Page 3 of Shardless

“Hurry,” Breena mumbled, silently reprimanding herself. She didn’t have time to dawdle. There was too much at stake.

The glass from the windows had already shattered, and it crunched beneath Breena’s boots as she made her way over to the stairs. Thankfully, the original dousing spells Esmund had set when they first moved in were still intact on the upper level, effectively blocking the heat of the fires outside. Cori slept peacefully, unaware of the encroaching danger.

“Baby, wake up.” Breena gently shook the slumbering girl.

Cori struggled to open her eyes, blearily gazing into the distraught face of her mother.

Breena said nothing as she picked up the child, and Cori’s slight arms instinctually wrapped around her mother’s neck. Balancing her daughter in one arm, Breena moved across the room to collect the small chest of enchanting suppliessitting on the desk. When her eyes flitted to the window, she could see a line of robed figures standing just outside the edge of the cottage property.

Her throat tightened. It had finally happened. The Sanctorum had finally found them.

An angry violet light saturated the air around the line of mages as they methodically dismantled the glamours and aether concealment spells she and Esmund had spent weeks cloaking beneath the stones of the garden wall.

Beyond the vanguard, the village was ablaze, and pillars of smoke blackened the night sky.

Muttering a silent prayer and wishing that she still believed in the Shards’ mercy, Breena rushed down the stairs and followed her brother into the cellar.

“They’re already outside,” she snapped as she placed Cori on the mattress of a small bed stuffed into the corner of the dank room. She haphazardly dumped out her enchanting supplies, spreading them across a quilt that had long ago turned yellow with age.

“Something doesn’t seem right.” Esmund paused to pull out another glowing water crystal before continuing to cast a line of protective spells across the back wall. “I could see fires off in the distance. I think they may have hit Plum and Bago too.”

Breena’s mouth went dry. “You think they’re burning the entire western coast just to find one little girl?”

“I don’t know,” Esmund admitted. “It doesn’t make sense. None of this makes any sense. Even if they did discover us, to come into the Marquess Castaro’s territory and start burning hisvillages… it’s madness.”

Breena forced herself to breathe as she began organizing her supplies. “We can figure that out later. What are our optionsright now?”

Esmund hesitated, still preoccupied with the various enchantments that now shrouded the room. The walls, the floor, the ceiling—every surface was awash with water magic. “If they’ve already made it as far north as Bago, that means the roads to Ryme won’t be safe. Our best option is to defend ourselves here.”

Right then.

Brandishing her dagger, Breena sliced open her palm and filled the small inkpot with a flood of fresh blood. Her heart pounded in her ears, her hands shook—but she paid her rising dread no mind. The stakes were too high to give in to panic.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she set to work, placing the shadow crystals she had charged earlier in a circle around the trembling fey child and sending out small wisps of her magic to each one.

The air started to feel richer as the crystals released their stored aether, and Breena breathed it in. Her shoulders straightened, and any lingering traces of fatigue melted away as she felt the aether saturate her blood. Grabbing Cori’s arm, Breena waved her hand, methodically extracting the aether from the water glamour Esmund had cast to conceal the underlying web of spells. Braided lines of runes surfaced on the girl’s pale skin, flickering to life and spiraling out from a crescent-shaped shadow crystal that had been embedded in the base of her palm.

The little girl had been uncharacteristically quiet, and she looked up at the older woman, fearclouding her expression. “Mommy, I don’t understand.”

Breena cupped her daughter’s cheek with her undamaged hand. “I know, baby. I know. But I need you to be very brave right now. Can you do that for Mommy?”

Cori nodded resolutely even as the tears overflowed and spilled down her reddened cheeks.

“Good girl. Now I need you to drink.” Breena held up her bleeding palm. When her daughter hesitated, she added, “Please. I know you don’t like it, but we don’t have time to argue right now. This is important.”

Cori nodded and took a tentative sip from the pool of blood welling around the cut, her face scrunching up at the taste.

Esmund paused, turning to face them. “What are you doing?”

“I need to seal away her magic—completely this time. She’s too vulnerable like this.”

Confusion clouded his eyes. Followed by stark realization. “That’s forbidden magic. And outside your specialization. How would you even know that spell?”

“You made your preparations,” Breena said, “and I made mine.”

Esmund stopped completely. “That spell requires a full contingent of mages. Where are you going to get the aether?”

Breena didn’t look up. “I’ve been charging crystals,” she said as she began to pen new runes across Cori’s skin.

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