Damask & Deception (Spellbound #2)

Chapter 32: Life of Illusion

Baudwin closed the library door behind him and looked at the two sorcerers he'd ushered into the room after making sure it was empty.

"Tell me everything," he ordered, too wound up to be polite. He'd known his wife kept secrets from him, she'd more or less admitted so herself. But this was not just any secret. How did you not tell your husband you're a sorcerer? Or almost a sorcerer.

Sorceress Isobel made a face as if she was uncomfortable before sighing. "Right. Mairin... I mean Rhiannon, came to us at Highglaive maybe a decade ago. It was unusual for magically gifted to seek us out, but she was extraordinary. Very talented for someone who had never been trained. The magic obviously ran strong in her. Which was curious by itself."

"How come?"

He crossed his arms over his chest as the Sorceress moved along the table and chairs in the middle of the room, absently running her fingers across the high backs of the chairs.

"Well, most commonly we are sent children and young people who show signs of magic," she explained, a small furrow between her winged brows as she considered her words. "It's a rare gift, and any family who discovers it in their children are usually keen to send them to Highglaive. Or we discover them ourselves. Grand Sorcerer Arawn used to travel the lands, looking for magically gifted before the attack on Messina. I think losing so many in Deva's attack broke him."

She looked up to meet his gaze, smiling sadly. "It broke all of us a little. We lost nearly all of our adepts and most of our sorcerers."

Wray cleared his throat, and she startled. The sorcerer was giving her a knowing look, and after a grimace towards him, she shrugged.

"But I digress. Mai—Rhiannon came to us maybe two years before the attacks, when we still had halls full of hopeful adepts. I had been an adept for several years already, and we trained together for some time before they granted me the Sorcerer title. She was more skilled than most of the other adepts, despite them having been with us longer."

"What happened to her?" Baudwin shifted from one foot to the other, restless energy making his skin crawl. "Was she there when Deva attacked?"

Isobel hesitated for a moment, standing behind a chair with both hands resting on the back, then she nodded. "Yes. I've only heard this from others, as I wasn't there myself. I was away when Deva attacked, which is why I could help Felix and Goddess Dhim gather the armies of the twelve kingdoms to mount our attack."

"So, you can't be sure?" Maybe it was all a big misunderstanding. Maybe Rhiannon only resembled this Mairin.

As if she knew his frantic thoughts, Isobel smiled sadly. "No matter what... It is the same woman. Of that I am certain. All I'm saying is that what transpired when Deva attacked, and the years he was holding the city, the unspeakable things they endured... I wasn't there. I've only heard third party accounts."

Baudwin frowned. The unspeakable things they endured. He knew Deva had made Highglaive his base after taking the city, but he'd never thought much of what had happened to the inhabitants of the tower. Somehow he'd assumed that they had either fallen or fled, like the rest of the citizens of Messina.

"And?" he prompted when she didn't immediately continue and nearly missed the look between her and Wray. Turning to the sorcerer, he raised a questioning eyebrow.

The other man met his gaze silently before sighing. "I was there. When Isobel said I was busy elsewhere and couldn't help during the attack, it's because I was one of the prisoners in Highglaive."

Baudwin nodded, trying to hide his surprise. It definitely wasn't what he'd expected the sorcerer to say.

"Those who didn't perish in the initial attack—which was most of us—were captured. I think there were six sorcerers still alive, a handful of adepts, and a few of our sentinel guards. By the time the armies defeated Deva, there were only three sorcerers, one adept and two sentinels left alive." Wray dragged a hand through his dark hair, his eyes haunted.