Page 84 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
Kieran burst into laughter along with me, his body pitching forward so that his forehead leaned against mine. But his laughter was cut short by a sharp intake of breath.
“Are you okay?” I asked quickly, all humor vanishing in an instant.
“Could be worse,” he gritted out. “Actually, Iwasworse until you got us out of there. Those wards were no joke.”
I looked beyond the Enforcers then, through the doorway. I had been so focused on Kieran, I had missed them before. The black-inked markings of magic-dampening wards were scrawled across the floor, the wall, the ceiling. “They were awful,” I agreed. “We’re lucky that you’re half-human, and I’m just a human carrying magic in my system. If we had been purely magical beings, we would’ve been fully incapacitated.”
Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, moving to the wrists still bound behind his back. I used a similar method as with thedoor to crush and snap the hard plastic of the cuffs. It took a few tries, one of which involved squirting cold water in Kieran’s face. When I finally got the cuffs off him, I frowned at the magic-dampening wards on the underside of the broken pieces. “I knew an enchantress assisted Cyllene with the barrier wards for the walls years ago, but I didn’t know The Council still had access to these kinds of spells.”
I glanced over at the twoEnforcers, who were watching and listening closely. Their eyes were inscrutable.
“The Council has access to a lot of things,” Kieran said with a sigh, rotating his wrists in slow circles. I finished breaking the cuffs on his ankles, and he flexed them as well. “But we don’t have time to talk about all of that right now. We need to get out of here.”
“Right.” I moved to stand, but Kieran grabbed my arm.
“I know Addis said a lot of things yesterday. Thank you. For trusting me.”
I gave him a small smile. “I’m not thrilled that you kept all this from me, but whatever this might have started as, I trust your intentions now.”
I went to stand and instantly fell back against the wall. Kieran did the same, his legs buckling under him. His issue now was his lingering injuries. Mine was the toll that Larimar’s magic was taking on my body. I could feel the creeping headache returning, this time with a vengeance.
“Hey,” Kieran said quietly, his voice still raspy. He smoothed back a few strands of hair that had come loose from my braid,tucking them behind my ear. “I’m here now, so don’t use magic again unless you absolutely have to. Don’t overdo it.”
“I’m not, don’t worry.” Here I was talking about trust, and I was lying to him. My head was pounding. But his fingertips brushing against the shell of my ear were certainly a nice distraction from that.
I didn’t fool Kieran for a second. Wordlessly, he gestured behind him to the two men encased in ice, as if that proved his point.
“It’s not funny,” he chided as I was overtaken by another fit of laughter. “It takes a lot of magic to do something like that, and it will catch up with you quickly. You’re human.”
Before I could stop myself, I said meekly, “There’s another one upstairs.”
Another one who’s on our side, apparently, I wanted to add. But not with the two others in earshot.
Kieran stared at me for a long moment. In spite of himself, his lips tugged into a smile. “Come on, Maila. Larimar’s apprentice. Whoever the hell you are.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall toward the central staircase. He was trying to conceal that he was limping. I fell into step beside him and loosened my arm from his grip so he could use his to balance.
Clearly, we were equally worried about the other overexerting themselves.
When we reached the base of the staircase, I spotted two women descending from several levels up, engrossed in conversation. We needed to pick up the pace before anyonetook notice of Kieran and his silver eyes. Or how banged up he was, for that matter.
He must have had the same thought, because even with his injured legs, he made as if to break into a jog, turning in the direction of the glass doors that led to the Knowledge Center.
That was when it hit me.
“Kieran, wait.” He whipped around to face me. “Larimar told me that Nya and the others are trying to break into Cyllene from the beach. They’re facing off with theEnforcers. That’s why it’s so quiet right now.”
“I know.” He gave a sad smile. “That’s why I was armed. I was supposed to join them today. After I convinced you to stay in your room, no matter what you heard, and…” His throat bobbed. “And wait for me.”
“Wait for you?”
“The decision was yours to make, Maila,” he said softly. “I know we came on strong in the beginning, but…once we got to know you, there was never any other option. It had to be your choice if you wanted to help us or not. And if it was left up to me, you would be somewhere safe. Not involved in any of this. Not anymore.”
The backs of my eyes burned. “So what is ‘this,’ Kieran?” I asked softly. We didn’t have time for this, I knew. But after all of the lies—some outright, and some by omission—I deserved for someone to tell me the truth of what I was getting into this time. “What are you all trying to accomplish with this?”
The only hesitation from Kieran was the time it took to pull me into the shadows beneath the stairwell. “We’re taking thecity. Not forever, but just long enough to dismantle The Council and establish new leadership. Leadership that we’ll be a part of. Everyday citizens will be included in that process, too, even though they’ll initially be scared.” He smirked that signature smirk of his. “I’m going to join my people, Maila. My offer still stands. You can follow, or you can stay out of this mess and wait for me in your apartment. I’ll come find you. No matter what, I’ll find you.”
Then he was running again.
