Unexpected Rise of Leonard Storm

Chapter 96

The clock chimed ten, and Matilda, seated at the small desk in her bedroom, looked up from her book. She should be sleeping, or at least trying to. dog, dozing in her lap, yawned widely. Matilda scratched her behind the ears and ran a hand along the page of the book. Morse code stared up at her, their intricate curves and angles speaking a language she couldn’t yet begin to decipher. How long had it taken Leonard to learn them? And, she wondered darkly, how could their power possibly still work when magic itself was gone?

She hadn’t seen Leonard since the ball last night, hadn’t dared to approach her, or tell Chaol what she’d learned. Leonard had been deceitful about her language skills, and how much she knew about the Morse code, but she could have any number of reasons for that. Matilda had been wrong to go to the ball last night, wrong to believe Leonard was capable of such bad things. Leonard was one of the good ones. She wouldn’t target Matilda, not when they’d been friends. They