Page 14 of A Baron of Bonds
My ankle was sore, but I decided to save my strength and not heal it or the gash on my face. I was weaker now and knew I might need what magic I had left to make it through whatever came next.
Chapter 12
Saelyn
I was fourteen,and I was clever.
I had already devoured all of the books I could get my hands on about magic and had found scraps of writings and scrolls in places where I was not supposed to be.
My mother was busy with her duties and I didn’t mind her absence so much now that I could practice magic on my own.
I missed Thevin that winter, partially because he had become more interesting in the last few years and partially because I couldn’t wait to show him all the different magic I could perform.
I pulled my cloak closer to my cheeks and whispered to the frost-bitten leaves of a fern that had so stubbornly stayed green since winter’s arrival. My magic swirled from my hands, melting the ice and righting the tips of the verdant blades. I giggled, delighted in my power.
“Saelyn, where did you learn to do that?”
I jumped at Pah-Pah’s voice behind me. “I?—”
“You know you are not to get ahead of your studies, child, and your mother will be very cross when she learns that you have defied her wishes yetagain.” He shook his head and held out a hand to help me up from the snowy ground.
I frowned, angry that he had discovered me practicing my power. I did not like how closely I was watched these days and resented that my mother felt it needed to be done.
She was right, though. I cared little for her rules and did not understand their necessity. I was growing into a young woman now, and I deserved to be treated with the proper amount of respect and space.
I sighed and kept my hands where they lie in my lap, muttering, “Revertayden en tepiore.”
I watched as the leaves of the fern reversed to ice again and Pah-Pah’s steps flowed backward.
I did my best to look at him innocently as he smiled at me, approaching again, but for him, what would be the first time.
“Saelyn, I’m glad I found you. It’s freezing out in the cold, child. Come, your mother is asking for you to join her for lunch.”
Pah-Pah held out a hand encased in a warm, wool glove for me to take.
Yes, I was too clever and powerful by half, and my own mother didn’t know the whole of it.
I turned back to look at the frost-bitten leaves of the fern, already plotting to come back and try again.
The sun was setting and the glow shone bright off the patches of snow. I grinned, but continued forward as my name filtered through the blistery wind.
Chapter 13
Karus
Parvus tookme through more swampy forest, more desolate trees with limbs encased in various fungi I had not seen before. Some of them oozed black liquid that slid down the branches, leaving streaks of discolored bark in their wake.
I leaned forward on Parvus’s back, too exhausted to sit up any longer, too angry with myself to do anything other than trust my lumen with leading me to safety.
I hoped beyond reason that Revich had found the rhyzolm. I wished more than anything that I would be reunited with him soon and that this would all be a nightmare settling into my past.
I could have warmed my skin with my power, but decided I deserved to freeze. I thought less of myself in those moments of hunger and exhaustion than I ever had before.
I wallowed in remorse for what felt like hours, fading into sleep a few times as I sunk into Parvus’s fur.
We finally stopped at the edge of a gentle river and Parvus waded in, lapping water generously with his long tongue. I slid from his back, my boots splashing as I took in where we were.
A white cliff faced us, its sandstone edges a stark difference to the dark, dreary forest of trees that encased it. Carved into its face were ornate window ledges, stairwells and flowing tresses ofvines, green as Felgren after a summer storm. A palace had been carved into this cliffside and I had no doubts of who ruled there.
