The Whitefire Crossing - By Courtney Schafer Page 0,43

of the next boulder.

A hand skimmed through Kiran’s hair to settle on his shoulder. In a flash, Kiran was back in Ruslan’s workroom, fear and fury clouding his vision. With a shout he tore himself away, raising one hand to strike even as he thumped painfully down onto rock.

“Hey!” Dev’s yell slashed through his panic, dispelling the fog of memory. Kiran yanked his hand down, his heart pounding. Dev stopped short a few rocks away, staring at Pello, who pushed to hands and knees from his awkward sprawl on top of the lakeside boulder. “What in Khalmet’s name is going on here?”

Kiran clenched his hands to still their trembling. His barriers still stood firm. He’d used no magic outside them, nothing Ruslan could detect. But Pello had been touching him when Kiran’s power had flared, and the shock of unbridled magic had knocked him flat. Would he know a mage had felled him?

Pello staggered to his feet. His eyes met Kiran’s, full of stunned realization. Kiran’s heart stuttered in his chest.

He knows.

CHAPTER SEVEN

(Kiran)

The magnitude of Kiran’s error paralyzed him. Time seemed to slow as Pello raised a hand to point straight at him, anger twisting his face.

“Keep a Shaikar-cursed leash on him, can’t you?” Pello snapped to Dev. “Sparking a bane charm when I only offered him a helping hand...in Varkevia, a man might claim blood-right for that.”

Kiran’s thoughts wheeled like startled birds. The recognition in Pello’s eyes, quickly as he’d masked it, had been unmistakable. Pello knew how close to death he’d come, and not from any defensive charm. Did he conceal the truth out of pure fear, or had he realized Dev’s ignorance and held his tongue for reasons of his own?

Dev gave a contemptuous snort. “Yeah? We’re not in Varkevia. You don’t want to get charm-stung, how about you keep your gods-damned hands to yourself?” He turned a ferocious glare on Kiran. “And you—who said you could run gape at the lake when there’s work yet to do? Get your lazy ass over here.”

Kiran climbed silently over the rocks to Dev’s side. Dev, at least, was playing out the script they’d planned. Kiran cast a glance back at Pello, who watched him with a flat, speculative stare that raised the hairs on Kiran’s neck. His hope that Pello feared his anger withered under the weight of that gaze. If Pello was even half as clever as Dev claimed, he must suspect that something prevented Kiran from magic. Otherwise, Kiran would have cast against him long before now.

Pello jumped down from the boulder. “How fortunate for you that I am a forgiving man.” His tone held no hint of sarcasm.

Dev’s eyes narrowed. “So long as you remember that I’m not.” He and Pello stared at each other, their eyes cold and considering. At last Dev turned away and shoved Kiran into motion, back toward the convoy.

Kiran scraped and stumbled over the talus with Dev dogging his heels. Possible consequences paraded through his mind, each more unpleasant than the last. If Pello confronted Dev with the truth in an attempt to extort a bribe...if he struck a deal with the Alathians...or worst of all, if Dev hadn’t succeeded in his mission...Kiran’s blood ran cold. He snatched at Dev’s shoulder.

“Did you disable the message charm?” he hissed in Dev’s ear.

Dev glanced back toward the lake. Kiran followed his gaze. Pello had moved off along the shore, his patchwork cap bobbing into and out of view as he dodged between rocks. Dev dragged Kiran down to crouch beneath a boulder’s overhanging face.

“Yeah, I took care of the damn charm. That part went smooth as Sellen wine.”

Kiran’s knees went weak with relief. Though disaster still loomed, it wouldn’t be immediate. No hint of his location would reach Ruslan.

Dev glowered at him. “But you—what the fuck happened with Pello? ‘Oh, I can keep my mouth shut, no problem’...what part of that involved a bane charm? Stinging a shadow man—Khalmet’s hand, are you trying to get yourself killed? And you might as well wave a sign in his face saying you’re no streetsider!”

Kiran returned his glare. “It was an accident,” he said, tightly. “He startled me, and I...reacted.”

A reaction that might cost him any chance of safety. Dev thought Pello’s secret cargo would prevent him from going to the Alathians; that might have been true before, but no longer. The Alathians would gladly forgive a cache of illegal charms in exchange for news of a foreign mage sneaking across their border. Kiran’s gut twisted.