Except, of course, for the knowledge that had been hidden from her. A wave of resentment trickled through her, souring the fond memory, but the feeling was lost when Ty opened the sack that contained the books he’d gotten from Petyr, and her eyes landed on a book she recognized.
It was a large book with a dark-green leather cover, and it looked old, just like the other copy she’d seen a few months ago. She picked it up, placing it on the table and flipping to the title page, where her suspicions were confirmed.
The Evolution of Magic, it read. The same book Heran had showed her after she received her Gift.
“I don’t believe it,” Ena mused in awe. “This is the same book Heran showed me months ago, explaining how witch and daemon magic come from the same source. I’d never seen it before then, because she’d hidden it. I can’t believe Petyr had a copy of it too. I wonder where he got it from.”
“I don’t know how he got these particular books, but Petyr was…industrious,” Ty said with a melancholy smile. “He was known to procure books that fascinated him through whatever means necessary.”
“No wonder you two got along,” Ena said wryly.
“Yeah, we really did,” he said, a regretful tone in his voice.
Ena didn’t know what to do. Should she encourage him to talk more about their relationship? Maybe it would help Ty to open up about it. But then again, prying too much could cause him to shut down. He clearly didn’t like to talk about Petyr, and forgood reason—he had been unintentionally responsible for his death.
This was new territory for her, but she decided to let her natural curiosity guide her.
“How did you two meet?” she asked gently.
Ty sighed, and she thought at first that maybe he wouldn’t answer, but then he did.
“At the guesthouse in Ternan. I was there trading, and using myfurorin small amounts, as was my mission, when he joined in on a card game I was involved in. We got to talking about our common interests. He was well-read on many topics, but knew a lot about metallurgy specifically, so he offered to show me his private collection back at his shop, and it was there he told me about his theory about the amulet. One he’d developed after reading these journals,” he said, gesturing to the other, smaller books in the sack.
Ena was quiet for a second, letting his story sink in. “It’s not your fault, you know,” she said gently. “You didn’t start that fire. You didn’t intend for him to die.”
Ty’s eyes lifted to hers. They were filled with guilt and regret. “I may not have started it, but I was the ultimate cause. It was my fault, and I’ve accepted that. But…it’s also part of what drives me. To do all this,” he said, gesturing at the books. “To change things so I’m never forced to do something like that again. So I have a choice.”
Ena reached out and touched him gently on the shoulder. They were close enough, part of her wanted to hug and kiss him—comfort him. But she didn’t know if that kind of affection would be appropriate in public.
He placed his hand over top of hers and gave it a squeeze. The look in his eyes told her he appreciated her presence, her understanding, but that she shouldn’t pry anymore. The guilt was clearly still something he was working through.
“I should go,” he said, clearing his throat and breaking the moment. “I promised I’d go see Dev about the mines. Will you be alright here?”
“Mmhmm,” Ena said. If she were being honest, she couldn’t wait to dive into these books and see what she could find.
“Okay, good. I’ll be back later to get you. Don’t go wandering on your own,” he said cautiously.
Ena needed no explanation as to why. She knew there were many here who held contempt for her, and plus, she had no desire to get absolutely lost in the passageways.
“I won’t…Master,” she said, giving him a little smirk.
He smiled and shook his head at the teasing, before looking down at her mouth, like he wanted to kiss her, but clearly thought better of it, before turning to leave.
Feeling glad that she’d been able to lift his spirits slightly before he left, Ena sat down in the cozy fur-covered chair and started to flip throughTheEvolution of Magic.
She and Ty had decided that her initial goal should be to figure out more about the amulet, especially what the unknown symbol on it meant. If she was going to break the bond, she’d first need to understand the elements that went into the spell the witches used to bind daemons to Iblis in the first place. Only by understanding it could she hope to reverse it.
She already knew they’d need one witch from each Coven, and daemonic blood, to complete the spell—those things she had seen in her vision. But how the amulet worked, and what the spellwords they’d chanted meant, was what she still needed to figure out.
This book seemed like a good place to start since it was written by witches, but as she read, she was disappointed to find that there wasn’t much relevant to the spell.
It began by explaining how, at first, there were only mortals. Then, a chosen few were granted magic through a union of Iblisand Gaia. A union…what did that mean? Ena didn’t know what to make of that, but it didn’t seem relevant to the spell, so she kept reading.
The book was dense, and next explained how the two races of magic operated, the most common types of Gifts and Powers each had, and then delved into the inner workings of a witch’s Knowing, including numerous examples of how it was used, as well as the speed, strength, and healing magic of daemons.
She got so caught up reading she didn’t even register the time or the rumbling of her stomach until a young woman wearing animperaecollar appeared before her carrying a tray of food.
The woman explained that Ty had had the food sent for her, with the message that things were taking longer than he thought and he wouldn’t be back for another hour or so.
