“I don’t think you understand how this works,” he snarled, leaning into her face. “Youdo not make demands ofme. If I so much as hear awhisperof a command, I will sever your fucking tongue.” He would do it too, if it brought him a moment of peace.
Aesar slammed the book shut, the crack echoing in Lykor’s skull.You could try.
The girl’s nostrils flared. Her cerulean eyes iced over, but she didn’t lower her gaze. Lykor smirked, nearly amused by her stubbornness. That academy should be thanking him for removing this elven brat from their ranks.
Lykor pivoted back to the exit. He continued excavating the gold-laced stones one at a time. The blister from the burn she’d inflicted on him had ripped open, oozing all over the rocks. Suffering through the pain, Lykor gritted his fangs. Discomfort was nothing to him anymore.
“Get over here and do something useful,” he barked over his shoulder.
The elf pursed her lips but complied. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked, picking up stones and tossing them behind her. “Just use my magic as your spare Well?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I piss more than your thimbleful of power.” Lykor readied a scathing threat, detailing how he could remove her vocal cords and braid them through her flapping mouth if she didn’t silence herself, but Aesar confined his words.
Let me talk to her.Aesar squared himself in the library’s atrium, apparently ready to bicker over something so trivial.I’ll explain everything. Since you won’t.
Shoulders sagging, Lykor blew out a breath before resting his head against the cool stone wall. If only he could take strength from the rocks.
He was going to die here. He’d survived an eternity of torture, had his magic ripped away over and over, but he was going to die in this vile crypt with an intolerable elf and Aesar’s endless prattling for company. It was a wonder Kal hadn’t begun talking to him telepathically. All three of them would make a perfect fucking clan, combining their efforts to wear him down like water eroding stone.
Not possessing the will to prevent Aesar from taking over, Lykor slackened his hold on their body. He hadn’t disappeared or faded into nothingness—like he’d feared would happen—when he’d relinquished control before.
Drifting toward the sea of unconsciousness, Lykor wondered if he’d ever be free from the king’s controlling magic, from Aesar’s influence, or from his worry about the future of the wraith.
THAT AMBER-EYED ELF LOOSENED THE MAGIC. THAT MUCH IS OBVIOUS, BUT COULD HE DO MORE?
Unsolicited, Aesar answered his thought.This girl might know.
AND I’M SURE YOU’LL DO US BOTH A FAVOR AND FIND OUT.
Perhaps when he resurfaced, this fucking nightmare would be at an end.
CHAPTER 26
JASSYN
“Iknow Thalaesyn can assist with untangling the coercion if your wraith captives are under telepathic influence,” Jassyn said, arguing with Vesryn on their way to the Infirmary—where he suspected the magister would be sleeping.
He’d spent the entire walk reasoning with his cousin before the prince had finally conceded to bring Thalaesyn with them to the Ranger Station. Rather than attempting to extract answers from the magister, Jassyn pleaded his case to involve his mentor with assessing the wraith for coercion.
“Thalaesyn is perhaps the only arch elf we can trust,” he continued. “We can’t depend on the capital since it’s possible that the king has also compelled Elashor’s soldiers.” Jassyn lowered his voice as they passed a patrol, tracking their vacant stares. “I agree with you, something isn’t right with their behavior.”
Vesryn grunted a noncommittal noise, shouldering open the Infirmary’s doors. Without the use of his power for once, since he’d recklessly exhausted his magic in the Hibernal Wastes.
Jassyn surveyed their surroundings, the late hour leaving thehealing wing vacant. “The king locked away something important in the magister’s mind.” He gently closed the door so that it didn’t slam. “We need more allies.”
“Stars, fine,” Vesryn interjected when Jassyn drew in a breath. “You’ve made your point.”
Even though his cousin was wound more tightly than a coiled rope, Vesryn muttered his assurances to Jassyn that he’d calmed himself enough to regenerate. Leaving Jassyn to explain their intentions to the magister, the prince continued up to the roof to replenish his Well.
Really, the best way Vesryn can help is by making himself scarce,Jassyn thought, knocking before letting himself into his mentor’s office.
Despite his cousin’s maltreatment of Thalaesyn the prior night, the magister readily agreed to assist with the wraith. Adamantly eager to dive into further study, Thalaesyn seemed to take the potential coercion on Vesryn’s prisoners almost personally.
As to not rouse suspicion of the campus patrols, Vesryn fabricated a portal straight from the magister’s office when he returned from regenerating his magic. In the dracovae stables on the other side of the gateway, the prince dispatched one of the sentries to collect Flight Captain Zaeryn from her apartments.
The barn’s illumination had been extinguished for the evening, allowing the dracovae undisturbed sleep. A glass skylight permitted the light of the moons. Soft, rumbling snores and chirping chuffs escorted them past the stalls.
“You need to find something else to do while we work,” Jassyn urged as they strode down the dirt-packed hallway, igniting three globes of soft light to guide their way.
