by H. D. Gordon
Thief of Magic
The Heiress of Magic Trilogy: Book 2
H. D. Gordon
***Please note: This book was previously published under the title Falling Stars (The Surah Stormsong Trilogy). The material has been updated and edited, but is essentially the same story. If you think you purchased this book before under the other title, simply return for a refund. Thank you.***
Copyright © 2018 H. D. Gordon
Published by H. D. Gordon Books
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents area either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
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Contents
Thief of Magic
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
The End… For Now
Throne of Magic Sneak Peek
Chapter 1
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Thief of Magic
Surah and Charlie are on the run.
She managed to recover the Black Stone and save her father, but in doing so, narrowly escaped with her life.
Black Heart is still on the loose, and he’s hellbent on shaking things up.
With Samson and Charlie by her side, Surah will have to make some tough choices that will impact more than just her own future.
Thief of Magic is the second book in the Heiress of Magic Trilogy.
For Soraya and Akira, my sun and stars
Chapter 1
Surah
It was hard to breathe, but Surah was doing her best to control herself, to keep her cool. This was quite a task considering the circumstances.
She was especially aware of his eyes on her, which only served to make her more nervous, twisting her already wrenching stomach.
She spun slowly in a circle, dry vegetation crunching under her boots, dark cloak fluttering with her movement, surveying her surroundings.
How had she gotten here? How had things unraveled so quickly?
Because that’s the way things always unravel, she thought, quickly and without warning, so as to leave you… breathless.
“You okay?” Charlie asked, snapping Surah out of her thoughts.
She found it harder to look at him than it should have been, especially since she could still feel the kiss the two of them had shared on her lips…
The kiss that had made her heart beat fast and her blood rush in her ears and had drowned out the world. The kiss that had shattered the world. Hers, at least. She could do little now but stare at the wreckage.
She did not know what lie ahead, but deep inside she knew that after the events of the past week, things would never be the same again. She stole a quick look at the man who was the cause of it all, though she didn’t blame him for the current situation, or anything that had happened.
How could she blame him, when he had betrayed his own brother to save her life? How could she hate him, or not trust him, after the song he had played to set her free of the dark chains Black Heart had been using to hold her captive? She couldn’t. She couldn’t seem to help any of her feelings when it came to Charlie Redmine.
“I’m fine,” she said, when she realized he was still waiting for an answer. She found it annoyingly difficult to look into his emerald eyes. “I don’t know where we are, but I’m fine.”
Surah watched him out of the corner of her eye as he turned and took in the lay of the land, his lean body twisting easily. She couldn’t help but admire the way his muscles flexed as he moved, so visible without the cloak that most Highborn Sorcerers in the kingdom wore. He wore only jeans and a t-shirt, his skin slightly tanned from hours spent in the sun.
So very different from all the men she knew, because Charlie Redmine was not a Highborn Sorcerer, he was a commoner. She was a princess. And that was just the beginning of where things got complicated.
After scanning the area, Charlie looked at Surah and gave that easy smile she was starting to get used to, despite her best efforts against it. Charlie’s smile was one that just couldn’t be ignored. It made her feel better and more nervous at the same time.
“I know where we are,” he said, staring at her in a way that made her stomach feel funny.
Surah was in deep trouble here, and the fact that Charlie was a suspected murderer and traitor to the kingdom with a crazed brother hell-bent on overthrowing the throne—which she happened to be next in line for—was only the half of it.
She studied the line of trees in the distance, dotted along rolling hills covered in green and yellow grasses that were barely discernible, even with her superior night vision.
Overhead, the sky was a black blanket sprinkled with glittering bits of sugar, the moon a huge orb of soft white light. The land here was untouched and uninhabited by people, quiet but for the small whisperings of the night.
There were several places in her father’s kingdom that fit this description, and she couldn’t see how Charlie could know just where they were.
Unless…
“Did you bring us here?” she asked.
He shrugged, the moonlight catching in the liquid of his eyes, making them appear almost silver.
“The magic came from you, but I guess it’s possible my mind supplied the location,” he said. “It all happened so fast. I thought of the place I always come to when I need to…not be found for a while.”
He spoke slowly as he said this, as if waiting for her reaction. She wondered why he would need to not be found for a while and remembered there was so much she didn’t know about this man, an entire history that was still hidden from her.
She hadn’t gone down to the dungeons in her father’s castle planning to help Charlie Redmine escape—not exactly, anyway. The truth was that when Theo had caught her and Charlie mid-kiss (something she hadn’t planned on, either, or so she told herself), she’d panicked and teleported out of there with Charlie before her mind even had a chance to question the decision or the destination.
But she was questioning it now.
Surah was surprised when she found herself telling him exactly what was on her mind. She still couldn’t look directly at him while she spoke, which was a strange t
hing for her. As a princess, she’d never had trouble making eye contact with someone.
Charlie seemed to be the exception to several of her rules.
“If I’m being honest,” she said, “I’m scared out of my mind.”
She risked a look up at him. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. He simply stared back at her, said nothing, and waited for her to elaborate.
She didn’t even know where to start. In the course of a week, the Black Stone—a magical stone capable of great devastation—had been stolen and recovered, her father had been poisoned by demon scratches, she had been captured and tortured, and Theodine Gray had asked for her hand in marriage.
All of this was before Theo had caught Surah and Charlie in the dungeon cell, sharing the kiss that shattered the world. Before she had teleported the two of them out of there, becoming a criminal herself in aiding Charlie’s escape.
She realized there were a whole bunch of things she could categorize as before Charlie Redmine had walked back into her life, and after. The worst part was, despite all the danger she knew was ahead, she wasn’t sure she would go back to life before Charlie, if given the opportunity.
And that was the most concerning problem of all. Who knew what secrets Charlie was keeping? If Surah had learned anything over the course of her life, it was that everyone had secrets, and people who lost sight of this were often made the fool.
“What are you afraid of?” Charlie asked, when the silence went on so long Surah had forgotten the topic.
Had she thought about her answer a little bit, she might’ve lost the nerve to say the first thing that came to mind. As it was, it was hard to think about anything with him so close.
“You,” she said. “I think I’m afraid of you, Charlie. Of getting too… involved with you.”
Charlie studied her, his expression neutral, but his eyes deep and guarded. He kept his distance, which seemed to Surah to make the space separating them feel charged with electricity.
He was silent for so long she was sure he wasn’t going to answer, and she wished she could see into his thoughts right then. How was it that only moments ago his lips were practically burning across hers with passion, and now he’d gone right back to the way he’d been before, withdrawn and… haunted?
Yes, that was it. She wasn’t sure why it had taken her so long to recognize it. Under that calm, laid-back demeanor, and beneath those deep, beautiful eyes, Charlie Redmine was a haunted man.
And haunted men always had more secrets than anybody.
At last, he rubbed a hand down his jaw and met her eyes directly.
“Well, princess, I guess that makes two of us,” he said, and with that, he turned on his heel and began heading off to wherever he was leading her.
Surah was dumbstruck. She didn’t know what to think or what to say to that, though he didn’t seem to be waiting to hear her response, anyway. She stood staring after him a minute, her stomach turning in circles.
Then she sighed and followed after.
Chapter 2
Theo
He had never known such rage as he was feeling now.
It was thrumming in his veins, at his temples, making him sweat under his dark cloak.
Theodine Gray was a man unaccustomed to sweating, and though anger had been a longtime friend of his, he had never wanted to kill someone so much as he wanted to now. Just thinking the name of the man made a murderous red haze fall over him.
Charlie Redmine
If it was the last thing Theo did, he would see Charlie Redmine dead.
He refused to examine too closely the reason for his rage, refused to acknowledge that it was mostly a deep hurt that fueled it. Despite his faults, Theodine Gray truly loved the princess, loved her more than even he had known. He had served her and her family dutifully for his whole life, done all that had been asked of him.
And now he had become the fool. He had professed his love to her, had even asked for her hand in marriage, and had walked in to find her in the arms of a criminal and traitor to her father’s kingdom. In the arms of Charlie Redmine. The betrayal here was so immense it only registered with Theo as hate and a great need for revenge.
Even so, he wasn’t sure he could do anything to harm the princess, wasn’t sure that when he found them he could bring himself to throw Surah in jail for her assistance in the traitor’s escape.
But he was sure of one thing; He would take great pleasure in watching the life leak out of that common piece of trash Redmine. He would savor the moment when their world was rid of him forever, and then maybe—though he was too afraid to allow himself to hope—she would see that Theo was better for her, that they were meant to be together.
It was a possibility, wasn’t it?
Or maybe she would hate him forever. Maybe she had been swept away by Redmine’s snaky charm and would force Theo’s hand, make him do something that would surely haunt him for the rest of his days.
That was a possibility, too.
Either way, it didn’t matter, because if Theo couldn’t have her, nobody would. He’d waited too long and worked too hard. Surah was, by all rights, his.
He climbed the stone steps out of the castle dungeon—a place he would forever associate with hurt and anger and betrayal—and thought very hard and very quickly about his next course of action.
The answer struck him so strongly that it surprised even him, and for a moment he wasn’t sure what it meant or if it meant anything at all. He was too upset to care, anyway. All he knew was that action was what he needed.
The princess was gone and King Syrian had not yet awakened from his demon poison-induced coma.
It was time Theo paid the king a visit.
Chapter 3
Surah
Surah’s mind was racing to find a solution to the problems she was facing, but it was hard to concentrate, so she just ended up walking through thick grasses behind Charlie and silently reciting a spell that kept the bugs and critters away.
The last thing she needed was to find a spider in her hair or get stung by a wasp. That would be the cherry on top of this shit sundae.
“Where are we going?” she asked, stopping and shielding her eyes with her arm.
The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky, and the temperature was increasing steadily. If it got much hotter she would have to take off her cloak and gloves, and though this wasn’t that big of a deal, it seemed to be one to Surah. She wore only a black tank top, black leggings, and boots under her cloak, and she wasn’t sure it would be a good idea to shed any clothing around Charlie. She refused to examine the reason why she felt it wasn’t a good idea. There was enough on her mind as it was.
Charlie stopped, glancing at her with that same expressionless look on his handsome face. He pointed to a line of trees.
“Not too far from here there’s an abandoned cabin. It’s just inside those woods. It’s not in real good shape, but it’s been forgotten.” He shrugged. “We could go there and figure out what to do next.”
Surah’s stomach flipped. She considered protesting, but when she could think of no reason other than the fact that she was nervous to be alone with him, she settled for a small nod, pretending to study a nearby oak tree rather than look at him.
It was a strange thing, almost as though a light she’d thought was long lost had been flicked on inside her. Surah’s eyes went to Charlie and caught just a glimpse of a smirk on his lips, as if he could read her thoughts. Then it was gone, and he turned back in the direction he’d been heading, continuing on.
Surah sighed and followed.
They reached the cabin a few moments later, and it was just as he’d said: not in real good shape. It was set in a small clearing that was grown over with weeds and tall grasses.
Nestled tightly between the trees was the cabin: dark, thick logs stacked atop each other in a simple rectangle, the roof patched and surely leaky. Two dusty, square windows flanked a door that sat slightly askew on its hinges.
As Surah s
tudied it, she could feel Charlie’s eyes on her. She shifted a little before she could stop herself. His gaze moved over her like a touch.
Reminding herself they were in hot water for multiple reasons, Surah wrapped her hand around the piece of White Stone at her neck—which belonged to her lost sister, because Black Heart still had Surah’s, and she intended to get it back—and approached the cabin.
She gestured him forward as she silently recited a spell that would shield them from outside magic, a kind of perimeter that would block others from using magical means to find them.
Charlie followed her into the cabin and said nothing as she completed the spell, but Surah wondered if he could feel the charge between the two of them. She certainly felt it.
Casting the spell took a lot of energy, and somehow it felt more like the sealing of a deal than the sealing off of an area.
Surah nodded when she was finished, wiping sweat from her forehead, almost unclasping her cloak before catching herself.
Charlie grinned when she looked over at him, but she could see he was still consciously keeping his distance from her. She was usually good at reading people, but right then, she wasn’t sure she’d ever figure him out.
