Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,71

silver runes laid into the steel. He held up his hands. “I didn’t mean to startle you, but I have a question before you go.” He heard Tiny’s body shift as he lifted his spear in reaction. Will waved a hand at his friend. “Don’t. We’re just talking.”

“What’s your question?” asked Darla with a tone of impatience. “Quickly. I dislike being away from my post.”

“Did you see someone else around the house, before I came? A woman?”

Darla went still, then asked, “Was it with you?”

“It? I’m talking about a young woman, uncommonly beautiful. She was watching the house for me, but she’s vanished.”

“There was a fae, though it took animal form most of the time. It attacked me.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” he protested, but then he stopped. Would she? Or was she trying to eliminate the threat before I came and exposed myself? “We thought you were an assassin, but I only instructed her to watch unless you acted. Did you take her prisoner?”

Darla snorted. “I don’t take prisoners. I did what was necessary.”

His mouth went dry. “You killed her?”

“Killing one of the fae is easier said than done. I disabled her and left her in the alley. When I checked again later, she was gone. Most likely she recovered and returned to her proper place.”

“She didn’t,” he told her firmly. “Her family is now looking for her.”

“The fae don’t concern themselves with kin.”

It was Will’s turn to struggle with his irritation. “This one does. She’s my aunt. If I can’t find her, bad things will happen.”

“The accord protects us, wizardling. Don’t they teach you the basics in that fancy school of yours?”

Already irritated, Darla’s condescension was too much for him to accept. “Unlike some, I know that the accord isn’t eternal. History moves, and the possibility of the accord coming to an end is a very real possibility. I’ve been dealing with the fae for years now. If I tell you bad things will happen, you would be wise to reconsider what you think you know.”

“I have shown you patience only because you spared my life yesterday, but my life does not belong to me, so do not expect gratitude. Stay away from the house or I’ll show you the difference between thinking and doing.” She turned, raised the hood of her cloak, and faded into a blur.

Will watched her go, and after a second he saw a second change: Darla’s turyn shifted in a subtle way, and he felt a faint strain as he concentrated on keeping his eyes on her movement. What is that? he wondered. It wasn’t a spell, and though the cloak was obviously enchanted, the magic it produced seemed limited to the chameleon effect. Is she using wild magic of some kind?

His thoughts distracted him enough that he lost sight of the Arkeshi, and only by concentrating and paying close attention to her heart-light was he able to spot her again. Whatever it is, it makes it hard to look at her, he realized, and greatly enhances the effect of the cloak in the process.

“Is she really gone?” asked Tiny uncertainly.

Will nodded. “She’s across the street, standing to the right of the front gate to the house.”

“You can see her?”

“It isn’t easy,” admitted Will. “I have to focus on the light produced by her body’s heat, but even that is tricky since she’s also doing something that makes it hard to look at her.”

“I have no idea what you just said,” admitted Tiny. “What do we do now?”

“It won’t help anything if we start a brawl with Laina’s bodyguard. We’ll set up over here,” said Will. He glanced behind himself. They were standing near the front gate of another lord’s home, though he hadn’t looked into which nobleman owned the house. There was only one light visible through the windows, the same as it had been the previous night. Will reasoned that whoever owned the estate probably wasn’t in residence at the moment. Most nobles maintained country estates where their lands were and city houses in the capital for when they needed to come to