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

had told him of the interaction and Ferro was merely playing ignorant for her benefit. Or maybe Ferro had his own suspicions. If Deneya had pieced together the possibility from being familiar with Adela’s magic then Ferro, as a delegate from Meru, surely could, too.

His hands freed themselves of hers and Eira almost grasped them back frantically. His fingertips ran along her cheeks until his palms cupped them. Slowly, Ferro turned her face upward, to face him.

“I don’t think I could ever hate you,” he whispered. “You are a bright spot in a dark world. When I told you that before, I meant it. I won’t allow anything to change it.”

“I was abandoned with Adela’s mark pinned to my blanket.”

His eyes widened, just for a second, and by only a small margin. “So your family thinks your birth mother was Adela?”

Eira nodded. “Which I know is ridiculous, because Adela hasn’t been seen in decades.”

“It might not be that ridiculous,” he murmured. Surprisingly, she hated that he was taking her seriously. She wanted him to write it off.

“No, it is.” Eira forced a laugh, trying to cut through his intense stare. “Because she would’ve had to have given birth to me when she was…sixty? Sixty-five? I know our minds limit us before our bodies. But that would be a fairly incredible birth.”

“For a human, yes.”

“For…a human?”

Ferro stood. The warmth of his hands left her face and Eira let the chill prickle her senses back to being alert as she watched him cross to the hearth. His silhouette cast a long and imposing shadow.

When he was silent for what felt like forever, Eira was drawn to her feet. She was trying to keep her question in, but it was tugging at her, pulling her upright, demanding to be asked.

“Is Adela not human?”

“No,” he answered, finally. “Not entirely, at least. I don’t know what her parentage is. But, from what I’ve heard out of the Court of Shadows in Meru, she is half human and half elfin.” Ferro turned to face her, as if to watch how this revelation settled on her. Eira’s face had gone numb with shock, so he knew before she did. “Which could explain why your magic is so unique and powerful.”

Eira shook her head violently. “No, no. It’s not possible.”

“It’s not, or you don’t want it to be?”

She shook her head again, not knowing what she was answering. Eira balled her hands into fists, fighting against the chill sweeping through her. Her magic was out of control these days. She had to get it under control. She had to find something in those journals that would help her.

Adela’s journals.

Eira moved. She was somewhere between striding and running toward the door. A blur of movement solidified into Ferro in front of her. Eira raised her hands, bracing herself to run into him. His fingers laced with hers and he held her in place.

“Eira—”

“No.”

“Eira, listen…” He pulled her a step closer.

“No, I don’t want to.” She shook her head.

“This could explain everything for you—your fascination with Meru, your magic, how you long to be a part of a different world, because that world is in your blood.” He released one hand and wrapped it around the back of her neck.

Eira’s eyes shot open and she allowed the world to slowly come into focus—a world that began and ended with him. “But my family…”

“They will always be your family,” he said softly. “You know that, right?”

She nodded weakly. She thought she did.

Thought.

Just like Marcus had thought—past tense—she was his sister.

Eira shook her head. His other hand unlaced with hers and Ferro’s palm was back on her cheek. Eira couldn’t stop herself from leaning into it. He caressed her like she’d only allowed herself to dream of. He touched her like a lover would and it was the first thing to feel good in what seemed like forever.

“If you don’t want to find out the truth, then you don’t have to,” he whispered softly. “But if you do… Perhaps Yargen sent me to help you do this. Perhaps this is what I see in you—I see the blood of my people and a child of Meru.”

Eira met his brilliant eyes. Her eyes had been called “unnatural” and “creepy” by the school children when she was young. Her bright shade of blue, a hue so vibrant that it was more like his, like Deneya’s, than anyone she’d ever met in Solaris. Perhaps that’s part of what had called to and fascinated her in Taavin when she’d first laid eyes on him.

The elfin was what she had been missing and searching for all along.

“I don’t know if I can search for that truth,” Eira admitted.

“I know exactly how hard it is.”

“You—”

“I was abandoned, too.” He silenced her with the confession.

“You what?”

“I’m an orphan. I became an ambassador to try and get close to the Court of Shadows to find out who my parents were. If anyone can find out, it’s them.”

“Ferro, I didn’t know…”

“But this isn’t about me,” he added hastily. “What do you want?” he whispered. As his breath warmed her face, Eira realized how close they were. She barely resisted wrapping her arms around his waist.

“I don’t know yet,” she murmured. “Beyond knowing that I don’t want to stop seeing you.”

“That feeling, dear one, is quite mutual.”

She wanted to kiss him. Mother above. She wanted to kiss him. And she had kissed recently, so this was more than a lusty longing for something she hadn’t experienced in some time.

She wanted to kiss him because he suddenly made sense. They suddenly made sense. He was the only thing that did in the world.

He’d become her light in the darkness.

“I can’t talk about this any more tonight. Give me an escape, for a little while?” she begged softly.

“What sort of escape would you like?”

“Whatever you will give me.”

His eyes dropped to her lips. Ferro licked his and, for a glorious breath, he seemed to lean closer. But he slowly eased away. Was there any