Page 54 of Twisted Magic

“Create living beings, like a race of enchanted people, owned and operated by her?” He sounded remarkably blasé about the possibility.

“That’s horrible,” she said softly.

Jadren slid her an ironic grimace. “I don’t know whether to be surprised, appalled, or amused at discovering where your line in the sand is regarding my late-mother’s house of horrors. After everything you’ve witnessed and experienced, this is what bothers you?”

“Apparently so. It’s just so very wrong to try to make people.”

He shrugged, nodding back to a group who hailed him. “Is it any more wrong than making the automatons?”

“Those aren’t people. They’re spirits inside metal bodies.”

“Some would argue we’re spirits inside flesh bodies. How is it different?”

She gave him an unhappy look. “It just is. People are more complex than those Elal-bound spirits.”

“Are you sure?”

No, she wasn’t, which only made everything worse. Jadren let go of her hand and slipped an arm around her waist. “Don’t think about it anymore right now, sweetling. She’s dead and her horrifying agenda with her, and we have an insight into my magic that we didn’t have before.”

“True,” she agreed glumly, unable to quite shake the pall of that discovery, imagining an army of soulless people, all belonging to Katica El-Adrel, mindlessly following her whims. Another reason to stop Bogdan, who she could see continuing the legacy.

“Why do you think wizards traditionally keep their arcaniums on top of towers?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Why?”

“I’m asking you.”

She slid him a suspicious look. “You’re just trying to distract me.”

He kissed her cheek, gave her a last squeeze, and let her go, taking her hand again. “You’re always doing it to me. I thought I’d try it. But I do have a point. I’m trying to establish some logic here. Why towers? Because they’re isolated with very little around them. So you’re less likely to be bothered and, should some major working go dramatically awry, fewer people around to be incidental casualties.”

“Makes sense,” she agreed.

“House Phel has no towers.”

“Maybe they sank.”

“Aha!” he stabbed a triumphant finger in the air. “We know that’s not the case because the house has been restoring itself, just like House El-Adrel did. If there had been towers, they would’ve sprouted by now.”

“An unsettling way to describe it, but all right, I see your point.”

“So where is the House Phel arcanium?”

She glanced around, as if someone might be eavesdropping. “Almost certainly under the lake.”

“Dark arts, of course it is. Wily Phel wizards. And with water all around, the water magic would be stronger.”

She was following his line of logic now. “What would be the heart of El-Adrel magic?”

“The center of big piece of clockwork? I don’t know.”

“And where would be most shielded from bystanders and kept secret?”

“The house could really keep anything secret that it was tasked to,” he answered thoughtfully. “More than any other Convocation house, I’d think, House El-Adrel would be able to prevent anyone who shouldn’t find the arcanium from finding it.”

“Say, I know,” she said as if just hitting upon a new and exciting idea. “Let’s ask the house to help us find it.”

He shook his head wearily. “You think you’re funny, but you’re not.”

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