Still, even though she knew the Society needed to be involved, she had hoped it would happen under her terms.
“Then it's gone,” Char said.
“It's gone. And I need to find the one who is responsible for releasing it in the first place.”
He regarded her for a long moment. “You know, you told me why you left, but I think there's more I want to know, like why you thought you had to go outside of the Academy to find your brother. And why you didn't want to tell your best friend about what you had been doing. And why you got caught up in this kind of magic.”
He looked over to Eva. Eva had her own kind of magic, and that alone was troublesome to somebody like Char, who had been so tied up in the teachings of the Academy that he believed in using only the magic they permitted. At least he didn’t look down at her dragon stone ring accusatorily, though if he were to do so, she couldn’t even object. She had gone in search of a different kind of magic. She had gone looking for something more powerful and potent, an easier way to power.
Maybe that was why she’d had that dream.
She’d cheated.
But she hadn’t been caught. Not yet.
That was the key when it came to cheating magic like she did. That was the lesson Jonathan had taught her. Cheat carefully, and make a point of doing so in a way that others couldn’t detect. Only then could she get ahead.
That was what this was all about.
She had to get ahead so she could figure out what happened to Jonathan.
“How long do I have before the Society comes for me?”
“I didn't tell them where to find you. At least, not yet.”
It was a threat. That was unexpected coming from Char.
“What more do you want to know?”
Eva suddenly shouted, tipped back the bottle of wine, and took another long drink before resting it on the ground next to her. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her breathing slowed.
Jayna shook her head and reached for Char as he headed toward the cupboard where the spellbook hid. “Would you like to go somewhere else to talk?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Anywhere but here.”
14
Jayna got to her feet and looked around the inside of the home. Other than the broken glass Char had helped clean up, the home was actually quite tidy. Much like Char had alluded to, they didn’t have much in the cabinets. There hadn’t really been a need. They rarely entertained, and it was mostly just the two of them in the home. When they had others coming to them for help, they limited them to staying out in the main part of the home, and then only long enough for Jayna to offer whatever aid she could before sending them on their way.
Her stomach grumbled. She was hungry, and she suspected it wasn’t quite that late, so she figured she had time to go get some food. Eating might help clear her mind—as would talking with Char, she had to admit—and give her a little bit of focus on what she needed to do.
Figure out how to perform the tracking spell, which was the most challenging of all, then find Topher and the other missing people.
If she could find Rendal, then she was convinced she could figure out what they were up to and where the Festival of Mourn would take place. Once she did that, she could stop it. She certainly had to do so before whatever Ceran feared took place.
“Can you help me with Eva?” She headed over to the hearth, prying Eva’s hand off of the wine bottle and propping her up for a moment as she leaned behind her.
Char approached slowly. “She’s not going to come around again, is she?”
“Do you really think a little drunk girl is going to hurt you?”
“She might be little, and she might be drunk, but I do think she could hurt me.”
Jayna grinned up at him, grabbing Eva underneath her arms. “You’re probably right. She’s stronger than she looks.”
“It’s not about how strong she looks.” His face darkened and he wrinkled his brow, clearing his throat. “It’s about the kind of magic she has.”
“You don’t have to worry about her magic.”
“Jayna, I’m not dumb. I saw what she did.”
“I would never say you were dumb, Char.”
“Then do you want to tell me what she can do?”
She looked up at Char. He squeezed his hand and then relaxed while watching Eva, but he didn’t lean down and grab Eva’s feet.
Jayna started dragging her. “I don’t know what kind of magic she can do.” There was no point in denying that Eva could do magic. Char had been standing in the doorway long enough that he would have seen it. Even if he hadn’t, he had been there when they had taken the dwaring out of Topher. He had seen the power that had been required, and then he must have seen what Eva had done to the enchantment. “All I know is that she needs my help.”
“I thought you said she needed your help—past tense.”
Jayna’s gaze darted to the wine bottle. “She did, and I think she still does,” she added softly.
Char sighed then grabbed Eva’s feet, lifting them. “I’ve never seen anything like what she can do.”
“Me neither,” she said.
“How long has she been with you?”
Jayna shook her head. “Almost from the beginning.”
“Is that how you got your . . . abilities?”
She nearly stumbled. “No. I can’t do the same things she does.” She wouldn’t even know where to begin. Jayna doubted there was anything to the blood magic Eva used that could be transferred and shared with another. Even if there were, she wasn’t sure she would be willing to try it. Eva looked uncomfortable, practically in pain, each time she tried to use her magic. She had no interest in experiencing something similar.
They reached one of the back rooms, barely enough light from the front rooms drifting back to guide her, and she and Char helped position Eva on the bed. She pulled back the sheets, tucking her in, and smoothed her dark hair back from her head. Her pale skin seemed to reflect some hidden light.
“Come on,” Jayna said, motioning for Char to follow her out of the room.
“Why is she like that?” he asked, once they were back in the main part of the room.
“Why is she like what? Suspicious?”
“Drunk.”
“I don’t know,” Jayna said. She took the bottle of wine from where Eva had left it near the hearth and carried it to the kitchen. There wasn’t any remaining. She didn’t know if this was the first or second bottle Eva had for the night, but given her level of intoxication, she suspected the latter. Typically, when she had only a single bottle of wine, Eva had been able to function much better than this. “She gets like this from time to time. She doesn’t explain herself, and I haven’t asked her to.”
“Don’t you worry about why?”
Jayna glanced toward the back room. “I know why.” He looked over at her. “She lost something of herself with her injury that she’s still trying to get back.” That seemed the easiest way to describe it, even if it weren’t entirely accurate. “And I worry about what she lost and why,” she said softly. “But I also recognize I can’t do anything about it.”
It was more than the injury. Eva hadn’t been willing to reveal what she had remembered, and given that Jayna had her own demons to deal with, she had no interest in pushing Eva too much. If the woman wanted to talk, eventually she would. If she didn’t, then she wouldn’t. It was a simple matter.
“Are we going to get something to eat, or are you going to keep pushing me on my friend?”
“I don’t know. I figured I could keep pushing you on your friend.”
Jayna smiled. “It’s going to be a short conversation, then. I don’t have much more I can tell you.”
“How about if I start pushing you on what you’ve been doing.”
“That I can handle.”
She motioned for him to follow, and they headed toward the door. She closed and locked it. She didn’t worry that somebody would try to break in,
but if Eva were to get up, she would find the door locked and, hopefully, wouldn’t try to head out into the night. That was the last thing she wanted. She didn’t want to have to go searching for Eva while the woman was intoxicated.
Somehow, she was going to have to get through to Eva. She needed for her friend to have clarity of thought, especially if it came down to trying to remove these dwaring. Jayna had no idea if she could do it on her own. She might need Eva to help. For that matter, she might need a sorcerer like Char.
“Where would you have us go?” Char asked.
“There’s a place not too far from here.”
She hurried along the streets. They were empty for the most part, though there were a few people out. She watched for any strange movement, and stayed connected to the magic within her dragon stone ring, testing for any signs of power that might push upon her. She had to be careful with that. Gabranth knew she was in the city, and he knew about Ceran. She no longer feared only the Society detecting her, as now there was this dark sorcerer she had to watch out for.
“What are you looking for?” Char asked, leaning over her shoulder and twisting his head in the same direction as hers.
She gave him a hard shove. “I’m not looking for anything.”
“You’re looking at something. I see the way your gaze is drifting along the road. You look jumpy. You were never the most settled before, but now you seem practically on edge.”
Jayna forced a tight smile. How could she acknowledge that she was on edge? How could she acknowledge that everything she had seen and encountered since leaving the Academy had made her that way? She had experienced dangers in the world. Some of those dangers had come from her own choices, the way she had pursued power, looking for more access to it that would help her track down dark magic—and her brother. But part of those dangers came from some of the things she had seen.
There had been jobs Ceran had required of her. Some of them had been easy. When she’d first started working with him, he’d made a point of giving her tasks she could complete quickly and easily. The first assignment had been finding a dangerous enchantment and taking it back from the volar who wanted to use it. But the longer she’d worked with him, the more complicated and dangerous those tasks became, taking her against increasingly darker creatures. Now . . .
“I am on edge,” she finally said.
“Is it what happened with your friend?”
“That’s just Eva. She’s been like that before. I can deal with her drunken nights.” She could deal with them, but she also had to figure out whether she could offer Eva anything more that would help her regain her memories.
She’d helped her once, but helping her with this, through whatever challenges she now dealt with, was something else entirely.
“Not that friend. The other one. The one you brought to the outpost.”
Jayna shrugged, looking over at Char. In the faint streetlight, he cut a more rugged figure than he did in the brighter light. He was always handsome, but he seemed a more studious handsome when he was inside, whereas outdoors she could almost imagine him wandering the streets, prowling the way her brother had. Not that she had ever been attracted to men like her brother. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Jayna tried to stay away from men who reminded her too much of Jonathan. She knew what could happen.
“He isn’t so much a friend. He just showed up at my doorstep, but I’m concerned about him, as well.”
They reached the tavern where she had intended to bring him. It was a wide building, two stories with rooms available to rent above it. The food was good, the music played until late in the evening, and she had learned that the ale flowed plentifully, and was always of a decent quality. If nothing else, Eva had taught her to find high-quality wine and ale. Of course, when it came to Eva, there were times when she wanted high quality, and there were times when she didn’t care. Sometimes, all Eva wanted was to get intoxicated so she didn’t have to think about anything else.
She leaned on the door, looking over at Char. “This is going to be different from your experiences within the outpost.”
“How do you know anything about my experiences at the outpost?”
“I can imagine what they’re like.”
She pushed open the door. The sound of music and stomping feet caught her immediately. A heavy smoke filled the air—that of the woodfire in the hearth, the pipes some of the men in the tavern smoked, even that of incense burning—mingling amongst the people dancing and singing. All of it gave off a ribald, vibrant energy.
She pushed past a hulking man and he shot her a glare. She shrugged, pushing him again as he got too close, this time forcing a bit of magic through the dragon stone ring so that when he tried to get near her again, he stumbled backward, tripping and falling on his backside. His eyes widened, and he shook his head before slowly ambling to his feet and turning away.
“Was that necessary?” Char asked.
“I don’t know if it was necessary, but it certainly was deserved. The bastard thought to push me over on his way out.”
“That ‘bastard’ was clearly drunk,” he said.
“That doesn’t make it better.”
She found a table near one of the corners. Not all the way in the corner as she preferred, but near enough so that she could watch the dance floor and the kitchen, as well as the front door. She waved to one of the servers, a dular woman named Bessie whom she had come to know. She was probably ten years older than Jayna, had minor abilities, but she made sure to use them so she could keep herself safe in a place like the Able Angler.
Bessie hurried over, carrying a tray laden with drinks and food, glancing over to Char before turning her attention to Jayna. Rings of metal circled both arms all the way up to her elbows. She had other rings on her fingers, and still more as earrings.
“What do you need, Jayna?”
“A drink. Some food. And whatever he wants.”
“What about Eva?”
“Eva won’t be joining us tonight,” she said.
“I see. One of those?”
Jayna nodded. “One of those. Unfortunately.”
Bessie chuckled. “You can’t get too mad at that girl. She’s been through a lot.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Bessie’s brow furrowed. “I suppose I don’t either. She just has that look about her, you know? Something that seems to scream that she’s been through something. I figured you knew what it was.”
Jayna shook her head slowly. “She keeps that to herself. She keeps quite a bit to herself.”
“A woman’s prerogative,” Bessie said. She glanced to Char. “What about you, big boy? What do you want?”
“I suppose ale and some food as well.”
“You ‘suppose’? How am I expected to get you anything if you just ‘suppose’?”
He chuckled. “I’ll just have cheese and hard cider.”
“Better. That’s all I needed to know.”
Jayna just laughed. “Busy place tonight.”
“It’s the minstrels. I can’t deny they’re entertaining, but I don’t like the crowd they bring in.” She paused, looking to the minstrels in the corner playing “Carry Me Lovely,” an old song about a man and his horse. “Not that they ever ask me what I like. ‘Get in here,’” she said. “‘Do your work. Clean the tables. Entertain the men. Make sure you give them what they need.’”
“You do good work though. I’m sure they appreciate that.”
Bessie wrinkled her nose. “They appreciate it, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to take care of so many stinking river men.”
“It is called the Able Angler,” Jayna said.
“Don’t you go siding with them too. Everybody takes it so damn literally, as if they need to come in here stinking like the work they do. It wouldn’t hurt some of these men to take a bath, you know.”
“I’m sure,” Jayna said with a smirk.
Bessie leaned toward Char. “At least this one don’t stink nea
rly as much as most of them. You’ve got better taste than most,” she said.
“Don’t tell him that,” Jayna said. “Wouldn’t want him to get a big head.”
“Is that what you’re concerned about? He looks too pretty to get a big head.”
“You think I’m pretty?” Char asked.
“Maybe I did,” Bessie said, watching him for a moment. “Maybe I didn’t, though. You keep smarting off at me, and you might find your food comes out a little slow.”
“He didn’t mean anything by it,” Jayna said. “He’s just a little simple.”
Bessie leaned back, propping the tray on her shoulder. “I can see that. He looks to be a little simple. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got to go and deliver these orders to a few of these other rowdy tables. I’ll be back to you soon.”
She darted off through the crowd, leaving Jayna just shaking her head and laughing.
“Is she always like that?”
“Often enough. She really does have a challenging job.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Have you ever watched the waiters at these places? She has to keep some men from groping her, others from getting too drunk so they don’t pay, and she has to keep fights from breaking out, all while moving through the tavern, getting drinks and food and . . .”
There were times when Jayna thought her own work was challenging, but when she came and visited the Able Angler, and saw Bessie or any of the other women who worked in the tavern, she realized that what she did wasn’t always as bad as she thought.
“Are you going to keep talking about your friend, or do you want to tell me what happened to you?”
Jayna took a deep breath, looking over at Char. She couldn’t get him too angry, not if she wanted to get what she thought she could use from him. “What more do you need to know?”
“Maybe you tell me what happened?”
“I already told you what happened. You listen about as well as you did back when we were in the Academy.”
Festival of Mourn (The Dark Sorcerer Book 1) Page 15
