“I know, but I don’t understand how—” she cut herself off with a sigh and propped her chin on her hand. The firelight glinted against her brown hair, tinting the strands auburn. “Your turn.”
“Finish your thought.” I curled up on the seat of my chair, wrapping my tail around my body. “I don’t actually care about taking turns asking questions.”
“You’re certain? I know you want to question Marc sooner rather than later.”
“Yes, but I don’t know what more to do than what I’ve already tried, so I’m not holding out hope my next question will achieve anything new. What don’t you understand?”
“If you were only the heir when you signed the contract, then your father was still the primary node-tie holder. Wouldn’t he have to witness the contract?”
“Not if he designated me as his proxy first. Valois wanted his heirs to follow strict rules when they inherited the duchy. To make sure no one could weasel out, he came up with the Contract of Inheritance, then made it so that the heir had to witness it himself so that there could be absolutely no way to invalidate it once the previous duke died. I’m not sure if he was afraid that contracts witnessed by one duke would only be enforced during that lifetime, or if it was a case of saying, ‘See, there was no coercion, he signed it of his own free will.’”
“Wouldn’t having only one signature make it easier to amend later? If you are the only signatory, you could write an addendum once you inherit to nullify the original contract.” She frowned. “No wait, that’s what the in perpetuity clause is about, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “I cannot believe the magistrates in Leort are claiming you need to study law in Haiwella before you’ll be qualified. You have a better grasp of legal contracts than me, and I’ve grown up literally surrounded by them.”
Red colored her cheeks, and it wasn’t a reflection of the flames. “But how many of them did you actually read before you were cursed?”
“How many did you read before coming to Rose Castle?” I countered.
She leaned forward. “I’m not going to answer unless you make me.”
The challenge was silly, but I refused to let her win. This time, I yanked the node’s magic to myself, then threw it out in front of me until I could see it shimmer in the air all around her. “How many contracts did you read before this week?” I demanded.
She fought to hold back her answer, but within two heartbeats, her lips parted. “Eight.”
I dropped the power, feeling it snap back into the node. “Only eight? Really? What contracts were you reading?”
“Every contract available to the public in the Leort Town Archives. They were much drier than the ones I’ve read since coming here.”
“To be fair, most of the contracts in my archives are probably just as dry. You’ve seen some of the most interesting ones.”
Isa waved this away, grinning at me. “You did it, Felix. You forced me to tell the truth.”
“I did. Let’s make sure I can repeat that feat.” I grabbed the node power again, pulling with as much metaphysical force as I had the last time. The magic flowed into me, but when I tried to blanket Isa in it, nothing happened.
Isa watched me, her grin fading as I continued to wrestle with the power instead of questioning her. “Is something wrong?”
“I can’t get it to do the same thing as last time.” I still had far more power answering my call than on the first attempts. Maybe that would be enough. “What is your name?”
Isa didn’t answer.
I tried again and again, until pain pulsed behind my eyes, but I couldn’t make her answer.
She told me to take a break when I could no longer hide my headache, reaching out to set her hand against my back when words alone didn’t stop me. “You’ve pushed yourself too much. At thispoint, the odds of success will only get worse. You need to rest. We can try again tomorrow when you aren’t drained.”
I wanted to arch into her touch. Instead, I released the magic. “How am I drained? I’m using node power, and there is plenty of that.”
“But how you control that power comes from your own reserves. Trust me, Felix, you need to stop before you do more than give yourself a headache.”
“Fine.” My answer was begrudging, but there was no other answer I could give, because I did trust Isa.
Twenty
Isabel
???
The more IreadTheory of All Magics, the less I was convinced that the answer Felix needed was hidden in the pages of the book. I still wanted to read it. It was as fascinating as it was frustrating. But now that I had lost my conviction that Demeret had the answer, the node pulled me away if I tried to devote all my working hours to reading the book. I had a curse to break.
