Page 47 of To Kill a King
Aliya swallowed. It would be so easy for Elessan to draw his blade and slice Jalius’ throat and end this…but that would set the entire Mage Underground against her. Something she couldn’t afford—she had enough enemies already.
Elessan curled his upper lip as he stared at the gnome. “If you’re so good a mage, why don’t you teach her?”
The silence stretched as Aliya’s pulse thrashed past her ears.
Jalius’ shoulders fell and the grimace crumbled from his face. With a sigh, he turned to her. “Apologies, my queen. I should not judge you for lacking the training to force your magic to do something you so clearly don’t want to do.”
Something she was terrified to do, was more like it.
He stepped toward her and held out his unmarked hand. “Here. Let me show you.”
With a quick glance at Elessan, whose attention was still glued to the gnome, she put her hand in his.
“Good,” Jalius said. “Now, can you feel how my magic is sitting on the surface of my skin?”
She closed her eyes and focused on the spot where their hands touched. His magic vibrated at a different frequency than hers did, but it settled over him like cooking oil spilled over a puddle of water. “There’s hardly any there.”
“It doesn’t take much. Even the weakest mage can seal an Irrevocable Vow.”
She’d never used that small of an amount before. “If I use so little, it won’t accomplish anything.”
“You’re wrong.”
She opened her eyes to find him smiling at her.
“It will do what you tell it to, once you learn to trust it. To trust yourself.”
She bit back a snort as the image of a wildfire she’d triggered as a child burning across her father’s estate flashed through her mind. Yeah, right. Jalius had no idea what he was asking her.
“Try again, Your Majesty. This time, just a little, very slowly.”
It took her three more attempts before she succeeded in drawing the smallest filament to the surface. Her hand almost glowed.
He held his hand palm up and nodded for her to do the same. “Now, repeat after me: By the power of the magic flowing through my veins…”
“By the power of the magic flowing through my veins,” she echoed.
“I, Aliya Larimar Cerel, swear an irrevocable vow…”
“I, Alia Larimar Cerel, swear an irrevocable vow.” A thin string of gold light unfurled from her hand and swayed in the breeze.
“To kill Malkov Cerel and restore equality within the realm.”
She swallowed past her suddenly dry throat. “To kill Malkov Cerel and restore equality within the realm.”
“By the Summer Solstice.”
That was less than two months away.
The edges of Jalius’ mouth turned down when she didn’t immediately echo him.
She chewed the inside of her cheek. “By the Summer Solstice.”
A radiant smile burst across his face. “And I, Jalius Cogtinker, on behalf of the Mage Underground, swear an irrevocable vow to aid Queen Aliya Larimar Cerel in her quest to depose Malkov Cerel and bring freedom to the kingdom.”
A matching filament of blue arose from the gnome’s palm at his words. Their two magics intertwined and vanished with a bright flash.
She blinked and stared at her hand. The wound was sealed. A gold band set with an opalescent white stone the size of her pinky fingernail appeared on her right hand.
