Chapter 154 – Confrontation

Mirian readied herself for a fight. She only had a single repository with her, but she always had combat spells prepared in her spellbook and the levitation wand up her sleeve. Behind her was a glass window, so if she needed to, she could escape. Or, she could summon Eclipse. She started to reach for her spellbook, but then froze.

Troytin didn’t have a wand or spellbook ready. Instead, he was just glaring at her.

“Micael Nezzar?” he asked.

“Yes? What are you doing in here? This—ah, Archmage Tyrcast! I’m… honored?” She hoped her confusion sounded genuine. In a sense, it was genuine. If she’d been found out, what was he doing asking her disguise-name? But if she hadn’t been found out, what was he doing with the archmage in tow?

Tyrcast rolled his eyes. “No honoring being done here. I’m just here because I made an ill-advised deal.” Tyrcast swapped to Eskanar. “He’s clean, by the way. No illusions, no unusual anti-divination wards.”

“Damn,” Troytin replied, then swapped back to Friian and said, “You know Mirian Castrella. How?” His Friian had gotten significantly better, she noticed. He still had an accent, but it wasn’t so pronounced.

Gods above, he doesn’t know, she thought. “Who?” she said.

“Don’t play dumb,” he snapped. “You’re too erratic to be self-guided. She’s manipulating you. How? What did she say? What did she promise? What happens at the beginning of the month?”

Mirian thought about how someone not in a time loop would respond. “What? Who are you and why—?”

Tyrcast piped up. “I’m here to make sure you answer the questions,” he said, still sounding bored. “Please do so, honestly, so we can both be done with this embarrassment. Then you can forget this strange little incident ever happened.” He let a stream of light dance around his fingers like a serpent weaving in and out. It was an impressive display of raw magic control.

She could still feel the adrenaline coursing through her, so she hoped she looked sufficiently intimidated. She swallowed, since that was a thing people who were scared did.

“Answer the damn question,” Troytin snapped. “What happens at the start of the month?”

“I… I came here? And then my transfer records got lost in a fire and I had to annoy the registrar for several days.”

“What else? How do you know Svani Endresen?”

She looked at Tyrcast, who looked back at her and shrugged. “Just keep talking and you’ll be fine.”

“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t. I just—” Mirian’s mind raced, trying to come up with pieces to Micael’s backstory she’d never thought to put into place. “—I got a letter from my grandma. She used to be an arcanist and I guess she knew the professor, so she suggested I talk to her. So I did.”

Troytin looked hungry. “Where’s the letter now? Do you have it?”

“Of course not, why would I keep it? I wrote her a letter on the back and sent it through the post. Why do you want to read my grandma’s letter?”

“What else did she say?”

Mirian wracked her brain. I also need to introduce a reason he can’t find Micael. She decided, then and there, that Micael’s story should be that he started the cycle in Cairnmouth, on his way up to Torrviol. “Uh, not to go down River Street on my way to the train because she thought it was too dangerous. Which was weird. Why—?”

“What’s your grandmother’s name?”

Mirian tried to think of a common west Baracuel name. “Uh, Cordelia. Nezzar, of course.”

Troytin’s eyes narrowed. “What else happens at the start of the month? What would make you go to Cairnmouth with Calisto Ennecus?”

Mirian’s heart raced. Shit. “What? Why would I do that? I mean, she’s nice, but we’re pursuing very different majors. What’s going on? Why are you even investigating students? You’re Akanans!”

“We were hired on as outside investigators,” Troytin said, lying easily.

Behind him, Tyrcast rolled his eyes, speaking Eskanar again. “Do you really need me along for this?”

“I sent two airships after her, and never heard back from them,” he replied, looking back. “You’re profiting plenty from this, I might remind you.” He obviously hadn’t talked to any of the students Mirian had told Micael’s transfer history to.

Troytin turned again to look Mirian up and down, scowling. He looked over her spellbook, then at the work she was doing. Thank the Ominian I wasn’t working on tri-bonded glyphs. Mirian looked between him and Tyrcast. If she summoned Eclipse, she wondered how fast she could kill Troytin and run down Tyrcast. She embraced the Dance of the Dusk Waves form so that her reaction times would be just a hair faster. After all, if either of them had a focus, they would already know she wasn’t who she seemed. All of a sudden, she wondered what happened to a body that died with binding runes on it. Did it revert to its original form? Either way, revealing herself had to be a last resort. She wasn’t ready. Not yet.

Finally, Troytin took a step back. “She’s finding high-variable actors to focus on now. More subtle than arson.”

“Are we good?”

“Fine. Yes,” he told Tyrcast. To Mirian he said, “Tell no one about this, or there will be consequences you really don’t like. Your family won’t like them either.” He came a step closer and said, “And I have eyes and ears everywhere, so I will know if you talk.” Then he gave her an infuriating smile and started for the door. “Let’s go,” he said, and Archmage Tyrcast obediently followed.

As soon as they were gone, Mirian let out her breath.

Shit that was close.

But the disguise had held up. Troytin had been right there, and he hadn’t known. If he digs deeper, he might figure it out, though. With Specter no longer actively deceiving him about how soul magic worked, it would only be a matter of time before he figured out the pieces he was missing. Both the Deeps and Republic Intelligence Division were using soul magic. Troytin knew Mirian was associated with both Xipuatl and Marva who used soul magic.

She considered running, but decided that might make Troytin look closer. It seemed he was going around investigating anyone suspicious for connections, trying to reverse-engineer the disruptions Mirian was doing. Looking for a pattern. Looking for my objectives. He would depart Torrviol shortly and return during the invasion.

After this cycle, though, Micael had to disappear. She’d concocted a backstory that wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny. If Troytin did hear Micael was an exchange student and started investigating Akanan census records, he’d quickly realize Micael Nezzar and his family had never lived there. Port records would reflect the family never transited the straits. If he had access to Baracueli records, he could check those too.

Far too close. She’d overused the disguise. She also had to step up her efforts to misdirect him. The next time she confronted him, she wanted it to be on her terms entirely.

For now, at least, she could continue her stone mole experiments.