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She gave him an affirming nod. “This is his personal book of spells and blueprints.”
“What’s he looking for?”
“Probably the weaving he utilizes for his Roizan. Now that he has his blood, that’s his next step.”
Teryn tried to recall what Emylia had told him about the Roizan. He knew Morkai used it as a vessel for magic, and Emylia had said the creatures were born from death, neither alive nor dead. “How exactly does he create a Roizan? What is it made from?”
“In short, a Roizan is forged from two living creatures who suffer violent deaths during combat with each other, resulting in the two dying at the same moment. Morkai utilizes blood weavings to control the time of death for each animal and prolong the fight.”
Teryn’s lip curled into a sneer. “He makes them suffer?”
“Pain and violence fuel the forbidden Arts.”
Teryn shouldn’t have been surprised. This was the sorcerer who’d commanded his bands of hunters to capture and torture unicorns. He cast a dark glower at Morkai, though the mage couldn’t see it.
Emylia returned her gaze to the pages Morkai continued to flip through. He paused on one that was filled with notes cramping every spare inch of the margins, scanned it briefly, then turned to the next.
Morkai suddenly went rigid and slammed the book shut with a force that made the table shake. Emylia jumped at the sound and leaped to the side. Morkai’s head snapped up, eyes locking on Teryn’s. Teryn took a stumbling step back, but Morkai’s gaze didn’t follow. Instead, it hovered straight ahead.
Teryn released a sigh. Of course he couldn’t see them.
Morkai narrowed his eyes to slits. His voice came out cold. Slow. So unlike Teryn’s own, it made him shudder. “You’re watching, aren’t you?”
Teryn’s eyes found Emylia’s; she looked just as startled as he.
“I know you are,” Morkai said. “You’re hoping you can fight me. Stop me. Well, I assure you, your hope is futile. Watching me will only make it hurt more when you fail. When you breathe your last breath and I take over your lungs. Your life. Your name. You will be nothing. You’ll have nothing.”
Teryn’s fingers curled at his sides. He was half tempted to step into his body and wrestle control then and there, even if for a short time, out of spite alone. But the edges of his rage cooled as he took in his silver-shot hair, the dull green in his eyes, the hollows in his cheeks. Considering how much damage his single instant of repossession had done to his body, he likely only had one more shot. While he could continue to practice strengthening his connection to his cereba, it would be foolish to fully take control again until they had everything in place.
With a slow exhale, he focused on his breaths, his pulse, his pounding heart.
Morkai’s lips curled into a cruel grin. “How about I grant you mercy? Trust me. You don’t want to see what happens next.” He reached into his waistcoat pocket and extracted one of the vials. With his other hand, he lifted the leather-wrapped crystal from under his shirt and let it rest on top of his waistcoat. Lifting the stopper, he dropped a single drop of ruby liquid onto the tip of his finger and brought it to the surface of the crystal.
Everything went white.
Panic crawled up Teryn’s throat as the blinding light surrounded him. He tried to will his ethera outside the crystal, but…he couldn’t. No matter how he tried, he remained in place.
“Teryn, it’s all right.” Emylia’s calming tone reached him through the white light. Then, starting with the edges of his vision, the colors dulled. Soon brown, red, and saffron washed over the light, forming Emylia’s temple bedroom. The seer stood before him, wringing her hands.
“What happened?” he asked.
“He’s blocking us now. Remember how I said he used to block me from projecting my ethera outside the crystal when he wanted to? That’s what he’s doing to us.”
“How long will it last?”
“It’s just a simple spell. A temporary seal he created with his blood. He still isn’t strong enough to do anything permanent. Not until he has his Roizan.”
That wasn’t entirely comforting. “What if the seal doesn’t break until it’s too late? I can’t step into my body unless I can project my soul outside the crystal. I can’t practice connecting to my cereba if—”
“Teryn.”
He frowned, noting the way she continued to wring her hands. He thought it was from anxiety, but now he saw the light dancing in her eyes, the ghost of a smile tugging her lips. “What is it?”
“We have something else to do now.”
His pulse quickened. Before he could ask her to elaborate, she waved her hand, sending the temple room scattering in a wash of light. It was replaced with a still image of the tower library, exactly how it had been moments before. Morkai stood at the table, eyes narrowed on a page in his book. If they were unable to project themselves outside the crystal, then this must be from Emylia’s memory.
She approached Morkai’s side. It was uncanny watching her move through an image while Morkai remained frozen. “Look,” she said, beckoning Teryn to stand beside her. She pointed at the page.
