Page 22 of Prince of Shadow and Ash

“Etiros spare me.” Adelaide rolled her eyes.

“What does it say?” Minerva asked.

Adelaide scowled at the letter, resisting the urge to ignite it in her hand. “I am a dark and lovely flower, and Sir Nolan Carrick wishes to know me more,” her upper lip curled in distaste, “intimately.”

Mother huffed and muttered something under her breath in Khast about daggers and pretentious boys’ faces. Minerva chided Mother while Adelaide laughed and tossed the letter and flower into the fireplace. Later that afternoon, another letter arrived, this one addressed to both Mother and Adelaide. Mother showed the wax seal, imprinted with a rose over crossed swords, to Minerva.

“Do you recognize this?”

Minerva frowned. “It’s vaguely familiar. I’m not sure.”

Adelaide snatched away the letter, opened it, and read it aloud—which she immediately regretted.

Dear Ladies Tamina and Adelaide Belanger,

I was honored to make your acquaintance. I wish to apologize for abandoning the festivities early and assure you I meant no disrespect. I hope our paths will cross again—preferably when other duties do not draw me away prematurely from the pleasure of your company.

Sincerely yours,

Lord Regulus Hargreaves of Arrano

Adelaide blushed when Mother frowned and said, “Who is Lord Hargreaves?” The letter was addressed to both of them, but it was obvious its message was for Adelaide. She wanted to respond, but Mother wouldn’t hear of it.

“It’s acceptable for him to apologize for an impolite exit,” Mother said. “But you are a lady and will not write a man letters unless he is formally courting you.”

That only made Adelaide more embarrassed. As if she could think about courting him after one conversation. But that night, as she thought about Regulus Hargreaves’ note and the look in his gray eyes as he talked about his favorite sound...she wondered what it would be like to court him.

Over the next days, Adelaide perfected the art of avoiding Lady Drummond and her tapestry. Gaius got ahead of her in checkers, but she had her revenge and regained the lead. Mother thought their rivalry had grown out of control and wasn’t very lady-like, and Lady Drummond agreed. Adelaide didn’t care. Gaius felt like the brother she had never had, and shedidhave two half-brothers. But neither of them had ever had much interest in her.

When it came time for Mother to leave, Adelaide couldn’t believe they had already been at the Drummonds for nearly three weeks. Minerva tried to talk her into staying longer, but Mother said she missed Father, and needed to get back so she could resume overseeing the household. As previously agreed, Adelaide would stay to support Minerva through the pregnancy.

The day after Mother left, the Drummonds and Adelaide received invitations to a dance to be hosted in a week’s time by Baron and Baroness Carrick. It would be quite the affair—supper, entertainment, dancing, and a grand breakfast for all attendees who stayed the night. Lady Drummond declared they would most certainly stay the night.

Adelaide didn’t share Lord and Lady Drummond’s enthusiasm over the invitation. Something about Nolan Carrick made her uncomfortable. Beyond his rude attitude toward Lord Hargreaves, even beyond his uninvited touches.Trust your woman’s intuition, Mother always said. Well, her intuition said not to trust Nolan Carrick. She put the invitation on her vanity and stared at it, wishing she could decline. But it would be unthinkable to refuse a higher-ranking noble’s invitation without the excuse of another engagement.

Hmmm.Adelaide smiled to herself.Which means Lord Hargreaves will likely be there.Her mood lightened. If she could talk to Lord Hargreaves, maybe get a chance to satisfy her curiosity and learn some of the truth about him... She could endure an evening with a smug, spoiled show-off like Nolan Carrick. She stared at the quill and ink pot on the back of the vanity. Her fingers twitched.Mother will never know.She smiled to herself as she penned a quick note.

She sealed the letter and set it aside. Her gaze moved to the stack of books she had borrowed from Lord Drummond’s library. Right now, she had more important things to occupy her thoughts than men. Mother had left. Adelaide had locked the door to her room. Her maid Giselle was out doing laundry and wouldn’t be back for a while. Adelaide sorted through the books.A History of Monparth, Part III. Saint Kardeman’s Bestiary and Herbal. The Life of King Saewyne the Magnificent.All interesting titles, but not what she wanted just now.

She pulled out a volume whose dark leather binding displayed cracks from getting dried out and leaned forward in her seat in front of the vanity. The pages crinkled as she opened it.Careful. Don’t break it!She ran her index finger over the title on the first page.A Compendium of Known Magical Abilities and Tales of Mages of Legend.No author was listed.

She could imagine Mother’s disapproving voice as she began reading.“You don’t want to make yourself a target.”Well, if simple farmers and even children weren’t spared, her level of knowledge wasn’t the issue. And if whatever dark force was behind The Shadow came after her, she would need more than knives to defend herself. She took a deep breath and turned the page to a list of subjects, broken down by category: light, fire, horticulture, healing, combat, bindings, and storing magic in objects.

“In the beginning, Etiros imbued all living things with magic.”Adelaide skimmed the preface. Generalities on magic being a pure form of energy that Etiros used to give life, but that an excess of this energy in a person resulted in a mage. It said magic could be“corrupted into sorcery by malicious intent or when used to take instead of give.”

It also gave a sobering warning; one her parents had never given.“Because magic is inextricably tied to a living thing’s life energy, use of magic wearies the mage. Over-exertion of magical ability can cause long periods of slumber, fainting, and on occasion, death.”Adelaide couldn’t imagine the desperation a mage would have to feel to push their abilities so far they killed themselves. She hurried on.

Each category in theCompendiumstarted with basic, boring abilities. Although, stories of mages forming a free-floating source of light, erecting a solid barrier, and maintaining a constant heat of flame in a furnace were interesting.

Mages supposedly could force plants to grow faster and fruit to ripen, and calm animals. She marveled at descriptions of mages healing broken bones, curing illnesses, and a rumor a mage had reattached a severed limb. Adelaide had figured out basic healing early, as receiving your first dagger at age five resulted in many cuts. If only theCompendiumexplainedhowto do all these things. She fanned through the pages.

An illustration caught her eye, and she flipped back. A man held a gigantic white sword that appeared to be emitting flames. She looked at the facing page and read under her breath.

“Substantive magic. Subset: Conjure weapons of light and flame.

“Mages can shape the light they produce to form a weapon which, while composed entirely of light and sometimes of flame, is none-the-less material...”

Adelaide looked up and stared at her reflection in the vanity mirror. “Form a weapon of solid light. I can do that?”

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