Page 86 of Fortress of Ambrose
I lift my shirt and study the smooth skin where my wound used to be. A subtle pain is still there, but there is no bruise.
I stretch my torso again, searching for some dregs ofmyproper magic, but the faint hum of the grainy dust I used to feel flutter around in me is gone. A weight of cold shifts in my chest, and it’s oddly comforting. Toushana rolls through my body, settling into its every crevice, and the chill answers in an instant, dark mist rising from my fingers. My own binding ceremony tugs at my memory. But I inhale and play with the darkness in my hands before snuffing it out and tucking my shirt.
Before anything else, the Sphere’s toushana must come out of me, too. With so many hunting me, my body is the least safe place for it to be.
I glare at the corpse. Thankfully, I just witnessed an extraction procedure that can do it.
The corridors of the safe house are busy. There’s no sign of Ube or Erla, his sister. Ube seemed in on it. But he also seemed confused. Lady Ruby is nowhere to be found. My toushana is quiet, at home in my bones, as I stroll past the other exam rooms. I wouldn’t have gotten out of there alive if I hadn’t asked toushana for help.Andlet it flow through me, freely.
I push away the last traces of grief over the boy I was—who studied and strengthened his proper magic to be better than everyone else.Thisis what I have now. I’m not letting it go. When the Sphere’s toushana is extracted from my body, I will make sure a piece of it stays. Dark magic is propelled by my deepest, most desperate instincts.
I won’t second-guess them ever again.
And right now they’re urging me to find Quell.
Thirty-Six
Quell
Tippets Square is empty as the sun rises over the buildings. When I returned to Chateau Soleil, Yaniselle told me she followed Jordan here, where he disappeared inside a church. And didn’t come out. Panicked, she returned to find me, and we traveled back here together. I linger near a fountain’s edge, looking for some indication where Jordan could have gone. But it’s an earsplitting scream that sends a jolt through my ribs.
Leaving my mother in Nova Misa was hard, but I made my choice, and it isn’t goodbye forever. The Dragunhead is after my magic, and I won’t stand for it. No one else is dying to fight my battles for me.
I will stop him myself.
I will glide on my own wings.
The air shreds a second time with a bloodcurdling scream.
I look for where the noise is coming from and in the dim morning light spot a girl with cropped dark hair standing over a charred body on the sidewalk that rims the square. She’s covered in bruises, and the closer I get, I realize I know those thick black-liner-streaked eyes, combat boots, and mixed-metal jacket.
“Abby!”
She turns, and morning light illuminates her whole face. It’s really her. I run harder, slamming into her.
“Quell?” She sobs against me, hugging me tight.
“You’re okay.”
She shakes, falling to her knees. I smell the body’s stench before I see it up close.
“It’s Mynick.”
I gasp.“What happened?”
She points at the church. “He tried to get in there, and when he crossed those steps, he caught on fire.”
The last time I saw Mynick, he pretended to help me look for my mom at a ball, when he was really plotting a raid to capture me. “You hate him.”
“I do, but he showed up at the Tavern one night for one of the shows. I was hoping to slash his tires or something to make myself feel better. I couldn’t help myself.” She folds her arms, and I hug her again. It hurts to see her so upset over someone who isn’t even worth her time. “But when I went looking for him, he was meeting with some people who mentioned Jordan. I’ve been following him ever since, to see what he was up to. I worried he was setting Jordan up to be raided like he did to you, but no one ever came. Now he’s dead.” Her grip on my hand is iron. “Quell, have you been reading the papers?”
Darkbearers.“I have.”
“I was in one of those neighborhoods that got destroyed. I watched Mynick and those guys—” Her voice cracks. “She was just a little old lady, Quell.” She breaks. “Why? Why would he do this?”
I hold her tighter. “Some people only feel good about themselves when they make others feel bad.”
“He wasn’t like this before. It’s that poison. Thattoushana. He should have never touched it.” She looks at my hands. “I don’t mean— I’m sorry, Quell.”
