36
D ominic’s shadow materialized on the floor as I whirled around to face him. His eyes widened.
My legs were begging me to flee, but I stood my ground. There was no sense in running. I had questions and he had answers.
He shut the door.
“Narcissa,” Dominic whispered. He didn’t want Celeste to know I was here. Was it because he still had the delusion that I was innocent in all this?
I jerked my head down the hall and began walking. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Giselle following several feet behind us. I prayed Celeste would not come out and see her.
We halted at the end of the narrow passage that opened up backstage. I glanced past Dominic’s shoulders. Giselle had disappeared.
There was no time to wonder. “You should be on your way to Delibera. How are you still here?” I demanded.
Dominic stepped closer. “There was a decoy— ”
“A magic one. How do the rioters have access to magic? Are they using services they claim to detest? Or is it because of Celeste?”
“Narcissa, listen to me.” He reached for my arm.
“You do not have permission to touch me,” I said icily.
This seemed to intimidate him, though he did not step back. “I can take you away. The royals left you here. They have no need for you anymore, so they abandoned you as I predicted.” The fervent look in his eyes made my skin crawl. “Come with me and you’ll be safe from all this.”
“You and your father are committing treason. It is you who should come with me.”
Dominic took another step forward. “You were promised to me first. Why are you still fighting this? Why are you still doing the crown prince’s dirty work when you don’t believe in his cause?”
“What makes you think I don’t believe in rights for witches?” I retorted. “I am a witch.”
“Not anymore.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “I know you, Narcissa. You’re loyal to whoever cares for you. It was your mother first, then the royals, and now it will be me. Marry me. I’ll give you the life you deserve. I won’t make you risk yourself for anyone’s sake. You can be whoever you want, live however you like. You can be happy.”
Bile rose to my throat. His delusion made him dangerous. “My magic was all I had and I’ve lost it because of your cause,” I hissed. “You are the last person in the kingdom who can make me happy.”
A flash of annoyance passed Dominic’s face. “Then who can? Crown Prince Bennett?”
My fingers tightened around the narrow spray bottle in my pocket. “Stop this, Dominic. Surrender now. ”
He grabbed my wrist in an iron grip. “You’re coming with me.”
Just as I was about to slap him across the face, a piece of patterned paper fluttered onto his forehead out of nowhere, embellished with an intricate design. Dominic’s fingers went slack.
“I knew you needed backup,” Giselle said, crossing her arms as she came up behind me.
I swallowed, rubbing my wrist. “What did you do to him?”
“My, ah, peacekeeping magic,” she murmured. “Hypnosis, some call it.”
Dominic hadn’t moved an inch, and neither had the slip of paper. I waved a hand over his eyes. “How does it work?” I asked. “Can you...control him?”
Giselle pursed her lips. “We ought to get out of here.” She turned to Dominic. “Follow me.”
She stepped forward. He followed in perfect synchronization. I stared, amazed, as I trailed along. Judging from how she boasted about her sewing, I was surprised she hadn’t talked about her hypnotic abilities sooner.
We managed to slip unnoticed outside into the hallway. Maddox leaned against a pillar before the stairs. His hand went to his dagger at the sight of Dominic.
“What is he doing here?” Maddox demanded.
“It’s fine. I’ve got him under control,” Giselle said. I didn’t miss that she was avoiding his gaze.
Maddox blinked rapidly. “Under control?”
“Magic,” I said shortly. I turned to them both, removing Celeste’s throat spray from my pocket. “Also, I found this.”
I told them about how she had used it during the night I lost my magic. She had reformulated sickleweed potion as a throat spray that expelled outward instead of taking her own magic.
Giselle nodded. “There’s a reversal charm she likely used to achieve that.” Then, she raised a brow. “Are you sure that’s the potion? What does it smell like?”
My throat went dry as I recalled Bennett’s spiced scent and ghostly embrace. I thrust the bottle to Maddox instead. “It’s supposed to smell like what you desire most at the moment.”
Maddox gingerly uncapped the bottle and sniffed. His eyes widened. “It smells like the fields at home,” he said, amazed. He inhaled deeply. “Grass and fallen rain on an overcast day. And a hint of fresh hay.”
He gave it to Giselle. She hovered over the rim. “Smells like pie.”
I nodded. “That’s it, then. Now we need to figure out how Celeste is keeping the magic she has taken. And how to get it back.”
Maddox frowned at Dominic, who was once again still as a statue. I regarded the latter. I still wanted to punch him for his impudence. But he would need his jaw intact to answer our questions.
“Giselle?” I said.
The seamstress exhaled heavily. “Alright. Let’s take this upstairs.”
THE HYPNOTIZED DOMINIC didn’t stumble on a single step on the way up, though his limbs appeared entirely limp. Maddox gave him wary glances. Giselle marched several feet ahead. She didn’t want to speak or look at us, though I hardly knew why .
We filed into my room after making sure Lord Frederick wasn’t lingering outside. Maddox stood against the door anyway as a precaution. The cats bounded over to me from the window.
“Hello Misty. Pippin,” I said softly, stroking their ears. Misty narrowed her eyes at Dominic, hissing. “It’s alright. Giselle is using her magic on him.”
The seamstress shifted uncomfortably, gaze darting from Maddox to the floor to me. “Do I have to do this?”
Maddox tilted his head. “Is making him speak not part of your magic?”
Giselle pressed her lips into a thin line. “It is. I can also make him dance like a monkey and walk on his hands. I can make him jump from that balcony,” she said, pointing to the far end of the room, “or I can make him stab himself.”
I stared, taken aback. “You’d never do that.”
“I could.”
“But you’d never,” Maddox said.
She clenched her jaw as she sat on an ottoman, polishing the amethyst bottle with her sleeve. Dominic followed suit but fell bottom-first onto the ground.
“You don’t get it,” Giselle said. “My magic will always have the potential to be wicked.”
I shook my head, wondering at how carefree, confident Giselle could ever think that about herself. “I’ve been there,” I said, smiling humorlessly as I recalled all the dirty work I had done for Mother, “and all I could do was talk to animals.”
“If that’s the case, then all witches have the potential to be wicked. Humans do too.” Maddox scrunched his nose at Dominic, who sat on the floor with his legs splayed like a child. The paper on his forehead added to the effect .
“You could never be wicked if you don’t wish to,” I said slowly, running my fingers through Misty’s fur. “Forcing someone to speak against their will may not be objectively good, but you’re doing this for the benefit of other witches. Intention is...the soul of an action.”
Giselle stared at her hands thoughtfully, though she still didn’t look convinced. “I suppose I never thought of it that way.”
I gave a short laugh, half at her cluelessness and half at mine. All these months I had agonized over being under Mother’s influence, believing everything I did came from a place of wickedness. But that had stopped last summer, the moment I decided to thwart her plans.
That was what Misty was telling me all this time.
I straightened my shoulders. “Shall you ask the questions or shall I?”
Giselle sighed. She swiveled to Dominic. “Tell us everything you know about Celeste’s role in the rebellion.”
Dominic’s jaw fell open. I half-expected him to start warbling like a lark, but his voice was unchanged. “She joined the rebellion because of her spite for other witches. She spent months weaseling her way into the cause and making a name for herself as a singer. I didn’t know how she did it. But after doing favors for several rioters, she eventually gained their acceptance.”
Maddox leaned forward. “What kind of favors?”
“She would incite conflict between humans and witches. Convince traders that witch-made items are superior while on the other side complain about traders favoring magic. It fueled the existing tension, which gave rioters all the more reason to rebel,” Dominic said, staring blankly into the wall. “She also would give us various magical comforts no one dared to get themselves. ”
That explained the luxurious meeting places and Dominic’s magic double. I held Misty closer to me. “And what about her removing witch magic?”
“That was not part of our plan until the tour began. You and the crown prince were dousing the flames she was fanning. After the failure of the winter solstice attack and the fire at Vandil’s Witch Market, Celeste decided to take more drastic measures. The other rioters don’t know about her plan of taking witches’ magic, though I suspect they’ll approve. It’ll rid the problem from its source.”
Giselle gripped her seat. “This is ridiculous. Witches will notice their magic being taken away. Charms like that leave a trace, and it’ll all lead to her.”
“She said she perfected the enchantment. It’ll be undetectable,” Dominic said.
Giselle rolled her eyes. “Her ego is a big as ever,” she muttered. “But that doesn’t explain how she expects to get away with this.”
A bit of drool ran down Dominic’s chin, which his limp arms didn’t deign to wipe. “Celeste established herself as a popular human singer sympathetic to witchkind. King Maximus does not trust witches as much as the princes do. He will have no reason to believe the witches over her, especially when he is trying to appease human civilians.”
The plan was full of flaws, especially since the royals had a witch committee who answered directly to them like trusted advisors. Though from the way King Maximus was behaving lately, Celeste had a good chance of getting away with her schemes.
“How do your plans intersect with this?” I couldn’t help but ask, especially when I knew they involved me.
“Once Celeste uses that potion on the audience tomorrow night, I’m going to take you away on one of my father’s ships after I report our elopement to Sister Scarlett. Your union to the crown prince will be broken and the royals will be humiliated across the columns.”
I clenched my jaw. So that was why Dominic had called Sister Scarlett to Alevine. It wasn’t for the rebellion, but for his own vanity. If he knew me as well as he claimed, he would’ve known I would have never agreed to it.
Giselle made a noise of disgust. “Forget that. How is Celeste using the sickleweed potion?” she demanded.
“Her throat spray,” Dominic said, pointing a floppy finger at the spray bottle in her hand. “When she sings it disperses...or whatever. I don’t know. Some voodoo and whatnot.”
It was a confirmation of our suspicions, though certainly not an eloquent one. The seamstress rolled her eyes. “How is she containing witch magic?”
“And is there a way to return it?” I asked. Misty buried her face into the crook of my arm. I cradled her head.
“She has this giant...crystal container,” Dominic said, coughing up a few drops of spittle. “She never opens it. I assume it’ll release whatever it’s holding once opened.”
“So she is using an enchanted object,” Giselle said.
Maddox curled his lip at Dominic’s drool-soaked collar.
Giselle uncrossed her arms, studying the amethyst spray bottle. “Enchanted objects are made to contain very strong magic and are notoriously difficult to break,” she murmured. “Then again, I am an accomplished charmwitch.”
“ Is there a charm that can break them?” I asked, hopeful.
“There’s something similar. One to reduce the capacity of magic an enchanted object can hold. I’ll have to rework it tonight,” Giselle said, sitting up. “If she’s using an object, there’s a good chance her enchantment won’t work without it. Enchantments are a mesh of interwoven parts. If something isn’t right, the whole thing will collapse. ”
The confidence in her voice reassured me. Giselle knew what she was doing. Her gaze softened. “Don’t worry, Narcissa. You’ll be back to normal soon.”
I hoped as I had never dared to before. Misty meowed, eyes wide and shining. Pippin stuck his head under my other arm. I drew both of them close. “Then we’re all ready for tomorrow night?”
“More than ever, now that we have all this information,” Maddox said, unsheathing his dagger. He examined the edge. “I should probably sharpen this.”
“Be sure you do,” I said. We had discussed our plans earlier. Everything counted on how well Maddox’s dagger performed.
“And I’ll work on my charm. But first...” Giselle said, rummaging through her satchel. She pulled out a coil of rope and a wad of fabric, offering them to me. “Would you like to do the honors?”
I took them. “Gladly.”
Dominic was bound and gagged in a matter of minutes. I had learned how to restrain a prisoner properly from watching Mother’s lackeys with little relish. However, I thoroughly enjoyed trussing up the general’s son like a turkey.
Maddox dragged him to my wardrobe and stuffed him inside after I removed the gowns I was fond of. The thought of them making contact with him was enough to make me gag.
“He won’t need this anymore,” Giselle said, plucking the embellished paper from Dominic’s forehead.
“Hmmphf!” Dominic wriggled in his bonds, but to no avail. Awakening in a wardrobe with three people blocking the entrance wasn’t a pleasant experience, I was sure, but I had little sympathy for the man who tried to elope with me against my will .
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Maddox said to him, pointing with his dagger. I could see now that it was quite dull. “You’re going to stay here for the next twenty-four hours and not make a peep. If you do, there will be consequences.”
Dominic struggled, rattling the wardrobe. Giselle leaned forward and waved the patterned paper under his nose. He froze.
“That’s right,” Giselle said with a smirk. “I’ll work my voodoo and whatnot on you if you’re difficult.”
“Hmmphf?” Dominic gave me a pleading look, but I remained stone-faced. He crumpled against the wall of the wardrobe.
Maddox slammed the doors shut. “Well. It’s about time I take a look at those suspension wires.”