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He had endured such a cruel punishment, one that had robbed him of his voice. Was it permanent? Would I never hear his honey-gravel voice again?
I wanted to help him, but I didn’t know how.
Konstantin pressed his knuckles to his mouth. “This is worse than I thought.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying not to be overwhelmed. “Why?”
“I would recognize those runes anywhere. It’s a silencing curse.”
Wendel swallowed hard before he picked up the pen.
Is there a countercurse?
Konstantin grimaced. “Curses aren’t my specialty, but I do know one thing. Only the technomancer who cursed you can remove the curse.”
The light in Wendel’s eyes dimmed. He stared at the paper.
That man is dead.
42
Wendel leaned over the table, his head propped on his hand, and touched the pen to the paper. I waited for him to write more, but instead he sketched line after line across the corner of the paper.
Dread filled my stomach like rocks. “Who did this to you?”
He kept blackening the paper.
I placed my hand on his. “Was it Hieronymus?”
He nodded.
I grimaced at Konstantin. “Hieronymus was a technomancer at the coffin factory.”
“There was a technomancer there?”
“Yes.” I rubbed my scarred wrists. “Wendel killed him.”
Wendel shoved back his chair from the table and stood. He swayed on his feet, his face deathly pale, and sat back down hard. The chair screeched against the floor.
“Wendel?” My heart pounded. “Are you okay?”
He shook his head.
“Konstantin, help me. Don’t let him fall.”
Wendel shook his head, though he didn’t fight the archmage when he grabbed his arm. He slumped between the two of us. We kept him steady.
“Have you slept since the assassins found you?” I asked.
He shook his head again.
Konstantin looked nearly as pale as Wendel. “He can’t stay here. But my apartment isn’t more than two blocks from the laboratory.”
“Can you walk, Wendel?” I asked.
He nodded. We helped him to his feet. After a few paces, he no longer looked so frighteningly pale. He shrugged off our hands. Konstantin still hovered nearby, glancing at him, until Wendel managed a glare.
“We can take the freight elevator,” Konstantin said.
