Page 104 of The Eye of the Fifth
He replied blankly, ‘I expect you’ll find out soon enough.’ As he moved closer, Kyra gripped her dagger tighter. Noticing the movement, the Fire Warden arched a dark eyebrow. ‘That won’t do much against a projection.’
‘You never know,’ she countered. ‘This isn’t a normal projection. Perhaps it can be harmed by the physical.’
A pause. Then- ‘Why don’t you test that theory, Earth Warden?’
It was said mildly, as if he were genuinely interested in the outcome. But in his eyes of night, Kyra saw a challenge dancing like flames.
She rose to it without hesitation, and slashed her wrist upward.
When the dagger simply moved through him instead ofintohim, as though he were nothing more than air, Kyra muttered, ‘What a shame. It would have been good to know we had one less enemy in the world to contend with.’
His gaze pierced her face. He said slowly, ‘I am not your enemy, Kyra.’
Kyra desperately ignored the sudden fluttering of her pulse. ‘Then leave me the fuckalone.’
He took a small step back, inclined his head in a formal, gentlemanly fashion, then vanished into the darkness.
It was only then that the sun beneath Kyra’s skin finally dimmed.
???
At some point, after almost two weeks at sea, Kyra’s stomach finally resigned itself to the rocking motion of the ship. No longer plagued by nausea all hours of the day, life on board theThilenebecame significantly more bearable.
Even if every single islet of Loros she and Naal scoured for the lost Water Warden ended up being a dead end. Naal had told her that magic, especially Warden magic, left traces. And as two Wardens themselves, Naal assured her, Kano’s power (if he was even using it) should be apparent.
That’s if they were on the right fucking track in the first place.
Naal had given her multiple gentle yet nudging reminders that the one person whocouldhelp them was Kawai. That, if they had his allegiance and trust, finding the Water Warden would be a lot easier.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. He was still the flirtatious, winking fool he’d been when they’d first met, yet every time Kyra attempted to strike up an actual conversation with him, he conveniently found somewhere else to be. Something else to do. He had become an expert in avoiding her.
As though he knew exactly who it was they were looking for.
It wasn’t just her magic practice that kept her on deck one starry night, which, for some unfathomable reason, she had actually begun to master. She was creating wards, levitating objects, mastering combat-force spells as if she’d been doing it her whole life. It was like a code she’d cracked, a riddle she’d finally solved.
It was the wrong fucking riddle though. She was the Earth Warden. What good was normal, mortal magic to her? What good would a few combat spells be, in the face of Zarynth’s armies?
Thankfully, through the Goddess’ mercy perhaps, she hadn’t accidentally projected to the Fire Warden again. Nor had he projected to her. However, she wasn’t entirely convinced that meant she had control of it, and found herself anxious that her spirit would soar to him each time she practised with Naal. Perhaps the fear of it happening againwas halting her progress…
Kyra shoved the thought far away.
Sat with her back against the mast, she listened to the ever-changing conversations of Kawai, Jak and Boony as they sat around an upturned barrel drinking ale out of tankards as big as her head. She could have sworn she felt his attention on her more than once, but kept rooted to the spot, waiting for him to be curious enough (and perhaps drunk enough) to come to her.
They were laughing, Kawai the loudest, exchanging their favourite past raids gone wrong. Kyra heard every bit of it, her pointed fae ears picking up every word: A cursed ring that made Boony’s fingers swell thrice the size, Jak being bitten by a poisonous pet snake protecting its owners golden goods, and an older seductress who found Kawai rifling through her jewels and said he could take whatever he wanted if he ended her two year dry spell…
‘And did you?’ Boony demanded.
There was a pause. The smug grin in his voice was unmistakable as Kawai replied, ‘What do you think?’
The other two cackled along with a clink of tankards and quiet followed as they all took a swig.
‘Hang on… how old are we talking?’ Boony asked.
‘Well, she was fae. Hard to tell. They don’t age like us, do they?’
‘Whoa,’ Jak said, his voice dripping with awe. ‘I’ve never been with a fae. I reckon it’d be wild.’
Kawai snorted. ‘You’d be eaten alive, Jak. Once you’ve figured out what to do and where to put it, then, andonly then, should you consider bedding a fae.’
