Chapter 3 #3
The former general pauses, his eyes going distant as he contemplates his test. Then he motions to me. “At the last ball—the last one she was alive for—what did she spill on herself?”
Julita’s presence shifts restlessly. Spill? I didn’t spill anything on— Oh.
I avert my gaze so the men won’t think I’m talking to them. “Oh what?”
Her tone turns abashed. It wasn’t exactly “spilling.” I was trying to be stealthy and sneak closer to Wendos to overhear what he said to the people around him.
I was just slipping past the refreshments table when someone backed up right into me.
I lost my balance and dunked my elbow in a bowl of crackleberry pudding.
She pauses. I didn’t realize Stavros even noticed.
“Well?” Stavros says.
I focus back on him. “She says she didn’t spill anything—someone bumped into her and her elbow landed in crackleberry pudding.”
His mouth flattens, as if he’s not happy that I’ve answered right. Was he trying to trip me up with his phrasing, thinking of another spill she might have mentioned already that I’d try to con him with?
Let him be disappointed. I proved my point.
“Kosmel himself gave her a vote of confidence,” Alek points out. There’s no hint of how he might feel about that fact in his flat voice. “We all saw it. And she has been a lot of help. It’s not as if she poses any danger to the rest of the school right now.”
Stavros scoffs. “The riven are always dangerous.” But then he sighs and rocks on his heels with a resigned expression. “How exactly do you propose you’re going to help next?”
Is he seriously giving me the chance?
I lift my head, trying to look more confident than I feel.
“We know that Ster. Torstem is playing a major role in orchestrating the conspiracy. He has an inner circle of associates who are conducting scourge sorcery with him. The only campus organization he leads that Wendos was involved in is the entomology club—I even heard Wendos using bug talk as a cover to discuss the daimon attack at the ball. At least a few of the other members must be part of the conspiracy. We should focus on them.”
“They’re not going to admit to conspiring with illicit magic if you simply ask.”
Alek appears to perk up. “I can dig into the records and come up with a list of current members for Ivy to spy on. They’ve got to slip up somewhere.”
Stavros still doesn’t look convinced. “They managed to conceal their activities so well that it’s taken us all this time to be sure of anyone who’s involved, even with Julita keeping a close eye on Wendos.”
An idea sparks in my head, bringing a hint of a smile to my lips.
“Maybe I need to do more to draw them out, then. I’m new at the college—no one will be totally sure of my goals and beliefs yet.
I heard how Wendos talked. I can drop a few comments along similar lines near the bug club members and see how they react.
Thinking a sympathetic party is around might loosen their tongues. ”
Alek pauses. “Won’t they know to be wary of you? If Wendos realized that Julita suspected him, and you’ve told people you were friends with her…”
I shake my head. “Wendos bragged to me about how he took care of Julita all by himself without the other conspirators needing to know. I think he didn’t want to reveal that his childhood experiments might be what exposed the rest of them.
If he kept quiet about her, he wouldn’t have told them about me either.
And his accomplices who saw me in the tower are dead. ”
“We’ve been careful to keep our investigations secret,” Casimir says.
“Barely any of the king’s soldiers saw Ivy even tonight.
It sounds like a reasonable plan to me. And Julita would have ideas about how Ivy should behave.
She must have heard plenty of scourge sorcerer attitude from her brother. If she’s willing to draw on that.”
I’m not going to abandon the cause, Julita says tartly. You’re the one taking the real risk.
“She’s contributed every way she can since I got here.
” I hesitate, realizing I owe her more than that.
“And you should know—what I said here yesterday, when I was upset… It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth.
I think she’s made herself sound more callous than she actually felt at the time, trying to distance herself from everything she’s lost to deal with…
with having lost it. I know you all mattered to her as more than just a means to an end.
She gets worried when you’re in danger. She appreciated how you stood by her.
I’m sorry I made it sound as if she didn’t. ”
Ivy, Julita murmurs. You didn’t need to—you had every right to say what you did. My mistakes are mine.
Casimir offers me a soft smile. “You were upset. And you weren’t the only one.” He aims a pointed look at his companions.
Alek shuffles his feet. “Thank you. It’s good to know that.”
Stavros doesn’t give any sign of being affected either way, his chiseled features hard as ever.
“Then we’ve made our decision, and there’s nothing more we can do tonight.
Let’s get some rest before we resume our investigations.
But first—” He jerks his sword toward me. “Give Casimir back his locket.”
Right. They wouldn’t want to leave me with the ability to summon the rest of them on a whim.
I draw out the locket that can send a magical signal to those the rest of them carry and hand it over as swiftly as I can. I don’t want the brush of Casimir’s skin to dredge up my memories of the much greater intimacies we’ve shared.
How queasy does it make him to remember what he did with a woman who’s really a monster?
The courtesan’s fingers close around the locket, and he shoots Stavros another firm look. “We should get another one made for Ivy. If she’s going to be associating more with the scourge sorcerers, she might need help quickly.”
Stavros lets out a hum that sounds more like a growl. “We’ll see.”
The thought of our whole group stirs up another question. “What are we going to tell Benedikt?”
Another silence falls over the room. The men exchange a glance.
Casimir exhales softly. “I don’t like keeping secrets from him when we’ve had a policy of sharing everything we discover. But he wasn’t there—he didn’t see any of it… I’m not sure he’d approach the situation with the proper understanding.”
“He might think Ivy’s bewitched us and report her to the king,” Alek says with a wince.
After seeing how eagerly Benedikt sought his half-uncle’s acknowledgment, the same worry winds around my gut. “He might.”
I don’t say how I feel about that possibility, but it shouldn’t be difficult to guess. I like Benedikt, as much as I’ve gotten to know him in the past few weeks, but I can’t say I’d gamble my life on his good will.
Julita appears to share our apprehension. Benny can be a little… capricious. I don’t know how he’d react.
Casimir turns to Stavros. “The information doesn’t really have anything to do with the investigation. Not having it won’t stop him from pitching in as much as usual. It’s not as if Ivy’s ever likely to be around him without at least one of us there too.”
I can’t tell how much that’s his own justification and how much it’s what he thinks Stavros would respond best to, but the former general makes a brief gesture of acceptance. “Fine. Let’s not make this a bigger mess than it already is. That decision can be re-evaluated at a later date.”
His last words come with a ring of finality. He picks the royal sword off the desk and slings the belt with its sheath over his shoulder.
The thought of him escorting me back to his quarters, radiating skeptical hostility the whole way, makes my skin crawl. I can’t help thinking of the other unknown scourge sorcerers who were out there in the city tonight—the ones Wendos was trying to combine his magic with.
And the sooner I prove just how committed I am to this mission, the better.
“There is something else we can do tonight,” I say. “Something I can do, anyway. Ster. Torstem and the other conspirators will need to regroup. They’re still in the city… If they’re going to discuss how their plans fell apart and their next moves, they’ll want to be somewhere familiar.”
Stavros frowns. “And you think you know where that is?”
I glance around at all of the men. “Does anyone know what room the bug club meets in?”