The Triumph of Felix by Taylen Carver

Author:Taylen Carver [Carver, Taylen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stories Rule Press Inc.
Published: 2020-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

We quickly established that the burns were caused by acid, although figuring out which acid would have to wait for much later. I directed Fabricio on how to apply the salve and got busy taking vitals.

While I worked, I watched from the corner of my eye as Magorian picked up his big backpack of magical wonders from the corner where he had left it. He pulled out pots of herbs and salves and liquids and mixed up something in a coffee cup and got the salamander to drink some.

“It will let her sleep,” he told me, when I tilted my head and raised my brow.

“I might need to ask her questions, yet,” I pointed out, trying not to be offended that he was independently treating my patient.

“Her name is Paloma von Napoli,” Fabricio offered.

“About how this happened,” I amended.

“That’s not her real name,” Magorian said, making both of us look at him. “I mean, it isn’t her human name.”

“Her human name isn’t hers anymore,” Fabricio said, sounding a little puzzled and wary, too.

“You know her,” I guessed from the way Magorian stood looking down at her.

He nodded. “This is…was…Dr. Maria Tosetti.” He looked up at us. At me, I realized. “I spent a week working with her in Naples, a year or so ago. She is—was…no, is, dammit. She is the preeminent historian on the late Roman Empire.”

I put it together and felt a little sick. “This is how Aurelius is getting his information. He finds the expert he needs among the old ones and forces them to give up everything they know.”

Magorian nodded. “It explains Paris, too.”

My jaw dropped. “My god, yes! He kept someone on the island, surrounded by something they couldn’t cross and worked on them. Could it have been Paloma? These are acid burns…” I swallowed. “He’s out of control,” I breathed. “The Aurelius I knew last summer couldn’t have done this.”

“That you know of,” Magorian said. “He has been planning this for a long while, remember. He was playing you. Playing for time. Looking reasonable and empathetic belayed any suspicions you might have about him.”

“We need to find Aurelius,” I said heavily. “Now.” I rubbed my jaw, watching Fabricio slather the alkaline salve over Paloma’s raw wounds. “And we need to know what she told Aurelius.”

Magorian shook his head. “How many other experts will he torture into submission while we chase his shadow across Europe?”

Fabricio tried to look like he wasn’t listening to us bicker.

“If Paloma told him which arch he needs, then we can beat Aurelius to it,” I countered. My heart was thudding against my chest and echoing in my temples.

“If she could have told him that, she would have and saved herself from this—” Magorian ground out, waving toward Paloma. “That’s what happens to someone who won’t or can’t talk!”

My phone warbled with Priska Daly’s ring tone. I hissed impatiently. “I have to get this.” I reached for it.

“No, we have to find Aurelius,” Magorian countered.

I answered the phone as I walked away from the surgical bed.

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