Page 40 of Kingdom of Locks

“I heard about him just a couple of days ago!” Amell said, his mind reeling at the unexpected connection. “He was thrown out of the Enchanters’ Guild almost twenty years ago because of his unsanctioned experiments.”

The girl spread her arms wide, her expression suddenly grim. “Behold me.”

Amell felt his eyes widen. “You’re saying his experiments continued? He pursued his idea of using a human as a vessel, withyouas the vessel?”

Honeysuckle shrugged. “Basically, yes. But from what we can gather, he hasn’t put the magic in me so much as in my hair. I mean, it’s not in my core. You see, the thing is that using living creatures as vessels instead of artifacts has the potential for much greater power, but it also has risks. One of those risks being that when the magic is extracted, the living vessel usually, well…”

“Dies,” Amell supplied heavily, remembering Bartholomew’s account.

Honeysuckle nodded sagely. “Precisely. Cyfrin seems to think a human wouldn’t die like animals do, but he’s just guessing. Putting the magic in my hair instead of into my core seems to be one of the ways he’s trying to prolong my potential for greatest use.”

“He told you all this?” Amell asked, feeling appalled. Not that it would be better for the enchanter to conceal the truth of his experiments, exactly, but the idea of him being so cold as to not even feel ashamed of gambling with this girl’s life made Amell sick to his stomach. And the most heart-breaking part of it all was the matter-of-fact way she was describing how she’d been exploited.

“Hardly,” Honeysuckle said dryly. “He told me he’s putting magic in my hair, but that’s about it. The rest we found out from reading his notes when he’s not here.”

“We?” Amell pressed, glancing around the open space.

It was a neat and pleasant living area, ringed with flourishing indoor plants, and showing every sign of being a home. To all appearances, they were alone. But he noticed that the space wasn’t a perfect circle, one side flattened by an interior wall with two doors. Both were currently closed, and he assumed whoever Honeysuckle was talking about must be behind one of them.

“Cyfrin isn’t here right now, is he?” Amell demanded, his hands straying to the hilt of his sword.

Honeysuckle’s eyes widened slightly as they followed the gesture, and he hurriedly lowered his hand again, not wanting to frighten her.

“No, he doesn’t live here,” Honeysuckle explained. “He comes at sunset every evening, threads more magic into my hair, and then leaves. The rest of the time it’s just my mother and me.”

“Your mother?” Some of the tension leaked from Amell’s shoulders. “You’re not alone up here?”

“Thankfully not,” said Honeysuckle, with a smile. “Or I think I’d go mad, don’t you?” She lowered her brilliant eyes, fidgeting with the sleeve of a rather worn gown. “She’s the only mother I’ve ever known, anyway. Cyfrin stole us both together, and locked us up here, and she’s taken care of me ever since.”

For a moment Amell was silent, unable to find a response. “You were serious when you said you know all about stealing,” he said at last, his voice gentle. Her very life had been stolen from her.

She smiled painfully as she raised her head again. “I might not know much, but I know I shouldn’t really trust you when I’ve only just met you. The thing is, I’drathertell the truth than lies. I’d rather be like Mama Gail than like Cyfrin. And I’d risk just about anything if there was some chance you might actually be able to get us out of here.”

“Of course I’m going to get you out of here,” Amell declared. “If it’s the last thing I do. You and your mother.” He glanced again at the closed doors. “Is she trapped as well, or can she leave?”

“She can’t leave,” said Honeysuckle. “She’s here, she’s just sleeping right now.”

Deciding not to pry, Amell just nodded. “Should we wake her up?”

Honeysuckle hesitated for a moment, looking a little guilty. “No,” she said at last. “Not yet.”

Amell’s mind whirled with questions, but again he didn’t pry. “If the enchantment supposedly stopping people from entering is just a lie, is it possible the one stopping you from leaving is a lie as well?”

Honeysuckle gave him a look. “Do you really think we’ve never tested it, in seventeen years?”

“Right,” he said sheepishly. “Well, you’ve never tested it with my help, though. Maybe it will make a difference, since I’m not trapped here.”

Honeysuckle bit her lip. “I hope you’re not,” she said. “I hadn’t thought about that. If the restraining enchantment only goes one way, then all you’ve achieved by getting in is to be stuck in here with us.”

“Good,” said Amell flippantly. “That will give me plenty of opportunity to give this Cyfrin a piece of my mind.”

Honeysuckle visibly shivered. “You absolutely mustn’t still be here when he arrives at sunset. I don’t even want to think about what he’d do.”

This sign of the girl’s fear of her captor caused a wave of fury, sudden and intense, to rise up within Amell. He struggled to keep it at bay, again worried about frightening her. When his breathing calmed, and he thought he could speak normally, he tried to reassure her.

“I’m not afraid of Cyfrin, magic or not. And I’m not helpless.”

“I’m not helpless either,” she retorted, with a flash of spirit. “I have power in the situation.”

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