With a break before my next placement, I found myself leaning against a building, definitely not thinking of Rowan, with my little hand-drawn map gripped in my fist. The castle supposedly only had one entrance or exit, but the map revealed two more. One of those was in a location I’d spotted this morning.
I wasn’t huge on fate, but the coincidence was too perfect. I waited until the pair of enforcers currently patrolling the wall vanished toward the cannons before lightly crossing to the barred door I found this morning.
Fear prickled my back.
I only want you safe,Ezra had said.
By literally holding me prisoner. The phantom collar chilled my neck, and I clenched my fist. This prison might be better than dirt floors and shackles, but it didn’t change the fact I wasn’t free.
Any lingering fear vanished. I needed to do this. I hadn’t been drifting in a nightmare; I’d been surviving in post-apocalyptic Scotland for months on my own, for better or worse, long before I stumbled into this castle.
A black-clad enforcer came into my peripheral vision, and I pressed myself to the gate, trying to hide in its unique angle. Ezra’s men had my description and wouldn’t hesitate to stop me. Or worse, what if Brody came looking and found me alone?
Shit, I forgot about Brody.
I needed to get out of sight, fast.
Unlike everything else, I had no fear of destroying the old lock securing the door. I gripped it and ‘willed’ it to open. It didn’t open,but my spine chilled, and the metal in my hand unraveled into chunks of alloys I couldn’t name. This had to be my Majekah, and I had some control over it, which meant, with time, I could manipulate the general magic pool. I needed to commune with Earth’s new energies, or whatever,afterI solved my financial problems.
I threw my body weight against the door. My aching arms shook. If I never lifted another crate of heavy books, it would be too soon. After the third shove, the door inched open into the weeds. I’d never been so happy to be underweight in my entire life. I squeezed through and, as soundlessly as possible, shut it again.
An enforcer walked past the door, and I froze. If he turned even a little, he’d look right at me. Lady luck was on my side, and he continued past. I waited another heartbeat before venturing forward.
Foundations and weeds were all that remained of a small building on the cliff’s edge. Beyond them, Edinburgh stretched into the dreary day. I turned to the wall, expecting to see a set of stairs or a ladder, and my heart jumped in my throat. A crumbling patchwork of stone that might have been stairs a hundred years ago filled half my view. The other contained only a gray sky, extending down to what had to be at least a three-hundred-foot drop.
I stepped backward. My back hit the wall next to the gate. The mortar between the bricks crumbled and rolled. My breaths came out in short gasps. I didn’t think I was scared of heights, but I also wasn’t used to anything like this. The uneven cobbled steps switched back on themselves so many times, I couldn’t count. No railing. No handles. Only inconsistent steps, slightly wider than my hips, crumbling with age and disuse.
I looked down at the patch of green below me, and my stomach lurched.
The world spun, and I immediately looked back up.Shit.
I forced myself to breathe until my heart rate slowed. This was about facing my fears. If nothing else could be said about me, I was good at facing the unknown.
The sound of voices drifted. My next placement wasn’t until the afternoon. Was I trying to make it back by then? Or was I running?
I suddenly wasn’t sure. Either way, I had to move. Ezra could step into my shadow at any moment. If he found me here, maybe a physical prison was the next step.
Keeping my shoulders against the cliffside, I shimmied to the first step and lowered my right foot. Like the tree I climbed down as a kid, I could do this.
Chapter 14
Rowan
Iflankedmycommanderas he walked into the coliseum, overseeing another round of power placement. Each trainee held a gem in their hands. Sweat poured down their faces as they flooded the stone with pure energy, as much of it as they possibly could.
Despite knowing the man wasn’t here, I still found myself searching for Quinn. He’d created a massive dragon during his entry tests. He’d have blown the stone to shards. Would’ve shut people up for once.
But he’d been excused from the placement and was off doing something else, which was none of my business. I frowned. My magic begged me to leave the coliseum and walk toward the far side of the castle. Instead of following it, I locked it down. My life was planned. On track. If I starved this thing, maybe it’d die.
I grunted unhappily for probably the hundredth time, and Joe scowled from his spot on Ezra’s left. This attachment, my magic seemed to have to an untrained powerhouse, was not what I needed. Quinn could not be my focus, not even as a friend.
A sudden fear gripped my heart, and I froze mid-step. Weightless. My hip slammed, my shoulder wrenched, my thigh burned… and then nothing. Black.
I blinked rapidly, still seeing only the coliseum. The damp ground beneath my knee sank into my completely uninjured limb.
“Focus on your tasks,” Ezra growled at the trainees, curiously watching me.
Joe left my side to help impress my commander's orders.
