I was wary as he stood and walked to his bookshelves. He pulled a leather-bound book with an illuminated spine, and turned through its pages until he found a loose square of parchment, tucked safely within the leaves. I watched, horrified, as he set that parchment on the desk. It was one of my charcoal drawings.

I went hot and cold all at once. This little drawing of mine was about to expose me.

How had he stolen it?

And then I remembered. The day we had collided on the street, when I had been studying the knight’s sword mark on the cobblestones. My portfolio had fallen open, my drawings scattered in the wind. Phelan had helped me collect them, but I hadn’t noticed him pilfering one.

I quelled my trembling and forced a calm mask over my face. I took the drawing in my hand, studying it as if I had never seen it before. My blood felt like molten gold, simmering in my veins. My chest ached as rock scraped against bone, and I determined in that split moment that this was a game I must win. I detached all emotion from my artwork.

“Is she an artist?” I asked, sounding as if I was only vaguely interested.

“Yes.”

“She’s not that accomplished. Why would you steal her artwork?”

“I . . . what?” Phelan frowned at me. “No, I didn’t steal it.”

“She gave it to you, then?”

“Well, no.”

“Then you stole it.” I set the drawing on the desk and leaned back in my chair. I drank the tea, hoping it would ease my dread.

“I found it,” Phelan said. “A few weeks ago, I bumped into her on the street and some of her art came loose from the folder she was carrying. I helped her recover her pages, but it was not until after we parted ways that I found this one hung up on a bush farther down the road, carried by the wind.”

“Why didn’t you return it to her, then?”

He was pensive. I was coming to learn that I didn’t like it when he was so silent.

“Never mind that.” I stood so I could mirror him. “You have a way to find her now. Use this piece of her art to summon her to you.”

“Yes, I was thinking to do such,” he said, rubbing his chin. His gaze remained on my drawing, transfixed.

I needed him to do it now, while I was in the room with him. I couldn’t afford to have him summon me when I was away.

Perspiration began to dampen my dress. I prepared for anything to unfold, readying my protective spell in case his summoning broke my disguise and I needed to flee. The enchantment waited on the tip of my tongue like a drop of honey.