Page 14 of The Silent

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And he didn’t askformore.

ChapterThree

Kyra repeatedthe spell for the third time, and thekareshtain front of her echoed it. She felt a surge of raw power in the room. Intira—the youngkareshtashe met first—was present, as were three others. Bun Ma and Kanchana were repeating the words along with Intira, and the other sister was staring out the window. The woman, nearly forty according to Niran, had suffered much abuse at the hands of their father. Prija appeared to be in her late teens, but her eyes were farolder.

Niran had told her there might not be much hope for Prija. She rarely spoke and was prone to rages. But Kyra could feel the barely contained magic within Prija. If she was ever able to break out of her shell, she would be formidable. So Kyra encouraged the sisters to bring Prija to lessons even though most wereskeptical.

“Breathe in,” Kyra said softly. “And out. Now that you have the spell, try saying it in your mind.” Intira translated Kyra’s words. “Imagine a door at the end of a long hallway. The voices you hear are coming from the rooms off thehallway.”

It had been a challenge to convince Niran to cooperate. He was accustomed to keeping himself and his brothers away from their sisters. To purposely expose them to the soul voices of the Grigori at the temple took someconvincing.

“Keep backing away,” Kyra said. “Back and back until the voices aren’t all around you anymore. They’re only coming from the one open door at the end ofthehall.”

She forced herself to remain open and walk through the steps with her students, though much of this meditation was automatic for her. The voices of the Grigori outside were muted and far more gentle than she was accustomed to. Niran had still not shared their secret to self-control with Kyra, but she would not stop teaching his sisters even though Sirius was becomingimpatient.

She’d been in Thailand for nearly three weeks, and Sirius had been bearing the brunt of Kostas’sanger.

“All the voices are coming from the door now,” Kyra said. “So many voices. But you’re pushing them farther and farther away. They’re crowdedtogethernow.”

She heard Bun Ma suck in a sharpbreath.

“Repeat your mantra,” Kyra said. “Emetsam tarrea. Ya emetsam tarrea.Don’t worry about the longer spell. Focus onthisone.”

The breathing in the room evened outagain.

“See the door at the end of the hall. Reach out and close it. Hold it with your hand if you need to. Close the door and say, ‘Domem.’”

“Domem,” they saidtogether.

Still.

Still.

“Domem livah,” Kyra said, and her sisters repeated. “Domemlivah.”

“Domemmanah.”

“Domemmanah.”

Stillthemind.

Stillthesoul.

Still theheart.

Livahwas a word in the Old Language that encompassed all three. It was the center of oneself in a spiritual sense, asmanahwas the holistic body. Kyra was slowly learning much of the language that had shaped her thoughts, though she hadn’t understood it for most of her life. The Old Language was the angelic tongue. The voices of the soul in humanity. There were accents and variations, but beyond superficial differences, every human and angelic soul spoke the same language. It was universal. A spell spoken bykareshtaor Irina worked the same, though Irina were stingy with the knowledge of more powerfulmagic.

It was fine, Kyra told herself over and over. Shielding would allow her sisters to live. To exist as more thanshadows.

Finding true power was for others who would come after her, those who had more years left. Those like Intira andBunMa.

The magic in the room pressed close and settled in each woman like a warm flame. Kyra felt herlivahshining bright and whole in her mind’s eye. She opened her physical eyes and saw Prija staring at her. Her gold eyes flickered as if there were a fire burningbehindthem.

“Prija,” Kyra said calmly. “Domem.”

The fire flickeredbrighter.

“Domem,Prija.”