(eng) Morgan Rhodes - Falling Kingdoms & Spirits and Thieves by Obsidian Blade (retail)

Author:Obsidian Blade (retail) [Blade, Obsidian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Magnus scanned the courtesan’s surprisingly opulent home as she pulled him and Maddox inside. Even Lucia’s palace chambers, although large and comfortable, were not covered in artwork and gold artifacts like Samara Balto’s chambers were. Lucia had a seating area where she read her favorite books, but it was nothing like this one, done in silks and velvet.

Everything here was pure luxury, much more befitting of someone who made their home in Auranos.

But perhaps the goddess Valoria was not as strict with her subjects as had always been believed, based on the teachings and laws created during her reign.

However, judging by the awed expression on Maddox’s face, Magnus would be willing to bet these chambers were an anomaly rather than a normal occurrence here.

“Sit.” Samara nodded at a small, round ebony table that shone beneath a chandelier of lit candles.

“I prefer to stand.” Magnus raised the obsidian blade. “You know what this is.”

Her gaze fixed upon the object for a moment before she nodded tensely. “I do. And I know who sent you.”

“That’s excellent to hear.” The strange relief of being face to face with someone who might understand his plight had put a lump his throat. “Perhaps you can fill me in on how all of this is possible.”

“Why? So you can just forget it when you return?”

He studied the courtesan with surprise, his grip tightening on the blade. “She said that—that I’d forget. But I won’t. How could I forget any of this?”

Samara gave him a thin smile. “Sit down, young man.”

Magnus despised being ordered about, but Maddox had already taken a seat at the table and watched him with a quizzical look.

“Whatever questions you have about all of this,” Magnus told the boy, “I’m afraid I can’t answer them, since I’m every bit as confused as you are.”

“Then I’ll not speak them aloud.”

Magnus couldn’t make the same promise. He finally, grudgingly, took a seat at the table across from Maddox. Samara sat down next to him. “Who is the old woman who sent me to find you?” he asked her, unraveling the bandage to show her the wound on his palm. “She did this to me.”

Samara eyed the marking. “All I will say is that she is very powerful and you should never try to cross her.”

“How does she know you?”

“Our paths have crossed.”

“But . . . how is that possible? She’s old, but she couldn’t possibly be old enough to have been here, unless . . .” Magnus’s head began to ache as he tried to sort it out. “What kind of magic is this?”

“The way you say it . . . you don’t believe in magic, do you?” she said.

“I didn’t. Not until today, anyway. And it’s still nearly impossible for me to accept what has happened to me. True elementia is a legend more than anything. And witches . . . I don’t know.” The image of the witch screaming for mercy at her execution made him wince. “I’ve never seen proof of their power—not real, tangible proof.

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