Read Online ARC: The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke - Free Book Online

her plant them, the way we did every year. She never told us what seeds we were given, and it was a surprise every spring when they revealed themselves.
    It was almost spring there. But it didn’t feel like spring here.
    “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
    “North.” Kolur pointed up to the sky, as if the world were a map.
    I glared at him. “Well, if you’re not going to answer my questions, do you at least have anything for me to do?”
    Kolur shrugged.
    “Maybe you should have thought of that before you dragged me out on your errand.”
    Over at the navigation table, Frida lifted her head, the wind tossing strands of her silvery-brown hair into her eyes. “I do,” she called out.
    I frowned. Glanced at Kolur. He was staring out at the water, lost in the motions of the Penelope.
    “You can come over,” she said. “I won’t bite.”
    I walked across the deck, rubbing at my bracelet. It held the warmth of my skin, so I knew I didn’t face any immediate harm.
    “Our path is going to get dangerous,” Frida said.
    “I thought this was just a simple errand.”
    Frida smiled. “The danger isn’t the errand; it’s the path.” She pulled the cover over the carved map before I could see where that path led us. “The ice hasn’t completely broken up yet, so we run the risk of icebergs. Kolur tells me you can do a bit of magic? I may need help with spells, and I thought we could practice.”
    “You want me to help you but you won’t even tell me where we’re going?” Heat flushed in my cheeks.
    Frida looked at me, her head tilted like a bird. “Kolur asked me not to.”
    I twisted around and looked at him through the blustering wind and the flapping sails. He was ignoring us both, as was his way.
    “Why?” I turned back to her. “What harm could it do? It’s not like I have any choice here.”
    Frida smiled knowingly. “That’s what I told him. But he’s worried about you doing something that could get yourself hurt.”
    I hugged myself, trying to conjure up some warmth.
    “Shall I show you the magic we’ll be doing?”
    “On what? There isn’t any ice around here.”
    “Ah.” Frida nodded. “Yes. I see what Kolur was worried about now.”
    “What?” I hated this, the way they both kept talking around me, dropping hints. Like they were playing some stupid game.
    “There is ice here. Come.” She walked over to the railing. I waited a moment to be contrary. Then I followed out of nothing better to do. The water was choppy and dark green, almost black: a color that made me think of emptiness. “It’s hidden, drifting beneath the surface. I have a spell working to melt it away before it hits the boat.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “That’s why I’m not burning the heat charms.”
    I had wondered, but she didn’t need to know that.
    “Kolur worried that you would run off when we next made port, that you’d try to steal a boat to sail your way back home.” She laughed. “I told him you seem capable enough. You’re his apprentice, after all.”
    I squeezed the railing and wondered where we were going to make port. It was hard to remember the carved map from Papa’s boat, but I was pretty sure there were chains of smaller islands this far north. Not that I’d ever heard anything about them. Papa was always saying that there was enough wonder in the waters of Kjora to last a lifetime.
    “Where are we going to make port?” I said.
    “Ah, already plotting your escape, I see.”
    “I’m not going to steal a boat,” I snapped. “Kolur’s going to take me home, isn’t he?”
    “Of course.” Frida smiled. “But your mother is a pirate.”
    I rolled my eyes. “You can’t sail these boats alone, even with magic. I’m not an idiot.”
    Frida laughed. “It’s been done before, I imagine. But yes, you’d be safer with a crew. Honestly, his real concern is that you wouldn’t know this part of the world. It’s dangerous, more dangerous than