“Maybe.” She stood, lifting the hem of her long gown. “We have work to do.” She strode to the window. “Thomas! Your cocky prisoner friend has recovered. If we’re going to get the spell, we need to do it now.”
He awoke with a start, blinking out of a deep sleep. “Right. What are we doing?” He winced, trying to swallow. “We’ve been to Asmodeus’s temple. The plague spell must be there. He had all sorts of books.”
Oswald rose from the bed, rubbing the back of his neck. His body seemed to be fully functioning.
“The temple sounds like a good idea,” said Celia. “But I have no idea how to operate the portals. We’ll have to get back into those tunnels that you both used. And I don’t know my way around those, either. They haven’t been used in centuries.”
Thomas pushed himself up. “I think I can help there.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Celia
Celia lifted the hem of her dress to climb the steps as Oswald’s sphere of foxfire drifted above them, illuminating glistening stone walls in a narrow stairwell. The golden sparrow, Odile, fluttered after her, determined to stay with her master.
Thomas had been babbling something about a zodiac wheel for most of their journey through the dank tunnels, though now, as they neared the end, he had fallen silent. With his newly mended bones, it had become Oswald’s job to support the scholar. The pair lumbered up the stairs behind Celia, not a single shoe between them.
Thomas seemed particularly preoccupied with sevens and twelves. At an intersection of tunnels, he and Oswald had engaged in a long and confusing discussion about metals, planets, and star signs that made little sense to Celia, and she wasn’t left with a great deal of faith in Thomas’s lucidity. Apparently they were headed toward Virgo, whatever that meant. She had a terrible feeling they would emerge from the tunnel right in the center of the Great Hall while Queen Bathsheba looked on. The Queen would call the guards and look on with a bloodthirsty leer while they were disemboweled before her.
At least we have the invisibility spell, assuming I can remember it. Her memory wasn’t as good as Fiona’s, but during the weeks she’d spent here, she had replayed the spells in her mind in case she needed them. And during the long journey through the underground tunnels, she’d taught the invisibility spell to Oswald. With two philosophers reciting it, the spell would double in strength and duration. Fortunately, Oswald had proven a fast learner.
“We must be near the end,” he said with a grunt.
She glanced back at the shambling pair behind her. Thomas’s head lolled, his eyes closed. Oswald still wore Celia’s robe, though it covered very little. He might be a stickler for cleanliness, but he seemed less fussy about modesty.
She didn’t want to admit it out loud, but she was glad that Thomas had brought the Ragman along. Celia’s knowledge of Angelic probably wouldn’t be strong enough to recite an unfamiliar portal spell with any kind of accuracy. She’d been counting on Thomas to help her piece together the spell. Although he’d never learned Angelic, he was a professor and probably better with languages than she was. But Oswald was even better. He’d received the same training as Tobias, and he would be able to read it on sight.
She bit her lip. “It might be best if you read the portal spell, when we’re ready. You can probably get through it faster.”
“I’ll help you learn it, but I’m not going with you. I belong here.” He heaved Thomas up another stair. “How’d you get it?”
“Asmodeus.” Hopefully that was enough of an answer. She didn’t feel like giving Oswald the whole explanation.
“What—he just gave you a spell? Out of the kindness of his shriveled heart?”
Of course, Oswald wasn’t the type to just let things go. She gritted her teeth. “He used to come to my room after dinner. He decided to make me his mistress, even though he thought I was brain-damaged. Maybe because he thought I was brain-damaged. He didn’t think I could read, so when I asked if I could look at some of his pretty books, he didn’t see the harm. He brought a few over, and I sent him on a task to fetch a servant for more wine. While he was out of the room, I combed through the books. Some of the titles were in English. Most were something to do with getting rid of locusts or curing swine dysentery, but I found one called Lord Mordred’s Portal Spell.”
“That was quite cunning of you.” He was starting to sound out of breath as Thomas became more of a dead weight. “When you entertained him in your room, you didn’t have to kiss the withered goat, did you?”
“I did what I had to.” When she resisted his kisses, he would grit his teeth and clamp her hands above her head, pinning her to the bed. The thought of his long, pink tongue lapping at her lips made her want to vomit.
“You did what you had to.”