Amaris gripped the edge of the table and shot a look toward Sephardi as she stood with a smile on her lips and her arms folded across her chest.
“For a time,” Sephardi added.
“Are you a traveler? I do adore your accent. I wish I could see the realm beyond these walls.”
“I…no.”
Pricilla took Amaris’s arm in hers. “Not many have the luxury. I wish to travel to every corner of Magoria one day. I want to learn about the different cultures, especially their myths and legends.”
“Do you have a fascination for the occult?” Amaris was oddly growing used to it over the years, with Viv attempting to read her future through tarot cards and wafting sage in her direction every time she said she was with Derek.
Pricilla furrowed her brow and played with the word, exaggerating it and repeating it.
“It means believing in supernatural things—palm readings, spells, that kind of stuff.”
Amaris tapped her fingers against her thigh. Her healed hand brought a whole new level of possibilities. She could try to escape tonight if she wanted to, but there was still the impending question of where to go.
“I most certainly do then. I adore learning all things about magic.”
Amaris stumbled but smiled as she attempted to keep herself from face-planting. Did Pricilla mean tarot and séance magic or magic-magic?
“Magic doesn’t exist,” Sephardi cut in. “They’re only fascinating tales to tell your children at night.”
Pricilla extended a gracious smile, but a hint of annoyance lurked in her eyes as a muscle in her cheek twitched. “It’s said Magoria was once filled with magic. The people and the ground we stand on subsisted on it.”
Sephardi rolled her eyes, scoffing as she returned her attention ahead of them.
“Then what happened to it?” Amaris asked, wondering if magic wasn’t as far gone as Pricilla thought. Maybe magic still existed. How else would she have found her way here? Science couldn’t explain it.
“Lost to the realm.”
“How do you know magic existed?”
“Stories passed through the generations. Some had the ingenuity to write it down in the folktales and various myths. Why would they bother to if it wasn’t real?”
Hope fleeted away. Pricilla’s belief in magic was no different than believing in dragons or unicorns in Amaris’s world.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A towering presence blocked their path, and Amaris rolled her eyes as Theodoric stepped closer from the shadows of the bookcases. Her shoulders tensed as he furrowed his brows, his eyes glaring at her.
“Captain,” Pricilla greeted, inclining her head in a small curtsy.
Are you kidding me?Amaris wasn’t going to curtsy for this jerk.
“Food. I’m hungry,” Amaris said, crossing her arms.
“I’ll be taking over from here. Sephardi, see to it Miss Carter’s breakfast is brought up to her tower,” Theodoric ordered.
Amaris released Pricilla’s arm, clenching her hands into fists. Her cheeks flushed as Pricilla’s gaze swept between them. Pricilla might believe in fairy tales, but she could be a key to escaping, and he was ruining it.
“Miss Carter?” Amaris sneered.
“A formality,” he stated, a twinge in his jaw, making her further narrow her gaze at him.
“Then what should I call you?”
“Theodoric will do fine.” His voice was crisp and irritating.
“I was thinking more along the lines of prick or jackass. Which would you prefer?”
