Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Away. He needed to get away.
Kane tilted his head to the sky, relishing the cool breeze against his skin, calming the rising heat of his body. The stone had accepted his Grace and pulled at the fire in his veins with greed. It could have ripped the hellfire straight from his hands and lit his boat like a torch.
He felt how close it was to cracking and setting the wood of his ship ablaze. But that wasn’t what made his stomach crawl. A thread had started to form, that unmistakable connection that would only grow if he let it.
He stared at his palms, could still feel the press of her hands in his. She withstood his Grace. Remained unscathed by the hellfire he used against the stone, and something in her responded in kind. He felt it, light as a feather, but painfully there.
Utterly perfect.
Kane grit his teeth. He had felt something like this once before, that irritating, pesky little bond. He would have to tread more carefully around her. The last thing he needed was a Favored.
Once Erinna gathered what she needed from that godsforsaken library they would both be out of each other’s hair. That would be for the best. But Kane didn’t feel particularly pleased to part with her.
His Grace responded to whatever lurked beneath the surface. She had a power over the arcanum as well. He could feel it.
Hells, part of him craved it. Needed to know what she was hiding and why it felt so intoxicating to be near. Perhaps he could force her into a pact.
A real one.
Not some work-around that did little but loosen the bonds of a previous deal. Not a bullshit exchange of information. A real, forged-in-hellfire pact. One that would let him take a piece of whatever she was hiding for himself. One that could truly bind them together for a time.
Kane pushed the ideas from his head. It was time to check on Afton, as he usually did when he needed someone to argue with. That would be a much better use of his time than dealing with her pestering questions and, more importantly, than being stuck in such close proximity to said questions.
When Kane returned to the courtyard, Afton was already at his station in front of the door.
Sweat drenched through his shirt, dripping from his temple.
His shadow elongated at unnatural angles, curving away from the ground and leveling out a few inches above his head.
Afton managed to enchant his own shadow to shade against the beating sun.
Kane was surprised at how much an enchanter could do. He always figured they were the squishiest of the bunch. Easiest to kill. But in the few days of working with the Minor Apprentice, the pirate had been forced to admit there was much about arcanum that he simply did not understand.
“Status?” he barked.
“Good news and bad news.” Afton closed the book and approached the large metal doors. The haze of heat rose from the dark metal.
The Minor Apprentice held up his hands, brows knit into a tight line, eyes squeezed shut in concentration. Kane could feel the buzz of energy, a stale static in the air as he called on the threads of magic, pulled at the threads of arcanum to do his bidding.
The ground rumbled beneath his feet, and even his crew members paused to watch the commotion.
It took a moment for Kane to realize that the ground itself wasn’t moving, but the massive gears that locked the door were grinding for the first time in perhaps one hundred years.
This, Kane reminded himself, was what a Minor Apprentice could do.
Metal ground on metal as Afton groaned against the strain, like he was moving the doors with his bare hands.
He had done it. Afton had finally broken through those godsforsaken wards. Kane wanted to cheer and clap him on the back in congratulations, but he stopped himself. There was still bad news.
With a pop and a hiss, Afton lowered his hand and let out a shaky breath. The hinges of the doors groaned, and Kane took a step closer. He reached his hand up to the large handles and pulled. Afton had yet to stop him, and Kane reckoned that was a good sign.
The door creaked, and sunlight spilled into the darkness of the entryway. Stale air rushed to meet them, bringing the scent of dust and decay. A living soul likely hadn’t visited in a hundred years. Not since the last of the island’s hermits had died off, leaving only Iprix as the sole visitor.
Afton stumbled to Kane’s side, breathing hard from magical exertion. Before he gathered his bearings and had a chance to stop him, Kane took a few steps forward.
“Wait!” Afton shouted, but it was too late. The ground beneath his feet shuddered and fell away into a dark abyss. Kane triggered one of the traps. One that Afton had yet to disarm.
He stumbled back, his foot nearly slipping on dust-slick tile. A jagged rift split the earth, and the rush of waves below promised a certain death for any who fell. Its gaping maw ready to swallow those who dared enter.
“Fuck!” Kane kicked at the doorframe and blasted fire down the rift in frustration. It illuminated the steep drop before extinguishing on the roiling black water below.
“I…tried…to warn you,” Afton grumbled through heavy pants. He used more strength than Kane realized.
The two men returned to the courtyard. Kane made sure to slam the doors shut behind him. There was resistance in the hinges still, but with enough strength the metal finally caved.
He beckoned to Scout, who was currently leaning against the wall, partially obscured by shadow. Kane swore he had some level of precognition, the way he was always around at the exact time Kane needed him.
“Captain?” Scout inquired, sauntering up to Kane.
“Make sure everyone knows they cannot go through these doors.”
Scout nodded and turned to disseminate the lifesaving information.
“Make sure you let Erinna know,” Kane added. A few of his crew would be interested in exploring the fort if he did not warn them first, but Erinna would certainly get herself killed if she knew the doors were open.
Kane watched his crew member scamper across the camp and down the hill on the way to the ship. He would make quick work of the warning.
“So, the bad news is that there are more traps than I thought. And thanks to your impulse, it will be even harder for me to disarm them from across that void.”
Flame burst to life in Kane’s palm. “Do you think it wise to pin the blame on me, mage? Maybe if you weren’t so busy touting your own power, you could have warned me first.”
Afton glared but took a step away from Kane’s fury. From the judgement that painted his every feature, it was clear that Afton could tell there was more bothering the pirate than arcanum traps.
Kane looked back at the doors and clenched his jaw to keep any more insults from coming through. When he was calmer, maybe he could see that they both had decent points. The doors could open. That meant he was one step closer to that library and one step closer to those maps.
“What are the next steps?” Kane ground out.
“Well, it should be a bit easier for me to finish off the remaining traps, but now we have to figure out the best way to cross that chasm.”
Kane nodded. “Let’s get to it then.”