“It’s worse,” Zarrek said at last behind him.
Resh didn’t turn. Kept watching.
Auryn let loose another arrow.
“Compared to the river,” Zarrek continued, “this was much worse. Next time…” He hesitated. His grip on Resh’s shoulder tightened. “Next time might be the last, if she does that again.”
The words dug their claws into his heart and dragged it downward into fear. Despair. Resh gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white.
“She wasn’t casting,” he said.
“No.”
“It wasn’t runes, glyphs, or sigils. Not spoken magic. It wasn’t anything I’ve seen in my entire lifetime.”
Zarrek folded his arms. “It’s not mana, Resh. She’s pulling from the source.”
Resh turned. His eyes burned like frozen suns.
Zarrek met them evenly. “Every time she touches it, it bites back. And the bigger the working…” He nodded toward the pair in the field. “The more it takes.”
Silence swallowed the space between them.
Resh looked down. Picked at the callous on his palm.
“She’s barely come into it,” he whispered. “And it’salreadykilling her.”
Zarrek said nothing.
Resh’s shoulders straightened. “She can’t keep doing this. I won’t let her.”
Beside them, the fire cracked.
Another arrow flew, missing the target.
His voice was steel now.
“Shewill nottouch this magic again. Not until we understand it. Not until we know what it is, how to stop it from doing this to her. Whatever this is, it’s not worth her life.”
Behind him, Zarrek shifted. His voice came low. Tired.
“You can’t cage her, Resh. She’s too wild,” Zarrek went on. “We laugh and smile at her antics, pretend they’re harmless. But in times like this? It’s obvious.”
Auryn let loose another arrow. It hit the target dead in the center, and she turned to Thessia, smile bright as noon during midday.
“She’s fire in silk, and none of us saw it. Not really. Not until now.”
Resh had to control his voice to keep it from wavering.
“She’ll die,” he said.
Zarrek nodded. “Maybe. If she keeps doing this.”
“Then Ihaveto stop her.”
Zarrek’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “You think she’ll stop because you tell her to? She’s not like your men. Not like the Companions who fold their knees on command.” He gestured toward Auryn with his head. “You keep trying to lock her up and she’ll keep turning to the person with the key.”
A commotion caught his attention. He turned to look toward Thessia and Auryn only to rise to his feet when he saw Auryn running—Void, she wasrunning—toward him. Full tilt. No hesitation. Bow still clutched against her and an even more radiant smile on her face than before.
