back around when I went clearing the desk in order to sit on it. Had Arcturus not wanted me to see it?
The photo looked recent. I instantly recognized Acubens in it, grinning lazily. The other person in the picture, a girl around thirteen or fourteen sticking her tongue out at the camera, was probably his little sister.
Thinking back to the family photos I’d seen in Redbriar Manor, as well as the ones my mom had managed to keep from before, I realized what was odd about this photo. I’d seen people putting up pictures of their whole family, and I’d seen people putting up pictures of just their kids. But I’d never seen anyone put up a picture of just their siblings.
I remembered Arcturus’s terrifying protectiveness of Acubens. I remembered that it was said that Arcturus was the true head of House Nightfeld, even while his parents both lived. And I wondered just what was going on with his family.
I turned my gaze back to the paperwork just as Arcturus crossed the last t’s. He took his signet ring from his pocket and pressed it to the bottom, no wax involved. A sizzling sound arose from where the ring touched parchment. Delicate black lines embossed themselves into the surface, forming his house crest, the constellation Ursa Major on a field of black.
Aegis handed me the small box containing Cly’s signet ring; of course I hadn’t been allowed to hang onto it myself. I pressed it into the parchment next to Arcturus’s mark, drawing the Redbriar house crest in red: a blooming rose, surrounded by an intricate Celtic knot of vines jutting with thorns.
“It is done,” said Arcturus.
“It is done,” I echoed. My fate had literally been sealed.
Chapter 14
This time, Darshan arrived in our reserved private study room at the library after Aegis and I did. He stopped when he saw our expressions. “Somehow I think you have more on your mind than the study session we planned.”
I sighed. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors by now.”
Darshan looked somewhere between fascinated and horrified. “So they really are true, then. The Nightfeld versus Redbriar showdown of the century. I heard from my roommates, but I didn’t think…”
“That I’d be dumb enough to wind up in the Nightfeld versus Redbriar showdown of the century?”
“I mean…” He sketched a hand vaguely. “You had all those big secret plans. This might be the next step. Somehow.”
“I wish,” I sighed. “Right now, I’m just trying to figure out how to move forward from here. And…” I took a breath. No point in beating about the bush. “Honestly? I desperately need you.”
Darshan stared. “What do you mean?”
“Darshan,” I said, “I signed up for a three on three duel. Aegis, me, you. I want you to be the third person on our team.”
He gave a startled laugh. “Me? You’re joking, right? I have less magic than a Great House three-year-old. Anyone would be better than me. Find a Hastings or something.”
“The thing is, no one can beat Arcturus Nightfeld in a straight-up fight. Aegis can’t. I can’t,” I admitted, remembering the way his fingers had dug into my flesh. “Our only chance is to change what’s considered possible in dueling.”
Darshan’s brown eyes widened. “You mean—”
“I need to find a way to use magic circles in a duel.”
“But that’s impossible! Sure, there are designs like the Heptacle of Devouring that would work even against Arcturus. But those take hours, if not days, to draw. One line in the wrong place breaks the whole thing. There’s absolutely no way to use them in a duel.”
“What if you drew it beforehand?”
“Like, on a mat or something? But a person needs to be standing in the magic circle for it to work on them. How are you supposed to get the mat spread out right under someone’s feet while they’re trying to beat you to a pulp?”
“You don’t,” I said. “Would it be possible to break a magical circle down into segments that you put down around a person, in a ring?”
Darshan frowned. “Sure, but how would you keep them in place? Whoever’s inside could just… kick them away. Seriously, if there was a way to use magic circles in duels, don’t you think somebody would’ve discovered it by now? There are thousands of vassal and no-name families whose lives would change if magic circles let them even the playing field against the sheer raw power of Great House families. How many of them have tried?”
“But what if I had an advantage