would she see the shape of his ears and the color of his hair? Or had that too been hidden?
As they all remained motionless for that handful of seconds, Leisa became aware of the unmistakable rise and fall of the Raven’s chest as he held her. She felt a scalding heat from the gem around her neck, accompanied by a sense of intense, unwavering focus. Was he merely concerned for her well-being? Or had something about her words caught his attention?
And if so, what was it?
Her heart was racing madly, and she found herself still struggling to draw a breath. This close, everything about her bodyguard was overwhelming. His presence seemed to surround her, his focus pressing in on her mind and her magic alike. He was too strong. Too close. Too… too much.
“Put me down,” she said breathlessly, and he complied, fortunately, less abruptly than the time before. Her feet hit the brick path, and she wobbled for a moment before she was able to look up at Vaniell with a wide-eyed smile.
“Well, that was embarrassing.”
He continued to stare.
“I’ve always been a bit clumsy. Lucky for me that His Majesty’s bodyguard is quick on his feet.”
“Lucky,” Vaniell repeated.
“Anyway”—Leisa brushed at her skirts and tried to sound normal—“to return to the question at hand, I wish to know whether the rumors are true. Does Garimore actively persecute those who practice magic?”
Inside, however, she was screaming a different question. What was this gem around her neck, and why had Vaniell bestowed it on her? Had it been the gem itself that blasted her the moment she asked about the persecution of mages? Or the one the gem seemed to link her to? And why would he have reacted that strongly to her question?
But Leisa still couldn’t afford for Vaniell—or anyone else—to find out that she was affected by it. Because Evaraine, bless her, wouldn’t have felt a thing. Was that why he’d given it to her? Because Evaraine didn’t have any magic and shouldn’t have been able to feel that inexplicable link with the king’s bodyguard? Because then the Raven would be able to follow her easily without her ever being the wiser?
“That’s quite a complicated question,” Vaniell said, falling into step beside Leisa as she moved off down the path once more, somehow not glancing behind her at her ever-more-perplexing shadow. “Garimore is not necessarily concerned with the actions of all mages, merely those who have the greatest capacity for evil. Those who could potentially misuse their powers and endanger everyone around them.”
“Potentially misuse?” she echoed. “Isn’t the potential misuse of power a trait that we all share, magical or otherwise?”
“Ah, but there are some who, historically, have more often turned to evil,” Vaniell explained earnestly. “Mages are far more likely than normal humans to attempt to control or enslave others. It is simply common sense to keep them under careful containment, especially those with talents that originate in darkness.”
Leisa swallowed her horror at this casual display of ignorance and prejudice.
“Such as?” If the prince noted her glacial tone, he gave no sign of it.
“Boundary mages,” he said, leaning towards her and speaking quietly as though he’d said something terrible. “My father says their kind traffic in death.”
She couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping open. “Do you actually know anything about the different types of magecraft?” She might have sounded a teeny bit condescending, but how could she help it? He was being utterly idiotic.
“Of course.” Vaniell favored her with a pitying glance. “I know that life force mages derive their power naturally, from living things. That they align themselves with one particular source, such as spirit, animals, nature, or the self. That there is a limit to their power because they cannot cross boundaries, such as the boundary between life and death.”
Fair enough, if simplistic. He’d also left blood off the list, but it wasn’t like reminding him that mages could derive power from blood was going to help her at this point.
“Boundary mages,” he continued, in an unmistakably superior tone, “thrive in moments of pain and darkness. Birth, death, fire, and war. Catastrophes, such as storms or earthquakes. They derive their power from suffering and chaos.”
That part was only half true. “Boundary mages don’t have any more affinity for suffering and chaos than you do,” Leisa snapped. “Nor do they enslave people for fun, as you seem to think. They derive their power from places where one thing passes into another. When new life comes into the world,