Read Online Torn: Bound Trilogy Book Two by Kate Sparkes - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kate Sparkes
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Albion, who listened and nodded and made suggestions for routes and methods of travel. I listened, and tried not to worry.
“You’d better get back in there,” Albion said to me as we reached the school.
“Am I in trouble for leaving?”
He smiled kindly. “No, but please pretend you are. Emalda won’t have a bad example set, you know.”
I thanked him and hugged Aren again. “Don’t you dare leave without saying goodbye,” I whispered.
He released me. “After everything we’ve been through, you don’t trust me?”
I forced a smile. “Not at all.”
I walked back into the school, past the library and the classrooms now filled with teachers and students, and went straight to my room.
One more night, I thought, and laid down to rest while I still could. He’s safe for one more night.
5
Aren
T hat evening , I flew.
I soared over the island toward a waterfall that was all but inaccessible on foot, clutching a bar of soap in my talons. A warm bath would have been more pleasant, but I didn’t feel patient enough to prepare one, and there certainly weren’t any servants in my apartment over the carriage house to do it for me.
Best to get used to hard living, I thought. Gods knew what I’d find ahead on the road.
I supposed I was fortunate that I had an evening to prepare for my journey, that they hadn’t forced me to leave as soon as Severn’s ship departed. Instead, I would leave at dawn, at which time I would leave myself open to whatever ways Severn had of tracking me, at least for long enough to convince him I’d left the island. He would be searching, and he had found me before.
I hadn’t mentioned that part to Rowan. She would worry enough.
Moonlight glinted off the water as I landed on the flat rocks next to the river at the bottom of the roaring falls, and transformed. The frigid air hit my skin like a slap, and I hurried into the water to get it over with, slipping over smooth, algae-covered rocks as I went. Perhaps coming all this way to freeze my bones had been a stupid decision, but it had felt important that I get away from the school. Flying cleared my mind, and physical discomfort would help me focus on the important things.
I gasped as the water covered my body, and took a deep breath before stepping under the waterfall. The cold chased all thought from my mind, and I emerged with a string of curses on my lips. Stupid decision, indeed.
At least I had no reason to worry about freezing to death. My magic protected me from that fate as much as it did death by injury—not perfectly, but far better than someone without magic could manage. It worked without direction from me, and seemed to prioritize its work based on what would best keep me alive. Had I been injured, my magic would have focused on that even if I nearly froze while it worked, and even if the injury were too severe for my magic to heal it. As I was in good health for the time being, I was free to suffer through the icy river beating down over my head. My magic didn’t make me comfortable, just as it didn’t protect me from pain or exhaustion, but I would survive.
These involuntary uses of magic used up a disproportionately large amount of power compared to anything I controlled, but I had no fear of running out. There was plenty here to draw from.
I’d planned to use the time to think over my options concerning my new mission, but found my thoughts returning to Rowan. She had great power in her. Not only was it evident in the destructive effects she caused when she tried to use it, but I’d felt it myself. She’d healed me on several occasions, back when she was able to. The sensation had been uncomfortable to me at first. Now I only wanted to feel her magic flowing through me again.
If only she could break through whatever was still blocking her and use it for her own purposes, she would go down in history as one of the great ones. I felt it as much as I knew it.
I didn’t realize I’d become lost in my
“You’d better get back in there,” Albion said to me as we reached the school.
“Am I in trouble for leaving?”
He smiled kindly. “No, but please pretend you are. Emalda won’t have a bad example set, you know.”
I thanked him and hugged Aren again. “Don’t you dare leave without saying goodbye,” I whispered.
He released me. “After everything we’ve been through, you don’t trust me?”
I forced a smile. “Not at all.”
I walked back into the school, past the library and the classrooms now filled with teachers and students, and went straight to my room.
One more night, I thought, and laid down to rest while I still could. He’s safe for one more night.
5
Aren
T hat evening , I flew.
I soared over the island toward a waterfall that was all but inaccessible on foot, clutching a bar of soap in my talons. A warm bath would have been more pleasant, but I didn’t feel patient enough to prepare one, and there certainly weren’t any servants in my apartment over the carriage house to do it for me.
Best to get used to hard living, I thought. Gods knew what I’d find ahead on the road.
I supposed I was fortunate that I had an evening to prepare for my journey, that they hadn’t forced me to leave as soon as Severn’s ship departed. Instead, I would leave at dawn, at which time I would leave myself open to whatever ways Severn had of tracking me, at least for long enough to convince him I’d left the island. He would be searching, and he had found me before.
I hadn’t mentioned that part to Rowan. She would worry enough.
Moonlight glinted off the water as I landed on the flat rocks next to the river at the bottom of the roaring falls, and transformed. The frigid air hit my skin like a slap, and I hurried into the water to get it over with, slipping over smooth, algae-covered rocks as I went. Perhaps coming all this way to freeze my bones had been a stupid decision, but it had felt important that I get away from the school. Flying cleared my mind, and physical discomfort would help me focus on the important things.
I gasped as the water covered my body, and took a deep breath before stepping under the waterfall. The cold chased all thought from my mind, and I emerged with a string of curses on my lips. Stupid decision, indeed.
At least I had no reason to worry about freezing to death. My magic protected me from that fate as much as it did death by injury—not perfectly, but far better than someone without magic could manage. It worked without direction from me, and seemed to prioritize its work based on what would best keep me alive. Had I been injured, my magic would have focused on that even if I nearly froze while it worked, and even if the injury were too severe for my magic to heal it. As I was in good health for the time being, I was free to suffer through the icy river beating down over my head. My magic didn’t make me comfortable, just as it didn’t protect me from pain or exhaustion, but I would survive.
These involuntary uses of magic used up a disproportionately large amount of power compared to anything I controlled, but I had no fear of running out. There was plenty here to draw from.
I’d planned to use the time to think over my options concerning my new mission, but found my thoughts returning to Rowan. She had great power in her. Not only was it evident in the destructive effects she caused when she tried to use it, but I’d felt it myself. She’d healed me on several occasions, back when she was able to. The sensation had been uncomfortable to me at first. Now I only wanted to feel her magic flowing through me again.
If only she could break through whatever was still blocking her and use it for her own purposes, she would go down in history as one of the great ones. I felt it as much as I knew it.
I didn’t realize I’d become lost in my
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