A Trial of Sorcerers: Book One by Kova, Elise (universal ebook reader .txt) 📕

…I don’t see any mark of Adela though… The whisper came from the painting. Eira inhaled sharply.

“What is it?” Alyss asked.

“Nothing, just, distracted.” Eira shook her head.

“Voices?”

“Yes.” Eira didn’t dare say what she’d heard. To say the name of the pirate queen aloud was to bring misfortune and ill luck on you and everything dear to you. That was the lore the sailors had drilled into her down by the docks and beaches of Oparium.

Alyss seemed to pick up the need for a shift in topic. “Do you think these used to be the royal apartments?”

“Perhaps.” Eira shrugged. The palace of Solaris had been built into the mountain, and then built on again. There were certain to be many forgotten places and passages over the years.

“I wonder how long they’ve been abandoned.”

“It may be in a book somewhere on the history of the palace…the date the current imperial quarters and their ostentatious gate were finished.”

“Careful,” Alyss playfully scolded. “It’s rude to insult the royals and their tacky obsession with gold.”

Eira laughed softly. But too quickly, the silence and oppressive atmosphere swallowed the sound.

They walked among forgotten specters, past bedrooms and parlors. The only occupants had been rats and spiders for decades. Still, it was a capsule of history. A more accurate representation of the end of the Solaris Kingdom and early Empire than any book or painting could ever portray.

The voices of the people who had once lived here filled her ears. Her jaw was set against the sounds of every painting, curtain, and decrepit piece of furniture trying to say something all at once.

…Father, do you have time now?…

…come to me…you are able, my love…

…show me, Solaris… The icy voice. She’d been here, whoever she was. Eira paused, looking around a small parlor and waiting to see if the disembodied speaker had anything else to say.

“What is it?” Alyss asked.

“Another voice. It’s nothing.” The icy woman was gone once more. But others filled in the silence as she walked. Alyss cast more than one worried stare.

…Don’t play games!…

…there wouldn’t be adornments in an escape passage…

Eira rounded the corner of the hall and froze, Alyss bumping into her.

“What the—” Alyss stopped mid-sentence.

A pair of bright blue eyes turned to them. The woman was standing at one of the doorways, still as a tomb. She had dark hair, pulled into a high bun, and a severe, unforgettable expression. Eira had met these eyes merely an hour or two ago.

“Eira Landan and another Tower apprentice,” Ambassador Ferro’s guard said softly. “I thought the rats were a little too noisy today.”

“We’re sorry! We’ll be going now!” Alyss grabbed Eira’s arm.

“What’re you doing here?” Eira dared to ask.

A smirk cut the guard’s lips. “I should ask you the same. This is a forgotten place of fate, not meant for people like you.”

“That’s why we’re leaving now. So sorry. Let’s go, Eira.” Alyss tugged and Eira felt the earth tremble under her friend’s determined steps. They dashed back to the long hall they’d entered from.

Alyss’s hasty footsteps didn’t stop until they were all the way back in Eira’s room in the Tower. For once, Eira was sitting and Alyss was pacing, looking over her shoulder every now and then. She twirled a piece of wood in her fingers, too anxious to carve it.

“I don’t like it. Nope. I don’t like any of it.” Alyss shook her head several times.

“What was all that about?” Eira finally demanded.

“Something we don’t want to know.”

“What?”

“Eira, think, and don’t let your fascination with Meru cloud your judgment here.” Alyss rubbed her temples. “There’s a secret room with really, really shady magic outlined in journals that were probably locked away for good reason. This secret room has a secret, secret passage connecting to what looked like old royal apartments? Either way, it’s all been long forgotten, and hidden, likely for a reason. And then there’s one of the two elfin in all of the Empire who just happens to be wandering those abandoned halls because who knows why.”

“Perhaps she was exploring the palace and got lost?”

“Did she look like someone who was lost?” Alyss threw her hands in the air. “She was up to something.”

“Alyss, stop. She’s here as part of the delegation from Meru. They’re friends of Solaris. She’s not a danger to anyone.”

“I asked you not to let your Meru obsession cloud your judgment.” Alyss pointed the wood at her.

“I’m not. I’m just sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.” Eira shrugged.

Alyss tugged at her braids in frustration. “How did you even find that place to begin with?”

“I…heard a voice,” Eira admitted.

“What did it say?” Alyss had never doubted the voices Eira heard, or her theory on why she could hear them. Eira pursed her lips. “Eira, what did it say?”

“Kill the emperor.”

“Oh, great. This is… Wow, Eira. You.” Alyss was at a rare loss for words. “You followed a voice talking about killing the emperor to find a room with deadly magic, connected to a passage—”

“Yes, I know how it looks now,” Eira cut her off. “Curiosity got the better of me.” She vowed to never bring up the mention of Adela in the ancient halls. It’d just be another log on Alyss’s fiery hatred of that place.

“What else is new?” Alyss sighed and crossed over to the bed, shoved the wood back in her bag, and sat heavily at Eira’s side. “I want you to promise me you won’t go back there.”

“What?”

“There’s nothing good there, Eira. I can feel it. That’s a place better forgotten by time.”

“You’re just on edge—”

“Promise me.” Alyss grabbed both her cheeks, forcing Eira to meet her eyes. “Don’t go back there.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, Alyss.”

Her friend heaved a mighty groan and flopped back. “You are hopeless.”

“I think it’s part of my charm.”

Alyss playfully dug her fist into Eira’s side. “Promise me you won’t go back there alone, then?”

“Fine, deal.” Eira relented. “But that just means you have to go back so I can.”

“Hopefully we’ll be too busy with the trials