The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(96)

Alex was glad he’d asked. “Thank you, Caius. This is a huge help. If I’d known the two of you were related, I’d have come to you sooner.”

Caius smiled sadly. “If you manage to get to him, you will find him a pleasant sort of man, with plenty of time for bright young things like you. A genuinely good soul, my boy. Do pass on my well wishes to him, won’t you, if you make it to him?”

Alex nodded. “Of course I will. It would be my pleasure. If he’s anything like you, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

“You are too kind,” said Caius. “Now, I fear I must go before I do something I regret,” he added, casting a sour glance in Alypia’s direction. “Do not linger too long—you should go to your friends as quickly as you can.”

“I will. I just want a quick word,” Alex promised.

With a hum of displeasure, Caius rose from his seat, snatching his cane from where it stood against the wall. Leaning heavily on the silver falcon’s head, the warden hobbled toward the open door, casting a savage look back at his niece before disappearing out into the hallway, leaving the two of them alone. Alypia knelt on the floor, her back to him, her face hidden from view.

He had wanted his chance to speak with Alypia, and here it was.

Be careful what you wish for, he thought anxiously as the white-haired woman slowly began to turn her head in his direction.

“I suppose you think I owe you something now,” Alypia said, glowering.

Alex drew closer to her. “I want to know about Julius and the counter-spell you all apparently want me for.”

She smirked. “Well, help a lady up first. I’m not going to say a word while I’m stuck here on the floor, in this particularly degrading state.”

Wondering if it was a trap of some sort, Alex hung back for a moment.

“Oh, come on, I’m not going to bite you or anything!” she snapped.

Her shrill voice sent a shiver up Alex’s spine, but he stepped toward her regardless, grasping her by the arm as he hauled her to her feet. The manacles ensured her hands remained behind her back, her power more or less drained by the twisting gray ivy, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t try something if she got the chance. Carefully, Alex helped to maneuver her back into the armchair by the fireplace, and slowly sat down opposite her.

“You’re not going to undo these cumbersome chains?” she purred.

“Not a chance.”

“I’d say I won’t hold this against you, but I’m the kind of woman who loves to bear a grudge, and you have given me more than enough to stack against your name.” She sneered, the expression looking strange on her patchwork face of beauty and ugliness.

“But you’ll talk?” he asked.

She gave a casual shrug. “Seeing as you saved my life, I could be persuaded to answer a question or two, though how is it that you continue to outmaneuver me, Alex Webber?”

“Call it a bad habit.”

An amused expression graced Alypia’s brow. “You know, I was hoping to put you in a little gift box and hand you to my father on his birthday. And yet here I am, stuck in this foul place with my insane uncle watching over me. I must say, this wasn’t quite how I’d hoped things would pan out.” She laughed bitterly. “I should have just told my father about you when I had the chance. It was that wormy little brother of mine, persuading me that it would be so much better if we kept it secret until we could find you again and hand you over as planned.”

“I think you underestimate me, Alypia,” said Alex calmly.

“And I think you think a little too highly of yourself,” she warned. “You think you can simply take over, with no consequences? You think you can run around saving all these lives, without any sort of retribution? My father will come for you, and if you think you can outmaneuver him, you are a dyed-in-the-wool idiot. You might have gotten the better of me a couple of times, but you won’t have a chance with him.”

“He’s just a man,” remarked Alex, with more confidence than he felt. “Besides, he needs me alive.”

Alypia laughed coldly. “Just because he needs you alive doesn’t mean he won’t go through every person you care about in order to get to you. He is capable of anything.”

“I know, I had the pleasure of seeing him in action,” Alex said grimly, remembering the floppy body of the disintegrated prisoner.

“Then you should be trembling in your shoes,” Alypia said with a tilt of her head. “Just because you are what you are doesn’t mean you will be safe from my father. He loathes your kind—if he feels like it, he will kill you regardless of whether or not you can do the spell my brother couldn’t.” She gave a short laugh. “I can still hear the screams Virgil made when he failed, and Julius found out. Just think—you could be next.”

“He’d kill me even if it meant the demise of mage-kind?” Alex asked dubiously. He had seen Julius kill one man without batting an eyelid, but surely the king wouldn’t let everyone die, just to satisfy an impulse.

“Who knows?” she said, her tone disturbingly chipper. “Although, I think he’d much prefer forcing you to do it. He would relish the opportunity to get his hands on you, and make you suffer for everything your kind did to his people.”

“Everything my kind did?” Alex spat.