“Yes. And take my word for it—go,” she warned. “You do not want to be here when they come searching for me.”
The man didn’t know whotheywere, but he nodded from the severity in her tone. As soon as he closed the door, Lucenna cast an invisibility spell over herself. She walked along the street of wattle and daub houses, her heels clacking on the cobblestone to a steady rhythm.
She gathered her Essence, excited to wield magic freely. Lucien confirmed the Enforcers were two days out. There was enough time to enact her plan.
She wouldn’t leave without the Luna Medallion. It was a family heirloom, the making of a legacy she tried to live up to, and it represented the hope of every sorceress in the Magos Empire.
Commander Von made the greatest mistake of his life the day he crossed her.
Lucenna closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Her consciousness slipped into theEssentiaDimensiowhere Essence became alive. It brought her to a pitch-black environment devoid of anything, but its energy hummed through her in welcome.
Her Essence appeared as a vivid sphere of purple lightning that convulsed and swirled before her. She flicked her hand up and the sphere zoomed high above into the empty blackness. It exploded in a rain of light. Streaks of purple spread outward, expanding like a net in the dark for her target. But it thinned and lost color the further it went out until her Essence completely faded away.
Someone else had already cloaked Commander Von.
Lucenna clenched her fists. He had the services of a mage!But none of the men with him had been one. She would have sensed it.
Well, it didn’t matter. The Moonstone may be missing, but the medallion was created by one of the most powerful mages in history. His Essence had eternally infused inside, and it was not hidden from her.
She cast out another tracking spell, searching for the Essence that closely resembled her own. This time her power moved surely through theEssentiaDimensio,and it landed in the distance on two glowing bulbs of light. One was the radiant mauve Essence trapped in the Luna Medallion, and the other was green.
That was Dyna’s Essence. It was odd that the tracking spell targeted her, and she was within immediate proximity of the medallion. Was that a coincidence?
There was no time to waste thinking about it.
Lucenna hooked her spell onto the medallion and opened her eyes to the real world. A trail of translucent purple fire, visible only to whoever she wished, appeared at her feet and snaked down the quiet street. Leading her exactly where she needed to go.
Chapter 38
Dynalya
Dyna hardly listened as Zev rattled off the list of provisions they needed to purchase for their journey. She followed him to a merchant selling grain. He asked for a pound of this or that, his voice muffled in the buzz of her thoughts. Cassiel lingered a few feet away, but his presence pressed against her back. She could feel his eyes on her as she felt his agitation.
Her elbow was still sore from where it had slammed on the floor when he pushed her off him that morning. It startled her awake as much as his feeling of horror and shame had also hit her. He then bolted from the room without a word.
Dyna fisted the sleeves of her dress, crushing the soft linen in her fingers. There was a pressure on her chest and a mist in her eyes.
She was sure now that she could feel his emotions. Why? How?
It was too much and too confusing. None of it made sense. But she would rather focus on that than the humiliation she felt when Cassiel pushed her away like she was a vile thing.
“There, a couple of pounds of oats,” Zev announced to them as he added the sack to his pack. “What next?”
“Produce,” she mumbled.
He led the way into the crowd with a cheerful whistle. “It’s a nice day isn’t it?” When no one answered, he frowned at them and nudged Cassiel. “Did you not sleep well? You were gone when I awoke this morn.”
Dyna stiffened at the sudden bout of tension that gripped her.
Cassiel glanced at her. “I needed some air.”
Zev chuckled and whacked his shoulder. “You drank yourself into a tizzy last night.”
“I’ll never partake again.”
She tried to ignore the sick feeling that brought.
The bustle of voices in the market grew louder as the sun rose higher, and the crowd thickened. They reached a street lined in carts of pumpkins, squash, radishes, carrots along with every fruit and vegetable in season. Zev’s pack grew bulkier with each purchase added to it. He asked them to make selections, but for once, Dyna wasn’t in the mood.
