Page 100 of The Shadow Wand

Lukas gives a wry laugh. He pulls Chi Nam’s rune stone from his tunic’s pocket and hands it to me.

I take it from him and thrust the rune stone protectively into my tunic’s pocket, running my fingers over the smooth stone, yearning for its calming aura as my emotions churn.

Lukas leans in. “Chi Nam is a friend to the Vu Trin political agenda. Period.” He lifts a finger to swiftly trace the side of my neck. “Thwart that, and she’ll slit this pretty little throat of yours without a moment’s hesitation.”

I back away from his touch and toward the canopy post behind me.

It’s all too much, such matter-of-fact talk of someone murdering me. I glance around blankly, the whole situation surreal and bearing down on me. My hand finds the canopy post and I grip the Ironwood, my unstable power flaring violently inside of me.

Lukas’s hand comes back to my arm, his look of urgency back. “Tell meexactlyhow much power you can access.”

Tears sting at my eyes as I cling to the post. “More than my grandmother ever had,” I say, my voice a low rasp. “They took me to the desert. To train me.”

“The Vu Trin?”

I nod tightly. “They gave me a flimsy wand. I said the candle-lighting spell.” I pause, remembering. My mouth pulls down into a trembling grimace. “There was an ocean of fire. If they hadn’t put up a shield, I would have killed everyone I was with. I killed Ni Vin’s horse. Imeltedit.”

Surprise lights Lukas’s eyes. He pulls in a deep breath. “You didthat. With thecandle-lighting spell?”

I nod and tell him everything.

When Lukas speaks, it’s slow and with emphasis, his tone disturbingly matter-of-fact. “We have at most two days before the Vu Trin kill you or Vogel figures out you’re the Black Witch.”

A harder panic takes hold and I swallow, desperation surging. “Can we get out of here?”

“We’re surrounded by Vogel’s entire guard.”

“So, what do we do?”

He sharpens his gaze on me. “We stage a diversion and escape.”

Clarity descends. “The Sealing ceremony.”

“Yes,” Lukas affirms. “Vogel might have just handed us a way past him by forcing this on us.”

Dread rises at the thought of that Shadow Wand anywhere near us both.

“Lukas, Vogel’s Wand has demonic power in it, and he’ll use it to reset the Sealing spell.”

He nods, jaw tense, a hard look in his eyes. “We’re going to have to risk having the magic reset with that Wand. I can’t think of a way around it.”

A maelstrom of emotions war inside me. “But you think we might have a chance of escaping?”

“We might. I think a formal Sealing will provide theultimatedistraction. Gardnerians love Sealing ceremonies. The vicarious thrill of a virgin’s deflowering. And not just any virgin, mind you—Carnissa Gardner’s granddaughter.”

Ire rises, overtaking my near panic. “That’s in really poor taste, Lukas.”

“The whole thing is in incredibly poor taste,” Lukas concurs, surprising me. “And we’re going to use it against them.”

A hard spark of triumph lights within me at the idea of using the Gardnerians’ awful wandfasting traditions as a weapon aimed squarely at them.

“When would we leave?” I venture.

Lukas hesitates. “I can think of only one window.”

My mind casts about, quickly lighting on that window.

The Blessing of Dominion. It would have to be then. The morning after the Sealing ceremony and just after the Sealing breakfast. When the couple is required, byTheBook of the Ancients, to enter the wilds alone and scatter the ashes of a destroyed tree to symbolize the Magedom’s dominion over Erthia, the time spent in the woods open-ended.

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