Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,96

to act as the cavalry, while I snuck in with the proverbial infantry. I might not have been much of a physical fighter, but there was little I did not know about military tactics from the mountain of period warfare novels I’d read.

“I am sorry,” Victoria reiterated.

I slumped a bit, to emphasize my supposed defeat. “As am I.”

You’ve underestimated me, Victoria. I had heard things during my years here—some accidentally, through the likes of Ronan Lomax’s extensive journals, and some on purpose, such as when Ingram was down at the pub on Friday evenings, deep in a bottle. Tidbits of Victoria’s famed power, and the mischief she’d gotten up to before she became a revered head huntswoman. She’d been quite the spellcaster back in her wilder youth, and I had come to pity any man who crossed her. Her former excellence as a caster of curses was the target of my secret agenda. If I could find one in her Grimoire that had a similar influence and magical heft to the one plaguing Reid, then perhaps I’d be able to modify an anti-curse from it. Of course, a monster curse that afflicted magicals or non-magicals was more or less unheard of, but I hoped she might have something in the same vein that we could work from.

I had kept those tidbits to myself because I wanted to be decent and honorable. But now it was time for me to start digging deeper. I had given Victoria the chance to tell me more, and she’d refused. So, now, I had to chase the truth. Ironic, considering I’d spent my whole life running from a different truth… or perhaps it was fitting?

Like clockwork, Victoria’s assistant, Taryn, burst into the room, sweating profusely. I hadn’t wanted it to fall to Genie to take the heat off me, but my talking time was up. “Ms. Jules! There’s been an incident near your personal quarters, and it requires your immediate attention!”

Victoria rose from her chair, running a hand through her blonde hair. “What sort of incident?”

“It’s… uh… best that you see for yourself.” Taryn reddened, looking as though she wanted the ground to swallow her up. “I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s… a whole mess, and… it has a few people panicking. You’ll understand when you see it. I think it might be a, uh, warning.”

I hid a smirk, silently praising Genie for how quickly she had moved the metaphorical horses into place. The plan had been to vandalize Victoria’s bedroom door with a nondescript threat from the Veritas—something that would be sure to rattle her. Genie would use her infallible Invisibility spell to get the job done so no one could trace it back to her. It appeared my Atlantean wonder had come through, with bells on.

Victoria drew in a hissing breath of vexation. “If you would excuse me, Nathan. I will return as soon as I can so we can finish this conversation properly. Unless you would prefer to come back later?”

“I’ll wait. I’ve got nothing better to do,” I replied sullenly, showing no anticipation or excitement on my face whatsoever. Her mind already elsewhere, Victoria bought my act and hurriedly exited.

I stayed put for a few minutes longer, in case she came back for something. Satisfied that she was truly gone and would be distracted for a decent while, I jumped up and set to sleuthing. I’d heard in one of Ingram’s inebriated confessions that Victoria kept her Grimoire in this very office—but finding it wouldn’t be easy. Grimoires were as precious as diaries, and hardly anyone just left them out for the world to see. Even if I managed to find it, I doubted she would have left her secrets un-hexed. Fortunately for me, I had a somewhat rare ability in my Chaos arsenal—I could read any Grimoire. Hexed, unfinished, magically erased… you name it, I could read it. I’d discovered this particular skill when I’d found my father’s Grimoire, after my mum had told me there was nothing in it aside from squiggles and blotches. But when I’d opened it, those seemingly random marks had changed before my very eyes into perfectly readable script. I could hear Grimoires, too, presumably as part and parcel of the overall talent, whispering to me regardless of where they were hidden. The tricky part was getting attuned to their unique voices, especially with my heart pounding loudly in my ears.

I darted behind Victoria’s desk and closed my eyes, drowning out every other