There was no way I could stop this one.
I was the Breaker of the Spine.
I failed.
Now, I was the destruction of S’Kir.
Chapter Fifteen
~ Kimber ~
The shaking grew more and more violent, but I was resigned to death.
The tapestries trembled, the chandelier in the foyer tinkled, shook, creating a familiar cacophony of sound. I watched it as the crystal cast the sunlight into a thousand sparks on the walls and floors. It was hypnotic and not altogether unpleasant.
It would be nice to die surrounded by beauty.
“Kimber!”
My head snapped around on instinct.
Master Dorian strode through the hall directly toward me, and he was, as usual, scowling. “What are you doing, girl?”
“Trying to figure out how I want to die.”
“The Spine is shaking! You need to do your job.”
I leaned back against the door and let out a mirthless laugh. “Well, I’d be happy to, except I still haven’t gotten laid, and my penis of choice just walked away from me again.”
Squatting down to stare at me, eye level, he was obviously pissed. “What? Rilen and Roran—”
I waved him off. “Yeah, it almost worked, but then duty called again. Actually, duty banged on the door, and now you see me in the latest state of coitus interruptus.”
“Where did he go?”
“To the university. To his infernal machine.” I looked up at him. “Because S’Kir needs him.”
Master Dorian’s face twisted even more, to a hateful grimace.
I hadn’t a moment to protest before I found myself scooped up, and Master Dorian strode to a different stairwell than the one Elex had used.
He grabbed a panicked, hurried pageboy by the shoulder. “You are to spread the word immediately that Masters Rilen and Roran need to get to the roof.”
Releasing him, he pointed a chin, and the boy ran off.
Carrying me up the stairs, we burst out onto the roof in the midmorning sun. It was warm and pleasant and would have been a perfectly lovely day except for the trembling and shaking.
“Open yourself to the magic, girl. Let it in. Tell me what color the tremors are this time.”
I rested my tired head on his toned, soft shoulder. I dropped my walls, and the magic rushed in. I sobbed, gulping in air.
So much magic and I couldn’t use it.
“The colors, child. What are they?”
Opening my eyes, looking toward the Spine, the land was covered in green. A light, minty green that pulsed and waved and traveled toward the mountains.
“Green, light green.”
