“I don’t think you should leverage yourself like that,” Jonathan said.
“You don’t?”
“I think it would be a mistake.”
“I’m not doing this to upset you.”
He nodded, glancing over to Matthew before turning back to her. “I know you’re not. But at the same time, I need you.”
“You need me.” She dropped her arms to her sides. “What about what I need?”
Jonathan looked at her, the hardness in his gaze returning. Her brother had always been quick with a smile, easy with a joke, but in that moment, Jayna had been more afraid of him than she ever could have imagined.
“You know that with Mother and Father gone, I need your help.”
She swallowed. All she could do was nod. Here she had something that she had hoped her brother would understand, something that was for her, finally. Something that would allow her an opportunity to do more than she had ever done, to be something more than she had thought she could ever be. She didn’t want to follow in her brother’s footsteps, didn’t want to end up as a thief like him. Even if he was one of the most skilled thieves in the city, that wasn’t what Jayna wanted.
“I just thought you would understand.”
“I’m going to need you on this one,” he said, tapping the plan. “When it’s over, maybe then we can talk about how you can progress. I’m sure we can bring you along faster than I was planning.” He looked up to Matthew before turning his attention back to the page. “You know how much you’re needed here.”
It was the first time she had gotten upset with her brother. Truly upset.
“You don’t need me. You just want to use me. I’m unpaid, not like the others on your crew whom you have to actually split the profits with. I’m going to find a way to do this, Jonathan. Whether you like it or not.”
She turned from him, storming away.
It was one of the last times she had truly talked to her brother before she had left for the Academy. He had gone off, taking whatever job that required him—maybe even for Gabranth—and she had found her benefactor.
There was a price involved in joining the Academy.
It was a price she had willingly paid, at least at the time. Sometimes she wondered if she had been used.
She opened her eyes, looking around the inside of the cell.
Strangely, thinking of her brother gave her the sense of relaxation that she needed, even though the memory was painful. She didn’t think of Jonathan like that too often these days. She mostly thought about trying to figure out what had happened to him, but she didn’t often reminisce. Now that she knew he had ties to Gabranth, it seemed she had a place to continue her search for answers, though she didn’t know if she’d be able to do that in Nelar—not until Ceran cleared her to leave.
Even then, it might not matter.
There were times when she actively tried not to think about Jonathan. When she did, it only made her resent him a little bit—resent the fact that he had tried to keep her for himself. She knew better than to let that feeling linger, knowing that the only reason he had wanted to keep her was to protect her, at least as far as he had claimed.
Still, why couldn’t he have understood how important it was to her to attend the Academy? Why couldn’t he have seen that she needed more than what he could offer? Why couldn’t he understand that she wanted to be a sorcerer?
Probably because of the way he felt about sorcerers. He wanted the enchantments a sorcerer could provide, but didn’t care for the actual sorcerer.
She never really gave much thought to what her brother would think about her new role if and when she ever found him. She believed she would eventually locate Jonathan, and when she did, when they were reunited, he would appreciate everything she went through in order to find him.
She looked around the cell. She needed to get out of here, but the connection she had to sorcery wasn’t strong enough. Tracing a few of her familiar spells—blade of light, the starburst, even magic ball—had failed. No spells took hold.
Without sorcery or her Toral power, she was trapped.
But what if there was some other way of escaping?
She got to her feet. She couldn’t simply give up, and she wouldn’t. As she made a steady circuit around the inside of the cell, she looked at the stone walls, surveying the enchantments placed upon them. There was power here, of that she had no doubt, and though she couldn’t see the actual enchantments that restricted her from accessing magic, she could feel them.
Awareness might give her a way of resisting their effect.
She traced her hands along the cool, slightly damp walls. The humidity in the air was not quite as pronounced down in the lower level as it was in other places, but there was still a heaviness to the air, and Jayna struggled with each breath she took.
After her circuit around the cell, she stopped back in the center, looking around for any other way out. She tested stone, pushing on it, thinking maybe there would be a pattern in the stones themselves that would offer her a way to freedom, but nothing tripped. The bars were too stout, the stone too secure. Her only way out would have to be the door.
She had to find a way to tap into the dragon stone. This place was designed to stop sorcery—not Toral power. Even if sorcery helped access the power of the Toral ring, it wasn’t required. Even more, she had the bloodstone to augment the connection between the ring and the power Ceran granted.
When he had first gifted her the ring, there had been a surge of cold as it had bonded to her. She was able to take the ring on and off, and it didn’t sever the bond, so either the bond remained within her, connecting her to Ceran, or Master Agnew was powerful enough to sever a connection between a Toral and Sul’toral.
She didn’t think that was the case, so the bond still had to be there.
But there were ways to diminish Toral power. She had seen it herself with Gabranth during the festival. Maybe there was something like that happening here.
But it wouldn’t have taken the Toral power from her completely.
The energy was within her. She could feel it, but couldn’t grasp it even if the bond was still there. Jayna focused her breathing. She didn’t have any way of tapping into her power, and though she had tried to call out to Ceran, he had not responded to her yet again. She had no enchantments. Everything in her satchel had been triggered by Agnew, as if he had known they were there.
She took a seat and lost track of time. Hopelessness began to build within her.
There was too much taking place in the city for her to be trapped.
The others in the city might not want to admit they needed her, but they did need her. She had seen it. She needed to keep the dular and the Sorcerers’ Society from attacking each other, and if she didn’t manage to escape, there would be more attacks, more deaths. Then there was whatever was taking place with the Ashara.
She remained motionless, trying to think through different possibilities for escape.
She couldn’t feel anything within herself.
That wasn’t quite right.
The only thing she felt was a strange vibration around her—no, it was in her pocket, of all things.
She reached inside and pulled out a coin.
Topher’s coin.
She looked at it.
The coin wasn’t spent, not the way the other enchantments had been.