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Damn. He called me goddess. Now I really had to perform. Too bad my magic wasn’t cooperating. It was there, for I felt the burning in my fingers. It felt stuck, like my fingertips were capped with Tau stones.
Hold my hand, I projected to Helian. It helps my magic.
He took my hand. Of course.
As I stared into his sparkling eyes and saw the love reflecting back at me, those caps suddenly melted away. I released Helian’s hands and ran down the hill, magic falling from my fingertips. I looked over my shoulder, pleased when vines sprouted in my wake. I raced up and down the hill, my magic pollenating the ground. By the time I was finished, I’d grown a huge moonlight garden packed with all kinds of vegetables and grains. I even grew a few fruit trees, one just for the wyverns, who swooped down to steal the giant fruits off the branches.
Excited townspeople had come out of their homes to harvest the food while I sat with my family on the top of the knoll, facing the distant beach. The lulling sound of the waves washing up on the shore soothed my frazzled nerves while I sucked on a peach. I rested my head on Ash’s shoulder, sighing when he wrapped an arm around me, letting me lean against him for support.
A green shiny object caught my eye, and blood turned to ice in my veins when I recognized the bottle and familiar label affixed to the outside: Anya’s Elixirs. Great goddesses! Thorin had been here!
I jumped to my feet and snatched it from the grass, swearing when I noticed the bottle was fairly clean with a few drops of elixir still inside.
Ash slowly stood, his eyes focused on the bottle in my hand. “Tari, what is it?”
I pointed to my personalized label on it. “Thorin has been here.”
Helian shot to his feet, unsheathing his sword.
Shiri’s mates jumped into the air, lighting up the night with twin balls of flame.
“Where do you think he is?” Drae called down to me.
I frowned, examining the bottle. “I have no idea.”
“Have you seen an old mage here?” Helian asked Torund.
The cyclops shared a confused look with the others. Something about the glossy sheen to his eye told me the mind spinner had used his magic on him.
He scratched the back of his head. “I-I don’t know.”
My mates cursed.
“Stay on your guard,” I said to the others. “The mind spinner could still be here.”
“What does he look like?” Drae asked.
“Like his brother Selig,” I answered. “Old with a long gray beard. He carries a staff and usually wears gray robes.” I paused, a shudder rolling through me when I remembered his frequently stale breath and glossy eyes. “He’s also very fond of brew, so hopefully he’ll be too drunk to fight.”
The cyclops gave me a funny look. “I remember him now. He stayed at the inn. He had quite a bit of coin, for he bought many things from the tradesmen.”
I shook my head, cringing when I remembered the many times he would use his magic to get free food or new robes and blades, despite my objections. He would usually spin my mind, too, when I complained too much. “Thorin rarely paid for anything.” Though he did use my hard-earned coin to lavish on his whores. “He used his mind-spinning to convince tradesmen they’d already been paid.”
Torund and his friends broke into a cacophony of curses.
“Many of our tills have been short this week,” Torund grumbled.
“Then we start with the inn and then the tradesmen.” Ash punched his palm with a clawed fist. “Let’s see if we can smoke this rat out of his hole.”
“If you come across this mage, do not question him.” Helian’s dark look swept across the crowd. “And if you value your life, do not hesitate to kill him.”
Shiri
TRUE TO HIS WORD, TORUND had found us rooms at an inn. Our room was well appointed for an inn. Sure, it wasn’t as grand as our suite of rooms in Delfi, but it was a far cry better than the loft bed I’d been used to back at my parents’ cabin. Even better, though, I got to take a real bath in a barrel tub big enough for two, its soapy bubbles nearly spilling over the sides. I’d grown spoiled after living just a few weeks with my mates at Abyssus and then in Malvolia’s castle.
Letting out a satisfied groan, I laid my head back while going boneless as the soothing heat soaked into my skin. The goblet of wine I’d drunk also helped liquefy my bones, though it also made the room tilt and my veins tingle. It was a pleasant feeling, nonetheless, and I should’ve been content. Never mind the fact that a demon mind spinner was on the loose, the dragons were scattered all across the coast, King Fachnan was a zombie, and I missed Ember, Aurora, and Nikkos terribly—so, so terribly. I had held it in for three days while my sister cried for her children, even though I’d raised them since birth. I was only their aunt, and the aunts in our family didn’t have a reputation of being kind and caring. I shouldn’t have missed them so much, but I did. My heart felt like a bruised and battered shell of an organ, yet I had to be the strong one. I had to persevere while mourning the girls I thought of as my own children in silence.
But now that I was alone, I let the tears fall, streaming down my face and disappearing into the tub while I wondered what they were doing and if they were safe. I laid in the tub a long time, the tears continuing to fall even as the water turned lukewarm. I gave a start at a gentle tap on the door. I washed my eyes with a cloth when Drae slipped inside our bedchamber.
