Becca’s sole change this time was adding a painting of Tesse in her bedazzling engagement gown. She was a specter of ageless beauty and power and a constant reminder of the event that had brought Becka back to House Rowan: Tesse’s murder. Becka had hung the portrait on the wall across from the divan so she could look upon and remember her sister from the furniture Tesse herself had added to the room.
Her sisters, Ingrid and Sigfrid, thought the painting morbid and had encouraged Becka to overhaul the space to invite in fresh memories. Becka had flatly refused. She wanted to remember Tesse. Besides, she liked the amalgamation of styles that her space represented. And more than anything, she wanted her first and last thoughts of the day to remind her that, if she wasn’t careful, a Shadow-Dweller might kill her just like they’d killed Tesse.
Now, after her discussion with Maura the day before, Becka wondered how well she’d known Tesse after all? From Maura’s description, Tesse had been not just an illusionist prodigy but also a model daughter, following in her footsteps with gusto. But the Tesse she had spoken to during their secret conversations had loved hearing all about Becka’s wild experiences in the city, so much so that she’d often wondered if Tesse would have preferred being there with her. It was impossible to know her sister’s inner thoughts and it wasn’t like she could ask Tesse now. Based on the general adoration Rowan had toward Tesse, Becka had to conclude that her sister was indeed an exemplary fae.
She could imagine Tesse wouldn’t be pleased with Becka’s slow reintegration into House Rowan or her persistent refusal of Alain. Her sister might have found Becka’s insistence on holding onto her city clothes and pink hair amusing, but she would have had a strong opinion. Becka wanted to do right by Tesse’s memory, but how could she do that while remaining faithful to her unique identity?
Becka had resisted the notion of stepping into Tesse’s shoes despite being thrust into the role. Not only did it smack of imposter syndrome, but Becka hadn’t felt like she truly belonged. Perhaps she’d been thinking of it all wrong? Would Tesse have wanted Becka to step into her shoes?
Exhausted and moody, Becka didn’t want to seek out her schedule any earlier than required, so she lay down on the divan with the Shadow-Dweller book Quinn had brought her to test. Oriani, her sister’s gold-and-brown tabby with a golden sheen to his eyes, joined her, at first demanding scritches under his chin before he took up a position curled around her toes. Paging through the book, Becka took a sip from a bottle of hot sauce to forestall the headaches that kicked in whenever she encountered something magical.
Becka turned her focus back to the book. Wearing the gloves that had become her daily habit, Becka opened the book carefully. She was intent on not damaging the book despite Quinn’s apparent lack of concern. And wow, was this book layered in magic! The first time she’d touched it, something had been knocked loose by her Nulling ability and given her a heck of a headache.
Quinn had asked her to find something, anything, of consequence in these pages. Becka was determined to help, especially considering the trouble she’d gotten him into. Besides, like she could turn down a good mystery?
Each page was covered in the glyphs she’d become all too familiar with. There was no known translation for them; the enforcers had exhaustively searched to no avail. Yet Becka couldn’t help looking for some sense of a pattern between the pages.
A few rare pages were blank. A handful had only one or two glyphs. Most were covered with the arcane symbols. Becka couldn’t determine any rhyme or reason to it. There didn’t appear to be chapters or sections. Each page felt random. More like artistic styling than a language.
One thing she’d learned from research was to keep asking questions to find the answer beyond the answer. Focus on what you observed and look for patterns and meaning based on what you’d seen later.
Was she looking for the wrong thing?
Switching gears, Becka focused on the energetic signatures of the pages and how her gift reacted to each. Using this method, she discovered that not all pages felt the same energetically. Could separate enchantments effect different sections of the book? She knew the magics were there because they made her head throb when her gloved fingers slid over the pages. She took great care to not loose her powers upon the book. Instead, she selectively moved around those elements, jotting down in her notebook pages that seemed to be more magically complex, as well as those which appeared to have no additional magic imbued. Curiously, the level of magic infused into the pages appeared in no way related to the number of glyphs on a page.
What if the glyphs aren’t even important? What if only the magic matters?
She had yet to figure out what the magic did, but she felt like she was getting closer to… something. The magics used were sometimes familiar and sometimes unfamiliar to her. Some patterns felt like the illusion magic she trained against daily. Others reminded her of the more subtle movements of Vott’s air elementalist patterns. Still others were completely foreign to her. The combination reaffirmed her understanding of Shadow-Dwellers; they alone wielded a spectrum of stolen magics.
Becka felt like she was on the cusp of putting the puzzle together and the answer was floating around the back of her mind, just needing the right push for it to float to the surface of her consciousness.
Becka bit her lip, wishing she could talk with Quinn and tell him what she suspected. Perhaps he’d have ideas on things to test out.
She thought about venturing out of her room to find him, but would he even want to talk to her right now?
Just then there was a knock on her
