Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer #3) - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,92

really have. We know what you can do—”

“You think you know,” Eva said softly.

Jayna watched her friend. Eva needed reassurance, but Jayna wasn’t sure what she could say to give her that. “You don’t have to worry about me reacting in some way.”

“I don’t.”

Jayna paused. “Is it what you might do?”

Eva nodded slowly. “I don’t know what will happen.”

“You don’t know because you won’t look for those answers.”

Now wasn’t the time to have this conversation, but she had a feeling that Eva needed to. Perhaps they both did. They needed to work through what was going on and deal with the Ashara so they could be ready for whatever else might happen.

And something more was going to happen.

“You can’t keep running from who you are—from what you are,” Jayna continued.

“What if what I am is not what I want to be?”

“You get to choose what you get to be.”

As she said it, Jayna realized something. She’d been fearing the same thing as Eva all this time. She was worried about the Toral ring and the darkness within it, fearing the energy there and what it might do to her or how it might change her, but maybe that was a mistake.

How could it change her if she refused its influence? She might be able to embrace that dark energy, but that didn’t mean she would become it.

She could use the darkness but not become like those she’d chased.

More than that, even as she’d had to call upon it, she’d known it was dark, and she hadn’t allowed it to seduce her.

She got to choose.

“Come on,” she urged, dragging Eva through the streets. “We need to go see Raollet again.”

Eva wasn’t fighting, but if she had, Jayna wondered if she’d have to force her to come.

Now that she knew how to pull smoke into the dragon stone and bloodstone ring, she might be able to force Eva.

No. She wasn’t going to think like that. She had no reason to force Eva to do anything. Eva was her friend, and though she might not know exactly who or what she was, and though her kind might be willing to attack in the city for whatever reason, trying to regain control of it, Jayna wasn’t about to hold that against her.

“We need to know more about the Ashara and why they might have come here. And we need to know why this is all tied to the Society and the dular now battling. But first, I need food. Water,” Jayna continued.

Eva looked over and nodded.

They found a street vendor and purchased meat and ale, downing it quietly before they both ran through the streets. She was surprised there were any vendors out, but given that they were on the outskirts of the city, closer to the outpost, perhaps they were not quite influenced by the growing war in the city. Or maybe they didn’t care.

Jayna was hungry, thirsty, and didn’t want to linger for too long, feeling like there was an urgency to her actions. She raced forward, and they rounded farther along the outskirts of the city. They were close to Robert’s tavern, the Wicked Pint.

She ran, Eva staying with her. Every so often, Jayna was aware of some energy building up around her, a burst of power that exploded, always near the center of the city. It was faint, subtle, but when it came, she started to wonder how careful she needed to be, if there was some aspect of it that would put them in danger.

She glanced over to Eva. “How bad is the attack?”

“Not bad yet, but they continue to move. They’ve targeted the dular and they’re damaging their enchantments. There’s a limit to how quickly the dular can replace them, and if they destroy them . . .”

Jayna knew what would happen then. If they destroy the enchantments, the dular would not have any way of defending themselves.

They raced around until they reached the narrow streets of the outskirts, the shops where Raollet would be. The moss glowed softly, its greenish light guiding them. Her breath was hot and heavy in her ears, and she needed to slow, stop, gather herself, but at this point, she didn’t trust herself to do that.

Up ahead, the moss seemed to glow brighter.

That’s not moss.

“Oh,” she whispered.

“What is it?” Eva asked.

Jayna nodded. “Something happened here.”

She pointed in the distance, and as they approached, she could see Raollet’s shop had been destroyed. Again. At least this time it wasn’t her fault. The entire