Mary Bennet and the Bingley Codex (Regency Mage Book 1) by Joyce Harmon

Author:Joyce Harmon [Harmon, Joyce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-31T22:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

The next morning I sat at my table-desk, reading Fulvia’s book. By common consent, we now did our magical work first thing in the morning before the arrival of Caroline sent us to more mundane tasks. Mister Danver and Mister White, now that the legendary Mysterium had been found and identified as a magical primer, had lost interest in it. I was glad of that, and careful not to draw their attention to the book’s more unusual properties.

For one thing, the text of the book did not appear to be fixed. I would turn to a page where I had found an interesting spell or bit of instruction, only to find that something else was there and the information I sought was somewhere else entirely. And if I opened the book at random, the text I found there often concerned the very subject matter we had been discussing. But I kept that to myself. Like old Mister Lange, I worried that if the book was revealed as too intriguing, the Order would take it for their own study.

But today, I noted again something that had puzzled me before, and I decided to bring it up. I looked up from my work and asked, “How old is the Mysterium?”

White and Danver looked up from their own pursuits (Mister Danver was covering page after page in scrawled equations), and considered the issue. “From all appearances,” Mister White said, “I would judge it to be two centuries old, give or take. Though it is in excellent condition with no deterioration.”

“And yet,” Danver pointed out, “John Dee also considered the book to be of about that age, and that was over two centuries ago. So four hundred, surely.”

“Or older?” I asked. “A curious thing I note is that while Papa often advises Fulvia to keep her magical abilities secret, he never mentions the Order as a source of danger or concern.”

“Hmm,” said White. “That is odd, certainly. But even at four hundred years, for a hand written and hand bound volume, the condition is extraordinarily good. I cannot think it would be much older than that.”

“No?” Danver countered. “You forget the preservative powers of dragon skin.”

“You are right,” White conceded. “I had forgotten that. So perhaps it could indeed be significantly older.”

“As much as a thousand years?” I almost squeaked. “So this could be from the time before the Conclave of Constantinople in 732, when the people were turning against magicians?”

“Quite possible,” Danver said.

I looked down at the book in awe. “But when you say ‘dragon skin’,” I said. “That is a figure of speech, surely. There are no such things as dragons.”

“Not anymore, perhaps,” Danver said.

“There once were dragons?!” I asked eagerly.

“Of course there were,” Danver replied. “Where do you think the old artists would have gotten the concept?”

“Tell me – “ I began. But here was Caroline, and our magical discussion was at an end.

Later, walking in the gardens, the gentlemen and I had walked ahead of Caroline, who was talking with Jane and Bingley about friends they had in common.

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