He throws out a hand. “I don’t know. I’m not a nought. Or a girl. What do you even like?” He asks, scrutinizing me like someone would examine a strange creature.
“I wasn’t allowed to have possessions,” I mumble.
His face goes from mystified to incredulous. “You weren’t allowed to have anything? You don’t intend to keep abiding by that, right?”
“No?”
“Well, then, I think girls usually like…Vera, what do you like?”
“Shoes?”
“Shoes? Jewelry? Fancy soap? Perfume?”
I narrow my eyes. “Why are you asking?”
“Look, I really need you to follow my lead tomorrow. Play your role. Do as I…say?” he asks, gritting his teeth uncertainly.
“You’re trying to bribe me,” I accuse.
“I’m trying to come to an agreement with you,” he corrects. I remain deadpan and he looses another sigh. “I playedyourgame with your father, did I not? No questions asked? Play my game.”
“Technically you did ask questions.”
“Why did you have me threaten your father?”
I stubbornly shift away.
“Questions you refuse to answer.”
“It's different. You got to threaten my father. You enjoyed doing that. You want me to act like your pet,” I snap.
“It's not like it's for my own gratification. It's for your protection. You don’t understand the way things work here”
The fact that he’s trying to bribe me insinuates that maybe he doesn’t have the means to control me with magic after all…it doesn’t make any sense…I canfeelit. Or he at least doesn’t have the power to control me to the extent he needs.
It doesn’t change anything.
I still want to get out of here, find the noughts, and start a new life. In order to do that I need to understand how to navigate his world. I wrack my brain, trying to think of something that will make it worth it for me to heed his request. “I want to know more about your world. The world,” I correct.
“What do you want to know?”
“I want to know…everything.”
He laughs. “That might take me awhile. Anything more specific?”
“How can I know what I don’t know?”
“Fair point.”
I recall the strange features of the Magi outside. “Those…Magi out there with the wings and horns. Are those real?”
He laughs softly. “No, it’s just a glamour. Like a magical facade,” he offers when he sees my confusion.
“Could you do anything with a glamour? Could you make yourself look like someone else?” If this was some sort of potion I could get my hands on that could be incredibly beneficial.
“Whatever you can think of if you have the artistic skill. They are tiresome to keep up, though. Most Magi do not have the stamina to hold them for very long.”
“Stamina?” I repeat in question.
