“The Mother Superior at my orphanage was a strong leader. She wouldn’t let the Vicomte finish his adoption until she cast protection spells on us. Long story short, the Vicomte can’t hurt my brother or me.”
“You spoke of your brother before. Is he here? I didn’t see him upstairs.”
“Most likely, you won’t see him today. He travels much of the time.” A small smile rounded her lips. “Philippe is a freeloader and a rogue, I’m afraid. And I mean that in the best way.”
I stepped around the tables, eyeing the piles of mechanical pieces. Much as it helped to know more about Amelia, I had other reasons for being here.
My Sisters are still missing. Time is running out.
“I’d like to be honest with you,” I said.
Amelia tilted her pretty head, making her red curls sway. “Go on.”
“Here’s what I think happened. You were building something for the Vicomte, and it included a Necromancer totem ring. You wish to show me the plans, but Clothilde disagrees. Am I right?”
Amelia took off toward one of the tables. After a few steps, she paused and worried her lower lip with her teeth. “Clothilde doesn’t think I should trust you.” She swung around to face me again. “That Necromancer trick you did with your hand… The way you lit up your bones was impressive.” She didn’t sound impressed. “How can that really help Veronique?”
“What you saw was only a small show of power. I can do far more. It was my magick that sent the Tsar into exile.”
Amelia sniffed. “Just exile? Why didn’t you kill him?”
“Would you believe me if I said that I made a bargain with the Sire of Souls and the Lady of Creation themselves?”
Amelia folded her arms over her chest. “The god and goddess? No, I wouldn’t believe that in the slightest.”
I held back a sigh. The Sire of Souls and the Lady of Creation really did forbid me from hurting the Tsar. Who can account for a deity’s logic? “Let’s just say that sending the Tsar away was hard enough. That’s why the Fantomes are after me. If I can exile the Tsar, then I must be powerful. That makes me a nice source of magick for the Vicomte’s collection. Or even worse, it makes me a threat to him. I might be the only mage who could kill the man in cold blood.”
Amelia’s eyes lit up. “You would murder Daddy Dearest? Truly?”
“He abducted a friend of mine, a child. Now he’s torturing her. If I had the chance, then yes, I’ll kill the Vicomte in a heartbeat.”
Amelia nodded with her mouth hanging open. “You’re a little frightening, Elea.”
“I worked for five long years to become a Grand Mistress. I’d better be frightening.” I stepped up to a table and ran my fingers over the collection of tiny metal tools. I didn’t know much about machines, but even I could tell these were parts of a small watch. All of which made sense. The Vicomte was known for carrying multiple watches with him wherever he went. “Tell me about what you built here.”
There was a long moment where Amelia stared at the tabletop. My hands turned slick with sweat. Please, let her tell me willingly. I didn’t want to force her with a spell.
At last, Amelia broke the silence. “I built the Vicomte a device. I call it a vortex watch.”
Vortex. “It pulls in power to one place.”
Amelia nodded. “That’s what I had everyone working on.” She gestured across the room. “Some groups were dedicated to metallurgy, others to the conductive properties of coils. I focused on the gear that held a small totem ring.”
Her words seemed to hover in the air. Totem ring. I knew it. “And who made this totem ring?”
“None other than the Tsar himself. The Vicomte’s agents stole quite a few of the Tsar’s totem rings over the years. It was all very hush-hush.”
“Because the Vicomte had you secretly building this vortex watch.” I rubbed my neck and thought through this new information. “What did the Vicomte say the vortex watch was for?”
“To drain the Tsar and send him off to prison. Officially, the Vicomte was the Tsar’s greatest supporter. In secret, he loathed the man.” Amelia gestured around the room. “All my people were excited to help in the project, myself included. We knew that the Tsar had agents rounding up those with some Necromancer ability and throwing them into dungeons.” Her mouth set into a determined line. “People just like us. We wanted the Tsar out of power.”
I rarely thought about the fear of living under the Tsar if you were an untrained Necromancer. It must have been terrifying, wondering if you could be abducted at any moment and unable to defend yourself. “So, you thought you were helping to overthrow a tyrant.”
“Precisely. It wasn’t until the Tsar went into exile that I learned the truth. The Tsar hadn’t just thrown Necromancers into dungeons. He drained power from his prisoners. Tortured them.” She shivered. “I should have known.”