Page 45 of Staff of Nightfall

ADELAIDE MOVED HERheavy head and moaned. Her heartbeat pulsed behind her eyes. She fought to force her heavy eyelids open. Walls surrounded her, windowless but with long cracks between the boards that allowed narrow strips of sunlight into the shadowy room. The warm air smelled of mildew.

Ropes—real ones, not magic ones—wrapped around her, binding her arms over her torso and digging into her skin. Her arms were crossed in an X at her wrists, with her palms against her shoulders. She attempted to move her hands but could barely rotate them. More ropes tied her ankles together. Straw poked into her arms. Her knives and daggers were gone.

The small dark room was empty, save for a thick layer of dust, old straw scattered over the floor, and a three-legged stool in one corner. Perhaps it had been a shed in the distant past. Adelaide shimmied into a sitting position. A door to her right opened, spilling blinding sunlight around Kirven’s outline.

“Good, you’re awake.” Kirven hurried inside, letting the door rattle closed. He set the staff in the corner, moved the stool closer, and sat down. “Now. Adelaide, isn’t it?”

She glared. She needed to break free of these ropes, and soon. But she used her hands to perform magic, and with them tied in place, she was at a loss.

“I haven’t been truly surprised in a long time, Adelaide.” Kirven leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He threw his hood back, and his eyes caught her off-guard. The whites were bloodshot around coal-black irises rimmed with a thin line of green. “I wasn’t expecting to see you—much less with your magic back. Now, I usually kill people when I steal their magic, so the thought that it might return had occurred to me. However, I never would have guessed it would return so quickly, or so strong. Most interesting. Tell me, how did you speed the process?”

She clenched her jaw and glanced toward the Staff. Her head still ached, but at least the pounding behind her eyes had lessened.

“Look, mage.” Kirven’s tone turned sharp and impatient. “This can be quick and painless, or long and painful. How did you get your magic back so quickly?”

Adelaide glowered up at him, mouth set in a hard line.

He tugged on his beard. “I drained you of your magic.Allof it, save the drop that kept you alive. If I had pushed a little further, I would have taken your life. But I promised I wouldn’t kill you, and if I don’t keep my word all the time, what good are my threats?” He grabbed her chin with cold fingers. “So believe me when I say, if you don’t tell me exactly how you got your magic back in such a short span without the aid of sorcery, you will experience pain beyond what you can comprehend.”

She stiffened. “You didn’t kill me. My magic came back gradually. That’s what happens when you let someone live.” Kirven shook his head.

“I know you’re lying. I could barely light a candle for three days after the amount of power it took to re-forge the Staff of Nightfall. That wasn’t even a complete draining of my ability—thanks to the extra power from you. You’re going to tell me how to speed that process up.” His fingers dug into her jaw. “I do it by stealing energy from living things. It took an entire grove of trees and two hapless satyrs to get me back to full strength this time. But I know that’s not what you did. Tell me.”

“I can’t help you.”

The sorcerer’s hand warmed. Pain moved through her jaw like a screw forced into her bones. Adelaide screamed as the pain spread. Down her spine, along her bound arms, through her legs. Every bone in her body felt like it would crack at any moment. She just wanted it to stop. Her own screaming rang in her ears and tears blinded her.

The pain vanished. Her chest pushed against her bound arms as she gasped for air. Her throat ached.

Kirven rubbed one ear with his forefinger. “Women’s screams are so painful on the ears. Now. The truth.”

She shook, staring at the moldy straw on the dirt floor as tears blurred her vision. She wouldn’t help him. If she could just do some magic...

“Stubborn.” He sighed and placed his hand on top of her head.

A shield!She squeezed her eyes shut and focused on creating a shield over her body. Her hands fisted. Kirven hissed and jerked his hand back. She opened her eyes to a pale blue shimmer over her skin, but maintaining it felt like trying to hold water in her hands.

“Clever girl.” Kirven fetched the Staff and touched the end to her head.

Pressure built along her head until her grasp on the barrier shattered. Pain cracked through her skull and crushed her spine. She thrashed away with a scream as tears streamed down her face. He sat back down and lifted an eyebrow.

“Ready to talk?”

Adelaide trembled. Maybe it wouldn’t help him. At the tree, the fairies had said Kirven didn’t want to face them, that’s why he sent Regulus for the root. And she’d had to pass a test—a test Kirven would fail. Besides, she didn’t want any more pain.

“I visited the neumenet tree in Holgren Forest. There were fairies. They tried to trick me into stealing the tree’s powers. I refused. Then the tree just...gave me back my magic.”

“Was it coming back on its own before that?”

She licked her dry, salty lips. “Only a little. I tried to heal Regulus and passed out and then couldn’t do anything.”

“Mm. Disappointing.” Kirven sighed dramatically. “Technically, I guess you were telling me the truth when you said you couldn’t help me. So,” he sounded displeased, “I suppose I owe you an apology for the torture. Still, you weren’t being forthcoming, so that’s on you.”

On me!At last she stopped shaking. Her tears dried in dirty lines on her cheeks. If she hadn’t already believed Kirven would make a terrible king, she was certain of it now.

“Speaking of His Saintliness, where is Hargreaves?”

No. She couldn’t betray him.

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