Page 59 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
“From Sass, no. From what I can tell, the dwarf has earned your trust.” Iris gestured to the bookwyrms. “And mine. She hasn’t breathed a word of my little friends.”
“Or told anyone about Crumpet.”
“But not everyone is so accepting of magic,” Iris said, wrinkles forming around her mouth as she pursed it in disapproval.
“You mean Durn.” Lira had no problem believing that the gruff tavernkeeper would not be open to magic. She had a very strong suspicion he had never recognized what had been magical in his own life before he’d lost it.
Iris nodded. “He’s not in the right headspace to be trusted.”
“I’m not suggested we tell him about the bookwyrms or Crumpet. But the man is so distracted, I doubt he’d notice if Crumpet flew over his head.” Lira gulped down the dregs of her tea and made a face. “All I’m suggesting is we ask him about removing a bit of the stone wall so I can get gran’s recipe book.”
Lira hoped he wouldn’t think to ask if there was only a book in the metal box. She didn’t believe that Durn would demand a share of the gold she’d hidden, but he might not be pleased that her stash had brought the scrutiny of the wyvern to his tavern. Still, Lira thought it was a risk worth taking.
Iris put down her teacup and fussed with the kettle. “That’s the problem, love. The book.”
“What about it?” Lira asked, her senses prickling the same way they had when she’d been on a job and only a breath away from cracking a lock.
“Your gran’s recipe book is filled with more than just baking recipes.” Iris held her gaze. “Didn’t you wonder why it had that grand cover with the moonstone embedded in it? A bit fancy for a crofter, don’t you agree?”
If Iris had hoped for an answer, she didn’t get one. Lira was too busy slotting all her memories of the book into place. The book hergran had been so careful to wrap up and hide away after every use. The book her gran had never let Lira flip through. The book that had so many more pages than she ever saw. The book she hadn’t even unwrapped from its iron box when she’d taken it from the farmhouse that last night.
Her gran had always told her that the moonstone was a family heirloom that had lost its power long ago, but it seemed her gran hadn’t been completely forthright about a number of things.
“So, it’s a…?” Lira’s voice cracked.
“Spell book.”
Thirty-Four
Lira gaped at Iris.“Is there any other secret you want to confess or is this the last one?”
“It’s absolutely the last one. I would have told you earlier, but you were so upset when you learned about your gran being a mage. I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
Lira ran a hand through her hair. She guessed a mage possessing a spell book wasn’t such a stretch, except for one detail. “But spell books were outlawed.’
“They were.”
Iris was much too calm for Lira’s liking. Then again, noneof this was new information toher. She’d known about her gran and the spell book for… “How long?”
The apothecary blinked at her. “How long what?”
“How long did you know that my gran had a forbidden book of magic?”
Iris's brows knit together, and she opened her mouth before sighing.
“The whole time?” Lira stood and started to pace in a tight circle. “You knew that my gran was risking everything and you didn’t stop her?”
Iris scoffed at this. “If you think I could have stopped Elia, then you didn’t know your gran. The woman was as stubborn as the day is long. Besides, spell books themselves aren’t exactly forbidden.”
“You’re right. Teaching magic is forbidden, which is why all the spell books were confiscated when the guilds were disbanded. You can’t teach magic without books.”
“Your gran didn’t teach you magic from her spell book.”
Lira stopped pacing and whirled on Iris. “A distinction I’m sure the enforcers would have believed when they found my gran’s book and her half-elf granddaughter.”
“There haven’t been enforcers around these parts for ages.” Iris flapped a hand in the air. “How do you think I’ve kept my bookwyrms secret all this time?”
Some of the fight drained from Lira. The woman was right. It had been so long since the magic guilds had been disbanded that she didn’t even know if the lairds sent out enforcers anymore. If they did, they didn’t reach Wayside. Besides, both the lairds of Greyhelm and Craigmire were old and hadn’t been the ones to lay down the edict about magic in the first place.
