Page 170 of Fortress of Ambrose
“Thedarkmagic?” a different maezre with a silver mask sloped over their face says, their beady blue eyes darting around the table.
“Yes,” I go on. “One entrusted to each of the Houses. And a few other new Houses.”
“NewHouses? Toushana in rings? Is this your plan?” The maezre turns to Nore.
“Maezre Ogle, we do not have the Sphere’s magic,” she says. “They’ve come to us with it. We can’t just—”
“The desire to hold on to dark magic isdeplorable,” a maezre says. “Why not get rid of it?”
I watch Nore carefully, unsure what she thinks of the world to come.
“I don’t have any desire foranymagic,” she says. “Does that mean I should get rid of proper magic, too?”
“Toushana has existed just as long,” I say. “Long ago, toushana was not dark.It was feared and treated as forbidden by those in power.” I brandish a stream of dark mist in the air. “My magic has its uses.”
Most backs in the room stiffen. Except Nore’s. She smirks as she rolls up her sleeves and a puff of shadows emerge in her fist. I gasp.
“My mother did everything she could to unearth magic in me,” Noresays, and her mother’s stare hits the ground. “And deposited a seed of this by mistake. I told you, no more secrets. That’s the truth.”
Eyes move to Isla Ambrose. “It is. The greatest regret of my life.”
Ogle is wide-eyed. The others don’t speak.
“I have plans to get this out of me by choice,” Nore went on. “But these are our only allies.” She shifted. “It is illogical to ostracize Quell because men who lived hundreds of years ago were scared of what she could do with her fingers.” Nore laughed, breaking the rigid silence. Only Jordan grinned as he leaned against a wall.
“This discussion is over,” Nore says.
“So we’re not going to come up with a way to get rid of it?”Maezre Ogle asks, apparently hard of hearing.
“Both magics need to exist,” the priest says, coming through the door, finally joining us. “They don’t need each other to exist. But they are each more potent when the other exists. We have to save toushana, too.”
“I wouldn’tagree to getting rid of it even if she said to,” I say to the maezre directly. “This is who I am. You don’t have to like it.”
Nore and I met eyes. “I like you.”
Winkel sits beside her.
“Quell, you have much more experience with toushana than I do, I imagine. So we will follow your lead on how to help secure it safely.” Nore eyes the skepticism around the room. “All of uswill follow your lead. Or you can join my brother outside. Any more on that, Quell?”
“The most pressing matter is that the Sphere’s toushana is still inside Jordan.”
Winkel winces. “Oh, that sounds awful, young man.”
“We’ll need to get that out fast andsafely. Or it will be lost. To do that we need immortal blood,” I go on, “which is why we are here. That is your specialty.”
Nore pales.
“There’s no such thing,” Ogle says again, determined, turning a bracelet on her dainty wrist. “Everyone here knows that. The secrets were buried by our inaugural Headmistress and have yet to be found.”
“The Scroll—” Nore starts.
“The Scrollwillnotbe discussed so publicly…” Maezre Ogle fumes. “It is sacred.Have we forgotten ourselves?”
“Caera Ambrose was a fraud,” Nore continues, ignoring her, addressing every other face of shock in the room. “Caera finding the Immortality Scroll was a ruse to build her great name.”
“Icannot!” Maezre Ogle shoots up from her seat. “First the toushana. Now this! You are outside of your lane, young lady!” Her fists slam the table, and Nore turns to a Dragun.
“See her out. Walk her all the way to my brother in the forest.” She clears her throat and steeples her hands.
