Page 11 of Serpent and Shadow

Between that and those eerie, white-blue eyes, he didn’t look alive.

Then he reached up to feed the raven a strip of meat, and the illusion broke.

The raven swallowed the meat whole and grumbled, muttered, and clicked in what sounded like thanks. The translucent blue raven that was Blackstone’s primal stood on the fireplace mantle, watching the living bird and Blackstone from a few feet away.

I glanced over when Forsooth rose to his feet and moved a few steps from my armchair. His bear remained by me, its flat paws now resting on the green cushion next to my leg. The strange creature continued to peer into my face, examining it with worried eyes.

It lifted one paw in a wave and that time, I waved back solemnly.

Satisfied, the bear sank back onto its rear end, but continued to watch me closely.

I didn’t realize the room had emptied of everyone but the three of us until Forsooth cleared his throat.

I looked over at where he stood between me and Blackstone. Forsooth performed a graceful hand mudra and murmured a soft incantation to persuade a third chair to move closer to ours. The new chair faced the roaring fireplace, its velvet upholstery dark blue.

It struck me that I felt strangely cold.

My whole body hurt.

That anxious, restless, panicked feeling of needing to do something hadn’t dissipated. I thought about Varya, and my previous feelings of anxiety worsened. Was Varya still there, at the Black Tower? Was she trapped there with Bones?

If his mother hadn’t yet left for Russia by the time Malefic returned, there was no way Malefic would have let her leave freely. The thought had bile rising to the back of my throat. My eyes closed against the images that wanted to rise.

“Ms. Shadow.” Forsooth cleared his throat.

My eyes shifted mechanically to his.

His eyes gentled. “We must discuss a few things before we can proceed.”

Forsooth’s words came out cautious, measured. I knew he must see something in me, and obviously he heard at least some of my thoughts, but I couldn’t decide if I needed to do anything about that. I wasn’t sure if I could do anything about it.

“Unfortunately,” the professor added gently. “The conversation cannot wait.”

Movement by the fireplace pulled my eyes.

The color in the room abruptly changed, morphing from orange, gold, and red, to midnight blue, violet, and green. I looked towards the statue-like figure of Corvid Blackstone, now standing fully upright, his angular outline half-illuminated by dancing flames.

He’d done something to the fire.

The burning logs outlined his black robes. One of his hands rested on the mantel as he stared into the jewel-toned flames. Despite technically looking younger than Forsooth, something about him suddenly struck me as older, perhaps significantly older.

I could feel the unnerving invasiveness of his attention.

He’d also done more to the fire than simply alter the color of the flames.

From the way they writhed and danced, something magical worked through them. Whatever Blackstone’s exact spell, or motive, he’d involved me in his magic without telling me what he’d done, and I didn’t like that at all.

I immediately threw up shields.

Given the nature of the spell, I used more complex combinations than I normally would, things Bones taught me to keep out reality-distortion spells and malicious chimaeras. I anchored them to the sun primal that floated over my head.

I felt Blackstone’s magic butt into that layer, trying to find a way in. Then I felt it slowly move around me, as if looking for weaknesses.

“Insufferable child,” Blackstone muttered.

“Ask, next time,” I retorted.

I watched as he moved away from the fireplace and returned to his chair.