Page 172 of A Baron of Bonds
And I knew at least one thing; Byn Schayel was not going to make it out of this marsh alive.
But was that really what I was doing here? I was supposed to plot the murder of Revich’s father?
I highly doubted it.
I must be missing something.
The conduit trials were four.
This was a fifth, something different entirely.
Rev sent me here todosomething. Toprovesomething.
Each trial had been proof of magic—iumenta, lapis, medicus, and agricola.
What other magic was there for me to prove?
The answer hit like lightning, striking me to the core. I stopped following Rev’s father, stuck in place, my mind in the body of my companion when he was a child as I came to the only conclusion.
This was a trial for the only other magic a person could wield on this isle.
This was a trial for a Baron.
Chapter 76
Rev
THE BARON TRIAL
I watchedthe space where the Blightress had disappeared.
The fact that she had been able to appear in Felgren at all had me on edge.
It meant that she really could come at any time and take Karus from me.
Not that Karus wouldn’t fight back, but I knew the Blightress held more power than my love. Certainly more than me.
I’d felt it from the rhyzolm. I felt it now in how she left, leaving behind a wake of power that needed to settle back into the wind, the trees, and the roots she’d left broken and exposed.
Karus had still not returned, which meant she not yet passed or failed her final trial.
She probably had it figured it out by now.
Why I had put her there.
I wasn’t sure she’d know what to do, but that’s the Baron trial at its core. The path to success would remain unclear until it was almost too late.
Chapter 77
Karus
THE BARON TRIAL
My focus was keen.
Revich had sent me here to prove I could wield the power of a Baron.
He’d never meant for me to become a conduit.
