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Uncrossing his arms in alarm, Corvus started to answer, “No, should I…” but he was almost immediately interrupted by Simone. “What are you talking about, you stupid girl? There’s nothing wrong with this book.”

Corvus’ eyes flared in anger, but Pearl put up a hand before he could bite back. She had to time this perfectly. As she expected, within moments a blade of magic shot out at her. It was deep red - almost black and smelled putrid. Pearl dodged expertly out of the way as her own magic flared. Throwing up her hands, she used them to guide a magical rope around the rotting magic and closed her hands into fists so her magic would mimic the movement and seize the dangerous outburst.

“Corvus - there’s a bottle in my bag. I need you to grab it and uncork it, and then cork it tightly when I tell you.”

His response was immediate, and Pearl gave herself a second to consider how lovely it would be to have an assistant.

The magic emanating from the book fought her as soon as the bottle appeared, but Pearl used all of her strength to push it into the bottle, and then she started pulling. The book began to scream as she removed the magic that had been primed to kill her and no telling how many others before her. It felt like hours had passed as she continued to pull more and more of the magic away when it had probably been only minutes, and she kept one eye on the bottle as it got closer and closer to being filled all the way to the top. Finally, the magic began to thin, and she found the magical signature of the curse exactly as she had expected. It had been vandalized extensively to a point almost beyond recognition, and Pearl spat directly on it. The book wailed as the signature peeled and curled away from the book in an attempt to avoid her spittle, and as soon as it pulled free, Pearl shouted, “Now!”

Corvus corked the bottle, and she used what was left of her magical rope as a seal so nothing could crawl out. Breathing heavily, Pearl turned to Simone who was watching her agape.

“But…but I had two cursebreakers check this book. I promise you, they gave me a 99.9% seal of safety. Which is as much as you can get for a book this old.”

Sitting in one of Simone’s plush chairs with a sigh, Pearl began to massage her arms. “What is the background of these cursebreakers?”

Simone paused. “They were both trained in prestigious universities.”

Pearl fixed her with a look. “I’m highly confident you know that’s not what I was asking. They both are connected to old magic families, aren’t they? Probably third or fourth children if I were to guess?”

Cursebreaking was considered to be a good career choice for children from old European families who were far down the inheritance lines. The titles, money, and property generally all passed to the first born, so the other children had to find some other way to support themselves if they couldn’t marry well. Having a cursebreaker in the family was as handy as a pocket on a shirt, and for all of the children, great emphasis was put on their use. It also contributed heavily to Pearl's difficulties in breaking into the cursebreaking profession.

If Pearl had been expecting Simone to look sheepish, she was disappointed. “And what of it?”

Pearl felt her irritation starting to rise because of Simone’s flippant attitude. “Your cursebreakers thought it was safe specifically because of their pedigree. It reacted very strongly to me because of my pedigree or lack thereof, and you should be very glad that it did. In fact I’m fairly confident it was actually meant to be a helpful spell originally, but someone decided to damage it and make it volatile. The less familiar and recognizable the magic that approaches the book, the sooner and more violently it will react. Which you would think would put me in the most danger, but it was insidiously woven. Whoever degraded this spell did so in such a way that it would seem perfectly safe for anyone for whom this book is actually relevant - folks from the old families. A full frontal attack is much easier to defend against. It just wanted to push me away. It would have eaten Corvus from the inside out before he even knew what was happening.” A sudden thought struck Pearl. “Did your two cursebreakers touch the book?"

Simone’s face went white as she reached the same conclusion as Pearl. “You need to get them to a magical healer now.” And as unimpressed as Pearl had been with Simone so far, she gave her full credit that she ran out of the room shouting about needing to reschedule because she had some calls she needed to make. At least Pearl hoped those calls were to her cursebreakers.

Realizing Corvus hadn’t said a word since the book attacked, she turned to him in sudden concern. He had his hand over his mouth, but Pearl could just see a smile peeking over the edge of his hand. Watching her with smiling eyes, Corvus seemed unharmed, but she started to cast a diagnostic charm of her own design to check on him for lingering evidence of a curse when he stepped towards her waving his hands.

“That’s completely unnecessary because you are magnificent.” Corvus brushed one of her loose waves that had fallen from her ponytail out of her face. “I feel privileged to be standing in the presence of someone who can not only lasso a curse but can prove Simone Moreau wrong.”

Having him touch her hair was a decadent treat, and it made her desperate for Corvus to bury his fingers in her hair. Forcing herself to focus on his words, she attempted to reply with some intelligence. “I had been hoping if I impressed her, she’d want to hire me, but considering the fact I actually berated her and made her run away, I feel like the chances of that are slim.”

Laughing, Corvus moved closer. “I think you mean you told her the truth and convinced her to do something for the good of humanity for once in her selfish life. You wouldn’t want to work for someone like her. She’s one of the snobbiest human beings I’ve ever had the misfortune of knowing. She doesn’t deserve you.”

Pearl could almost feel his breath on her cheek, and she hoped it wasn’t obvious how much his closeness was impacting her. Her voice was almost a whisper when she answered. “So who does deserve me, Corvus.”

That earned her a crooked smile, and he touched her cheek gently with the back of his fingers. “Probably no one. But definitely not her.”

“Do you?” The question broke the little spell that had fallen over them. Corvus stepped back with a grimace as though she’d slapped him, and he answered a question that wasn’t the one she asked.

“I don’t normally work with her, but I’ve been looking for this book for some time, and she was my first legitimate lead. Would you mind seeing if there are any more curses on it?”

Shaking her head to clear it as the conversation steered back to business, Pearl tried to ignore how disappointed she was that Corvus had snapped back into his professional mode. “Shouldn’t we wait until Simone reschedules?”

Sniffing, Corvus replied with a sneer. “I’ll leave a big enough check, she won’t be too put out.”

Pearl sighed, supposing her dream of working with Simone really was dead. “Of course. And I’ll take the damaged spell back with me to see if I can figure out what it was originally meant to be. I’m almost confident the warning it gave me was some part of an originally benevolent spell attempting to break through.”

Corvus inclined his head, “As you like.”

After an hour of testing the book and running various diagnostics, Pearl declared the book as safe as she could make it, and Corvus picked it up with his bare hands before Pearl could protest. Putting her hands on her hips, Pearl chastised him. “Corvus, you have entirely too much confidence in me. You should have at least put on gloves.”

“I think I have exactly the right amount of confidence in you. Anyone who can keep me from rotting from the inside out has my trust. And you know Simone only uses the best, so the two cursebreakers who missed this are not some cheap alleyway cursebreakers.”

A flash of Corvus’ red magic, and the book disappeared. Pearl went to protest, but Corvus beat her to the punch. “We can look at books tomorrow, but we’re in Paris today.”

Pearl found this to be a compelling point. She didn’t do much traveling except for work here and there, and any time she’d been in Paris, there hadn’t been much time for enjoyment. “Are you sure?”