Page 76 of Awakened Ash and Alchemy

After all, she wasn’t here by choice.

TWENTY-EIGHT

The days had started to blend when Angela found herself alone in the Keep. Zarek had been called away, so magick testing from whatever guru, and classes, had been cancelled for the afternoon. So this was her first chance to find a door to the outside world.

After five days, she relished the break.

No messages of bad news had arrived. No Black Cloaks had materialized from the shadows, let alone this scary leader she was supposed to be hiding from. Claudine’s last update had been fine. And it was getting harder and harder to feel threatened by something that hadn’t shown its face.

If they’d just let Claudine come here, none of this would even be a problem. Her aunt would absolutely love this place, where they’d play tourist and find the local equivalent of a good wine bar. It’d stop this feeling like she was missing something she couldn’t name. Instead, all she wanted was to go home, kick off her shoes, pour a glass of wine, and drop onto her couch where the next big decision was what to have delivered for dinner and what to binge-watch on TV.

She was also failing miserably at the magick testing. And as much as she hated failing, it also proved what she already knew—she had no magick.

So now she was just waiting for them to admit it and let her go home.

Seriously, why keep her around?

She wandered down one corridor, then another. A few soldiers dropped their heads to ignore her, while others just stopped and stared. She tried to avoid them by going down one corridor, then another. To somehow lean against a large tapestry only to discover a hidden door.

It was unlocked.

Inside, the room was bright and full of books, desks, and leather couches, like a study room. There was some sort of model being built on the table.

She heard boot steps, and the door opened.

“I see you’ve found my avoidance room.” It was Condorr. The blond, massively muscled warrior filled the entrance, but his expression was friendly.

“The what room?”

“When I want to avoid people and orders, I hide in here with my secret stash.” He stepped inside, and from the shelf he removed an enormous book, and opened it to show a nice hoard of shiny chocolate bars. “Shh.”

“Are you kidding me?” He’d hollowed out a book for candy.

“I like this brand.” He grinned, offering the book filled with shiny candy bars. “It’d be like a taste of home for you.”

“Thank you.” She took the foil-wrapped chocolate.

“Take two. One for later.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Yeah, you can.”

“If you insist.” She could share it with…

He snapped the book shut and popped it onto the shelf, wearing a boyish grin.

“You’re Condorr?”

“Yep.” In a well-practiced move, he peeled back the foil layers of the candy bar. “I hear you’re a bookshop owner.” He took a bite, chewing carefully.

“I’m partners with my aunt.”

“Same. Well, not really. I mean, my mother owned a bookshop. She’s retired. My cousin runs it now and is happily filling Bellus’s monthly order for notebooks. Is it true that you repair books? Like, by hand and stuff. No magick.”

“I don’t have any magick.”

“Yeah, you do.”