The Garnet Wizard smiles. “I see you’ve learned to ask the right questions, Maven. You are from the Nether, are you not?”
“I am.”
“Do you have any idea of the confusing theories permeating the secular world about the Nether? It has long tormented me with its mystique. I want to know the truth about it.”
“Meaning, you want to know about the Entity.”
He snorts. “Not unless you deem it interesting information. No, no, I’d much rather know aboutyou, actually, and what you think you are. You strike me as one having a plan of her own, not to mention quite the story to share. Tell me everything simplyto satisfy my curiosity, and I promise you may have all the etherium you like.”
It seems too easy and too good to be true. What if he wants all this information to turn around and tell the Immortal Quintet and Legacy Council? Not that he seems fond of those groups, but still.
My suspicion must be evident because the wizard nods and stands, gripping his walking cane and gesturing that I should follow.
“Not one to be taken in easily, I see. I applaud your reluctance to trust, for it is the best mode of survival. Come, then. Let me show you something as a show of good faith.”
We leave the study through a set of double doors, and the Garnet Wizard chatters casually as we walk down a long cobblestone path toward a colossal wall of hedges with a gate in the center.
Blood blossom, Silas reaches out telepathically, just to me so Everett won’t hear.Tell me you’re still breathing. Now, please.
So bossy. I thought your paranoia was gone, I tease.
I will never feel sane in your absence, not to mention your very existence drives me mad with need.Where are you now?
We pause in front of the gate, and the Garnet Wizard mutters about his lousy back before giving me a look.
“You seem the action type. I warn you not to react rashly.”
“Noted.”
We’re just walking into a garden. No big deal,I report to Silas.
When the gate to the garden opens, I stare at the couple sitting together on a bench in front of an enchanted koi pond.
One of them is a vampire, judging by the trickle of blood dried on his chin as he rests his head against the woman’s shoulder. He’s handsome, with a shock of red hair and anabundance of freckles. He brings the woman’s hand to his lips to kiss the back of it.
When he looks over and makes eye contact with me, I don’t look away despite the disconcerting chill that washes over me. It reminds me of the feeling I get when I sense death nearby—or when I’m tapping into Amadeus’s abilities to see the future.
But my interest in the vampire and that feeling shifts quickly.
Because the woman is Engela Zuma.
She’s dressed in an old-fashioned-looking dress. When she sees me, she remains still, as if she doesn’t know who I am and what I’m meant to do to her.
What the fuck?
What is it? What’s wrong?Silas asks immediately.
Are you hurt?Everett demands.
Oops. I didn’t mean to send that through the bond.
I’m fine,I say quickly before blocking them out because all this telepathic communication gets distracting.
This wizard knows I’m thetelum, and therefore that I’m supposed to kill this immortal…yet he’s introducing us?
“A moment of your time, Engela?” he calls.
The earth elemental monster leaves the garden, stopping in front of me. Her neck has noticeable recent puncture marks. Whenever I ran into her at Everbound University, she gave off an odd, unsettling feeling—but it’s gone now. She seems more present somehow, more focused as she looks me over without hostility.
