anyone who could afford the price, without thought to where
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the murder would be committed. After the second bee sting in
the middle of the city where there are no bees, the authorities became suspicious.”
“Greed and stupidity are our friends,” Nic said. “It’s amaz-
ing how creative and inventive criminals can be, but eventu-
ally greed, sheer stupidity or both will bring them down.”
The next month passed in a blur. At one point, while cling-
ing to the side of a building in the middle of the night, I
wondered what the hell I had been thinking to agree to this
training.
One positive thing Valek had been right about was working
with the glass. It helped me focus my mind. When the kiln had
been hot enough to melt sand, soda ash and lime into glass, I
gathered a slug of molten glass on a pontil iron and basked in
the bright glow. Such potential locked inside just waiting for
me.
The orange light pulsed as if beckoning me. Come on, Opal.
Mold me, shape me, it cooed. I’ve been a constant throughout your entire life. I’ve never betrayed or harmed you.
Even though I hadn’t touched glass in seasons, my skills
returned as if there hadn’t been a gap. Being able to thumb a
bubble for the first time in my life, I crafted a few small and delicate vases. Then I made glass f lowers to set inside it. A
tiny spark of joy returned to my soul as I experimented with
my rediscovered talent.
I also admitted to myself that my mother had been right.
My refusal to work with the glass had been moping.
Eventually, my glass pieces filled my shelves and I crafted
gifts for others. I made a paperweight for Tama’s messy desk.
I shaped a fist-sized ball, then filled the inside with a bunch of small bubbles. It resembled boiling water that had been
frozen. Satisfied with the paperweight, I cut in a jack line and cracked it off into the annealing oven to cool.
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“Solved all your problems yet?” Valek asked as I cleaned
up.
“No. But I decided what I want for dinner,” I said.
“It’s a start.”
As we continued training, fatigue settled into my tired
muscles, and each exercise sucked more energy from me. At
this rate, I wouldn’t have the strength to accomplish the mis-
sion. And the sense of time running out loomed over me.
Each day spent preparing was one day lost. And another day
for something bad to happen to my blood.
With only forty-five days remaining until Mara’s wedding,
my impatience boiled over. “Look, all I need are the basics,”
I said to Valek that evening. “Once I find my blood, I won’t
be doing all this sneak stuff.”
He sat at my kitchen table. The prison’s blueprints had been
spread out in front of him. Valek displayed no emotion. Which
wasn’t a good thing. I had learned to correlate his annoyance
level to his lack of sentiment. The greater his ire, the f latter his tone.
“And what will you be doing instead?” he asked.
I hesitated. “Probably helping the Council.”
“In what capacity?”
“I don’t know. Whatever they need, I guess.” Wrong
answer.
“Then I should bill the Council for your training. Because
they will not hesitate to take advantage of your immunity,
and assign you to jobs that require you to sneak around.”
I opened my mouth, but closed it as his stony gaze fixed on
me.
“I suggest you decide what exactly you are going to do.
Indecisive probablys usually lead to trouble.” He returned to studying the blueprints, ignoring me.
Sitting in a chair opposite him, I considered his comments.
If I dug deep enough, I would find the nugget of hope that I
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would reclaim my blood and my powers. Then I could return
to making glass messengers and being able to help a wild
magician to avoid f laming out. And if I didn’t? My thoughts
shied from that scenario.
Valek and I spent another seven days training, watching
Wirral and poring over the blueprints. We donned disguises
and followed the correctional officers home from the prison.
The effort netted us names to match faces, and I identified
Finn’s goons—Erik, Carrl and Lamar. No surprise that all
were hotshots.
As the days passed, Valek tested me on spotting a disguise.
It was one skill that came easily to me. With my artistic back-
ground, I held the advantage. Even though confidence in
my abilities grew, I still worried about the amount of time
we used. My sister’s wedding was thirty-eight days away and
I needed at least eight to travel home. I feared thirty days
wouldn’t be enough.
My fears turned into reality when Valek threw his quill
across the table. I looked at him.
He crossed his arms. “I never thought I would say this, but
it’s impossible.”
My stomach f lipped. “What is?”
“Getting into Wirral. There isn’t a way in without being
caught. We’re done.”
“What about the plan to disguise ourselves as
correctional officers?” I asked Valek, hoping the last seventy
plus days of training hadn’t been for nothing.
“Think about the information we’ve collected these past
couple weeks,” Valek said.
I huffed in annoyance. He had all the answers, but he
wanted me to puzzle it out myself. Sorting through every-
thing, I recalled a conversation Valek had overheard at the
Spotted Dog. “We can’t go in as COs because there are too
many checkpoints, and they change the password daily,” I
said. “Someone before us must have tried that trick.”
“What about bribing a hotshot to ask Ulrick?” Valek
asked.
“Won’t work. They’re an elite unit. It’s doubtful they’ll
take a bribe, and they’re all terrified of Finn.” I tried to see past Valek’s blank mask. Was this all a test? A ruse to get me
to use the strategy I had learned.
“Bribe one of the other COs to get in?”
“No way. They’re all terrified of the warden.” I didn’t blame
them. “We could transfer in from another prison. That would
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save us having to join the force in Fulgor and advance through
to the elite unit.” And save years.
Valek suppressed a smile. “That might work. Although
the paperwork would have to be forged. It will take a couple
weeks to set it up.” He glanced at the windows. “It’s late.
Maybe a better solution will come to us in the morning.”
When I woke the next day, no sudden insight into our di-
lemma occurred. I dressed in my training clothes and joined
Nic and Eve for our morning session. I worked self-defense
drills with Eve and sparred Nic.
“Damn, girl,” Nic said after I slipped past his block and
scored a hit. “You’ve improved big-time, and I don’t think
it’s because of us.”
Eve added. She arched an eyebrow at me. “Night school?”
“I’ve been working with you for almost two seasons,” I
said. “Give yourself some credit.”
They exchanged a look, and I braced for another round of
questions.
But Nic shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. It’s working and I
like seeing this part of you. Reminds me of the Opal from
before.”
“Before when?” I asked.
Eve shot her partner a warning look, but he ignored her.
“Before you lost your magic. When you came to Fulgor with
fire in your eyes.”
“And it ended badly.”
“No it didn’t. No one died and you stopped a dangerous
plot. I get that you have battle scars and need time to heal.
I’m just glad you are finally moving past it. The fire is coming back.”
Eve and I stared at Nic in astonishment.
He reddened. “What? I do work in law enforcement. I
know people.”
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Smiling, Eve patted his shoulder. “We know. You’re just
not usually so…eloquent about it.”
Nic preened as he and Eve filed into HQ with the other
guards to report for duty. I remained in the yard. The con-
struction crew arrived and buzzed around the half-completed
extension. Masons laid bricks and the prisoners mixed mortar,
delivering wheelbarrows full of the gray-colored mud.
The sun had burned off the cool morning fog. Devlen and
a few others had pulled down the top of their prison jumpers
and tied them around their waists. His skin had darkened from
being outside, but pale scars on his back stood out.
I realized I knew nothing about his life before he became
a Warper. Did he have siblings? What were his parents like?
I hadn’t even seen him without a shirt. When his soul had
occupied Ulrick’s body, I’d been intimate with him. But in
his own body, he hadn’t tried to seduce me, just use me.
This confused my memories of being with who I thought
had been Ulrick. Could I claim he raped me when I willingly
slept with him? I thought he was Ulrick, but Devlen said he
never pretended about his feelings toward me, even disguised
as Ulrick. It had been his addiction to blood magic that had
driven him to force me to search for his mentor.
Confused wasn’t a strong enough term for how I felt about him now. To avoid a headache, I returned my thoughts to
the present. My gaze once again sought Devlen among the
workers. He pushed the wheelbarrow around as if it was a toy,
and he towered over most of the other prisoners. He had al-
lowed his black hair to grow long. It reached past his shoulder blades.
I was about to go when Devlen caught me staring and
smiled. Glancing around, he wheeled the barrow toward me.
I scanned the COs, looking for his ever-present watchdog,
but didn’t see Pellow’s broad shape.
“Opal, is something wrong?” he asked.
“No. Why would you think that?”
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“You never stay after the soldiers leave for their shift. Did
the Councilor give you the day off ?”
“I
wish.”
He
waited.
“I’m just thinking. Something I’ve been working on isn’t
panning out like I had hoped, and I need to figure another
way.” I shrugged, trying to downplay my concern.
He wasn’t fooled by my act. Putting the wheelbarrow down,
he stepped closer to me. “All I need to do is escape. Easy
enough out here.” He gestured. No one paid us any attention.
“I’ll let them catch me and they’ll transfer me to Wirral. I’ll get close to—”
“No.”
“I can help.”
“Ulrick won’t talk to you. I need to get inside.”
The shock on his face lasted a second before he grabbed
my shoulders. He pulled me toward him so we were almost
touching. “No, don’t. I won’t let you.” Real fear filled his eyes.
“You
can’t—”
“I have heard horror stories about the conditions and the
prisoners. The COs threaten us with it to keep us in line. No.
I’ll go and force Ulrick to tell me. You know he’ll crack.”
I shook my head. “I need to go, Devlen.” When I realized he wasn’t backing down, I said, “I can handle myself.” And it
was the truth. With Valek’s training, I had an edge.
He closed his eyes as if enduring a surge of pain, then pulled
me into a hug. Startled, I froze for a moment before wrapping
my arms around his bare torso. I inhaled his familiar scent—
a mix of spice and sun. The same smell I remembered from
when I had lain with him after… But he had been in Ulrick’s
body then. Odd.
Devlen drew back to meet my gaze. “Promise me you’ll be
careful?”
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“I promise.” When he failed to look reassured, I added,
“Don’t worry. I have help. I’m not going in alone.”
“Who? Your annoying Ixian friend?”
“Yes.” I didn’t lie. Valek matched the description. He was
Ixian and quite annoying at times.
“Hey, Dev, are you going to share?” a male voice asked. “I
could use a hug, too.”
We broke apart as a group of prisoners approached us—five
men with strong arms from working at the construction site.
Not a CO was in sight. Figured.
“Go back to work,” Devlen said. “Or you’ll get into
trouble.”
“The COs are busy,” the biggest of the men said. “Fight
broke out inside.” He inclined his bald head toward the new
wing.
I pulled my sais.
“I didn’t mean from the COs.” Devlen’s voice held a
warning.
“From you?” The men laughed.
Devlen stepped away from me. “She’s the one you need to
worry about.”
More
chuckles.
He met my gaze, and I knew in a f lash what he would do
next. I f lipped my sais up into an attack position, f lourishing the weapons to distract the men. Devlen moved, stepping in
close to the big man and striking his throat with the edge of
his palm.
Reversing my weapons so the weighted knob on top led, I
shuff led forward, ramming the knobs into the closest prisoner’s solar plexus. A cheap shot, but it was effective for disabling an opponent without causing serious injury. I turned to the next
guy in time to duck his swing, and repeated my move.
In a matter of seconds we had all five men gasping for
breath. Devlen’s strike to the neck caused a temporary and
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painful swelling to the windpipe. If his hit had been harder,
it would have crushed the windpipe, killing them.
The group stumbled away.
“Will they report you?” I asked Devlen.
“No. But I’ll have to watch out for them.”
The image of them ambushing Devlen inside Dawnwood
caused my heart to race. Unlike the scuff le
, which I hadn’t
even broken a sweat for. “Maybe you should inform the COs
or tell Pellow?”
“No need.” He dismissed my concerns.
“Can you handle all five?”
He turned to me. “Opal, worry about your own plans. Not
me. If I get attacked…” he shrugged “…it’s all part of being
in prison.”
Which he deserved. Which I kept forgetting.
“You’ll keep me informed of your progress?” he asked.
“I’ll try.” First I needed to figure a way to get inside.
He studied me as if memorizing my face. Those blue eyes
with their thick eyelashes used to scare me, but now his intense gaze sent a surge of heat through my body. We had fought
well together. Without thought, I stepped close and kissed
him. Stunned, he froze, then returned the kiss with passion.
Coming to my senses, I jerked away. “You should go before
you get into trouble.” Or I do.
“Opal,
I’m—”
“Don’t apologize. I started it.”
“True.”
“And don’t go all Story Weaver on me, either.”
“Wouldn’t think of it.” He f lashed a grin and pushed the
wheelbarrow toward the construction site.
Dizzy with confusion and disbelief over what I had just
done, I remained rooted in place until I reined in my out-of-
control emotions. Didn’t anyone see us? I scanned the workers.
They appeared to be oblivious, and the COs counted heads,
making sure no one ran off while they were preoccupied. All
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except Pellow. He nodded at me before returning to his post.
Damn.
When Nic and Eve left HQ escorting a prisoner, I ducked
behind the fence so they wouldn’t see me. Did I kiss Devlen
because Kade still hadn’t sent me a message? And why was I
hiding from my friends?
I waited until they were out of sight before I headed toward
the Councilor’s Hall. My mind swirled with questions with no
real answers, replaying the intense conversation with Devlen.
He really cared for me. It hadn’t been an act. No glib words
or sweet talk. He would have gone to Wirral for me.
Then the worries started. What about Kade? I loved him.
So why was I kissing Devlen? Would Pellow gossip about our
kiss to the other COs? I hoped my friends didn’t find out. I’d
never live it down. Nic and Eve would—
And then from the chaos of my thoughts an astonishing
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