Murmurs of agreement swept through the tavern. When Paige and I had first arrived, we had been met with suspicion, if not outright hostility. But the mood had shifted the moment that I had shown them my poison magic. It was the same thing that had happened at all the other bars and taverns that Paige had brought us to. Places where people, particularly people who had been full mages before being forced to give up their powers to the Great Current, gathered to curse their lot in life and drown their anger in alcohol.
“It’s time to take a stand,” I continued, delivering the same speech I’d given at all the taverns. “To fight back. If you could change the past, don’t you wish that you could’ve fought back before you allowed them to strip you of your magic?”
Resentment and anger blew through the candlelit room as they nodded and grunted in agreement.
“We can’t give you your magic back, but we can make sure that they don’t steal your children’s magic too.” A vicious smile curled my lips as I swept my gaze over them. “And we can make Chancellor Quill pay for what he’s done.”
Several people let out calls of agreement while others thumped their wooden tankards against the worn tabletops.
“Good.” I nodded. “We’re going after the Blade of Equilibrium so that we can destroy it once and for all. When the attack happens, Quill and his constables will try to stop us. That’s when we’ll need your help to fight. Against all of us, they won’t stand a chance.”
The cheers and thumping of mugs grew louder.
“Spread the word to likeminded friends,” Paige called across the noise. “But make sure the constables don’t find out. We need the element of surprise.”
To be honest, it didn’t really matter if word got back to Quill that we were recruiting people for an attack. In fact, it would just help lend more credibility to our ruse if it did. Quill would just believe that we were planning on attacking the academy, since we had told him that we would do that during our failed hostage negotiation, and since Paige had purposely let that slip to her carefully selected contacts. If he heard rumors that we were trying to recruit people from the underworld, it would just strengthen his belief that we were amassing an army to launch at the academy.
However, we still told everyone we recruited to keep it quiet because if they started blabbering about it too much, we would look like amateurs. And that would make Quill suspicious.
Paige and I exchanged a satisfied glance while the tavern’s patrons grinned excitedly.
“Be ready,” I said.
And with that, we turned around and walked back out into the night.
The smell of urine and spilled alcohol hung over the darkened alley, so I made sure not to breathe too deeply while we made our way back to the wider road ahead. The moment we reached it, I drew in that deep breath and felt the clear air swirl into my lungs. This street was one of the more neutral ones in Eldar. Nothing too fancy, and nothing too shabby either. But it connected to several alleys where many of the less reputable citizens spent their evenings, which was why we used it as our main path while we worked our way through the seedy taverns.
I glanced up and down the road. It was thankfully empty, which was a relief since I didn’t feel like slaughtering people right now. Callan, Henry, and Levi were also sneaking through the city relatively close to our position while trying to get all of Levi’s people through the smugglers tunnel and into the different inns that Paige had suggested. Poisoning people in the middle of the street would draw attention both to us and to them, and I didn’t want to risk that.
“The next one is about a five-minute walk from here,” Paige said as we passed through the small pool of light provided by one of the streetlamps. “But this one’s fifty-fifty. There might be people who don’t share our view there, so let me finish checking the whole room before you start breaking out your lethal glitter.”
I chuckled. “Of course.”
We walked in silence for another minute. I glanced over at her as we continued down the street. Her wavy blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she had slid her hands into the pockets of her brown pants while she strolled along with carefree steps. She looked utterly at ease. Utterly at home.
“You’re pretty incredible, you know that?” I said.
I had been thinking about it all evening. In fact, I had been thinking about it for days now, but for some reason, I hadn’t said anything yet.
Mischief glittered in her eyes as she twisted to meet my gaze while a grin slid home on her lips. “Oh, I always think I’m incredible. But just out of curiosity, what brought this on?”
“This.” I motioned up and down the street, and then shook my head in amazement. “The insane amount of knowledge that you have about every little aspect of Eldar’s underworld. You do realize that none of our plans would’ve worked if it wasn’t for you, right?”
She blinked at me in surprise, as if she hadn’t been expecting such a serious answer. Clearing her throat, she scratched the back of her neck while flicking a glance towards the street ahead. “Thanks. I, uhm… I have to admit, I was feeling pretty useless during those weeks in Malcolm’s mansion. But here, in Eldar, I guess I do feel like I can contribute.”
I was just about to protest that she had never been useless, but she suddenly changed the topic.
“Are you and Callan really going to stay here?” A guarded flicker of hope shone in her eyes. “In the city?”
Smiling, I gave her a nod. “That’s the plan.”
Relief, and joy, washed over her features as she beamed at me. “Good. Because I want to live here in the city too. I don’t think I’m cut out to live isolated in a mansion in the hills. I feel much more at home here. And besides, this is where all of my clients live.”
“You wouldn’t have had to move out there with us if you didn’t want to.”
“No, I know. But I want to live close to you.”
I arched a teasing eyebrow at her. “You mean close to Henry.”
A wicked laugh rolled off her tongue. “Well, I won’t deny—”
Slapping my palms together, I called up a cloud of poison as water magic suddenly sloshed a short distance from us. Two people had rounded the corner, coming from another cross street, and had screeched to a halt when they saw us.
Two pairs of blue eyes stared at us in shock.
I blinked as the same stunned surprise pulsed through me as well.
Lance and Jessica stood frozen on the dark cobblestones while Jessica’s water magic floated like a shield before their chests.
Keeping my eyes locked on them, I pushed Paige backwards while I let the green mist twist before me. “Go. I’ll hold them off.”
“No!” Paige protested.
“It’s not up for discussion.”
“I—”
“Paige, please!”
“Fine.” She shot me a pointed glare. “But you’d better be right behind me.”
“I am.”
Without another word, she turned around and sprinted down the street. Relief flashed through me. Paige wasn’t a battle mage, and if she had stayed, she would have been in serious trouble facing off against people like Lance and Jessica.
“How did you find us?” I called to the two blond mages up ahead.
Lance scrunched up his eyebrows. “How did we find you? How did you find us?”
Confusion swept through my chest. Weren’t they here to ambush us and capture us?
Now that the initial shock of their sudden appearance had worn off, I looked at them. Really looked at them. Lance was wearing a white dress shirt, and his golden blond hair had been combed and swept back from his face. Jessica looked equally stunning in a dark blue dress and red-painted lips. My frown deepened.
“Are you on a date?” I asked, utter disbelief crackling in my veins.
Neither one of them answered.
I raised my eyebrows in shock. “You are.” Shaking my head, I stabbed a hand to the left to indicate the city. “We’re in the middle of a war!”
Something snapped in Lance’s eyes. Holding my gaze, he threw his arms out in an exasperated gesture while all but yelling, “Maybe we’re tired of war! Maybe we just wanted to go out and have one normal evening without people trying to kidnap us and kill us and torture us.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have started the war in the first place.”
For a moment, it looked like Lance was going to retort, but then he just ground his teeth together instead. His gaze slid to the spot where Paige had been standing earlier before he lifted his eyes to stare down the now empty street.
“You told her to run,” he said. “Which means that you didn’t come here to ambush us either.” His eyes were serious when they met mine again. “So, are you going to try to kill us now?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
He held my stare unflinchingly. “If you come one step closer to us, I’m going to bind your magic and never give it back.”
A cold smile, the smile of a predator, curled my lips as I cocked my head slightly. “We both know that I don’t need to get close in order to kill you.”
“Except my water magic will block your poison,” Jessica said, and raised her chin.
“Because you accomplished that so well when we fought on that mountain in Castlebourne.”
“I can’t figure you out,” Lance interrupted before she could press out her flustered reply. “On the one hand, you torture me and threaten to kill my friends and slaughter anyone who stands in your way without an ounce of regret. But then you give up your leverage and your only shot at getting the Blade of Equilibrium because you don’t want to kill the students who attacked you.”
Looking back at him, I said nothing.
“We both know that you could have killed them,” he pressed. “Or at least killed all the hostages. But you didn’t. You just ran instead and left everyone alive.”
“Just because my morals are different from yours, doesn’t mean that I don’t also have lines that I’m not prepared to cross.”
“But I don’t understand. It’s like you’re two different people. The one who slaughters and tortures without remorse, and the one who gives up everything just so she won’t have to hurt a bunch of teenagers. Which one are you?”
“Both.”
“It doesn’t—”
“Look, we meant what we said during that negotiation. We want the blade and we want you to stop forcing people to give up their magic and to just let us dark mages live in peace. We don’t want to slaughter Eldar’s entire constable force and burn the city to the ground. But we will. If you keep forcing our hand, we will rain down death and destruction on everything and everyone.”
“Chancellor Quill would never agree to that deal.”
“I know. Which is why we need to kill him. He is going to bring Eldar to the brink of ruin with his stubborn refusal to even negotiate with dark mages. Trust me when I tell you, this war will decimate the city. Homes will burn. People will die. And not just constables. Innocent citizens will be caught in the crossfire too.”
Desperation flooded his eyes, and he threw his arms out again. “Then just stop the war! Just stop fighting and we can avoid all that.”
“Why can’t your side be the one to stop the war?” I held his gaze. “You’ve spent time with us, so you know how we feel about our magic, right?”
“Well, yes.”
“Then you know that we would rather die than give up our powers.” I paused for a few seconds to make sure that the words I was about to say would truly sink in. “So the question you need to ask yourselves is, are you prepared to die for your right to steal our magic from us against our will?”
Silence fell across the street. It was so thick that I could almost see it hanging in the air like smoke.
Jessica looked up at Lance, but the Binder only kept his eyes on me. I stared back at him. None of us said anything.
Footsteps and voices suddenly came from farther up the street, behind Lance and Jessica. It shattered the strange standstill that we had come to. While keeping her water shield floating before them, Jessica cast a quick look over her shoulder.
“I’m going to leave now,” I said, shifting my attention between the two of them. “If you try to attack me or pursue me, I will kill both of you without hesitation. So, you need to make a choice right now if that is something you’re willing to risk just to capture me.”
The voices were drawing closer as we watched each other in silence for another couple of seconds. When neither of them made any move to attack, I nodded.
“Smart choice.” I flicked a glance up and down their fancy clothes while backing down the street. “Have a nice date.”
Both of them remained standing firmly where they were while I disappeared back into the darkness in search of Paige.
