10. Chapter Ten
Chapter ten
Ilook around with my mouth hanging open for a few long seconds before demanding, "Wait, was that you? Did you just...talk to me?"
"Do you see anyone else out here listening to you scream into the wind?" comes the sarcasm-laced reply in my head.
"But you're not allowed to do that. I mean, other than with your chosen rider."
"Says who?" He huffs, slowing to a brisk walk on a flat part of the path. "That's some made up story we go along with to avoid countless tedious conversations about inane subjects we can't be bothered with." The silence hangs pointedly, as if to say, "Just like the one we're having right now."
Damn, Benz was right about this guy. I think he might have less patience than I do. "How is that possible? Isn't the ability to communicate part of the sacred attuning bond?"
"No great mystery. I'm talking to you because I'm choosing to. Now, tell me what you meant about actually being a Remedy. I'm intrigued. Are you not one?"
How am I going to answer when I don't even understand how I was able to allude to not having magic in the first place? I've never been able to so much as hint at it to anyone, not since I made that vow to the Sage.
I would've trusted Willa and Felix with my secret in a heartbeat if it were up to me.
I'm grateful the Sage decided to tell Bri after her Ritual two years after mine, so I wasn't completely alone in it, like I am now.
The thought compels words to spill out of me before I have time to contemplate if this is wise or not.
"I don't have any magic." Holy shit, I said it out loud. Is it because Aven is an animal? Does an everlasting vow not extend to creatures? Can't say I've tried whispering it to one of the cats before.
"Interesting." That’s his only response, like I told him I was considering learning to crochet. "How is that even possible? I thought you mortals couldn’t survive very long without magic once you attempt your little Ritual?"
"We can’t, and I don’t know how or why it happened.
The High Sage didn’t know what to make of it either.
She confirmed she couldn’t sense withering magic in me and speculated it was because I'm a Foundation.
" Somehow, despite my failure, I escaped the fate of becoming a Malladap and being forced out of the realm.
Every year, a few twenty-year olds get through the Ritual and discover their kernel of magic is withering, rotting them from the inside.
The fear of the rot spreading is so great, they are immediately sent to live out the rest of their limited days in the middle of Atafye, where there's no magic and insufficient food.
It's the cruelest part of our society, watching them be sent away.
And yet, somehow, that's not what I became. "She agreed to keep my secret and made me swear an everlasting vow not to tell anyone. Which is why I'm surprised I can even admit to any of this."
"Who am I going to tell?" He snorts, picking his way down a steep section of the hill. The raised ridges of hard bone only Amps have running along their withers come in handy to stop me slipping forward without stirrups.
"I don’t know. The rider you attune with at the end of the week maybe?"
He ignores me, pressing on. "Has that ever happened in a Foundation family before?"
It's strange how easy and familiar it already feels to hear his voice in my mind. "No, just me. And I don’t know what that’s going to mean for our bloodline and the barrier. Especially now my sister's gone—" I cut myself off before I spill secrets that don’t belong to me.
"Is she the reason you're going to the Grotto?"
"For the most part." It’s more or less true. "Officially, I'm going to help mentor the twenties through their Ritual." I reply, trying to keep it vague. I don't understand why, but I feel compelled not to lie to him. I'm also a little shocked he hasn't said any more about my lack of magic.
"I'm assuming you've never been?" I ask, grateful the ground is evening out beneath us as my muscles start to cramp.
While Amplifiers are feisty and exceedingly strong from birth, other than their unusual metallic coats, high-carried tails, and the ability to communicate, they're just like any other horse until they attune with a rider.
When that mind connection clicks into place, so does their enhanced speed, endurance, and leaping abilities, and their lifespan extends.
Until that happens, they need to be able to regularly drink from one of the three natural springs that flow from the reflection pool in the Grotto, or the kernel of magic within them dries up permanently.
Unsurprisingly, the three realms were established around the locations of the pools.
"Never left Zelindyr." He confirms. "I'm ready to, though."
"At the risk of asking another question, why haven't you attuned yet?"
Aven sounds amused when he replies. "I've considered it a few times, but Wielders who make it through your Trials are not exactly a humble group."
I laugh in agreement; he's not wrong about the egos on most of them. "So maybe it's a good thing I didn't join the Shields, even if it does mean I never get to go anywhere. We have that in common."
"And yet, you're leaving at the end of the week. Not as a Remedy or a Malladap, though. So what does that make you?"
I consider not answering but decide for embarrassing honesty. "Nothing. I don't know. I don't really fit anywhere, never have.
"Hmmm, sounds like something worth reflecting on. You better hold on."
Before I get a chance to ask why, Aven makes a sharp turn up onto a dirt path I hadn't noticed, breaking into a canter as soon as the slope evens out a little, although it's unclear why since a tall wooden gate blocks the end of the path.
"What are you doing?" I shout nervously over the wind when his speed doesn't drop. If he tries to turn without slowing, there's no chance I'm staying on.
"Like I said, hold tight," is the only warning I get before his muscles bunch and he launches us straight over the gate, clearing it without so much as clipping the top with his hooves. I let out a small scream, but it's part fear, part elation at the feeling of flying through the air.
"That was insane. Give a girl some notice, would you?" He full on laughs in my mind, clearly enjoying himself. And the magic roiling through this incredible creature is palpable. "Are you sure you don't have your gifts already? I can feel the power rippling off you."
"That's ironic," he mutters sarcastically, slowing to walk and allowing me to catch my breath and look around at where we are.
I've never been to this sun-drenched meadow before, and it doesn't take long for me to figure out why, when he comes to a stop next to an intricately carved black stone pool.
Not just any pool.
"What the fuck, Aven? No, we can't be here.
" I'd rather get caught snooping around the royal bedchamber than in this sacred place housing our realm's reflection pool, especially when I notice five other Amplifiers watching from a distance like guards.
"Seriously, why did you bring me here? We're quite literally breaking the law. "
The reservoir of sparkling aquamarine water is beautiful, but I can't take it in through a sudden sharp pain twisting down my left side.
I clutch at my ribs, not daring to take more than tiny sips of air, and even those feel like shards of jagged glass embedded in me.
I can't see anything that would be causing it.
He makes a scoffing sound, circling the wide stone rim slowly before replying. "This is a powerful place to reflect, and I need to replenish. No need to have a meltdown. It's not like you're going to poison the damn thing."
"Obviously not," I choke out through clenched teeth, trying to suck in more air when my vision swims. "Can we please leave?" I double over his neck, pressing at the confusing, intensifying pain while he lowers his head to drink.
"Are you not even tempted to peek at your reflection? Some say it can give you glimpses of the future."
Still clutching my side, I try to figure out how to convince Aven to leave.
"I've never heard that before. Surely, nobody can see the future.
Anyway, I don't need the pool for that. Mine will be me locked in the dungeons or banished to Envenar.
I'm not allowed to be here." I glance up at the still-light sky for the moons I thought I'd just seen dancing across the surface of the water.
There's no sign of them, though. The other horses don't seem bothered by us, but it's strange there aren't any guards here.
"You're really into all those rules, aren’t you?
" he asks dryly when he finishes drinking, thankfully turning around and walking to the gate, even allowing me to unlatch it so we can go through instead of over it this time.
As soon as we're heading down the path away from the pool, the fear of being caught quickly subsides, along with the pain, and I take my first proper breath in minutes.
"I'm fairly sure lying about having magic goes against a fair few rules. And right now, there aren't many I wouldn't break to see my sister. I feel untethered without her."
"Why not go to her?"
"Like it's that simple? Should I go ask the King if I can borrow his carriage for a month or two? Or maybe see if any of the broomsticks can fly?"
"I'll take you," he jokes. "We can attune right now. Let's go. Where is she? Somewhere more fun than the Grotto, I hope."
"Haha, very funny. You can't attune with me, I'm the least qualified option imaginable."
"There you go again with your precious rules.
Can't do this, can't do that." He chuffs teasingly, turning up the grassy slope toward the top gate.
I squeeze tighter with my achy legs, praying I don't slide right off the back of him with Benz watching on.
"Are you going to wait until she comes home then? "