Page 31 of The Sundered Realms

She’d already committed the spell to memory anyway, and she suspected Vhannor knew that. The trap had sprung before she’d seen it. “I’m happy to help.”

He narrowed his eyes at that—how could he know her so well after she’d been unconscious for most of their time together?—but with his nod, they both got to work.

As she sketched, Liris noted, “This spell has more layers than the one from the swamp. It’s because the invented language needs more power, right?”

“Yes.” His expression hardened. “Notice anything else similar, aside from their purpose?”

Liris frowned for a minute but finally had to admit, “No.”

He blew out a breath. “Yeah. Because there isn’t.”

Okay, so she hadn’t failed that test. “And that’s... bad?”

“The whole style of spellcasting is completely different.”

She got it then. “You mean it’s not related to Jadrhun? So, what, it’s a completely separate demon servant that just happened to pop up at the same time?”

“The logical conclusion is that Etorsiye is badly infiltrated,” he bit out, “except that makes no sense. If Jadrhun didn’t know it was here, he must not be in close communication with other demon servants.”

Vhannor’s grip on his pen tightened, but his strokes remained smooth, smooth.

“Except that spell of his in the swamp was voiding elegant, the mark of someone experienced. Whereas this one is technically passable but a blunt instrument, a hammer compared to a stiletto.”

Liris watched—okay, stared at—his hands. So controlled, and so much strength, even when he was ticked off.

“But if Jadrhun knew this was here,” he continued, “why open a second portal close by? He must have known that would catch attention—unless he thought all operatives would be too busy and no one would investigate in time.”

After a moment, Liris decided that was the full rant and asked, “If you have no reports that would merit that kind of action, could you have missed something?”

Vhannor snorted. “Of course. The question is what. I can’t think what we could have missed so badly to require that kind of response, however.”

He looked at her expectantly, but what in the world did he expect?

Liris shook her head. She had no better answers.

“Think on it and let me know if you come up with anything,” he said gruffly.

Oh. This was a test, and she might not have failed yet, but she was close.

Lord Vhannor was not a person who would bother asking for opinions if he didn’t need them. And he had asked her.

And she had nothing.

It was different to fail a test when someone else needed her to succeed.

Vhannor cast a glance over her copying work, nodded briskly in approval as if he hadn’t just tried to open up to her and treat her as an equal, and stepped into the circle.

Jadrhun’s plans would have to wait. Liris hadn’t had a chance to watch Vhannor work before, so now she did so carefully. His assurance, every movement economical and placed exactly as it needed, his deep voice as he spoke the words to destroy this portal to the void were mesmerizing.

But her mind never stopped working, and when the spell had vanished and he looked out at her with bright eyes she said, “You never said how you knew where the portal would be.”

“Detection spell,” Vhannor answered without pause, taking the pad of paper back from her. “I had it surrounding us while we walked. It’s like a transparent shield that flashes if there’s a notable drop in ambient magic. We use them when going into suspected hostile territory; they’re too complicated to just use all the time.”

“So I was trapped inside the whole time?”

“Not trapped,” he said.

“Could I have gotten out of it on my own?”

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