The Stone Wolf (The Chain Breaker Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg (digital book reader TXT) 📕

sealing them in once more. A massive table occupied the center of the room, laden with hundreds of different enchantments set upon it. Rows of shelves lined the walls, and much like the table, various enchantments filled them as well.

She held her hand out, and he withdrew the dark egg.

“There’s something unpleasant about it,” she said. “I know it was in this place for years, but I wish we would have destroyed it.”

“Maybe it should stay here anyway. It deters the Fates.”

He hadn’t wanted to trust anyone else with it, but the enchanters’ safety depended upon it.

“We would never use it.”

Gavin smiled tightly. “They don’t have to know that.”

She pressed her hand on a section of the wall that started to glow, revealing a deep opening. She slid the dark egg inside, then closed it again, sealing it off. Finally, she nodded to herself. “That will hold it. None will know it’s here. Now. What would you prefer to take with you?” she asked. “I’ll see if I have anything that might be useful to you.”

It was a strange relief to unburden himself from the egg.

It would be safe.

Now he could focus on Wrenlow.

Find him.

Stop Tristan.

Deal with the Toral.

There were thousands of enchantments within the Captain’s storeroom, items that had been taken from the enchanters over years, and possibly even accumulated during the war. So many of them had originally belonged to the enchanters that Gavin hadn’t objected when they’d wanted to reclaim them, especially given what they had experienced in Yoran over the years. He’d waited for Davel to protest their taking over the Captain’s fortress, but so far, he had not. Perhaps Davel even understood what the enchanters had lost.

“You know what everything here does?” he asked.

“I know well enough.”

“Don’t let Davel Chan see this.”

“He won’t,” Zella said softly.

“I won’t tell him, if that is your concern.”

“I did not think that you would,” she replied.

There was a bit of heat in her voice, and Gavin realized that, for however much the constables and enchanters might be working together, there was still some distrust between them. With everything they had gone through over the years, he wasn’t terribly surprised that they would still be wary of each other. The enchanters probably distrusted the constables more than the other way around.

Gavin looked along the shelves and the table, then frowned. “I could use several enchantments for speed and strength.”

She nodded to him. She headed along the table and stopped in front of one section, gathering several small items. Only one of them looked like the bracelet Gavin used.

He still wore it, even though it had been spent. Gavin wondered if Olivia might be able to replenish its power. The bracelet seemed fitted to his wrist. He was familiar with how it interacted with him.

“These will be effective,” she said, handing him a stack of what looked like stones.

He took them and examined one, noticing a pattern delicately carved into the stone. Similar patterns were etched into the others.

“Much like the other enchantments Olivia gave you,” Zella said, “you will find that there are limitations to how long the power works. They will drain faster the more you borrow from them.”

“I think I borrowed from it too fast last night,” Gavin said.

“How so?”

“I felt it vibrating.”

Zella glanced down at his wrist, and she pressed her lips together into a frown. “You felt it vibrating?” When he nodded, she looked down at the table. “That is an unusual reaction for an enchantment. Then again, I suppose you know that, though.”

“I didn’t. Not really,” Gavin said.

She frowned again. “Well, it is, and you will find that it might not be completely spent if it was vibrating. It might have been that you were trying to draw upon it in a way that caused it to react poorly.”

Gavin furrowed his brow. What would he have done to cause that? Maybe it was the way he had been trying to push power out from his core reserves and trying to summon more power than what the bracelet was able to give him. If so, there might be a limit to how much of the enchantment he could even use.

“What else would you like?” she asked.

“I’ve seen some constables with impenetrable skin.”

Zella nodded. “A useful enchantment.”

“I think it might be just as useful to Gaspar as it would be to me.”

She looked over. “Not all of these are for you?”

“I have trained not to use enchantments,” Gavin said.

“Just because you can use one doesn’t mean you become dependent on it.”

“I’m afraid what Tristan wants out of me is to demonstrate that I don’t need them.”

“You believe this is all some part of your training?” Zella asked.

“Not anymore,” Gavin said. “But I know Tristan, and I know what he intends. I suppose I should say I know why he would do what he intends. He still views me as the child I was when I first went to him.”

“I would like to hear that story sometime.”

“There’s not much to it,” Gavin said. “I went to him after my parents were gone. He claimed me—claimed to save me.”

“You no longer think he did.”

“After what I’ve learned?” Gavin shook his head. “I don’t even know anymore. I’m a fighter because of him, I’m the person I am because of him, and I might even be able to reach for magic because of him.”

That was the strangest part of all of it. Why would Tristan have wanted Gavin to be able to access magic? There seemed to be no reason for him to help with that or encourage that connection to magic, yet Gavin had little doubt that was what had happened.

“I had just started learning to control my connection to magic when the war started,” Zella said. “So many of us had the same thing happen.”

“I know,” Gavin said.

She sighed. “You’ve heard, but that’s not the same as knowing. No one can know unless they’ve lived it.”

“I’ve seen similar fighting in other places.”

“It was awful,” she whispered. She looked