She was right. That was the basic function of a node-tie, after all. It gave anyone in the correct bloodline access to a particular shape of magic, whether or not they were a mage. So long as I was within range of the node, which extended far beyond the enchantments on the castle hillside, I was the most powerful truth-teller on the continent.
But I had intended to use the node’s power that way last night if needed and ended up truth-reading Marc instead. What if I tried and failed? It didn’t matter that I had used the power when I was younger; it wasn’t a skill I practiced. So much of magic was based on instinct and I didn’t trust my instincts currently.
Questioning Marc with the assumption that I could force him to speak and then failing could be worse than questioning him without planning to use the power at all. But I knew he’d evade my questions if I didn’t use the magic.
I looked over at Isa, then finally admitted the truth. “I’m not sure how to use the node to truth-tell.”
She raised a brow. “Looking at me won’t help. Try. Pull on the power, but focus on truth-telling instead of reading this time.”
I tried. I tried over and over, but rather than pure node power, I pulled on the strands of power already tied to Truths. I summoned food, and furniture, and, in one surprising instance, a pile of stones.
Isa grabbed one of the green stones, turning it over in her fingers. “Are these uncut emeralds?”
I inspected the pile, batting the stones around to catch the light at different angles. Many pieces of family jewelry were set with emeralds, but I didn’t know why there would be a cache of uncut stones anywhere in the castle. Still, “I think they are.”
Isa instantly returned the one she had inspected to the collection I had spread across the floor, snatching her hand back like she was afraid I’d accuse her of theft if she touched it for even a heartbeat longer.
I batted it across the floor back to her foot. “Take it.”
“What?”
“Take it. Consider it overtime pay. Or an apology. Both.”
“I can’t take an emerald!”
“It’s not like I’ll miss it. I didn’t even know I owned it. You could take the whole pile, and I wouldn’t care.”
“I’m not taking a pile of jewels.”
“I figured, which is why I’m only trying to give you one.”
She hesitated.
I sat back. “Consider it a gamble. Maybe it is an emerald, and maybe it is just a green rock.”
I was certain, however. Those were emeralds. Ones that hadn’t been called in with the general summoning enchantment. I hadn’t recognized the strand of power I had accidentally pulled on in that last attempt to truth-tell. But I’d know it if I saw it again.
Reluctantly, Isa bent down and picked up the stone. She looked at me for a moment before slipping it into her pocket. Then she crossed her arms. “Well, clearly it is going to take more time before you master truth-telling. I don’t think you need me until you can consistently pull on the node itself, so I’ll resume my research.”
Eighteen
Isabel
???
As I fellasleep, I remembered talking to Felix about the Contract of Inheritance, the only type of scroll Marc had shown him with a single signature. My study of Demeret was teaching me plenty, but not about the peculiarities of the Truthhold node. Even knowing that it had been locked by a dual-power mage didn’t help. So, I decided to visit Marc the next morning and ask to see the Contract of Inheritance he had located.
Perhaps I’d see something Felix had missed. Given his record at missing loopholes in the wordings of contracts, it wasn’t a ridiculous plan. And, so long as I was in the basement, I’d study the magic in the archives, too. Knowing that there was an element of truth-reading in how the scrolls were created made me curious if I could sense something I had missed when Felix and I mapped the maze made by the shelves.
I attempted to use the node’s power to transport myself directly to the archives after I ate breakfast, but either I wasn’t using the correct invocation, or that Truth only worked to bring someone else to the speaker. With a sigh, I went downstairs the usual way.
“Isa,” Marc greeted me with a practiced smile. “What can I do for you this morning?”
“His Grace mentioned a scroll you had found for him, and I was hoping to study it myself.” Some instinct warned me not to refer to the duke as Felix around the secretary. I didn’t want him to know that I no longer fought the need to help break the curse or that I was no longer mad at the duke for bringing me to Rose Castle.
Did I still think he had made a terrible error in judgment? Absolutely, but I understood the pressures he had been facing. The need to prevent a new round of node wars, the fear that he’d never regain his human form, and most likely the manipulation by the secretary he thought was helping him had pushed him to make a horrible choice. But he tried to fix his mistake, and after everything, I was beginning to think that maybe I could forgive him.
Plus, the flattery, gold, and emerald didn’t hurt. Under the circumstances, I wasn’t above accepting a bit of bribery as an apology. My cheeks warmed as I remembered the delicate chimes I had heard when I held the paper stating that Felix thought I was beautiful to the node. That hadn’t been empty flattery.
