Page 192 of Serpent and Shadow

“So what is the story?” Bones asked, more warily than I might have.

“The ritual itself,” Forsooth said, setting down his mug. “It is already the theory favored by the magical enforcement agents who have been collecting witness statements of the event. From the outside, the magic that hit him didn’t obviously come from Ms. Shadow. Most witnesses described it as coming from the ritual rings. One described it as seeming to come from both ‘the sky and the ground below the hall.’ It seems best to let everyone think that Malefic engaged with magicks beyond his abilities, and he paid for it with his life.”

Forsooth leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

“It would not be the first time such a thing occurred,” he added mildly. “You might be surprised at just how often talented Magicals die at the hands of their own magics, particularly in dark rituals, which have a tendency to be somewhat unpredictable.”

I nodded, feeling something relax, deep in my chest.

That honestly hadn’t been my biggest worry though, when law enforcement descended on Worm Hall as the Dark Cathedrals fled. Thinking about that now, I swallowed.

“And Bones?” I asked, clearing my throat. “What about him?”

Forsooth smiled, while Blackstone let out a discreet grunt.

“What about him, Ms. Shadow?” Forsooth asked pleasantly.

“He’ll be arrested, won’t he?” I glanced nervously at Bones. “The papers have been screaming about him for months. Calling him a mass murderer. Saying he’s his father’s executioner, that he killed and kidnapped hundreds across towns, cities, and royal estates. They think he broke his father out of the Pyramid––”

“Ah, well, perhaps you have not heard,” Forsooth broke in gently. “A great deal of evidence has surfaced in the time since those reports were written. Right now, an entire team of G.O.R.E. agents, British Magical Enforcement, Praecuri, and the King’s Guard are poring over every stone and beam and mote of dust inside the Bones’s royal estate. I am told there is a great deal of evidence, from the servants there, the Dark Cathedrals who have been picked up and are now cooperating, as well as the magical forensic evidence found at the site, that incontrovertibly proves that Caelum Bones was held prisoner in the dungeons of that castle for nearly five months, and mistreated quite severely while there.”

There was a long silence as Forsooth’s words penetrated.

“So who was he, then?” Bones asked, his voice terse. He glanced at me, but didn’t quite hold my gaze. A harder cynicism lived in his eyes, and his voice verged on sarcastic. “Who was this masked murderer, if it wasn’t me?”

Forsooth’s faint smile widened. “Why, Malefic, of course.”

I scoffed, unable to help it.

I exchanged looks with Bones, and his forehead wrinkled in thought.

“But they were seen together,” I pointed out, turning back to Forsooth, and to Blackstone, who remained silent. “There are witnesses who saw that, too. The Bones family, father and beloved heir, standing side by side over the ruins of more than one city and town. Malefic’s fatherly hand on Caelum’s shoulder…”

Forsooth waved this away.

“Magical mirages,” he said dismissively. “Subterfuge. It is widely known that Caelum Bones was gifted the entirety of the Bones Estate by his mother, that both son and mother disavowed Malefic Bones following his father’s sentence at the Pyramid Gaol. There were many reports of abuse at that time, too, including by friends of the family, servants, even school mates,” Forsooth added, giving me a meaningful look.

“Upon his escape,” the mage added. “Malefic wanted that vast fortune returned to him, not in the hands of a disloyal wife who was in the midst of severing their bond, or the son who chose that wife over his own father. When Malefic could not regain his fortune legally, he resorted to kidnapping and imprisoning his son to regain control.”

Bones and I just sat there, silent.

Forsooth’s eyebrow rose.

“Malefic’s magical talents were legendary,” he reminded both of us. “No one disputes that he was an exceptional, generational talent, despite his last ritual overpowering both his abilities and his ambitions. And no one saw Caelum Bones at his father’s side when he was about to perform the ritual meant to be the crowning achievement of his magical career. Instead, Caelum Bones arrived late, after the ritual had already been disrupted. There, he was witnessed by many as clearly injured, with a visible burn from a collar on his neck. He stood there, bruised, bloodied, and battered after escaping his long imprisonment, protecting his legal wife, Leda Rose Shadow La-Fey Bones, after she was nearly murdered by her own father-in-law.”

I frowned, my head tilted, as I processed all of this.

“You’re serious,” Bones said, incredulous.

At Forsooth’s silence, he let out a humorless laugh. His fingers tightened on mine where we sat together on Forsooth’s small couch.

“No one will believe that,” he said contemptuously. “They won’t!”

“But they will,” I blurted, unthinking.

Bones looked over at me, and I lowered my mug to my knee.

I glanced at Corvid, then at Forsooth, and cleared my throat.