Mina shook her head. “Only mages with passive powers use metal for charms. Even if I am wrong about it being a heart-changing charm, it must be an active power. Which means glass or gemstones.”
“A jewel would stand out, but should I just smash every bit of glass in the house?”
“Of course not. We are dealing with a charm, not an enchantment, so it must be the correct shape.”
I blinked. I understood the difference between charms and enchantments, and knew that most charms were made with glass marbles, but hadn’t realized that they had to be that shape. I thought it was just something mages did to help everyone else tell the difference between the two types of magical talismans.
“So, I’m looking for a glass sphere?”
“Possibly. Spheres work for all mages, but each power family has another shape that resonates for them. Body-mages use cubes; mind-mages use icosahedra—”
“Icosa—what?”
“Icosahedra. Like this.” She slipped a finger under the gold chain at her neck, pulling it until the ornaments, a gold disc about the size of a half copper and a crystal, were visible. The crystal was the size of a pea, but multi-faceted, made up of tiny triangles all over.
I looked up from the necklace into hazel eyes. “You’re wearing a charm to bend my mind?”
The words were only half jest. I knew Mina wouldn’t have a charm for nefarious purposes, but after everything Powell had done, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of any sort of charm to alter my thoughts.
She hesitated, and I felt a sick sense of dread.
Then she sighed, pressing the back of one hand to her forehead. “It’s true. I’m actually a gap-toothed, scarred, one-eyed hag. I bought the charm to make people think I am beautiful.”
I laughed, feeling silly that I had suspected the bauble on her necklace was a charm for even an instant. Thank goodness she had treated my accusation as a joke. I leaned closer to her. “You clearly got your money’s worth.”
Her cheeks flushed. I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her softly parted lips.
I wasn’t sure how long we stood there. Whatever thoughts went through Mina’s head, all I could think of was leaning down and kissing her. An urge I knew I shouldn’t follow. Should and shouldn’t were hard to understand in that moment.
But it wasn’t for my sake that I needed to maintain that distance. If anyone walked by and saw us... If Powell had a reason to look closer at Mina...
I turned my head, staring out over the stream. “You mentioned body-mages and mind-mages. What about heart-mages? What shape do they use for charms?”
There was a moment of silence. From the corner of my eye, I caught Mina smoothing down her skirts before her fingers fisted in the material. But her voice was calm when she answered. “A heart-changer would use a dodecahedron. Like my pendant, only made up of twelve pentagons instead of twenty triangles.”
I kept my attention on the far bank of the stream, not daring to turn back. “You know a lot about charms. You aren’t a mage yourself, are you?”
“No. But my education delved a little more deeply into magical theory than many people study. My parents felt it was worthwhile knowledge.”
“I appreciate their foresight.” Finally I turned back, still not daring to look directly at Mina. “But I’m not sure knowing what the charm would look like is ultimately that useful.”
“How can you say that? Breaking the charm ends Powell’s power over you.”
“But does it improve my life at all?” I shook my head. “It’s all pointless in the end.”
Part of me wanted to walk away. This push to pretend anything I did could change matters only made it that much harder to settle into the reality that my life would never improve. But I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from Mina again.
She gaped at me. “What are you talking about? It’s not pointless. I admit it might not be an instant solution, but it is still better than letting Powell do this to you indefinitely.”
“But does it make a difference? Even if your plan to get a magistrate from Haiwella worked, I’d still be left with the aftermath to deal with. People might break out of their magicked opinions and then pity me for what happened. It won’t be any better.”
Mina’s eyes grew stormy. “So you just give up? Fine, the charm means that living in Skorsa will never be as comfortable as it should have been. Then leave. Go to Haiwella, where no one has any false impressions of you, and prove yourself.”
“And if I’m still cursed? I’ll be in a strange city with no resources.”
“There is no curse.” Mina’s voice rose, and she stepped forward, jabbing at my chest with a finger. “If you go to Haiwella, you arebeyond Powell’s reach. If you break the charm, there is no magic affecting you at all.”
“You have no way of knowing that. Everything is a guess.”
