Thirty-Nine - Felix
???
The enchantments aroundmy home flashed, drawing me out of my thoughts of Isa and back to the physical world. Two people had ridden onto castle lands. I studied what the magic told me. Cecily and Marc had come calling.
One claw twitched, the instinct to banish them from the hill strong. I resisted the urge. It was time to confront them and learn what they had hoped to achieve. Even if they wouldn’t speak to me, I didn’t like the idea of turning them away and then not knowing where they had gone. Whether I could regain my human form or not, the princess and whoever she brought with her would come to Rose Castle within a few days. Having the people responsible for my condition locked up might be helpful.
Also, I looked forward to their reactions when they saw my new size.
I made my way to the great hall, then contemplated the best place to lie in wait. A quick adjustment of the two chairs I had never removed gave me the perfect spot. I settled on the chair facing away from the front entrance, careful to keep every inch of my fur hidden. I tracked Cecily and Marc’s progress, throwing open the front doors of the castle when they stood only paces away.
They paused. Then Marc strode through. I heard him tell Cecily to get inside, his voice harsh. It took her another heartbeat to enter. With a quick tug on the node’s magic, I closed and locked the front doors, wishing I could have slammed them shut on Cecily’s heels.
She must have heard the lock click, because she moved back to the doorway, saying something too low for me to hear.
Marc spoke at a normal volume. “It doesn’t matter if it is locked. Once you get to the node, we’ll be in control of the castle. Come on.”
It took only a few seconds for them to cross the foyer to the great hall, Marc one step in front of Cecily. I waited until they were a few steps inside the room, but still plenty distant from the node to speak. “You won’t be reaching the node.”
“And how do you think to stop us?” Despite his words, I knew Marc had already stopped. I studied his position through the castle’s enchantments carefully, waiting until he took that next step. Then I leapt from the chair, prowling forward until I stood directly in front of the marble plinth, the flames casting a flickering light over me.
Cecily screamed, wrenching herself back and free of the grip Marc had on her upper arm. The secretary wasn’t unfazed himself, taking a step back.
“I thought you said he was a cat!” To my surprise, Cecily didn’t turn and run, but glared at Marc.
“I am a cat,” I said in my laziest drawl. I lifted a paw and flexed my claws. “See?”
“He was smaller before,” Marc said, anger replacing fear. “It doesn’t matter what size he is. Our plan will still work.”
I lowered my paw, settling into position in front of the node. “And what plan is that?”
Marc made a sharp gesture with his hand, cutting Cecily off before she could answer. “We aren’t telling you.”
“And I’m not letting you approach the node, so I suppose we are at an impasse.”
“There are two of us and only one of you.”
“Ah, but I have more impressive teeth and claws than both of you combined.” I didn’t move from my spot in front of the plinth, but if they tried to come closer, I would strike. I couldn’t take the risk of letting Cecily pass another Truth through the node.
I knew, without a doubt, that I had granted the aspekts of binding to Isa, but I wasn’t as certain that Cecily’s tie to the node had disappeared. Most likely, Isa’s interpretation of that Truth was correct, and only one person could have the extra node-tie at a time, but I would not test the theory.
Belatedly, I realized I shouldn’t have indulged my flair for the dramatic and revealed myself in the great hall. I could have locked the doors and confronted Cecily and Marc elsewhere. Then I could have locked them in whatever room I wanted. But in order to get them out of the great hall, I would have to move to a different room and summon them, and I could not guarantee that Cecily wouldn’t reach the node first.
We truly were at an impasse.
I shook my head. No. I was the Duke of Truthhold, with the full power of the node at my call. There might be limitations to what I could do, but I still had several options to tilt the scales in my favor. If nothing else, I would finally learn why Marc and Cecily had cursed me.
I pulled on the node’s power, flinging it out in front of me. Neither Marc nor Cecily had taken a step closer. The threat of my claws was enough to prevent progress, but not send them fleeing. Perhaps the threat of betraying their secrets would make them leave. I could run to another room and summon them before they reached the bottom of the hill. Then tomorrow evening I’d tell Isa about my prisoners.
I built node power up around Marc, but I knew it wasn’t a truth-telling spell. Not yet. If I wanted to force answers, I needed the power to pour over him, not just build up into a cage around him. My attention shifted to Cecily. Would she be a better target for my questions?
I had thought that it might be harder to use the power against her, as she was a truth-teller herself, but that slight shift in focus was enough to make the magic snap into place. A haze of blue covered her from head to toe in my magical sight.
I purred, the sound a menacing rumble in my new form. “Why did you curse me?”
“You were supposed to fall in love with me. Marry me. It would have been easier that way.”
“What would have been easier?”
Marc’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed Cecily’s arm, but she shook him off. “Gaining a tie to the node. Getting the power I deserve!”
“He’s truth-telling you.” Marc snarled. “Shut up.”
“I don’t care! What does it matter if he knows?”
To my surprise, Marc didn’t protest any further, though he glowered at both me and Cecily. I kept the stream of power pouring over her. “How did turning me into a cat help you gain power?”
“That wasn’t about power. That was revenge. How dare you consider yourself better than me? Marc was mad at me, but it was worth it.”
I wondered for a moment if truth-telling always resulted in people answering as if they were drunk, their thoughts coming in a torrent. Maybe it was just Cecily, taking pleasure in venting her feelings. “Why did you start rumors in Leort about Isa?”
Cecily laughed. “She was merely convenient. The point was to make people mistrust you. Then, once we’ve convinced the princess that you’ve been abusing your power, the royal family will want to strip you of the title. But they can’t. The node and the Truthholder inheritance contracts make the situation too difficult. That’s where I come in.”
Marc’s eyes glittered, and I realized why he had allowed Cecily to continue talking. He might not have explained the plan himself, but he wanted me to hear it. He wanted me to realize how brilliant he was and how trapped I was.
But I didn’t feel particularly trapped. Marc and Cecily were no match for me and Isa. Not in the long run.
“As your wife,” Cecily continued, her words bringing a growl to my throat, “one with a tie to the node herself, the royal family won’t have to worry about Truthholder inheritance laws. They can lock you up for your crimes and leave me in place as the duchess, since I’ll be able to perform your duties with regards to the node.”
I almost laughed at that. Marc wasn’t as brilliant as he thought. Cecily might have had a tie to the node, but she’d never be able to witness contracts unless I made her my proxy. Even if she married me, that wouldn’t grant her the primary node-tie. “How do you expect to make me sign a marriage contract?”
“I don’t need you to sign. I can create Truths with only my signature.”
“And how do you plan to explain my present form to Her Highness?”
Cecily pouted. “I’ll turn you back once everything else is settled.”
“If you really want to regain your human form,” Marc added, “You can speed the entire process up by stepping aside.”
“I think not. Fur and claws are preferable to getting locked up for crimes I didn’t commit.”
“You’ll be locked up either way,” Marc sneered. “But if you want to end up in a menagerie instead of a jail, so be it.”
I released my grip on the node, letting the power fade. “I don’t think I’ll be the one who ends up in a cell. You can’t honestly expect to get away with this.”
My former secretary took a step forward. “The truth is what we say it is now.”
He took another step, and I bared my teeth. I hadn’t looked in a mirror since changing my size, but Marc’s reaction assured me that my teeth had changed as dramatically as my claws. He froze.
I settled down. Now it was a waiting game.
???
The hours stretched. Cecily looked longingly at the chairs by the node and eventually settled on the floor. Soon she stretched out and fell asleep. Marc paced, but the late hour was getting to him, too.
I curled up in front of the node, my eyes narrow slits as I watched him.
Then I felt another presence at Truthhold. What was Isa doing back here? I unlocked the front doors, though it would take her a few more minutes to reach them. Had I summoned her? Damn it, dragging her back to Rose Castle in the middle of the night would not do me any favors with her.
With my attention centered elsewhere, I almost missed Marc’s charge. He shrugged off his jacket and ran at me with it stretched between his hands. “Cecily, now!”
I couldn’t watch Cecily as she shot to her feet—not asleep, after all. Marc lunged, attempting to wrap the jacket around me, but though he blinded me, he did nothing to restrict my legs. My paws. My claws.
I swiped out and felt cloth and flesh tear. The acrid tang of blood hit me, the warm wetness dripping from my claws to splatter against the marble floor.
Marc screamed and scrambled backward, the jacket falling from me. Cecily went white and halted her rush toward the node. It was hard to tell, with his hand pressed against his abdomen, but I didn’t think I had scratched too deeply. Not a life-threatening injury, but a shock of pain all the same.
He’d survive, and Isa would be inside within moments. If she summoned Marc and Cecily to a different room, we could lock them up and figure out what to do next.