Felix snagged the edge of the blanket with a claw and pulled it over himself once more. His voice was muffled when he next spoke. “Did you read the entire letter?”
“I did.”
“Then you know it doesn’t matter now. Secrecy is no longer an option. Unless we break the curse within the next few days, everyone will know what happened.”
Confused, I scanned the letter once more. I still didn’t understand what had sent Felix hiding under the blankets, though. “Princess Charmina is coming to Leort to sign the contract about her inheritance conditions. How is that any different from every other contract you have witnessed in the past few months?”
He poked his head out. “Her Highness won’t end her journey in Leort. She’ll come to Rose Castle. Berklay won’t be able to stop her. She’ll see me as a cat.”
Never had I heard this level of despondence in Felix. He usually gave the impression of being comfortable in his feline form. I knew he wanted to break the curse, but he had always been ready to poke fun at himself.
I ran my hand over the soft fur of his head. “Is it truly so terrible? You hid what had happened because you feared the blood-lock on the node had broken. But now that we know how Cecily accessedthe power, there isn’t a danger of triggering another round of node wars. More people knowing what happened could also mean knowledgeable mages working to break the curse.”
“I’d still rather not be known as Duke Feline.”
I frowned. He was lying. The ignominy of the nickname might bother him, but it wasn’t his true worry. But I couldn’t guess what was. The princess’s visit took the choice out of his hands, forcing him to reveal what had happened on a schedule not of his choosing, but if it resulted in breaking the curse, wouldn’t that be worth it?
I shifted, and the corner ofTheory of All Magicsbit into my thigh. I grinned and swiped the book off the floor. Felix might not need other mages. “Maybe you won’t be a cat by the time Her Highness arrives.”
“What?”
I flipped open to the page I had marked. “I found something. A way to transform you back into a human, I think.”
“What?” Felix repeated, throwing off the blankets with a violent shake of his entire body. “Why didn’t you say that first thing? What are we waiting for? Let’s go to the node.”
I pressed my hand against his back, stopping him from darting out of the room. “It’s not that simple, of course. We need a different node, first of all.”
Felix sank back on his haunches. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
I turned the book to face him. “I was reading Demeret this afternoon, and he went off on a tangent talking about how the various mage powers received their names. At first, I thought the entire section was a waste; what does it matter what each type of magic is called? But then Demeret pointed out that there is only one power that you can remove the descriptor of the power family, and the magic is still easily identifiable. How often do people say healer instead of body-healer?”
“Almost always. I’m still not seeing the point.”
“Demeret claims that emphasizing the healer aspect of that power was a deliberate push. Apparently, all the way through the Node Wars, that power went by a different name. But in the decades that followed, the mages became known as healers.”
Felix watched me for a moment, then sighed. “Fine, I’ll ask. What were the mages called before?”
“Body-changers. Demeret thinks that before the nodes were locked, body-changers had access to enough power to shapeshift.”
“You think a healer could transform me back into a human.”
“I think the healers in Drakona Forest might be able to, yes. Their node is nearly as powerful as yours.”
“We’d have to get to Drakona.”
“It isn’t that far away. If we left now, you might not make it back before Princess Charmina reaches Leort, but you won’t make her wait more than a few days. And you’ll be human when you welcome her to Rose Castle.”
“You really think the healers could . . .” Felix trailed off, and he sank back into the cushions. “No. Oh, no.”
“What? What is it?”
“It won’t reverse the curse. Even if the healers can change me back into a human, it won’t last.”
“Why not?”
“Rose Castle.”
“I don’t understand.”
