Nocturna (A Forgery of Magic #1)(88)

He reached for the warm mug of spiced cocoa beside the piles of books he’d stacked for research. When he’d arrived at the library, a servant had asked him if he wanted something to drink. Alfie would never ask for spiced cocoa, he found it too sweet, but Luka needed something comforting to calm his nerves, Alfie’s boring taste in drinks be damned. He closed his eyes, letting himself fall into the honeyed taste of it.

“Prince Alfehr, it’s been too long,” a hushed voice intoned at Luka’s side.

Luka choked on his gulp of cocoa at the sudden sound in the library. He looked up to see the scholar who had taught him and Alfie Castallano history as children. The elderly man bowed and smiled down at Luka, unearthing a maze of wrinkles in his cheeks. He was a kind man but his lessons had put Luka to sleep on a daily basis. Of course he was here, in the library, the most boring room in the whole palace, in the whole kingdom too, probably.

“Hello, Maestro Guillermo, wonderful to see you.”

“I am glad to hear that my favorite student has returned home at last.”

Luka nearly rolled his eyes. Was there any teacher who didn’t see Alfie as their favorite student? He longed to tease Alfie about being every teacher’s wildest fantasy. But he wasn’t here to be teased and made fun of. To roll his eyes and call Luka every teacher’s nightmare. His heart sagged in his chest at the thought of Alfie and the dangerous things he was doing while Luka sat here, safe in the library. Would Alfie ever return to sit here and be boring in the library? To deflect Luka’s jokes with a pointed turn of a page?

“I’m surprised to see you here, so late in the day. Should you not be dressing for the ball?”

Luka glanced at the library clock and grimaced at the time. He really should be getting ready, but dressing for the ball hardly felt important in the face of all that had happened.

“Prince Alfehr, estás bien?” Maestro Guillermo said, his face pinched with concern. “You look troubled.”

Luka forced a smile. “Not troubled at all, only lost in thought. I’m doing some research on Castallano mythology,” Luka said, trying to conjure Alfie’s honest enthusiasm for all things book-related. “It’s . . . riveting.”

Guillermo’s eyes scanned the books and their titles. “Ah, and not just any mythology; your and Luka’s favorite tale as children.”

Luka caught himself before he started at the sound of his name. He looked at the open book and grimaced. “The Birth of Man and Magic” certainly was no longer his favorite.

The elderly man leaned over and tapped the page. “You see that there,” he said, pointing at the end of the tale where Sombra was turned into a mere skeleton, his bones spread far around the world over so that his body might never be made whole again. “Many scholars believe that is a mistake.”

Luka’s brow furrowed. “You’re saying he wasn’t turned into a skeleton when he was severed from his magic?”

“Well,” Maestro Guillermo said as he sank into the plush chair beside Luka’s, excitement lighting his eyes. “Most myths were told orally for quite some time before they were preserved with the written word. You remember this from our lessons, of course.”

Luka did not. “Of course,” Luka said.

“Tales told orally often change with each telling, becoming more ludicrous with each performance. Small, inconsequential arguments become battles of good versus evil, horses become dragons, it’s quite fascina—”

“Yes, all fascinating,” Luka said hurriedly, hoping to pull Guillermo back to the point. Maybe he knew something useful that would help Alfie. “But what about this legend changed, specifically? What do scholars think actually happened to Sombra’s body in the original tale?”

“Many claim that in the original tale, when Sombra was severed from his magic, his body did not turn to bones, but to stone—a statue of sorts. Then the statue was cleaved into stone pieces and spread throughout the world over. In oral tales it’s common for words to change into others, particularly words that rhyme. Stone and bone sound quite similar. Understandable that they would become interchangeable, no?”

Luka nodded at his former teacher, a frown tugging his lips. As if that would be useful, but maybe Guillermo knew the information that Alfie needed. Maybe Luka need only ask.

“Maestro Guillermo, in your studies, have you ever heard of Sombra having any weaknesses? Vulnerabilities?” When his former teacher stared at him, an eyebrow raised, Luka added, “Just curious, is all.”

The elder man’s brow furrowed. “Not that I know of. In every incarnation of the fable he seems quite invincible.”

Luka deflated. “Yes, of course.”

“He is a god, after all. They don’t usually have any weaknesses to speak of.”

Luka massaged his temples, resisting the urge to pound his forehead against the desk. “Right.”

“But these are all just tales,” Guillermo said with a laugh. “Nothing to be taken seriously.”

“Sí, nothing but tales,” Luka said as he reached for the roll of parchment from his bag. After what Alfie had told him, he would never believe that anything was just a tale again. And though he doubted it was what Alfie wanted or needed to hear, he should probably tell him about what Maestro Guillermo said about Sombra being turned to stone instead of bone, just in case. “One moment, please; I just need to write something down.”