Page 53 of The Shadow Wand

To fight the Mages.

Lukas Grey brusquely dismisses his Level Five Mage Guards, leaving the two of them alone in the imposing chamber. Then Lukas levels his deep-green gaze on Thierren, raptor-hard.

“I’m assigning you to a position as my personal envoy,” Lukas states, his green eyes trained on Thierren, as if gauging his reaction.

Thierren gives a hard, inward start, his mind cast into confusion.

Where is the punishment for trying to stop the killing of the Dryads? For turning his wand on Sylus Bane?

He’s been told again and again not to expect any mercy from Mage Lukas Grey.

A heavy silence hangs in the room.

“What are your aims, Mage Stone?” Lukas finally asks, lethally calm.

To fight you, Thierren inwardly snarls.To fight every soldier in the Guard if I have to, to get Sparrow and Effrey and their small dragon out of this nightmare land.

“I’d like to earn my way to freedom,” Thierren says cautiously as he holds Lukas’s penetrating gaze.

Lukas rises, strides around to the front of his desk, and unsheathes his wand.

Thierren braces himself and pulls in a strained breath, ready for whatever torture this Mage will inflict. He swallows as Lukas takes firm hold of his upper arm, presses the tip of his wand right onto the rune mark on Thierren’s neck, and murmurs a series of spells.

A prickling sensation rises along the lines of the circular tracking rune, the sting quickly dissipating to nothing as Lukas removes the wand from Thierren’s skin and takes a casual seat against the front edge of his broad Ironwood desk.

Thierren reaches up to rub his neck, the constant, almost imperceptible burn of the rune completely gone. A whoosh of bewilderment almost pulls him off balance. “What did you do?” he asks.

“Freed you,” Lukas says, challenge in his eyes.

It’s a trick. It has to be a trick.Thierren glares at him, cast further into cornered astonishment. “Why would you do that?” he demands, not able to keep the defensive anger from breaking through his tone.

Lukas’s eyes tighten with a sly expression that reads,Ah, good, there it is. The real Thierren.

“Do you know why I’ve assigned you to be my personal envoy, Mage Stone?” Lukas asks, almost congenially.

The insubordinate words burst out of Thierren before he can rein them in. “I don’t really care, Mage Grey.” It’s clear that Lukas has somehow found him out.

Lukas gives a short laugh, seeming impressed, as he throws Thierren a look of approval. “I assigned you to be my personal envoy because I hear that you’re an unrepentant traitor to the Gardnerian cause.”

Astonishment rocks through Thierren.

Thishasto be a trick.

He knows all about Commander Lukas Grey. He’s as conniving as he is dangerous.

So, what cruel game is he playing here?

“Your magic complements mine,” Lukas goes on conversationally. “Water and air, is it? My two weakest affinities.” He lifts an appraising black brow and tilts his head, as if in invitation. “Together, we’d be quite the formidable weapon.”

“To do what?” Thierren asks sharply.

Lukas’s stare darkens, his smile now gone, his words low and unforgiving when they come. “To take down the Mage Council and kill Marcus Vogel.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

RUNIC EYE

YVAN GURYEV

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