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32

Reyla

M y heart flipped over.

Would this work? Only one way to find out.

While Faelith nudged Farris into the bathing area, and the gush of water rang out, I settled on the sofa with the silver ball. The metal’s dull gleam caught the light, and I stroked my thumb across its surface. Magic had hidden too many answers inside illusions, but today I felt stubborn enough to wrestle one of those secrets from its clutches. Damn Erisandra for hiding the book with a glamour spell.

I closed my eyes and teased what I now called “nasty” power, taking care not to let it bite me. Lifting the ball, I twisted it in the air. “See the spell on this poor ball? I’d like to break it, and I need your help.” With a subtle snap of my mind’s hand, I caught a band of the power, drawing it near. “Could you do that for me? Break the spell covering the ball.”

Jerking from my grip, the power spun away from me, sparkling and snapping like tiny bolts of lightning, arcing across the ball’s surface.

Sadly, the ball remained unchanged.

I tried again. And another time. Over and over without a hint of results.

At least I could grab onto the power without it trying to kill me.

Nullification spells could take years to perfect, I reminded myself as I carefully placed the ball on the small table.

I’d try again later.

I spent the rest of the morning in the throne room with Merrick, and today’s supplicants didn’t provide much challenge. We had lunch together, and he went to speak with his advisors about budgets and tithes, subjects I should make myself find interest in. Instead of joining them, I scooted to the library. It was time to collect the gift from the Halendor librarian.

With my guards clustered around me, my ladies left in my room per my request, I strode to the library and inside.

Valera rose from her desk and rushed over to join me. “My queen.” She bowed deeply. “You do me great honor visiting today. Did you come for more books?”

“Not today, though I’m enjoying the ones you’ve sent.”

She beamed. “I’m so happy to hear that. I’ve put a few more aside for you just in case. I’ll have them sent to your room?”

“That would be nice. Thank you.” Moira and Faelith would be happy to see them. They’d read the ones I collected already and had hinted that they’d love to read more.

“Can I do anything else for you today, then?” she asked.

“Do you have any books about magical skills? ”

“A few.” She frowned. “Any skills in particular?”

“Nullification. Oh, and shadow magic. Controlling lightning.”

“That sounds quite specific.” She scanned the stacks holding books as if one might gleam to announce it was the right one. Wouldn’t that be nice? “I don’t believe I have anything discussing more than the basics of nullification, I’m afraid. Lord Lorant borrowed the only books with more specific details, but he hasn’t returned them yet. Would you like me to ask him to bring them back immediately so you can read them instead?”

“No, he can keep them.” I was certain he’d shared all the clues already.

“As for shadow magic and using lightning, let me see…” She sucked in a breath and released it, her brow furrowed. “What in particular would you like to know about those skills?”

“Anything, actually.”

“Alright then, follow me.” She guided me to the second story on the right side and all the way to the end, where she stared at a long row of books at her eye level before pulling out a slim volume. “This one might contain some information. I’m afraid we don’t have much. Those skills are more common in the other courts than Evergorne, I’m afraid.”

“Interesting.” I knew of my parentage; there was no lingering doubt. But it was surprising to discover I might have some affinity with the other courts, at least when it came to my magical abilities.

She handed Mastering Skills to me, a rather boring name for what I hoped was not a book that would put me to sleep within three pages.

I tucked it under my arm. “Other than that, I came by to collect what the Halendor head librarian left me.”

Her head cocked. “What do you mean? ”

“You sent a message with Lord Briscalar that the head librarian had visited and left something for me.”

“Did I?” Her frown remained. “I suppose it could’ve happened. I’ve been a bit scattered since my fall. Forgetting things I should remember.”

“How are you feeling overall?”

She eased around me, heading back to the stairs, and I followed. “Well. Thank you for asking, my queen. I’m nearly better. The healer told me the impact on my mind would resolve soon.”

“I’m glad.” How awful. I was grateful she was alright. She’d had enough tragedy in her life already.

She strode to her desk and opened the top right drawer. “If she left anything for you, I would’ve put it here.” Her hand snapped up to her throat. “Oh.”

“Oh?” I leaned closer, staring into the open drawer but seeing nothing unusual there, only what you’d find inside a normal desk drawer. Pads of paper. A few pens that looked very similar to the one Lord Briscalar had taught me to magic. Clips that might hold papers together.

“I could swear I saw—” She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“What did you see?”

“Well, when I opened the drawer, I swear there was something lying on the top of the paper.” She pointed to that area. “But there’s nothing there now.”

“Maybe you placed the gift somewhere else?”

“I may have.” Sitting, she went through each desk drawer, then she tutted while peering around.

“Could it be inside your private quarters, perhaps?”

“I can certainly look there.” She rose and hurried in that direction, returning a short time later, shaking her head. “If she left something for you, I can’t find it. I’ll look around some more and reach out if I locate it. I wish I could remember. I’m sorry.”

“Did she leave a note or a book?”

She shrugged. “I’m afraid I can’t recall.”

“Could you collect those books for me now?” I asked, something occurring to me. “I’ll take them back with me.”

“Oh, certainly.” She smoothed her hands across her gown’s deep blue bodice. “Please wait here. I won’t be long.”

I gave her a bland smile, and she scurried into the room behind her desk.

The moment she was out of sight, I pawed through the drawer. My fingers encountered something that shouldn’t be there. Valera was right. I didn’t see anything lying on top of the pads of paper.

But I felt it.

Lifting whatever it was, I tucked it into my pocket, grateful most of my gowns had them. I could thank Merrick for that—or Lorant. Both of them, because they knew I hated holding everything in my hands.

Or maybe they’d hoped to avoid seeing me wearing a tunic and pants to the throne room.

Valera bustled back over to me with a small stack of books in her hands, holding them out. “Here you go, my queen.”

“Thank you so much.”

At her polite nod, I left, returning to my suite with my guard in tow.

Inside, I dismissed them and my ladies, urging the latter to take Farris outside. Even Calista didn’t protest this time.

Once they’d left, I tugged the invisible item from my pocket and laid it on my palm, running my fingertips across it. Smooth. Long, though flat. I had no idea what it could be or why it was hidden like this. If only the librarian had left a note.

Did a spell hide it ?

I wasn’t sure if I dared thrust nasty nullification magic at it to see if that might make a difference. I’d show it to Merrick or Lorant later to see what they thought of it. For now, I rose and went to my bedroom, opening the jewelry cases on the top of one of the bureaus, sorting through the endless gleaming necklaces, bracelets, and earrings until I found a flat velvet bag about the size of whatever the librarian gave me. After sliding the object inside, I put it in my pocket for safe keeping.

For now, I wanted to try again to use nullification on the ball.

In the sitting area once more, I tugged in nasty power and sent it at the ball, but each time, I failed. And no wonder. I was doing it by rote now, not using true focus.

Slow down, I told myself. I'd always been impatient, wanting everything and wanting it now. Here I was, hoping to cast the spell within days of learning how.

Instead of yanking in more slimy magic, I rested my head on the back of the sofa and let my body relax, starting first with my toes and working my way upward until I could almost feel myself falling into that lull I sunk into before I fell asleep.

Now try. But don't be a brute about it. Be gentle. Back at the fortress, I’d been wrong about dragons. It was Tempest who convinced me that treating them kindly resulted in the best results. Perhaps power preferred kindness as well.

But when I scanned the room this time, I noticed a slightly different-appearing power hovering at the edge of my senses, coiling and releasing like a feral creature cowering in the underbrush. I let out a slow breath, relaxing my body even further, and made sure I didn't look directly at this new power. It wasn’t exactly nasty, though it arced and sparked like the slimy stuff. This power felt different, almost smoother.

With my eyes closed, I stretched out my awareness, coaxing it forward with patience rather than force, my mind focusing on its peculiar shimmer that made it look like a ribbon of molten silver laced with faint streaks of lavender. It was as beautiful as it was strange. I didn’t trust it, of course. Each power came with its own temperament, and I was already learning they seemed to have minds of their own. The power I pulled in to control shadows felt like a workhorse I tethered to a plow. This power felt timid. Like a trimont, the fleet-footed, gentle creatures that darted through the woods and grazed in open meadows.

I smirked. One could say it was almost like a fawn .

It came closer, seeming to sniff the air to check me out the way I did it. Instead of reaching for it, I coaxed it, urging it within my mind to come near.

Then I stroked it, gliding my mental finger along its ribbon-like spine.

It recoiled, darting back from my touch, but it turned before it went too far and acted almost coy, twisting a tip around to look over its magical shoulder.

“Come closer, little one,” I whispered. My chest felt tight, but I held steady, even as it shifted around and wavered, sort of looking my way, though it didn't have eyes.

I didn't move. I even held my breath.

“Aren’t you a sweet little power?” I said softly. “Would you like to play?”

The ribbon of silver flowed and rippled, slowly gliding near enough I could touch it with my mind’s fingers. This time, it let me stroke it, and it quivered.

I gently wrapped my mental fingers around it, gasping at the sharp chill sinking into my bones upon touch. The lavender hues swirled inside the silver like a delicate mist.

I tugged it inside me. There was no other way to describe it but that. It flowed, almost inky and cloying, yet with a light scent that reminded me of Tempest's favorite silver-tipped black roses .

As it settled within me, I let myself adjust to its feel, molding my will around it like I was carefully shaping clay. This was no wild beast to be wrangled. Like the power I used to command shadows, this felt like a keen blade I could wield.

I'd always loved blades.

I invited it deeper, coaxing on the endless strand wavering in front of me while binding it in place with my focus. I wove control out of instinct, as though I was pulling taut a fine web.

A subtle rustle rang out, and I opened my eyes, expecting to find one of my ladies returned, eager to chat. Or Farris bounding into the room, spreading water droplets everywhere after his bath.

No one was here but me.

And the diary—no, the ball that cloaked it—still sat in my lap, unchanged.

With the lightest touch, I uncoiled the new power, extending it in my mind toward the ball. Channeling it, I supposed. Where had I heard that term? Maybe from my brother.

My fingers skimmed its cool surface, but my awareness went beyond the physical as I probed the magic wrapped around the ball in a veneer. I willed the power to examine the spell along with me, to find its weakness.

“On the surface, where the threads are bound to the object,” Lorant had more or less told me. “That’s where you can break it.”

I sensed more than saw the shimmer that resembled warped glass, layers of it stacked on top of each other, shifting and oozing like oil skimming the surface of a puddle.

The ribbon of power moved carefully forward along with me, brushing over the tangle of spell threads as if it was tracing its fingers over fine embroidery. I probed the texture, learning its weave and the places where it was bound the tightest. Sweat rolled down my back and my head throbbed, but I kept channeling the silver magic to wind among the threads to seek where they connected to the diary. This wasn't a thing of brute force. I couldn't fling a blade at it to end it once and for all. This manipulation took subtlety, though using power in this way felt amazing.

Then I saw it, clear as a fresh day in my mind, the place where the threads connected to the book. Triumph surged inside me as I channeled the silver ribbon magic to that point. I knew that was the right term now. “There it is. Break it for me, would you?”

The silver tendrils lashed out, sliding between the threads like liquid fire, seeping into the spell's cracks in a way that felt almost too elegant for my mind to have commanded. Erisandra's glamour hissed in an eerie way before there was a small, almost polite ping.

The release echoed in the room, sending a ripple of energy across my skin. My eyes snapped open, and I half-expected the spell to retaliate. Maybe snap out and bite me.

But the thread of magic more or less exploded, shooting out in all directions. Some of it even smacked into me, thrusting me back against the sofa cushions before dissipating into the air, slithering back to wherever it came from.

The diary lay on my lap, free from Erisandra's glamour.

The twin ravens—no, they were ancient dragons curling toward each other with their wings and tails outstretched behind them—gleamed on the cover. I sensed they were waiting to breathe again, though I wasn’t sure why the thought occurred to me.

However, I was more interested in discovering what was hidden inside the book. I ran a trembling hand over the worn leather, puffing out a long sigh of relief.

“Finally,” I muttered, flipping the cover back and stared at a dedication, To my beloved Isodine.

Valera’s mother’s name.

Beloved , huh ?

I flipped the page. It was a diary, and the first entry was dated over thirty years ago.

Before I could read anything, Farris scrambled from the bathing area with a flustered Faelith right behind, waving a drying cloth in the air. He hopped over and sat in front of me, his tail wagging at a furious pace. I took the drying cloth from her and buffed him well.

I swore he smirked before leaning over to gently nudge the diary with his nose.

“You like it now, do you?” When I first took it from the library, he'd clawed at it.

Lifting it, I gripped it tightly. Hugged it, actually.

The door to the hall banged open and Moira and Calista rushed inside the sitting area. They appeared so flustered even Faelith gasped.

“My queen, my queen!” Moira rushed over to me with Calista close behind, the latter clutching a packet that must contain treats for Farris.

Stark terror shone on their faces.

I dropped the book onto the sofa beside me and stood. “What’s wrong? Did something happen in the kitchen?”

“They’re attacking, my queen,” Calista barked. “We’re going to be overrun.”

Moira wailed. “They’re dying.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

“Tell me,” I barked, my heart freezing with terror. Had something happened to Merrick or the kitchen staff?

“It’s horrible. Horrible,” Moira said, her wild gaze shooting through the room before it dropped to the blades sheathed at my sides. “Protect yourself before it’s too late.”

“It’s already too late,” Calista moaned, wringing her hands.

“Tell me!”

“They’re attacking,” Calista said .

Faelith released a tiny shriek. “What do you mean?”

I gathered Farris into my arms, trying to soothe his trembles.

“They broke down places in the wall!” Calista said.

“They're pouring through the city, killing everyone in sight.” Moira whimpered, tugging on her hair. “They’re going to?—”

“Who?” I snarled.

“Borgons,” Calista said softly, her face flushed and her body one big shake. “They’re attacking the city.”