Page 44 of Great Falls Rogue
The small bell chimes its musical warning as we step into the grand central rotunda, where Arisha’s and Gavriel’s brown heads are already bent over a spread of drawings and theories while Shade’s wolf inspects all the corners of furniture. My heart lifts at seeing him again, at having two of my males close once more.
A large board holds drawings of the main creatures we’ve run into thus far: mutated semi-visible sclices, Yocklol trees, the Night Guard. Arisha is pinning Han’s picture to the board as we come in, the sheet dropping from nervous fingers at the sight of Coal.
Walking forward with a quick brow-rising glance at the enormous wolf scratching his shoulder on a table leg, Coal picks the drawing up off the floor and hands it to my friend. “You didn’t know I was coming here?” He frowns. “Actually, I’m not really sure where I am.”
“You’re in the library,” Arisha says helpfully.
Coal lifts a brow. “That explains the books.”
“You are at a meeting of the Protector’s Guild.” Finally recovering herself, Arisha takes the sheet from him. “And yes, I knew you were coming. But knowing and seeing are two different things.” Pushing up her glasses, she looks over at me with a small frown. “How are we going to do this?”
I lean down to rub Shade’s gray fur, the wolf licking my face in greeting. “With introductions.” Standing, I square my shoulders and turn to a dazed-looking Coal, who still can’t seem to look away from Shade, perhaps recognizing him as the wolf who attacked him a month ago in Sage’s office. “Welcome to the Protector’s Guild, where we try to keep the mortal world safe from the dark forces eager to take advantage of the crumpling wards keeping magic at bay. You will work out the details as we go along, I’m sure. Meanwhile, I’ve been out of action for a few days. Where does that leave us, Gavriel?”
The librarian smiles at me, his brown eyes betraying only a hint of worry. “Basic patrol pattern tonight. Get your bearings back as you check on the remaining Yocklols and see if you can mark any signs of the Night Guard making themselves comfortable. I’ve your fighting leathers here.”
Coal’s eyes widen almost comically as I start pulling out weapons and my leather jerkin, the familiar feel of my tools already waking my senses. I’m ready to go back into the woods, to reach into the cords of magic that are waking, slowly but surely. Shade’s healing mended my flesh the day the Night Guard attacked, and the connection with Coal’s strange power has made itself clear as well. With Tye’s fire magic escaping its shackles for a moment during the fight with Han, the pattern is too plain to ignore.
The wards are crumbling. But as my adversaries get stronger, so do I.
“Please tell me you are jesting, Osprey,” says Coal, his voice echoing over the whisper of papers shuffling and tightening of leather stays. He twists to Gavriel when I fail to answer. “In that case, tell me you have more gear in there.”
I feel a corner of my mouth lift as I sheath my sword down the length of my spine. “The Great Falls area is the zero point for the wards’ weakness. Once your arm heals, there will be plenty to do. For tonight, it will be Ruffle and me.” Shade yips softly and presses against my side, eyeing Coal warily.
Coal runs his good hand over his face, his head shaking. “Don’t ever let River learn of this, Osprey,” he mutters before turning to Gavriel. “Should I be taking notes?”
Part III: Hide and Seek
Prologue
Iyankagainst the shackles, a searing pain shooting along my arm, lighting every nerve from fingertip to shoulder. I scream, shoving back against the assault. I can’t see my prison guards, but I can smell them—rotten breath and the stench of old sweat.
A whip cracks, and my shoulder explodes in agony. Beyond it, the smell of a heating iron is already drifting from the brazier, mixing with the scent of singed cotton and—
“Lera!” Arisha’s voice pierces the nightmare haze a moment before a bucket of cold water drenches my head and shoulders.
I curse, sitting up in bed, the equally wet wolf beside me growling his displeasure. I wipe the water from my face and massage my left arm, the phantom pain still lingering in the bone. “Next time, go douse Coal. It’s his bloody broken arm that’s setting off the latest nighttime pleasantries.”
Arisha fumbles for her glasses, her blue eyes round and owllike in the moonlit room. “Does Coal have fire magic?”
“No.” I start stripping the bed of wet linen, muttering beneath my breath. Arisha didnotneed to go this far just to wake me up. She knows I’m barely sleeping now, with Coal’s nightmares—amplified by his frustration with the limitations of having a broken bone—reaching a fever pitch.
The girl’s hand closes over my upper arm, forcing my sleepy attention to her. “Then you really can’t blame him for setting your pillow on fire now, can you?”
Following the direction of her finger, I find a fingernail-sized charcoal mark on the corner of my pillowcase and feel my heart stutter.
The wards are crumbling faster than I imagined. And sometime soon, they will break altogether.
1
Lera
“I’m unclear on what you think I can do about this, Coal. Both bones are broken, one of them in two places.” Dressed in dark gray pants and a thin gray cashmere sweater that hugs his muscled chest, Shade runs probing fingers along Coal’s forearm, then flicks an uncomfortable golden glance in my direction.
Our gazes meet for but a moment, but it’s enough to send a wave of heat through me. With the week of Ostera’s liberty coming to an end, Shade has returned to the Academy to resume his responsibilities—and the predatory gleam in his eyes has returned with him. The male is still hunting for his mate, and I think his wolf knows it’s me.
Shade himself, however, does not.
“Leralynn…” Shade sighs, which makes his beautifully angled face even more devastating. “I am also not quite clear as to your presence in my treatment room. Lieutenant Coal hardly requires a chaperone.”
