Crown of Whispers by Isabella August

Author:Isabella August [August, Isabella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-10T22:00:00+00:00

“Catch,” Beatrice said.

Dorian blinked as she flicked the Canadian loonie at him. He caught it only barely, with a delayed reaction. He knitted his brow at the coin. “And what am I supposed to do with this?” he asked carefully.

“Put it in your mouth,” Beatrice told him. “Don’t worry—I washed it.”

Dorian’s face didn’t change, but there was more than a little bit of disgust behind his eyes. Still, he slid the golden coin into his mouth with only a hint of discomfort.

“Étouffe-toi pas dessus,” Beatrice advised him. Don’t choke on that. “I’ve got plenty more to say to you once this is all over.”

Dorian, quite wisely, did not attempt to respond.

Beatrice settled onto the floor in front of him, cross-legged. She opened up her Witchsight. Predictably, she saw nothing of note in front of her—even the glimmer of magic on her coin had disappeared into Dorian’s empty aura.

I know it’s there, though, Beatrice thought. Slowly, she brought her electric orange magic to bear, searching out the coin anyway. The power snagged upon the coin… and this time, she became aware of the man in front of her. It was a faint awareness—Dorian’s magic still struggled to conceal him—but it was far more than she was used to feeling from him.

“Jean Belmont gave me his secret,” Beatrice said. “I want you to decrypt it for me, right now. Lentement, s'il te plaît. I’ll want to watch the process.”

Dorian dearly looked as though he wanted to mutter something at this—but the coin in his mouth fulfilled a dual purpose. In addition to acting as a focus for Beatrice’s magic, it also kept him pleasantly quiet.

This time, as Dorian reached for the knowledge he had locked away into his mind, Beatrice felt the process unfold. Dark whispers rose around them, hissing and writhing like a thousand snakes. Dorian breathed out… and as he did, a soft gray mist escaped from between his lips.

The process unveiled the man behind the aura once again. Beatrice was nearly distracted from her purpose entirely when she saw him this time. The hideous dread in Dorian’s aura had only grown stronger and more certain—even as Beatrice watched, it became tinged with panic. Dorian had agreed to do as she asked… but even now, there was a large part of him that expected things to go horribly wrong.

Beatrice shoved the thought ruthlessly down. Maybe he’s right, she thought. Maybe things will go horribly wrong. But I’m not leaving this city without some goddamn answers.

Beatrice returned her attention to the gray secret that trembled before them both. Even as she watched, the secret rewove itself, rearranging its contents into a coherent format. She tried to memorize the sinuous movements, but they were far too complex to understand all at once, even though Dorian was clearly slowing down the process. Thankfully, Beatrice didn’t need to memorize the key—the coin on Dorian’s tongue kept track of every small magical adjustment, storing the information within itself for later.

The secret before her finally settled, coalescing into a solid whole.

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