The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(16)

A thin smile curved his lips. “You don’t have to hope, child. I guarantee this.”

Augusta inclined her head respectfully. “Of course, Master Jandison. Thank you for your support.” She didn’t know if the old man had gone senile, or if he read the situation differently, but she didn’t argue further. It sounded like he would vote as she hoped, which meant that she was done here.

Dania was up next.



*



Walking into the library archives, Augusta headed for the back, where the old woman was bending over a pile of dusty old books. This was Dania’s domain—the place where all the arcane knowledge from the past two centuries was stored.

Coming up to her, Augusta discreetly cleared her throat. When Dania looked up in surprise, Augusta gave her a warm smile. “Those books look quite interesting,” Augusta remarked, gesturing toward the pile. “They’re from Lenard’s assistants, right?”

“Yes,” Dania said, straightening to look at Augusta. “They are. Anything from the Enlightenment Period is priceless, as you should know.” There was a hard note in her voice, and Augusta realized that the woman had been deeply disturbed by her account of burning Lenard the Great’s scrolls in Blaise’s library—the very scrolls that were in Augusta’s pocket right now.

“Oh, yes,” Augusta said nonchalantly, pretending that she didn’t understand the cause of Dania’s anger. “The knowledge they contain is invaluable.”

Dania’s brows snapped together. “Why are you here?” she asked bluntly, her usual diplomatic veneer absent. “What do you want?”

“I’d like to talk to you about the vote,” Augusta said, watching the old woman carefully. “The upcoming vote about Blaise’s abomination.”

Dania’s mouth tightened. “What about it? I know what you’re hoping to achieve, but I believe Ganir is right. This is not the way to go about it.”

“Why not?” Augusta countered. “It’s dangerous. You saw that—”

Dania held up her hand, stopping Augusta mid-sentence. “Don’t practice your demagoguery on me, child,” she said. “It may work on those impressionable fools, but I won’t fall for your tricks.”

“All right, then,” Augusta said, refusing to take offense. This was going about as well as she’d expected. “You can’t be swayed by reason, I understand that. Perhaps I can persuade you some other way. Perhaps I can give you something that would be so invaluable, it would be worth your vote of support . . .”

Dania’s eyebrows climbed up on her forehead. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the scrolls of Lenard the Great himself,” Augusta said softly. “It’s possible that they weren’t completely destroyed.”

Dania drew in a sharp breath. “You have them?”

Augusta’s lips stretched in a cat-like smile. “Perhaps.” She was enjoying this quite a bit. “How much would it be worth to you to find out?” And before Dania could say anything, Augusta added, “Keep in mind that I put a little spell on these scrolls. Should they leave my possession without my consent—or if I’m feeling like they might—then they will disintegrate without a trace.” Augusta was mostly bluffing, but Dania didn’t need to know that. Augusta did indeed have such a spell on the notes, but she would never activate it. She agreed with Dania that some knowledge was too precious to be destroyed.

Dania’s eyes narrowed. “I see. You took those scrolls from Blaise’s office, and now you’d like me to vote your way.”

Augusta simply shrugged in response, giving Dania a coolly amused look. “Perhaps,” she said casually. “Who is to say what happened in Blaise’s house? Certainly there were no witnesses either way.”

Dania stared at her, a calculating look appearing on her face. “So if I vote your way, you’ll give them to me? Those scrolls?”

“Yes.” Augusta smiled. “In fact, I will give them to you now. All I require in exchange is your vow to keep your promise about the vote . . . and your help with locating a couple of books in this library.” Taking the scrolls out of her pocket, she handed them to Dania, who accepted them with a reverent look on her face.

The old woman’s hands shook with eagerness as she unrolled the scrolls and quickly glanced over them. Augusta knew she could see traces of her incinerating spell on them, so she had no fear of Dania double-crossing her. For the next minute, Dania seemed so absorbed in the scrolls that Augusta had to clear her throat again to remind Dania of her presence.

When Dania looked up, Augusta gave her an even look. “Well?” she prompted. “Do we have an agreement?”

Dania hesitated, looking torn, and Augusta knew that this was difficult for her. She wanted those scrolls, but she was also loyal to Ganir. “Keep in mind,” Augusta said softly, “that these scrolls contain dangerous knowledge—knowledge that was used to create this thing that we need to destroy. If you don’t take them and hide them in the depths of this library, I may have no choice but to incinerate them. I can’t leave them lying about unattended. They could easily fall into the wrong hands, you see?”

“No.” The word sounded like it was torn from Dania’s throat. “No, you can’t destroy these. I’ll take them, and I’ll give you that vote.”