Page 14 of Serpent and Shadow

I couldn’t help noticing Blackstone hadn’t said a word through any of this, nor even changed position on his chair. When I glanced at his shadowy form, he was simply watching us, sphinx-like, his pale eyes unmoving.

“Perhaps we could focus now on what this means for you magically?” Forsooth suggested, clearing his throat as he smoothed down the brown cardigan he wore. “I’m not really the right person to help you with all the legal and financial implications.”

His dark eyes locked on mine.

“How much do you know about your husband, Ms. Shadow-La Fey?”

Somehow, I knew exactly what he was asking.

Maybe for the same reason, I made my expression blank.

Forsooth studied my eyes, then gave me a knowing smile.

“I see you do know,” he said, not unkindly. “So he told you, then, about his condition?”

When I didn’t say anything that time, either, a sympathetic but sad smile ghosted Forsooth’s expression.

“Believe me, I understand,” he said. “There has not been a recorded incidence of caelum ignis since before I was born.” When I flinched, Forsooth glanced at Blackstone. “I had meant to talk to the two of you about this before things grew so dire. As it is, we will have to have that discussion rather more urgently.”

I didn’t answer.

Internally, I cursed myself.

Had he read it off me? I should have been more prepared for the question.

Thinking about it, though, I doubted it would have made any difference. It certainly wouldn’t have helped Bones. Forsooth had clearly already known about this.

Why did it matter if he knew that I knew?

Forsooth folded one leg over the other, settling deeper into the blue velvet cushions. He lifted a glass mug from a round table and took several long swallows. I didn’t notice when the table appeared, or the mug, but steam now rose from a translucent, reddish liquid.

Forsooth drank a few more swallows, without taking his eyes off mine.

When he lowered the glass, he smiled reassuringly.

“I assume he cautioned you not to share that information?” Forsooth guessed. “It’s logical he would warn you of the dire consequences to both of you, should this information become known. Did he tell you the normal way these… gifts… have been dealt with in the past? Officially, I mean?”

“He said you’d all murder him,” I stated flatly.

Seeing the two mages exchange looks, I took a breath, and subdued my voice.

“He didn’t know why he was the way he was. He didn’t even have a name for it. Not until fairly recently,” I added. “He only knew what his father told him.”

“Which was what?”

“That his existence was illegal,” I repeated tersely. “That he’d been born the way he was, and the sentence for that was death.”

Forsooth nodded.

“Right,” he said, exhaling. “Yes. Well, it is good that your husband believed him.”

I scoffed, unable to help it.

I wanted to make a cutting remark about how Bones’s father likely “convinced” him he was telling the truth, but I couldn’t get out the words. Given where Bones was right now, I couldn’t make myself say it, or find it remotely funny.

“My magic,” I said instead. “It’s changing, isn’t it?”

Forsooth’s gaze sharpened. “Yes.”