To Kill a Wizard: Rose's Story (The Protectors of Tarak Book 1) (28 page)

A picture of the earth crumbling down and incasing me in a grave of dirt flashed in my mind, but I pushed the image away. This staircase would lead me to Asher, I knew it.

Reaching down, my hand closed around a thick branch. Taking several deep breaths, I spoke the name of the Goddess of Fire, Promethia. The tip of the branch roared to life with flames. My hand shook as I stepped onto the first stair. It required all my concentration to keep my knees from buckling as I moved downward.

The stairs wound in a tight circle, blocking my view, and making it especially important to focus on the crumbling steps. Something rumbled above me, and then all traces of natural light disappeared. The wall must’ve closed above me.

Pressing my hand along the dirt wall, I used it to steady myself as I continued forward. I went on like this, with pressure slowly building in my chest, until I could hardly breathe. An intense desire to turn around and run back the way I came nearly made me scream, but I refused to let it escape.

Still it built.

Darkness behind me, darkness ahead of me.

Time crept on.

Was it my imagination? No. Light gently filtered through the darkness somewhere ahead of me. I picked up my pace, until at last I broke free of the stairs.

Squinting into the brightness, my eyes slowly adjusted, and then widened. I took a step back. Beneath my feet, a glass floor stared out into the valley below the castle. A sickening feeling washed over me, and I waited on the bottom stair, trying to decide which was worst, the cramped space of the staircase, or the sharp drop into nothing beneath the glass floor.

“Is someone there?”

The sound of Asher’s voice made the decision for me. My lips twisted into a smile, and I stomped the flames out of the tree branch, before setting it at the bottom of the stairs and inching my way out onto the glass floor.

“It’s Rose,” I called, although I still couldn’t see Asher.

I crept down a long hallway. On each side of me was a room, the walls made of glass. The rooms were simply furnished, with beds, bookshelves, tables, and chairs. But what caught my attention was the purity of the blue skies outside of the rooms. Something fluttered in my stomach as I wondered if there were even glass walls surrounding the rooms, or if they simply opened out into the nothingness of the sky.

When I reached the end of the hall, I frowned. I’d seen no doors to get into either of the rooms.

“Rose?”

I turned at the sound of Asher’s voice. He’d appeared almost out of thin air. I reached out to touch him, but the glass walls of the hall stopped me.

“Are you real?” he asked.

My heart skipped a beat. “Are you?”

“I’m real, and I’m glad to see you.” He smiled, a half-smile that left me breathless.

I longed to touch his face, where stubble now grew. To softly brush my lips against his.

The urge surprised me. The kisses Asher and I had shared were my first. To instinctually seek out another one the second I saw him… I wondered if it was the magical connection between us or simply his own personal
something
that drew me to him.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, my hands ran along the smooth glass separating us. “How do I reach you?”

“She opens a door right here,” he said pointing, and we both moved to the spot. “But, it disappears after she goes through it.”

“Who is
she
?”

“The witch, Blair,” he answered, frowning.

“Has she hurt you?”

He tilted his head and regarded me carefully. For a moment, I was lost in the deep blue of his eyes, noticing for the first time the tiny specks of gold in his irises.

“She hit me once, but no she hasn’t done more than that.” He ran a hand through his messy hair and leaned against the glass. “The witch also healed my arm though, and she’s been talking to me, asking me questions.”

I tried to keep the shock from my voice. “
Talking
to you? What could she possibly have to say?”

He grew very still. “She asks if my life has been happy. If my mother has been kind to me, and if I liked growing up in Wintercarve.”

“And what do you tell her?”

“Nothing, or at least I try not to. I don’t know what the witch is after, but a Protector can never be trusted.”

My hands fell from the glass as I stared down at the leather bracelet concealing my mark. I’d thought of many things when I’d been forced to join The Protectors of Tarak, but I’d never considered what Asher would think of me. But now I knew. His feelings for me, whatever they might be, would be gone the moment he learned the truth.

“What if your sister is a Protector, won’t you still love her?”

His knuckles pressed into the glass. “She’d choose death before she’d sell her soul to these witches.” He stiffened, as if he’d said something terrible. “But after being thrown in here, I know they take prisoners. I just hoped there was another place they might put her. There must be.”

I nodded, suddenly unable to speak.

“Have you seen her?” He ventured, hope giving a soft quality to his words. “She’s a small girl, with brown eyes and hair. Just like my mother.” A smile touched his lips. “And she cries about everything.”

A wave of emotion swept through my body, and I turned away from him, sliding to the floor. My gaze clung to the bracelet on my wrist. “Sorry, no.”

He knelt down, just on the other side of the glass. “Don’t worry, it isn’t your fault. We’ll find her.”

I pulled my legs to my chest and fought for control. Asher and I barely knew each other, but he hated what I was, even if he didn’t know it yet.

How would he react if he found out his One was a Protector? He was the only man I could ever marry, but he’d likely fight the connection between us, once he found out.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

He was on the other side of the glass, but my body reacted to the sound of his soft voice like his words were a caress. Goose bumps erupted down my arms, and danced along my spine.

I turned, he was just inches from me, and I tried my best to smile. “Yes. I was just thinking of how I’m going to get you out of there.”

“Rose,” he paused, his eyes searching my face. “I’m a wizard.”

My hand reacted before my thoughts could process his words. But to my surprise, I’d reached up, as if to caress his face. “I know.”

He studied my hand. “And you still want to set me free?”

I closed my hand into a fist and pressed it against the glass. “I couldn’t sleep knowing you weren’t happy and free.”

“But, you aren’t just freeing Asher, you’re freeing a wizard.”

I laughed. “My heart doesn’t seem to be able to separate you from the wizard.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. I wanted to take them back, turn back time, but it was too late.

He leaned away. “Your heart?”

“Don’t say anything,” I cried, scrambling to my feet. “It was a mistake. We have more important things to deal with, like getting you out of here.”

He rose slowly. “You sure?”

I nodded, praying he’d let my comment go. The last thing I’d wanted to do was acknowledge my feelings for him, and somehow I’d out and out said them. Aloud. To him.

“Does Blair say anything when she opens the door?” I asked, trying to draw his focus back to his escape.

He crossed his arms over his chest and said nothing for so long I thought I’d burst. “She says the Goddess of Freedom’s name.”

“How does she say it?” I asked, looking down at my boots.

“What do you mean?”

“I think I can get you out of her, but I need to know exactly how she says her name.”

He sighed. “I don’t know. Kind of like a song, a really breathy song with high notes.”

His suggestion helped, a little. But I’d already learned one goddess’s name on my own that day, would I really be lucky enough to learn another?

For some reason, I thought of the moment I’d prayed to Demetria, the goddess of the harvest, on the day I’d hoped to be Chosen. It seemed like such a very long time ago, yet it felt fitting in this moment to send a prayer to the goddess of my home village. If any of them actually listened to us, I had to believe it would be her.

Please, help me make this right.

Placing my hands on the glass wall, I ignored the way they shook. “Libra,” I whispered, trying the taste of her name on my tongue. “Libra, Libra, Libra,” I chanted her name, changing the sound of each syllable. I tried to make it sound breathless and high, but as I spoke, the name just didn’t feel right.

“Nothing’s happening,” Asher whispered.

“I know,” I said, not needing him to tell me the obvious.

Studying the glass wall more carefully, a thought occurred to me. Thinking of a wall was probably not the best way to get in touch with the Goddess of Freedom. I needed to visualize freedom, not just a door opening in the wall, but the sense that the world was at my fingertips.

“I just need a minute.”

Closing my eyes, I visualized myself as a bird, flying over my father’s fields. I imagined myself twisting in the air, singing the song that only the birds knew the meaning of. I was free in the sky, free from all the things that could do me harm.

“
Libra
.” A rush of warmth raced over my skin.

Asher caught me in his arms, as I fell forward, the glass disappearing beneath my touch.

“You did it!” he exclaimed. “You really did it!”

My cheeks burned. “We better hurry and get out of here.”

He didn’t move, just continued to hold me in his arms. “Maybe not yet?”

There was a charm to his voice, a sweetness that seemed to belong to someone both younger and older than him. I liked the sound of it.

His arms tightened around me. “I’ve missed you.” His brows wrinkled. “Sometimes I imagined I could smell you, hear you, or even touch you.”

My heart sang with delight. “You did?”

He laughed. “I must’ve been going crazy.”

I took a deep breath. If I told him I was a Protector, he’d never give us a chance, and I wasn’t ready to lose him yet. I needed to see if we really were meant to be together, or if this One stuff was just another way The Protectors tried to take away our freedom.

“Meisha, a Protector, told me that wizards and witches have one person the goddesses have chosen for them.”

He stared. “Is that what this is? Why I feel so drawn to you?”

“I think so.”

His intense expression made me squirm.

I had to make him understand that we needed to take the time to get to know each other, slowly, so we’d both be sure of what was between us. And if it was worth the cost that would surely come with it.

“But Asher—”

He kissed me, not waiting for the warnings burning to be spoken, and I was glad he did. The touch of his soft lips sent waves through my body, shaking me to the core. It lasted only a minute, but when I opened my eyes, his were wide.

My head swam, and I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him closer to me.

His arms encircled me, encasing me in his strength. We said nothing for a long time, and I wondered if he was just as overcome by the power that one kiss held.

“I’m glad we’re together again,” he whispered, running his thumb across my cheek.

“I’m glad I
finally
found you.”

His thumb froze on my cheek. “How did you find me? How did you escape?”

Goddesses’ breath. “They let me—” I took a deep breath, creating a believable story, unwilling to tell him the truth just yet. “They saw how powerful I was. They said they could force me to join their order, but they’d rather have me choose to join. They’re giving me time to get to know them and see how The Order works. To learn my magic too, which I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Good,” he said. “Then, when we escape, all we need to do is keep you hidden from them for one year, until you turn nineteen, and we’re free.”

“How?”

“My mother said the difference between Protectors and witches is that witches aren’t controlled by The Protectors. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but The Protectors can’t tap into your magic once you turn nineteen.”

An image of The Orb came to my mind. Blair had said that after we drank the liquid, we were tied to the orb, that we could use it to access each other’s magic, but I’d never thought of what else it might do. Could it track me?

The setting sun’s lights made him appear almost golden. Like a flawless statue. I almost told him so, before a thought entered my mind, shattering our perfect moment.

“The sun’s setting,” I cried, pushing away from him.

He blinked slowly. “So?”

“Clarissa will be waiting for me at the gate when the sun sets.”

“I don’t—”

I grabbed his hand, yanking him towards the stairs. “You won’t be able to escape, she’ll see you. And, they’ll notice I’m missing.”