Her eyes shone with red. “Not in his wildest dreams.”
CHAPTER39
REDBERRY11
The boat glided across the midnight-black water, propelled by the oars in Will’s and Lute’s hands. The river was silent except for the gentle whisper of the oar blades sliding under the surface. No wind troubled the night, and our sail drooped from the mast, secured by a line.
Above us, an endless sky glittered with alien, unfamiliar constellations. The world seemed huge, the river and the sky blending into one, and our boat with the lone lantern on the bow was just a speck of cosmic dust within it.
I stood at the stern, working the rudder. Steering the boat was a lot less complicated than I had expected. We’d been going upstream for a couple of hours now and I wasn’t even tired.
Sushi crouched by me. She had crawled into the boat before we cast off and perched by my feet. There had been a brief commotion, until I picked her up to assure everyone that we were on a petting basis, and she wouldn’t be biting any ankles.
Isadau sat on the nearest bench, wrapped in a cloak, her amber eyes swirling with starlight. She was cycling magic, drawing it into her body and pushing it out, and it tugged on me with every shift. Next to her, Clover looked over the water, deep in thought. I’d pulled her away from my dress. I needed every pair of hands I could get, and Gort and Shana had to stay home. Someone had to protect the house and Gort wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to help us anyway.
Gort really didn’t want to let me go. He told me it was ill-advised, then that it was stupid, and then he brought up Everard’s instructions, and I told him that Everard wasn’t here, and he owed me for Falcon Point. This was me collecting.
It wasn’t fair, but I had called in that favor, and now we were on the boat sailing to an almost certain death. I would survive it, but my death wasn’t the one that mattered. I’d dragged five people into this boat with me and I had to bring them home.
Sushi made a short trilling sound. Isadau smiled.
“Of course, you would have a pet stelka.”
“Why ‘of course’?”
“They are attracted to magic. That’s why they make their burrows in the cities. We, humans, burn with magic, and these little guys bask in our afterglow.”
“What about gold butterflies?” I asked.
“Ah. You’ve met Ciste. Is he still hanging out at the Garden?”
I nodded.
“His mother sold her body,” she said. “He grew up in a place a lot like the Garden.”
“What happened to it?”
“Nothing good,” she said. “Damaes tolerates his moonlighting, because Ciste is a gifted summoner. Did you see a swarm of glowing butterflies?”
“Yes. He summoned a sea monster and stelkas, too.”
She smiled. “Was it beautiful?”
“Very.”
“Ciste doesn’t summon illusions, only weapons. Everything he conjures is created for violence.”
Oh.
“Those beautiful golden butterflies feed on your blood. The more magic you have, the richer their feast. A larger swarm can turn a living being into a husk in moments.”
When they had swarmed me, I thought they were beautiful. They thought they’d spotted a Thanksgiving dinner.
“Do other mages know about the butterflies?”
“Some,” Isadau said. “Depending on how informed they are.”
Was that how Silveren had zeroed in on me? Was he a mage? I’d been thinking about Lute stopping in the middle of the street. Magic would be a logical explanation for that.
