The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #1)(55)

He handed the paper dog back to Ceony, who whispered, “Breathe.”

Fennel shook his head and squirmed in Ceony’s grasp, wanting to be put down. Ceony laughed and hugged the dog to her chest. Fennel licked her cheek twice before resuming his insistent squirming. Ceony set him down, and he ran in circles beside her, stretching out his legs.

“Thank you,” she said, grinning and wiping her eyes. “Thank you.”

He nodded, a slim acknowledgment of gratitude, and gazed over the expanse once more, toward the pink horizon. He didn’t seem to notice the canyon beside them.

“You might not live through this,” he said. “It will be my fault if you don’t.”

“Last I checked,” Ceony began, “I volunteered of my own volition to rescue you.”

“Yet you’re caught in your own curse,” he replied, gesturing to the nothingness before them.

Ceony pondered that for a moment before saying, “Emery.”

He glanced at her.

“I think you can break the spell holding me here,” she said, albeit with some hesitation. “After all, it’s your heart, isn’t it? You have more claim to it than anyone, especially Lira. How else could you be speaking with me if it weren’t true?”

She caught the slightest quirk to his lips—almost a smile, but the doubt that weighted the air prevented it from forming.

He didn’t reply, so Ceony asked, “Can you . . . see it? The spell? How it works?”

“No,” he answered. “But I can feel it. I suppose I could break it, though it will make me . . . tired.”

“Tired?” Ceony asked, the word reminding her of her own fatigue. “Will it . . . hurt you?”

Again, an almost-smile. This version of Emery Thane was more similar to the real one than the others, notwithstanding his pessimism. He said, “I think I’ll manage.”

Ceony beckoned Fennel to her. She felt light, invigorated, as if the last chamber hadn’t happened at all. As if her own chamber of hope had added this moment to its foundation. She could do this.

“I need you to teach me some new spells,” she said. “Anything that can help but won’t take much time. You taught me so much, but . . .”

“But it’s not much use against an Excisioner.” He nodded. “I know.”

Emery considered for a moment, a crooked finger tucked under his chin. “How much paper do you have left?”

She pulled the diminished stack from her bag and presented it to him.

He examined the paper, his eyes bobbing as he counted the pieces, and sighed, shoulders slumping. “I’m going to teach you something I really shouldn’t be teaching you.”

“But given the circumstances,” she urged.

He nodded. His lip quirked. “Given the circumstances. Just pretend to forget it once this is over . . . if either of us makes it past this.”

“We will,” Ceony assured him with a grin. “I know we will. I have some ideas of my own, but I’m not sure they will work.”

She knelt down, tucking her soiled skirt under her knees, and set the stack of paper on the hard earth beside her. Dirty paper should work just as well as clean, and she didn’t exactly have a table at her disposal.

Emery watched her for a moment, his eyes lacking their normal luster. Despite that, his expression still proved easy to read—curious. Doubtful, but curious. Finally he asked, “Why are you doing all of this?”

Ceony paused, one hand on the stack of paper. Fennel nuzzled her elbow. “Doing what?”

He gestured to the empty expanse surrounding them. “This. All of this. Why have you come so far to help me?”

She felt her cheeks grow warm and she looked away, stroking Fennel to occupy her hands. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to tell this sliver of Emery Thane. She could never utter the words to the magician himself, but knowing the man she spoke to was only a figment pieced together by a suffering heart lent her courage.

“Because I think I’m falling in love with you,” she admitted, feeling her cheeks redden like the cerise sunrise. “I know I haven’t known you long, but after all this . . .” She lifted her eyes to the horizon where earth met sky. “I feel like I’ve known you forever. I don’t know how many women can claim to have walked a man’s heart, but I’ve walked yours, Emery Thane. And I like the dog.”

His expression didn’t change save for the tilt of his lips, which very nearly formed a smile before tuckering out and returning to their flat, doubtful line.

“Very well,” Emery said, kneeling across from her and pulling up his long, baggy sleeves. Not exactly the response she was hoping for, but a start. He continued, “I’ll start with the most complicated first, the one I shouldn’t be teaching you.”

Ceony nodded as he reached for a sheet of sea-green paper.

His eyes met hers. “Do you know what happens when paper vibrates very, very fast?”

“Something I’m not supposed to know,” she guessed.

“Correct,” he replied. “But allow me to explain . . .”





CHAPTER 15



CEONY FINALLY TUCKED HER last paper spell into her bag, careful not to disrupt the organized chaos within. Organized chaos—many necessary things all needing careful placement. Ceony understood Emery’s method of interior decorating just a little better now. She and Emery had not used every piece of paper, just most of them, and their many intricate Folds made the bag bulge at Ceony’s hip.