show it.
I kept my eyes closed, feeling a bizarre stinging in them. Physically, I was fine. I’d probably hurt Aegis worse than he’d hurt me; I doubted I’d see a single bruise on me tomorrow morning. Acubens had beaten me up far worse on a regular basis. And yet my heart ached in a way I couldn’t put into words.
“I’ll carry you back,” said Aegis softly. “Try to sleep.” His strong arms closed around me, lifting me off the ground. Taking me back to captivity.
Limp against him, I felt the rise and fall of his chest, the steady beat of his heart.
We were so close, and yet so far apart.
Chapter 16
“Here,” said Darshan, a few days before the duel, triumphantly slapping down a stack of magic circle stickers in front of me and Aegis. “I went into town last night and got these printed.”
“Whoa, they look great!” I examined a sticker in detail, admiring the crispness of the line details. “How long did it take you?”
Darshan pulled a face. “Longer than I’d have liked. I think I weirded out the staff at the print shop. I let slip that I thought printers worked by carving the original image onto something and then stamping it on paper, and they explained why I was wrong. In detail.”
I tried to hide a smile. “Some artists still use that method, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been mainstream for a hundred years.”
Darshan rolled his eyes. “Well, I know now. Not everyone knows as much about human technology as you do. Which is surprising, given I don’t think you’ve ever gone slumming while I’ve known you.”
My smile died. Gone slumming was how mages thought of spending time in the human world. “I just read a lot of books,” I said, even as I thought of my mom eagerly showing me the glossy magazines and packets of junk food she cajoled the manor servants into bringing back. They’d never actually interested her while she was still a college student, she’d admitted to me once, touching her fingers to the dates printed in the corners. Only now did they serve as precious reminders that she’d once had a life outside the confines of Redbriar Manor, that the world of humans still went on unseen in her absence.
“Well, you should’ve gone in my place,” said Darshan. “You would’ve wrapped things up in half the time. It took me so long to get back that I didn’t finish my Artifact Analysis homework in time.”
I winced. “Sorry to hear that.” Thanks to Cly and Aegis, I couldn’t have gone in his place. I’d gotten a bit of leniency so I could prepare for the duel; Cly no longer tried to have my magic suppressed or drained, to let me regain my strength. But the Redbriars had always been wary about letting my mother or me come back in contact with humans. Like letting rats disappear down their holes. “I know you’ve spent a lot of time and effort preparing for the duel.”
“Hey, so have you.” He clapped his hand on my shoulder, a little hesitantly, as if unsure how I would take it. I smiled to reassure him, and he grinned back, warmth shining in his deep brown eyes. “We’re in this together. Though obviously I’m the better looking one.”
“Sure, sure,” I said, giving his hand a light punch. “Now show me your masterpiece in action.”
Darshan leapt to action, grabbing five identical stickers off the stack. “Okay, through some very complicated math, I’ve managed to break down the Circle of Reversal into five chunks that each fit onto a sticker. They don’t have to be touching each other or anything—all you need is to place them in a ring, equidistant from each other, and they’ll activate.”
“There are a bunch of simple geometer’s spells to show you distances and angles so you can place them accurately, but I know Aegis can’t perform higher magic, so I’ve made a minor magical item to help him out.” Darshan handed Aegis a hideous mess of twigs and string.
“How does it work?” I said in fascinated horror, as Aegis took it very gingerly. “How does it not fall apart?”
“Hey, if artifacts were easy to make, heirlooms wouldn’t be so important,” said Darshan defensively. “The twigs dangling off the bottom will turn to indicate direction and distance. But I admit it would ideally be either you or me placing the stickers.”
“Agreed,” I muttered. There were better uses for Aegis, with his Spellbreaker powers.
“Anyway,” continued Darshan, rubbing