Unlocking Void (Book 3) (19 page)

Mikelle finally arrived with a tray of lunch and uncovered the lids. Coal made it clear he wanted to assist, and Mikelle talked to him quietly as she set things out. Gabriel heard the smacking sound of a cat devouring something, and Mikelle shooed him off the table.

A familiar smell rose from the table, and he craned his neck with a disbelieving look. “Cinnamon? I told them
no cinnamon
!” He jumped to his feet and threw his hands in the air. “Stars! How hard is this to remember?” Mikelle took several steps back as he strode forward to the offending dish. He picked up a bowl of warm cinnamon apples, and with all the force his arm could muster, threw it against the wall. It exploded in a shower of porcelain, and Mikelle shrieked and covered her head.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing his anger had gotten out of his control. Without another word he marched into his bedchamber and slammed the door. When he finally ventured out, Mikelle and the meal was gone. She did not return for the rest of the day.

Gabriel shifted back to Shalay Le’Inchanna late that night and perched on the edge of a wall to wait for Maxine. She arrived several minutes later.

“Do you sit in Void with a searchers pattern on me until I move?” he asked, his head leaning against the stone. Her dress tonight had a plunging neckline and was made of a light material that swished in a hundred ripples.

“Around this time of night, yes.” Maxine smiled.

“Are you with Ryker?”

The question took her aback. “Why, no.”

“Where is he?”

She looked concerned. “I cannot say, Gabriel.”

“Then where is Nolen? You’ve mentioned a few times that he talks a lot. I’m assuming he’s with you.”

Her concern faded to amusement. “He abides with Ryker. Why the inquisition? Difficult day?”

“No more difficult than usual.”

“Shall we continue to practice flying?”

He nodded and unbuckled his cloak and coat. “Would you show me how Air Mages fly?”

She looked pleased and began setting patterns in her hand. Slowly her arms spread wide, and she lifted off the ground. Her gown whispered around her as her hair blew about her shoulders. After a little distance, she flattened her feet, lowered her arms, and stood in the air as if standing on a column.

“That’s incredible,” he muttered as he unlaced his shirt, pulling it over his head. “I’ve read of such things, but no one can do that in this Age.”

She swiped her hand flat across her chest and dropped to the ground solidly as the pattern cut from under her. “Air is often overlooked but only because Mages are not strong enough to use it. If it is strong enough to blow ships across the water, be certain it can hold a body in air.” She stepped right up to him and met his expecting eyes. “We are going to try something new tonight. Remain calm.”

Before he could ask why, she wrapped her arms around him, pinning his hands to his sides, and the two of them shot up into the air so quickly it left him dazed.

“What are you doing?”

“Trust me,” she replied, her lips nearly brushing his neck. “To know how to fly, you must learn how to fall.”

“You better not—” he began, but she opened her arms with a grin and let him go.

He swiped for her but fell away too fast. Instinctively he rolled to his stomach as he opened himself to Void, laying the wings-pattern. The wings shot out of his back, and he opened them to break his fall, but the sudden jarring snapped his neck forward and left him stunned. He fell, this time without trying to slow his decent.

Maxine zipped up and grabbed him under the arms, holding him tightly to her chest as his vision cleared, and his senses came back to him. “What happened?” she asked in a tone that said she knew the answer.

“Too rapid change of surface area and deceleration.” Gabriel muttered.

“That—that is not how I would have worded it, but yes, that is correct. Pull your wings back in; we are going to try it again.”

He did as she asked, and when he was fully coherent, she dropped him. This time when his wings sprouted, he carefully couched them in before extending them slowly, using his legs to propel his downward motion into an arc.

“Better,” she called as she came to join him. She did not have her wings out tonight; instead, she walked across the sky as if it had stairs. He hovered in the air beside her, beating his wings to keep him aloft. “I want you to practice abrupt stops now, then rapid turns. We will end with a bit of battle.”

He took off and did as she asked, throwing in a few full circles for good measure. Stopping quickly was not as hard as he expected. He simply had to flare his wings and swing his feet forward. Turns required a twist of the legs and a wing which proved to be trickier than he anticipated.

“Tired yet?” she called, her wings out.

He wiped his brow. “A little.” To fly, he had to use his whole body. It was by no means easy work.

“Sky battles are usually fought only by Air Mages because it is such hard work to stay aloft. Now, form armor like we practiced. First to get three hits wins.”

He flicked together the pattern and formed a lightweight armor that seemed to coat his skin with a shimmering gray material. She did the same and readied her hands for battle.

She struck first with a blasted Air pattern that threw him back, but he reflexively tucked his wings, minimizing his surface area. He struck back with a water ribbon that caught her ankle and knocked her off balance. The armor rippled darkly.
‘One.’

She pulled her wings in and dropped, flaring them to arc, and came up behind him. She slammed a Lorian-saturation pattern into his shoulders. The armor ripped and spiked as it absorbed the hit, but he could tell what the pattern was by the faint pain that sank through.

He spun and grabbed her wrist. Kicking his feet up and folding his wings, he threw her over his head in an arc. She caught herself but not before he pulled a bolt of lightning from the sky.
‘Two.’

Surprisingly, she extended an arm in his direction and propelled the lightning through her body and at him. It caught him on the arm, and he felt his hair lift. But he took direction from her and shot the remaining energy through his other arm.
‘Amazing,’
he marveled, unaware lightning could be manipulated so.

Earth was too far to shoot up, little water hung in the air, so he selected Fire and snapped his fingers. He looked to see her next attack and froze. She held a long white whip of Spirit in her hand, a coiled line of pure energy that would strike harder than any real whip.
‘Did she know? Was she doing it on purpose?’

Blinding panic exploded within him. He released fire and shot hundreds of lines of Spirit into the sky without thinking. Wrenching his arm down in a swift movement, the lines pulled him upwards and out of the way of her strike. He fueled the pattern and collapsed his wings, falling away.

She watched him with a surprised expression, but hadn’t seen what he had done. Slowly, the pinpricks of stars above widened, then rapidly increased in size as they picked up speed. Her mouth fell agape as she hung in the air and watched, not even bothering to raise a shield.

He cut his descent and swooped up to reach her before his attack did, but she finally lifted a shield and watched as hundreds of lights—some the size of a fist and other the size of a horse’s head—fell around her. They sailed to the ground and burst the standing structures, skipping through trees and brush to illuminate the darkness below. He lifted up underneath her shield as the sound of crashing trees reached them.

She hung in the air, her wings long forgotten, and subconsciously grabbed his arm to hold him steady. He rested his wings, watching her face as she marveled.

Finally, her wide eyes turned to him. “That is why they call you the Star Breaker.” She slowly lowered them, watching as the larger orbs faded into darkness. “I have never seen anything like it. Where did you learn it?”

“I created it.”

“Have you done others like this?”

“I may have.”

She flicked a pattern at his shoulder, and his armor melted away. “I win,” she whispered with a wink, letting her own armor slip free. They touched down, wings retracted and Void released.

“You faltered up there.” She wrapped an arm around his back and ran her fingers across it gently. “I should have known better.”

Every Element had a form of a whip-pattern, and it did not matter which was formed. They all spiked his adrenaline.

“But you were wondrous, and your flying is quite excellent. I am proud to call you my student.”

“Have you exhausted all your patterns on me?”

“Not yet,” she waved a hand. “Shall I meet you here tomorrow?”

At the movement of her hand, he noticed something he had overlooked. She wore rings like most people, but one of them caught his attention. He needed a better look. “Wait, there is an Air pattern I wanted to know about. It’s a sphere…here, let me show you how it was laid.”

In a movement smooth as silk, he took her hand and spun her into him. Her back to his chest, he placed the backs of her hands into his palms. He moved his hands to lay the unseen pattern, but his eyes fixed on the ring. A slender black piece, hammer pounded to give a bubbly texture. It was exactly like the one he wore.

Jaden had two rings that passed through the wards around the castle: one for the Head Mage and the other for the Secondhand. The Secondhand’s ring had been missing for uncounted years.

“Oh yes.” Her voice snapped him from his realization, and for a moment his blood began to race. If she figured out that he knew, he could lose the opportunity to steal it back, and Ryker would always have a way to get it. If she had it, then Ryker knew, and she was not as trustworthy as she claimed. He knew it all along.

“We just call it a bubble-pattern.” She turned in his arms to face him, putting her warm hands against his chest.

“Is there a way out of it?” he asked, rubbing his neck unconsciously. It was the same pattern Axa trapped him in.

“Yes, you shift out.”

“But if you don’t control Void?”

“Then there is no way out. You would suffocate.” He nodded. “But I would think lower Classes would not be able to generate as strong a bubble as I would. You may be able to punch through with a strong enough Earth pattern.”

She reached up on her toes and kissed him. He reciprocated carefully, his racing heart calmed, but his mind flew. He had to get that ring off of her at any cost.

“See you tomorrow,” she whispered as she broke away.

He collected his clothes and returned to Jaden, not surprised to see Mikelle in his study. She gave him a slow grin.

“You’re here again.” Gabriel muttered.

“You could shift into your bedchamber.”

“This is
my
study.”

“Your cat needs love. You are half naked again, in case you failed to notice.” She grinned. “You do this to tease me don’t you?”

He rolled his eyes and hung his cloak on his desk chair.

“How’s your brain look?” She continued her tease.

“How long have you been here?”

“Can I guess her name?”

He straightened. “Excuse me?”

“Is it Princess Celise of Cinibar?”

“No.”

She tapped her lips. “Celise’s younger sisters?”

“Mikelle, please.”

“High Lady Felina of Parion.”

“Isn’t she married?”

Mikelle nodded. “Is it Adelaide?”

Gabriel dropped his clothes. “I don’t have time to romance a woman every night. I’m learning Void!”

“From a woman?”

“
Yes
,” he snapped.

Her eyes widened. “I knew it. There are other Void Mages out there.”

“The Council said I had to learn Void, and so I am, in my own time.”

“And in your own way,” she grinned and pointed to his torso.

Sighing, he stoked the fire to give them more light. He made sure he had enough room, seized Void, and laid the wings-pattern. Mikelle’s expression said it all.

“You can fly?” she whispered, putting Coal to the side and standing. “I want to fly.”

“I can’t lift you.”

She reached out to touch them. “This is a really good look for you.”

He flicked the wing to smack her head playfully. Her grin made him smile. “I’m sorry about this afternoon.”

“You are very scary when you are mad.”

He stooped to grab his clothes. “I know.”

“I will leave you to your rest.”

He pulled his shirt on and tucked it in, not ready to retire for the night. The new revelation of Maxine’s ring changed everything, and right when he was beginning to believe her. He had to get the ring off at any cost, consequences be damned. He did not think he could pull it off with a pattern, and he did not want to cut her finger off. There was a chance he could work it off if he restrained her or pinned her down. He twirled Robyn’s ring.