Page 31 of Of Flames and Crows

His bodyguards opened the door as he made to leave.

Budimir slowed to a stop on the threshold. He turned to cast a final look at the boy in the hospital bed. “If Roman makes it back alive, will you still be his friend?”

Vincent blinked.

“Of course!” he blurted out.

Budimir smiled. “Good. He needs people like you in his life.”

He twisted on his heels and exited the room, his smile fading into a frown.

“Take me to the school,” he told his guards brusquely.

Budimir stared blindly at the streets they passed on the way to the private institution Roman had attended. For the first time in his life, he felt at a loss. Human enemies he could deal with. He’d never had to face an adversary who possessed supernatural powers.

He clenched his jaw, the truth that had dawned upon him when he’d heard of the circumstances behind Roman’s disappearance echoing through his gut. The injuries that had killed the bodyguards tasked with his grandson’s safekeeping had not been caused by normal weapons.

I have to fight like with like. Which means I need to get in touch withhim.

Something bitter swirled through Budimir when Vlad Vissarion’s face rose before his mind’s eye.

The police checked their license plate when they got to the school and let them through. Budimir was conscious of the eyes following him as he and his guards made their way through the dormitory to Roman’s room.

None of the other dead boys’ families had been allowed inside the building.

Then again, none of them have the city’s deputy chief of police in their pocket.

Roman’s room showed no signs of the search that had already been carried out by the detectives investigating his disappearance and the other boys’ murders. Melancholy gripped Budimir as he walked around and touched his grandson’s belongings, his fingers trailing over sports trophies and framed certificates of achievement.

Roman had been a stellar student who excelled in both academics and sports and was well liked by his teachers and classmates alike.

A small diary poking out from under the bed caught his eye. He frowned. It looked old, its pages curled from being leafed through repeatedly.

Budimir leaned down, picked it up, and opened it. His pulse stuttered when he saw the handwriting on the first page.

It belonged to his dead wife.

His heart thundered against his ribs as he thumbed rapidly through the journal. They were notes on magic.

It took him but an instant to realize Eleanora had left the diary to Roman before her death.

Budimir’s fingers clenched on the journal.

He should have felt betrayed. Except he didn’t.

He knew Roman was alive. He could feel it in his gut. And the only reason his grandson had survived the attack that had killed his classmates was because he’d been able to wield the powers Budimir had banned him from using. Powers he’d evidently been practicing in hiding using the information in the very diary Budimir now held.

He closed his eyes shakily.

Thank you, Eleanora! You must have had a premonition that he would need to use his magic to defend himself one day!

It wasn’t until he got to the end of the journal that another of his wife’s many secrets came to light. Budimir’s eyes widened when he read the final inscription.

The knowledge imprinted upon the pages he held had not belonged to Eleanora Vissarion. She had, it seemed, only been a scribe.

Roman had learned how to apply his Fire Magic from the most powerful witch to have arisen from the Vissarion bloodline.

CHAPTER14

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