Page 67 of The Shadow Wand

“I don’t know. But he has to come. Vogel has required that several of his commanders, including Lukas, be there tonight. Vogel has some important announcement to make, and the Mages are celebrating Gardneria’s annexation of huge swaths of the Western Realm. Lukas is the commander who oversaw Keltania’s annexation. Hehasto be there. He might have already come.”

I don’t have time to wonder at Sparrow knowing all of this in so much detail as fierce apprehension whips up inside me.

Fallon can’t hurt me, I desperately reason with myself.She absolutely cannot hurt me.Hated or not, I’m Carnissa Gardner’s granddaughter, and my fastmarks are chastely intact.

But will Fallon really lose anything if she comes after me? Especially if she does it in some covert way, like she did back when we were both scholars at university?

I remember the chilling smile on Mage Evelyn Grey’s lips when she informed me I was to go to the ball. Is that what Lukas’s mother was plotting? To send me into Fallon Bane’s path?

Am I being sent to my own execution?

“I can’t make a run for it,” I say in a constricted voice, my eyes flicking toward the soldiers outside. “Not with how Lukas’s mother has me guarded. I’m going to have to go into the Council Hall.”

“It’s a large hall, Mage, and I know it well,” Sparrow says evenly, her gaze tight on mine as I sense us falling in with each other.

“I need your help,” I admit.

“I know,” she says with a grim nod. “I’ll help you.”

I’m stunned by the aid she’s offering. She’s taking an incredible risk, throwing her lot in with mine. And I realize, as my mind whirls, that Sparrow’s own situation must be almost as monstrously bad as mine to make the possibility of me as an ally worth risking everything for.

“You’ll need to stay out of Fallon’s sight,” Sparrow warns. “Try to avoid her any way you can.”

I cock a disbelieving brow at her, nerves churning. “That’s going to be a bit tricky, don’t you think? Seeing as how I’m wearing the most scarlet Gardnerian dress ever made.”

Sparrow’s gaze flicks over my flamboyant, ruby-glittering garb before it meets mine once more, an impressive level of resolve burning in her eyes. “Then you’ll just have to find Lukas before she finds you.”

And perhaps I’ll have a chance of saving my own life.

I clutch the wooden shard in my hand so hard that it slices into my skin, my magic roaring to life and racing toward the wood as the terrifying realization crashes over me.

I’m about to be thrust into a game of cat and mouse. Against a Level Five Mage in full control of her power.

The carriage climbs the long, winding hill that leads to the immense Mage Council Hall as I struggle to prepare myself, my whole body bowstring-tight with tension.

The Council Hall is carved into the mountainous face of the Styvius Bluff, the Hall’s bluff-stone walls and arches chiseled to appear as if we’re approaching a dense stone forest. Massive rock trunks support the six stories of the Hall and their curving outdoor balconies. A forest of stone-tree statues brackets the stone road leading toward the Hall, the trees’ carved branches twining overhead to form a porous tunnel.

I push the carriage window open a crack and breathe in the salty air, the rain having passed, the turbulent Voltic Sea just beyond the bluff. Seagulls cry out and circle the Hall, which is newly cast in the sunset’s rose light as the clouds break up, everything lit by flickering torchlight.

There are Gardnerian flags everywhere, the new white bird design on black hung over balconies and flowing from windows. One of monstrous size is affixed between the two mammoth stone trees that support the second-story balcony, and the windows all around this level are lit the brightest with a festive yellow glow.

Elegant Gardnerians dressed in various shades and sheens of black are packed onto this wide, sweeping second-story balcony and inside its ornate interior. Large doors are thrown open and orchestral music streams out, conversation and laughter gelling into one loud buzz. And there’s a military presence—quite a sizable one. Powerful Mage soldiers with Level Four and Five stripes practically ring the base of the Council Hall.

An army of Mages.

Countless torches on iron stands illuminate the walkways, and the hot, musky scent of the torches’ Verpacian Elm oil wafts through the air. The torches cut through the remaining dampness from the rain, the deepening twilight newly warm and balmy, the breaks in the clouds beginning to glitter with sparkling stars.

A perfect night for celebration.

I ready myself for flight as we near the Council Hall and I take in the Gardnerians—their splendid garb, the jubilant swell of their conversation, how many of them there are.

And the white armbands around every Mage’s upper arm, blaring their support of High Mage Marcus Vogel.

It’s hard to fight off a dizzying sense of doom. I’ve never seen so many carriages in one place before, clogging up the road in front of the Hall. As I gape at the size of the crowd, my own carriage comes to an abrupt halt near a broad curving staircase leading to the raised first floor.

I flinch as one of my guards jerks open the carriage door, a disconcerting sneer on his bearded face as his gaze rakes my blazingly scarlet dress and lingers on my arm, probably noticing my lack of a white armband.

I close my fist around the shard of wood and step out, my pulse galloping as the guard brusquely motions me forward. Tensed for attack, I set out toward the flow of the crowd, flanked by my guards and with Sparrow close on my heels, a heady sense of my formidable magic streaming through me.

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