this meant Angelique had to help her at least a little.
A person who is this good deserves it!
Angelique fumbled with her black cloak, struggling to unhook it. “In that case, I have something that may help you.” When she finally got the cloak off, she held it out to Quinn.
The soldier took a few steps backwards and shook her head. “I couldn’t.”
Angelique’s lips curled slightly upwards. “You would refuse a gift from an enchantress-in-training?”
“It is fall. Farset nights are usually cold, but soon they will turn bone-chillingly freezing.”
Angelique had to press her lips together to keep from laughing.
She is too kind! If only there were more like her.
“Ahh, again your noble kindness.” Angelique smiled—which came even easier now and was, dare she say it, warm. “But don’t worry—my dress is spelled, just like this cloak. I could wear just my dress in Verglas and still be fine. Which reminds me, I ought to show you how the cloak works. Here.”
Angelique ignored Quin’s protests and wrapped the cloak around Quinn, latching it over the soldier’s right shoulder.
Now, what charms did Rumpelstiltskin say were left in the thing? I know it leaked some of the magic he had put in it, which was why he needed a new one, but there were some dead useful charms for a soldier investigating some cursed princesses.
Angelique strained her memory for another moment or two before she recalled what her craftmage friend had listed off when he gave it to her.
“There’s a heat charm to keep you from freezing, a cooling charm for hot days, and a fire resistance spell, so it won’t catch on fire. Those are all passive spells—meaning they’re active all the time. What I think you’ll find most useful is the invisibility spell.”
Quinn had been fidgeting in the gifted cloak, but she paused when Angelique finished the list. “Invisibility?”
“Yes! It’s a hard spell to put into cloth goods, but this cloak used to belong to a Grandmaster Craftmage. He infused all the spells himself.” Angelique smiled fondly with the memory of Stil and the proud way he’d strutted around in the new cloak his wife, Gemma, had made for him. He’d be happy to know someone was going to get some more use out of his old cloak.
Angelique cleared her throat and forced herself to focus. “To activate it, hold the fabric up to your mouth so your breath can touch it, and say shroud. To release the spell, do the same thing, only speak the word reveal.”
Quinn slowly lifted her arm to her mouth. She must have whispered the right word because Angelique could faintly feel the zing of Stil’s magic as the invisibility spell settled into the fabric of the cloak, and Quinn faded from sight.
“Yes, exactly like that,” Angelique encouragingly said.
When Quinn reversed the spell and faded back into sight, her eyes were comically wide. “Incredible—I have never seen anything like this.” She shook her head and peered down at the black cloak that covered her tall frame. “Are you certain you wish to give this to me? It seems…overly-generous.”
Angelique barely resisted sweeping the valiant soldier up in a hug. She didn’t hold herself back out of a wish to honor her station as an apprentice—mages could go chew on rocks for all she cared anymore—but because it would have been exceedingly forward and probably frightened Quinn more than a little.
“Believe me, it’s not,” she dryly said. “It’s little more than a cast off, but I’m glad you are so pleased with it. I should warn you, it does have some limitations. The invisibility spell will last only for a few hours—though you’ll be able to feel it when the spell starts to weaken, so it won’t be a sudden failure. It’s also true invisibility—so you can’t be seen, but you can still be heard, and if a person walks into you, they will feel you.” Angelique tapped her lower lip as she tried to recall any other limitations that wouldn’t be obvious to anyone unfamiliar with magic. “The spell will affect anything attached to the cloak, so your face won’t show, nor will your clothes if the cloak happens to open.”
Quinn inspected the well-worn cloak with great interest. “Does that mean two people, perhaps, could hide in it?”
A cold gust of wind stirred the tree branches. Angelique didn’t even feel it as her gown—a gift from Evariste—was spelled to keep her warm. Though she did make a noise of frustration when the wind flipped her wild hair over