Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I barely have time to draw a breath as he thrusts us through the door and a swirl of air wraps around us. “What—”
“Cael!” I turn to Akilah running towards me, fear in her eye as she sees Silvius holding me around the waist.
“I have to,” I gasp.
She throws herself around my legs. “Not without me.”
Wind whips around us; with a lurch, Silvius sweeps us upwards, into the starry night.
He settles us carefully onto an old dirt road bathed in moonlight. Farmland meets mountains in the distance. All is quiet, except for the whisper of grass bowing towards us in a breeze. Akilah lurches away, shaken, happy to be on solid ground, and Silvius chuckles with a grin that makes my breath catch.
“I’ll take you to the eparchess here,” he says, gesturing toward the silhouette of a grand manor in the near distance. “You’ll be safe with her.”
The dome of a luminarium close by has me hesitating. “Are you sure?”
“Quite.” He touches his belt, where the tithiscar is fastened safe. “I’ll return this, and they’ll calm their hunt.”
He moves towards the manor, gaze flashing over me as Akilah shuffles a few feet behind, scanning for potential threats.
I flatten my hair. “Is it a big mess after that?”
Silvius laughs. “I’ve been staring. My apologies . . . I’m indebted to you, ah . . .?”
“Amuletos. Caelus.”
“Amuletos.” At the manor gates, he pauses; I bump into his arm and quickly pull back, but the air between us feels sharper. “Stay here,” he murmurs. “I’ll speak with her first.”
Akilah prods me between the shoulders when he’s gone. “Will he be your next Maskios?”
“What does that mean?” I whisper, my pulse ticking wildly at the mere mention.
She laughs, and I elbow her into silence when Silvius returns with a tall woman whose insightful eyes seem to scan me like a picture.
“They just need to lie low a while,” Silvius says as he makes introductions.
“You’ve never brought me strays before,” she murmurs.
“Who could I have ever trusted, Frederica?”
She stares at me sombrely. “Silvius tells me you saved his life.”
“It’s nothing,” I say hurriedly.
Silvius clasps my arm and meets my eye. “It’s something to me.”
“Anyone who brings light to my . . . friend’s eyes is welcome here.”
When everything is settled, Silvius bids his farewell.
I step forward, away from the others, keeping my voice low between him and me. “Why don’t you lie low with us?” His gaze lingers on mine and there’s a shift in the air again.
He grimaces. “My mess is too big to hide, even here.” He begins to summon the wind again and lifts a few feet into the air, hovering there, looking down on us. “I don’t want you involved.”
And just like that, he’s gone.
I watch the sky for a long time. His conjured winds fade, but a shiver lingers. My next Maskios. Maybe this is what Akilah meant. Another someone who’ll suddenly disappear. Another mystery I’ll never solve.
The weeks pass in a blur of unease and caution. Every shadow is a luminist about to jump out of it. Akilah and I bury ourselves in work, and the animals on Frederica’s estate give us plenty of it. Something has been attacking her sheep—something with sharp teeth and strong jaws. Something merciless, that takes flesh but leaves the animal alive to suffer. Already she’s put a generous bounty on the culprit.
I look over the lunch table at Akilah shaking her head at me. It’s a resigned-looking headshake, like she knows I’ve already made up my mind. I flash her a grin.
“Unbelievable,” she says, sagging into her seat.
I turn to Frederica, who is looking at me from the head of the table with a glimmer in her eye. “I won’t force you, of course. But I’d be grateful.”
But my stomach is a twisting knot as I mend the wounds on her sheep. The farm is so exposed; the glow of my medius spells can surely be seen from the luminarium in the distance. I hurry, and hope no one there is looking outside.
Prickly weeds sting my knees when I bend over the bite on yet another sheep’s leg. Akilah gently strokes its fleece, ready to hold it down if the sedation spell wears off.
Magic ribbons swirl in my cradling hand.
Akilah scans the meadow, her gaze always half on the luminarium. She shivers and shuffles closer to me. “Cael . . .”
“Even animals shouldn’t have to suffer.” My grandfather taught me, in secret, to heal animals first; even when I’d mastered those spells we still would save any hurt creature we came across.
“But can they really be worth the cost of getting caught?”
“Let’s not get caught.”
Her chest stills on a breath and she slowly lets it out.
The sunset shadows stretch long before us when we finally make our way back towards the manor. The scent of a feast drifts on a breeze, and it draws a rumble from my stomach.