Page 57 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“When we next meet, we will cover another of Pomeroy’s landmark cases, in which he ruled that demonspawnwere to be treated as a separate species from demons.”
A chime sounded, signaling the end of class. The students rose from their desks.
“Remember,” the professor said, raising their voice over the scuffle, “your term papers are due at the beginning of class on Dredisday. Five pages—not four, not six,five.”
As the students trickled out the back of the room, Mavery made her way to the front, where the professor was stuffing papers in their satchel. They glanced up as she approached.
“Hello, I’m Mavery—”
“Aventus’s new assistant, and our resident Senser.” They smiled. “Word travels fast around our department. I’m Selemin.”
The two of them shook hands.
“So, you’re a Chronicler?” Mavery pointed at Selemin’s hourglass pendant.
“That, I am!” They smiled even wider. “Not many recognize it, so color me surprised—and a little impressed.”
“I once met some Chroniclers in my travels.” She recalled waking up with the worst hangover of her life—and one of those Chroniclers in her bed. “Though we didn’t engage in many, er,scholarlydiscussions.”
“Oh, you’ve metthoseChroniclers.” Selemin chuckled as Mavery furrowed her brow. “We fall into two camps. First, you have people like me, who practice our faith as professional historians. And then you have my…” They shook their head with a drawn-out sigh. “Mysiblings in Chroniclus, who use our faith as an excuse to gallivant about the continent and commit all sorts of debauchery. All in the name of ‘recording events for posterity,’ of course.”
“If you’re a historian, why are you in the Gardemancy Department and not the History Department?”
“Because it no longer exists.” Mavery gawked at them, and they nodded gravely. “See, when the dean retired six years ago, the department was dismantled and I was thrown in with the Gardemancers. I’m an innate Soudremancer—not that I practice it much these days—so the higher-ups didn’t know where else to put me.” They shrugged. “At least it was better than getting sacked, like the rest of my colleagues.”
“You’re the University’sonlyhistory professor?”
Selemin nodded. “When I first started teaching, Arcane History was part of the core curriculum, but now it’s only an elective—and not a popular one, as I’m sure you noticed. These days, anything that’s not directly related to fabrication research has to fight for the scraps.” They cleared their throat. “Anyway, that’s a topic I’d much rather get into after a couple of strong pints.”
The arts had been one thing. To find out wizards also had little love forarcanehistory… But Mavery had a more pressing concern on her mind.
“Do you know anything about the Innominate Temple?” she asked.
“Only rumors and speculation, which is to say, not much at all.” They tilted their head to one side. “Why do you ask?”
“Alain has a theory—”
“Who?”
“Er, Aventus.”
They smirked. “Seems all that time he’s spent with Declan has finally rubbed off on him, if he’s also dropped his wizard name. All right, I’ll bite. What’s his theory?”
“He thinks the temple is connected to Ag—”
“Come now, Selemin, you’ve had your turn with this room. That is, unless you’re planning to deliver my next lecture for me.”
Mavery and Selemin turned to the door. Nezima had entered the classroom, flanked by three young women—including the black-haired woman Mavery had seen before, the one who knew Alain somehow. Once again, she’d been burdened with a large stack of papers. The other two assistants were empty-handed.
“Sorry, Nez,” Selemin said. “I was having a chat with—”
“None other than the talk of the department,” Nezima said. She stopped at the front of the room. Her assistants stood a few paces back, hovering like a trio of black-robed phantoms.
Selemin tilted their head, this time in the other direction. “ ‘Talk of the department’?”
“You missed the show, unfortunately. Mavery gave our dean quite the verbal thrashing.”
Mavery scoffed. “It was hardly a—”
