Page 117 of Prince of Shadow and Ash

The sorcerer scowled. “That’s quite enough.” He clenched his right hand into a fist. Regulus collapsed and screamed as his blood boiled within him, burning from the inside out.

“No, stop!” Adelaide cried over his screams.

The pain subsided. Regulus looked up, his vision swimming. The magical barrier vanished, and Adelaide knelt next to him. She put her arms around him.

“Please,” she said. “Stop. I’ll help you. Just don’t hurt him. I’ll do whatever you want; don’t hurt him.”

Regulus wanted to tell her not to make promises like that on his behalf, but he was having difficulty getting his mouth to work, still recovering from the sorcerer’s torture.

“Isn’t that touching.” The sorcerer smirked. “I’m impressed he’s won such loyalty, even after delivering you to me. Even after you know what he is.” Regulus winced.

“I’ll help you, and you’ll free him and let us go.” She spoke with confidence, but Regulus caught the slight tremor in her voice.

“Yes, yes.” The sorcerer turned toward the tower. “Follow me.”

Chapter 43

ADELAIDE TOOK REGULUS’gloved hand as she followed the sorcerer up the winding staircase to the top of the tower. Once there, the sorcerer indicated a table in the center of the room. Three gold rods laid end-to-end but not quite touching, topped with a half-foot-long oval formed of spiraling gold. A small mount was attached to the inside of the bottom of the oval, as if something was missing.

“I only need one piece to complete this staff,” the sorcerer said, moving to the opposite side of the table. “An opal. I’ve searched for decades and finally have found its location.” He glanced to Regulus. “Thanks to Hargreaves for bringing me three of the other four pieces. I spent years figuring out how to retrieve this one.” He tapped the top rod. “I didn’t even bother trying to find the rest until I secured it. Went through dozens of men before he walked into my trap.”

“Why couldn’t you get it?” she asked. Regulus squeezed her hand, quick and hard, as if warning her not to ask questions.

“Because the dolt mages who hid it hundreds of years ago put a spell on the cave it was hidden in.” Irritation rang in the sorcerer’s voice. “Only a good man with a selfless heart could find and retrieve the piece. When your man here traded his life to save others, I hoped I had finally found someone good enough to get it. I was right. Lucky for him.”

Regulus stiffened next to her. She looked up at the hard lines on his strained face. His eyes widened. This must be the first he had heard of the sorcerer’s reasons for doing what he did.

“They’ve done a similar rotten trick with the opal.” The sorcerer tapped the mount inside the top piece of the staff. “There’s a rock wall that acts like a door to where they hid the opal. But it can only be opened by,” he sneered, “uncorruptedmagic. By amage.” He practically spat the word. “I’ve read everything I can get my hands on and gone myself. There’s no other way in, and no way to trick the door. It won’t open for me.” He looked at her. “But it will open for you.”

“And if I can’t open it?”

“Do you actually need me to answer that?” He gestured toward Regulus. The muscles in Adelaide’s back tightened. She wouldn’t listen to Regulus scream like that again. The sorcerer pulled a map out of his robes and spread it over the table. “You have to go here.” He tapped the map, pointing at a spot high in the Pelandian Mountains, on the other side of the Tumen Forest where they currently were. Almost within Craigailte’s borders. “You’ll find a path up the mountain marked by cairns. At the top, the path will appear to dead-end at a wall of rock. That’s the door.”

“So, she opens the door,” Regulus said, “and we just...go inside?”

“There may or may not be a guardian of some kind. The sources are in conflict.”

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