I jerked back, ripping my hand free.
He took a step, closing the distance between us once more. Another wave of affection and attraction swept over me, but though I felt the emotions, I knew better than to act on them. Another step back had me almost at the still open door. “Guards!”
The heart-changer took two steps forward. “Stop. You don’t want to call the guards.”
He was right. I hardly needed the guards to deal with such a pleasant man. My hands curled into fists, and the cool metal of my rose ring pressed against my finger. “Guards,” I shouted again.
I could hear the pounding of feet as they came running down the hall. Two guards, a man and a woman, pulled me into the hall and stepped between me and the stranger.
He held out his hands. “Everything’s quite all right. Her Highness was just startled.”
The man nodded and turned around, clearly ready to leave. The woman paused and shook her head as if trying to escape a pesky gnat. “Startled by what?”
I uncurled the fingers of one hand and flattened them over my other fist, pressing the ring into my skin. “Heart-changer. He’s a heart-changer.”
The guard who had returned to the hall looked at me in confusion, but the one who had fought against the magic reacted. She grabbed the mage.
“Unhand me!”
“Allison.” The other guard took a step toward his partner. “What are you doing?”
Before I could worry if Allison’s commitment to doing her duty or the mage’s control of the guards’ emotions would win out, my brother turned the corner and entered the hall. He noticed theguards and his eyes widened. I waved my hand at him, trying to shoo him away, but he didn’t take the hint and leave. Noel came closer.
I glanced back at the guards. The man was torn, not wanting to act against his partner, but clearly more in thrall of the emotions the mage used against him. For his and Noel’s sake, I repeated my previous warning. “He’s a heart-changer!”
Hearing that, Noel ran forward, fumbling for a cord around his neck. He pulled a pendant from under his doublet, a thin gold disk about as big around as a half-silver piece. Closing the distance quickly, he traced a pattern on the disc.
An enchantment. Unlike charms, enchantments needed to be activated, their power stored but inert until that moment. I didn’t know why my brother had an enchantment with him, but whatever the reason, the effects were clear.
When Noel reached the doorway, Allison let out a sigh of relief, the mage began to struggle physically, and the other guard leapt forward to help secure him.
“Take him to the mage cage,” Noel ordered the guards. He held out the enchantment, but neither guard had a hand free. He shrugged and looped the cord over Allison’s head. “The enchantment only has a radius of about two feet, so keep it close until he’s locked up.”
“Understood, Your Highness. Thank you for the assistance. I’ll have your enchantment returned as soon as he’s in the mage cage.”
The special jail cell embedded with magic-breaking charms and enchantments was located in the constables’ main building in the city. I met Allison’s eyes. “Tell the chief constable that I believe this man to be responsible for creating the illegal charms used in the village of Skorsa. I suspect he is also related to the man who fled before he could be imprisoned for using those charms.”
The mage’s eyes widened. “How do you know about my father’s time in Skorsa?”
“Why do you think Alan had an invitation from me?” I realized Powell hadn’t known my identity. He had left before I told the truth, and his return to the village hadn’t lasted long enough for the gossip to reach him. He must have stolen the invitation while the fight distracted Alan. Which meant that it hadn’t been with the letter I had written, or he would have realized it wasn’t random chance that Alan received an invitation to the palace itself.
Did that mean Alan had read my letter?
The male guard didn’t let the mage reply. “We’ll tell the chief, Your Highness.”
He yanked Powell’s son forward, taking Allison by surprise, though she adjusted smoothly. The poor man was desperate to prove himself after being swayed by the heart-changing magic.
Noel and I watched them leave, still standing by the door to the green parlor. Once the guards and their prisoner turned the corner, I faced my brother. “You carry around a magic-breaking enchantment?”
“Aunt Vivian gave it to me. You know how her power overwhelms her at times. She insisted I carry it with me in case I ever needed it.”
Like Noel, our father’s sister was a heart-reader by birth. But unlike Noel, her power was strong enough that the emotions of everyone in a room crashed against her all at once. She preferred a quiet life in the country to remaining at court.
“I’m glad. It was fortunate you had it.” My eyes narrowed. “But why were you in this part of the palace?”
Noel attempted to look innocent.
“You heard the last person I had invited had arrived, didn’t you?”
