I thought of Treasure, dedicating years of his life to this goal. Leaving everything he knew behind for a new world, a new name. Was he doing it to please his father? It couldn’t be revenge—he’d been too young when he’d left. Who could he possibly seek vengeance upon? But maybe he had his own ambition, his own evil goals. That, at least, I understood.
I nodded slowly. I would do everything in my power to see Treasure’s mission succeed.
Present Day
A Room at the Inn
Handcuffed to a Cat
“Why did you insist on killing the Lord of Grimnight?” Delilah demanded as soon as the door closed, cutting us off from the other champions.
“They asked me a question, I answered it. The best way to defeat an evil mage is to kill them.”
Her fingers twitched at her side like she wanted to strangle me. “Do I have to remind you thatyouare the Lord of Grimnight?”
“I’m only his apprentice.”
“Bullshit!” she cried, loud enough that the others probably heard her. “That isyourevil lair, andyourminions, andyourtitle. You are essentially asking us to killyou!”
When they’d talked about the Lord of Grimnight, I’d only thought of Trey’s father. The shadow sword he’d wielded against the champions he’d promised not to harm. The hate in his eyes as he’d turned that sword on his own son. The roots he’d conjured, after all the work I’d done removing them, to use against me.
I was not that Lord of Grimnight, and I never would be. I’d only stolen my master’s title to keep the lair in order, but if the royal champions needed an evil mage to defeat, I’d give them one.
First, I needed an evil plan for them to thwart. One I didn’t need to succeed.
“Do you know the command word?” I asked, shaking the cuffs.
She stuck her nose in the air and crossed one arm over her chest. The other was still attached to me. “No, and I wouldn’t use it even if I did.”
I eyed the collar around her neck, wondering if I could get a hint at Rick’s system from his other works. Anything could be a command word. Their only purpose was to channel their intent and make sure the spell provided the same results every time. I twisted the collar around on her neck, trying to figure out Rick’s thought process.
“What are you doing?” Delilah demanded, batting at my hands. “If you take it off—”
“I’m trying to turn you into a cat.”
She stilled, then eyed me uncertainly. “Trey said I shouldn’t push you to perform magic until you’ve rested.”
“I’ve rested.” I’d spent all damn day resting, if you could call being crammed into a carriage with five other occupantsresting. For the purposes of convincing her, it counted.
She relaxed and said, “Alright, but don’t push yourself too hard. You don’t have to figure it out tonight.”
Finally, I found the glyph imprinted on the pink leather, near the clasp. I traced it with my fingers, feeling the magic, learning its intent. Once I’d learned the shape of it, I laughed. It was an amateur mistake—disassembling something without knowing how to put it back together. Rick had listed the traits of a cat: ears, tail, sharp incisors, retractable claws, barbed tongue. All he’d needed to do was say:cat.
Delilah disappeared.
The other end of the cuff thumped heavily against my side, suddenly empty.
“Meow?”
I looked down at the stunned, fluffy brown cat at my feet. She stared up at me with huge, brown eyes, then opened her mouth and meowed again. Repeatedly, like she was trying to say something.
Then she lunged forward and bit my ankle.
“Youaskedfor this!” I reminded her as I tried to shake her off my leg. She dug her claws in, scrambling up my side like a tree. She perched on my shoulder and hissed in my face.
Had I made the spelltoosimple? Was she truly an angry cat right now, rather than an angry princess in cat form?
Since she couldn’t speak, she’d resorted to communicating through violence. I plucked her off my shoulder and held her at arm’s length. She swiped a paw through the air, slicing open my shirtsleeve and drawing blood.
