Then Isa slipped in a question that I almost ignored, it sounded like so many of her earlier, seemingly pointless questions.
“How many scrolls with only one signature have you seen?”
“Five.”
My head snapped up from where I had rested it on my front paws. At the same instant, Marc realized what he had said. He had seen five contracts with a single signature but only shown me two.
I didn’t have to think about it. Magic poured out of me, supplemented by the node, and washed over Marc in a tidal wave of power only I could see. I stood up. “Where are the scrolls you didn’t show me?”
He fought the need to speak, but the magic pressed on him. Finally, through gritted teeth, he answered. “The archives.”
I pulled on the node’s power, pouring more magic into my truth-telling. “Show me where.”
The magic broke, snapping back into me and through me into the node. The backlash sent me reeling, and only Isa’s quick reflexes kept me from tumbling off the desk to the floor.
She caught me in her arms, cradling my body against her chest. In that moment, the pain was worth it. The next, it was nothing compared to the fear that this might be as close as I’d ever come to wrapping her in my arms.
Holding a cat meant nothing to her. She might have prevented me from falling, but her focus was still on the secretary. “Where in the archives, Marc?”
My thoughts cleared a little more, and I revised my assessment. Isa wasn’t focused on the secretary; she was focused on breaking the curse. She was asking the question I should have while I had Marc in my power. But I had given an order instead of asking a question, breaking the magic’s hold. And now, I didn’t think I’d be able to call up any power for the rest of the day at least. My head pounded, and just the thought of trying to look at magic was enough to make me dizzy.
Marc tilted his chin into the air. “I don’t have to tell you. I don’t have to tell either of you. And I won’t.”
I lifted my head from Isa’s arm. “And I don’t have to give you free run of my home or allow you access to the archives. Until you are ready to tell me about the other contracts you found, you will be confined to your room.”
The secretary sneered. “I’m not a child to be punished. Don’t forget, you need me more than I need you. Who will go to Leort if I am locked up? Isa can’t under the terms of her contract.”
Though part of me wanted to remain in Isa’s arms, I extracted myself, stepping back onto the desk. “You just made a trip. Another won’t be needed for more than a week at least. And Berklay will find a way to get a message to me if you don’t show up for your next scheduled meeting.”
“Then I guess we’ll see who lasts the longest.”
Marc stood up, and Isa mirrored his movement. There was an unsettling tension running through her where she stood behind me, as though she was on the verge of flight, holding the motion back through sheer willpower. It distracted me enough that I didn’t respond to Marc before he walked out of my office.
“Quick.” Isa scooped me into her arms once more. “What room do you want him locked up in? He’s going to make a run for it, so we need to summon him to a room now if you don’t want him to leave the castle.”
I didn’t bother to ask how she knew, or insist that I could walk on my own. “Third floor. We’ll use his bedroom.” I consulted mysense of the castle, then braved the pain of looking at the magic around me so I could pluck a single strand. “He’s going to the front door.”
Isa ran. “Can we still summon him once he is out of the castle?”
“So long as he is on the hillside. But I locked the front door. We have a little time.”
She didn’t slow, though her breath came out in gasps by the time she reached the third floor. “Two. Flights. Of stairs. Shouldn’t. Leave me. This. Winded.”
“You sprinted up them while carrying a duke. I think you’re doing fine. Fourth door on the left.”
Isa jogged down the hall to the room, set me on the floor, and stepped inside. I heard her hum as she triggered the summoning spell that allowed a living creature to be pulled through the castle to the summoner’s location. A pity the spell didn’t allow moving people around with the same freedom as furniture. Isa wouldn’t have needed to run up all the stairs, then.
Marc materialized in the middle of the room.
While he bent over, his reaction to the spell similar to Isa’s, she leapt back into the hall and slammed the door shut. I managed to lock the door before my vision went fuzzy. Then black.
Twenty-Three
Isabel
???
I carried theunconscious duke to the spire room above the library. There I settled on the chaise, his body a warm weight on my lap. I could have set him on the cushion next to me, or even the chair across the room, but that felt callous. I wanted him to know he wasn’t alone the instant he woke.
