Page 160 of The Shadow Wand

“Why would they keep a tight hold on them?”I ask in Noi, thrown.

Lukas looks to me. “Language is powerful. This sorcery gives their military and their ruling council an advantage.”

I turn to Valasca. “Do you have one of these rune marks?”

“Of course,” Valasca replies in Noi with an incredulous twist to her smile. “I’m the head of the Queen’s Guard. A guard allied with the Noi Wyvernguard.” She pushes her spiky blue-streaked hair behind her pointed ear and turns the side of her head to me.

And there they are, the faint blue lines of a circular koi’lon rune, nestled inside the black lines of the runic tattoos that mark her skin.

Valasca grins. “But I’m part Noi and part Urisk. I speak both Noi and two Uriskal dialects even without the koi’lon.”

I marvel at them all, deeply impressed by their abilities with languages and language sorcery. But then, an uneasy thought comes to mind. “Is my koi’lon mark visible?”

Chi Nam shakes her head. “It’s been absorbed under the glamour spell. Completely hidden from view.”

Chi Nam slides the spent koi’lon stone back into her cloak and pulls out a flat, star-shaped stone that’s marked with whirring sapphire runes on its points, a larger rune rotating in its center.

“Hold still,” Chi Nam directs as she reaches up to grasp the back of my head. “This might hurt a bit.” She practically slams the star-stone against my forehead.

I arch backward against her hand and let out a rough gasp, a streak of painful energy shooting through me, straight through Lukas’s shield and through all of my lines, the pain quickly morphing into a rippling sting that pools just under my skin. I flinch as a flash of blue light rays out from me in all directions before disappearing along with the lingering sting.

“Vogel and the Vu Trin both will attempt to track you,” Chi Nam says as she withdraws the star-stone and briefly grips my shoulder. “I’ve strengthened the Mage-shield you two have so clearly been working on.” She peers appreciatively at Lukas as she takes back her rune staff from him. “Nicely done, Young One.”

Lukas’s mouth lifts, his hand coming to the small of my back, a trace of our fire power connecting at the point of contact in a warm rush.

I look up at Lukas. “Do I look very different?” I ask him in the Common Tongue, oddly reticent to hear his answer. Wanting Lukas to be able to recognize me as me.

Lukas gives me a crooked, knowing smile as his deep-green eyes flick over me. “Your features are mostly the same. Except for your ears. And you’d look lovely in any form, Elloren. Slate suits you.”

An appreciative warmth slides through me as my earth magery reaches for his and he responds in kind, our branches twining, the motion quickly turning into a mutual caress. Lukas’s head bobs in a silent laugh, his gaze on me briefly full of suggestion.

I glance down at my wand hand, turning it over and over.

Gray as a storm.

I fidget a bit, feeling refreshingly free in clothes I can really move in after spending so long in the restrictive, long-skirted Gardnerian attire.

“Mage Grey and I should check the periphery,” Chi Nam declares, leaning on her rune staff as she gives Lukas a measuring look.

“You’re drafting me into your service, then?” Lukas asks Chi Nam, seeming amused.

“That I am.” Chi Nam’s eyes glint with good humor as she starts for the line of woods and motions for Lukas to follow. “Come, Young Mage. We’ll send out a web of your magic combined with my sorcery and see if there’s anything stalking Elloren this eve.” Her words are lightly said, but there’s an ominous undercurrent to the look that passes between them.

“Stay close to Valasca,” Lukas directs as he caresses my arm, but there’s true warning in his tone, and I nod.

“Be careful,” I tell him, my branching affinity lines grasping tighter hold of his.

Emotion flickers in Lukas’s eyes. “I’ll be careful,” he assures me.

And then Lukas gently pushes my magic back as he and Chi Nam disappear into the darkness of the wilds.

CHAPTER TWELVE

SHADOW EYES

ELLOREN GREY

Sixth Month

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