Page 7 of Awakened Ash and Alchemy

She shouldn’t have seen him, but she had. Flinching at him when he’d raised his hand to apply the magick.

No one had ever resisted.

Mortals forgot. That was the law written from bone, blood, and history that made up the Accords.

Yet, his power hadn’t worked on her.

Martar was waiting near the archway, arms crossed, posture loose in a way that fooled no one of the lethal warrior he was. “So, how many?”

“Three,” Zarek replied. “Thanks for the help, by the way.”

“I couldn’t track you. Somehow you dropped off our radar. You know I would have been there to help.”

Which was true. They’d been patrolling together only moments before.

“Where did you go?” Martar asked.

“Other side of the city.” Zarek resumed walking towards his chambers.

“How?”

Zarek tossed his coat over his shoulder. “I heard her.”

Martar frowned. “Heard what?”

“The scream.” More like he’d felt that scream stab into his chest then wrap its icy fingers around his heart and squeeze.

Martar grabbed Zarek’s shoulder, thick with leather plates and etched staves designed not to burn anyone who touched the Captain. “We were patrolling over forty miles out.”

“I know.” Zarek resumed walking.

Martar fell into step beside him. “And?”

“She saw them,” Zarek murmured.

“Saw what?”

“When I got there, this woman was being strangled by a Black Cloak. I hit it with the blade. And then I…”

“Did the mind wipe.”

But did he?

Zarek’s voice dropped to barely a whisper. In this place, the walls had ears. “Two more appeared behind me. I didn’t sense them. But she did.”

“That’s not possible,” Martar said carefully.

“I know. All she did was flinch, as if she were smelling something wrong, and that was before they’d even fully formed.” And how she’d warned him, too.

Martar’s eyes narrowed. “She smelled them?”

“Yes.” In his world, they sensed the Black Cloaks by their power, but smell was never part of the process.

“She also saw you—” Martar added.

Zarek’s jaw tightened.

“—and did not break?” Martar finished.