“He was out in the streets, tryin’t find customers for his ma. So whatcha goin’t do about all this? Huh?” She waved her thin arms, flesh sagging from her bones to encapsulate all that was left of the lower district.
I sighed, pushing to a stand and gesturing to Talamh. I wanted the boy to come with us to the Academy, where I could treat him.
The hulking Earth Mage moved without a word, his eyes silently assessing, as if seeing me for the first time. He bent and whispered something to the boy, but, like me, received no response. With a grunt, he lifted the small boy into his arms and turned back, eyebrows raised.
“There are clinics set up in the Academy for those of you who are injured,” I explained, raising my voice for those in the vicinity to hear. Hopefully, word would spread farther than just this portion of Vespera, and those who needed it would seek help. “We also opened the mess hall. There’s food and water. Everyone is welcome.”
The woman scoffed loudly, a few hopeful expressions turning to glares at her outburst.
“Thatkingwon’t let us anywhere near ’is precious Academy,” she spat, but I was already shaking my head before she stopped speaking.
“King d’Refan is dead.” Gasps and whispers broke out with my proclamation. “General d’Alvey is in control of Vespera now.”
The whispers exploded in cadence and strength, but I had neither the time nor the energy to address each and every one. Hopefully, Rohak would be in agreement with my spur-of-the-moment plan and would forgive me for announcing his rule. His people needed help, needed hope.
I placed my hand gently on Talamh’s arm and gestured for him to lead the way back to the courtyard.
I’d seen enough, heard enough. I needed to do something useful now, something with my hands that would give back to the people my decisions had inadvertently taken so much from.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rohak
The book was heavy beneath my arm, pressed tightly to my side as if I expected someone to lunge from the shadowy corridors at any point and rip it from my clutches. The thought was nearly laughable. Mages, Vessels, and unAwakened cadets flitted from one task to the next, eyes glassy and framed by dark circles as they worked to heal what was broken.
No one was concerned about their General holding a book.
If they knew what it was—what it contained—then perhaps it would be a different situation.
My boots clicked against the obsidian stone that comprised the entire Academy. From my advisor’s accounts, I’d assumed the Academy would be in complete disarray still, the courtyard sporting marred stones and bloated corpses.
The reality was completely different than my imagination, however. Perhaps Sol had overexaggerated the extent of the devastation, or perhaps the cleanup efforts were finally making significant progress. Either way, I was grateful that Faylinn had, hopefully, seen the extent of the damage throughout the rest of Vespera.
The Bond pulsed angrily in my chest, sending shockwaves through my body that nearly brought me to my knees, as I thought about my Rune Master.
She’d been given strict instructions to return to the manor before dark, after she had explored the remainder of the city. By all estimations, her trip should have taken three hours, four at most if the destruction was worse than anticipated.
Yet it was nearly seven hours later, and night had fallen completely. Swathesof the deepest purple blanketed the Academy, plunging Vespera into darkness. Unbidden and nearly without thought, my feet had carried me out of the study in the manor and through the secret tunnel beneath the city to the Academy in search of Faylinn.
My heartthumpedpainfully in my chest at the memories that resurfaced from the last night that I remembered, the last night I saw my best friend alive. I shook my head, carding my free hand through my hair as I ascended the final staircase onto the main floor of the Academy.
Where I expected empty halls and quiet, I found bright lights spilling onto dark floors from the open mess hall doors. Laughter and loud conversation echoed through the cavernous entryway as I stuttered to a stop, shocked but not displeased by the sight that greeted me.
Men, women, and children from all of Vespera’s districts graced the Academy’s halls; women that I knew worked in some of the roughest brothels having lively conversations with seamstresses from the upper districts. Tavern owners and barflies telling stories to some of my more hardened Mages, smiles spreading across sallow faces. Despite the jubilance, there was still the undercurrent of despair, knowledge of Elyria’s new reality hanging heavy in the air.
“General,” a low voice grunted, surprising me. I shook my head and shot a glance to my right, where Talamh stood close to my elbow.
“Talamh,” I greeted in return, eyes flying back to the flickering lights flooding from the mess hall. “What is?—”
“Your Bonded opened it for everyone,” he said with a chin tilt toward a cracked classroom door, the rune for “healing” hastily inscribed for all to see. “Saw what happened to the lower districts and their people and decided that what we had needed to be shared.”
My eyebrows rose on my forehead, though I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Isn’t that who Faylinn hasalwaysbeen at her core? Everything she has ever shown has been kindness and compassion.
I grunted in response, too overwhelmed by sudden emotion to properly articulate the gratitude I felt for my Bonded.
“She’s rather special,” Talamh intoned again, arms crossed and face stony despite his tender words.
