“No one else,” I said firmly.
Casimir looked mollified, but I wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily.
“Why can’t you tell me why it matters? What happens if Devereaux learns my name?”
He shifted uncomfortably. Again, I had the sense that he was evaluating me with his gaze, deciding how much information he could trust me with.
After a moment, he said, “You’re safe exactly up to the moment Devereaux realizes ‘Farrow’ isn’t your true last name.”
Until Devereaux learned my true last name, Flynch. Farrow-Flynch, to be exact.
I stared at him in bewilderment. Because all Devereaux had to do was either torture August or break into the school records, and he’d have my name sealed on his lips forever. I shook my throbbing head in confusion. I was still so dizzy from the aftereffects of the wine that, in my haste to get up, my foot slipped.
Casimir caught my elbow before I went crashing to the floor.
With a groan, I wrenched away from his grip.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would Devereaux’s knowing my true name make me unsafe?”
He sighed as I slumped to the floor. “A name is tied to a person, body and soul. Simply put, knowing someone’s true name gives them power over you. If a Daemon like Devereaux knows your name, he can invoke it in a ritual or offer it to theBook of Erebos. Names have power in Ethervale, and your mortal one is no different. To seal a binding magical contract like a bloodbargain requires the use of true names.”
“But, he already knows my mother’s name,” I pointed out.
“Ah, but Daemon magic follows genealogy through patrilineage.”
I rolled my eyes. Ofcourseit did. Daemons were an utterly patriarchal bunch.
Casimir tilted his head as he considered me. “It strikes me as odd that your father wanted you to use your mother’s last name. I suppose it’s rather lucky all the same, because whether we like it or not, August obeys a new master now. It’s only a matter of time before he slips up under the pressure and reveals your true name, especially if they’re regularly subjecting him to torture.”
I winced at his casual reference to torture, knowing he was right. August had protected me thus far, and I was lucky Devereaux was ignorant of my full name. But how long would it be before he discovered the truth?
I clenched my jaw defensively. “August has held out this long. He hasn’t betrayed me.”Not yet, anyway.
Casimir’s face darkened, his umber eyes suddenly cold as they met mine. “I wonder if Sinclair knows he’s got you in his corner, defending him?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said impatiently. “Even if August never reveals my true name, Devereaux can glamour me and hurt me just as easily without my name.”
“True,” he conceded. “But if he attempts to use your name to trap you into a veilbound bargain or invokes your name in a curse, it’s likely nothing would happen. It would be non-binding.”
I twisted my head to cast him a skeptical glance from my position on the floor. “Whereas bloodbargains follow another set of rules,” I said, recalling our earlier conversation.
“Correct. Names aren’t always required to enshrine bloodbargains due to the use of blood in the vow-making. Now,” he said with an air of exaggerated patience, “will you please get up from the floor?”
I allowed him to help me to my feet. “When Zhara lured me upstairs, disguised as August—she looked exactly like him,” I said, frowning. “How can she transform into other people?”
“She’s a Morpher. Those of her caste tend to dwell in shadow and darkness. They possess an uncanny ability to cloak themselves in particularly convincing glamours. Including human ones.”
“I… tasted her glamour in the air,” I admitted. “It was like… iron.” I was careful to omit the wordblood.
Casimir jerked around to stare at me, his amber eyes wide. “You tasted Zhara’s glamour? Are you sure?” Beneath his astonishment, there was something like triumph glimmering in his gaze. “Well, I guess I was right.” He smirked. “You can be trained to detect glamours.”
“I suppose,” I said skeptically. “Zhara also conjured a goblet of wine out of thin air.” I shuddered at the memory. “Is that… normal, for Morphers?”
Casimir shook his head. “No. It just so happens Zhara is both a Morpher and a Metallurgist. It isn’t a common ability, but Metallurgists can wield and manipulate metal and ore.”
“Why did she bother to glamour herself in the first place?”
Casimir shrugged. “Perhaps she planned to offer you the Daemon wine while morphed as August. She figures you trust August and would be more willing to accept the wine from him than someone else. She might’ve chosen to appear as someone else—another friend or trusted person—but she can’t just morph at will. Her powers are already drained significantly, and she would need to steal the essence of that person to morph. August was likely just the easiest option.”