Page 20

It was all shit. No one was coming.

Magiaria had fashioned its own peace without the aid of fallen blood mages. After the war of realms ended, the mage royal house did what it could to pick up the pieces. Now, we had decent enough relations with the other continents and species through trade—well, I didn’t particularly trust the serpents in Sepeazia, but that was wholly from my apprehension of snakes—and few worries about new wars.

At least not yet. If other realms learned the secrets the mage folk carried, I would not be surprised to see blades gleaming on our shores soon thereafter.

I led the others to the east side of the palace, pulled back the thick cloak of ivy, and pressed a palm to the arched wooden door hidden underneath.

Inside the narrow corridor, I had to keep my head tilted to avoid striking the dusty rafters crisscrossing on the inner walls.

We moved swiftly until we reached an alcove and another door. I closed my eyes, palm out, and urged the wood to bid me entrance. Soon enough, the door swung open to a round bedchamber.

I tossed my cloak and slumped into a wingback chair with a sigh. While the others filed in, stripping their road attire as they went, I sloughed off my boots, and traced the velvet filagree along the arms of the chair.

Gwyn glanced at me with her sharp eyes, mutely shouting at me for something, then drifted toward the herb cart I kept in the corner.

“Something to say, Gwyn?” I leaned onto my elbows, watchingher mix precise measurements of herbs, then draw the rim of a clay mug with her fingers until steam rose from the top.

Gwyn’s Soturi talent was disillusionment, but she had a natural ability for food spells. The woman could likely transform manure into smooth chocolate sweets.

Cy flopped onto his belly over my massive four post bed. “You’ve not said a word, darling. What ails you?”

“Leave her be,” Asger said.

Gwyn sipped her drink, then sat in front of the mirror, removing her jerkin and tunic until she was half naked, only her ebony braids shielding the emerald tattoo on her spine—her Soturi brand—given once she was offered ranks as a battle mage.

I wished I could recall her ceremony, but I could not even recall my own.

Gwyn removed one of the gowns reserved for her in my wardrobe and covered her half-exposed breasts. No mistake, we’d all known each other since childhood and it left few calls for bashfulness and reservations about a bit of skin.

I arched a brow, waiting for her to regale me in my latest offense.

With a sigh, she let her slender shoulders slump. “I can’t stop thinking about that woman. She was horribly confused, lost almost.” Gwyn dragged her full bottom lip between her teeth. “Did you see what she was wearing?”

“You mean the lack thereof?” Asger said with a snort. “A little unladylike, don’t you think.Ah, I’m teasing, teasing!”

Asger tried to block the strike, but Gwyn was swift and tossed one of the satin slippers she’d been tugging onto her foot at his head.

“You get no say on what we females wear,” she insisted.

I chuckled when Asger made a desperate attempt to make amends. The man would give Gwyn the world, she didn’t know, and never would unless he grew some sturdier balls and told her.

“Gwyn,” I said, softer than before. “She was no helpless mage. She’s a thief.”

“Why do you say it so callously? What do you think we are, my friend?”

My teeth ground together. Callousness, frigid responses, all of itwould soon become the whole of me, and I steeled against the look of pity in her eyes, as though Gwyn’s thoughts considered the same thing.

Gwyn swallowed thickly. “Look, it seemed as though she might’ve been running from something. She was only in her underthings, Kage.”

I was a bastard, not even considering the woman might’ve been harmed in the wood. I spared a look at the bag we’d stolen. The stone needed to be found, but I was not certain it was worth it if I lost every piece of the heart in my chest.

I only had so long to live with one, after all.

“Want me to try to find her again?” I forced the offer, until sincerity and compassion began to thaw the cold disregard. “I will.”

The corner of her mouth flicked. “No. She unsettled me, but we have other problems to consider.”

“We don’t need to do this.” I scanned the room. “None of you must waste what is left of your time searching with me.”