21
‘Oh,’ Ezer said, as she approached. He was sitting on the bench beside the door to the catacombs, his legs sprawled before him, his white cane balanced on his lap. ‘You’re back.’
He wore his white and gold Eagleminder’s cloak, but today his shirt wasn’t unbuttoned as normal. In fact, his cloak was freshly runed, glowing with what looked like little flames. Runes to warm him, perhaps, though the godstongue was still foreign to her. He wore white gloves, and she could still see the gold chain with the vial around his throat.
‘Oh?’ Kinlear asked, as she came to a stop in front of him. ‘That’s all you can say after a millennium apart?’
‘It was hardly that long. And forgive my disappointment,’ Ezer said and placed her hands on her hips, ‘after receiving your handwritten threats. And I amnoteasily appeased by gifts.’
‘Then I suppose I’ll take the books back.’
She gasped. ‘You wouldn’tdare.’
He chuckled at that. She was surprised at how light his laughter was, despite the dark circles beneath his eyes.
‘I find the best threats are handwritten ones, Raphonminder. And if I recall … you sent me a threat back.’
He raised a dark brow. ‘Did you miss me, Ezer?’
‘Like a knife to my brain,’ she said. ‘And in case you’re wondering, I’ve haltered the raphon.Thattask is done, so you can hold off on whatever hellish punishment you had in mind for me. We won’t be needing it today.’
‘A shame,’ he said, feigning disappointment with a deep sigh. ‘It would have been … quite artistic, the way it would have made you bleed.’
‘There was never a punishment to begin with, was there?’
He shrugged. ‘I guess we’ll never know.’
And for the next several moments, they just stared at each other, as if sizing one another up.
‘I hear the magic and combat lessons are going … well,’ Kinlear said. ‘Despite the instructor’s shortcomings.’
Ezer glowered at him. ‘You’re wasting his time and mine, sending me there.’
‘I didn’t realize magic is a waste, Raphonminder.’
She crossed her arms. ‘Magic isn’t. Trying to pull it out ofme,when it requires the blessing of the gods … that most certainly is.’
‘And why would you think that?’ he asked.
‘Because the gods have turned a blind eye to me,’ Ezer said. ‘I told you before, and I’m more than happy to tell you again.’
He glanced over his shoulder, holding back a smile as he looked at the black door. ‘You think the gods will answer with words or wielding. Whatever it is, to show theiryes.But that is not always the case. Sometimes … they sayno.’ He sighed, looking at his injured leg. Then he looked pointedly back up at her. ‘And sometimes their answer might be a raphon.’
He grunted as he stood, like it truly pained him.
‘My mother is traveling to the Citadel as we speak,’ Kinlear announced. ‘My father’s magic requires much of him. Too much, in his later years, at least for a Sacred. While she’s here …’ His eyes met hers, and for a second, she could have sworn there was a shift inthem. Not quite fear. But something close. ‘She and my father wish to meet you and see a Demonstration. with Six.’
Ezer’s stomach dropped to her toes. ‘What kind of demonstration?’
Kinlear waved a gloved hand. ‘We have several days until her arrival. And if what you’ve said is true, then you’ll have no problem saddling the pup today … and getting her ready for a rider by tomorrow.’
‘What?’she yelped.
‘No time to waste, Raphonminder!’ he said, and opened the black door for her. ‘We’ve got a King and Queen’s blessing to earn, and after that – an Acolyte to kill!’
She glowered at him.
He was mad if he thought Six would be ready for a rider.
