Burned by Kaylin Lee

Author:Kaylin Lee [Lee, Kaylin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

4

The night was clear, and faint stars were visible even in the bright lights of the busiest avenue of the Merchant Quarter.

I stood across the street from the only pawn shop still open this time of night. Breathe in, absorb the magic. The familiar refrain I’d learned as a young man at the Mage Academy did nothing to ease the desperation twisting my stomach. Breathe out, prepare to deploy it.

I adjusted my shirt and slacks, apprehension making my movements jerky. I’d need to absorb and expel more magic than I’d ever done in the past. A Procus lady’s mage-craft gown had to last for a full season before it was out of fashion, even if she was determined not to repeat her gowns. It had been part of my job to provide a wardrobe overflowing with sparkling, fashionable dresses that lasted the whole season.

Breathe in, absorb. Breathe out, prepare. But this was different. This time, I needed enough magic to transform the clothes permanently, so the mage-craft details would never fade. I knew our class at the Mage Academy had practiced permanent transformations at one point, but I couldn’t remember participating. No doubt I’d skipped that class because it had sounded like too much work.

In. Out. More magic.

I did, however, remember my classmates complaining that it had taken days to recover from the project.

A little more. In. Out. Now … release. My shirt came first. I expelled enough magic to straighten the wrinkles and cover the stains, then I thickened the fabric to resemble expensive, imported cloth from Lerenia, the kind a young Procus lord not wealthy enough for his own appearance mage would wear to a night of dinner and dancing at Adrian’s exclusive club. The buttons got a thick, ostentatious coating of gold, and the collar received an extra dose of starch. There. The shirt was now twice as uncomfortable and worth at least seventy-five marks.

A hollow feeling in my chest robbed my lungs of breath and made me sway dizzily, but I ignored it. Ella was back at the bakery sobbing in her sleep. Surely, I still had more magic to use.

Pants next. I gave them a similar treatment, thickening the fabric, covering the stains, and adjusting the tailoring to fit the obnoxious tapered legs Procus lords were so fond of this season. With one more puff of magic, I changed their color from brown to coal-black.

Spots covered my vision, and I blinked to clear my eyes, keeping one hand on the brick wall behind me so I wouldn’t pitch sideways.

“Fifty marks, at least,” I muttered, casting a quick glance across the street to make sure the pawn shop hadn’t closed yet.

Shoes. Then I would be done. The memory of Ella’s last pained whimper had me gritting my teeth. I had to fix this for her. I had nothing left to my name but the clothes on my back and the magic in my body. Together, they had to be worth something.

With one violent gust of magic,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.