The Book of Mordred by Vivian Vande Velde

paused, considering, weighing, and then finished, "Which, now, I realize may perhaps not have been chance at all." He paused again, as though in reflection, and Mordred said, "And Sir Denis...?"
    "Denis," Halbert said, "was recommended to me by my nephew Sir Bayard."
    "Oh, Bayard," Mordred said.
    But what it was Mordred knew, or thought he knew, he didn't share, and after waiting a long moment, Halbert opened the door of the room and gestured for one of the servants. To Alayna and Mordred, he continued, "And I find it inconceivable that Bayard would recommend a man such as Denis proved to be." To the servant, Halbert said, "In my room, among my papers, is an opened letter from my nephew that bears a seal of red wax with the impression of three ravens, arranged in a row. This should be near the top of the papers. But look you farther down in the drawer also for any other letter from Bayard. Fetch and bring both letters here." Once more to Alayna and Mordred, he said, "We will see if this is truly in Bayard's clerk's hand, and if it is Bayard's seal."
    Mordred turned from Halbert as though to look out the window. As far as Alayna could tell, he was sulking and being stubborn, not wanting to admit he was wrong. For how could Halbert be evil, how could he be against them, if he had ... She had to admit it: He had raised Galen from the dead.
    The servant came back, bearing two letters. Halbert took the papers and, holding one in each hand, set to scrutinizing them.
    "Ah!" he cried in a moment. "Look you here." He handed one of the papers to Mordred. He poked at the blob of sealing wax. "Do you see how—"
    Alayna was leaning around Mordred for a closer look when he gave a startled cry as the page burst into a thousand red sparkles. He jerked his hand back as though to drop the paper, but it had already disappeared.
    Halbert stepped back with a startled oath.
    "Are you injured?" Alayna asked, for Mordred was looking at his hand the way someone might after touching a hot kettle—in the moment between realization and pain.
    "No," Mordred said, but he rubbed his hand against his leg.
    "Are you certain?" she asked, demanding his attention rather than letting her mind settle on what she had just seen.
    "I am unharmed," he said testily, but still without conviction.
    "There is magic involved here," Halbert said.
    "No!" Mordred gasped. "In a wizard's own home?"
    His sarcasm and provocation finally needled Halbert into annoyance. "Not
my
magic, you fool. I was about to show you." He held up the remaining letter. "The ravens here are exactly straight because that is the way they are embossed on my nephews seal. What I was about to show you with the other letter was that the ravens did not line up. Someone drew them into the wax separately, by hand. That letter was a forgery. Bayard never did send Denis here."
    "So," Mordred said—he was still rubbing his hand as though it tingled or burned—"someone with enough magical power to destroy the forgery, but not enough magical power to create a truly convincing forgery, arranged to have Denis here ... Why?"
    "Probably something to do with you." Halbert nodded to include Alayna.
    "Oh, aye, probably," Mordred said.
    This time, Alayna did kick him, the side of his foot, anyway. Halbert may not have seen that, but he had to hear her when she told Mordred, "He's trying to help. Somebody has hurt
his
household, too, killed his former steward, misused his trust." She found herself picturing Halbert's former steward as looking like old Ned, whom she had not yet had time to mourn. She said, "It would also explain why Galen acted so strangely in Halbert's Hall. He was bespelled."
    But all Mordred said was "Perhaps," and he turned away from both her and Halbert.
    "Why," Halbert asked, "did you come here? You said your daughter was missing..." He glanced from Mordred to the bed where Galen yet lay, entirely still. Not quite a statement, not quite a question, he finished, "You thought I had