Page 47 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
I blinked at him. “You’ve already tried?”
“Yes. I’m assuming whatever’s keeping those prisoners subdued in there is the same thing keeping me out.” His lips tugged upward. “Any more accusations you want to hurl at me tonight, Drey?
A blush climbed up my throat, threatening to warm up my cheeks. I raised a shaking hand to my mouth and drained the rest of my tea in an attempt to wash it back down. Despite how much I wanted to find more holes in Steeler’s story, it all made sense in a twisted, vile sort of way.
Why else would there be such a uniform number of new inductees in each sector? Why else would the Good Council use individual brands to grant us magic? Lander had once joked that it was to be sanitary, but now I realized it had been because each brand wasdifferent. Infused with a different type of bascite. A different magic.
“You must trust me a lot to tell me all of this.”
Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say, but it was true. I’d never heard anyone even mention thepossibilityof faeries still existing anywhere near the island. Vampires and sea monsters and other threats lurked in bedtime stories, yes—but never faeries.
Which meant it was a secret Dyonisia Reeve would kill to keep. Because if the villages of Eshol found out… well, I, for one, would protest the Branding and the Esholian Institute, and I knew in my furiously thumping heart that Fabian and Don would, too.
At the thought of Fabian and Don—at the thought that Dyonisia Reeve knew their names and where they lived and didn’t seem to care whether they lived or died so long as my worry for them kept me under control—my body snapped to attention.
I shot forward in an instant, clutching my empty mug to my chest like a shield as I made my rounds around the periphery of the cottage.
“What is she—?” someone started to ask, but Steeler must have shushed them with a shake of his head, because their words trailed off a moment later.
I pressed my ear against various parts of the stone walls, peered over dusty shelves, ran my fingers along the baseboards of the side hallway where a closet and bedroom door both stood slightly ajar.
If any of the Good Council’s spiders were hiding within these walls, eavesdropping on the conversation…
But nothing clicked or scuttled between floorboards or in the cracks of the stone walls. Nothing seemed to hulk behind the chipped trinkets or empty vases lining the shelves, nor the ticking clock on the fireplace mantle.
My Wild Whispering magic, so well-attuned to the presence of other creatures, sensed… nothing.
There was no plant, animal, or insect in the room besides Felicity.
I turned back to the others and coughed out, a little embarrassed, “All clear.”
“Like I said.” Steeler continued as if my episode of frenzy hadn’t halted our conversation at all, “I can continue hiding away all the sensitive information your mind contains… or you can become a Mind Manipulator and safeguard it yourself.”
My eyes roamed back to that dark hallway. The cracked doors and whatever lay beyond them.
“Are you trying to tell me you stole the Mind Manipulator faerie from Dyonisia and have them locked away in that closet or something?”
A beat of silence.
Then Terrin threw back his shaggy head and brayed with laughter. Even Steeler let his lips twitch, just for a second, butIthought it was a valid question. How else was I supposed to get the right kind of bascite otherwise? It wasn’t like there were a bunch of spare brands lying around.
“No, Drey,” Steeler said finally, his mouth still fighting off a smile over his fangs, “if we ever break the original Mind Manipulating faerie out of prison, I can assure you we wouldn’t lock him in a closet just to force him to give even more of his magic. ButIhave enough of the right bascite in my system to share with you.”
My eyes snapped away from the hallway, back toward him again. From somewhere to my right, a clang echoed from the kitchen as Felicity dropped a pan, but I couldn’t tear myself away to look.
“You would be willing to give me some of your power?”
I didn’t know how it would be possible, anyway, for him to share what I’d wounded. But just the fact that he was offering it…
No part of Steeler stuttered or hesitated as he said, “I would be willing to give you the world.”
Something curled in the bottom of my belly at those words. For the first time in days, the giant octopus’s words floated back to the surface of my mind.
You took a midnight swim with that lover of yours.
If I really could become a Mind Manipulator, I’d be able to remember that swim. I could assess every missing piece of memory for myself instead of trying to string together what everyone else remembered and claimed about my past.
And as much as I loathed Steeler for what he’d done to me—for taking so many vital pieces of me away—he was offering to hand me the very weapon I needed to defeat him. HimandDyonisia.
