Fifteen - Felix
???
“Did you justuse the summoning spell on me?” I stared at Isa, still a little disoriented.
I had been in the spire room of my tower while Isa explored the entire castle. When she entered my suite and called out to me, I hadn’t answered. Until I understood why Marc hadn’t brought back the contract I had sent him with, I didn’t want to face Isa. She already thought of me as a liar. If I told her I had tried to free her, but oops, the contract went missing, she’d never believe me. She’d think it was a ploy to improve her opinion of me.
I did hope to improve her opinion of me, but it wasn’t a ploy.
She left, and I went back to brooding about how everything had gone wrong. Then the air around me charged, like I was in the middle of a lightning storm, and the floor dissolved. Looking around now, I gathered I had actually been the one to dissolve, not the floor. In an instant, I had been whisked from the spire room to the great hall.
“I couldn’t find you.”
“Did it occur to you that I didn’t wish to be found?” I looked away from Isa, focusing on the wingback chair that didn’t use to live in my great hall. Well, so long as it was there, I might as well make use of it. I hopped onto the seat and curled my body into a comfortable pose.
“It occurred to me.”
I glared. “Then why did you summon me?”
“Because you summoned me to your castle. I made a discovery today that I thought I should share. I don’t know if it will help you break the curse, but it should at least give you some peace of mind.”
My ears pricked forward, my interest caught. “What did you discover?”
“The node is still locked. I can’t access the power, and it still resonates as truth-magic. I don’t know how Lady Cecily used it to curse you, but she must be an exception.”
I wanted to believe Isa’s conclusions, but I had held onto hope for too long already. I knew better. “You used the node the other day.”
“No, I used a charm powered by the node. Trust me, Felix. I spent all morning trying to access the power of the node. It is still tied to truth-telling; I can hear that in the magic. So, I thought maybe it was tied to that power, but the blood-lock had faded, in which case I should be able to touch the power, even if I can’t shape it. But I can’t.” Isa pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, dropping it on the chair next to me.
I craned my head around and read where she had written out a sentence naming herself, her signature below.
She wasn’t done with her lecture. “After luncheon, I decided to figure out why I could use the node to truth-read written statements. I still can’t tell you how the node accomplishes that feat, but I am positive it is a charm of some sort. Anyone in contact with the node will have access to the spell. That’s why you saw colors when I used the charm; you are always touching the node through your blood-tie. But I heard nothing when you used it because I wasn’t touching the flames.”
I looked up from the paper. “The node is locked.”
Isa nodded. “The node is locked. No matter how Lady Cecily gained access to the power, it doesn’t change the fact that you are the primary tie-holder. You are both truth-tellers. So, if she could curse you into the shape of a cat, then you should be able to change yourself back.”
“If you are right—”
“I am.”
I flicked my tail. “If you are right, then that makes it less likely that another series of node wars will erupt, but it doesn’t help me break the curse. I should have the same abilities as Cecily, since I’m apparently a truth-teller, but I already tried writing my own Truth to change myself back to human form. It didn’t work.”
Amazing how, only hours ago, I had resigned myself to a lonely life stuck in the form of a cat. Yet now that Isa offered me hope that I didn’t have to keep everyone away from the node, I was impatient to regain my human form. I couldn’t be happy with a partial win.
Or perhaps I had realized that being stuck as a cat, even with company, was a different form of loneliness.
Isa rolled her eyes. “I can’t solve everything in a single day. I know next to nothing about how Truths are made. That’s what you want me to search the archives for, isn’t it? The scrolls that contain the castle’s Truths?”
“Well, yes, except Marc is back now.”
“So?”
“So, he’ll wonder what is going on if you start searching the archives. I’d rather not clue him in to the fact that I no longer trust him. I’ll let him continue the search. He might not be working with my best interests at heart, but if he finds a scroll with a single signature, he has no choice but to bring it to me.”
I couldn’t send Marc on his way. Not when Isa was still trapped in the castle. So long as I was forced to rely on him to carry any messages to Leort for me, I couldn’t afford to let on that I distrusted him either. He already had too much power over my life. I needed him complacent.
“If you don’t want me in the archives, then I suppose I’ll go back to reading Demeret. I still have plenty of questions about how the node magic works.”
I squinted up at her. “Are you excited to read that mess of a book? Still?”
“The information is fascinating. I’ve learned more in the last two days about magic than in an entire lifetime of being a mage.”
“If I didn’t know better, Isa, I’d say you are enjoying your stay at Rose Castle.”
I waited for her to refute me, but all she did was shrug. “I miss Sofia, and my life is going to be in shambles when I finally return to Leort, but I’m not miserable here.”
“Why is your life going to be in shambles?” I plucked at a strand of node power, calling in a second chair.
Isa pressed her lips together, then took the proffered seat. “I’m a probationary constable. I’ve been working for the constables since I was nineteen, but the chief refuses to grant me full status.”
“Why not?”
“Guess,” she said in a dry tone that did nothing to hide her frustration.
“You caught him lying and told his wife about his mistress.”
“His wife is friends with his mistress. Guess again.”
“You bullied a suspect who refused to answer your questions.”
She frowned. “I won’t stop asking questions, but I don’t bully.”
“I know. I was kidding. The chief is probably reluctant to make you a full constable because he knows you are the best and he feels intimidated.”
This time, she snorted. “His opinion of me is not that high. He won’t promote me because I’m a woman. He is positive I can’t cut it as a constable, despite years of evidence to the contrary.”
“That is horrible, but I’m not sure why coming to Rose Castle makes things worse?”
“Frederic, the constable who mentored me, has been trying to change the chief’s mind for years. He thought he was finally making progress, that my record would be enough to overcome the last of Chief Nassan’s doubts. But I just disappeared without warning. Not only will I not get the promotion, but I’ll be lucky to still have a job when I get back to Leort.”
Isa didn”t even sound angry. That was the worst part. She had gone beyond rage and into calm acceptance. I didn’t like seeing her calm. It didn”t suit her.
I needed to talk to Marc and find out why her father hadn”t signed the contract. She had only been here a few days. There was still time to salvage her life. I used the magic of Rose Castle to locate Marc. He was on his way to the dining room.
Leaping off the chair, my claws clicking against the cool marble as I landed, I paused and looked over at Isa. I couldn’t change the past and didn’t know how to improve the future, but her explanation left me feeling more than just guilt. I felt the anger that she no longer did. “Why put up with that? You deserve to be appreciated for your talents.”
“It’s not like I have a choice.” She rose, following me out of the great hall. “At least the chief let me work as a constable, even if only a probationary one. The magistrates wouldn’t even consider letting me train to work as an advocate.”
“Because you are a woman? That’s illegal.”
“Unfortunately, the magistrates are as good as you at finding legal loopholes. They never said they wouldn’t hire me because I was a woman. Instead, they claimed I didn’t have an adequate education. They wanted me to study law in Haiwella for years.”
We entered the dining room ahead of Marc and moved to the far end of the table. I ignored the reminder that I had wronged Isa just as badly. I might have used a law against her, but not because I thought her unworthy. “How did they justify that the men they hired hadn’t received that same education? That sort of double standard is grounds to challenge them.”
She gave me a pitying look. “Those men were all protégés of magistrates. They had the advantage of years of learning from their mentors, and therefore did not need additional education. And protégés are very much chosen at the discretion of the magistrates, with no law forcing them to choose based on anything but their own whims.”
“That’s outrageous.”
“That’s Leort.”
Marc entered the dining room, making his way down the table to sit across from Isa. I ignored him. My questions for the secretary would have to wait until Isa wasn’t around.
“Why stay? Things might not be perfect, but attitudes have shifted in other parts of the country. Princess Charmina’s tours over the past few years have helped a lot. Maybe she’ll stop in Leort when she comes to sign her inheritance contract and shake things up.”
“I hope she does, because Leort is home. I can’t imagine moving away from the area. Who wants to be surrounded by flat fields when you can have mountains in your backyard?”
Marc shifted in his seat, and I realized I still hadn’t called in any food. While both Isa and Marc could summon a meal for themselves, I always provided the meal when we dined together. I plucked at the strands of power, filling the table.
Isa filled a plate, cutting everything into small pieces. She set it in front of me without a word. Then, before Marc could react, she returned to our discussion. “When is the crown princess due to sign her inheritance contract? She reached her majority earlier this year, didn’t she?”
“Yes, but she has until she turns twenty-five to fulfill the marriage conditions. Not signing the contract won’t keep her from inheriting, either. It is more of a symbolic gesture.”
The royal family of Nemya followed a unique custom regarding the monarch’s spouse. Each generation, the royal consort came from a different level of society. Foreign royalty, domestic nobility, commoner. The cycle repeated over and over, in theory keeping the royal family balanced and in tune with the needs of the kingdom.
Princess Charmina would have to marry a commoner. Signing a Rose Castle contract was not a condition of her inheritance, but it was a tradition.
“Still.” Isa sliced a bite of pork, but didn’t eat it yet. “It makes sense that she would sign the contract sooner than later. Don’t you agree, Marc?”
The secretary swallowed and patted his lips with a napkin. “Her journey to Rose Castle will no doubt be a spectacle. It will take time to arrange.”
Isa’s lips pressed together, and I wondered what she heard under his words. Then I wondered what I’d do if I didn’t break the curse before the princess made her journey. It was one thing to tell everyone that I wanted privacy and would fulfill my duties without an audience. I couldn’t say the same thing to the princess. She would want to see her contract be passed through the node.
But that was a worry for another day. I had more than enough to occupy myself without borrowing trouble.
???
When Isa setdown her fork, having just finished her last bite of the cherry tart I had summoned for dessert, I turned to Marc. “Could I have a word once you finish? I have a few questions about your trip into Leort.”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
Isa looked between us, but accepted the unspoken hint that she was not welcome for this conversation. She pushed away from the table. “I should return to my reading.”
I blinked, momentarily distracted. “You don’t have to work every second of the day, you know. You can relax in the evening.”
She raised a brow. “Tell that to the node.”
Damn. I really had made a mess of that contract. But if her father wouldn’t sign an addendum, I wasn’t sure how to fix anything.
I waited until I sensed Isa in the blue salon before turning back to Marc. “I noticed that the contract I sent with you for Edwin Cardh wasn’t in the satchel you delivered this afternoon. What happened?”
Marc folded his napkin neatly into quarters, placing it on the table next to his plate. His movements were unhurried. They weren’t nervous fidgets, but quiet confidence. I felt the fur along my spine rise and hoped the secretary missed my reaction. If he reached the point of overconfidence, he might make a mistake.
I wished I could have kept Isa in the room for this conversation. Marc was keeping secrets, otherwise he would have mentioned the contract when I asked him how his trip had gone. He couldn’t lie outright, but as Isa had proven, there were plenty of ways to work around that limitation. If she were here, she’d hear what type of evasion he employed. She’d know what follow-up questions to ask.
But while I wanted her power, I didn’t want her to witness this conversation. For all I knew, her father had refused to sign the contract because he didn’t give a damn about his daughter. That wasn’t a truth she needed to hear.
I watched Marc carefully, not wanting to miss even the most minuscule expression. In theory, I could pull on the power of the node to make him speak the truth, but I had only done that once by accident, and wasn’t sure how to use the power on command. Even if I managed, it would only force him to answer. It wouldn’t constrain him any more than the truth-telling enchantment already over the entire hillside. Still, I concentrated until I could see the node power drifting through the room, gathering it to myself. It couldn’t hurt to try.
“He didn’t sign the contract.”
Color flared around Marc, a halo of dusky purple.
I gasped, and Marc’s eyes narrowed. “Your Grace?”
Keeping a hold of the node power I had surrounded myself in, I tried to concentrate on the conversation, instead of the impossibility of what I was seeing. “Why didn’t he sign it?”
Marc shrugged. “He didn’t tell me.”
Once more, purple suffused the air around the secretary, the color darker and muddier this time.
“Why didn’t you mention it this afternoon?”
“There’s nothing you can do about it, so I’m not sure why it matters.”
This time the halo of color was a pale grayish-green. I considered the colors, wondering exactly what they meant. Nothing good, I was certain. Marc was lying to me, despite the truth-telling enchantment. Beyond that, though, I didn’t know how to interpret the colors.
The secretary stood up. I had let myself get distracted for too long. He spoke before I could ask another question. “If you’ll excuse me, Your Grace, I’d prefer to retire early this evening.”
Even this comment didn’t earn Marc an aura of the bright blue I knew signaled a simple truth. Everything with the secretary was a misdirection.
I let him leave and released the node power. Wondering why I could use the node to truth-read could wait. It was more important to figure out what the colors I had seen around Marc meant.
My mind shifted to Isa, sensing her presence in the library spire room. I almost went up, wanting to ask her right then to help me decode the colors. Then I remembered what she had told me as she left the dining room. The contract I had trapped her with already didn’t allow her to rest in the evening. Instead of making the pressure worse, I could spend the evening trying to figure out how to fix that flaw without getting her father’s signature.
Tomorrow was soon enough to tackle Marc’s lies.