Matthew regarded her, frowning. “What did you get yourself involved in?” he whispered.
“Apparently something big,” she said.
Matthew took a deep breath and grabbed her hand, pulling it back. She tried to push a bit more power into him, but he had an innate resistance.
Jayna wondered if he even knew what he was doing.
“You don’t want to be involved in this,” he said. “You don’t want to get caught up in the fighting.”
“I’m not going to get caught up in any fighting beyond what I’ve already been involved in. I’ve seen what the Society has done, and I’ve seen what the dular have done. Neither side is innocent here.”
She still didn’t understand why. The Society generally had not acted in such a way before, so for them to do so now was shocking. Even the dular had not acted in such a way before, preferring to stay more reserved, to avoid fighting. The only thing she could come up with was the possibility that something or someone instigated this.
And there was only one reason that would be desirable.
“Listen,” Matthew started. “I was hired to make a bargain. I had to acquire some items from a difficult-to-reach source.”
Jayna frowned as she looked at him. “What item, and what source?”
“I can’t say.”
“Matthew, if this will help stop a war, you need to say.”
He looked as if he wanted to resist, but Jayna was prepared to use sorcery on him to coerce him into answering. He finally shrugged slightly. “There’s an ancient temple to the north of the city. I had to meet someone there.”
“An ancient temple? That would be . . .” She frowned, glancing over to Eva. “El’aras lands.”
“I know. I had to gather some stones from within the temple. It was supposed to be an easy job, but . . . well . . . it would’ve been easier had your brother been there.”
Jayna wished she could get the details of that from Matthew, but a different concern began to fill her.
Stones.
If Matthew still had his memory from what had happened in the city before, maybe he would’ve made the connection, but she had taken that from him.
Perhaps Eva was right. Maybe it would’ve been better for her to have left Matthew’s memories.
“I need to see them.”
It had to be bloodstone, didn’t it?
Matthew shook his head. “I can’t do that.”
Maybe she could convince him in a different way. If not, then she wasn’t above forcing him. If it meant stopping war, she would do it. “After you acquired the stones, what happened?”
“Everything went to shit,” Matthew said. “I just want to get out of here. I don’t want these damn stones anymore, and I didn’t even need the money.”
“You still have them?”
“I was supposed to use them around the city. Just that.”
“What do you mean, ‘use them’?”
“Just toss them into a few different stores, all around the city, and . . .” He shook his head. “That’s about it.”
Jayna stared at him for a few moments. “I need them, Matthew.”
Matthew frowned at her.
“This is bigger than a job,” Jayna stated.
“Jayna—”
“Matthew, I’m not going to argue with you about this. I’m going to need those stones.” She started forward, pressing her hand out, already beginning to hold on to the spell that would hold him.
Matthew stepped back, raising his hands. “You can have them. I already got paid for the job.”
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a pouch, and he held it out to her.
Jayna took it, glancing inside. Bloodstones. They were all small, some incredibly so.
She pulled one of them out. It had been enchanted. There was a faint tracing, a swirl of a pattern along its surface. Jayna couldn’t tell the intention behind the enchantment, but as she ran her finger around the stone, she could feel the energy within it.
“Who were you meeting with?”
“Now you’re asking too much.”
Jayna shook her head. “No, Matthew. I’m not. I need to know who you were meeting with. Who had you looking for these?”
“You’re not going to be able to find them.”
“Why not?”
“Because they don’t like to be found.” Jayna started to smile, but she noticed a hard intensity in Matthew’s gaze. He shrugged. “You can laugh if you want, but this person is part of some sort of resistance. I have a feeling they don’t like the dular or the sorcerers.”
“So you’ve been helping instigate the war?”
“I haven’t been helping anything,” he said. “I took a job.”
“Where, exactly, did you meet them?” When he stayed silent, she glared at him. “I need to know this, Matthew.”
“I had an enchantment that helped guide me to them.”
He pulled out a necklace he was wearing.
Jayna just shook her head.
“These aren’t the kind of people you need to get involved with, Jayna. You have no idea how dangerous they are. You have no idea how dangerous any of this is. I didn’t know this was going to instigate a war, but . . .” He shook his head. “They’re creating a battle between the Society and the dular. You, especially, shouldn’t be here.”
“I told you I’m not with the Society,” Jayna said softly.
She grabbed the necklace off his neck, jerking it free, and Matthew grabbed for her wrist. Jayna used a hint of power through the dragon stone and began to press it into him.
He took a step back.
“Jayna?”
“I really had hoped it would’ve been over when we did the last job, but unfortunately . . .”
“The last job?” Matthew asked, frowning. “What are you talking about?”
She had studied the memory bowl, trying to grasp the knowledge of its making, and thought she had a pretty good idea. More than that, she had access to spellbooks that she had studied. There were answers within them, a way for her to better understand more, and now . . .
Now she had to use the memory bowl herself.
This was some kind of dangerous magic. Jayna knew that—and she knew it had consequences.
She reached for power—sorcery—and traced a quick pattern.
It was a simple pattern, one that involved her making little more than a small circle with a pinch at the end, but that pinch that was the key. She twisted, and in doing so, solidified the power.
Matthew tried stepping away from her, but she had used enough magic within her to add the enchantment to him, sealing it upon his mind.
His eyes went blank for a moment.
“I wish it were different,” Jayna whispered.
She motioned for Eva to follow, and they headed down the street.
“Why?” Eva asked as they headed away from Matthew.
The spell would linger for a while, long enough that it would give her a chance to find this resistance using the enchantment he had.
“Why did I take his memories?”
“Yes.”
“He needs to be out of this,” she said. “And I gave him a little incentive to leave as I placed the spell.”
“That’s dangerous magic,” Eva said.