Page 67 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

“It sounds like they’re going to be moving people too,” Rheave remarks once the carriage is out of sight.

I nod. “To march to the border of the province? They might have lost a lot of manpower on the front lines.”

Casimir pauses, a frown shadowing his face. “Something about the way he talked makes me think it might be bigger than that.”

Gods, don’t tell me this situation can get even worse, Julita mutters.

I let out a shaky breath and square my shoulders. “Well, whatever they’re planning, it’ll be harder with significantly less weaponry. Are you clear on your part, Rheave?”

The daimon-man meets my eyes with an eager light in his. “Yes, I’m ready! I’ll ruin everything in there that I can. I’m getting better at adjusting how much power I pour out.”

He gives his fingers a subtle snap in demonstration, and a tiny spark jumps from them to tickle my neck. It sends a deeper shiver right down the middle of me that I refuse to acknowledge, but a little of my tension ebbs.

I smile at him. “All right. Give me a moment to cast the magic to conceal you. Casimir will tell you when it’s safe.”

I sit down on the grubby alley floor, taking the position of my training sessions with Sulla. It’s easier for me to concentrate on directing my magic in the now-familiar pose.

As Casimir takes my place at the mouth of the alley where he’s going to keep watch, I fix my gaze on Rheave. I take in his stunning face and muscular form—and imagine the dwindling daylight passing straight through him.

My power vibrates through my chest, sensing that I’m about to call on it. An image of Stavros’s concerned expression when we confirmed our tactics floats up with it, but I push that away.

He trusts me to extend my magic this far. What am I even doing here if I don’t bring the most useful skill I have to bear?

Although I can’t help thinking that as much as my men like to compare me to Signy, the exalted Veldunian hero didn’t need to sneak around in shadowed alleys or tap into illicit magic to get things done.

I close my eyes against all those distractions, holding the image of Rheave fading away in the front of my mind. I focus the rest of my attention on the consequence I’d like to counter-act the spell.

Up on the rooftop above my head, light will bounce off empty air as if the form of a man is standing on the shingles. If anyone happened to be up there, they might see a mirage of Rheave.

I let my weight sink into the ground to steady myself and slowly open up. My magic unfurls from my chest toward the targets I’ve pictured.

A choked sound escapes Casimir’s lips. “It’s working. I can barely—now I can’t see him at all. Rheave, you should go, quickly. We don’t want Ivy to strain herself.”

My magic races after the daimon-man as he hurries down the road. A nervous jitter shoots through my veins at the sensation.

I haven’t expended quite this much energy in a sustained way… ever.

As long as I keep focusing the backlash somewhere it won’t hurt anyone or reveal our trick, it should be fine. I know what I’m doing.

It’s my power, and it’s going to obey me.

Casimir eases back and crouches behind me. He sets his hands on my shoulders. “I’m right here with you, Kindness. If you need grounding, you can focus on me.”

The tenderness in his voice does help me stay centered in the midst of the magic flowing through me. I breathe in and out, channeling the power through me from the broken soul this man doesn’t shy from.

As if from a much farther distance, a hiss and a warble of flames reaches my ears. Rheave’s spent a lot of the past couple of days testing out his powers, and he thought he might be able to create the right sort of sparks to set the building outright on fire. It sounds as if he’s succeeded.

Casimir shifts his weight with a soft rasp of his shoes against the ground and a gentle pressure on my shoulders. Shouts reverberate from the direction of the building.

My magic prickles through my flesh, contracting into me as Rheave lopes to rejoin us. The second his feet thud into the alley, I yank all of my power back inside with a gasp of breath.

As my eyes pop open, the daimon-man solidifies into view in front of me. He’s grinning wide, his eerie eyes sparkling. “I burned up everything I could—I even melted some of the metal.”

Casimir straightens up and tugs his arm. “Wonderful. Now let’s get out of here before they start searching the whole street for the culprits.”

The courtesan holds out his hand to yank me to my feet as well. We dash down the alley the way we arrived, wind around the back of a few buildings, and emerge into a public square.

Most of the civilians we hustle out to join are peering over the rooftops. I spin to see smoke billowing up from the burning building, tainting the deep blue of the early evening sky.

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