“Oh, I’m sure you—”
“Ilikethis not mattering, Ellie. Iwantto be a cog, not in the center.” Axell gave her a very sad smile that seemed much older than he looked. “Over there, I was someone in the center. People watched me. It was too much focus. Here? I am a cog, but also… being only a cog means I can be disposed.”
It was an ominous statement.Disposed? What sort of person disposed of others?Her mind filled in a few answers before she even finished thinking the question.My wife. Maggie’s husband. The chief witch.It took only a fraction of a moment to have several answers.
“What’s his gift? Dan’s? Explain it more.”
And Axell’s smile blossomed widely. “Daniel…enhances.If I want to sing, Dan will make my magic larger so the whole of the castle could hear. He can makeanymagic stronger.”
The import of what Axell wanted her to understand was suddenly crystal clear. Dan’s magic strengthened other magic, and previously, Prospero hadn’t been able to erase Ellie’s memories. With Dan’s help, Prospero must have done so. Whatever Ellie forgot involved Maggie, and that was the secret between them.
Ellie looked at Axell and asked, “Shall I pretend we never talked about this?”
“Maybe we say only that I removed you from the hallway where the crowds were big. That is a true thing, not lies.” Axell gave her a wide-eyed, innocent look. “I was trying to be a friend, Elleanor Brandeau of the House of Thesis. It is not right what they did.”
Then he was gone, and Ellie was left in what had once apparently been her room. She could see why they hadn’t returned her to it. There was an entire binder on her classmates.I thought I lost that or didn’t bring it here to Crenshaw.And there was a giant apple tree. She’d obviously climbed down that tree with Maggie.
A part of Ellie thought that it was ridiculous that she be asked to forget as much as she had. That same part of her thought that this was overreaction if the crime in question was infidelity. And a tiny voice whispered,How far would Prospero go to keep someone powerful at her side who was completely devoted to her?
Even without all her memories, Ellie had no illusions that her wife was a gentle soul. She was currently hunting witches who had shot Scyllaand exposed Crenshaw. Prospero was a witch who evoked rightful fear in anyone who crossed her.
And IleftProspero, caged her, and ran away with Maggie.
Whatever the reason for those choices, Ellie had no trouble believing that Prospero had not wanted to let Ellie go… or that if she found out now that Ellie realized the things she had, Maggie and Daniel and Axell were at risk. They were not impervious to mind magic.
So why didn’t she erase Dan and Axell’s memories?
Surely, Prospero had to realize that, in time, Ellie would piece it all together.
That thought hit her like a fist to the throat, and Ellie let out a gasp. Prospero was far from careless. She had talked about having to visit multiple people to adjust memories, and yet in this case, she had not.
And she knew I researched the missing.
Could she havewantedthis to happen? Wanted me to figure it out?Prospero followed the laws as much as she had to, but she was the queen of loopholes. Ellie was realizing that as she’d started to find ways to get her wife back into her arms.
That possibility shifted the weight of things that Ellie was starting to figure out. She had no doubt of her wife’s regard or the fact that Prosperodiddesire her. Prospero couldn’t act on that desire as long as Ellie couldn’t remember.…
She wants me to figure it out!Ellie grinned to herself. Being given a puzzle to solve with Prospero as the prize at the end was a rather perfect seduction for Ellie.So I’ll figure out the rest, and in the end, we’ll be okay.
The loss of memories had only lasted a few days, but they had an eternity in front of them, and Ellie had to believe that the parts she recalled were larger than the parts she’d been forced to forget.
We can make it work.
Can’t we?
Was I unfaithful?
Was it a power grab?
Was I a part of the New Economists? Running away like they had?
There were answers to be had, and her mind was steadily finding more and more of them. She wanted to work things out. First, though, she needed Prospero to come home safely.
25Prospero
As Prospero and Sondre walked out of the shop, Prospero was relieved that no one was seriously injured. In that moment, Prospero had thought that since Jenn was contained, they had only to teleport back to Crenshaw and turn the unconscious woman over to the chief witch so she could be interrogated. And honestly, if not for how cautious she was being, Prospero would’ve just slipped into her mind now rather than knock her out. A few screams and pointless flailing were not the worst things that had ever happened to Prospero, not by anyone’s standards.
Instead, Sondre was carrying Jenn in a bridal carry—and Prospero was prepared with the “Oh, she fell and broke her leg, the poor thing” explanation if they were stopped by any nonmagical people.
