The morning light streamed in through the windows. The blankets were softer than anything she'd ever felt, made of clean silk that cushioned her entire body.
She exhaled slowly, gripping the blankets with anger as she remembered her situation. She stood, starting towards the door.
There was a note on the door. "Good morning, Calliope. When you wake up, meet me at the library. Ask one of the guards in the hall and they'll take you."
She squinted at the note with a frown, entering the hallway and turned to the nearest guard. "Can you escort me to the library, please?"
Surprisingly, there were two right outside her door. One nodded and began to head off without a word.
The library was enormous, with shelves of books stretching up to the towering ceilings. It was dark, just like the rest of the castle, but there was a blue skylight in the center of the ceiling, with light falling onto a magnificent telescope. On one of the ladders was Ben, thumbing through a book.
She might have taken a moment to admire it on any other day, but for now she was focused on her task, looking up at Ben thoughtfully. "You said you wanted to meet here."
He shrugged a little, looking up at the skylight. "Okay. Well, I have two jobs here, Calliope. One is to understand the Ortis and... operate on it? Work on it?" He looked down at his hands, considering this. "Tinker, I guess. That's my first job. My second job is to shift the power dynamic in favor of the humans in any way I can. That's not specific to me, it's just kind of... a role that everyone in this kingdom has."
"They want power. They want to be in control of everything, and they will slaughter innocent people just to have what they want."
"That's not really how I see it," he replied quietly. "Humans have been providing the Natural Races with machines for years, Calliope. Centuries. They have been virtuous with their talents, and we repay them by depriving them of the opportunity to use magic, and then scorning them for it. Who do you think built the paths to the Ortis?"
"They did. Then once they unlocked the key the magyck they were selfish about it and wanted to keep that control. They killed millions, Ben."
