Chapter 11
I’m sitting at Alistair’s table the next day, his cat curled up in my lap, when he waltzes into the library. He smirks when he sees me, and I already regret agreeing to spend more time in his presence. He’s going to be insufferably glib now.
“I have conditions,” I say with no preamble, the orange cat purring as I scratch his head. At least I think it’s a him. I’m not brave enough to check.
“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t, Snow Cat,” Alistair grins, happily collapsing into the chair diagonal from me. His eyes belatedly fly to his pet, who simply eyes Alistair with a cold detachment that makes me believe the two have been together for a long time.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you stealing the affection of the only being that loves me though,” he says, glaring at the cat. “I expected some form of loyalty from you, Narcissus.”
“Narcissus?”
“Yes, he’s quite self-obsessed.”
I snort, wondering if he knows he’s the mirror image of a cat, or if it’s just a happy accident of fate.
“Now what are these conditions that I’m probably going to say no to?” he asks, crossing his leg so his ankle rests on his knee. All he’s missing is a beam of sunlight to fall across his face and he would make a perfect portrait. But most of the windows in the manor are strangely closed and I have yet to convince anyone to tell me why.
“First of all, no more snide remarks about the appearance of any of the women in the manor,” I say pointedly.
Alistair lays a hand across his chest, an expression of mock incredulity on his face. “Not even to compliment them?”
“Have you ever complimented anyone on their looks in this manor?”
He smirks, green eyes sparkling with mischief. “No. But a man can surprise you every now and again.”
“Unlikely. The second condition should go without saying, but you and I will maintain a professional relationship. In other words, I will cut off any part of you that touches me.”
He raises his eyebrows, eyeing me with interest. “I touch Kitty and Kitty will claw me. Got it. What else?”
I sigh. “You have to promise that if this artifact that will supposedly get around the curse does not free the staff, you will find another way to free them, no matter the cost.”
Alistair tilts his head thoughtfully. “What, no demands that I promise to free you at any cost too?”
“Even if we don’t find an artifact that can free me, I will be free in three months. And let’s be honest, any promise you make to help me isn’t worth much.”
“And a promise I make to help the staff is?”
“You know their names,” I point out, recalling the way he tried to brush it off. “I think you care about their freedom, but I want you to swear to it or I won’t help you.”
He taps his finger on the table, his gaze studious and unmoving. When he nods, I release the breath I’d been holding. “Fine. I promise that I will not rest until the staff are free of the curse, no matter the cost. Are we square?”
“We’re square.”
“Good, then it’s my turn.”
I scowl at him, and my hands automatically curl into fists. Narcissus squeezes his claws into my legs, displeased by my lack of attention.
“You have conditions? I’m the one doing you a favor.”
“Ah, but there’s where you’re wrong,” Alistair argues. “We will both benefit from finding the artifact. But don’t worry, my condition isn’t anything bad.”
When he says nothing else, I shove his leg with my foot. “Get on with it.”
He grins, getting more comfortable in his chair. “Whatever happens, you can’t fall in love with me.”
I bark out a laugh, and Narcissus flinches. Alistair scowls, offended by my reaction, which just makes me laugh harder. I clutch my stomach, trying to catch my breath as I wipe tears from my eyes.
“You don’t have to be rude,” he pouts.
“I’m sorry, but the idea of me falling in love with you is just—I can’t,” I gasp, chuckling. “What a ridiculous idea. That’s like a bunny curling up with a fox. We would have to be completely insane and totally desperate for such a thing to happen.”
“I’m curious, do you consider yourself the fox or the bunny?”
“Guess.”
He sighs and snatches up a stack of papers from the table, sifting through them. “Alright Foxy, let’s get down to business. The Poet I hired told me that in order to get around this curse and free all of us from the manor, we need a magical object of equal power to the curse itself.”
I ignore his annoying animal nickname and lean forward to see the notes he’s studying. The handwriting is so atrocious that it looks like a different language. “Is that what the Poet told you?”
“No, a bunny rabbit told it to me in a dream and then revealed herself to be the sister I never knew I had,” he replies dryly.
“You asked me for my help because you’ve had no luck on your own. The best way for me to help is to go over what you already know and see if I notice something that you didn’t. Now what were the Poet’s words exactly?”
Clearly reluctant to collaborate, he rolls his eyes and hands me the pages, which are covered in only partially coherent scribblings. Quotes from books, names of explorers, questions about artifacts and locations.
“What does this even say? ‘play…Gunrow’,” I read from the page, only able to make out a few of the letters and the name of the treasure hunter who’s responsible for most of Dunrow’s wealth, making it the richest of the five kingdoms.
“Plate from Gunrow,” Alistair snaps, trying to snatch the pages back. I hold them out of his reach. “It’s supposedly blessed with the ability to show someone the unseen. I thought maybe it could show me how to break the curse, but I think it might be located in Crenshaw.”
I look at the page, reading on. “”Guide mirror…of plan?’”
“Gilded mirror of Phantos,” Alistair snarls, finally grabbing the pages from my hand. I don’t fight him since I can’t read any of his notes anyway.
“Okay, first of all, I think I should be our official scribe moving forward,” I tease, eyeing his horrible handwriting. “I’ll need you to read all of this out loud to me later so I can rewrite it legibly.”
“I write perfectly fine—”
“Second of all,” I interrupt him, just for the fun of it, “You don’t know exactly how the first Poet cursed you, right?”
“If I did, would I be here with you?”
I nod. “Fair enough. What exact words did the second Poet say?”
Alistair runs a hand through his tousled hair, the long strands poking up from between his fingers.
“He said that the curse was a powerful one and that without speaking to the Poet who cast it, he didn’t know how it could be broken. But he believed that utilizing an artifact of equal power could work around the curse. He said we would find it in the manor.”
“In the manor?” I demand, stupefied. Why would a powerful artifact be sitting around in a manor in the middle of nowhere?
Alistair nods. “He swore that it would be here. My…brother stored a lot of things here before he stored me here.” He smiles bitterly and I make a mental note of the brothers’ apparent animosity. If Alistair doesn’t like his brother, then maybe he will be less likely to turn me over to him. “Any artifacts he found that he couldn’t find a use for or didn’t want someone else to find, he dumped here. So there’s a good chance that the artifact we need is somewhere in these halls. However, this place isn’t exactly small and literally anything could be an artifact. So, without knowing what artifact I’m looking for and what it does, trying out each item in the manor would be useless.”
“What kind of artifact did the Poet specifically say we need?” I ask, processing this new information.
“He said it needed to be one that could counteract the limitations of the curse that I want to combat. For instance, since the curse contains us in the manor, an artifact that allows people to transport might work against the curse.” He growls and shakes his head. “I paid three hundred dulces for that information and it has yet to be helpful.”
“You should ask for a refund.”
He scowls. “Can you help me or not?”
I stand and move toward the windows. If I had my own way out of here, I wouldn’t risk helping Alistair. Not when I know he’s Orrin’s brother and could turn me over at any moment. But Alistair has no idea who I am. He thinks I’m just another annoying houseguest.
And I need to keep it that way.
Lost in my thoughts, I pull at the curtains on one of the tall windows, only to realize that the fabric is nailed to the window trim. As I tug at the edges, a hand suddenly grabs my wrist and I jump, stumbling back into Alistair.
He stares down at me, his chest pressed against my back and his fingers latched onto my arm. I take a deep breath, reminding the primal part of my mind that while Alistair shares blood with Orrin, they are not the same kind of monsters. Alistair may be a self-absorbed manchild, but he’s not the sociopath his brother is.
“You promised not to touch me,” I remind him, pulling my arm away.
He lets me, moving back a step. “You touched my drapes.”
“You never told me not to.”
“I think it should go without saying that something nailed down should not be moved unless you have permission.”
I narrow my eyes at him, and my gaze catches on what looks like a fresh slice on his neck. It’s raw, the size of my pinky and a deep red.
“What happened?” I ask, nodding to the cut.
He smiles dryly. “The last girl nicked me before I got rid of her.”
I tilt my head, unimpressed. “Why do you keep the drapes shut?”
“You’re nosy—you know that, right?”
“Yes.” It’s earned me more than my own fair share of cuts and bruises.
Instead of responding, Alistair turns back to the table and starts sifting through books, pointedly avoiding my gaze. “So, what will it be, Scorpion? Will you help me secure all our freedoms, or are you going to go back to snooping alone?”
I wish I could say no. Alistair is going to be an insufferable research partner. But I need him. Even if his humanity is buried down deep inside. So so deep.
“Fine. I’ll help.”