Magician Rising (Divination in Darkness Book 1)
Page 17
She hadn't noticed that Nikolai had followed her until he sat down next to her on the bench. She managed a small smile in greeting.
“What’s wrong?” Nikolai asked.
Jun shook her head. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid if it’s upsetting you.”
Jun rubbed her wrist, remembering her dad taking her out to eat to commemorate her second-place win in the spelling bee. How he grinned as he held her hand, guiding her across the street.
“My dad and I were supposed to celebrate. We were going to go to The Sushi Blanket.” Now that was never going to happen.
Nikolai stood and held his hand out to her. “Come on.”
“What?” Jun took his hand and let Nikolai pull her to her feet. His hand lingered, his thumb stroking slowly across her palm. He was warm. Energy flickered where his skin touched hers.
Her heart beat faster.
“Let’s go. You’re supposed to be celebrating.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Jun frowned.
“You’re still graduating. And I probably should get around to trying fancy uncooked fish.”
“Wait, what? You’ve really never eaten sushi?”
Which was how Jun found herself at the best sushi restaurant in town, with her good friend the assassin.
“That one’s salmon. That’s a classic.” Jun motioned to the plate of Alaska roll as it drifted by flirtatiously on a conveyor belt. Nikolai scooped it up and added it to his growing collection.
“The one after that is good, too.” Jun pointed to the baked lobster roll, which ended up in Nikolai’s sushi horde.
“That one’s my favorite.” Jun pointed out the rainbow roll. Nikolai plucked the plate up, sliding it in front of Jun. “Thanks.”
For the next few minutes, Jun was lost in food heaven. The salmon was so smooth. She got the perfect bite, paired with creamy avocado. With just enough salt from the soy sauce. Perfect. Nikolai dropped whole rolls in his mouth they were popcorn. Which probably meant that he liked it. Or still thought he was starving from his self-imposed diet.
“What I want to know” —Nikolai gestured with his chopsticks, roll and all, with considerable dexterity for someone who’d never eaten with wooden sticks before— “is how you set off a magnitude nine-point-one earthquake for seven minutes. With no casualties.”
“Hey, I was mad, all right? But I didn’t want anyone to die.”
“And no tsunami. Researchers are going to dedicate their lives to figure that one out.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about tsunamis.”
Nikolai chuckled. “So you’re telling me no one died because you didn’t want them to?”
“Well, yeah.”
“You always manage to surprise me.” Nikolai watched her, pale eyes intense.
Heat flooded her cheeks, and Jun looked away, fiddling with a bit of ginger on her tray. “So what are your plans now? Are you going to go kill some more bad guys?”
Nikolai shook his head. “I’m retiring.”
Oh.
“Where are you going to go now?”
“I don’t know. But I’m starting to like it around here,” Nikolai said, looking right at her.
Jun bit her lip. He definitely doesn’t hate me.
At their end of the meal, they got back the check on a tray with two fortune cookies.
Damn. A cookie would be the perfect thing to top off dinner. But wasn’t a fortune what started this whole mess?
“I probably shouldn’t open those.” Jun frowned at the cookie.
Nikolai pointed to the one on the left. “That one is light, if it makes any difference.”
“It’s probably fine.” Jun snapped the fortune cookie open. She read the fortune and grinned. “It says, ‘Open up a craft store.’”
Her life-long dream of her own store was meant to be—foretold by prophecy and everything. Perfect.
Nikolai took the other, cracking it open and tossing the pieces into his mouth. He glanced down at the paper and swore so loud that other diners looked over at them.
Jun leaned in to catch a glimpse of his fortune.
Protect the magician. Others come to kill her in three months.
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Acknowledgments
So much love and support goes into writing a book.
Thank you Sierra Smith for your wonderful editing! This book is so much better because of your thoughtful suggestions.
I'd also like to thank all of my critique partners and especially AV Asher and Phil. Thank you for pointing out when I wrote things that made sense in my head, but not to anyone else.
Thank you Robynne and Damon at Damonza for the cover. Your work is stunning.
Most of all I would like to thank my friends and family. I love you all.
About the Author
Renée des Lauriers is the author of the Divination in Darkness series. Renée was raised by a folk-singer and an accountant to be analytically creative. From thirteen, she played guitar and sang on stage at coffee shops. She also oil painted and wrote poetry on odd paper scraps. Besides writing, Renee has worked as an emergency medical technician and a high school English teacher. Now she lives in California with her family. Visit Renée online at www.reneedeslauriers.com.
Copyright © 2021 by Renée des Lauriers
All rights reserved.
Editing Services provided by Sierra Smith
Cover by Damonza
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.