Angelique crossed the workshop, straining with all of her senses to search formagic.
“I think Odette was hoping to find something here in his workshop, but it seems like he destroyed everything of use.” Yakov wandered back over to the table that held the vials of mysterious liquids and eyed them. “It’s a good thing he didn’t know how powerful Odile is—else he might not have practically pushed her at the Black Swan Smugglers and would have used her to better control hiswyverns.”
“It takes a lot of power to control such a beast—much less change its base nature as it seems she has done.” Angelique felt only faint bits of what felt like burnt-out magic in the air, and whenever she and her silver magic turned it, the tiny whiffs fled like scurrying mice. “She must at least have enough magic to make fairygodmother.”
She half-heartedly paged through a leather-bound book, but she could tell from the faded ink, it was old and likely did not contain what they were lookingfor.
“Can’t you mages sense a person’s magic and their potential?” Yakovasked.
“Yes, but it’s an ability and a skill. Not all mages are talented at it,” Angeliquesaid.
Yakov poked one of the vials. “Still seems a bit odd—the man could make a wyvern but couldn’t judge his own daughter’s potential,yeah?”
Angelique paused. “It is said that the higher level of magic you achieve, the better you should be at sensing magic. There are exceptions, of course—I am not terribly skilled at sensing magic, and it’s said the Verglas Snow Queen was the most powerful mage of her time, but she could barely sense anything aswell.”
She tapped her fingers on the corroded table and mulled over the idea.But Yakov is correct. Rothbart seemed to exhibit a lot of erratic behavior for someone who Emperor Yevgeniy said was the scourge of his people foryears.
He was maniacal and a mad genius—he couldn’t have created the wyverns otherwise. But why would such a cunning man rush his attack, torch his work, and completely misjudge the full depth of Odile’s magic? I had hoped he wasn’t working with whoever has Evariste, but I didn’t think it was likely. Maybe, for once, my hopes are founded? Surely he must have had a goal inmind—
A bubbling hiss filled the room followed by a heartbeat of silence, then a tiny puff of air and a loud sloshingsound.
Angelique slowly turned around to face Yakov, who was holding an empty glass vial above a glass beaker that had previously held a blue liquid. Now it contained a gloppy green mixture. There had obviously been a magical reaction, given that Yakov’s face and shirt were spattered with gobs of the greenmixture.
The prince nodded and set the vial down. “That wasexciting.”
Angelique shut her eyes and counted to ten so she could speak without shouting. “That could have beenpoisonous.”
“Really? But it smells like vodka!” Yakov’s white teeth flashed extra bright against the green of hisskin.
“Please refrain from further explorations in unknown potions, Your Highness,” Angelique wrylysaid.
“Do you think the green will come out of myshirt?”
“No.”
“Ahh, such apity!”
“I think it would be best if we switched, prince, andIsearch near the vials while you finish paging through the books.” Angelique crossed the room—being careful not to trod on a shard of the fern’s brokenpot.
“You don’t trust me?” Yakovasked.
Angelique gave him her best elegant enchantress smile. “Not even abit.”
After perhaps twenty more minutes of searching, Odile—bright eyed and slightly out of breath, veered into the room. “Have you foundanything?”
“Not yet,” Angelique said. “Perhaps we could search hisquarters?”
“It’s worth a try, but he was rather meticulous in where he kept his work,” Odile said. “It’s how Odette was able to sabotage his experiments so manytimes.”
Yakov leaned against a tall workbench and propped his arm against its edge. “How is yourwyvern?”
“Fine!” Odile smiled, flashing dimples in her cheeks. “Some of the soldiers have been feeding it fish from the lake, which it seems to enjoy. I mean to try feeding it some fruit or vegetables later today, for Ithinkit might be anomnivore.”
Angelique listened to the interaction as she poked through another pile of yellowed papers.Yes, Sybilla was the right choice to send word to with her alteration magic. Plus, I imagine if I tried to introduce Odile to Clovicus, he would accuse me of foisting her off on him and would then train her specifically to terrorize theCouncil.
“I take it you haven’t uncovered anything new?” Odette leaned against the doorframe, her arrival sudden andquiet.
Angelique shook her head. “I’m afraidnot.”
