a stone to the charm...my eye fell on my warding bracelets. If I tied both stone and charm against a bracelet, that might be enough.
“Huh. That’s smart,” I said. Maybe a brain lurked in that highside head after all.
Kiran’s whole face lit up. Khalmet’s hand, if Cara ever saw him smile like that, she’d keel over from sheer lust.
“Don’t get too excited,” I warned him. “We still have to find a decent stone.” The nearby cliffs had been picked clean long ago. Except one. My blood tingled with a familiar thrill. Nasty, overhanging, with holds no bigger than sandmites and cracks too thin for pitons...no outrider had ever climbed Kinslayer crag. Word was the name came from an outrider whose brother had died attempting a climb. I’d scouted Kinslayer once and thought I could piece together a workable route, but Sethan had talked me out of trying it. Well. Sethan wasn’t here now, and Kinslayer was the best chance within miles for a stone large enough to help us. I’d scout it again, see if the route I remembered was real or only the product of a cocky kid’s ego. And if it was real...my heart pounded. What a climb that would be! But I couldn’t deny the risk. If I fell, I’d sentence Melly to a living death.
CHAPTER FOUR
(Kiran)
Sunlight warmed Kiran’s face and burned red through his closed eyelids. He opened his eyes, expecting the familiar sight of his bedroom’s pale stone ceiling etched with the swirling lines of ward patterns. Instead, only the sun-bright blank canvas of Dev’s tarp greeted him. He threw an arm over his eyes, a lump in his throat. He’d never see his bedroom in Ninavel again, with the stargazing charm he’d created for Mikail perched gleaming on his writing desk, and his favorite books of adventure tales hidden amongst the stacks of treatises on magical theory.
The adventure books had been gifts from Alisa. Kiran’s eyes stung. How Alisa would have loved this trip! She’d pored over explorer journals and dreamed of traveling as an envoy for her merchanter family when she reached her majority. Grief and guilt turned the lump in Kiran’s throat hot as molten silver.
The sound of voices outside the tarp recalled him to caution. Kiran hurriedly swiped at his eyes and sat up in the pile of blankets. He blinked in confusion at the sight of Dev’s gear already packed up in neat little bundles. Why hadn’t Dev awakened him? He yanked his boots on and stepped outside.
The sun was already high, and the white rock of the canyon walls shone bright enough to make Kiran’s eyes water. The convoy wagons still stood in their unbroken line along the trail. A small group of drovers sat in a loose circle nearby, talking idly.
“Hey, lazybones!” Dev waved from his perch on top of the massive boulder that anchored the high side of the tarp. “Thought you’d sleep forever.”
“Why didn’t you wake me? I thought you said last night we’d have to fetch water while the rockfall gets cleared?” Had Dev spent the morning hunting for a suitable carcabon stone?
“Since I’m such a nice guy, I took care of the water duty myself. You looked like you needed the sleep. Besides, I figured you’d had enough of bashing through catsclaw.” Despite Dev’s casual sprawl and easy grin, his eyes raked over Kiran from head to toe with a calculating curiosity that made Kiran wince internally.
“Um. Thanks.” Kiran fought to keep his expression neutral. The aftermath of Ruslan’s storm was not a pleasant memory. The deceptively innocent-looking catsclaw had proved a nightmare to navigate, with thick, tightly woven branches that refused to bend and gave vicious scratches when he’d forced his way through. Worse, his barriers had been wavering on the edge of collapse. He’d been terrified Dev would chase after him before he could safely rebuild them. If Dev saw him draw power, he was certain to realize the extent of Kiran’s lies.
“Not to worry, we’ll keep busy, now you’re finally up.” Dev looked up at the cliffs above the trail, shading his eyes with a hand. “High time my apprentice learned some tricks of the climbing trade.”
Ah. If Dev had indeed searched for stones that morning, he’d been unsuccessful. A climbing lesson would provide the perfect excuse for Dev to scour another cliff. Kiran smiled at him. “I look forward to it.”
A sardonic gleam showed in Dev’s eyes. “I’ll remember you said that.” He jumped down from the rock and went