Page 106 of The Shadow Wand

“No, he doesn’t,” Lukas concurs, his eyes like twin blades. “But he will soon. And I need to get Elloren out of here before he realizes the Black Witch isright here.”

A sharper understanding of the situation Elloren Gardner is faced with emerges in Sparrow’s mind.

“The Vu Trin know what she is, don’t they,” Sparrow postulates, eyeing Lukas. “Which is why they tried to kill her. They weren’t after you at all.”

Lukas’s lip quirks as he holds Sparrow’s gaze, obviously impressed. “Elloren has an army of Vu Trin hunting her,” he confirms. “And soon, several more armies will be after her, as well.”

Sparrow raises her brow at this and briefly meets Thierren’s eyes, an awareness of the extreme danger obvious in his tense expression.

“So, she’s the most powerful weapon on Erthia,” Sparrow says to Lukas as she pins him with her stare. “And you want us to help you smuggle her out of here. With multiple armies about to descend.”

“Help me get her out,” Lukas rejoins, “and I’ll get you and Thierren and Effrey East. Along with Elloren. Who I will then train in the use of her power so that she can strike down Vogel and the entire Mage Guard.” Lukas’s mouth tilts up a notch more as he holds Sparrow’s gaze, challenge sparking in his eyes. “I’m assuming that holds some appeal for you.”

The possibilities course through Sparrow, her pulse quickening as she turns the broader situation over in her mind.

Vogel’s power is growing to monstrous levels, shocking everyone in both Realms, his rapid creation of a runic border taking everyone off guard. As has his annexation of so much of the Western Realm in only a matter of weeks, his sights beginning to turn East.

Inevitably to the East.

If he’s not stopped, and soon, there won’t be a speck of safe ground left anywhere on Erthia.

But a Black Witch, Sparrow thinks, her lip twitching up.That could put a nice dent in Vogel’s plans.

Sparrow considers Elloren Gardner’s kindness to Effrey, such a contrast to vicious Fallon Bane. She can barely suppress her smile as she considers how Fallon Bane will react to the news that Elloren Gardner is, in fact, the true Black Witch.

That alone is worth helping Elloren Gardner dodge several armies.

Along with the fact that the East is going to need every single weapon they can get their hands on to stop Vogel.

Sparrow’s chest tightens with urgency. Because she desperately wants to keep Effrey safe from what’s coming.

She meets Thierren’s gaze once more, holding his fierce stare as a silent conversation rages between them. Neither of them holds any illusions about the risks at play here. The difficult odds.

The power of the foul Magedom.

Thierren’s sharp features solidify with resolve, and Sparrow can sense they’re falling into one mind on this.

“Are you sure?” she asks Thierren, the words weighted with portent.

“Let’s go east,” Thierren responds, and for a brief moment, Sparrow is swept up in the power and comfort of their alliance.

Bolstered, Sparrow turns to Lukas. “All right,” she says. “Let’s chance it. Let’s smuggle the Black Witch out of here.”

Lukas nods, growing serious as his gaze flicks over them both, as if gauging their commitment. Seeming satisfied, his eyes take on a hard glint. “The window of escape will be very slim. Here’s what I need you to do.”

A few hours later, dawn filters into one of the estate’s upper-story hallways through stained-glass skylights, washing Sparrow in its muted light. She hurries down the narrow, tree-lined hallway, a lantern in hand, as her mind brims with knowledge.

Lightning flashes, briefly brightening the hall with white light.

Sparrow stops at the hallway’s end, opens the linen closet’s door, and steps inside the sizable storage closet. She sets down her lantern and gathers a pile of neatly folded milk-white sheets from the shelf before her, racing to finish the morning’s tasks with her usual pristine competence so that Oralyyr and Mage Evelyn Grey don’t become suspicious that anything could be amiss.

Leaving Sparrow time to pilfer food and supplies for a long journey—a journey Sparrow prays she and Effrey and Thierren survive, a fragile hope now cradled in her chest.

Until this moment, Sparrow’s outlook has been a morbid one, but now...

If Elloren Gardner can learn to wield her power for the Resistance, everything is suddenly in play—

The defeat of Vogel and his forces.

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