Page 39 of Deceiving the Cursed Beast
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that your contract with Marc didn’t require him to deliver the contract to Edwin.”
I quickly went over everything Marc had said since returning from Leort in my head. He had never said he gave Edwin the contract. Perhaps Isa’s father hadn’t signed because he never saw it. And Isa figured that all out without even needing to truth-read the secretary.
“Why would Marc refuse to deliver the contract?” I said aloud, though mostly I was asking myself. “He is clearly not working in my best interests, but why would he want to keep you trapped here?”
Isa’s teeth sank into her lower lip, leaving me to battle very inconvenient—and impossible—thoughts. I had dreamed of regaining my human form with more frequency and fervor since she had arrived at Rose Castle.
She met my eyes. “Who suggested using the phrase ‘younger daughter’ when you wrote my contract?”
I blinked. “Marc. He pointed out that names can be tricky things in a contract and defining a relationship would be more exact.”
Isa nodded, clearly expecting my answer. “All right, I still don’t know why, but Marc wanted me here from the beginning. Or at least he didn’t want Sofia.”
“What makes you so sure? Didn’t you say lots of people mistake you for the older twin?”
“They do. But when I met Marc for the first time, he called me Isabel. You hadn’t introduced me. Unless you told him the evening before about what had happened?”
I shook my head. I hadn’t even noticed that Marc knew her name, and I knew I hadn’t told him. Isa caught all the slips I ignored. “You don’t miss much, do you?”
Isa laughed. “I miss plenty, but not usually the little details that keep a story from adding up. Instead, I miss things like my sister’s birthday.”
My ears pricked forward. “Wouldn’t it be the same as yours?”
She nodded. “Twice,” she admitted. “I’ve forgotten twice.”
“Just to clarify, did you also forget it was your birthday on those occasions?”
She pressed her lips together for a moment, then shook her head.
I laughed. “How did Sofia react?”
Isa’s lips twitched. “In typical Sofia fashion, with complete understanding and an apology for not reminding me.”
“And since the second time, does she now remind you every year?”
“Oh no, she knows it would embarrass me if she had to keep reminding me. Instead, she always gets someone else to bring it up in conversation with me a week before and the day of.”
“Uh, wouldn’t that be more embarrassing?”
“Absolutely. But Sofia doesn’t realize I know she puts those people up to it.”
“Let me guess, you’d tell her, but then she’d feel so bad she wouldn’t continue the reminders and you are afraid you still need them?”
“You catch on quick.”
A purr rumbled through my throat for an instant before the words suddenly stabbed at me. I might understand Isa, but I had overlooked so much when it came to Marc. I still wasn’t catching on where he was concerned. “Why do you think he is doing this?”
Isa followed my mental jump without hesitation. “I don’t know. You depend on him for contact with the outside world, but he is still only an intermediary. Perhaps he thinks you will give him more authority if the curse lasts much longer?”
“That could explain him wording the contract to bring you here instead of Sofia, if he thinks a truth-teller is more likely to break the curse. It doesn’t explain why he wouldn’t take the opportunity to send you away, though. Even if you can’t break the curse, you are still helping me.”
“Maybe we should ask him.”
“Even with the truth-telling enchantment and your talent at truth-reading, I don’t know that we’ll get the answers we need. Marc will talk around everything like he usually does, and if we push too hard, he’ll refuse to answer at all. I’d rather he not know how much I distrust him unless I am guaranteed to get answers.”
“Then use the node to guarantee those answers. Truth-telling can force a person to speak. If you can draw on the node to truth-read, then you can draw on it to make Marc answer our questions.”
