The Apothecary's Poison (Glass and Steele #3)(17)

"Beautiful." I reached out and when Barratt merely moved some papers to the side of his desk without warning me to stop, I touched one.

The ink broke and the sentences collapsed, splashing over my fingers, the desk surface and some of the papers. "Oh! I'm so sorry," I said.

Barratt smiled and handed me a cloth from his desk drawer. "It's quite all right, Miss Steele."

"That was lovely," I said, wiping the cloth over my gloves. Not just how the words floated, but the spell you cast, too. It's pure poetry. I could listen to you recite it for hours."

He chuckled. "You flatter me."

When I realized how my gushing sounded, I swallowed the rest of my praise. That was not the message I wanted to convey to him.

"Pretty indeed," Matt said with that low growl still in his voice. "But what use is it?"

"The floating is not very useful, but it does make an impact." Barratt grinned, and Matt scowled more. "I know another spell that dries the ink faster so that I don't smudge it. I still write longhand, you see. A few of my colleagues have switched to mechanical writing, using a typing machine, but I prefer this way." He shrugged, palms up. "It's not the most useful magic, unfortunately. My family have manufactured ink for generations. They make the finest ink in the world. My brother runs the company now, and I decided to make my own way, outside the family business." He took the cloth from me and mopped up the splashed ink. "But I was unable to get away from ink. It calls me, you see. I feel compelled to be near it. You understand, Miss Steele."

"Yes," I said quietly. "Yes, I do."

"My father told me there's a spell to make the ink magician write faster, but he didn't know it. No one does, anymore. Ever since magicians stopped openly practicing their magic, they lost touch with one another and no longer shared spells. Some magicians went into hiding and stopped practicing altogether, others only taught their children basic spells, afraid the guilds would find out about them if they did anything too elaborate. And so the art of magic has been lost. I find this a tragedy. Don't you, Miss Steele?"

"I…I am uncertain how I feel. I've only recently discovered my magic, you see. I know no spells. My father was artless and never told me about it. I don't know how many generations I need to go back in order to discover which ancestor I inherited this from."

His frown deepened with every word I spoke. "I'm sorry for you. Perhaps we can work together to learn more about your magic. I'm afraid I don't know any timepiece magicians, but you never know when one will come out of the woodwork. As you two have done today."

"Is that why you're reporting on magic?" Matt asked. "To draw magicians to you?"

Barratt nodded. "I want to create a safe community for us, a place where we can once again discuss our magic and practice where no one fears us."

"As the guild members fear us," I said.

"You've had run-ins with guilds?" He cocked his head to the side. "I have a suspicion that the young mapmaker who was found murdered was magical."

Matt nodded. "Killed by a jealous rival."

"Do you think the guild master put him up to it? I've heard rumors that the guild members used to kill magicians, centuries ago, hence the need for magicians to remain secret. Rumors only, of course."

"We've heard those rumors too," I said. It was deeply troubling, if true.

"The Mapmaker's Guild master orchestrated the kidnapping but not the murder," Matt said. "It's possible the Watchmaker's Guild master was also behind the apprentice's kidnapping. The murderer acted alone, however."

Barratt glanced at me. "The Watchmaker's Guild have caused problems for you, Miss Steele?"

"They would not let me into the guild," I told him. "My father tried to convince them, before his death, but they refused. Once he was gone, I couldn't get work." I did not mention the role Eddie Hardacre, my fiancé at the time, played. The less I thought about him the better. "None of the guild members would employ me. Indeed, they all seemed wary of me. They never told me why, but I suspected it was because they learned about my magic somehow."

"How did you discover it?"

"It was pointed out to me that I have a knack for fixing watches and clocks. Matt knew a little about magic and suggested that I could be magical. From there, I learned about the warm residue left by magic. Much of what I learned came from the mapmaker's apprentice's family and a suspect in the case." I did not tell him that my watch and a clock had saved my life, nor did I mention how combining my magic with another's could extend the time for that magic, as it had done with Matt's watch. Some things were best left unspoken on a first meeting.

"Fascinating," Barratt said. "I'm so glad you came today, Miss Steele. May I call upon you to discuss your experiences further? Perhaps, if I can gather more magicians, we can all meet."

I glanced at Matt only to see him already staring at me, dark and forbidding shadows in his eyes. Did he not want me to meet other magicians? Was he worried about having magicians call on us at his home? Perhaps he worried that his aunt would find out something that would confuse her frail mind.

"I'll call on you when I am ready," I said to Mr. Barratt.