???
We waited anotherday and a half. Isa wanted to catch Marc as off-guard as possible and hoped I might master my magic. I still could do no more than the enchantment on the castle already did, but I decided it was time to summon Marc, anyway. The plan was to explain away Isa’s questioning as her attempt to understand what we had already discovered. She could honestly say she preferred to hear about things than read through notes in a journal.
Marc narrowed his eyes when he saw Isa in my office, sitting behind my desk, then he smiled and focused on me as if nothing was amiss. “You wanted to see me, Your Grace?”
I tilted my head toward the empty chair in front of my desk before settling down so that Isa had an unobstructed view of the secretary. “Please sit. Miss Cardh has some questions she wanted to ask us about the research we conducted before her arrival.”
Marc shifted his smile to Isa. “Was the journal I provided not enough?”
Isa didn’t bother with a polite smile. “I want to make sure I understand everything.”
“What questions do you have?”
Isa looked down at the journal splayed open in front of her. She had written out several questions the day before, going over what she hoped to learn with me. She explained that she would adapt as she heard Marc’s answers but wanted to have a few things prepared. Writing certain questions out ahead of time would also help as she noted Marc’s answers. Apparently she had a shorthand she used to record what she heard with her magic, but sometimes recording everything interrupted the flow of questioning too much.
“You found His Grace in the great hall after Lady Cecily cursed him, correct?”
I listened to the questions and answers, but most of my attention was on the power I drew from the node and my attempt to force Marc to answer.
“Correct. The butler and I helped Duke Felix hide his transformation from the rest of the staff. What does this have to do with our research?”
The magic hadn’t infused the air around Marc. He didn’t have to answer. But I had been right; he was too proud to avoid answering Isa’s questions. I only hoped she could keep him from discovering this was an interrogation until after we had answers.
I shouldn’t have worried. She knew exactly how to make Marc dance to her tune.
“Your notes mentioned the fact that Lady Cecily was not around when His Grace was discovered, nor was there any sign of the paper she had used to curse him. You didn’t say how you recognized His Grace.”
“I didn’t know the cat was Duke Felix until he spoke.”
Isa wrote out his answer, adding a series of dots and dashes above and below the words. “His Grace has you hunting the archives for scrolls with only one signature. How have you structured your search?”
“We do not know how the archives are organized, so I have had to rely more on luck than anything else.”
Her pen didn’t stop moving, but Isa’s gaze transferred to me. “How many of the Truths listed in your notes did you know about before starting your research, Your Grace?”
Isa had warned me that she would ask me questions, too, but it still took me off guard. I had expected her to switch to questioning me if Marc seemed antsy, but her style seemed to thrive on confusing everyone around her.
“Perhaps a little over half of them?”
Her pen still moved, and I wondered why. She couldn’t read me. She gave me the same look as on the first morning she had questioned me. “Could you be more specific?”
“Not really. I don’t remember the exact number of Truths I documented. I suppose I discovered five or six by reading my ancestor’s journals.”
“Marc, when did you start working at Rose Castle?”
Instead of answering, Marc raised a brow in my direction. “Are all these questions really necessary, Your Grace? I’m not sure I see the relevance.”
“I’m not sure I do either,” I drawled, “but Miss Cardh has a fondness for asking about everything. The sooner we answer, the sooner we can both return to our own research.”
Isa glared at me, and I could not tell if it was an act or if she thought I meant my words and she was truly angry. “You’re the one who made it so that I am required to do everything in my power to break the curse. I can’t break the curse if I don’t understand anything going on in this castle.” Her attention shifted to Marc. “For your information, the question is relevant because it tells me how familiar you are with the archives. So, I’ll ask again. How long have you worked at Rose Castle?”
“Two years.”
“You found more than one scroll with an heir’s contract. Where were they located in the archives in relation to each other?”
For a half-hour, the questions kept coming. Isa jumped from topic to topic, throwing questions at both of us in a barrage that didn’t leave room for thought. She’d ask Marc one thing, then five questions later, follow up on his answer after seeming to have dismissed it. The secretary was clearly annoyed, but he didn’t appear to be on guard or nervous.
I wondered what Isa had learned, for the answers I heard told me nothing useful. I gave up trying to truth-tell Marc, letting the power slip away.
