“More? A ritual? A binding?” Chloe shook her head. “No. No, I do not think your goddess would be able to bind a free witch. Not one who has touched more than one type of magic. It doesn’t work. Once you know more than one art, you can’t limit yourself back to just one.”
“Women use more than earth magic there? In Illvya. I mean, I’ve heard the stories. Of the—”
“Demons? Water magic, yes. Though truly, more men than women choose that path. Sanctii can be troublesome. And dangerous. Too much trouble, in truth. But yes, women can do more. Is that what you wanted to ask me? It is not such a secret.”
Not a secret, no. But taught to be an abomination. Abhorred by the goddess. Which Sophie had never fully understood. If magic came from the goddess, as the temple taught, how could part of it be forbidden?
And Chloe said that a binding wouldn’t work if you had used more than one kind of magic. Which couldn’t be the explanation in her case. She hadn’t used anything but earth magic, as far as she knew. She wished she had been able to return to the library and the small green book. But perhaps she had just as useful a resource here with her now. “Madame, do you know what amplification means?”
Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Amplification?” She paused, considering. “Do you mean an augmentier, perhaps?”
Sophie wasn’t familiar with the Illvyan word. “What is that?”
“When two people join their different magics. And the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts, as you say. Both are strengthened.”
More than the sum of the parts. Greater than the whole. The book had said something like that. “How does that happen?”
Another shrug. “Ritual. Blood. Sex. It depends. But I think we are straying into those things that I am not allowed to teach to royal witches.”
“Is it a permanent thing?”
“Sometimes. Between married couples, perhaps. Or very close friends. It can be dangerous.”
“How?”
Chloe shook her head. “I think perhaps you should ask your temple to explain. If you are brave enough. I do not think such things are liked here.”
Sophie couldn’t disagree with that. And she didn’t think she was brave enough to raise any such thing with the temple. But perhaps the green book would shed some more light when she could return to the Hall of Three. If this was the thing that the Domina thought had happened to her and Cameron. “Could an augmentier happen accidentally?”
Chloe frowned. “Accidentally? I do not—” She stopped, sat still for a moment. “I do not know. Perhaps. If there was enough power and those involved lacked control. Such a thing would be very unusual in Illvya. But not impossible, maybe. Difficult to undo, I would think, if you did not know how it was done in the first place.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask?”
Sophie shook her head. She couldn’t tell Madame the truth. No one was supposed to know that she was betrothed to Cameron yet, let alone that the proposal was brought about by what they’d done. She pasted on her best innocent smile. “It was just something I came across in a book. I didn’t know what it meant.”
The dark eyebrows arched upward. “I would not expect to find such a thing in an Anglion book on magic.”
“It was just a book on bindings.”
“You Anglions are overly fond of bindings. It is foolish to give up part of your power to another to control.” Madame de Montesse glanced back at the house. “But again, perhaps this topic is not what I should discuss with a royal witch.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said. “I was just curious.” Perhaps a change of subject was called for before Chloe grew too uncomfortable and decided they should go back inside. “What’s it like? Illvya?”
Madame de Montesse looked startled. “Do you truly want to know?”
Sophie nodded. “Yes. I mean, they teach us very little. How big it is, what the capital is, what countries it claims. But the rest is so vague. Other than it is cursed for using water magic, of course.”
“Of course.” Chloe smiled then. “If they were sensible, they would teach that we are very dull. So dull no one would be curious. And no one would ever try to come farther than the trade points.”
Sophie didn’t want to hear about trade points. Trade with Illvya was strictly limited and controlled. Exchanges of essential goods only, and that conducted under such a weight of treaties and protocols that she had nearly fallen asleep anytime anybody had tried to explain it to her.
“Is that why you left? It was too dull for you?”
“No.” For a moment, Chloe looked wistful. Almost sad. “No. Never dull. Quite the opposite. It is very different, Illvya. Wilder than here, yet more civilized in some ways. Also more dangerous. Freedom brings risks, after all.”
“Why did you leave?” Sophie asked before she could stop herself. When she realized what she had asked, she clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. “I’m sorry. That was terribly rude. You don’t have to tell me.”
“I do not mind. It is as the tales they tell of me say. My husband died. The circumstances were not good. I did not think I would be long behind him if I stayed, though the error was his and not mine. So I took the chance and ran. For me, it worked.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said. “I can’t imagine.” Leaving Kingswell with Cameron had been scary enough. She couldn’t imagine leaving her whole life behind for good. Her hand strayed to the pearl at her throat. Salt protect me. If the goddess was kind, she would never have to do anything more than try to imagine such a thing.
“It was long ago. Time heals such things.” Chloe straightened on the bench as the quarter bell chimed. “Now, milady, I think you have asked enough for one day. If you linger much longer, you will not have the chance to try on that very pretty dress your mother showed me. The one she says is for your Ais-Seann celebration when it finally happens. Either that or your Red Guard friend will grow impatient. Go inside. I will wait out here until you return to the palace. No one will see me.”