“Because I can sense his little power.” Lucenna turned back around. “Once he senses mine, he won’t wager his life.”
Klyde chuckled. “I admire your confidence, lass.” He switched to the bench across from her again to keep his sights on the carriage door. “Once we reach the station, we’ll go somewhere to lie low for a while. The next train arrives in two hours.”
Rain pattered against the carriage roof, filling the silence as they waited. When the train began to slow, Lucenna could finally breathe easy. They were already standing when the train came to a stop. Klyde took her hand and pulled to the exit before anyone else could beat them to it. The conductor berated him for opening the door. Klyde jumped out and lifted her by her waist, promptly setting her down on the platform.
Her legs wobbled from the unexpected solidity of the floor and the shock of how easily he moved her.
The spring wind blew against them, and the sash hanging loosely around her eyes lifted. Lucenna reached for it, but the wind snatched it away. And at that same moment, she looked up and met the gaze of the mage from the train windows. He was hardly a young man, perhaps sixteen.
But there was no shock on his face.
Because, she realized, he had wanted her to thinkthat.
The air rippled with a burst of powerful magic, so strong it weighed on her like a heavy blanket. It had been completely hidden away until he dropped his cloaking spell and the glamor he wore peeled away.
The boy mage vanished, and in his place was a fully grown lunar mage. Tall as he was lean, with short white hair and glowing purple eyes.
Her lungs seized.
Magnus.
“Shite,” Klyde cursed. He grabbed her hand, and they ran.
The hum of the train station faded behind them as he led her through the darkening streets of Oreville. Their boots splashed in rain puddles, their heavy breaths fogging in the cool, misty air.
Gods, how could she have been so careless? Of course, he came to find her. He was a skilled tracker. Her father must have swallowed his pride to ask his younger brother for help. The Archmage was finished waiting.
Static crackled in the air, and she knew Enforcers were already after her. Magnus must have had them waiting in each station along the railway.
“You really shouldn’t have stayed with me,” Lucenna said as they loped around another street. “We need to split up.”
“What?” Klyde demanded. “I’m not leaving you, woman.”
She gritted her teeth. “This is not your fight. I can feel the Elite Enforcers tailing me now. They are almost here. Go now before it’s too late.”
He stared at her a moment, shaking his head. “Lucenna?—”
“Get out of here!” She shoved him. “I am trying to save your life, you fool.” But he wouldn’t budge. His jaw clenched, eyes burning. Lucenna shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Stop it, all right? Stop behaving as if I need you.I don’t.”
Her feet stumbled as she backed away from him. She couldn’t allow herself to need him, because if she did, she would come to rely on him. And she knew that would be when she lost him, too.
“Stay away from me, Klyde. While you still have the chance.”
Lucenna sprinted away into an alley. The thud of her running steps and the rapid beat of her heartbeat filled her ears. When she looked back, Klyde was gone. A knot formed in her chest. It was better this way.
If he stayed with her, she would only get him killed, too.
CHAPTER 27
Dynalya
The streets of Kelpway were quiet in the early morning, the port beginning to wake. Fair’s hooves clomped on the cobblestone as they wandered east for the pier. In the market, the smell of fresh baking bread made Dyna’s stomach growl. One necessity at a time.
She stopped to barter for some apples, cheese, and rolls to break her fast. Well, Fair preferred the apples. Taking a seat on the edge of a fountain, she soaked in the sun and breathed in the ocean breeze as she ate. But after a couple of bites, her appetite seemed to disappear.
Water sprites in the fountain swam to her curiously, eyeing her food. They chirped at her, blinking their big oily eyes. She tore up the bread and cheese in smaller pieces for them, and they took off with their prize.
She needed a plan.
