A Book of Spirits and Thieves (Spirits and Thieves #1)(96)

“Here it is, Your Radiance.” Sienna had brought the book out from the cottage and handed it to Valoria.

The goddess took it, drawing in a long, satisfied breath. “Very good.”

“What’s so special about this dagger you’re after, anyway?” Maddox asked. He’d tried to catch Barnabas’s eye, but it seemed the man was trying to avoid his gaze.

“When wielded by an immortal, one can carve loyalty, obedience, and trust into another’s very skin. Three qualities that are rarely found in your kind.”

“You wish to create an army of slaves,” Barnabas hissed. “Don’t you?”

“Perhaps you will be my first recruit,” she told him. “Yes, I think that would be a fitting punishment for you. Three marks would ensure that you will bow to me, that you will worship me. That you will love me, perhaps as much as you loved my sister, even as the magic eats away at your very soul to sustain itself. Very few can resist the magic of the dagger marks.”

“I will resist.”

“You say that now. I’ll ask you again when you’re kneeling before my throne.”

She leafed through the book until she came to the page that showed the illustration of the stone wheel.

“It’s a spell book,” Becca said. “This . . . this gateway magic, it’s only a part of it.”

“How do you know?” Maddox whispered.

“It’s pretty thick for one measly spell, don’t you think?”

“This will be the most difficult spell I’ve ever attempted,” Valoria said aloud. “Eva could wield this kind of magic easily, but for the rest of us, we need to be wary. Worlds and time can shift. One mistake and I could open a gateway years before the thief entered this world, or years after he finally faded from existence. I wish to pull him back as close as possible to the moment he was originally exiled.”

Valoria’s guards stood as silently as statues, watching and waiting for orders. Two more stood on either side of Barnabas, who was still on his knees on the frost-covered ground.

“You are Eva’s son,” Valoria said to Maddox. “A mutation of her magic runs through your veins and infuses your spirit. That magic is what I need to accomplish this monumental task.”

He shook his head. “But I don’t know how.”

Valoria reached out with one hand and clutched his throat.

“You don’t have to know anything, my sweet nephew,” she said. “I will do it for you.”

Coldness washed over him, and then a painful tearing sensation shuddered through his very flesh. He gasped and tried to pull away from her grip, but he couldn’t move.

“Shh, be still,” Valoria hissed. “This won’t take long.”

He began to shiver, as if the goddess were draining all of his mortal warmth. When she finally let go of him, Maddox dropped to his knees. A layer of shadows coated Valoria’s hand, as if she’d dipped it in black honey.

“I may not be able to absorb your magic, but I can wield it.”

All Maddox could do was stare at her, his power of speech currently useless to him. There was now something missing from inside him, leaving nothing but an empty, bottomless hole.

Valoria went to the stone wheel, her right hand still dripping with Maddox’s shadowy magic, her left hand holding the book. She pressed her palm against the wheel, glanced down at the page, and began to read aloud. The language felt like a golden melody, an enchanted whisper, which released sparks of energy and power into the air with every enigmatic syllable spoken.

Maddox’s stolen magic began to flow from Valoria and spread across the wheel, swirling and entwining the nooks and crannies of the stone surface. The shadows kept heaving and expanding until the entire wheel was cloaked by them, and was transformed to what looked like a swirling black hole.

Valoria laughed. “It won’t be long now. Maddox, my sweet, perhaps I shall reward you for this. I may need you again in the future, after all.”

Suddenly, all the guards gasped in unison and then crumpled to the ground.

Valoria’s insidious grin fell at the sight. “Was that you, child?”

“No,” Maddox replied, stunned, as he searched the area for the answer.

Becca’s surprised gaze swept over the fallen guards. “Then how on earth—?” she whispered.

Sienna stood nearby, her arms out to her sides. “Apologies, Your Radiance, but this crusade ends now.”

Valoria cocked her head. “Sienna. You did this? I’m impressed. You must be more powerful than I thought.”

“Don’t flatter me. I didn’t do it alone.”

“That’s right,” said a familiar voice. Maddox turned around to see Camilla, walking toward them from the cottage. “I helped.”

Valoria raised a brow. “I thought this vile woman was dead.”

Barnabas laughed, then struggled to crawl over and cut his ropes on a fallen guard’s sword. “Imagine that. Mere witches, fooling a goddess as powerful as you.”

Valoria stiffened, and the book fell from her hands, tumbling to the ground in a flutter of delicate pages. Bands of translucent, airy swirls wrapped themselves around her shoulders, waist, and knees, trapping her arms at her sides. “Yes, with your puny powers combined, your air magic is quite impressive.”