Page 65 of The Iron Dagger
“Hot water,” she murmured, amazed when the spout in the wall filled her cup with steaming water. If she lived here for the rest of her life, she did not think she’d ever become accustomed to the amenities of the palace.
She fixed her tea, and as she carried it back to her place, she passed closely behind Melietta. The markings on her papers were more visible, and Hara nearly stopped in her tracks. The geometric diagrams and the runes stirred a memory, a memoryof long days in her tutor’s rooms calculating star charts and astral phenomena. But these looked like—
“Are you working on alchemy theory?” Hara asked before she could stop herself.
Melietta did not even look up from her pages. “Yes.”
Quickly, Hara remembered herself.
“I’m sorry, it’s only, I did not know such magic could be studied this way.”
“It is physical, so it can be studied,” said Melietta simply, turning a page. Hara could not help staring at the spidery symbols and the expansive table filled with what looked like test results. If she had continued living in the palace as a child, no doubt her lessons would eventually include alchemy studies. Perhaps Melietta could explain . . .
No.
This was dangerously stupid. She should show no hint of interest in alchemy, or any knowledge of it for that matter. What was the natural way to act in this situation? Any other witch would probably be curious, and to pretend that she wasn’t might seem unusual. As Hara deliberated, she slowly went back to her seat. Then she decided that it would be least suspicious if she made small talk.
“I always loved mathematics. My education is limited, but I remember that those were my favorite lessons—”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like some quiet,” Melietta’s gravelly voice cut her off.
Hara’s words stopped in her throat, taken aback by the retort. What on earth had she done to deserve it? She and Melietta had barely spoken. Gideon warned her that she would face venom from the people of the court, but so far, the most barbed encounter had been with a fellow witch.
“I’m very sorry,” she said, feeling hot around the neck. Then the realization slammed into her: Hara was not herself.She was a Recruiter. Of course the first witch she met outside of the Recruiter office would be hostile toward her. Shame filled her cheeks, and Hara could feel her heartbeat loudly in her ears as she sipped her tea.
Even though it was all an act, in this moment, her role felt all too real. She would despise herself if she was in Melietta’s place.
The door opened with a bang, and Hara almost melted with relief to see Sarai stride into the room.
“I’m so sorry to keep you waiting, funding meeting ran long—oh, Melietta! Don’t work too hard; mealtimes are for meals, remember our pact?” she said, blithely unaware of the tension she had just walked in on.
“Yes, yes, I remember,” said Melietta in her low rumble, closing her folio of papers.
“Come along, Hara, this way,” said Sarai, already opening the door she had just come from. Hara quickly got up and followed, placing her teacup in the soiled dish bin.
Sarai chattered away about her idiotic head of department, but finally, she paused when she noticed Hara’s responses were soft and short. “Is everything all right?”
“Oh. Yes. Well actually, no,” she said, and she recounted her brief conversation with Melietta. “I think I know why she dislikes me, though,” she finished, sweeping her hand down her black Recruiter garb.
Sarai nodded, a serious look crossing her face. “I see. I never thought of it from a witch’s point of view, to be honest. But I can see why sorcerers would not trust Recruiters, given their history.”
“Does everyone at court know how the Recruiters came to be?” asked Hara.
“Yes, and they support it. Everyone looks at Recruiters as honorable, offering witches a place in court and in the city,” said Sarai with a sidelong glance at Hara.
Hara wanted to tell her of the holding cells just a floor below them, containing sorcerers in naked, burning squalor. The truth threatened to burst from her lips before she remembered that Hara the Recruiter would never divulge such a thing. Instead, she decided the safest response was silence.
Sarai led Hara through the labyrinthine passages to her workroom. Some of the doors they passed were labeled with intriguing names such asDimensional Studies,Anti-Gravity Structures, andPerpetual Heat and Motion. The laboratories were just as stark and windowless as the Recruiter offices, but they were crammed with all manner of instruments: glass vials, thrumming machines, whirring centrifuges, and sealed glass compartments of all sizes.
They finally reached a small room labeledEarth Studies, and Sarai led her inside. The room was like an overstuffed closet with a few work benches crammed inside. Papers and rock hammers were piled and scattered everywhere, and a large flask full of liquid stood by an apparatus that slowly dripped whatever it was distilling into a bottle.
Sarai led Hara into a corner of the room, where a set of miniscule wooden drawers took up most of the wall. She opened one of the drawers and reached in. When she opened her hand to show Hara the mysterious substance, Hara gasped.
“What can you see? Melietta said it looked like a shard of mirror,” said Sarai eagerly. “It just looks like a dark gray rock to me.”
“I can see inside of it . . . ” said Hara. She took the piece, no larger than her palm, and stared closely at it. Hara blinked and tried to see what Sarai described, but any which way she turned the stone it seemed like a view into an empty space withswirling mist rather than a solid object. It felt strangely heavy, as though it were made of lead. She moved it this way and that, watching the mist shift and become denser or lighter as she held it in her palm.
“Try pressing your fingers into it,” said Sarai.
