Page 107 of The Shadow Wand

The defeat of Fallon Bane and her brothers.

The liberation of the Fae Islands.

And Effrey and Thierren and I are getting out of the Western Realm tomorrow morn, Sparrow marvels.

Finally.

This elusive, longed-for dream of escape is unattainable no more.

Sparrow is ready, her heart practically singing with courage as she hugs the sheets close and moves to pick up her lantern.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Sparrow startles at the question, her movements instantly halted by the deep, silken voice. She turns, her heartbeat quickening as she’s suddenly faced with Lukas’s priest brother.

Silvern Grey.

She clutches the clean linens protectively against her chest, wanting to form a wall between herself and this Mage as her alarm rises.

Silvern Grey is like a leaner, meaner, and powerless version of Lukas, lesser in every way and, from what little she’s gleaned about him, deeply resentful of it. His sculpted Gardnerian features are square jawed and aristocratic, his priestly tunic well pressed and of the finest silk, his icy-green gaze identical to Evelyn Grey’s.

And he’s leaning against the door’s frame, intentionally blocking her way out. Disturbingly bright eyed and...interested.

Sparrow’s gaze darts around him as thunder rumbles through the estate’s Ironwood walls, her heartbeat quickening to a faster rhythm.

She’s seen this look too many times before.

And the priests are the worst ones.

She ducks her head deferentially, pulling her figure inward, careful to sound neutral and not the least bit friendly. “Mage Evelyn wants the linens changed right away.” She cautiously moves toward the door, toward his side, waiting for him to step back, but Silvern doesn’t budge, the interest in his eyes taking on a glazed sheen, his breathing deepening as he swallows and looks her over.

Sparrow’s alarm strengthens. “I need to go, Mage,” she insists, avoiding eye contact as she moves toward his side once more, hoping he’ll move.

Instead, Silvern steps inside the closet and takes hold of her arm as she attempts to dart around him. Sparrow’s gut clenches at the threatening touch.

“Stay a bit,” he croons, looking at her but not reallylookingat her, and Sparrow knows exactly what she is to him in this moment. “Or we’ll need to speak about the Fae Islands. I might need to see your work papers. To make sure they’re in order.”

His threat is lightly but devastatingly leveled. Panic crests in Sparrow as she moves to slip from his grip, but his fingers grip tighter.

“Please, Mage,” Sparrow pleads, feeling as if she’s sinking into dark waters with no ground beneath her. “Mage Evelyn will be looking for me,” she insists, trying to force truth into the lie.

“Shh,” Silvern croons as he traces the base of Sparrow’s neck with his finger.

Sparrow recoils, backing into the shelf behind her, and Silvern closes in, yanks the sheets from her grasp, and grabs hold of her arms.

Outrage gaining fierce ground, Sparrow slams her palms against Silvern’s bird-marked chest and pushes hard, keeping him at bay.

Anger flashes across Silvern’s face, his free hand flying up to grab her wrists, wrenching them away from his chest. “Stop,” he hisses as he forces her roughly against the shelving, the entire shelf thumping against the wall behind her. “You be quiet,” he demands, looking her over, lecherous heat in his gaze, his sour breath warm on her face.

Sparrow’s mind whirls around his mention of the Fae Islands and her forged work papers as she desperately considers going for the blade she has concealed in a calf-sheath under her skirts. The blade Thierren has taught her to wield.

You can’t pull a blade on him,Sparrow agonizes. He’ll have both you and Effrey arrested and shipped to the Pyrran Prison Isles if he finds out you’re armed. And if you kill him, you won’t just be destroying Effrey’s and your chance of escaping east...

You might destroy Elloren Gardner’s chances of escape, as well.

Which could deliver the Black Witch straight into Vogel’s hands.

If Thierren was here, Sparrow agonizes, or if Lukas was here, they’d stop Silvern.

---