Page 31 of The Malice of Moons and Mages (The Broken Bonds of Magic #1)

Thirty- One

Audra

A udra’s waking groan escalated the throbbing behind her cheek. She tried to raise a hand to her face and failed, struggling against the tight ropes that bound her arms to the chair beneath her. Taking in the dimly lit stone room with its curved walls and molding pitched ceiling, dread settled in her stomach.

The room at the top of the remaining tower was only accessible by a steep winding staircase and single door. Audra heard feet shuffling and low voices murmuring on the other side. The room’s lone window led to a hundred-foot drop. This would be a difficult place to escape from under the best of circumstances.

There was an old, scarred table before her with a pitcher and two cups placed in the center. Seated across from her was the man from the woods. Xiang leaned back in his chair, assessing her with cool brown eyes that traced over her features before meeting her gaze.

Audra stifled a sigh. It would do her no good to waste energy, and opportunities always favored the patient. She willed her limbs to relax and studied a long gouge in the oaken tabletop while waiting for him to speak .

He tilted his head casually. “What did that captain call you? The western mouse?” he asked.

She looked up with a well-practiced neutrality. Her voice was hoarse. “What captain?”

He huffed. “I see,” he said. “It’s to be like that, is it?” Xiang poured a cup of water from the pitcher on the table and took a long sip.

Audra swallowed involuntarily before looking away. “Who are you?” she asked. “What do you want with me?”

He settled the cup on the table. “Even a little mouse must know what black robes mean.” The narrowing of her eyes at the term made the corners of his lips twitch. “I only want to ask some questions,” he said. “Then, depending on the answers, you can be on your way.”

She snorted at the lie. If caught on this side of the border, the Moons would eliminate any witnesses. Yet if these were the same people hunting Moon, then she’d be as good as dead if they discovered who she was. “I see. It’s to be like that, is it? If you’re going to let me go anyway, why not untie me now, and I might be more accommodating.”

Xiang smiled, clearly amused. “Would that really work?”

“It’s better than lying to me,” she quipped.

Chuckling, he pulled her dagger from inside his robes. “You remind me of someone I know from Pangol,” he said moving behind her. “Similar warm brown eyes and mahogany hair.”

Audra tensed as he unsheathed the blade, but he simply sawed through her binds. She rubbed the deep creases from her wrists, flexing and straightening her fingers to chase the numbness away. Xiang returned to his seat and placed the dagger on the table between them. “You can have it back when we’re done.”

She snorted. “You mean when you bury it in my neck.”

Xiang didn’t answer. Instead, he poured another cup of water and set it before her. She cautiously brought the cup to her lips. He waited until she swallowed to start speaking. “This person and I fought together at Oxton. Do you remember anyone from your village? You must have been quite young when it fell.”

Her fingers clenched around the cup, shoulders suddenly rigid. She hated talking about Pangol or her family with anyone, but to be trapped in this fallen monastery and subjected to a conversation with a Moon soldier was a new level of insult. If she could give the man something he wanted, there was still a chance he might lower his guard. Sure, a jump from a tall window might kill her but she knew from experience that it might not. “Many people died at Oxton,” she replied stiffly, taking another long drink.

“I know. I was there.”

His words drew her eyes to him. The warmth of his complexion was deeper than her own and the subtle inflections of a regional accent slowed certain words. He’d been born in western lands.

“Did you turn traitor at Oxton, or were you Moon tribe the whole time?” she asked, failing to constrain her disgust.

Xiang’s tone softened. “I betrayed no one. My friend and I were captured together. This young man, his father died there. Killed by a mage while trying to protect his son.”

She settled the cup on the table and hid her hands below, but she couldn’t help but listen. His words tugged at old wounds.

“He had a younger sister and mother with mage lineage in Pangol,” Xiang said. He paused at Audra’s small frown. “My friend, Bolin, often wonders if they lived. Where they might be.”

Her breath hitched at the name, but she kept her eyes down and bit the inside of her cheek to tap down her reactions. Bolin was an unusual name, and her brother had gone missing in Oxton with their father, Kaul. In all her travels throughout the western lands, she used to ask questions about them but had never learned anything about either of their fates. Cautious hope swelled inside her chest.

“Audra,” he said. She looked up too quickly. “I’d like to take you to him. But first, do you know where Lua is?”

Though she’d never heard the name before, she knew who Xiang meant. Some part of her argued that using her brother’s memory was nothing more than a cruel trick to gain her trust. Her emotions locked behind a steely expression. “I don’t know that name.”

“Lua Koray is the Moon tribe Oji.”

Audra’s mouth went dry as the truth resonated in her bones. Shit. Of course he was. Who else could he possibly be? She licked her lips. “Why would he be here? ”

“He’s been running.” Xiang leaned forward. “Ever since he killed his father, the Rajav Koray.”

She inhaled sharply. That fragile unguarded moment revealed too much and she tried to downplay it as best she could. Her jaw tightened. “I don’t know anyone named Lua.”

“Who helped you escape the Requin ?” Xiang demanded. “Chon told me about the man you pulled from the water.”

Lua’s prediction of what would happen to the ship when the Moon tribe arrived came back to her. “What did you do to them?”

“Asked them some questions. Specifically, who removed the constraining bolt from the Oji’s back. Then we let them go,” Xiang said. The subtle lift of his eyebrows as he spoke knotted Audra’s stomach. One liar was usually good at catching another.

She spoke slowly. “I escaped from the Requin by stealing a dinghy. There was a man, but we parted ways in Oxton. I never knew his name.” She tried to spin some truth with her lie.

Xiang sighed, one hand clenching atop the table. “Lua couldn’t have survived long without a bond, not in his weakened state, and you were the only person on that boat to touch him.” He glanced toward the window. Starling had already set, and Silence was rising.

Xiang’s hand gripping the hilt of the sword strapped to his thigh drew her eye. He would kill her if she didn’t say something to convince him otherwise, but her thoughts were slow. Giving up Moon would be damning herself either way. She finally understood what it felt like to be a mouse cornered by a cat.

“Bolin would never forgive me if anything happened to his sister,” he said. Audra picked at the scarred table again, determined not to be swayed by such deceit. His next statement stilled her fingers. “The Oja wants Lua alive. If you help us, I can keep you safe.”

She traced the deep groove in the oak, wondering if a western mage had made it during the slaughter. Her tone darkened. “If I had travelled so far with someone, why would I betray them?”

“Because Bolin wants to see you again,” he said.

The quiet between them was punctuated by her scraping nails on the wood but even that paused when he held something in the air. A black and red stone swung on its leather cord .

“Take this as a promise,” he said.

She watched the stone for a moment before laying an untrusting glare on him. “What is it?”

“Bloodstone,” he said. “When you’re ready to block Lua’s power over you, this will help. He won’t know your feelings or thoughts, won’t be able to track you.” He laid it on the table and slid it toward her. “Wearing it over your heart disrupts the bonding spell.”

She picked the stone up cautiously, turning it over once before shoving it into a pocket. Whether Xiang spoke truthfully about the stone might not make any difference, but it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. She could determine its worth or value later. Her fingers resumed their tracing. “Why do you want him?”

“If he lives, then Bolin will ultimately die.” Xiang’s gaze flicked to the window again where cold moonlight was cascading in. His hand remained tight around his sword, as if expecting something.

The dagger on the table was just inches from her hand. These lies were too elaborate to have come up with in the short time since she’d been captured. But if Xiang were telling the truth, she had other questions. “Does Bolin know that our mother, that I...?”

“Later. Audra, where is—” A scream rang through the courtyard, followed by shouts that silenced too quickly. Xiang paled and stood as footsteps hastened up the tower stairs.

The mage from the woods burst in, slamming the door against the wall. “He’s here!”

Audra lunged for the dagger. It shook in her hands as she backed away, eying the men before her.

Nori’s magic spun out, coiling around Audra’s throat as two soldiers rushed inside. She slashed the blade uselessly as the thread cinched deeper into her neck and hoisted her feet from the floor.

“Stop!” Xiang shouted.

Audra clawed and gasped as the gray lash strangled her. Her throat burned beneath the spell. Anger and fear bloomed in her chest. She couldn’t die here where so many of her people had met their ends. She struggled without hope before frantically throwing the dagger at Nori. It sparked green, propelled with unusual force and accuracy. It sliced the mage’s shoulder and bounced away. Nori’s spell lapsed and Audra collapsed to the floor. Her throat was tender and raw. Violent coughs shook her as she tried to rise but her knees buckled with another cough.

Nori cursed. His arms spread, lips moving in a soundless mantra.

“Nori!” Xiang yelled, starting forward. “We need them alive.”

Magic swirled around Nori’s hands. His sleeves swayed as the spell strengthened and prepared to strike. Audra raised an arm to shield herself and snatched the dagger from the ground with the other. Next time she’d hit his heart.

A deafening roar shook the walls. The roof above them wrenched away in a crackle of silver light. It spun into the sky before crashing on the field below while the tower’s upper stones tumbled backward. A dark figure alighted atop the broken wall, robes billowing around him. Audra’s chest tightened, the threads pulling her toward him though her legs refused to obey.

A soldier cursed, another yelled for aid. A section of stones toppled inward and buried Xiang’s legs beneath them. But Audra saw none of that, her whole being solely focused on the man before them. The Oji of the Moon tribe.

Lua balanced silently. Ebony hair danced around a throat marked with violence, matching Audra’s own. Silence was half full behind him, giving its favored child a burst of power that Audra felt shimmering down their bond. His eyes found her, and, in a flash, he was beside her. His fingers lightly traced over her neck and cheek sending a small electric charge into her. He frowned.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded, mutely.

Nori recovered from the shock and hurled another spell. Lua batted it away and slammed the mage against the wall with a silver whip. Three more soldiers rushed in, swords drawn.

“Hold on to me,” he whispered. Audra wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her onto her feet. “Look away.”

She buried her face against his chest, inhaling the scent of him.

“You dared to touch her?” Lua’s voice engulfed the room, one of his arms tightening possessively around her. The Songs had no time to scream. When Audra looked up, piles of black robes and armor, ash, and dust, crumpled to the floor.

Across the room, the rumble of shifting stones drew Audra’s attention. Xiang struggled to free himself; his eyes were wide with fear. She tried to turn toward Xiang, but the arm around her tightened.

“After everything, it is you,” Lua said, his silver eyes fixed on Xiang.

A silver thread jerked Xiang from beneath the stones. He thrashed as the spell lifted him from the floor.

“Stop,” Audra said, though her weakened voice didn’t break Lua’s concentration. Xiang might be the only way Audra could ever see her brother again.

A darker thread slammed down, severing Lua’s spell. A woman dressed in Moon robes pulled her magic back, rushing to Xiang as he fell.

Lua’s lips twisted with a merciless smile. “I know you. One of Sharine’s pupils, aren’t you?”

“Jayna, stand down,” Xiang gasped. Lua was too strong, even Audra knew that this woman had no chance against him.

Jayna’s arms spread defiantly. “He can’t—” Her voice dissolved into a scream. A long, bloody rake bloomed across her chest from Lua’s spell. Still holding Audra with one arm, he moved toward the mage.

“Close your eyes, Audra,” Lua said lowly. Audra shook her head, fear rising in her chest.

“Moon, stop.” Audra pleaded but his jaw stubbornly tightened.

Xiang tried to pull Jayna away, but Lua gripped the woman’s arm. A surge of energy coursed through Audra as Lua’s magic consumed both Jayna and Xiang’s lives, draining them together. Two more soldiers appeared in the doorway and charged the Oji. As they neared, they dried and flaked into husks as his rage engulfed them.

Audra’s eyes widened in horror. This was what he’d done to the fishers and who knew how many others. She gripped the sides of Lua’s face, forcing his gaze to hers. Her hands warmed on his cheeks.

“Let them live,” she begged. “ Please , don’t kill them.”

He stared into her eyes, bringing his lips so close to hers that his breath kissed her skin. “Fine,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “But only for your sake.”

Lua’s spell died, spitting green and silver before dissipating. He glared at Xiang and Jayna as they collapsed. “You’ll receive no mercy the next time we meet.”

Audra briefly met Xiang’s gaze as a silver thread lashed upward and a wave of exhaustion swam through her. Lua pulled her close and they rose over the edge of the broken wall into the light of Silence.