A Practical Guide to Sorcery (Book 3)

Chapter 91 - The Sun is also a Star (Part 2)

Damien laughed wryly, then continued, speaking even faster. "I overheard a professor say a student had been involved with the Aberrant's break, and I tried to ask them for details, but they wouldn't tell me anything. Then Professor Lacer arrived, and he was floating your unconscious body in the air beside himself. I thought maybe you were dead."

Damien shuddered as he stared off into the distance. "You looked so pale. But he took you to the infirmary. You were just asleep, and he was worried about possible Will-strain..." Damien swallowed, looking at her. "He said you'd experienced a traumatizing event. But he still wouldn't tell me any details, even though he knows we're friends."

The dorms were thankfully empty, all the students away in class. Sebastien had left her own wool jacket at the Silk Door, along with the male outfit she'd been wearing, but she would have to retrieve that later. She began to bundle up in the warmest clothes she had remaining.

Damien watched her for a while, then continued updating her on what had happened in her absence. "They brought Tanya Canelo back, but they didn't keep her in the main infirmary room, so I didn't get a chance to talk with her. She looked...horrible. Worse than you, even. The coppers came and escorted her away this morning. And Newton didn't come back at all. Is he..."

Sebastien stilled, her scarf halfway wrapped around her neck. "Newton is dead," she said softly.

Damien rocked back on his heels, his eyes fluttering closed as if she had struck him. "What happened? Did Canelo..."

Sebastien shook her head, her throat tightening. Her shadow-familiar had been meant to draw away attention, but it had instead drawn too much attention. Too much fear. Perhaps, if not for her, Newton wouldn't have lost control and broken. There would have been no strings, no people dead...except for herself, fallen to the Morrows. Sebastien swallowed heavily past the lump in her throat, feeling dizzy. She lifted a hand to her forehead, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

When she opened her eyes, Damien had stepped closer, his hand raised halfway, ready to support her. "I am...restricted from speaking of the details." She gave him a significant look, hoping he would get the hint.

"You had to make a magical vow. To the Red Guard?"

Hesitantly, she nodded. Nothing stopped her from doing so, though she felt some resistance.

"Did the Aberrant kill Newton?"

She rubbed her dry lips together. "Not...exactly."

Damien let out a harsh, ragged breath. "Newton was the Aberrant?"

She nodded again, more shallowly because she could feel the magic of the vow restricting her. In the eyes of the spell, Damien must not know enough for her to communicate with him freely. And whatever that skull had done, this vow was based around compulsion, not the threat of punishment. 'I wonder how strong the compulsion is, how far I can push it?' She hesitated before attempting to tell Damien everything, however. Partially because she worried the Red Guard might somehow learn of her unfaithfulness—she had no idea how that artifact worked, after all—and partially because she was simply too fatigued to make the effort. "I'm sorry. I'm really unable to talk about it. If you want details, Professor Lacer knows most of it, though not about the order of no name or our longer-running surveillance of Tanya. You might be able to get more information if you pester him."

"Are you...are we safe?"

"As far as I know, yes. But you'll want to avoid acting suspiciously. And give me the bracelet—the one Newton triggered." The one she had triggered while removing evidence from Newton's metamorphosed body.