Death Marked (Death Sworn #2)(78)

She stopped talking.

Evin waited, patiently, for several seconds. Then he said, “Sounds like you could use some help.”

For a moment Ileni couldn’t breathe. “Probably.”

He reached for her hand. Ileni fought her first impulse, which was to pull away. His fingers curled protectively around hers.

Hope could hurt as much as fear. She forced herself to say, “You don’t owe me anything. I told you.”

“All right, then.” Evin shrugged. “I suppose you’ll have to owe me.”

He looked back at Girad, and so did she. She watched the small body curled in the bed, each breath making his torso rise and fall.

Thinking would have disturbed this moment of peace, this odd creeping happiness, so she let her mind smooth into exhausted blankness.

She was still holding Evin’s hand when she fell asleep.





CHAPTER

28

The black room was heavy with smoke and ashes. Shards of rock lay strewn across the ground, and in the corner, the master’s chair had been reduced to a few blackened fragments of wood. But in the center of the room, a jagged chalk pattern surrounded a smooth black circle unmarked by destruction. Absalm had drawn his protection spell just in time.

Sorin knelt in the center of the circle, crouched over the mirror on the floor. It, too, had been protected by the spell that had kept him—and Absalm—alive. It was flat and shiny, unbroken.

He stood, leaned back, and smashed his foot into the center of the mirror.

Glass shattered outward. One shard hit Sorin right below the eye, and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek. He stamped on the largest piece. It cracked loudly, tiny slivers cascading across the floor.

Careful. But there was no one to see him. Absalm had raced off to control the fire, as best he could, and check the damage to the rest of the caves. Sorin should be with him. Not that he could do much to help, but he should see the destruction that had resulted from his foolishness.

His muscles were so tight they hurt. He got to his feet and walked to the small square window. Black soot covered new hairline fractures on the stone windowsill.

From here, he could see the path winding through the hazy mountains. For a moment, he fancied he saw a slim figure walking down that path, away from him, her brown hair swinging against her hood. He blinked, and there was nothing but the road, long and empty, stretching to the horizon and beyond.

And that was as it should be. He dug his knuckles into the sill and let go of his unworthy desire. A pang went through him, so sharp it seemed like physical pain.

But it wasn’t pain. It was relief. She had been a vulnerability, nothing more. He saw that now. And finally, that weakness was gone.

I’ll be here, he had told her. When you do come back.

But she was never coming back.

He turned away from the window and headed toward the door. A large broken glass lay in his path. He ground the heel of his shoe into it, rubbing it back and forth until the crunching sounds stopped, and then he kept walking.

He hesitated, for just a second, at the threshhold. His shoulder twitched, as if he was about to look back.

Instead he started down the stairs, deeper into the interior caves, and kicked the door shut softly behind him.





CHAPTER

29

Ileni’s eyes snapped open to the sight of Karyn looming over her. The sorceress’s eyes were black, and blue-white light crackled between her fingers.

Ileni jerked upward in the chair. Her hand had dropped out of Evin’s while they slept, and she clasped it now around the armrest, steadying herself.

Wake up, she thought at Evin. But his lashes rested against his cheeks, and his breaths were soft and even.

“Come with me,” Karyn said.

Both Evin and Girad were peacefully slumbering. Ileni swallowed. “I don’t think so.”

Karyn curled her fingers together. Light sputtered between her knuckles. “Why not?”

“Because,” Ileni said, “I’ve noticed an interesting thing about you imperial sorcerers. You don’t like to kill when people are watching.”

Karyn let out a breath. She opened her hands and spread them to her sides. The blue-white light stretched between her palms, becoming more and more translucent, then disappeared.

“You really need to stop assuming,” Karyn said, “that people want to kill you.”

“No,” Ileni said. “Actually, I don’t think that would be a good idea at all.”

She reached for her magic—still gone, of course—then kicked the side of Evin’s chair. His body slumped over sideways, but he went on sleeping.

“I just want to talk to you.” Karyn’s voice was silk sliding over steel. “Without interruption. Things yesterday did not go as planned, and I want to know why.”

“Mostly,” Ileni said, “because your plan wasn’t a very good one.”

“Really.” Karyn crossed her arms over her chest.

“Really. What would killing him have accomplished?” Her throat almost closed up when she said killing him. She forced herself on. “I already killed their leader once. It didn’t stop them.”

“Because another leader was ready to step up, and they all knew who it was.” Karyn shook her head. “That’s not the case this time. It will take them years to regroup.”