Page 111 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

Stavros cocks his head. “Honestly, it’s hard to picture carrying on without Casimir and Alek in the mix somehow too. I think you’re stuck with all of us permanently.”

I roll my eyes and wish the affection in his words had eased more of the tension in my gut.

I can tell he means them in this moment. How much he will if so many more possibilities open themselves up to him, who can say?

I think I’d hate feeling I’ve held him back even more than I’d hate losing him.

Julita hums to herself. I’d trust him on this one, Ivy. I may not have ever gotten all that close to Stav while we were working together, but I can see how much he’s loosened up since he figured out he wants you. You’ve been good for him.

Coming from the woman who was once jealous of the attention her former companions offered me, the sentiment does warm me a little.

We pass through a thin strip of forest. On the other side, a broad stone structure looms at the top of a low rise.

Stavros gestures for us to slow down. “That’s our destination. I wasn’t able to get this close yesterday. I’ll need to determine the most direct route to the room we need…”

Movement by the side of the building makes my pulse stutter. “Someone’s coming.”

The former general stiffens. “They can’t see us, can they?”

“No, but we should probably get off the road to be safe.”

Even as we direct our steeds onto the overgrown grass along the throughway, I realize the figures I noticed aren’t heading our way. Three men on horseback set off to the west. Two wear soldier’s uniforms, but I catch a flash of purple robes beneath the cloak on the man in the middle.

And when he shifts his tall frame in his saddle, the sight of his lopsided body sends a shiver through my nerves.

“Lothar,” Stavros says, identifying the king’s secondary magic advisor at the same moment I did. “Obviously he’s returned from the front. Perhaps he’s consulting with the local forces on techniques for combating scourge sorcery in case the threat we warned about is real after all.”

He speaks without much hope in his voice. I can’t summon a great deal myself. “Well, at least he’s leaving so we won’t have to deal with his riven-hunting inclinations.” And whatever immense gift he received for sacrificing his entire arm to his chosen godlen.

We come around the front of the fortress, giving the building a wide berth. No one’s posted right at the door, but Stavros points out a few guards on watch in the towers at the corners. We definitely can’t stroll right in.

Wetting my lips, I consider the magical strategies I’m most confident in. “How close to the front entrance is the room we need?”

Stavros pauses, his expression going distant as he must navigate the building in his memory. “One floor up, but the stairs are just past the main hall. It’s only a couple of doors down from there. Locked, of course.”

“That won’t be a problem.” I drag a breath into my lungs. “I think I can let us stroll right inside. We’ll just have to be careful about it. And obviously the horses can’t come with us.”

Since I’m not yet confident in my ability to work magic multiple places simultaneously, we secure Toast and his unnamed companion in a sheltered spot amid the trees. Then we tramp back to the fort on foot.

As we approach, I concentrate on the door in front of me. I visualize how large a space I need to carve out for us to pass through without needing it unbarred.

The guards up top can’t see the door from their positions, but I don’t know about the other side.

“Would there normally be anyone stationed in the front hall?” I ask Stavros.

He shakes his head. “Not unless they were preparing to defend from an attack.”

That’ll have to do. I’ll keep our entrance as discreet as possible just in case. “Walk right behind me, straight through the door.”

“What—?”

Before he can even ask the question, I toss a surge of my magic toward the wooden surface. It removes a slab of the door—while another slab forms in the trees next to the horses where no one will notice the consequence—and fills in the space with a darkish brown haze as close as I could manage to the color of the wood.

I step straight through. Stavros follows with a brisk stride, but he’s canny enough to set his boots quietly on the floor on the other side even if he’s startled by my tactic.

With another push of my magic, I reform the wood in the door while disintegrating the stuff that conjured elsewhere.

My magic quivers eagerly as I yank the power back into my chest other than the strands keeping us invisible. My heart thuds amid the energy churning between my ribs.

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