AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He clasped her wrist. “What is to be my fifth?”
“For now, put all your effort toward getting Cassia to the letting site for your second labor. After that, we can discuss the fifth.”
“Agreed.”
Solia crossed her arms over the bodice of her gown, gazing down at the Dexion. “Well, the last time I saw one of his Order, they were chasing me across the docks of Cordium, bent on destroying the female fire witch. How satisfying to have one of them at my mercy now.”
“Thank the Goddess they don’t know that fire witch was you,” Cassia said.
Solia tilted her head. “This one’s aura doesn’t feel as powerful as the men who almost killed me that day.”
“What? He’s one of the most powerful fire mages in the Order of Anthros.” Lio probed the Dexion’s aura with his thelemancy. “Hespera’s Mercy. You’re right. His magic is depleted.”
Cassia stiffened. “You don’t think I did that, do you?”
Lio hoped his own smirk didn’t resemble the mage too much. “Your channeling weakened him.”
Cassia flattened her hands on her skirts, as if to wipe them clean. “I don’t care who he is, I don’t want his magic in me, and I don’t want to hurt him the way the Collector hurt Pakhne. Will he recover?”
“Don’t worry.” Lio let his own magic sink into her aura. “I sense no trace of his affinity in you. You didn’t absorb it, merely redirected, I think.”
“I was aiming to channel it back into his fire spell.”
Lio chuckled. “Well, it will be interesting to see the state of the tower upon our return.”
Rudhira’s healing magic made a cursory pass over the Dexion. “He’ll be back to his insufferable self all too soon. All you did was temporarily disarm him—for a good cause.”
The Dexion stirred with a groan and squinted up at them all in the spell light.
Solia rested the tip of her sword on his sunstone medallion of office. “Dexion Chrysanthos, you are now my ‘guest.’ You will be treated fairly, but attempts to harm anyone will not be tolerated.”
Very slowly, he lifted his hands in surrender. “May I ask who you are?”
“The rightful queen of Tenebra.”
His jaw went slack, thoughts churning in his mind. “Solia Basilinna?”
Solia gave him a hard smile. “You catch on quickly.”
His court mask fell back into place over his expression of pure astonishment. “Well played, Ambassadors. Well played indeed.”
21
Days After
AUTUMN EQUINOX
22 Kyria’s Bounty, 1597 OT
LIFE'S WORK
Lio watched Flavian take his seat in the great hall. The man was composed, for someone who had not recovered from the loss of his most valuable political hostage. His charade of confidence couldn’t silence the gossip that thrived among the lords and ladies. It had been over a fortnight since the Dexion’s so-called escape, but the whispers had only proliferated.
“…explosion woke me in the middle of the night…took every mage at Patria to put out the fire…”
“What of Lord Flavian’s guarantee of protection?”
“If he cannot control one war mage, how is he to stand against all of Cordium as our king?”
