Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer #3) - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,89

bloodstone that surrounded the dragon stone, almost as if the combination of the two were meant to control some of that smoke. She would have to think about what that meant later, why that power would allow her to control the Ashara power, but for now she pushed the smoke out and around in a barrier that sealed off this wall as well. It neutralized the enchantments here, preventing them from pressing upon her.

Her power had returned.

She reached the door that led to the stairs.

Much like the last one, she could feel something within the door, some energy designed to prevent her from getting out, but she needed to escape. The smoke surrounding her, left her knowing she could get free of this.

Jayna created a small spiraling pattern around the doorway.

It was a tight circle, one she could concentrate her sorcery through, but rather than tapping into sorcery, she tapped into the Toral ring. There was no sense in holding back at this point. She was angry, and the more power she drew through the dragon stone ring, the angrier she got.

Agnew thought to hold her here?

She hadn’t attacked him. She had only attempted to save him. To help him. Had she not intervened . . . the Ashara would have harmed him. Killed him.

The same way he had attempted to kill the other sorcerers.

Had she not intervened with them, with Char, they would’ve died, no differently than the dark sorcerer had died out in the city.

Jayna started up the stairs.

Rage filled her.

She was tired of everything that had happened, tired of the way she had been used, and abused, and she was frustrated that Ceran hadn’t even bothered to help her. She was angry she couldn’t get through this on her own, but then . . .

She had succeeded. She had freed herself. It was through her actions that she had escaped from the cell. Now she wanted nothing more than to get up to the outpost, reach Agnew, and . . .

Jayna paused on the stairs.

Smoke drifted down the stairs toward her.

Could it be another Ashara?

She doubted that Asaran would come back, but maybe he had. Maybe since he hadn’t succeeded the last time, since Jayna had intervened and prevented him from completing his attack, he might have decided to return. She had no idea how long she’d been trapped in the cell, no idea of anything other than her anger and the frustration that continued to fill her. Nothing other than a desire to get out.

Jayna had to tamp that down. She used the bloodstone surrounding the dragon stone and pulled the smoke from the stairs into it.

If she could learn how to replicate it again, she wouldn’t be held once more. At least now she knew there was some trick to escaping if they attempted to hold her. She had not known there was any remaining smoke contained within the ring that could be used.

And knowing that gave her more confidence.

The smoke trailed into the ring, siphoning into her bloodstone, but the smoke felt different from when she’d done it before.

Maybe that difference was just an enchantment, much like the one that had been used in the attack on Raollet, though she didn’t know—she didn’t even care. She continued to pull the smoke into the ring and started up the stairs again. When she’d reached the door at the top, she pressed her hand against it, preparing a pattern to blast into it, when she decided to test whether it would open.

And it did.

She stood in the doorway, looking out at the outpost, and focused. She had to press down the frustration rising within her. It seemed to come each time she borrowed from the energy of the Toral ring, as if it were somehow influencing her more and more. Jayna had to be careful, knowing that the more she allowed it to influence her, the more likely she was to tap into dark energy.

Jayna stepped forward, noticing the smoke still trailing around the inside of the outpost, and looked along the hallway to see if anyone was there.

There was no one, nothing.

She didn’t feel any signs of sorcery, though Jayna didn’t know if she even would here. This place was filled with the sense of sorcery, but it also masked that energy. There was something in the walls themselves that kept anyone outside of the Society from knowing the actions of those inside.

Jayna started down the hall.

She reached the wide double door leading into Agnew’s