wasn’t required. Even more, she had the bloodstone to augment the connection between the ring and the power Ceran granted.
When he had first gifted her the ring, there had been a surge of cold as it had bonded to her. She was able to take the ring on and off, and it didn’t sever the bond, so either the bond remained within her, connecting her to Ceran, or Master Agnew was powerful enough to sever a connection between a Toral and Sul’toral.
She didn’t think that was the case, so the bond still had to be there.
But there were ways to diminish Toral power. She had seen it herself with Gabranth during the festival. Maybe there was something like that happening here.
But it wouldn’t have taken the Toral power from her completely.
The energy was within her. She could feel it, but couldn’t grasp it even if the bond was still there. Jayna focused her breathing. She didn’t have any way of tapping into her power, and though she had tried to call out to Ceran, he had not responded to her yet again. She had no enchantments. Everything in her satchel had been triggered by Agnew, as if he had known they were there.
She took a seat and lost track of time. Hopelessness began to build within her.
There was too much taking place in the city for her to be trapped.
The others in the city might not want to admit they needed her, but they did need her. She had seen it. She needed to keep the dular and the Sorcerers’ Society from attacking each other, and if she didn’t manage to escape, there would be more attacks, more deaths. Then there was whatever was taking place with the Ashara.
She remained motionless, trying to think through different possibilities for escape.
She couldn’t feel anything within herself.
That wasn’t quite right.
The only thing she felt was a strange vibration around her—no, it was in her pocket, of all things.
She reached inside and pulled out a coin.
Topher’s coin.
She looked at it.
The coin wasn’t spent, not the way the other enchantments had been.
How was that even possible?
She didn’t understand how Topher had placed power into his enchantment, only that he had managed to bridge it to himself in some way. If she could use it . . .
If she could use it, then she might be able to find some way to cross the distance between her and Topher with the power held within the coin. She might be able to reach him.
If nothing else, she could let him know she was still alive.
Jayna traced her fingers along the pattern on the coin, squeezing it between her hands. She closed her eyes, trying to reach for him as the coin continued to vibrate, but regardless of how long she sat there, there was no response.
She was still trapped.
19
Jayna drifted, dreams of her brother coming back to her, though in these dreams there was a dark energy surrounding him, closing in on him, starting to prey upon him. It seemed as if somebody stalked him, and nothing Jayna said mattered. Despite how much she cried out to him, he remained ignorant of the power around him. There was nothing she could do to get to him.
She woke, shivering, cold for the first time that she could remember while living in Nelar. The air within the cell had gotten much colder.
Jayna got to her feet, looking around her.
It was an unusual enchantment to turn the air cool like that, and more than that, it made it unpleasant for her. She still felt the vibration from the coin, and Jayna squeezed it again, still wondering if there might be some way for her to reach across the distance, to focus her power and contact Topher, though any awareness she might have of him seemed to be too difficult for her to reach. She had to remove whatever barricade this cell placed around her to tap into her Toral power. It was there. They hadn’t taken it from her. She would’ve known if they had.
The coin was the key. Unlike other enchantments, this one was still active.
Not only that, but the entire cell was enchanted in a certain way. She could use its power, as she could feel it flowing through her; she just had to gain a hold of it.
She squeezed on the coin again.
How could she reach him?
Somehow, she needed to link to the enchantment within the coin.
Though she couldn’t perform much magic of her own at this