“Enchantments work by altering the properties of the item or place they are laid upon. These effects are permanent unless deliberately undone. The prerequisite skill to enchantment magic is being able to access the seventh plane, where the ‘spark’ of a place or object lies, and communicating with it, and changing its nature there. This is an inborn skill, making enchantment a highly desirable, rare, and expensive service.”

Excerpt from 'Magics of the Fey'

Tanya finished the gardens and let Silas know she was done. By now, he had his emotions under control, and his face was back to his normal blank, bored expression.

“I’ll go fetch the master,” Silas said, “He should be up by now.”

Silas came back not long after with Ives in tow. Kuon was not with them.

Ives questioned Tanya on how she had implemented the enchantments and she answered his questions.

“Very good,” Ives said, “Let me take a look at the aesthetics.” Ives walked through the hall, and at one point flew up to the ceiling to get a closer look at the bubbles that were there.

He popped an indigo bubble with a brush of his feathers, and sparks flew before a new bubble reformed.

“I like it all very much,” he said, and then went to inspect the tapestries, “These are very nice, but I want the Geese in the front and center.”

Tanya made a sad face, “That won’t be possible unless I undo all the enchantments, and I don’t have time for that.”

Ives' cold eyes narrowed, but then he sighed, “Ah well. I guess you can’t have everything. Perhaps at a later date you can come back and fix it.”

Throughout the exchange Silas’s expression did not waver, for which Tanya was grateful.

“Perhaps.” Tanya said, “Now, if that is all, I’d like to collect Kuon and be on my way.”

“Of course,” Ives turned, “We’ll go to him now.”

Tanya and Silas followed Ives. He led them through the halls of the mansion, towards the room where they’d eaten dinner.

Tanya passed the threshold of the doorway and grew nauseous.

“What is this?” she asked, and moved to step out of the room but Ives grabbed her arm and pulled her further into the dining hall. Tanya found she didn’t have the strength to wrench her arm free.

“I’ve always wanted to study a Tear,” Ives said. His eyes were warm for once, a curiosity and something darker shining in them.

“What have you done?” Ives had turned the room into some sort of trap. It drained Tanya of her vitality and magic. She fell hard onto the floor, her hands slamming against the wood. The wood was painted with dark strokes of some substance.

“Just a simple spell circle, little Tear. We’ll situate you somewhere more comfortable soon, don’t worry. I wouldn’t want you to leave too soon.”

Spell circles were human magic, Tanya thought. Spell circles used the essences of fey to work. Who had given their blood to trap her? Or...who had the Evorys taken the blood from?

The circle continued its work until everything swum in Tanya’s vision and grew dim.

Tanya knew she was in the basement when she woke. She was strung up against a wall. Etchings in the stone, a permanent form of the spell circle, kept her from using her magic.

Had they gotten Kuon too? Was he being held in a nearby cell? Even worse, could he be working for them?

Tanya clenched her hands into a fist. Why hadn’t she been more careful!

Rage built within Tanya. How dare they think to bind her and cut off her magic. She would raze this place to its foundations when she escaped...Tanya started, and her hands relaxed. That thought hadn’t felt...all her.

She felt sick for a whole new reason. The corruption was beginning to set it, twisting her thoughts to violence. ‘Give a little give to the curse,’ the Howling Sisters had said. That wasn’t going to happen while she was under lock and key.

An indeterminate amount of time passed, when the door to her cell opened.

It was Silas.

“I came to apologize,” he wouldn’t meet Tanya’s eyes, “I didn't know they would do this to you, too. I’m sorry.”

“Care to let me out?” Tanya asked, half serious.

Silas shook his head, “I can’t move against their well being. And letting you out would be like deliberately setting a fire.”

Tanya hissed out an unladylike word.

“They won’t kill you,” Silas said, a bleak attempt at reassuring Tanya, “They just want to make use of you, like me. Parade you around and show how powerful they’ve become. See how far a Tear’s power goes.”

Tanya held back a shiver at that last remark.

Tears were powerful, but Ives had just shown they could be stripped of their magic, bested, by a cleverly built spell circle of all things. And humans and other fey had already made an artform of killing her kind.

“Where’s Kuon?”

“Gone.”

“He was in on this?” a brittle laugh escaped Tanya, “I knew I couldn’t trust him right away, but to leave me...and you to these vile—”

“They were ready to start using him too, if he didn’t repay his debt,” Silas said, “And being a unicorn it would have been unpleasant, I’m sure.”

“Why wouldn’t they just betray him too?”

It was Ives who answered, having just appeared in the doorway, “Unlike yourself and Silas, Kuon has a family that looks out for him, even if they do despise him,” Ives waved a hand, “You may go, Silas. You’ve had your apology.”

“I have family,” Tanya said, and glared.

“The other Tears?” Ives honked a laugh, “You think your sisters will save you?”

Tanya wanted to tear the wings off of the Goose. She didn’t answer him.

“Enough talk, hmm? Let’s start, shall we?” Ives approached Tanya with a wicked tray of syringes and scissors.

He started by snipping locks of her hair, which he tied and set aside. Then he moved on to extracting Tanya’s blood.

“Good, good,” he murmured. Tanya thought he might manage to kill her in her weakened state, but just as she faded, he deactivated something in the spell circle. For a wonderful moment her magic surged back.

It was just enough for her body to recover. Her locks grew back long and luscious, and her blood regenerated. Before she grew strong enough to attack, her magic was blocked again.

“Thank you. You have no idea how exciting it is to have an inexhaustible resource,” Ives grinned, showing those sharp teeth, “And you might not even go mad, if your magic heals your mind too.”

He picked up the tray, “I can’t wait to see the power the spell circles made with these will be!”

“Don’t you have your own magic, you greedy louse? Why use human magic?” Tanya said.

The Goose sneered, “This is my own magic. I had to study it and make it my own.”

“No, it’s not. You’re pathetic, taking from others what you wish you had.”

“You’re pathetic,” Ives smiled, aware that Tanya’s angry words were a sign of her frustration at being so helpless, “Letting yourself get caught like this.”

He stepped out the door.

“I’ll be seeing you later.”