Chapter 55: A Pact of Stars

Chapter 55: A Pact of Stars

Sebastien

Month 12, Day 17, Thursday 8:30 p.m.

On Oliver’s instruction, Sebastien stopped by a small apothecary in the good part of town just before they closed and bought a single potion. He’d given her a purse of twenty gold for the new mission’s expenses, but she still found the price of nineteen silver exorbitant and painful. In a small town, the same amount could have fed her for two to three weeks. ‘Everything in Gilbratha is overpriced,’ she grumbled mentally.

Back at the University, a couple of hours after sundown, she stopped by Tanya’s dorm door. Light shone through the crack at the bottom, and the movement of shadows showed someone was awake within. Sebastien listened for a while, but heard nothing.

Satisfied that she wouldn’t gain anything from more snooping at the moment, she strode into the dorms and retrieved a few small items from the chest at the base of her bed.

Westbay’s cubicle was only a couple away from her own. His curtains were still open, and he sat in bed scribbling on a piece of paper—likely working on one of the essays they’d been assigned. He looked up, meeting her gaze with some surprise.

“Come with me,” she said. Without waiting for a response, she turned around and strode out of the room. She heard Westbay scrambling to put on his boots and coat behind her, but didn’t slow, heading out of the dorm building and toward the Citadel.

She went to the classroom that Westbay and his friends used for their morning study group. The building was mostly empty by now, with classes over and those who wanted to study likely gone to the library to do so. She took a seat at the table.

When Westbay entered, she said, “Close the door.” When he did so, she gestured to the seat across from her. It was an auspicious sign that he was obeying without complaint or hesitation.

He settled slowly into the chair, light grey eyes meeting her dark ones, full of questions.

She folded her hands on the table, staring at him until the silence became uncomfortable. Finally, she asked, “What did you see today?”

“What did I see?” he repeated, confused.

“I had the idea that you’re not completely oblivious to what’s going on around you. Was I wrong?”

Damien leaned forward, his shoulders loosening even as his chin rose and a small, satisfied smile stretched his lips. “You weren’t wrong. I did see things. I saw that Tanya Canelo got a letter that made her anxious. I saw that you followed her, or whatever clue you picked up from that divination spell you were casting—I noticed that, too—to Eagle Tower. I saw that she seemed to know when the rogue magic sirens would go off, almost as if it was planned.” He paused, searching for a reaction, but when she gave him none, he continued. “I saw that she hid while everyone was evacuating, and was in the perfect position to cause that alchemy explosion and stop the coppers from finding the Raven Queen. I saw she had a scar, and I saw that it meant something to you, but I don’t know what. And I saw that you disappeared after classes, which probably has something to do with all this.”

Her expression remained neutral. “Is that all?” It was more than she had hoped, definitely, but it could have been worse. Westbay wasn’t a complete idiot, after all.

He seemed taken aback. “Well...perhaps I missed some things because I don’t have all the connecting information to understand what’s mundane and what’s a clue. But I think I did fairly well for coming into your investigation cold. Don’t you?”

‘My investigation? Well, that’s about the best spin he could put on it. Except he has ties to real investigators, and none of them will have any clue who I am, or find it amusing that I’ve seemingly been withholding evidence on an ongoing operation.’ She remained silent for a few moments, trying to figure out the best approach. ‘I wish Oliver was here. He may have coached me, but an hour is not enough to gain real skill.’ Aloud, she asked, “Have you mentioned any of this to anyone?”

Westbay shook his head. “No. I can keep a secret, Sebastien. I told you that. And I’m not an idiot. You don’t go around talking about an open investigation where a possible enemy or criminal could hear you.”

“Not even to the coppers?” she asked.

His eyes narrowed. “You haven’t gone to them either,” he said, as if defending himself.

She raised an eyebrow.

He frowned. “Unless...they know about you?”

She kept her eyebrow raised.

His frown flattened and his eyes went wide. “Or they have moles among the ranks,” he breathed, “and you can’t go to them.”

He wasn’t wrong. Oliver did have informants among the coppers, though that had nothing to do with this. Westbay was also making up his own answers to unanswered questions, just like Oliver had said he would.

“What’s going on? With Canelo, and you...and the Raven Queen? Who set off those rogue magic alarms? Was it the Raven Queen? Tell me,” Westbay commanded.

Sebastien snorted.

Westbay’s eyes narrowed. “You owe me a favor, Siverling. Do I need to call it due?”

She bared her teeth at him. “That favor is the only reason you’re in this room with me right now. But it’s only a medium favor. Not nearly enough to get that kind of information. Besides, I’m not sure you’re being totally truthful about your ability to maintain confidentiality, Westbay. Because you did indeed talk about an ongoing investigation with me, who you didn’t know and had no idea that you could trust. All I had to do was show a little interest in the Raven Queen.”

He gaped and stammered before recovering. “Well, that was... I didn’t give out any critical information, and probably nothing you couldn’t have found out by going to the right taverns after a shift of coppers were off work for the day. This is different.”

“You’ve proven your mouth can be loose when you don’t think it’s important, or when you’re around friends, or when you want to impress someone.”

“This is different,” he insisted, his nose flaring as he leaned forward. “I’d never talk about a case I’m involved in, whether the information was important or not.”

“Not even to your closest family members? To your brother?”

“My brother? You...think Titus can’t be trusted? Or someone around him?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “I think that if you’ll tell a secret to your closest family member...” She leaned forward. “If you’ll talk at all, that’s it. You’ll talk. And even if it’s only ever to that one person, even if it’s only when it seems reasonable, even necessary, then that one person can be used against you. In your case, Westbay, there’s one particular enemy that I’d like to avoid ever getting wind of what I—and possibly you—will be doing here.” She waited a beat. “Your father.”

He blinked, then shook his head. “My father? He’s not—”nove(l)bi(n.)com

“I believe you know that’s not true,” she said firmly, cutting him off. She resisted the urge to swallow nervously or let her gaze slide away.

He stared back at her, small expressions she couldn’t decipher flitting across his face. Finally, he said, “I’m not sure if you’re insinuating something deeper, but you’re right that he’d want to stop me, and you by extension. He doesn’t respect me.” His last sentence was simple, but even Sebastien could tell it held a wealth of emotion.

She leaned into it. “The man is a stain on the name of all nobility,” she said, her voice low. Oliver had told her a strong, even offensive stance against Lord Westbay would be one of the best ways to keep his son’s mouth shut.

Damien’s eyelids fluttered at the words.

She increased the pressure of her Will, though still she was casting no magic.

She anointed him with the second vial’s drop of oil. “I exhort your loyalty. Will you support us and our efforts faithfully and fully, with true heart and steady hand?”

“I will.”

She increased the pressure once more, then touched him with the third oil, the sharp smell of peppermint only increasing that feel of unreleased tension. “I exhort your resolve. Will you persevere through hardships and the wear of time, exerting yourself to fulfill our cause?”

“I will,” Damien said for the third time.

Sebastien pushed harder with her Will, till she approached the limit of her ability to coil potential force without anything to apply it to. She pulled the astronomy potion out of her pocket and poured it into the shallow bowl of water, then supported his cupped hands with her own. “Our purpose,” she said, leaning forward slightly and trying to sound serious, “is freedom...and enlightenment. Drink, and look up. See beyond the edge of the sky.”

He hesitated, but she gave him a shallow nod of encouragement, and he lifted the shallow bowl and drank down its contents in a couple of quick gulps.

As soon as he lowered the bowl, she released her Will at once with a mental outward thrust, just to be safe. It barely did anything, causing a small flurry of leaves and sending a couple of animals that had been hiding nearby scurrying away in alarm. But the sudden lack of tension was palpable.

Damien gasped as he looked up at the night sky.

This particular potion had been Oliver’s suggestion. It wasn’t mind-altering, addictive, or harmful in any way, except if the user took it and then looked into a bright light. It improved long-distance night vision, making the stars seem brighter, clearer, and more colorful. It also supposedly emphasized the dark emptiness of the rest of space. In essence, the potion created a poor version of the effects of a telescope while allowing a much wider field of view.

Many of those who had taken this particular potion for the first time reported an overwhelming wave of emotions bordering on awe, with the awareness of how small and insignificant they were—and the Earth was—compared to the vast, terrible beauty of space. Intense emotions would make Damien feel more bound to the promises he’d made and to their shared secret.

Damien’s eyes filled with tears, and he blinked to send them spilling down his cheeks, breathing hard as he gazed up in wonder. “It’s—I don’t—”

“Shh. I know. Just see. Just let yourself be conscious.” She waited a few minutes, until the tears had stopped flowing and his breath was beginning to slow, then said, “Repeat after me. I am small, as are we all.”

He did as she said, still staring up at the sky.

“But I am not without purpose. We are not without meaning.” She pulled the novelty drink coaster she’d gotten from Oliver out of her pocket. It was black marble embedded with a light crystal.

Using the stone disintegration and reformation exercise Professor Lacer had assigned them, she’d managed to mold the original circular light crystal into a thirteen-pointed star, working to pull out its edges in tiny sections. She didn’t want to give Damien something he’d recognize from some high-class artifact shop, after all.

“There are stars in this world, too,” she finished. When he’d echoed her, she said, “Look at me.”

Slowly, he drew his gaze back down to the earth.

She twisted the black marble disk, slotting the inner section into the outer, and the light crystal activated, a star among darkness. She handed it to him in her cupped hands. “You may be one of them, if you prove yourself worthy.”

He squinted against the mild glow of the light crystal, but took it reverently.

“This is the sign of our people,” she said. “If ever anyone comes to you with one, you will know you can trust them, and should help them if they need it.”

Letting out a shaky breath that fogged in the air and refracted the light of the crystal, he nodded. “Does it...this group, or order, does it have a name?”

She rolled her eyes. “What’s with you and wanting a dramatic name for everything?”

He looked up from the light, the mystique of the moment lessened. His lips quirked up in amusement, and he scrubbed the tear tracks from his cheeks, sniffing hard.

“No,” she said, deciding not to make something up on the spot. “We have no name. Things that have names get talked about. Besides, we need no label to constrain us.”

“Freedom and enlightenment?” he echoed from her earlier words. “How exactly does that work? What do we actually do?”

“We do what is needed to fulfill our purpose, especially where others do not. Think on these principles. On what it means to be a light in the dark. I cannot give you the answer. It must be understood on your own.” It was vague nonsense, but the best she could do with no real answer prepared.

He frowned over this for a moment, then asked, “How many of us are there?”

“You’re only a provisional member, remember? You don’t get to know everything.” She picked up the bowl, which had dropped on the ground at some point, and jerked her head in the direction of the University. “Come on, let’s get back.”

“What do I need to do to become a full member?” he asked, following her back onto the lit path.

She shrugged. “There’s no specific assignment. You’ll prove yourself or you won’t. There’s no penalty if you don’t, but your involvement—including the ability to ask questions—is limited as a provisional member.”

He mulled this over for a few moments before carefully tucking the drink coaster into a pocket on the inside of his jacket. “What’s my first assignment, then?”

“We’ll be gathering information on Tanya Canelo and her associates. I want to bring on an informant to help us keep track of her,” she said. “Not another member, just a contractor. You won’t have enough time to do it by yourself.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay. Who?”

“Newton Moore,” she said simply.

A smirk grew on Damien’s face. “Oh, that is perfect. He has a flawless excuse to spend time with her. They’re both student liaisons, and they have at least half their classes together. But can he be trusted?”

“You’ll help me judge that. He won’t know anything about what’s really going on, but we still need him to be both thorough and discreet. From what I know of him, he has both qualities.”

“We should conduct the interview right away. I don’t want Canelo getting out of our sight for a moment,” he said gravely.

“I agree. And we will be doing more than personal observation, if we can manage it. But for the moment,” she said, checking the time on her pocket watch with the approaching lights of the University buildings, “I’m pretty sure Newton is tutoring someone in the library. What do you say we catch him as soon as he’s alone?”

Damien smoothed back his hair, straightened his clothes, and took the lead, striding straight toward the circular building.