“No, but I may know someone who knows where it is.” She fastened on a black leather bodice over her blouse, then sat on her bed to slip on her heeled boots.
Lucien frowned. “Explain.”
“In Corron, I overheard the mention of the Druid of The Moors. He’s a Seer. I can ask him how to find Mount Ida and find the Moonstone.” Lucenna rested her hand over the medallion, caressing the empty crevice where the stone belonged.
With the stone, the Liberation would finally have the power to rise against the Archmage and end his reign of oppression over the sorceresses and the guilds. It was all they needed so the women of her kingdom could be free. Without the Moonstone, they were powerless.
“The Moors? Do you mean thePhantasmicMoors?” Lucien asked. “The fae will not give you this information willingly.”
Of course, they wouldn’t. The fae traded for things of value, like years of service, or deals sealed with a geas.
“Good thing I know exactly what to offer him.” Lucenna returned to the desk and held up the book with the image of a creature that looked like a hybrid of a hairless siren and an eel. “The scales of a grindylow are highly valuable and incredibly hard to attain. It will be a good trade, and it so happens a nest of them lives in the Saxe Fjord. It’s on my way to the port.”
Lucien’s eyes widened. “Lucenna, that will be highly dangerous. They are vicious creatures.”
“If I can only get one scale, then I’ll be able to get some answers.”
“You mean to find the Moonstone.”
“Yes, that’s what I said.”
He studied her face, arching an eyebrow. “It seems you had more you wanted to ask.”
Lucenna bit back a curse, annoyed at her ever-perceptive brother.
“It’s too much of a risk. You cannot afford to be in Azure any longer.”
“But this may be the only chance we have,” she insisted, her tone sharpening. “The women of Magos are depending on me. I need to find the stone and end the Mage Code. How can you live there, bear witness to their suffering, and tell me to run?”
Lucien pressed on his forehead. “I, too, want change, but not at the expense of your life. I’m also searching for Mount Ida and any clues on the Moonstone from my end, but I cannot be at peace until I know you’re safe. Promise me you will leave Azure.”
She heaved a breath, lowering her gaze. “I will.”
“Lu,” he said, his tone firm. “I mean it.”
“I’ll leave, Lucien. Don’t worry. Well, I must be on my way. I’ll speak to you soon.” Lucenna tapped on the orb before he could answer, and his image cleared away.
Looking around the tent, her heart grew heavy. Memories of her mother once filled and every inch, now a constant reminder of her absence.
Grabbing a waterskin off the dining table, Lucenna headed out into the morning chill in search of the stream nearby. As she crossed the threshold of the spell protecting her home, the illusion of a small, abandoned tent took its place. Dawn’s gleam streamed from the branches overhead as she strolled through the forest.
A promise was a promise. She would leave Azure … as soon as she’d met the Druid.
Once reaching the stream, Lucenna kneeled by the bank, plunging the waterskin into the icy water. Her determined reflection stared back. She had spent years wishing she could change the moment her mother died, to somehow prevent the mistake that had led to it and bring her back. The idea had been an impossibility until she learned how to enter the Time Gate. She could only stop time, but perhaps going back might not be impossible.
If there was a way, the Druid—
Something shifted in the air, and Lucenna stiffened as her Essence snapped to the surface of her skin. She jolted to her feet and stared into the trees, every instinct alerting her to the crackle of power in the air. Her breath caught as it grew frightfully prominent, closing in on her from every direction.
No.
They’d found her.
Lucien’s cold splash of alarm hit her, and his urgent call pulsated in her temple. There was no time to answer or to retrieve her tent.
Lucenna bolted into the forest. Laughter and taunting voices slithered between the trees. Purple electricity coiled along her arms at the ready. Her legs pumped as she sprinted as fast as she could. There was only one place where she may have a chance out of this.
She burst from the trees into a vast clearing surrounded by the thick forest, making it to the center as ten figures emerged from the foliage. More than Lucien had originally told her. Mages under dark hooded cloaks circled her, each holding a staff with crystals of a different color. The force of their power choked the surrounding atmosphere, the haze warping the air like heat coming off stone. Their cloaks fluttered around them as the wind billowed over the field. Light coursed up their hands, and they slammed their staffs on the ground. The crystals and their eyes flared with their Essence. The triad symbol of the Magos Empire marked the right shoulders of their sleeves. Above it was another jagged symbol of their rank.
