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  Landon tried to look past Alison, but she kept pressing toward him, forcing him to focus on her, even when he obviously thought he would be given a chance to contest Carth. “We’ll do this, Cantor, but tomorrow. Don’t think to try to slink off and hide.”

  Alison flourished her knives before slipping them back into the sheaths at her waist. “I’ll be there. I expect you’ll change your mind tomorrow, though.”

  Landon’s scowl deepened, and he motioned to Kale and Bardin, leading them away. When they were gone, Alison let out a long sigh. “Well, that should be interesting.”

  “Thanks. You don’t have to do that.”

  Alison grinned. “Don’t worry, I don’t think I will.” She started off without explaining what she meant. “Besides, I didn’t want you having to deal with them after a day like you had today. I can see how wiped you are. Landon and the other two only wanted to challenge you because you’re working with Invar. It’s like they think they can impress him by facing you.”

  “That’s not going to impress Invar.”

  Alison shrugged. “Probably not. That doesn’t change the fact that they think it will.” They stopped at the cosak, and Alison gave her a quick hug. “Get some rest. I’ll deal with them and you can worry about what you need to do to make Invar happy tomorrow. Hopefully it will be more than simply showing him how you reach your potential.”

  “That’s probably all he’ll have me do again. That’s all he’s had me doing since he started working with me.” Except she knew that tomorrow would be different, if only because he wanted her to meet him at the palace gate. Maybe he thought to show her how he placed the protections on the walls. She didn’t dare think about the other possibility—that she might actually get to leave the palace grounds.

  9

  “You seem surprised, Ms. Rel,” Invar said. He walked about three paces in front of her, the wide maroon sash of the A’ras wrapped around his wrist, leaving him otherwise covered in a plain brown robe that dragged across the ground.

  Carth kept her eyes sweeping the streets around her, her hand clasping the stone coin Invar had given her, a key of sorts to leaving the palace. It had been years since she’d left and the shock of the city caught her off guard. She didn’t remember how dirty the streets were, or the way the buildings on either side seemed to loom toward the street, some rising high enough to block out the sunlight.

  Through it all, she felt the soft, tickling awareness of the shadows.

  Carth wanted to reach for them, use them to cloak herself, but she didn’t dare, not while Invar remained nearby, watching. Instead, she kept herself content letting the sense of the shadows play across the back of her mind, feeling something like a gentle caress.

  She should not. The shadows distracted her from the A’ras magic, and that was what Invar wanted her to focus on.

  “It’s been some time since I left the grounds,” she said.

  Invar waved with his free hand. Carth noted that the other remained on the hilt of his sword. “The ashai must remain on the grounds during their studies. It is… safest that way.”

  The streets teemed with activity. People bustled past her, many dressed in the simple dark browns and blacks favored by those within Nyaesh. A few wore wide-brimmed hats that shaded their eyes or wraps that covered their heads, leaving only their eyes exposed. With so many different styles of dress, she didn’t know how she’d pick out the Hjan, and she thought that was the entire reason Invar had brought her out into the city.

  “Why? Why is it safest? The A’ras patrol the streets of Nyaesh. Shouldn’t the ashai learn how so that when we pass through, we can help?”

  Invar glanced back to her, a serious expression on his face. “There are other threats beyond the Hjan. The Reshian continue to press. They might not have entered the city, but that doesn’t mean they will not continue to try. It would be dangerous for an untrained ashai to encounter the Reshian.”

  Carth chased after him as he disappeared around a corner, turning down an alleyway. As she followed, she remembered how she’d raced through the streets in the months after losing her parents, how she’d discovered that the games her parents had taught her lent her an advantage when it came to collecting scraps. Back then, the streets had become a place to play, a place where she worried about nothing more than avoiding the attention of the A’ras, or of the guild, but even that had been because she hadn’t known better. The threats within Nyaesh were greater than she had realized at that time.

  Invar stopped when the street started to slope down toward the river. The street was wider here, one of the main thoroughfares stretching between the docks and the rest of the city, letting more of the bright sunlight fill the streets. The noise and commotion from people in the street doubled, leaving little space to move freely. How had she managed to run through here?

  “I understand that you know this part of the city,” Invar said.

  Carth stood at the corner of a bakery, a butcher across the way. The scents from the bakery tickled her nose, and once would have set her mouth watering, but she ate well studying with the A’ras, never quite as hungry as she’d been when running the streets. Even then, Vera had treated her well, ensuring that she wasn’t really hungry.

  “When my parents died, an innkeep took me in.”

  “She did more than that, from what I understand.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, Ms. Rel, that she kept you alive. Your parents were targeted, were they not?”

  She wrapped her arms around herself, trying not to have flashbacks to the day she’d lost them. While studying within the grounds of the palace, it was easier to forget about what had happened, easier to close off those memories and focus on the reason she studied, trying to hone her magic so that it came more easily to her. But wasn’t the reason she studied with the A’ras so that she could find those responsible for her parents’ death?

  “They were targeted, yes. Felyn killed them.”

  “Felyn. One of the Hjan, at a time when we did not understand their danger. Impressive that you were able to evade him.”

  “You knew him?”

  As Invar shook his head, his hand squeezed the hilt of his sword, his knuckles going white. “I did not know the man. As much as we might insulate ourselves within Nyaesh—and make no mistake, Ms. Rel, we are insulated—much comes to us. I had heard of deadly assassins for years before he ever reached the borders of our city. When Felyn first crossed through, we detected his presence.”

  “That’s why there had been so many patrols,” she realized.

  Invar nodded. “Observant. Yes, the A’ras had not patrolled the city as much prior to that. We are not soldiers, but we can provide a different kind of protection. When the Hjan reached the city, and when we detected the first presence, there were a few of us who recognized the need to step up our involvement. And when the Hjan left, the Reshian followed.” He glanced at her, holding her eyes a moment. “Most fear them related, but those who know understand they were not.”

  Carth hadn’t been in the city long when the patrols had begun. She remembered them well, the sense of brutality from the A’ras, the power she had detected from them even then, and the way people cowered from them. It made sense for people to have been frightened. They weren’t accustomed to the A’ras presence, not so openly within the city.

  “Why have the A’ras continued patrols, then?” Carth asked.

  “You have witnessed the reason, Ms. Rel.”

  “The Hjan?”

  “The Hjan still come to Nyaesh from time to time but have not attacked openly. Not until recently. Always before, we knew they were here. The protections we placed upon the city allow us to know that much, but not much else. When we have fought the Hjan, we have died. The only person known to have stopped one stands next to me. Still, that is not the reason we patrol.”

  “The Reshian?”

  When Invar nodded, she thought back to what she knew of them, which wasn’t m
uch, but she would not have expected to need the A’ras to defend against them.

  “Most fear the Reshian more than any other attack,” he said.

  “But not you.”

  He offered a half-smile. “I fear something else. When Avera witnessed you using A’ras magic against one of the Hjan, all hesitation about your entrance to the ashai faded. You have potential, though it is slow for you. Most imagined that was because you came to us as an older student. Many have learned to reach their potential easily by the time they are your age, which is why I wonder if the games your parents played with you, the skills they thought to teach you, prevented you from reaching it.”

  Jhon had warned her against sharing that she hadn’t used A’ras magic to stop Felyn. She might have used the A’ras knife she had stolen from the fallen man, but it had been shadows that killed him, not A’ras magic.

  “I saw you face the Hjan,” she said. “I saw how the three of you handled him.”

  Invar chuckled. “Handled. I think that we did less than handle, though any praise when it comes to the Hjan is appreciated. We managed to hold him off, but still he escaped, much as they do every time we face them. We need to capture one of the Hjan so that we can determine what they target in the city.”

  “That’s why you brought me out here with you?” she asked. “You want to see if I can detect where they might be?”

  Invar took a step toward her and leaned in so that his face was barely a hand’s width away. “I think you can, Carthenne Rel. And we need that ability of yours if we are to find a way to stop them.” He took a deep breath and stepped back. “You have seen what they can do, Ms. Rel. You have seen the way they are willing to attack us. We must find a way to discover them before they attack again.”

  “What makes you think they’ll attack again?”

  “They are after something, Ms. Rel. The others might not believe, but I do. Worse, I do not know what they seek, but I fear that even the A’ras will not be strong enough to stop them.”

  Invar led her through the city for much of the day. He would pause at times and ask her to focus on reaching her potential, and once she did, she had to hold on to it as they made a steady circuit through the city. A few times, they caught a glimpse of some of the other A’ras patrols, but each time, Invar made a point of directing her in a different direction. Once, she thought she saw Samis with one of the patrols, but they didn’t get close enough for her to know. It would be better for her to see Samis than Landon, she decided.

  The longer she held on to the magic flowing through her, the more tired she became. Her mind rebelled against some of the lessons Invar had for her, things such as creating barriers, or using her power to enhance her speed. All of those were lessons that some of the earliest students were asked, and here one of the masters had her repeating them.

  As the day grew longer, shadows began to stretch over the city, filling the streets with undulating pools of darkness. To her, it was more than darkness—it was a sense of power that she had only to reach for. Carth resisted, but the more tired she became, the harder it was to withstand the draw.

  “When will we return to the palace?” she asked as they stopped. They were on the edge of the city, standing in the shadows of the massive city wall. Soldiers patrolled along the wall, but there was the occasional flash of maroon telling her they didn’t patrol alone.

  “You have not left the confines of the grounds in years and now you would return? I am disappointed, Ms. Rel. I thought you would be more interested in spending time out in the city.”

  “I was. Am. I’m tired.”

  “For you to gain control of your abilities, you will need to move past the fatigue you feel when using your potential.”

  “You’ve had me holding on to my power constantly. You don’t do that.”

  He quirked a brow at her, and a half smile crossed his face. “You are so certain?”

  Carth sighed. “I told you I can feel when you use your magic. You’re not holding it now.”

  A sudden smack sent her sliding into the wall. Invar hadn’t moved, and as far as she could tell, he hadn’t drawn on his magic either. “Are you so certain that I’m not?”

  Her heart hammered. She’d been so accustomed to knowing when the A’ras used their magic that she hadn’t considered that some would be able to do it without her knowing. If any could, it would be one of the masters. “What? How?”

  She was too tired and could barely think straight.

  “Nothing more than a trickle. Speed is important, as you’ve seen, Ms. Rel. When it comes to these attacks, even I must be ready.”

  A trickle. She’d been holding on to more than that, but then, she had no choice but to hold on to more than a trickle. But how had she not noticed?

  Was it a test?

  Carth watched Invar, trying to glean something from his neutral expression. Could he have wanted to see what she would do, and whether she would be able to detect him using his magic? Was that another reason he’d brought her with him into the city?

  The hours spent using her power left her drained, and she’d only been able to focus on how tired she felt, not bothering to spend any energy thinking about whether there was even a subtle shift of power. It was possible that having her hold on to her magic made it harder for her to detect him.

  As she tried to focus on whether she could detect him using his magic even while she was tired, a different sensation came to her, one that made her stomach roll. It was a queasy, greasy feeling and she covered her mouth to try and keep from vomiting.

  “They’re here,” she said.

  “You don’t look well, Ms. Rel.”

  “Hjan. They’re here.”

  Power surged from Invar. “Can you identify where?”

  She could tell the direction of the power, but she couldn’t tell how far away they were. “North.”

  Invar started off. “Come, Ms. Rel. I will need your… nose? Whatever it is that allows you to detect them.”

  Carth struggled to keep up with Invar as they weaved between rows of houses, hurrying along streets, making their way deeper into the city. The streets here became familiar, and it took Carth a moment to realize why; this was where she had lived, however briefly.

  The nausea flipped in her stomach again. They were close.

  Carth pointed, barely able to see clearly, but she didn’t need to see to know that this was the last home she’d had. The sounds along the street—even the smells—were the same. Why would the Hjan have come here?

  Invar surged power again, unsheathing his sword as he did.

  “The shadow blessed.”

  The voice grated against her ears, ripping through her as the man strode from her old home. “You have returned home, it seems.”

  Invar jumped forward, sword swinging with deadly A’ras magic.

  The Hjan flicked his hand toward him and Invar collapsed.

  It was as simple and terrifying as that. Invar didn’t move, and Carth didn’t know if he even still breathed, now sprawled across the stones outside her family home.

  The Hjan turned to face her, eyes burning with a dark intensity. “You intrigue me, shadow blessed. There are not many who manage to do so these days.”

  Carth reached for her knife, trying to focus her magic as she did, but it came too slowly.

  The Hjan stopped in front of her, holding a pair of knives. “There are not many of your kind who remain, did you know that? I have personally seen to nearly a dozen. The rest… they will fall soon enough.”

  Carth trembled, trying to push magic through the knife, but the connection was difficult. As tired as she was, she couldn’t reach her magic as she needed. Even were she not tired, she didn’t know if she would be able to reach the magic strongly enough to hold off the Hjan. If Invar fell so easily before him, what could she do?

  “Perhaps I will bring you with me to Venass. There are many who would appreciate the opportunity to study one of the shadow blessed.”

  Throug
h the pain, she felt strength come to her, almost willed into her, the shadows filling her as they had all those years ago.

  She was shadow blessed. Though she didn’t know what that meant for her, she could use those shadows now.

  Unable to access her A’ras magic, she reached for the shadows and sent their power through her knife. The Hjan hesitated, flickering a moment as he moved toward her. Wrapped in the shadows as she was, she didn’t feel the same twisting nausea she’d felt before.

  “You cannot hide from me for long, shadow blessed,” he taunted.

  He made a movement with his hand, twisting the knives in such a way that light radiated from them and pushed against the shadows. Carth had been out of practice using them and suspected that, had she not been stuck behind the walls of the palace for all those years, she would have better learned how to use them. But now, when she wanted the control, it began to slip from her, slowly pushed away, as if it were too slippery for her to maintain.

  Carth took a deep breath, ducking toward the wall of her old house. The shadows were thicker there and pulling on them was easier, letting her practically breathe them in.

  The Hjan spun toward her, the light flowing from him.

  Carth wouldn’t be able to hold on to the shadows for much longer, not like this.

  With another breath, she sent the shadows flowing through the knife. Somehow, it seemed to mix with the A’ras magic she still managed to hold, so that when she jumped toward the Hjan, slicing with the knife, she managed to cut him on the arm.

  Carth hit the ground hard and lost her breath.

  She rolled to the side, scrambling to reach more shadows, but there was no need.

  The Hjan had fallen, his breaths coming in strangled gasps, his hand tearing at the arm she’d cut. Carth didn’t move any closer, afraid to get too near the fallen Hjan. She watched with horrid fascination as he stabbed at his arm, digging into the flesh with one of his knives. Light flashed from it, blindingly bright.

  Carth had to look away. When she turned back, he was gone.