Unlocking Void (Book 3) (21 page)

“I wan’ t’ be a Water Mage,” the little girl beamed.

Demi stirred the pot and stoked the fire with nothing but a kick to the embers. The fire roared. Malain had been gone almost two years before he was freed. The children’s mother had vanished months ago which meant Demi must have been in charge of two children and a house alone. She understood the look in his eyes.

“Do you have a farm?”

Malain nodded. “Small one with a few horses.”

Demi must have worked the fields alone to bring the harvest in. It explained why he was so tanned and broad. She would have to see what she could do to repay them.

“Are you a farmer?” the little Felicity asked with all the innocence of a child.

“Not with skin like that,” Flynn cut in. He, too, was tanned like his brother.

Robyn smirked as Malain sent the boy a glare.

“No, I work in Kilkiny Palace.”

“And how is her Grace?” Malain asked.

She grinned. “She is very well.”

“Glad t’ hear it,” he nodded. “I hope you like lentils and carrots. We’re near the end of our fresh rations.”

“I’m just glad for something warm.”

Demi reached over and put a hand to her forehead. “No’ too hot.”

“Can I overheat?”

“No, the pattern I used has t’ be set t’ the right temperature, or I could burn you up.”

“He tried it first on a chicken!” Flynn cut in. “It was delicious.”

“Grab a bowl my darlings,” Malain smirked as he ladled the soup up. Robyn relaxed into her pack, a mug of hot tea on her lap, and a bowl of warm soup in her hands.

Chapter 26

“Would y’ ne rather kill her quickly rather than extending it par weeks?” Ryker asked Nolen as they stood in the window of his great room. “I could shift over ac have her back in five minutes. Y’ would keep the Head Mage wondering if she was alive until he gave up, then drop her on Jaden’s door par good measure.”

Nolen smirked. “I do like your dark thinking.”

“Ne dark, perfectly reasonable. Did y’ have a good plan t’ get into Kilkiny?”

“I am working on something.”

“Let me go get her.”

“It would simplify things,” Nolen replied with a shrug.

“Check t’ make sure Evony is well while I am gone.”

Ryker slipped into Void as easily as drawing a breath and vanished before Nolen could reply. The boy spent equal times between Atrox and Maxine’s mansion, training, reading, and usually chasing his bevvies. He had become quite adept with the Air piece of the Silex and the new patterns Maxine taught him. He showed promise, and Ryker debated giving him a second piece of the Silex, but not quite yet.

Kilkiny Palace had old wards set into it, some to keep the stone from cracking or the water in the roof cisterns boiling, and a few to keep people out. While someone erected anti-sidestep patterns around the Queen’s apartments, they had failed to lay disparage-patterns, and he slipped right into the Queen’s study.

The room was vacant, but he could hear shouting down the hall. He quietly stole into the bedchamber and looked around. Everything looked so different since the last time he was here. Anatoly became a kingdom after the people of Luxantine were massacred, well after the founding of Jaden and before Arconia rose. Time changed all things.

The Queen was not in her room, and her hairbrush was vacant, so there was nothing to search her with. He could not be bothered to hunt through all her clothes or scrape the carpets for a hair, so he meandered back into the study and listened to the shouting. A woman seemed to be doing most of it, as women usually did.

“Prince Virgil, I will not suffer your silence! The fate of the kingdom rides on that girl’s shoulders.”

Interested, Ryker wound his way into the hall.
‘Prince Virgil…. That must be Arconia.’

“My Lady Mage,” Prince Virgil said, “I would not betray my Queen.”

“Cordis, you talk to him!”

A new voice chimed in. “Where’d she go?” There was a pause. “He won’t tell me, Aisling.”

“I will have you flogged for withholding vital information if you do not tell me.”

“You can’t do that, Aisling. He’s a Prince and not a Mage.” Another pause. “Or you could try and see if you get away with it.”

“My Lady Mage,” Virgil’s voice pleaded again, “I do not know where she went.”

“But you suspect.” Aisling’s voice narrowed.

“Yes.”

“She wrote me that she was leaving on urgent business, and I do not know if she went to her brother or her once-love. She could be dead on the road, and it will be your fault Prince Virgil.”

“I think she has more reason to go to Gabriel, Aisling.”

“Not recently…. Are you blind, Cordis?”

Ryker chose that moment to open the hall door and lean against the frame, grinning as he listened to the amusing debacle. A straight-backed man in red soldier’s garb stood before two lavishly dressed Mages. The taller man perched on the edge of a couch with a pastry stuffed in his mouth. He also watched the furious woman with a grin.

But they all stopped and looked at Ryker. The men looked confused, but the woman let out a sharp scream and threw up a Spirit shield.

“Ryker!” she hissed.

The man spat the pastry out as he stood and laid an Earth pattern. The solider drew his sword, but Ryker was faster than both and shifted through the shield that only extended floor to ceiling, grabbing the soldier’s arm.

The woman lashed out with a binding-pattern, but Ryker deflected it easily, knocking the sword from the soldier’s hand with a crack-pattern. “The Queen is missing? It is her lucky day. I will take y’ as a consolation prize.”

“Virgil!” the woman shouted, lunging forward. Ryker set the shift-pattern, slipping into the spirit world and out of Kilkiny.

Virgil reeled and plowed a fist towards Ryker, but the Arch Mage touched a Lorian-saturation pattern to his neck and sent the boy to his knees gasping as pain rolled through him. They arrived in Atrox Manor moments later.

“Who is this?” Nolen asked with an amused tone.

“Is Evony well?” Ryker commanded.

“She has all her wants.”

“This is Prince Virgil of Arconia.”

Nolen’s brows rose. “No Robyn?”

“Nay, she has vanished. This one knows where though.”

Virgil staggered to his feet, bracing a hand on a chair. He made no response, but his face pounded into a fierce glare, “I will say nothing.”

Nolen chuckled. “Everyone breaks.”

Gabriel shifted to their usual place. Maxine arrived soon after, tonight wearing a leather bustier over a purple dress that did wonders for her upper half. It was hard not to stare.

“You have my attention.” Gabriel said with a sly grin.

She tittered and blushed, but he knew everything was intentional. “When will you come home with me, Gabriel?” she asked as she twined her arms around his waist. He reciprocated the embrace, locking his hands behind her.

“I did not know that was part of the deal.”

“Oh come now, do not tell me you are not enticed.”

“I could not lie with you.” It was not as if he was devoted to another.
‘What if…what if the only way to get the ring is to…?’

She chuckled softly. “I have a quiet cozy mansion only a shift away. Plus, you owe me.”

“That is the favor you ask for?” he passed it off as inconsequential, but considering what trouble he could find himself in if she asked for something else, it did not sound so terrible.

“It would be a favor to the both of us,” she whispered and broke away. He looked for the black ring on her left hand, eying it with anticipation. “I have two patterns to teach you tonight. Both are very complex and dangerous, but I think you can manage them.

“We call this the advantage-pattern. We blink thousands of times a day, and every time we blink, we are blind for a fraction of a second. In total, we are blind for forty minutes a day, and this pattern optimizes that.” She wove the pattern, snapping both thumbs and linking two strings together in a spiral. “This permits you to blind another person while in the same room with them. Essentially you could stand in a room for forty minutes without them knowing, as long as you make no sound. However, this takes a toll on your target. They will know something is wrong since you will eliminate the breaks their eyes get the rest of the day. It can only be used once a day on someone, and they will most likely complain of a headache for the rest of the day.”

With his permission, she touched it to his skin, and he quickly noticed everything seemed to run together without pause. His eyes strained to the point of discomfort. Sure enough, Maxine vanished from his vision until she removed the pattern.

“That is very disconcerting.” Gabriel said blinking repeatedly. She permitted him to try it on her, but he could see no marked changes from his perspective. “How will I know when the pattern is about to run out?”

“It will vibrate your wrist,” she replied and stroked it. It made him shiver. “So if you want to spy on your old playmate, this would be the pattern to use.”

“Her business is her own. I have no connection now.”

“None at all? Oh, Gabriel, I am sad for you.”

So was he. “No matter. It is in the past.”

“I will be your new playmate,” she grinned.

“Have you ever had a man not fall into bed with you?” he asked suddenly.

“Yes, once. He is a very guarded man.”

“I am pleased to keep you so on edge.”

She tittered and playfully slapped his hand. “The second pattern for the night is the warp-and-weft. Have you ever been in moment of crisis and noticed that time seems to slow? Your pupils actually dilate, and the brain allows the eyes to see more images in a second than normal. The warp-and-weft pattern allows this, and the brain will judge the movements of a person to predict their next action one second before it happens. If you train with this pattern, you can accurately anticipate their next attack.”

She showed him how to lay the pattern and observed as he set it properly. “This requires a great deal of strength. You will only be able to manage it once or twice in a battle, so be very careful when you choose. It will leave you fatigued if you try it constantly.” She threw a pattern, and Gabriel fueled his own, watching as she shifted to the left. Yet, a faint gray outline moved in front of her. She moved to the left where the gray outline had been. He deflected her attack with a snap of his hand.

“That is very strange,” he muttered. “Try it again.”

She laid a coil-pattern, and he fueled the warp-and-weft, watching her gray outline jut forward. He formed a small shield over one arm and snapped a light-shard in the other, bracing and attacking together. She blink-shifted out of the way with an exhilarated grin on her face. “Well done!”

“Once more.”

“Are you certain? I might get you this time.”

“Just try.”

They laid their patterns together, and this time she attacked with abandon, hurling a buckle-pattern at his knees. The warp-and-weft showed her motion with a hazier outline this time, and he felt it pull on his strength. He moved to deflect, but it seemed taxing, as if he shifted slower than he thought. His Earth side-slide moved him a fraction too late. Her pattern brushed his hip, and his knees buckled.

“I told you.” Maxine exclaimed.

He looked from his numb legs as she sashayed up triumphantly. “Let it never be said I did not bring the Head Mage to his knees.” She brushed a hand through his raven hair, resting it against his neck.

‘You’ve got one chance to make this believable.’

He grabbed the front of her bustier and pulled her down in one swift motion. He caught her head with his free hand and pressed her lips against his. She let out a surprised squeal and melted into him. He continued to pull until she gave way and knelt before him. She twined her other hand around his shoulders tightly, then grabbed the tongue of his belt and yanked it out of its catch, causing him to falter and break connection.

“But you damaged me. I can’t move my legs.”

“Only for a minute,” she whined and tried to push him to his back, but he tightened his core and held fast.

“Oh, I am not such an easy catch.”

“Yes, I know, you are
very, very
difficult,” she said between kisses, her lips trailing to his neck. He was not sure he enjoyed that sensation. Her hand grabbed a fistful of his shirt and gripped it tightly at the neck. The constriction immediately sent him back to a dark corner of the dungeon. A rope around the Castrofax neckpiece holding him up as his body begged to fall. He reflexively gasped, but she saw it as encouragement and pulled tighter.

He snapped back to reality and quickly regained control before Maxine realized. She tried to push him back again.

“Not here,” he whispered, feeling returning to his legs.

“Yes here.”

He carefully eased her back. “Not tonight.”

“Tomorrow.” She whispered.

“Tomorrow.”

She beamed and kissed him again as he tried to stand, pulling her with him. A solid twenty-four hours would give him time to plan. He needed a way to distract her enough to get the ring off.

“I will meet you here two hours after the sun sets,” she breathed in his ear, giving his belt an extra tug to slip it from a loop.

“Until then,” he nodded, seizing Void.

“Wait!” She threw up a hand to stop his shift. “Your hair, it’s white.”

He gripped a lock. Despite the afterimage the spirit world created, people remained the same, and sure enough his hair was bold white.

“You are a Void master now,” she winked as she laid her shift. “Until tomorrow.”

He returned silently to Castle Jaden, doing his belt back up just in case Mikelle was present. His room was vacant save for Coal curled before the fire embers. He went to his washroom and seized Void to look at his white hair against his skin. The combination of white eyes, hair, brows and clothes made for an eerie image. He was going to scare people.

The ends of his hair moved slowly, caught up in the unseen wind of the spirit world, and he braced his hands on his sink to stare at his reflection.
‘You’ve got a lot to figure out.’

He first needed Maxine’s ring even if that cost led to the bedroom. He would have to accept it. Nightmarish images filled his vision, of Axa, the woman who wounded him without cutting skin. The rest who took what they wanted from him haunted him as well, all except Lace. He pinched the bridge of his nose and released Void, feeling his hair collapse back.