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Chapter 50

Nora

Dueling had been outlawed three centuries ago in Walstad. But in the days when humans lived among magic in the woods, they were the usual way to resolve a dispute. Back when people believed that the powerful immortal beings were never far and were always watching. And that they would guide the hand of the person in the right, to defeat the liar.

First it meant dueling with swords. Then magic.

Now they had courts of law to resolve disputes instead.

But for the 1st circle, “illegal” was really only a suggestion.

When Nora entered the Clandestine Court, it was already overflowing with the rich, young, and bored. Champagne bottles floated through the air, serving drinks to anyone with an empty glass. Sig Gossberg tipped his head back and let the bottle pour directly into his mouth as his table clapped and cheered. Freddie Loetze was in the middle of a glass of whiskey and a game of cards with two of the Bamberg brothers. He was reclined, lazily flicking chips forward with the charmed ring on his fingers so he didn’t have to sit up. Onstage, a tall man puppeteered a woman with strings made of glowing magic. Modesty had changed out of her mourning clothes into an extravagant but uninspired silver evening gown. To anyone else, she might look at ease.

The Clandestine Court screamed jarringly with laughter as a band of floating instruments played themselves off to one side, creating a raucous cacophony.

There were several blind bars dotted around the city, but this was the city’s most well-hidden one. Anything that happened here remained invisible from the masses. The building was concealed from interlopers by money and influence and just a bit of magic. From the street, the entrance to the Clandestine Court looked like a dilapidated theater, with burned-out lights above the marquee and boarded-up doors. No one but the select few of the 1st circle knew it existed, let alone where it was.

Nora cut through the tables and the revelers, aware of the rustle that followed her even as she moved like a knife toward her purpose. She ascended the steps toward the stage, the performers quickly scrambling out of her way as she took the stage and turned to the crowd.

“Cousin,” Nora announced loudly, as the music dimmed. “You promised me a duel.”

The ripple that went through the crowd was immediate. Duels at the Clandestine Court were usually over something trivial. A spilled drink. An accusation of cheating at cards. Just another way for them to pass the time and spend their near-bottomless supply of magic.

But Nora was challenging Modesty for her reputation. She might not believe the immortals were watching, but she did believe that she had the ability to grind her cousin into the ground until she was revealed as a liar.

Modesty hesitated at her table, surrounded by her gaggle of hangers-on. That had been Nora once, surrounded by people clawing for a bite of the power.

She had been the Holtzfall Heiress then. And she would be again.

“Oh, come on, Modesty, don’t be coy. Let’s not waste our time pretending you don’t crave the attention.”

An unstifled laugh and a few jeers rolled through the crowd. It didn’t leave Modesty much choice.

She put down her drink, and the jeers turned to whoops of anticipation as she moved to join Nora on the stage. She waved at the audience like she was at the opening of one of her pathetic pictures. But up close, Nora could see Modesty’s perpetual ingenue grin was strained.

“Cousin.” Modesty laughed loudly for the benefit of the crowd. “Really, all of this over some silly headlines…” She trailed off, leaving room for Nora to jab back. She wanted her to play along. She wanted to feed the people watching them some friendly cousinly rivalry.

She wanted grace. Nora had none to give.

By the time she was done with her, Modesty would confess to planting that story.

Ann Stoff, of the Stoff textile fortune, began an excited countdown from the front row. “Ready!”

Slowly, Nora began to pull off her perfectly fitted doeskin glove one finger at a time.

“Set!”

She had reached the last finger now.

“Go!”

The glove was off, and Nora flung it high into the air, drawing Modesty’s eye, magic sparking off the charm on her wrist as it went. It transformed into a dove flapping violently toward Modesty’s face, disrupting whatever charm she’d been preparing, before turning back into a glove that simply flopped onto her head. The crowd burst into uproarious laughter.

Nora didn’t waste time reveling in it.

She already had her next charm lined up. A quick twist of her hand sparked the ring there and turned the floor below Modesty soft, sending her staggering to her knees. And suddenly the glove that Nora had sent was slipping from Modesty’s head and wrapping itself around her neck.

It squeezed, cutting off her air as effectively as if there were a hand inside.

Modesty’s eyes went wide, her fingers dashing up to the glove. No doubt there were charms across her hands that would detach it. But in her panic, all her cousin seemed able to do was scratch at it like a charmless peasant.

Nora stepped forward calmly. “Are you ready to confess?”

Nora snapped her fingers and released the charm, the glove falling to the stage. Modesty doubled over, gasping.

“Are you really going to kill me?” Modesty spoke in a low voice, for Nora’s ears only. “In front of all these people?”

The accusation reeled Nora’s last charm back in, knocking back some of her anger. “You actually think I would kill you?” Even in her darkest thoughts, she had never considered actually hurting her cousin. But Modesty had. She saw it in Modesty’s face. Modesty really would kill her . Not just that, she wanted to kill her.

That was what had happened in the maze.

Nora saw it suddenly, so clearly that she couldn’t believe it was only occurring to her now.

Modesty had tried to kill her. The scratches and burns all over Nora’s body, so much worse than anyone else’s. Constance’s body as collateral damage.

That was the only real answer to why Mercy Holtzfall would take their memories. Because it protected Modesty. The current front-runner for the heirship.

“Stop!” The voice from the crowd drew Nora’s gaze. Lotte was moving through the tables, and Nora just had time to take in the blood drying down her cousin’s arm. “You need to get out!” Lotte was shouting. “The Grims are coming. Everyone needs to—”

The burst of air hit Nora in the chest, knocking her back as Modesty took advantage of Nora’s temporary distraction. Nora hit the side wall of the stage, her spine connecting painfully. But she had already turned her attention back to the charms on her hands, pulling up a shielding charm as Modesty approached.

That was what saved her when the wall behind them exploded.