. Even when I reached the ground floor, I sensed the same thing. Down and west.
The archives.
I followed the tug from the node into the basement. The hum of power led me directly to the corner of the room made up of bookcases.
I stepped between the two cases that created a doorway, wondering where the magic would ultimately take me. Did the node itself have a solution for the duke’s curse? Could it lead me to the answer, when neither Felix nor I knew what that answer was?
No, it would have led me here immediately if that were the case.
I moved slowly through the archives, taking in everything. Each case had been divided into scores of pigeonholes, with scrolls poking out of nearly every slot. It was darker inside this labyrinth. The lamps hanging from the ceiling could not counteract the dimness as effectively as they should because of the narrow passages that never lined up at the expected angles.
After two intersections, I paused, wondering if I’d get lost if I went any farther. I concentrated on the power wrapped around me and knew I had to go deeper into the archives. Maybe I could get pen and paper from a desk in the main room and make a map for myself. I turned, taking a step away, and the magic constricted around me.
“I’m just trying to make sure I don’t get lost. I’ll come back,” I hissed. To my shock, the lasso of power eased.
“Isa? What are you doing down here?” The duke’s voice carried through the archives. A clatter that sounded rather like a collection of scrolls hitting the stone floor followed.
I consulted the hum of node power once more. It came from the exact direction as Felix’s voice.
I spun toward him, though rows of shelves must still separate us. “Did you summon me?”
“What?”
“Did you summon me? The node power pulled me down here, directly toward you. I thought maybe it was going to lead me to a solution, but I guess we’re not that lucky.” Now that I was talking to the duke, the power had tightened once more, too. Luck was certainly not on my side.
“Wait, I don’t want to keep shouting to finish this conversation.”
“Then hurry. This is getting uncomfortable.” Only after I said the words did I realize that the magic around me had relaxed the instant the duke told me to wait. Odd that the truth-telling enchantment on the castle hadn’t stopped the words before they came out. It was more lenient than I expected.
I couldn’t hear the duke move, his paws silent even on granite. After a minute, I wondered what was taking so long. The node power was no longer tight around my torso, but there was still a slight pull toward the duke. He had moved, but was still deep in the archives, from what I could sense.
I crossed my arms. “Are you moving farther away?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, it is a maze back here. The path to the entrance isn’t straightforward. You are still near the entrance, correct?”
“Yes. Because I noticed it was a maze and didn’t want to go any deeper without the ability to make a map for myself.” I consulted that invisible sense of the duke’s location once more. Even in a maze, he ought to be getting closer to me by now. “You are lost, aren’t you?”
“The shelves shifted on me.”
“They move randomly?” I was aghast. No wonder no one bothered to catalog the archives. “How does Marc get in and out safely?”
There was a long pause. “Not randomly. They move when a contract is added that doesn’t fit.”
“Since no one has added any contracts to the archives since you entered, how did they shift on you?” My voice was dry. I should know better by now than to assume anything the duke said was the truth. I’d do better to treat everything that came out of his mouth as a misdirection.
“They shifted since I last memorized my way around.”
“And when was that?”
If he answered, his mumbled reply was too indistinct for me to make out.
I sighed. “I’ll go get a pen and paper. I can tell what direction you are from me. It won’t help that much in a maze, but I’m sure I can find my way eventually. Then we’ll both have a map out. And at least you can make sure we don’t starve in the interim.”