He puts enough distance between us that the rest of the conversation is inaudible; Livia freezes at his hail as if she’s not quite sure she’s heard correctly, then recovers, cheeks flushing as she stops in front of him. They speak for another half minute in low tones.
“Is his face turning red?” I murmur to Aequa.
“Is he trying toflirt?” she whispers back, eyes wide.
Eidhin glances over at us, his expression genial but his eyes reflecting something between panic and violence as he sees us watching.
Then he and Livia begin strolling companionably away from us, deep in conversation, in the direction of the Quadrum.
“Alright,” I say to Aequa with a grin after I’m certain they’re not turning back. “Let’s get out of here.”
“YOU’RE NOT PLANNING TO JUST BREAK THESE AND RUN.Right?” asks Aequa anxiously, tapping the stone locked around her wrist as we gaze up at the spike-topped wall rising in front of us. We’re beyond the stables, not far from the same point I scaled it more than a year ago. The horses are grazing nearby. No sign of Septimus Ascenia or anyone else. “I don’t think the Principalis was exaggerating about what would happen.”
I chuckle, mainly to cover my own nervousness. I don’t really want to do this in front of her, and some part of me wishes it were Eidhin I had to reveal this to. As much as I’ve confided in them both, this is something else entirely: almost as terrifying a secret as my real name, and with equally dire consequences if the Hierarchy ever finds out about it. But I don’t have time to second-guess.
I close my eyes. Focus on the stone, feel the gentle pulsing of Will in it. I’ve been practicing this for more than a month now, ever since Placement. Refining. Experimenting.
Connection.
The metal triangles beneath my tunic shiver. Adoption doesn’t seem to disrupt whatever Will I’m already using, but it does add the mental strain of another connection to the ones I already maintain. Not that I can’t handle it, but it’s like someone tossing another brick atop the pile I’m already carrying. Even knowing it’s coming, I still have to adjust.
Otherwise, though, it’s almost laughably easy.
The Will’s original purpose remains in the mind of whoever imbued it—Veridius, presumably, in this case—and so I don’t need to worry about its mechanics, as they’ll simply resume when I release it again. And the imbuer’s sense of connection remains, so this won’t draw their attention the same way snapping the bracelet and releasing the Will would. It’s like rifling through someone’s belongings while they’re not looking. As long as I leave everything the way I found it, they’ll never know anything happened.
I mentally prise apart the two stone halves, catch them as they slip off my wrist, and then touch them together again before quickly relinquishing control. They snap back firmly. An empty circle.
Finished, I turn to Aequa. She’s watching with wide eyes. “How?”
“New trick. A story for once we’re over the wall.” I gesture for her to offer her wrist; a few moments later her bracelet is off as well. I hide them at the base of a tree. “I assume you’re going to be able to get yourself over those spikes, Quintus Claudius?”
Aequa continues to watch me dazedly, then shakes herself and refocuses on the wall. Unsurprisingly curious, but as aware as I am of the time pressure. “Please.” Her eyes turn black; she jogs up to the wall and with an apparently effortless leap, clears the glistening barbs by at least ten feet before vanishing behind it.
I grunt, hurriedly manipulating the Harmonic imbuing around my torso, letting the hundred iron triangles flow into a safely hidden pile beneath a bush before taking back my Will from them.
Then I carefully self-imbue, sprint and leap myself. Less casual than Aequa; I practiced clearing this exact height many times before we left, and am certain that I can make it, but it’s a near thing. I push off. Sail upward, tucking my legs slightly to make sure I don’t clip the top of the spikes, and then the familiar feeling of my stomach dropping as I plummet down the other side. I roll as I hit the grass. Lie there for a second, and then grasp Aequa’s hand as she helps me up.
“Gods, you barely made it,” she observes.
“I know.”
“You should try jumping higher next time.”
I shoot her grin a dirty look. “I’ll keep that in mind. Come on. It’s this way.”
Neither of us speak, for a time, as we walk. The close forest whispering around us.
“So tell me about this ‘trick’ of yours.” Aequa says it lightly, but there’s no concealing her intense curiosity.
I exhale.
And I do.
I leave out the details about Relucia’s contact, of course; mentioning him gets far too close to the Anguis for my comfort. It’s a simple enough omission, though. I say I discovered Adoption by accident a couple of months ago. That I assume it’s something to do with what happened to me in the Labyrinth, but there’s no way to be sure. That I’ve experimented with it in private, figured out what it is and isn’t capable of. And that, naturally enough, I haven’t told anyone else.
Aequa listens with only the occasional, vaguely disbelieving question. When I finish, she lets out a long breath.
“You used it during Placement?” Not really asking.
