Page 140 of A Baron of Bonds
I shook my head, fumbling into his chest, meeting warmth and fresh-snapped pine…freshly tilled earth. I mumbled there, “She wants to continue that conversation tonight.”
He rubbed my back. “I’ll be here, if you’d like.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not coming back up here every time. I only did so because I was desperate to find more answers. She can use her power to speak to me in our rooms where it’s cozy and warm.”
He grunted in approval and we stood there for a few minutes, both thinking hard, but both relaxed in each other’s arms.
“She can’t have them, Rev.”
“She won’t. We’ll figure something out. We’re getting good at that. I’ll have the channelers search in the Iumenta Conduit Hall.”
“I’ll write to Figuerah. Maybe she can get a letter to us before she arrives in two months.”
“Let’s focus on what we can do. We can search for answers. We can watch them closely. We certainly won’t bring them back to the Blight again.”
I nodded, my cheek still pressed to his chest. I would stay there for days if he’d let me.
“We can keep training. I tried to answer Philius’s questions as best I could, but he said he had some just for you.”
“Of course he did,” I mumbled into his shirt.
“Karus,”—he lifted my chin with his fingers, sliding a thumb across my lip—“it’s time for you to take the trials. If anything, your training is just a formality. We both know you’ll get through these trials with ease. Once they’re through,”—he cleared his throat—“you can move on to other…conduit things.”
I nodded, not really wanting to think about the conduit trials, my body warming under his touch.
“I mean it, Karus. I’m setting them up this week. They’ll be ready in two. I need you to take over some of the channeler training in that time.”
I moved my hands from around his waist to press them to his hard chest. “I can do that for you, Baron Revich.” The promise slid from my lips, low and suggestive, all of my anger and worry suddenly gone under what I chose to call mine.
His chest moved beneath my fingers in a rumble. “What else can you do for me?”
I reached for his flask, shaking its contents and finding it full. I backed away to the staircase that led down to the first floor.
He followed as he watched, black eyes filling with blue.
“Follow me and find out.”
“Keep looking—that’s too broad.”
“It’s all I can find.”
I slipped off the golden bannister on the first floor of Viridis. I’d tasked Philius with helping me find a book in the Iumenta Conduit Hall specifically about lumens. I shoved the last bite of the beef pastry I’d snagged from the kitchens into my mouth and dusted my hands together.
I tookCreatures of Legendfrom his hand and flipped to the chapter on lumens, showing him without a word that it was shortened to half a page. I’d read the book before and knew it wasn’t what we needed.
“When you search Viridis for something in particular,” I said, laying the book on the floor and patting it gently. It disappeared and slid back into place a few rows down, “you want to hold onto that thought tightly. Close your eyes and think. What do you really need to know? There are thousands of books here. Almostall the knowledge of the isle is at your fingertips. You just need to ask.”
He paused. “We need to know about the magic in lumens.”
“Right…keep going.”
“We need to know how they make connections to their riders, how they can communicate.”
“You’re on the right track. Go ahead—ask.” I smiled, waiting.
“Out loud?”
“No, no. Here.” I took his hand and placed it on the shelf. “Let Viridis know what you need and let it guide you.”
