Page 21 of Tales of a Monstrous Heart
‘Blackthorn !’ Madame Bernard shrieked, holding tightly to Master Ainsworth’s arm, who shrugged her off in annoyance.
Blackthorn simply ran a gloved knuckle beneath his chin in thought as he approached the Council’s desks and the creature.
He was mad. Completely mad.
Then, in the blink of an eye, in his grasp was the blood-sealed text, its forsaken iron cover gleaming even in the dim light.
I cringed away from it, hating the painful sensation that rushed over my skin.
If Blackthorn noticed, he didn’t show it as he dropped the book onto Ainsworth’s desk, sliding it closer to the Insidious beast. The creature calmed, almost whimpering to return to its home.
‘You seem to have misplaced this.’ Blackthorn’s voice was quiet, the words clipped with an ominous warning as he met Ainsworth’s stare.
A fury burned behind the old mage’s eyes, one that I’d been on the receiving end of too many times, yet now he remained silent. As Blackthorn pressed his palms to the table, leaning closer to challenge him, the gobrite cowered ever so slightly with a low growl.
‘That …’ Ainsworth began to splutter. To try and twist a lie, but at the mere sound of his voice the book swivelled and pushed itself across the table towards him, making all the mages lean back from it, chairs creaking.
‘Cursed things always return to their master in the end.’ Blackthorn’s calm tone almost verged on boredom. ‘You shouldn’t need a spell to work that out,Councilman.’
I was stunned, both that Blackthorn could summon a cursed text, as well as how flawlessly he challenged the Council. How he hadn’t challenged me the same to prove I was telling the truth. He’d just taken each fact from me. Effortlessly.
‘With your infrequent visits,Lord Blackthorn, you won’t be aware of just how much of a menace Miss Woodrow has been,’ Grima replied tartly. ‘She is a danger to this Institute, the treaty and her fellow students.’
‘Unjustified claims fuelled by nothing more than prejudice,’ Master Hale snapped. His grip on his cane was white-knuckled, making me worry he’d bludgeon Master Grima to death with it.
‘The burning of the east workroom, assaulting students, stealing four ancient texts, having poison on her person and now trying to unleashmonsters!’ Madame Bernard threw in for good measure.
My gaze shifted awkwardly to see if Blackthorn had paid any attention to the accusations. Unfortunately, all were true.
His attention had indeed turned towards me. I expected annoyance, or disgust perhaps, but he was simply looking over his shoulder at me with a raised brow, as if I’d impressed him.
‘I would remind the Council that, when trialling someone under laws written by myself, I hold complete authority.’ Blackthorn continued to consider me with unexpected curiosity before his dark focus slipped back to the old men. ‘The verdict therefore falls to me.’
He straightened to his full height and pulled a long envelope from his inside pocket, dropping it with little decorum onto the desk.
‘My findings. I think you’ll agree Miss Woodrow is the only reason the Insidious beast didn’t breach my wards.’ Blackthorn’s smile was tight, seeming more like a sneer under the constraints of his pale scars. ‘Her spell crafting is flawless where dark matter is concerned. Therefore, she’s passed her Dark Defence theory, making her a partner mage without papers under the old laws.’
Dark Defence theory – an antiquated test where they’d lock fledgling mages in a room with all manner of dark creations or creature traps. Most didn’t survive the ordeal and the council had shelved the test a decade ago, largely because lords weren’t about to risk their heirs. Yet some desperate fey students still attempted the test … their deaths a gruesome warning to the rest of us.
‘However, we’ll go along with the pretence of a partnership agreement. Just to make certain there are no moreoversightswhere Miss Woodrow’s study is considered. One year of mentorship, under the old laws,’ Blackthorn added as an afterthought.
‘Dark summoning is forbidden, Blackthorn,’ Master Grima stated warily. Desperation clinging to his words.
‘I saw no evidence of dark summoning on her part.’
‘You are the expert after all, Lord Blackthorn,’ Master Hale added, his smile filled with relief. My magic wasn’t soothed. It all felt too easy, that sense of a trap not leaving me. Too used to things going horribly wrong.
‘I strongly advise you let this one go, Ainsworth,’ Blackthorn finished, a lethal quiet to his voice that confused me. ‘If you wish to antagonise the rebellion by removing the last fey from the Institute for nothing more thanspitefulness, I am certain that’s a greater breach of the Peace Accords.’
‘The rebellion died a long time ago,’ Master Stone argued.
Ainsworth didn’t react; couldn’t, because he knew it was a lie. The fey rebellion had never been more vicious in their fight for freedom, in their hunger to bring a mortal council down. They wished to govern themselves from the northlands, which they still held. A group so ruthless that even my father had warned me against them – how they coerced fey to do their bidding, forcing them to take inescapable blood vows as evidence of their loyalty.
‘Is that why Montagor has asked for more troops in the north?’ Blackthorn’s head tipped in dark contemplation, straightening the cuff of his jacket. ‘Why your attempts to summon him here didn’t work?’
I couldn’t be hearing these things.
Lord Montagor, the bastard son of the Mage King, was currently seeking the same power his father had possessed, just as tyrannical and ruthless. He’d worked his way into theCouncil through corruption and the sudden unexpected deaths of other, more peaceful members.
