Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms 4)

“What if we find a witch and she refuses to help us?” Lucia asked. “Will we have to torture her?”

“Torture?” He frowned. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Your magic will be sufficient to help get us what we need.”

She knew her magic was more powerful than a common witch’s, but she’d only started to scratch the surface. She yearned to know more. “What do you mean?”

“Eva had a golden dagger, which she would use to carve symbols into people’s flesh—both immortal and mortal alike. The wounds would ensure obedience and truthfulness in any subject she chose.”

This dagger had to have been what Melenia had used on Alexius to manipulate his mind, force him to do her bidding, and try to kill Lucia. Her greedy act should have ended with Lucia’s death, but instead, Alexius had taken his own life.

Lucia wanted so badly to forgive him, knowing that he’d been manipulated. But so much damage had already been done, and she didn’t have the strength to muster up any more compassion.

“So Eva had a fancy magical dagger,” she said now, shrugging. “How does that story help me?”

“Eva could compel truth and obedience from mortals even without the dagger. It was a combination of all of her magic, blending the elements together to create something new—something beyond what anyone else could do. Manipulating one’s very will and molding it into a different shape. Drawing truth from a reluctant tongue. The same magic that the dagger had been infused with at its creation was the magic she possessed naturally. You possess it, too, little sorceress.”

Lucia regarded him with awe at the sheer number of possibilities this presented. “Honestly, I’ve never experienced anything like that. It sounds far too good to be true. I mean, I have Eva’s magic, but I’m not immortal like her.”

“Mortality has nothing to do with it, really.” Kyan polished off what was left of his third bowl of soup. “However, you are correct that you’re sixteen years old and Eva was ancient and ageless. You’ll need a lot of practice before you’ll be ready to wield this power without any serious difficulties.”

She frowned. “Difficulties? Like what?”

“Best to show rather than tell.” He nodded at the approaching barmaid. “Try this new gift on her. Capture her gaze. Will your deepest magic into her as if it’s a substance she will breathe in, and have her tell you a guarded truth.”

“That’s about as clear as mud.”

He spread his hands. “I can’t do it, myself. I’ve only seen it done. But I know it’s within you. You should be able to feel it rise up and flow through your every pore.”

“Well . . . I can light candles by just looking at them.”

“Like that simple magic, yes. But more. Deeper. Bigger. More epic.”

More epic? She rolled her eyes, equally exasperated and fascinated by everything he said. “Fine. I’ll try.”

The ability to pull the truth from anyone’s lips was a skill far too tempting to ignore. It would be so useful in countless ways.

The barmaid arrived at their table and slid another steaming bowl of soup in front of Kyan. “There you go, handsome. Can I bring you anything else?”

“Not for me. But my friend has a question for you.”

The barmaid looked to Lucia. “What is it?”

Lucia took a deep breath and locked eyes with the woman. It had become effortless to use the magic she’d grown accustomed to, but this had to be different.

Show me the way, Eva, she thought. Let me be like you.

While the amethyst ring she now wore on the middle finger of her right hand helped control the more beastly and uncontrollable parts of her elementia, she still felt that swirl of darkness down deep inside of her. An endless, bottomless ocean of magic, all contained within her. It was as if she could see that magic—a magic whose surface she’d only skimmed.

Awakening the Kindred had meant tapping into this swirling ocean. Lucia had dove into it so deeply she’d nearly drowned.

She needed to go there again, to that deep, dangerous place. This was not lighting a wick with a flame. This was not levitating a flower or healing a scratch or turning water to ice.

The deep, dark magic within her blended together and formed into the shape of a dagger. Lucia envisioned pressing this black dagger to the barmaid’s throat.

“Tell me your darkest secret—the one you’ve never told anyone else.” Lucia spoke the words, a whir of echoes all around her, and forced them into the woman’s mind.

“I . . . uh . . . what?” the barmaid sputtered.

Lucia inhaled deeply and pressed that invisible dagger closer to the woman’s throat. “Your darkest secret, speak it now. Don’t resist.”