Page 27

Chapter 27

Argos

I finish nailing the tiny plate of midnight adamant to the waterwheel. The stuff was painfully challenging to file down. I hope this works and that the stress I put on the magical stone didn’t negate its psychic connector functionality.

“All right! Let it go, Cyrus! Halvard, release the rope! Rom, you can let go!”

The dragon shifter, orc, and gargoyle release the holds they had on various points in the waterwheel system, and the wheel creaks and rotates. Water shushes through the system.

“Argos!” Tully’s voice rises over the sound of the water and the conversation filtering from the back deck of the Goat and Dragon tavern.

I meet her farther up the riverbank and we walk toward the deck.

“How are things faring here?” she asks.

The wind is cold, but now it smells of melting snow instead of ice. It smells like spring isn’t more than a moon away.

“Great.” I open the side door for her and we take a table overlooking the river. The wheel is turning nicely.

Cyrus, Halvard, and Rom are drying themselves and laughing. I give them a wave and they shout some congratulations back.

Once Tully and I order two pints of the last of Grumlin’s winter ale, she sets a sack on the table. I frown and poke at it.

“What’s this?”

She tugs open the top. Gold, silver, and copper glitter from the bag.

“There has to be a year’s worth of a common fellow’s wages in here,” I say, puzzled still.

“It’s for you. For your mother and the estate.”

“What?”

Tully nods, her red hair lifting in the breeze and her hat shading her brilliant eyes. “I didn’t tell anyone what it was for. Your privacy is secure. But the folks of Leafshire Cove listened when I said someone needed it, and they all gave. Every last one of them. Even that nasty old pixie female, Jinian.”

I shake my head, my heart pounding for this amazing witch. I take her hand and wrap her hand in mine. “Tully. I… I don’t know how to thank you.”

Her cheeks pink and I lean in to kiss her. Those soft lips will never not do me in.

“You’ve never once blushed,” I whisper in her ear.

“Well, between your work, Kaya’s, and Laini’s, I’m becoming a great ball of mush.”

“But you’ll still murder me if I hurt you.”

“Exactly.”

“Good that we are on the same page.” I kiss her again, wishing we weren’t in public.

She pulls away, smiling. “Tell me about your waterwheel contraption.”

“Like calls to like. You taught me that key concept. Want to test it?”

“I do. Very much.”

“You’re not worried I’ll blow up Leafshire Cove?”

“Only a little.”

I laugh and we set to finishing our drinks. Once we are done, we stand at the porch’s wooden railing. I take the khymeia from my pockets and hold them up.

“There is an adamant plate on the wheel,” I explain. “It’s building energy from the turning of the wheel. It should feed into the stones when I cast a spell.”

“Go on, then.” She leans a hip on the railing and eyes me curiously.

“Is this turning you on?” I whisper.

“It is. Your brain is sexy.”

Pride swells in my chest as I lift the stones and speak my will. The stones warm and vibrate as magic sparkles in the air around us. Everyone else on the tavern’s porch is watching now, their voices hushed and excited. The memory that the spell portrays is a very old one. My father and mother walk through the large kitchen garden near the main house. I speed into the scene, covered in mud and grinning.

“Is that you?” Tully asks.

I nod. “Yes, at about seven years, I think. Same age as Rychell’s little fellow Nate.”

“Will you take me there?” Tully asks.

“To the estate? Of course. But…”

“It will be in disarray, I know. Of course, it would be because of your family’s struggles. The king hasn’t started work on the estate yet, right?”

“Not as far as I know,” I say. “All the farmers and other staff, save Hamish, left to find work.” I focus on the spell again. “Do you think the magic is working? Do you see anything I don’t?”

Tully looks around at the grasses peeking through the snow, the river’s gurgling current, the trees bare and stern above, and the folks watching my little show here.

“I think so,” she says. “I don’t feel anything draining and I’m not wearing my pickled jewelry.”

I snort a laugh. “Great. Maybe we should ask the others if they feel off at all.”

We take a while talking to the other tavern patrons as well as Cyrus, Halvard, and Rom. No one is being drained of energy, and the illusion remains strong and even takes on a hint of color. It’s not as strong as the one Tully cast in the ditchite chamber when we drained the mirror, but it’s probably as good a spell as a non-magical creature can accomplish.

Tully throws her arms around my neck. “You did it, Minotaur.”

I tuck the stones into my pockets, then grab her and lean her back for a dramatic kiss. She laughs against my lips. The crowd applauds and gathers around, peppering us with questions. Rustion has even shown up to see what I’m up to.

“Yes,” I say to Rustion’s question. “I would love to keep the stones here at the tavern if Grumlin is okay with it. Then, when someone needs magic to solve a problem, they can simply check them out like a book in a library.”

“Argos, that is an amazing idea,” Tully says.

“It is!” Rustion squeezes my shoulder.

“I’m fine with that, Argos,” Grumlin says as he lifts a pitcher.

I nod a thanks to the wizard.

Rustion grabs my hand and shakes it. “We are lucky to have you here, Argos. I hope you’ll stick around.”

Tully is watching me, her gaze pressing into me.

“I need to go back to my hometown for a while. I’m not sure what my future holds.” I turn to her, a question in my eyes. “In fact…”

My heart pounds against my ribs and my mouth is dry, but I’m doing this.

I take the small box from my pocket and go to one knee. Tully’s eyes widen as I open the box to show the ring I made with the inert parts of the chaos mirror.

“It’s scary like you,” I say, chuckling.

She grins and lets me take her hand.

“Will you marry me, Mistress Tully, Witch of my Heart?”

Her eyes shine. “Yes, Argos. I will.”

I slip the ring on her finger. Three tiny skulls from the chaos mirror sit atop the copper band.

Rustion and everyone cheers.

“Only our witch would love a ring like that,” Cyrus says, smiling and raising his mug.

“It’s perfect.” Tully kisses the ring, then kisses me.

I’ve never been so happy in my life. Now, all I need to do is save my family’s estate.

Unless it’s too late…