Page 6 of Magic Cursed

I give him a sly smile, ready to set my trap, and look up at him from under my dark lashes. “You can’t fall for me.”

His eyes shift briefly, letting me know I’ve caught him off-guard. He quickly recovers and reaches out to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. The brush of his cold fingers on my neck, just behind my ear, tickles. “Such demands.”

I tilt my head. “Promise.”

He places his hand over his heart. “Very well, you have my word.” He winks. “I won’t fall for you.”

I don’t need, nor want him to fall for me, but I’ve found that the easiest way to manipulate a man is to tell him what he can’t have. That just makes him want what he might not have even wanted in the first place. Then they’re too distracted, focusing on what they can’t have, to realize they’re about to get robbed blind.

I turn and walk toward the forest. “Come along then. I’m heading toward the heart of the Thaaryn Empire: Stonemount.”

“I know,” he strides up next to me.

I squint my eyes at him. “No, you didn’t.”

He shrugs. “Okay, I assumed.”

Stonemount is a day and a half walk from Vynx Fjord and we have about three hours before the sun goes down. I want to put as much distance between us and the dragon caves as possible.

“Do you live in the village then?” Rock asks.

There it is again. Why does he want to know where I live?Heobviously doesn’t live in the village, unless it’s one of the finer estates closest to the castle. Simple villagers don’t walk around with high-quality boots and that much gold on their person. He could be a courtier’s son and live in the castle itself. I must have hesitated too long because he says, “I just haven’t seen you around, is all.”

“First you ask if we’ve met before, now you say you haven’t seen me around. Which is it?”

He shrugs. “Before, I only meant that there’s something familiar about you.”

“Mmmhmm,” I mumble. “I must have one of those faces?”

He shakes his head, and his eyes linger on me. “There’s definitely not another face like yours.” His brows draw together. “How have you evaded the Steel Guard all this time?”

“How have you?” I counter. “The Steel Guard would probably want to question someone working with a magic user just as much as a magic user.”

“The Steel Guard is only after magic users who abuse their gifts. I work with magic users who only use magic to help Thaaryn.”

That’s an interesting view. Completely wrong, but interesting. “And what about the magic users that were killed on the spot the night of the Blood Moon? No one asked them if they wereabusingtheir gifts.”

A shadow passes over his eyes and his face turns solemn. “That night was a mistake. Fear will cause people to do horrible, inexcusable things.” He shakes his head, and his smile is back. “But it’s not like that now.”

All the wanted signs still posted everywhere with my name and ten-year-old face on them say otherwise, but I’m not going to tell him that. We duck under a low branch. “Nope, now the Regent decides what we can and can’t use our magic for.”

“Only to keep everyone safe. To keep the powerful from abusing their magic and using it against the innocent.”

The hero through and through. And a sheltered view. Would he feel the same if he was hunted? I just smile. “So then, how does using magic to survive an encounter with a dragon help Thaaryn?”

He pulls a vial from his trousers. It has a clear, iridescent liquid in it. “Because I needed this.”

I raise my brows and give him a look that says,and?

“It’s dragon saliva.”

Working as a black market dealer, I know the value of just about anything salable and I’ve never heard of any demand for dragon saliva. “And how exactly is that going to help Thaaryn?”

He pockets the vial with great care. “I can’t give you details, but it may be the key to saving us all.”

We enter a large field with grass the color of the sun that reaches above our heads.

“Spit is going to save us all? From who?”

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