Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
I bite back all my worries about my own skill, because whining to Sparrow will make her feel guilty for my situation, and then she’ll try to get involved. She’s got a good heart and feels responsible for me, since she brought me to Vastwarren, but I can’t bother her with my petty concerns. I just need to work harder, I decide.
“Any more dead men?” Sparrow asks, her voice hushed as she glances around the book-strewn archives.
“I haven’t felt anything,” I confess, clutching the cat to my chest as I move forward to sit on the edge of my chair. “Have you heard of any other people experiencing what I am? In your research?”
“Yes and no.” She purses her lips. “Most of the books I need seem to live permanently on Jackdaw’s desk, and I don’t love that. I can’t get them without making him suspicious, so I’ve been reading widely and noting down everything I can find that pertains to mancers. Sadly, there’s not much. We do know there were different types, and I’ve been able to dig up more information in regard to that.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, all kinds.” She pulls out a piece of parchment and studies it. “Like they had different houses that specialized in types of magic. I found an entire pantry list from an old family hold called Dennett that was wiped out in the Mancer Wars, but apparently they specialized in geomancy—that’s earth magic. And there was another house that specialized in hydromancy.”
“Water mancers?”
“Aye.” She runs her finger down her list. “Let’s see. Pyromancers, sanguimancers, sarcomancers—those are healers—and here we go. Necromancer. That’s you.”
Necromancer. A mancer who deals with the dead. Finding out that it has a name doesn’t make me feel better. “So it truly is a thing? I’m not crazed?”
“It is absolutely a thing. Widden Hold was in the north and specialized in all things necrotic.” She wrinkles her nose. “ ‘Necrotic’ is truly an unpleasant word. Just the sound of it is vile. But yes, northerners. Do you know anything about your ancestors?”
I shake my head. Ma grew up the only daughter of another servant woman, and I never met my father. They were both from the northern realms, though, and that’s where Honori Hold is, where my mother currently works in the kitchens. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that some ancestor of mine somehow slipped undetected through the purge after the Mancer Wars, when all those who practiced magic were killed.
“All books pertaining to magic were destroyed in the Mancer Wars,” Sparrow continues. “I’m waiting to get my hands on a history of northern families from Jackdaw’s desk, but I don’t know that it will say much. It’s entirely possible they were erased from that particular history, as all the mentions I’ve found are fleeting. I’ll keep trying, though.”
“Don’t bother yourself. It won’t tell us anything other than necromancers existed, not how to turn the powers off. As long as there are no other bodies found, I’m fine. I’ll just devote myself to my studies.”
Sparrow nods, her spectacles sliding down her nose. “I’m glad you’re with Kipp. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s loyal to you. He’s probably the best one on the team.”
I consider this. “Raptor’s even more impressive than Kipp, if I’m being honest. He’s just as competent, and he makes friends everywhere he goes. It can’t hurt to have both of them pull me along as the weaker party.”
“Raptor is friendly,” she admits.
For some reason, her simple praise irritates me. “He’s ridiculous. That Taurian would flirt with a statue…and then the statue would blush!” Why won’t I shut up about him?
“You sound like you don’t like him.”
“I like him just fine,” I protest. I don’t want it getting around that I can’t get along with Hawk’s best friend.
Her eyes gleam. “Aha. You like him too much.”
“Of course not.” But my face gets hot. Why is it I can always keep my cool unless Raptor is mentioned, and then I blush like a virgin?
A cat winds its way across her desk again, and she nudges it aside, her focus on me. “No judgment here, but do you need a charm?”
“A charm? What for?” I’m not following.
“So you can’t get pregnant, of course. There’s nothing wrong with getting close to someone, especially if neither of you have commitments, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Taurians are notoriously virile.” She taps her lip with a finger, thinking. “Oh, wait. There’s not a Conquest Moon.”
“You mean that time when Hawk went into a rut and jumped you back in the crypt?”
“Right.” She blushes bright pink, her tone formal. “Taurians go into rut only at that time and aren’t truly in control of themselves. They aren’t fertile unless it’s the Conquest Moon. It’s when the god’s hand is upon them. I suppose you don’t need birth control after all.”