Page 26 of This Dark Descent
“The more people see your face, the more they’ll remember you.” Reid scratched Widget behind one ear. “And considering you probably couldn’t go five seconds without saying something to piss someone off, it’s better if you’re not around them at all.”
“You’re one to talk,” she muttered.
Damien snapped his pocket watch shut. “Your goal for the next couple weeks is not to draw attention. The more of an unknown you are, the easier it’ll be for you to slip through the first race undetected.”
Mikira let out a long sigh. This wasn’t going to end well.
CHAPTER 10
ARIELLE
ARI SETTLED INTOa rhythm in the passing days. She ate breakfast with Reid and Damien each morning, Mikira joining them on occasion, before locking herself away in the workroom. With the last of the clay prepared, she’d begun folding in the powdered verillion and emerald for the physical enchantments Mikira had requested, alongside the powdered diamond for the ethereal enchantments she planned to add.
It would be difficult to thread the numerous physical enchantments alongside the ethereal ones, and Ari still wasn’t sure she could accomplish it, but with her enchant license riding on Mikira winning the race, she wanted to give the girl as much of an advantage as she could. A horse that could sense danger and never got lost would be invaluable.
She spent her evenings in the sitting area with Reid and Damien poring overThe Book of Enchantments, a basic charming text Damien had secured for her, before attempting to apply what she’d learned alone in her room. With the boys out for the morning, however, she’d taken her latest project into the workshop with her: a bronze mark, which she’d been attempting to charm to detect danger.
To employ the verillion and diamond, she’d added them to an adhesive paint, which she’d applied to the coin and left to dry overnight. Now she held it out in her palm and muttered a binding. The coin resisted, and she struggledto force the magic through it. By the time she finished the spell, she couldn’t tell if it’d worked or not, and her head was pounding with a familiar ache.
“Hello?” Mikira’s voice rang out in the sitting room.
Ari rushed through the open workshop door, shutting it behind her so Mikira couldn’t see inside. The coin, predictably, did nothing. So much for detecting danger. She tucked it away in her blouse pocket.
She poses no danger to you, hissed the voice, and the weight of it startled her. Ever since she’d discovered her magic, her thoughts had felt a little unwieldy, a sensation she’d chalked up to the way her headaches often fogged her brain. But lately, she’d begun to feel more than just off-kilter.
It wasn’t until the morning she created the golem for Lady Belda though that it really began to feel…off, as though with each use of her magic, each golem she brought to life, it grew stronger.
Don’t be absurd, she told herself, and pushed the thought away.
“Mikira,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
The girl was dressed to ride, her hair done in a haphazard braid that Ari’s fingers itched to rearrange. The freckled bridge of her nose was pink with sunburn. “What do you mean? I’m here to train.”
“Didn’t Reid tell you they’d be out on house business for the morning?”
“No, because that would require him not to be a selfish ass.” Mikira dragged a hand down her face, then winced as her fingers brushed the burn. “I spent all morning getting my chores done so I could get over here. Do you know how hot it is outside?”
“Too hot,” Ari agreed, thinking of the clay she had stored in the darkness of Reid’s workshop. Perhaps today would be better spent on non-golem-related tasks. “I have some errands to run. Why don’t you come with me?”
Mikira hesitated. “Damien said not to draw attention to myself.”
“We’re shopping, not robbing a bank,” Ari replied. “Come on.”
They took one of the enchanted coaches Damien had put at her disposal. She’d ridden in one the day he brought her to the manor, but thesecond time was no less disconcerting, and she held on to the seat with both hands as it rumbled along. Mikira stared out the window the whole way with her arms folded and a look of deep irritation.
“So, what is it like running an enchant business?” Ari asked to distract herself from her rising discomfort.
The question startled Mikira out of her stare. “Oh, um, it’s great. Or it used to be.”
Ari couldn’t tell what was causing the girl more distress: the casual conversation or the topic. She wasn’t much used to this type of thing either. If she hadn’t spent the last few days in conversation with Reid and Damien, she’d probably have just sat in silence the whole ride.
“I really like working with the horses,” Mikira continued, warming up to the topic. “The day-to-day stuff, but my dream is to have other people doing that so I can focus on the enchant lines. I’ve been wanting to spend some time going over my grandmother’s old research. She was a biologist, and she knew a lot about crossing enchantments.”
“Is it complicated?” Ari asked. “How do you decide which ones to breed?”
Mikira unfolded her arms and leaned over her knees. “It’s a science, really. Certain enchantments can’t mix with others, and crossing the same one often makes for a really strong enchant. Crossing within the same type of charm is the best strategy, which is why you see a lot of animals with endurance and speed as a packaged set. But certain ones will still override others, which is why it’s really rare to see something enchanted for both strength and another charm.”
The more they spoke, the more open the girl became. She told Ari about her sisters, how Ailene had wanted an enchanted dog since she was a child and the way Nelda inhaled books like air. When they arrived at the row of shops along Tea Street in the Pendron District, it took them both several moments to realize the coach had stopped moving.
