Page 90 of Wolf of Ashes
It’s a compulsion that makes my senses tingle and my eyes narrow.
Hmm.
I’m not too proud to wonder if there’s something in what Diavolo was saying after all. Even if the power in the parchment is based purely in emotional attachment. Putting this picture away is like putting away my mother. A hard thing to do. In fact, it might be impossible if I were still a slave to the power of love in my heart.
But I’m not.
I close the lid and the compulsion lifts.
Placing the box firmly on the shelf, I position it next to my makeshift blindfolds. All the things that remind me of my mother.
When I return to the lounge room, I find the keeper sitting with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of himself.
I pause opposite him. “Explain.”
He lifts his gaze and scrutinizes me, searching my eyes before his focus lowers to my lips, and then down to my hands, where the tips of my claws have made an appearance.
The tension disappears from his shoulders, the friction lifting from around his eyes and mouth. He looks so incredibly relieved that for a moment, I think he’s going to stand up and cross the distance between us.
He stays where he is, but when he speaks, his voice is soft. “There aren’t many creatures who can hold a page fromThe Book of Dark Magicand resist its power, but it seems you’re one of them.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
“The Book of Dark Magic,” I whisper, startled by this information. My focus flies back toward the bedroom and the parchment I left there. “I know of it. Mom told me about it when she spoke about the keepers of magic.”
Just as there are four keepers, there are four books.
Each book works differently, true to the nature of the magic it embodies. As of twenty years ago, three of the books were either lost or hidden. Only one was out in the open and it wasn’tThe Book of Dark Magic.
The keeper exhales heavily. “Then you should also know that tearing a page out of any of the four books is a very difficult feat. In fact, I would have said completely impossible.”
Again, his focus falls to my claws.
Claws that can cut through anything. My mother may not have had the same black canines that I do, but she had the same claws.
“Your mother must have really wanted you to have that page.”
“It has a picture of—”
“Don’t tell me,” he says. “What you see in the book is for you alone.”
Again, he turns away, his chest rising and falling with a deeply indrawn breath. But he winces and rubs his heart with the heel of his palm.
My voice is small. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He shrugs. “You should get some rest. We have to be at the train station this evening.”
The glimmer of light through the nearest window tells me that dawn is on the horizon. My focus now has to be on the mission ahead.
No distractions. Including my treacherous body’s responses to Diavolo’s nearness.
I give a nod and head to the bedroom.
His voice sounds behind me just as I reach the door. “You should know, Veda, in case your mother didn’t warn you…”
I turn back to him.
The dark light in his eyes intensifies. “The Book of Dark Magiconly serves itself.”
