Page 36 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

Thankfully, as we walk down the mountainside through the network of buildings, the movement of my body pushes my awareness of my magic into the background. The woolen dress I’ve customized with slits to my thighs swishes against the loose trousers I’ve turned into an underskirt.

Out here, away from noble society, I could simply wear pants and tunics like I used to on the streets. But I’ve come to appreciate how much easier it is to keep my blades close at hand but concealed with riding-style dresses.

While we descend, Julita stirs at the back of my skull. Hmm. I wonder what you could do first? Add a little picture to the walls? Try to fix up one of those old books Alek’s been obsessing over?

Both suggestions sound potentially complicated. I lift my shoulders in a slight shrug.

By the time we reach the main building, I feel almost like myself. Sulla drifts off to tend to her gardens, and I head toward the sound of voices carrying from the dining room.

Rheave is sprawled across a couple of the cushions by the table, plucking slices of pear out of a bowl. Casimir sits across from him with a cup of tea, and Stavros is pacing as much as the short width of the room allows.

“—what they’d do next,” he’s saying as I reach the doorway. He halts both his pacing and his remarks at the sight of me.

His restlessness sets my heart thumping at an uneasy pace. “Is something wrong?”

The former general offers me a crooked smile. “Not that we’re aware of.” He pauses. “Can you see much from that perch where you do your training?”

The memory of the view swims up in my mind. “I can see a lot, but it’s mostly wilderness other than a few farms farther off. Why?”

Stavros sighs. “I wish we had more of an idea what’s happened since we left Florian. I know what the king’s first steps would have been, but without any sense of what the conspirators’ continuing plans were…”

The twist in my gut tangles into a series of knots. It’s because of me that we’re here—because of me that we’ve been totally cut off from the rest of the world for days.

In all the time we’ve already spent here, I’ve only gotten the slightest grip over my magic. How long will it take me to harness the vast stores of power that can flow through my riven soul?

My throat constricts against the words, but I have to say them. “You don’t need to stay. If you want to go back and start helping with the military efforts?—”

Anguish flashes across Stavros’s chiseled features. He steps forward and grasps my arm to stop me. “Ivy, that’s not what I meant. I’m not leaving you. You should have us supporting you while you grapple with your magic.”

His voice still tenses slightly when he speaks of the practice I’ve been doing. He can’t help seeing my use of my potentially destructive power as a different sort of battle.

I paste a smile onto my face, willing my voice to stay even. “I’m taking things slow, so you don’t need to worry about me. If it would make sense—if you could help more that way… I don’t want to feel like I’m holding you back.”

“You’re not. We’re here so you can be properly prepared for all the threats we’re facing, and then we’ll have the best chance of overcoming them together.” He lets out a rough chuckle. “I’d simply like a better idea of what exactly we’re facing so I could prepare more in the meantime.”

Rheave pops one last bit of pear into his mouth. “Is there any way you could find out without going far away? Humans have ways of passing news along, don’t they?”

Stavros rubs his jaw, appearing to give the daimon-man’s suggestion his full consideration. “Not to random farmers, I wouldn’t think. But I suppose…”

He glances toward the map he found in one of the Haven’s storage rooms that he was poring over last night. “I’ll have to think on it. There’s no point in taking a risk if the benefits wouldn’t justify it.”

I swallow down the lump of guilt. “If you come up with a plan, I’m sure it’ll be a good one.”

“Thank you for your unconditional confidence,” Stavros says dryly, but he leans in to give me a quick kiss.

It’s the most public he’s been with his displays of affection, the heat of his mouth reassuring and thanking me, and gone sooner than I’d like. When he draws back, Rheave is watching us avidly.

I flush at the daimon-man’s intense attention, but he shifts it completely to Stavros a moment later. “If you don’t have any other plans right now, you said there were more advanced techniques with the bow and arrow. Would you show me?”

Stavros chuckles. “I suppose that’s as good a way to pass the time as any. We’ll have you toppling scourge sorcerers in no time.”

Julita snorts. It figures that he’d get friendlier as soon as military skills were involved.

My mouth twitches with amusement. Regardless of the reasons, it’s nice to see that the former general seems to finally be warming up to our newest companion.

As Stavros motions for Rheave to follow him, Casimir takes one last sip of his tea and gets to his feet too. The courtesan ambles over to join me while the other men stride off to continue their combat training.

“Where’s Alek gotten to?” I ask.

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