Sir Ferro’s rooms were large, though not quite as large as the space Raphael and I shared. The room was decorated with several rich-colored fabrics, a large wooden table sitting empty to one side.
He set his palm over the air at the corner, then drew back with two fingers, flipping over a high-level card that hadn’t been visible a moment ago. “Illusion magic,” he explained, activating it. I felt it tingle over my skin. “Just a precaution.”
It seemed extreme—such powerful magic, just to guard the table? But as the table filled with dozens of shining silver and gold pieces, I understood.
He lifted one of the rings, a shining blue gem on its clawed tip. “I made something just like this for a fae duchess out west. She wanted something that called to mind moonlight on the sea.”
I nodded along as Ferro went through several similar rings. His breathing remained steady, but his heartbeat sped up slightly. Pride at his offerings?
I was self-conscious that I’d even noticed it. Was I thirsty? I’d drank only this morning. My fangs didn’t ache. But he did have warm blood. I was just…aware. Maybe because there was no other sound in the room save the soft clink of metal due to strong enchantments like those on our own room, installed for privacy.
“This necklace took several days,” he droned on about another piece. His voice was low and monotonous.
The chain dangled from his fingers, wrapped around his wrist. I tracked it back and forth, the slight swish of the metal links against each other.
“And this one, this one I made with you in mind.” It was a gold bracelet, spirals intertwined around it. The patterns were almost mesmerizing, intricately designed as they caught the light.
“Try it on,” he said soothingly, unclasping a hidden mechanism.Ba-ba-dumpwent his heart. Just a beat too fast. “It would look perfect on you.”
I lifted my hand, then hesitated. A slight prickle at the back of my neck. I looked more closely at the gold bracelet. Where I’d thought it was all bright yellow, it now looked a bit more orange, the burnt tone of…
Copper.
I pulled my hand back, but I was too slow, my thoughts foggy.
And while I was slow, Ferro was quick. He clasped the bracelet around my wrist, locking it into place.
It burned. My wrist felt like it was being scorched, and I cried out. Cursed copper. It had to be. He pulled a second bracelet out from seemingly nowhere and slipped it on, the two tangled together.
“Demos!” I called for him, surprised he hadn’t already leaped into action. But the general stood relaxed, looking between us and the door.
“He can’t hear you,” Ferro said. “I took care of that. All he sees and hears is us looking at the jewelry, discussing different techniques. He can’t even smell your panic.”
The card I’d thought was a bit too strong. It hadn’t just hidden his jewelry. It had cloaked the cursed copper bracelet—shackle, more like—as well. I ground my teeth together. And a mesmerization enchantment. That must have been carved into the jewelry. That’s why my thoughts had been so foggy. It had to have been a weak one to avoid detection.
Could my thrall get through the illusion? If Demos couldn’t see or hear me, it might not. I doubted Ferro would wait around for me to find out.
But I could try it onhim.
“Let me go,” I ordered. I held his gaze, imbuing the words with all my intent.
But the words bounded off the metallurgist. He laughed. “That won’t work on me.”
He must’ve used an anti-compulsion enchantment. Crap.
I pulled again on my wrists, to Ferro’s amusement, and looked at the empty space between them, then to the table. Illusion magic worked a little less well when you knew what you were looking for. The air was a shade darker around whatever chain was pressed against the table.
“What are you doing, then?” I asked, stalling. My entire arm burned now, but the pain was the least of my problems. My bones ached, my body sluggish. My vision felt foggier. No, it wasn’t fog. Just mortal, when I’d gotten used to a vampire’s senses.
The metallurgist rolled his eyes, sunny veneer falling away in an instant. “Killing you, of course.”
“Aren’t you supposed to have a code of honor as a knight?” I tried to subtly tug my hands away, seeing if I could pull them from whatever held them together. But if he’d made the chain, as a metallurgist, I had little chance. If he came close enough, perhaps I could strangle him with it. But given how weak I was, I’d be unlikely to win in that match.
He drew his blade. “What could be more honorable than killing a vampire? Except perhaps killing one so cherished by one of the bloodsuckers’ kings?”
A sentiment I once might have blindly agreed with but now had come to question.
There was more to Ferro’s threat than fanaticism, though. I fought to rein in my panic and analyze the situation. Raphael had said he had enemies. I’d thought he meant we were indanger while traveling, but clearly I was wrong. Perhaps this had to do with the letter I’d found in Raphael’s things.
